//------------------------------//
// Cross-Culture Christmas 
// Story: The Substitute Demon 
// by Reykan 
//------------------------------//

	With a start Cimmerian woke up.

'Christmas morning,' he thought, his mood souring slightly a moment later.
'Or at least as close as I'm going to get for now.'

He rolled off of the large gel-bed in the queen's room, or better yet the room he was sharing with Pandinus, finding that for once he'd woken up alone. He scowled at the door, knowing the mare was up to something. It took a lot to get Din out of bed early and those plots were the few things she didn't trust merely assigning changelings to from her bed.
'So the question is what is she up to? She knows about the announcement, she knows about the holiday, a little about it at least, knows about some of the food...'

There was nothing to do but go out and find out what the shape shifter was up to. It had actually been kind of endearing, watching her start to try to reciprocate physical signs of affection but now he was just worried.

Pandinus didn't do half-measures. Whatever she was planning would be big.

Stepping out into the hallway, Cimmerian's jaw dropped. Lining the tunnels and hallways on the way to the dining room was a ton of garland, though where the people found it he had no idea. Some changelings had red hats with white puffs on the end, others were wearing sprigs of leaves and berries on their horns, stopping every now and then to give each other a peck before continuing on their way, giggling and laughing at the custom. Even the odd pony was sometimes equipped with the festive gear. 
Some changelings had even taken the holiday spirit a step further, shifting  their shells to greens, reds, and whites to match the holiday's colors. It was awe inspiring the things they'd come up with. Even stranger was the fact that the alicorn had seen none of this desire to enjoy the holidays with the other days, even if Pandinus and himself went to The Burning and he went to the Hearth's Warming Eve play. The reason struck him a moment later.

This wasn't for the other races. It was the changelings accepting the holiday as their own. It would be the celebration, the first holiday that was celebrated by the shape shifters in their history that wasn't a simple and quick nod to an ancient queen or the founding of their hive. It was the first holiday that would see them showing off to the world just what they could do to show their spirit. Judging by the changeling sporting a white tuft of what could only be a silky beard, it was quite a bit.

"Rats, I was just about to wake you up," Zelus pouted just ahead of him. She too was sporting a bit of festive additions, mostly a few sprigs of what he assumed were supposed to be mistletoe over her body and green stripes instead of the blue stripes she usually bore.

"You guys do know that mistletoe is supposed to be over doorways, right?" he asked her on the way to the dining hall.

Zelus looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"And leave out those who are outside for most of the day? Ha! I wanted to add one to my tail, but Celestia said that was going too far. Something about it being too intimate for the delicate pony senses."

"It's basically asking them to kiss under your tail. So yes, it's too far," he shot at her with an unamused stare.

"The holiday's supposed to be about love, right?"

Walking into the dining hall and taking in the decorations set on each table, the dark alicorn chuckled.
"You know damn well there are different kinds of love. A changeling queen of all creatures should have that memorized."

"You're all no fun," Zelus pouted.

"Once you get your own hive set up somewhere you can demand sex from your visitors and walk around displaying yourself to everyone as much as you like," the stallion said while grabbing some food from the buffet. "While you're living in a mixed community though you're going to have to accept that there are some things other people aren't comfortable with."

"Like herds?" she ventured.


Cimmerian stopped, worrying his lip.
"Yea. Like herds. I've told you already, Zel. You're nice, but it feels weird to me. Even the fact that you keep ending up sleeping next to me, that's like...you know even that made me uncomfortable for a while. It's still weird but I get why you do it."

"It's nice. Strange, but very nice to wake up to a scent that relaxes me like that. It was the first night I slept with the two of you that was the first night I remember feeling like I could truly sleep soundly without watching myself through a nearby drone's eyes. I don't think ponies can truly appreciate the paranoia we queens develop.
"Being able to watch yourself sleep through a drones eyes doesn't help, either. Ponies have to trust they can sleep safely otherwise they'll never get any rest."

"You didn't develop that way though. How was it, to know in your heart that you were safe? To feel like nothing would harm you?" Cimmerian asked as he took a seat at a mostly empty table. By his reckoning it was about ten in the morning, so most of the Temple's residents were already done with breakfast.

The queen sighed, leaning against him as he began to eat. She pressed her muzzle against his neck, taking a deep breath.
"It's something I don't want to be without again."

"I guess you're just going to have to put up with the rules we prudes inflict upon you."

