Twilight was nervously tapping her carapace covered fingers on armrest of her seat as they rolled down the road between ponyville and Canterlot in a carriage. Twilight looked at the changelings in the carriage with her, ad at those walking or flying nearby out of the window. Her personal honor guard consisting of 7 changelings. She called them her Wraiths due to their battle plating covering their entire faces to seem like they didn’t have one. Ceren had crafted more of her weapons for them as well, and each were trained in both Hunter and Defender tactics. All but Nictus were born very recently, given their training through the hive mind and grown through excess Love and magical influence in their birthing pods.
“Nilan, you’re fretting even more than I am. Is something on your mind or is it just my nerves bleeding through?” Twilight asked her second in command sitting across from her. The changeling girl was tapping fingers on the wood, on her carapace, on her bow and shifting every few seconds.
“S-Sorry, Mother… I’m just anxious to be there. It’s so strange being away from the hive and out of the forest… Our reception in ponyville has helped, but I know Canterlot will be far worse.” The girl explained, though it seemed that giving her anxieties a voice helped her calm them further and she stopped most of her twitching.
“Canterlot itself is full of good people, it’s the Nobility we have to worry about.” Twilight said with a sigh. She looked at her Wraiths again. Nilan was across from her, and next to the two of them were two more. Vera and Bie had focused on medical training and had developed a stronger strain of their toxin. They could reverse their toxin glands to produce a medicinal salve that accelerated natural healing and spread nutrients and other important minerals to help speed the regrowing of carapace and bone. To humans, it would help regrow hair and things like nails.
Shrike, Nictus, Nila and Kree were outside. Shrike and Kree had taken to their wings quite spectacularly and even now were competing to who could do the best stunts while staying in range of the carriage. Nictus and Nila were walking in front of the carriage, lowly discussing situations and mock scenarios. Nila was an amazing strategist and would often stump Nictus rather than the other way around, but Keine was always better than her when it came to large scale strategy.
“You still feel so much love for these places. I hope it will be reciprocated, I’m not entirely sure I can keep my cool if they start spitting on you…” Nilan admitted softly. Twilight put a hand on her shoulder and attempted to lift her spirits with humor.
“Oh, if they spit on me I’ll spit back. I wonder if they know we spit toxic and organic cement?” She said with a giggle, to which Nilan snorted. She didn’t reply though, but her resting smirk told Twilight that she was imagining the scenario and found it quite amusing.
The carriage lurched to a halt, unexpectedly, and Twilight immediately pinged the hive mind to figure out why. She heard from both her own ears, and the ears of her wraiths outside, that there was a group of people shouting at her Changelings.
“-nd if I have to kill you bugs to do it then I’ll happily do so! Let those people go or die like the slaver scum you are!” A man continued screaming at Nictus’ unamused face.
“Waaaaaaaait wait wait, you think we’re transporting slaves? The hell you think we are, we stopped kidnapping people the second peace was established!” Nictus fumed. There was a group of maybe five or six men with surprisingly high quality equipment.They may have been off duty royal guards or retired police maybe.
“Well then why do you have an EQUESTRIAN carriage with you? Either you stole it, or you’re trying to steal its passengers!” The other man retorted. Nictus facepalmed.
“Yes, that is our ultimate ploy to take over Equestria. We’ll kidnap a random carriage of equestria citizens even though we’re on our way to negotiate peace again. And THEN we’ll BRING that cart of kidnapped people straight to the CAPITAL. Come on human, you know where this road leads. We’ve been authorized to defend ourselves if lethal force is used.” Nictus explained. Her nonchalant demeanor just pissed the man off further. He made to draw his sword, but when they didn’t even react to the attempt he paused. Then he thought about what she said.
It actually made sense, and that pissed him off even more.
“Well… Then I guess you stole it!” He snipped, drawing his sword. His men did the same with their weapons. Nictus just rolled her eyes.
“Look pal, we just want to get through. If you’re so convinced that we stole this carriage, then you’re more than welcome to walk along and turn us in at the royal guardhouse when we get to Canterlot. Until then, sheathe your weapons or we will be forced to incapacitate you. And we don’t have room to carry a bunch of lumps with us.” Nictus replied, but judging by the fact that he remained where he was and refused to sheathe his weapon she guessed only the threat recognized. She sighed and made a few clicking noises. Kree and Shrike dropped out of the clouds almost soundlessly, only one of the two archers noticing in time to even yelp before the two had landed on the both of them and planted their heads into the mud.
