New Beginnings and Starts
Chrysalis was making her way to the spa, she had been meaning to check trying it out, but with the joys of being a new parent for almost five years she hadn't found a suitable excuse. That is until now, she wasn't going to with anything fancy like a deluxe or premiere treatment, she just was going to go with a basic package. After all that she would return to pick up her two month old daughter, who was in the care of Twilight Sparkle. She wasn't too worried, after all what Twilight was planning to do with her daughter was what her type of changeling was intended to do, it also didn't hurt that Focus Crystal seemed to lack the security issue that caused her to cling to her mother when it came to Twilight.
After the trot to the spa she entered the door and had short discussion with Aloe and Lotus about her reasons for visiting the spa and the service she was intending to indulge in she was relaxing in warmth and letting her worries ease away. Chrysalis then made her way back to Twilight's castle after the treatment, another talk with the spa owners, paying the bits she owed (the pouch she had been carrying was located at the back of her waist so as to not obstruct her movement, she also left the two spa owners a little tip as an extra thank you). When she returned to the castle Dinky lead her to the castle's library, where she saw Twilight showing simplified formulas of some of the more basic spells used by unicorns. Chrysalis just smiled at the sight of her daughter clapping and giggling before a somewhat confused Twilight.
“I don't understand, she's perfectly capable of understanding what I say, but she doesn't seem to want to apply herself after I fully explain it.”
“That's because she's a toddler,” said Chrysalis as she entered the room.
“Mommy,” squealed Focus Crystal with delight before rushing over to Chrysalis with joy after jumping from the chair that Twilight had situated her on.
“How's my little magic filly? Good I hope,” said Chrysalis as she scooped up the changeling foal.
“Mhm,” said Focus Crystal with a vigorous nod.
“Did you like your time with auntie Twilight?”
“Auntie, fun,” giggled the foal from within her mother's hold.
“More like my niece is confusing,” said Twilight, “she seemed to have considerable interest in the spells, but when I told her it was time give them a try she just clapped and giggled.”
“Twilight,” said Chrysalis as Focus Crystal seemed to fall asleep against her within her hold, “I think she's mature enough to grasp the concepts of the spells, but her maturity level isn't quite to the level of actually being able to practice it yet. She'll probably be practicing all the spells you showed her in a few more months, if she had matured at the usual rate of a changeling she'd already have the physical maturity of an adult and would probably already be practicing quite a few spells.”
“You're saying I can show her how do spells now and once she reaches a certain point in her maturation she'll know she's at a point she can practice it?”
“Yes, truth is we don't really know how many of the different changeling worker types fully operate. If someone actually put effort into that sort of study amongst changelings the research information wasn't shared outside the hive that was studied, and in all likelihood got mothballed by the queen of that hive so heavily that any rumored whispers of it didn't even reach any outside her hive's ears. We have quite a few different types among the hive now, but there's one kind of changeling I'm proud to say we are devoid of.”
“Which would be?”
“Of the twenty-four foals we have,” Chrysalis gave a little smile, “not one of them is a Soldier, the only military type workers in the hive we have are the same kind as Dusk.”
“Wait, you don't have any soldier changelings? I thought you said among the hives warfare preparation is practically something you do as part of the regular routine.”
“Yes, and having a hive that numbers in the hundreds or thousands is seen as a tradition that must not be violated. I've decided to take a different approach to things with my new hive, how ironic that the society built around changing themselves refuses to acknowledge any potential changes to its own cultural structure. When they finally manage to see to my demise I'll probably be one of the few examples used in Queen lessons when they address what queens must not do.”
“Oh, That bad. At least Equestrian society progressed over the years, but the way you say makes it sound like...”
“Changeling society has no real records of progress, the last great innovation before I introduced the concept of clothing production was the founding of the allegiance accords that govern hive to hive relations, that predates the founding of Equestria by over a few thousand years, I wish I could be more precise, but as it stands it seems I'm the only changeling that actually had the idea of keeping any sort of comprehensive records.”
“Does it have something to do with how memories work throughout individual hives, you did say that every member of a hive can act as a backup for the memories of other members of the hive.”
“Yes, that might be a good portion of it, and due its nature changeling concepts of individuality are very different, namely in that every other queen tends to think of their hive more as automatons or expendable units rather than having their personality. And to an extent they're right, as much as I hate to admit it.”
“Did I write any of that down somewhere and forget it again?”
“No, I never really explained queen to hive structure with you before now. I got to see them differently because of my...abnormalities. I don't call them 'drones' instead I call them 'workers', all because I got to see them develop their own senses of identity.”
“I noticed your distinct choice of wording when it comes to changelings, but I didn't want to offend you with any questions that could be misconstrued as potentially offensive, that and before your distinct set of changes we had no officially proper way of wording hive dynamics.”
“Still working on that paper on the comparisons of changelings and ponies?”