Zelus nodded forlornly.
"I know. It stinks."

Finishing his first pancake he voiced his first question.
"How did you guys manage to get the garland? The mistletoe looks like a local berry but the garland's a bit expensive, considering it almost looks like real gold-leaf."

"A few unicorns had some experience with illusions. Add in Twilight, who knows so much about spellwork and it wasn't hard to do a lot of it. It won't last more than a few days before it starts turning back into jungle vines but that's long enough to accomplish the goal. As for the sprigs, Din wasn't sure about the species and Tia pointed out we may not even have it on Equis, so we used a substitute with a color enchantment. Normally the berries are purple."
Popping one off of a sprig and popping it into her mouth she hummed happily.
"Also fairly sweet."

"I think actual Mistletoe is poisonous," he said with a grin. "Not certain, but I remember hearing it. We didn't regularly eat our floral arrangements so I can't say for certain."

"Another strange thing. The eating in a special room for meals I understand as some foods are messy but I don't understand putting extra stuff on the tables. Cadance said it's tradition and Celestia said it was because it looks nice. What do you think?" the queen asked.

"I think of it mostly as a conversation starter," Cimmerian offered, taking a snowflake decoration in his magic. "For instance, do you know how they form, or why people use these weird shapes to represent the tiny flakes of white you see in winter?"

Zelus shook her head.
"I heard they were made of ice, but even seeing snow for myself I didn't really think much of it. I had other concerns at the time."

"It's actually not just ice, it's crystalized water," he explained. "Some of them actually do look like this when they're falling from the sky." 

Zelus stared at the decoration dispassionately.
"But then they smash together with the rest of them and they disappear. You never see the formations and then they're gone. Why does it matter?"

"It doesn't in the grand scheme of things, but we just spent a moment talking about it. All it took for that conversation was a simple decoration and a bit of curiosity. Which you don't have, so I had to prod you along," the dark stallion said with a grin before shoving the queen with a shoulder.

"You ponies find the strangest things to talk about," the shape shifter muttered. "I'll admit it's nice to have Twilight here though. She's been a huge help with spells and she is actually quite knowledgeable about changelings. She did almost burn the drone she's riding trying to cast a transmutation spell by herself but I assume that's because she's used to having more magic at her disposal."

"So she's doing well?"

"She's doing as well as can be expected. The mares from the old castle are providing more than enough energy for her to thrive, in fact Pandinus and I have already started setting aside energy for an altered drone. Increased capacity is the most obvious thing she needs so she's not overloading every five minutes or so, maybe some more magic efficiency, about the same as an average unicorn so she can use all the normal spells-"

"Y-your, um, Queen Zelus? I was actually going to ask you about that," a soft, buzzing voice said.

Cimmerian and Zelus both turned to the voice, finding what was for all intents and purposes a normal drone standing in the hall beside them. It was looking a bit ragged, a burned horn and sunken eyes accompanying a few cracks in the chitin from emotional bloat, the drone not being built to sustain any kind of emotional input, much less the focus of almost ten close friends and a teacher/mentor/mother figure.

Zelus nodded to Twilight, using a hoof to turn the drones head to either side as she inspected it.
"Good. I think we're going to have to do this some time today, anyway. It shouldn't take that long, either. You'll be in the new drone in a few hours. Drones are easy to alter and I just laid a batch a few days ago. They'll be ready for alterations by now."

Cimmerian stared at Zelus, half in shock and half in horror.
"Hearing you talk about laying the drone Twilight is going to be using is one of those things that's weird, especially when I know I'm going to be seeing her walking around in that drone later today. And I thought drones couldn't speak."

"She memorized not only the transformations necessary, but already knew the biological requirements for speech in both species. I've never seen someone learn that fast, even with the link," the queen muttered.

"I'd normally be a bit weirded out by it as well but I've been working with changelings for a long time. It was actually the drones that I started with. Did you know that with the proper alterations changelings can subsist off of nothing but magic? Seeing as how Canterlot is on a ley-line convergence, the ambient mana is plenty to keep a large number of drones alive, it's why they didn't tear the castle apart when their numbers swelled. Of course, feeding on pure mana tends to be detrimental to a changeling's health, but with the drones being disposable-"

"It wouldn't matter too much," Zelus interjected. "She also said it's not the love in changeling honey that's been boosting your strength, but the magic. Apparently changelings naturally convert emotions to magic."

"But Celestia and Luna were convinced that the more subjects they had the more powerful they were. Were they wrong?"