Nictus and Nila hadn’t even extended their weapons or battle plating as they disarmed and disabled the leader and one of his other men. When the shock finally abated, the last of the humans screamed and charged at the four changelings, but were quickly disabled and disarmed as well.
Twilight hated every second of it, but she was just happy her children didn’t use their right of self defense to kill them and instead incapacitated them relatively unharmed. Nictus poked her head through the window of the carriage to look at her.
“Strip their gear, we’ll drop it off at the guard station. It’s definitely theirs, though whether it’s stolen or they’re off duty it’s better in their hands than out in the mud. It’s not cold enough for them to freeze so they can sleep in the dirt tonight.” Twilight commanded. Nictus nodded and the Wraiths outside were already doing as she ordered. Nilan gave her a questioning look, the question conveying through it.
“Don’t worry, we’ll tell them they’re here. On the wings of the Valkyrie corps it’s only a little ways away. I wish we could have just flown ourselves, but if we arrived in anything other than a marked carriage then it could make things worse.” She answered, finishing with another sigh as she leaned into Vera’s shoulder next to her. Surprised by the sudden contact, the girl froze. Bie smirked at her face, though he was a little jealous.
“Wake me when we arrive, I was too anxious to sleep during the day.” She asked. The three nodded. Vera was terrified for only a moment longer before she felt her mother’s ambient love seeping out of her. They all felt it and relaxed a little. Even those outside and in the air could grasp at the wispy dregs that made it out so far. Luckily for them, the rest of the trip was uneventful.
They all nearly panicked when they failed to rouse her when they reached the gatehouse, but the guard running it recognized her well enough and let them pass. He thanked them for returning the equipment, it had been stolen after a new batch of recruits ran off when they heard Changelings were coming.
They DID panic when they finally reached the palace and they still couldn’t rouse her. Celestia and Luna, who had been happily waiting in front of the door, gained worried expressions when Twilight didn’t leave the carriage. They started walking over when Nictus and the others poked their heads in and started speaking quickly to each other.
“What’s wrong, is she alright?” Celestia asked, worried. Nictus’ head shot back out and quickly shook her hands in front of her.
“No no, I mean yes! She’s fine, we’re just having trouble waking her up… I hadn’t realized how much sleep she’s been missing…” The Huntress explained, finishing with a hand rubbing the back of her head. “She spends so much time immersed and forgets to sleep often, my guess is this is her first nap in days.” She continued, looking back at the carriage. Luna still looked worried, but Celestia just giggled and rolled her eyes.
“If it isn’t studying it’s… immersing… I guess. Here, I’ll take care of it.” The Princess said, walking over to the carriage. All of their first instincts was to bar the Princess access to their vulnerable queen, but they did not act on it as Celestia opened the door and peered inside. Nictus had to shoot Nilan a quick glare when the girl made agitated clicks as Celestia touched Twilight, but all sighed in relief when no harm came to her. Instead, Celestia picked up the girl from her seat and turned to the changelings.
“Oh don’t look so surprised. She lived at the palace for years as my student. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to carry her to her bed.” She said, almost beaming. She never thought she’d be able to do this again. The changelings were a little apprehensive at first, but the love coming off of the princess was almost like a physical aura it was so strong. They had only ever felt it twice before. It was love that came from Chrysalis, and love that came from Twilight -though obviously they could never feed from the first. It was the love of a mother.
“I suppose you never did care much for keeping appearances up around your pupil, Sister.” Luna said, rolling her eyes. The nobility had begun gathering around and were whispering to each other at the spectacle of Celestia cradling the changeling queen almost like a child. A few even stormed up to voice their opinions apparently.
“My Princess, how could you stain your image by even touching one of those foul creatures?!” The man exclaimed. If looks could kill, he’d have died instantly as not only Celestia, but Luna and every other Changeling shot him a glare.
“I won’t even dignify that statement with a response.” Celestia snipped after a moment of silence. She didn’t like getting angry at her subjects. Luna, however, wasn’t as kind as Celestia walked around him with the sleeping queen in her arms.
“I’m almost glad I can’t remember your name, because if I did I’d have it stripped of all titles for insulting our allies so readily. Save your drivel for the council meeting.” She almost sneered as she shoved past him. The changelings took that as their cue to follow the princesses and virtually swarmed around the nobles all at once to get around them. Luna couldn’t help but snicker at the terrified reactions.
“I think I’m going to like it here.” Nictus said offhandedly, joining Luna’s side as the others flanked closely behind.
“I hope so, Tia and I went through a few hoops to make this happen. I heard about the fiasco on the road, by the way. Thank you for not hurting them.” Luna said, inclining her head to the Huntress at the end. Nictus was caught off guard by it.
