//------------------------------// // Summer's End (Morpheus) Part 1 // Story: dC/dt ≠ 0 // by I Thought I Was Toast //------------------------------// Changing Times’ Notes: Everypony needs a break every now and then. Changelings, perhaps, need them more than others. Their access to the hivemind can constantly wear at them, providing a lot of unnecessary worrying. Ironically, it can be quite difficult for them to perceive this. They can become so used to the stress of juggling hundreds of possibilities that such a state is seen as the norm, and thus, not something in need of alleviation. This problem can, in fact, become so rooted in the analysts and lords that they continue to worry and weigh possibilities in even the happiest of times. As you might guess from the reports so far, Morpheus was one to fall into this category. He assures me he’s better about it—or at least he tries to be better about it—but I sometimes wonder if he really means that or if it’s just a cover to stop us from worrying about him. Summer’s End: A Report by Prince Morpheus of House Sicadia The Summer’s End Festival was an interesting event. Such festivities were not commonplace in the hive, so it was my first real experience with such a mundane holiday celebration. Ve had memories in the archives, of course, but they did not capture the true essence of the festival—colored by their owners biases as they were. The late afternoon sun tried to cast its warmth upon me as the cool breezes of an approaching autumn attempted to thwart its dastardly plans. Alas, the hold of summer was still too strong, and the wind provided only a momentary respite from the latest of a string of lazy summer days. The heat was just under sweltering in that zone where a pony’s only desire was to lay in the grass and watch the sky—maybe read a good book. The grass was soft—invitingly so. It was the kind of soft that made us question why pegasi were so fixated on clouds. There was an entire world of softness out there, and grass on a warm summer day was just one of those sensations that struck us as a classic. With all the negotiations, I hadn’t had any chances to simply lay back and relax outside this past month, and, now that summer was nearing its end, I wouldn’t likely get another chance until next year. Thrumming contentedly, I arched my back, half-contemplating standing before flopping back down on my side. Twilight giggled at the sight, putting away her notebook and pulling out something more recreational to read, levitating the remains of our picnic back into the basket. We had just finished a another discussion ranging from changeling traditions to biological quirks to the inner workings of the hivemind and our magic, and I was beat. The Badlands were hotter, but rarely was there this much moisture in the air, and I didn’t sweat much naturally. Little droplets of water kept condensing on my chitin as today fought to reach one hundred percent humidity. Looking at the sky, I watched clouds drift past. We didn’t have many clouds in the Badlands, just the most piercing blue sky. Here I could look for a bunny or a boat or a banana, all made of the fluffy white stuff. It almost made up for the fact I couldn’t feel warm sand in my fetlocks, because—soft grass or not—nothing beat Badlands sand. It was, ironically enough, as soft as the heavens themselves. At least, I thought so. The Badlands got oddly few tourists for being such beautiful deserts. Perhaps it was the heat or the deadly sand scorpions. It couldn’t possibly be the dune worms, though. The big guys were all giant softies. Inhaling deeply, I let the smell of grass fill my nose. “Twilight?” I exhaled slowly, letting the scent linger as long as possible. “Why does summer have to end here? This isn’t a wild zone. You can afford to keep it going.” “Do you actually need an answer to that?” Twilight looked up at me, face scrunched. From my current angle, she appeared upside down, so I wriggled around to at least turn her sideways if not upright. “I was being rhetorical, but humor me.” Twilight laughed, the cotton candy of her mirth washing over me to linger with the more solid taste of grass on my tongue. The patch beneath me was just so smooth I couldn’t help but nibble on the stuff in curiosity. “Well, we can’t have summer all year long if we want to enjoy fall, spring, or winter. Besides, all year summers would confuse the animals.” “They’d adapt.” I rolled over for a second to buzz my wings. It had been misting earlier, and I had shifted up some wing cases to stop them from getting too wet. Now they ached to be free—if only for a moment. I had no desire to move anymore than necessary, so, as soon as I flicked them enough to get the blood pumping, I promptly fell over onto the ground again. “I mean, this day was just so… perfect. The kind of day I dreamed of when I was young.” I groaned, stretching again. “It might not have enough sand, and it might be too humid, but other than that I couldn’t ask for anything better. I just want to stay here forever….” “And do nothing but talk, like we’ve been doing all day?” Twilight grinned. “I