Twilight shook her head and waved her hooves in a warding manner.
"Oh no, you do but the impact isn't as pronounced when the emotions go from pony to alicorn as from pony to changeling to alicorn. Changelings tend to catch a lot more energy and they can convert it a lot more efficiently than an alicorn can. Alicorn's process magic at a much more efficient rate then emotion and they tend to pick emotions up passively. Changelings subsist almost exclusively on the magic they process from pony emotions so their rate of conversion is much higher. That's why the changeling honey and the pods were able to heal Cadance so quickly. She was being saturated in magic.
"On the other side of things though, alicorns don't actually need anything but magic to survive. It's why Luna could live out her banishment on the moon and why even after the...Nightmare began feeding I was still alive. In fact it's possible that the magic that's so prevalent in Canterlot is the only thing keeping that body from just giving out."

"So what about the queens?" Cimmerian asked. "I know they were in y- that a few were captured, but would they be able to do that kind of conversion? Wouldn't it cause damage?"

"That's the most impressive thing I learned," the drone rider said with awe. "The queens would draw magic through the drones. The drones would suffer from it of course, but the queens suffered no side effects. The drones bore any and all damage from directly consuming magic. The consumption of so much raw mana actually led to the queens producing even more drones, some of them seemingly more resistant to mana-burn. The Nightmare didn't pay attention but I...I only used the older drones, the ones that had already started to suffer from the burns. Nightmare is weakening the queens by using all of the drones at her disposal. It will hurt them, but in response they'll start to suffer from the lack of magic and produce fewer drones."

"That's a good thing, right?" the alicorn asked. "Fewer drones means less to deal with in the future."

"Possibly, but we are talking about the queen's producing twenty drones a day down from thirty. The rates they're producing drones at is a ridiculous number and extremely unhealthy for any queen to experience. It's one of the reasons they don't even bother attempting to connect to the drones anymore, just allow the crystals to make and drop the connections. It's too much for them to process. The constant traffic would drive them mad."

"Assuming their minds are not already damaged by their imprisonment and enslavement," Zelus said with a bit of anger.

Cimmerian looked at the queen with confusion. It sounded more like irritation than the anger one would have when discussing the condition of her mother and others of her kind.

"That's another interesting thing I learned. The queens may be fine. They shut themselves down mentally, preventing damage to any major parts of their minds during their enslavement. I studied the process extensively and it's not even a conscious effort. It's a survival instinct," Twilight gushed.
"You don't even realize this but your own body will react to any perceived threats, even to your mind. It's why some changelings go into a feral state if they go for long periods without a queen. The mind shuts down, going into stasis and the instincts that are otherwise unneeded by the changelings come to the fore. Once they are reclaimed by a queen or find themselves in a better situation they can revert, though I'm speculating on this topic as I was unable to witness such a reversion. There could be some damage, but anything like that would be from contact with the crystal arrays or feeding on the mana personally. The last check I remember doing had only three of the fifteen queens suffering from any kind of mental damage, and two of those were due to pre-existing starvation."

Cimmerian chuckled, looking to the queen.
"At least we managed to get something out of all of this. The mare's probably the most knowledgeable being on the planet in regards to changelings. I'll leave you two to discuss the new drone shell, but have you seen Din? She's not one for getting up before me in most situations."

"Oh, I saw her walking inMPh!"

"Oh dear, l think the drone shell's giving out on her," Zelus said flatly, nudging Twilight and causing the drone to fall over like a puppet with its strings cut. "I best go pick out that drone for her, bye."

"Zelus, that was the most obvious escape I've ever seen," Cimmerian shouted after the queen.

She was already gone though, walking out the door and heading towards the hive tunnels. Not wishing to pursue the mare while he still hadn't finished his breakfast, the alicorn slumped. He asked a few of the changelings and ponies about the queen's whereabouts but it seemed Din had been thorough. The ponies just shrugged in what he figured in some cases had to be feigned ignorance while the changelings flat out refused to answer.
'Because they can't say they don't know where she is.'

He wandered the Temple after breakfast, taking in the decorations that seemed to cover almost every available location that wouldn't cause trouble. It was impressive to say the least. Holly, more garland, snowflakes, Santa hats, even a-wait, was that...?

"Buster?" Cimmerian asked in shock.