“Uh… of course, it was not our first instinct of course… but I could feel Twilight’s intentions even if she wanted to see what we would do on our own.” The Huntress replied. Luna nodded.
“I admire your restraint then, if that man just now had said something like that in my presence even a year or two ago I probably would have put him on the ground at the very least.” She said, huffing a bit. “But my sister has taught me the value of self control again. Although, I think the only reason SHE didn’t do it herself was because she was holding your queen.” She continued, snickering at the end.
“Perhaps, I do not know your sister or yourself very well yet. I am glad we aren’t blocked by formalities right now.” Nictus admitted. Luna nodded in response.
“My Sister has instilled in me her habit of throwing formalities to the wind when in the company of friends.” She said with a smile, making sure to emphasize the friends part. That made the changelings smile as they caught up to Celestia.
“Oh… I’m sorry… I just wanted to read one more chapter…” They heard Twilight’s tired voice mumble, causing Celestia to giggle as the girl nuzzled further into Celestia’s shoulder. It was a lot smaller than she remembered.
“Knowing you, it wasn’t just one more chapter. Come on, you my not be as heavy as you remember but I fear I’m losing my grip and I’d rather not fumble you.” Celestia replied. Twilight opened her eyes and looked around, causing Celestia to giggle again as the girl looked dumbfounded.
“O-Oh! Right!... sorry…” She said, quickly buzzing out of Celestia’s hands and aligning herself properly on the ground. “I guess I needed more than a little nap huh?” She said, looking at her wraiths.
“You can say that again! I thought you had died for a second!” Nilan exclaimed, almost scoldingly. This earned Twilight a chuckle before they continued walking.
“You should have just pinged my mind. I may had been having a good dream, but I know what it means when you suddenly appear in them.” Twilight retorted. Nilan almost fell over as her step faltered. She really should have just done that, since shaking her didn’t work. She just grumbled as they walked.
“I must say, Twilight, it’s encouraging to see your… subjects… with so much personality. Even before your degeneration they hadn’t quite become this outgoing.” Celestia said. Twilight laughed and Nilan shrank a bit in embarrassment.
“We’ve been working on it, and everyone here except for Nictus of course is newly born only a month ago. While I haven’t supplied my life force to their pods like a new queen should, I used a bit of magic and an extreme amount of love to accelerate their learning and growth.” Twilight explained.
“Oh I see, so they’re only what teenagers then?” The solar princess asked. Twilight nodded.
“Oh this is going to be interesting.” Luna mused. “I hope they know how to act during a council meeting, children are notoriously bad at that.” She continued. Celestia snorted.
“So are you, little sister.” She retorted, putting emphasis on the little. Luna huffed and pouted at that, only putting more truth to the comment. The changelings were a little stunned by the interaction in general, but Twilight was basking in it. This is the first time she’s really been able to be with the princesses like this again. She never realized how much she missed it.
They finally reached their destination, however. When Twilight awoke, they had altered their course to head to the throne room instead of Twilight’s old quarters in the astronomy tower. There was already a small crowd in the seats along the walls, all nobility, and a large table had been brought in to sit in front of the thrones. With a wordless command, Twilight’s wraiths took seats in the cordoned off part of the crowd specifically for them while she and the princesses took seats at the table alongside the other councilmen.
“You’re late, as usual.” One of them said in a tired tone. It seemed she was expected to be late.
“Well of course I’m late Derius, when you set the scheduled time five minutes after we arrive that happens. Unless we were sprinting through the halls we were doomed to disappoint.” Luna replied, just as snarkily. The man chuckled and they all took their seats.
“Good to see your humor is still in good taste. Anyways, I believe we have a very important topic today.” The man continued. Celestia nodded.
“ As I’ve told you before, negotiations and agreements have already been hashed out and put into place for the peace between the Changeling Hive in the Scarred Forest and Equestria. The purpose of this meeting is to ensure that we all know what’s happening and to hash out any new developments.” Celestia said, gathering some papers on the table and using her magic to spread them out between the council members. Most of them skimmed what they already knew and the rest read silently for a few moments.
“What’s with the research funding? Aren’t we already funding their research?” One asked a minute later.
“We’re funding the research of the changeling race already, this other funding will be for technology. Twilight was already one of the lead researchers for Glyphs and combining them with modern technology, I want to make sure it continues. If you remember, the magic batteries that are lighting this room are of her design.” Celestia explained.