“Not really much else to do as of late, I wonder if this is how the other princesses feel on a slow week. You ever have the problem of boredom due to a lack of duties to attend?”
“Yes, but when that happened I'd try wrangling a member of my prior hive into playing a game like chess, the last time I did that was, oh, a little over a century ago.”
“You convinced somepony in your hive to play chess with you?”
“More like whined them into playing, gotta go, Spike is dealing with twenty toddlers right now, and I really should be helping him with it all.”
“Why aren't you?”
“He said something about taking a break every once and a while,” she gave a devious smile, “I'll give him the same treatment in a few days, fair play and all that.”
“Alright, see you two later, and let me know when she starts practicing those spells I tried teaching her.”
“Will do,” said Chrysalis as she turned to leave with Focus Crystal, “when does their class get out?”
“A little after noon, these are young foals we're talking about. I'm sure everything will be fine. The staff were a little worried when they learned they would be looking after changeling foals, not to mention the fact they're almost a year younger than the other foals.”
“Same holds true with your filly, the main difference is that they take her early admittance as a sign of being a bit like her mother. My girls will be at the general age of the other foals in a few months, yours will have to wait a little longer than that.”
“Speaking of, Nightmare Night must be their favorite holiday.”
“Actually, it's tied with Hearth's Warming, Nightmare Night may be closer to their birthday, but Hearth's Warming Eve was the first holiday they ever really experienced. Although they might be extra excited for this Nightmare Night, I promised the girls we would go down to Fluttershy's and get them a pet for their birthday, any animal they want, if they were extra good this year, but I told them they could only choose one and it would be shared with the whole family.”
“They're always extra good, I suppose it comes from getting so much from Spike. The other foals might be a little scared of them, but Seeker's there to help them out.”
“She's been playing with them for as long as she can remember, and the fact they're just a little older than her a bit too.”
“I just hope the other foals aren't too rough with any of the girls, when I saw to the admission of Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake when they were old enough for it their first month was pretty rough, Pound almost got into a fight on more than one occasion and Pumpkin was the target of ridicule for being so dedicated to her lessons almost as much as Pound's near fights.”
“I'm sure the other foals won't be too much of a bother for your little filly, after all they know who her mom is, but I'm worried about my girls, there's still a lot of lingering aggression towards changelings around here and Canterlot. I suppose it helps that I've been so helpful to the community these past few years, but I can still sense the hostility towards me because of my actions in the past, the disdain towards me is well deserved, but my girls have yet to earn that kind of scorn. Offspring pick up on the behaviors of their parents and subconsciously try to imitate at around the age of the foals at the magical kindergarten, I've seen more times than I care to say.”
“I read a few parenting books that mentioned that as well, that's why they say new parents should always watch what they say and do around young foals.”
“I'll admit the girls are a bit younger than the rest of their class, all our girls, but they'll have their birthdays soon enough.”
“They're certainly smart enough, could explain just how your girls are different from the typical changeling.”
“My girls have a greater sense of volition, if they were typical changelings they would be acting more like automatons with all information for their primary duty being the default setting, I got to see something a bit different with my hive and am glad the girls have their own free will.”
“Something happens when a changeling is cut off fr... do they start developing a sense of personal self when they're cut off from a hive?”
“Yes, I'm glad you caught on to that so fast.”
“But if that's the case and your girls have defaulted to having their own identities that would mean that some sort of additional factors played into their developing along a divergent route.”
“It could be that I wanted all my offspring to have their own sense of self, or that they have dragon genetics, or a host of other factors that we might not know about. I don't know what led into their development being the way it is, but I'm more than happy with the results. I just know my 'family' will find us eventually, and when they do I think I might have a way to buy us some time,” she looked a little distraught before giving happy smile at the changeling foal in her lap, “everything I say will be true, I took time to memorize the Changeling 'Accords', and when I start citing them it will all be the honest truth.”
“Ooh, could you lend me a copy, it would really help in my understanding of law.”
Chrysalis gave little eye roll before saying, “Are you a queen?”
“Technically, as far as I can tell the title of Princess is equivalent to that of Queen.”
“Are you a changeling?”
“No, but I don't see what demographics have to do with accessing knowledge.”
She gave a light grin and a minor eye roll, “I have copy, I'll see about giving you access to it, and while I'm at it I'll get some copies made for the other princesses, it might prove useful. Truth be told, only changelings should be permitted access to any and all copies of the Accords, but seeing as I already violated changeling taboo by teaching you a spell that was confirmed no ponies had access to I figure what's one taboo violation.”
“Not to mention your alliance with Equestria.”
“Actually the Accords never state that alliances with non-changelings are forbidden, a little loophole I'm sure you're going to enjoy bringing up when we sit down to talk with the queens that come to the meeting I'm sure to arrange for at some point in the future. My failure ironically ensures Equestria's safety, at least until I keel over.”