The gnoll turned to him with a fanged grin, completely out of place with the full red and white outfit he was currently wearing. The gnoll looked like the sick love child of Santa and the Wolman.
"G'morning Alpha. Queen say you like this outfit, that it nice guy. Queen asked white pony to make this, it feel nice. May see about keeping it."

"It's...nice," the alicorn said cautiously. "I just didn't expect to see a Santa outfit here, even with the hats. Pandinus tell you anything about him?"

The gnoll shook his head.
"No, just that he important to holiday. Like Nightmare Moon on Nightmare Night but reversed. He good guy."

"Saint Nick was a guy that brought presents to all the good little...uh, children," Cimmerian verbally stumbled. "I was going to say kids but that doesn't really work when kids is a specific kind of child. I can see about telling the story just before dinner in the clearing by the Christmas tree. Oh, if you really want to be in character, you have to get the laugh right."

The gnoll gave of a chattering, barking laugh and Cimmerian shook his head.
"No, it's a belly laugh. Like this: Ho ho ho!"
"Ha ha ha?"
"No, Ho ho ho! Deep, feel it in your gut!"

The gnoll took a deep breath and bellowed out his third attempt.
"Hey hey hey!"

"Ho!"
"Hee?"
"Ho."
"Oh, Ho?"
"Now you have it, Ho!"
"Ho!"
"Ho ho ho!"
"Ho ho hoo!"

Cimmerian shoved the mutt, shaking his head.
"Now you're just messing with me. I'll give you the guys full story later on, but don't mess that suit up too much. I may have you stand nearby to give everyone an idea of what he looked like."


"Got it. I be there," Buster said, pressing his paw against his chest in a salute before heading off into the town.

Cimmerian shook his head but was unable to fight the smile that was creeping over his face. Explaining human traditions and holidays to aliens wasn't what he planned on doing today but it was shaping up to be a downright silly day. He started asking around for the seamstress, finding Rarity in a small open workshop and currently busy making several Santa hats at once.
"Hmm, I guess I shouldn't start on the fact that Christmas is a holiday of a species that is devoid of magic?"

The unicorn turned around, paling slightly before she saw him laughing.
"Oh wonderful, another one that likes to make my poor heart leap in my chest for their own amusement. If it wasn't for the fact that Queen Pandinus supplied the materials  to cover the hats I wouldn't be making them. They're so simple, I can whip one or two up in seconds. Still, they do feel festive. Surprisingly so, considering how easy to make they are. I didn't have the materials for the buckles that would have been added to Buster's outfit, but perhaps in the future I shall have a second chance with proper materials."

Cimmerian dismissed her concerns.
"It's fine, Rarity. The outfits and hats look wonderful. You've done a splendid job, considering you haven't really seen many decorations."

"Actually, Prin-er, Celestia showed me some of them earlier with an image spell," the designer corrected. "It was simple, yet...I don't know. It felt strange, looking at such the creature wearing it. She said the creature, Santa, was heavy for the race but I don't remember ever seeing a creature like him before...at least she said it was a him. I'm afraid I couldn't really tell."

"He's pretty plump for a human," the alicorn admitted. "I don't blame you for not recognizing the species either, since they're not natives. I'll actually be talking about that later. Have you heard?"

Rarity nodded.
"That you were going to be speaking to the...town? Yes, I heard. I remember hearing that you weren't from around here back when we were all still petrified but I never felt that interested. I suppose I had other things on my mind. Oh, before you leave Pandinus had me make one for you."

The alicorn giggled childishly as Rarity levitated one of the Santa hats to him, fitting it snugly on his head before turning his head left and right to confirm the fit.
"Excellent. I shall see you later at the dinner. I've heard it will be some new dishes or a new twist on meals I've already had. It should be an interesting experience if nothing more. I do like the feeling of the holiday, it's been nice seeing the changeling side of the holidays as well. I didn't know they could alter their shells like that. I may see about hiring one once I get back to...once I..."

"I'm certain there will be plenty of opportunities to either rebuild your home or repair it. You won't be the only one who's been chased away, from the sounds of it," the stallion reassured.

Rarity shook her head.
"You misunderstand, I had a business before all of this. The Carousel Boutique was my life's work and I was just making a name for myself, well my clothes line anyway, when this happened. I don't know if I'll be able to start it all up again. Years doing my best to ride the trends of fashion and now, I don't even know what's in anymore! What am I going to do? Short manes, long manes? What's the current trend?"