“Oh yeah, I remember that now. I have to go sniff out my old blueprints from the library back in Ponyville…” Twilight piped out, surprised she had forgotten about them for so long.
“Understandable then…” The noble resigned.
“And as far as the degeneration research goes, I do not expect government funding be spared for it since it is no longer a lethal threat, but I will begin fundraising for it and help fund it personally if needed.” The Princess continued.
“I second that.” Luna agreed to do the same. Some of the council members muttered to themselves for a few moments.
“Fundraising donations are obviously not under our control, just make sure people know what they’re supporting.” Derius finalized. The Princesses nodded.
“Before we move on to the fine print, I have something I wish to share with you as allies.” Twilight piped up again, this time much more serious. The group all gave her their attention.
“Earlier today, before I set off, I discovered an individual that was not part of my hive in my ranks. This confirms the presence of other hives and queens, and they appear to have very different ways of living. I sent the spy off to tell his queen I wished to speak peacefully, but I don’t know what will come of it.” Twilight explained. Everyone looked at her for a while.
“Are… you asking for assistance?” Derius asked. Twilight shook her head.
“I am letting my allies know of an important event. I will, of course, push for peace. If there are any diplomats that wish to return to the hive with us to wait I would be happy to accommodate them. I don’t know when the message will be received, but I would like there to be an Equestrian presence present if they do come in peace at the very least.” She explained. The group generally agreed, which was honestly surprising to the princesses. They could just feel the buzz of whispered voices coming from the Nobility, the only thing keeping them quiet was the fact that all of their government leaders were here.
“If anything happens regarding Equestria, I will of course keep you all posted as well as the princesses. If you have a diplomat there with us then I will protect them with my life if needed should peace be found impossible. In the meantime, I would like to request a spot in the Equestrian court for my people. I already have a diplomat in mind.” Twilight continued.
“I was actually going to ask if you had plans to do so, coincidentally.” Derius started. “Are they here with you?” He asked. Twilight shook her head.
“Chrys was the one who originally approached the princesses for peace, I’d like to have her return. I only took my honor guard out of respect but she can be here within two days if needed.” Twilight replied. Celestia smiled at the name, she liked that changeling.
“Very well, I second the notion.” Derius agreed. The Princesses agreed as well as most of the other councilmen, though the few that refused conceded in the end. A slight uproar from the Nobility caused the meeting to pause.
“If you have something to say then say it already, we haven’t got all night.” Derius groaned, pinching his sinuses, as the nobles practically yelled at the almost unanimous decision. A woman stepped up.
“Dame Violet Rose, at your service sir. We representatives of the noble families find the ease at which you allow these creatures a presence in our court concerning. Were they not ravenous monsters but weeks ago?” The woman said. Twilight scowled. The Princesses would have as well if this wasn’t an official council meeting.
“That has been rectified currently, Crystal Rose. There were no deaths or even injuries reported during the degeneration. Queen Chrysalis had the insight to pull back all but her harvesters long before they became ravenous. It actually caused the degeneration to accelerate, just to protect Equestrian people.” Celestia explained, not able to completely keep the sting from her tone.
“With all do respect, your highness, you are biased towards these creatures since your student is the one sitting next to you.” Rose huffed. Celestia let her narrowed eyes slip through her composure.
“I swear an oath every time I set foot in this room, Dame, that if I feel that I am allowing any bias to sink into my official duties then I would excuse myself and allow another to take my place. Yes, Twilight Sparkle was once my student and is still very dear to me, but I make these decisions for our people rather than her individually.” The frustrated princess replied.
“And that’s why we’re here, Dame Rose.” Derius reminded her. Sure, they all knew Twilight from before, but most of them couldn’t care less about the girl.
“Besides, I am only here out of necessity. I make these negotiations in Chrysalis’ stead.” Twilight added.
“Then where is Chrysalis, could she not appear in fear that the invasion would return to our minds? Because it’s most definitely not just her that does it.” Rose almost spat. The other changelings in the room had to use every ounce of self control not to hiss and bar their fangs at the woman, Twilight sure as hell did for that.
“Queen Chrysalis is currently recovering. I am Queen in her stead.” Twilight managed to get out, though it was far from an even tone. Crystal Rose smirked at the jab hitting home.
“Dame Crystal Rose, I suggest you retake your seat. For one who speaks of bias, I haven’t heard anything besides it in your comments. I’ve already come an inch from stripping one nobleman’s title and authority today, I at least know your name.” Luna said calmly, though there was certainly no veiled words to hide the threat. The woman just stared at them for a moment.