admit, days like this are a luxury for me nowadays. Usually, I need to stay cooped in the library to reach references, or I’m doing Celestia-knows-what for somepony else.” She shook her head. “Not that I’m complaining. I got plenty of me time the day after Chrysalis found me in the Everfree.” “I can’t remember a single day like today.” I thrummed. “There was absolutely nothing to do. Spi, Webber, and Wyrman handled all the orders and reports. Hera chased away the few reporters still trying to follow us. Errant made sure the Crusaders were busy on the other side of town. Ve don’t know what the Echo triplets were up to, but they promised they would help make sure nopony bothered us.” Twilight’s smile became a frown. “Yeah, honestly, it seems a little weird to me. I mean, our ‘date’ isn’t so important that they need to do all that. It’s not like it’s real.” “Presentation is everything.” I sighed. “If only we ‘went out’ like this more often.” “We don’t have time for stuff like this every day.” Twilight’s ears drooped. “Being royalty is hard.” “You said it,” I agreed. There was a butterfly approaching us. A pink one with lemon yellow swirls in its wings. I held as still as possible, hoping to lure it in, because ve could tell that it would be delicious. Slowly, delicately, it landed on the bridge of my muzzle, and crawled forward to poke it's beady little head in front of my eye. I dared not to move, lest I scare it away—waiting for it to move to a more opportune location—and after a minute or so of crawling about on my forehead, it finally meandered to the very tip of my snout. Perfect. In a flash of fangs, my tongue slithered out to pull the unsuspecting snack inside. It was delicate, yet crunchy—wings snapping like a thin piece of candy—and tasted somewhat like daisies. It must have just fed itself. “Eww… Morpheus! Don’t eat the fauna!” Twilight laughed. “If you’re hungry, just come grab leftovers from the basket.” “But that’s too far….” I groaned. “I don’t think you understand how much I don’t want to get up. You got the occasional day off, even as a princess. I’ve been working nonstop since I emerged from my Chrysaling as a lord. As in, not a single day off. Even this past month when I had fun with you and your friends, ve were always worrying about things in the background. Until today, ve never realized how much I needed this. Ve just used any relaxation time I could scrounge up to keep our schemes ahead of the competition.” “Not a single day off?” Twilight frowned. “Sounds like you need more than just one day of doing nothing.” Her ears perked up. “Oh, I know! The Summer’s End Festival is tomorrow. I almost completely forgot about it with everything else going on! We can go together! It’ll be great. She nodded to herself. “We can play carnival games and eat funnel cake and ride the Ferris wheel together. I’ll pay the controller to stop us at the top, and we’ll have the best view of the stars from the fair.” She giggled. “Well, best view if you aren’t a pegasus, but I didn’t have wings when my brother and I went to the Canterlot fair as a foal.” She beamed at me. “Still, it’ll be great. What do you say? You deserve more than a single day off after who knows how long working.” “Maybe….” I thrummed, tail flicking from side to side. “Then again, that would require getting up.” Twilight huffed. “I could always take somepony else and let the papers go wild.” I rolled over to look her dead in the eye and call her bluff. “You wouldn’t dare. You hate that kind of attention.” “Yes,” Twilight cackled. “But someling still needs to learn his lesson about using subtlety when talking about our fake relationship. Can you just imagine what everypony will think if I show up with another date to the Summer’s End Festival?” I held my deadpan gaze several seconds longer before cackling in kind. “Well played, Sparkle. Well played. Ve’ll make a changeling of you yet.” I finally stood, plates clicking and clacking and popping. “What now, then?” I began wrapping the blanket up as Twilight put her book away. She sighed. “Well, Spike is still insisting on cleaning Castle—even knowing Castle’s self-cleaning now—so we should probably grab today’s groceries for him. I just know Castle’s collecting dust and rearranging everything to mess with him.” I shrugged. “Personally, ve think Castle does it so Spike feels like he’s doing something. I know I’d feel intimidated if my competition jumped from pet owl to giant, all-knowing castle.” I shook my head. “It’s certainly an odd way to split the work, though.” Twilight snorted. “Try mean. Castle’s just making more work for Spike.” I set a hoof on her withers. “You and I both know Castle doesn’t have a mean bone in his body— walls?” I tilted my head. “Body works well enough.” Twilight tried to smile again. “And I know. It just sometimes bothers me how much Spike defines himself with his work.” The taste of lemonade and wine wafted through the air. “I mean, I used to be just like that before the Nightmare Moon incident.” “Spike seems more well-rounded, though.” I shrugged, not sure what else to say. Twilight giggled, picking up