"I think the ponies in Canterlot have more important things ta worry 'bout, Rares. Like gettin' away from the Nightmare and her changelin's," Applejack cut in, tapping her hat in greeting.
"Think the only fashion they're interested in right now is freedom."

"Darling you can't wear freedom," Rarity said, rolling her eyes.

Cimmerian laughed.
"I respectfully disagree with that. Give me a bunch of ammo bandoliers and grenades, maybe a camouflage bandana and I'll be the free-est individual on this planet."

"Camouflage?" the unicorn asked with a shudder. "Ugh, that's tee-aye-see-kay-why."

The alicorn poked her with a hoof, still laughing.
"Silly pony, that's not how you spell freedom. Have either of you seen Pandinus today? She seems to be hiding, which makes me even more nervous about the whole situation. She's usually not that secretive with me and it makes me wonder what she's getting into.

"Pandinus ya say?" the farmer asked, her face scrunching up. "Can't say I've heard from her today, nope. Definitely haven't heard a word about where she's goin' or what she's doin'."

The alicorn stared at the orange mare for a moment, watching her eyes flick back and forth nervously before the unicorn stepped in.

"Honestly, Applejack, I would have thought you'd have learned to just not say anything at this point," Rarity said while shaking her head. "Pandinus asked us to not speak and that is all I shall say."

Cimmerian nodded, grinning in spite of the admission.
"I kind of figured. I guess I'm doomed to wander around until I catch her. I'll speak to you two later on, I'll be telling a Christmas story tonight, this one about these silly hats. The story of Chris Cringle was always a fun one."

"I'd heard you'd also be speaking. The Temple's been in a buzz, Queen Pandinus and the hive was going on about some announcement. Something about your origin. Some of the foals were speaking of...of another world," Rarity continued.

The alicorn looked to her, his smile faltering slightly.
"I figured it would be best to get it out of the way. This is my people's holiday after all, a time of solidarity and love. I can't exactly stand with them if I can't be honest about myself, can I?"

"Ah've always thought honesty was the best policy, and not just 'cuz Ahm the Element of Honesty," Applejack offered. "Ponies just feel better if they know what they're dealin' with."

"I know that. I know it in my head, and I know that there are plenty here who will stay even after this. I also know that there are many who look at the Temple as a temporary home. Many of the griffons are going to be heading home after this, many of the ponies will be leaving as well. I know it's not going to be for a while, but...I've got plenty of time to look ahead according to Celestia. I have no plans of moving to Equestria myself, but for many of those here that's their home," he said his smile slowly fading. "I know how much it hurts to not be able to go home."

Cimmerian bid the mares a good day and left, his mood dropping at thoughts of the future. Din sometimes got on his case about tasting off but it was normal to experience a bit of emotional flux. He wasn't some happy zombie, always wandering around with a smile on his face. Would there ever be a time when the mare actually understood that?

His pace slowed a bit. What about the kids? Would they inherit their mothers dependence on emotions, or would the changeling be forced to deal with children as he knew them? Would they develop as he had? As he assumed most creatures did? Would they be some strange hybrid that was capable of drawing energy from emotions while still giving off their own?
"God help us when they hit their terrible two's," the stallion muttered, his muzzle twisting into a grin. His cousin had been a nightmare for his aunt when he'd reached that age, what would happen when you added magic, flight, or shape shifting to that mess? He'd need a microchip just to be certain of the kids' locations if they could shape shift as well.
"And oh god, the teens," he added to himself with a laugh. "Turning themselves black and screaming about it not being a phase!"

"I'll never get over how quickly you flux sometimes. I don't remember ever feeling ponies do that."

Cimmerian turned to find Pandinus approaching, a few drones following along with several boxes. The changeling queen herself was stepping off of a small pedestal that was now on the ground, several larger drones having apparently carried her to her destination, not surprising considering she was becoming a bit heavier. She was also getting nervous about any type of strain, since queens normally didn't go through this.

"It's a good thing I shed most of my chitin plates when I molted into a queen. Otherwise I may have split a plate or two before this is all over," Pandinus complained as she walked past him, using her shoulder to push him in her current direction.
"Even worse than that, I've seen Celestia's images of pregnant mares. They're positively bloated! I don't understand how they can do this, and for so long as well. Mist has offered that my body is adding a bit more padding to give the hatch-foals some cushion from my activities but with three of them it's going to get uncomfortable before too long."