“Dame Rose, please.” Derius urged. The woman huffed again but did as she was told. The councilman shuffled a few papers and looked back around the table.
“I am impressed at your kin’s self control, Queen Twilight. Even I could feel their distaste from here, yet all I saw were glares.” One of the other councilmen chuckled. The changelings in question simmered down at the praise and resigned to continue watching the meeting intently. Twilight beamed at the compliment, especially since she was too distracted to calm them herself at the time and resigned to give them each a love filled hug later.
“Back to the meeting…” Luna suggested. There was about an hour more of discussion and parsing out details and numbers before they finally parted. All in all, Celestia was overjoyed to see that the city’s choice in council members was more than adequate. She was once again convinced the nobility should be abolished, but she couldn’t possibly do unless she wanted to start a revolt. Even title-less and without real authority, most nobility would retain their wealth and properties. Money starts more wars than everything, after all.
But Celestia drove that from her thoughts, her smile returning as Twilight and Luna chatted about some of their more interesting research projects as they made their way to the royal dining hall for dinner.
“Uh… Princess?” One of the changelings asked, cautiously poking Celestia to get her attention. She tried to abate the boy’s apprehension by replying with a warm smile. It seemed to do a little as he took a deep breath.
“U-Um… I know, from the hive mind’s memories, that you were very close to Momma… What’s it like to feel the love between you reciprocated? I-I mean of course Momma loves us, and we can even feed off it it… And we love Momma more than anything, but sometimes it feels like we’re just pretending since we can’t feed her…” The changeling boy asked. Celestia felt her heart soften at the question.
“I can promise you, she doesn’t need to feed from your love for it to be real. Having love Reciprocated is an incredible feeling, as you all know by now I assume. Twilight loves each and every one of you as if you were her own. You lot are technically hers are you not?” Celestia asked, choosing not to imagine the way that would be implied in Equestria.
They all nodded their heads, but then shook their heads.
“Momma Twilight doesn’t want to be Queen. Not really, but she happily does so. She loves us as Momma Chrysalis would in her stead, but even we are still grown with Momma Chrysalis’ love signature and genetics.” Bie explained. Celestia nodded, remembering the full report Twilight wrote up for her on how they reproduce. Changelings are grown in birthing pods, the pods are based on the love signature and genetic template of the queen when they are created and the nutrient solution inside keeps the growing creature alive. The whole thing is rather like a large egg, except it is created externally and not internally and laid.
“Of course she doesn’t want to be Queen. She can more than handle the pressure and responsibilities of it, but did you know she used to be a princess just like me? In Equestria?” Celestia asked. The changelings all nodded.
“She resigned because she didn’t want to be swamped in royal duties here in Canterlot. She wanted to make sure she could still spend time with her friends, now I’d imagine the only thing placating her need to be with her new children is her ability to… Immerse I think she called it?” She continued.
“Oh yes! She lets her consciousness immerse fully in the Hive Mind. I can’t describe it, because I can’t do it, but we all feel her presence directly then. She watches over us and can see what we see. Feel what we feel. She can calm us down if we’re scared, give us praise when we do right or even scold us if we do wrong. All at once, from anywhere she wants. I kind’ve miss it right now, since she’s spent most of the past month straight like that… but I know she needs to be awake a lot more.” Vera piped up.
“Certainly makes our job more interesting, that’s for sure.” Nilan added. Celestia nodded and smiled at them as they reached the dining hall.
“I am afraid I’ll have to skip this meal tonight, Sister. I have an important matter to take up in Night Court now that the council meeting is over.” Luna said when they finally arrived.
“Oh is Rattling Coin back with his half baked tax plans?” Celestia said with mild annoyance.
“No… Well, I mean yes, but that’s not the issue. I’ll give you a full transcript of course, but it involves my Night Guard.” The Lunar Princess replied. Celestia nodded and they shared a quick hug before Luna trudged off in the other direction. She always hated court.
“In the meantime, feel free to ask for whatever you wish. Equestria is mostly vegetarian, but we have quite the exotic kitchens due to the many foreign diplomats we house. I’ve even been known to enjoy a nice cut of steak when I’m in a certain mood.” Celestia explained. The changeling's eyes widened, and mouths slightly watered, at the mention of steak.
“They probably don’t have Lasher meat on hand, but if memory serves you do have Manticore right? I’ve been wanting to try it out ever since I regained my memory.” Twilight said with a smile. Celestia grinned and nodded. She had actually just made sure their meat stores were fully stocked when she decided to call Twilight to Canterlot.
“Oooohhhh…. Manticore steak…” The changeling children all buzzed in response.