the now-packed picnic basket and teleporting it away. “Oh, he definitely is, but still…” We began walking toward the market in content silence, the sensation of a fresh babbling brook running over and around us. As we neared the edge of the park, the feeling broke as I shifted into a newer guise of mine. Quick Wit was a gangly, white, unicorn with the build of a sprinter. His mane was a mix of blues that congealed together to look like a smooth blob of toothpaste – an aerodynamically designed blob, while his Cutie Mark was a simple sealed scroll. “Must you go around like that?” Twilight had yet to approve of him for some reason. Every time I tried him out, she seemed to get annoyed. Ve couldn’t figure out why for the life of me. “Or at least go as Wicked Smooth.” She sighed. “Why?” I tilted my head to the side. “Because I know Wicked Smooth. I like Wicked Smooth. Even your Snow Flurry guise would be better because I’ve spent time with her. Quick Wit just feels…” She trailed off, and I could feel her uncertainty—a mish-mashed not-quite tasteless sub-school of confusion. “I just wanted a unicorn to round out my disguises.” I frowned. “If you really don’t like him, though...” With a flash of emerald flames, I turned into Wicked Smooth. I made him a little stockier than usual this time – a bit more earth pony than his gangly frame usually suggested. “I’ll get used to him eventually, I guess.” Twilight gave me a light nudge with her shoulder to let me know everything was alright. As she made contact, I felt the entire breadth of her emotions pour over me—her dry, slightly sour, concern, her refreshingly cool contentment, her usual steely resolve, and even the tiny bit of spicy frustration she felt at being unable to say why Quick Wit vexed her. I tried not to shudder at the sensation. Moments like this made me feel like Twilight was so close to having a heart to heart with me sometimes, but her emotions never responded when I reached out with mine. Alas, it seemed fate simply liked toying with me. Too few of my comrades were comfortable letting me in as it was. I didn’t need to repeatedly encourage the false hope that somepony other than Fluttershy could perform a heart to heart, too. Yet I tried to reach out to her anyways. I let my gratitude shine forth like sunshine. As always, my answer went unheard, so I did the next best thing. I nudged her back in kind, trying to convey everything in a simple touch like she had. It failed, of course. Nothing so mundane could convey so much information, but I smiled at the taste of cotton candy that began wafting from her all the same. Silence fell around us once more as we walked towards the market. Ponies smiled and waved to us—well, to Twilight, at least. I got mostly some stares and nervous shuffling, but occasionally somepony would at least try to wave to me. All the parents just loved Webber, and Errant was a hit with the foals. Ponies respected Hera for saving their princess, and ve aren’t sure they really noticed Spi or Wyrman. Even worse, the Echo triplets were untouchable between their jobs at the spa and their antics at Pinkie’s parties. Most ponies were nervous around me, though, now that they knew what I was. I just needed something to break the ice—something other than being in a fake relationship with their princess. Honestly, that might have been half the problem if they thought I was anything like Mother. Maybe going to the Summer’s End Festival with Twilight would help? No. Bad Morpheus. I shook myself from our musings. I had just gotten done talking to Twilight about this. No need to ruin today or tomorrow with needless worrying. “Hey, guys!” A rainbow blur sped past and looped around to meet up with us. “How’d your date go? I’ve been working overtime the past couple of days to make the weather perfect this week.” “So it’s your fault all I want to do is laze about in this heat?” I arched an eyebrow. “No need to thank me.” Rainbow puffed out her chest and ruffled her wings. “I already know I’m the greatest at making prime napping weather.” “I certainly hope you weren’t planning on making tomorrow this muggy.” Twilight frowned. “Ha! You kidding?” Rainbow launched back into the air, looping around before lazily gliding alongside us. “Prime napping weather today means perfect play weather tomorrow. We’ve been stockpiling breezes all week. Storage is even beginning to overflow if you hadn’t noticed.” Another breeze blew gently over us as we reached an intersection, and the pegasus’ wings twitched to turn with us. “I don’t envy anypony that needs to set up the fair in this heat, though.” Twilight nodded. “It is a bit much.” Rainbow cast her gaze towards Sweet Apple Acres. “Poor Applejack has got it worse, though. She managed to buck the rest of the last summer harvest by yesterday only to be stuck in a blazing hot kitchen with Granny Smith and Applebloom today.” “She’s done it before, and she’ll do it again.” Twilight pulled a checklist from her bag as we neared the market. “Oh, no doubt.” Rainbow smirked. “But she’s ‘crabbier than a crab apple.’ Threatened three times to hogtie me ‘fast as a six-legged sow seeking slop’ if I kept making things ‘sultry as steaming horseapples.’” She waggled her eyebrows and the taste of apples, honey, and leather was strong. “Not that I mind a bit of hogtying when it’s sultry.” “You should talk to Mother sometime, then.” I snorted. “That kind of thing is right up her alley.” Rainbows smirk turned into a frown. “Not. Cool. Dude.” I shrugged. “Don’t remind me of Mother, then. After a couple years of her particular… tastes… I really don’t like to think about them.” “You?” Rainbow arched an eyebrow. “The changeling who explained—in detail to at least half a dozen reporters—the various methods in which you’d be able to keep Twilight happy?” “This isn’t happening….” Twilight sank behind her checklist blushing. “I thought we were all moving on from that incident….” Ve decided it would be unwise to mention Twilight’s earlier threat of taking another ‘date’ to the festival tomorrow, instead responding to Rainbow’s far too cocky smile. “Everypony has preferences,” I shrugged, “and there are plenty of ways to please a mare that don’t require asserting dominance.” Rainbow drifted closer and winked. “Such as?” I sighed, rubbing the base of my horn with a hoof. The air was full of the thick, bouncy, rubber that was Twilight’s embarassment, and I really didn’t want this conversation to continue if it bothered her that much. Besides, as tempted as ve were to discuss the finer points of intimacy with Rainbow, I couldn’t help but feel like it would be a hollow conversation. Rainbow had been nothing but the definition of friendly lately. I enjoyed it at first, but after a while ve noticed that there was a discrepancy in Rainbow’s interactions between me and the others. She was more… casual, for lack of a better term. Normally, such would be an upside—especially compared to her original hostility—but it lacked the sincerity of proper emotion. Or perhaps there was too much sincerity in her emotions. It was difficult to describe as ve had never imagined such a possibility—that somepony would be too friendly—but that was the state of things as they were. I’d even secretly checked if someling had replaced her or put a spell on her, but, no, Rainbow was acting of her own accord, and ve were flummoxed as to her motives. “Aww… geeze… I think I broke him, Twi.” Rainbow poked me with a hoof and I blinked – my surroundings suddenly reasserting themselves on my senses. “I think he’s just trying to think of a way to respond, Dash.” Twilight giggled, still blushing slightly as she patted me on my withers. “Probably my fault more than anything else. I think he’s trying to figure out a way to be tactful.” “Pssht!” Rainbow scoffed. “He don’t need no tact with me.” “But Twilight would prefer I not share any sensitive information on our relationship.” I nodded respectfully to the mare in question. “I would prefer not to embarrass my marefriend any further.” “Whatever.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I suppose Twilight would be all sappy about it.” She flew far closer to me than I thought physically possible and stage whispered. “Guess I’ll just spike her drink at the next sleepover. Just remember, big guy, you had a chance to spill, and girls talk about everything.” “I heard that, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight rolled her eyes as Dash flew away laughing. Turning to me, she smiled and whispered quietly. “Thank you for not saying anything. I mean, not that there’s anything to say, but I was worried you’d start bluffing.” I smiled and nodded in turn before frowning as an odd thought came to mind. “What do you actually talk about at sleepovers? Ve are aware of a number of patterns for potential slumber party conversation, but it tends to differ from group to group.” “Oh, you know…” Twilight waved a hoof dismissively, “…stuff.” “What a highly illuminating answer.” I deadpanned. She giggled. “I really mean it. We talk about a bit of everything, although Dash was exaggerating when she flew off.” She blushed again. “I would never talk about stuff like that... except… maybe with Cadance….” “Let’s go get those groceries then!” She was behind the shopping list without warning. “Let’s see… Spike’s making rose quartz soup so… I believe we have the flour and vegetable oil already… one pound of rose petals… some celery, apples, and red peppers… some form of vegetable stock... a half-stone worth of actual rose quartz—must be a Pie family recipe—and five Trinicorn moruga scorpions?” Twilight’s face scrunched. “Make that a Pinkie Pie recipe, then.” “Sounds spicy and sweet.” Ve licked our chops in anticipation. “How does one prepare it?” “Umm…” Twilight frowned, eye twitching, before momentarily disappearing in a flash of light. When she reappeared, she was clutching an amused looking dragon in her magic. “Really, Twilight?” Spike snickered, looking smug. “Is your first response to getting asked a question on food really to come running to me?” “Maybe.” Twilight huffed. “I panicked, alright? You know how I get when I’m asked a question I should know.” “But you don’t know cooking.” Spike arched an eyebrow. “It’s