Cimmerian just smiled as he followed the queen, draping a wing over her back and using it to keep her against his side as they walked. Her anger deflated a bit at the affection but not much.
"The worst part is I can't just disconnect myself. Celestia said sometimes physical pain is the only warning a mare gets that there's something wrong, so I need to keep the nerves active. My body is shifting in ways I've never even imagined, and I can't ignore it! You owe me for this, alicorn."

"If I remember correctly, it was you who sought this situation out in the first place. With absolutely dogged determination, no less," he countered. "I'll gladly see you through it, but don't try pulling that 'this is all your fault' crap with me. I know better." 
After a moment of silence between them he smiled.
"Would you prefer to not have undergone this ordeal?"

Pandinus opened her mouth but snapped it shut, catching herself from responding. She slowed in her pace, eventually coming to a halt and sitting down.
"I don't know."


Tapping a hoof against the slight bump in her midsection the queen looked at him with a mixed expression.
"It's scary. I don't know what to expect from this even with ponies telling me the details of their own experiences or knowledge and during this time I'm not producing more drones for the hive. At the same time though, I know my proto-queen will be powerful, possibly one of the strongest in the history of our race. I can also...I can feel them. Not just physically but in other ways. It's on the edge of my senses, but I swear I can pick up the barest hints of emotion and even some odd burbling in the Link."

"...no, I don't think I'd give it up," she finally said, a slight smile growing on her face. "I'll worry and it will hurt, but I don't think I'd give it up."

Cimmerian pulled her against his barrel in a deep hug and she giggled, snuggling into his warmth.
"The fact that you've gotten even more affectionate is a nice bonus as well."


Taking advantage of the mare's distraction, he led her towards the tree and relaxed on the ground. He pulled her closer with a few tugs of magic and allowed himself to enjoy the relative peace, his wing draped over her back and curling under her barrel.
"Why don't you let the kids know i'll be doing the stories soon. You have a changeling in Shadowtalon as well, right? Can you have them relay the story?" 

Din closed her eyes as she did as requested, opening them again to stare at a curious stallion.

"You've told me you don't have to close your eyes to do that," he said.

"It seems to make others more comfortable. It also lets them know that I'm splitting my focus. Gnolls and ponies are less likely to bother me when I do that," she explained, relaxing into her fuzzy pillow.
"A few changelings are relaying the offer in Shadowtalon, and one will be repeating the story when you start."

Cimmerian laughed at the idea, even if he'd proposed it.
"This broadcast brought to you by Love. Powering your transmissions since time immemorial."
"We don't have phones and televisions, so I suppose the Link will have to fill in for that until we can work that out.

The two enjoyed the comfort they provided each other for a time, waiting for the young and the curious to arrive. After a sufficient crowd had formed, Cimmerian sat up and cleared his throat.
"I've already told this first one to some of the foals, but this is the holiday that started it. I'll get to the hats in a bit, but for now we're going to focus on a small town situated high in the mountains. It's just about Christmas time, and the citizens are preparing for the celebration. Unbeknownst to them, however, a creature is watching them, one who doesn't share their joy. He's watched for a long time now, knowing that each time this holiday occurs, he would have to spend the next few days listening to the horrendous racket the children would create. He'd had enough. This time he had a plan. The Grinch would steal Christmas."



<-(0)->




He'd told two stories, both the tale of the Grinch(he was quite proud of his ability to remember most of the song and skip the parts he couldn't remember cleanly enough to not draw attention), as well as Santa Claus is Coming to Town. It had been too long for him to remember the songs, both One Foot in Front of the Other and the one by the Burgermeister Meisterburger, but the general flow of the tale was still a fun example of stories for the holiday.
Dinner was served, an amazing combination of local foods prepared in familiar ways and even a few familiar dishes along with a plethora of cookies and cakes baked by the recovering party pony. Cimmerian had been ecstatic, dragging both Slop and Pinkie into a crushing hug when he'd seen the Christmas Dinner.

Knowing the day was fading, Cimmerian called for one last meeting before his trip back to Equestria. He was nearly shaking, even with the encouraging smiles from his new family.

"As many of you know, it was nearly half a year ago now that we started out in the Temple. The ponies here, they were starving. They had the Nightmare's armor and hoped to send the Nightmare against a mare they thought to be just as twisted. The Mad Queen has since shown her true self, a creature similar to the one that had attempted to wipe life from the planet all those years ago by driving Luna to madness.
"But something went wrong. Some may argue that it went right, but the fact of the matter is that the ponies who performed the ritual sought to resurrect the Nightmare. The creature they freed from the armor did not kill them, however. He helped them, protected them while they foraged for desperately needed supplies. He welcomed the changelings, giving them the first place they could openly call their home. He welcomed the griffons, the thestrals, the gnolls. He even went over to Equestria to help destabilize the armies the Mad Queen was creating."