“Then a new queen can make a play on the country?”
“Only if it's three centuries after my confirmed end, until then they can't pursue any military action, a point I will be keen to point out early.”
“Will you explain what these Accords are?”
“They'll explain themselves once you get your hooves on them, it is quite a hefty tome.”
“A new book to read,” cried Twilight with excitement in her voice, but subdued enough it didn't wake the sleeping foal in the room.
“We really need to be going now, Spike must be having more than a little hassle dealing with the rest of our brood.”
Twilight gave bit of chuckle as Chrysalis just teleported right from her location back to the colony with her daughter.
_____________________________________________________________
At around the same time Chrysalis was enjoying her personal day, which Spike had insisted she take, Spike was dealing with twenty potentially rambunctious, yet surprisingly well behaved, changeling foals. The foals only seemed to get rambunctious when they were in certain areas of the chamber, but outside those areas they were a bit to compliant to what Spike said. Spike himself was wearing nothing beyond a pair of reddish-brown pants, mostly to protect his privates from the activities of the twenty daughters he had insisted on looking after. Several foals were full of energy, but for some reason were careful to not damage anything.
Spike smiled down at the changeling foal napping in his lap, there were two more napping on his shoulders. The sleeping foals seemed to be quite oblivious to the noise of other foals around them, he quickly caught one that was about to land on one of the sleepers, the last time something like that had happened the foals all cried for over an hour. “Violet Emerald, you know better than that,” said Spike in a stern yet quiet voice, the two month old changeling foal squirmed a bit before sticking her dragon-like tongue out at him, Spike rolled his eyes, Violet was a new kind of changeling that Chrysalis's magic was unfamiliar with, but it seemed to him that if she was indeed a new kind of changeling they'd have to come up with a name or title for what she happened to be, “you remember the last time one of your sisters got woken up before she was ready?” Emerald nodded, “Do you want a repeat?” She shook her head, “Then stop trying jump on your sisters while they sleep, when they're awake it is acceptable, but while they're sleeping it is not.” The deep purple changeling foal stared at him for a few seconds before flicking her tongue at him again playfully, “That's my good little girl, I see you still have yet to say anything.”
Emerald flicked her tongue at Spike before he lowered her to the ground. The chamber the foals were playing in was in fact an egg chamber that Spike and Chrysalis had converted into a nursery shortly after their first three hatched. The changeling filly started trotting about and sniffing around, the sight was absolutely adorable, she seemed to be doing an impersonation of a dog seeking out a scent, watching the whole act was so cute and sweet Spike could feel his blood sugar spiking.
Emerald sniffed the wall for a few minutes before beginning to climb, it was nothing seeing as both Spike and Chrysalis had seen their offspring climb about the walls and ceiling with little to no need for their parents to act as safety nets. What did surprise Spike was Emerald's sniffing at a point about level with his waist and digging into that point in the wall. After several minutes she returned through the wall's new hole with a glittering gem that was a green that matched her own eyes firmly in her mouth. After returning to the floor she moved the gem from her mouth to her right hand and toddled over to her father to present her prize.
“Well now,” said Spike as he accepted the gem and started examining it, “it seems our little Emerald is a talented gem digger, can you find something else that might we could use for something? A twig? A new source of water? Your sisters' missing dolls?”
Emerald gave him a confused look.
“You did fine sweetheart,” said Spike, “I was just wondering if you could find more than gems and crystals. I'll keep this safe, and I won't even try to eat it, I promise.”
Emerald blinked a bit before returning to her newly made tunnel and curling up in it to sleep.
“We'll talk to mommy about it,” he whispered before leaning down and gently kissing the the base of the foal's horn.
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That part with the gem stone... I think my heart stopped for a moment at the cuteness.
KO sequel can't wait to see more awesomeness of Spike and Chrysalis adventure together.
Aww, how cute.
I think we can all agree that we're all just thumbing through all the political and scientific mumbo jumbo to get to what we really want to read: the adventures of new life and parenthood, and whatever other adventures come their way
That is adorable
Wonder what Emerald's "caste" name is, Seeker, Digger, or Dowser
(Explanation of where Dowser comes from: Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, gravesites, and many other objects and materials without the use of scientific apparatus.)
6692132 Still trying to decide, maybe I'll have one of the Mane 6 make suggestions (and which ever one Emerald like the most that's what will be decided as the kind of changeling she is).
Is emerald a gem diger Or a diggy diggy hole diger or a uhhhh...
What was I talking about agen
oh well 
My nose is running and it is rau. So yah
/
choo
Don't they still have that 'no clothes' rule?
6696296 before the primes hatched it was revised to the Clothing Optional rule
Yay just finished the previous story and I can't wait to read this one
you get 5 awsome moustaches
Oh god the cute! Hnnng! *clutches his chest and collapses*
Huh, a hen seeker caste.
Cya
Raziel-chan