"He never acted alone though. When he defeated the gnolls, it was Princess Luna's memories that he fell into, her memories of spells and combat that allowed him victory. When the Elements of Harmony and Celestia were pulled from the Castle, it was again Luna's memories that were giving him the edge, as well as the aid of Queen Zelus. She was the one who saw that operation to its successful extraction, as I was suffering from the wild magic as well as a concussion. Now I'm going to be leaving for Equestria once more, this time to finally pull that parasite from the throne.
"Many will be returning to their homes afterwards, either to rebuild or merely start again. Others may stay, either because they feel it is their duty to the one who helped them in their time of need or because they feel comfortable here. In either case, I feel it would be prudent to give you all the full story."

"When the Nightmare was defeated by the Elements of Harmony, it did not fall. It instead used a spell to switch places with a creature so far removed from this place, this world that the Elements of Harmony could never find it. That creature, Theodore Fredson, was then trapped in the armor of the Nightmare for forty years. In that time, I managed to cobble together what I could from the memories it left me with, a large mess of memories from the Lunar Alicorn that would sometimes become agitated by events or emotions."

"I was a human, a young man studying to become a member of my country's Guard. I have memories of guarding ponies, of fighting off horrors and mourning friends I have never met. I do not reject those without, because without Shadow Weaver and his group, I would still be trapped in the armor, lost somewhere in the Everfree. I've both learned and been taught how to use my powers over the last few months by one of the best spellcasters on the planet. Without their aid I would have nothing, so why would I reject those in my situation?"

"Not once has any victory my followers achieved been through my actions and my power alone. Luna, Shadow Weaver, Gleam, Celestia, Pandinus, everyone here and those at Shadowtalon as well. It was only through your support and your courage that this town, this country has sprouted from the jungles around us. I have no doubt many will return to their homes. To those who leave, and to those who stay, I have only two words. Thank you. Thank you for making this work, thank you for the blood, sweat and tears you poured into this town, this Sanctuary that has been built from a monument to death. Thank you for believing in me when even I didn't believe in myself, thank you for standing beside each other even when nature and nurture screamed that those I welcomed would only cause us grief."
"I'm going to Zarris tomorrow, hopefully to see both the leaders of the Talons and the Resistance that is growing in Equestria and find a way to end this quickly. Whether you leave or stay, I owe my strength to those who found me a worthy being to follow. As such, I can only wish you all good luck, no matter where your decisions take you."



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Cimmerian wandered back to Din's bedroom after his 'rousing speech'. He felt like he'd betrayed them, going on to tell them all he wasn't the Nightmare. He'd started out using the creature's name though, so now he'd pay the price.
"Better than living a lie, in some ways at least. We'll just have to see."

Din had left before he'd even moved off his makeshift stage, though where she'd gone he couldn't guess. She was unlikely to leave, having already known his origin and seeing no issue with it. Celestia had just smiled as he spoke, though she seemed a bit upset at his wording.
"Wasn't born a politician, so sue me," he chuckled morosely.

Walking into the queen's chamber, he paused as his eyes once more found Din waiting for him. Once more, she was doing her level best to seduce him, though why she felt the need to he had no idea.

"I thought we'd enjoy a little more time together," the queen drawled from the bed, shaking her flanks at him. "It may be some time before you get back."

Cimmerian slowly grinned as he walked into the room, his eyes roving the queen and drawing an excited giggle from her as he approached.
"I knew, I just knew someone would try this. I guess I should be grateful you waited."

"Well, while I won't wander around with it, Cadance said there's no issue with doing such things in the privacy of your own bedroom."

"Ah, so you're getting more help from her, huh? A shame, I like finding out what works through trial and error. Heck, I seem to remember a certain female who was absolutely certain that mating was something done for love and seed. Whatever happened to that?" he said while shutting the door with a burst of magic.

Pandinus had decided to bring the Mistletoe into the bedroom.
"We're all entitled to be stupid every now and again, Cimmerian. Some of us more often than others. You've dipped into your allowance quite heavily over the past few months, wouldn't you say?"
And it wasn't hanging from her horn.