basically applied chemistry!” Twilight snapped. “I’ll learn it one of these days.” “Right…” Spike rolled his eyes. “Let’s just grab those ingredients. Yo, flyboy.” He looked at me, the faintest whiff of oranges and cotton candy directed at me. “You wanted to know how I make my magic?” I nodded politely, bowing my head. “Then let’s walk and talk.” We started moving through the marketplace, starting with the rose petals which were at a nearby stand. A cream-colored earth pony managed the stand, and she nodded cheerfully to Twilight and Spike as we walked up. “Hiya, Princess, Spike! What can I get you?” “A pound of your finest rose petals, Roseluck.” Spike slapped the top of the stand twice. “Make sure it’s the good stuff.” Roseluck giggled, opening a small ice box I hadn’t noticed before and removing a bag of chilled petals. “I take it you’re cooking again?” “You bet!” The dragon snatched the bag and squinted at it carefully, tongue sampling the air every so often. “I think these will work. Freshly plucked this morning?” “You know it!” Roseluck nodded. “They’re from my personal stock, too. I know you’re picky enough to tell the difference between a rose I grew and a rose Daisy or Lily grew.” “Perfect!” Spike snapped a claw. “Twilight, pay this good mare!” Twilight tittered. “Yes, your highness.” As his caretaker completed the transaction, Spike turned to me. This is probably the most important ingredient. The quartz might be more important, but only to me.” He weighed the bag heftily in his claw. “A quarter cups worth of this is going to be crushed to a fine pulp and mixed into the flour and vegetable oil to make a variant of roux. It’ll be heated at medium heat for five to eight minutes—stirring constantly with the rose quartz soaking in it—and, when it’s done, the roux should be a rich rosy red.” As Twilight finished, we moved on, yet Spike carefully continued, scrutinizing me carefully. “Next you add the fruit, veggies, and remaining rose petals – cooking those in the roux for about five minutes. Chopped celery. Sliced Red Gala apples. Diced red peppers and Trinicorn moruga scorpions. They all need to soak in the roux—stirring occasionally—to spread and mix the flavors.” He paused as we reached a stand selling various rocks and stocks. Sniffing both as he had the rose petals, he settled on an onion stock and several small pieces of rose quartz. “Not sure about the onion stock, but let’s live life on the edge.” He shook his head. “Anyways, lastly add the stock and bring to a boil before letting simmer on low heat for half an hour.” He licked his lips. “Serve fresh for best taste, but keep the quartz for dessert.” As we moved onto the produce stands, ve began to crunch the numbers and run a simulation—relying on various emotional substitutes. Finishing an exact analysis of what combination of emotions were needed, ve spun them synthetically into a small patch of spare silk in our corbiculae. Putting the silk to our tongue, ve found it to be the perfect combination of sweet and spicy. Wait. The spice was picking up. It was picking up fast, and had a kick to rival the bucking sun. “By the Azure Veil, that’s hot!” I quickly spat the silk out. My heart was on fire, nearly exploded as it pumped sweet agony through my body in what can only be described as pure catharsis. “Hey!” Spike glared. “No cheating to get a taste.” He gestured vehemently to the silk. “I don’t know what you did, but it’s lacking all the texture and finer details.” I wilted, ear tubes splaying back. “But—” “Don’t you ‘but’ me, mister. I’ve been preparing food for Twilight almost as long as I’ve been hatched. You might live in Twilight’s castle, but her kitchen is my domain—my lair—and don’t you forget it.” I looked to Twilight for help, but she only giggled at my misfortune. “Now you see why I had to get him? He would have lectured me for an hour if I’d been the one to answer your question—especially if I did it wrong.” “And you were going to get ingredients without me,” the dragon chided. “That would have totally earned you another half hour.” “He’s a regular old tyrant in the kitchen, isn’t he?” I droned. The doors to Castle groaned as they slowly opened. It was a majestic groan, but a groan nonetheless, and it echoed up and down the halls, announcing our return to anypony who heard it. “We’re back, everypony!” Twilight called as walked in the bags of ingredients. She paused for a second as she passed the threshold, head tilting. “I mean, everyling!” She shook her head. “Gosh that’s starting to get confusing. Maybe I should write a paper addressing the current pony-centric state of the Equish language. We could really stand to shift the standard to focus on generic indefinite pronouns. ‘Someone’, perhaps…. Or maybe, ‘everycreature.’” I shrugged. “It’ll still be a problem in most other languages. I know Chitri has various intonations to denote variances in group composition, but we rarely use any form beyond ling or occasionally pony. No real practical purpose when only changelings speak the language.” “Well I suppose—” Twilight began handing the groceries to Spike, pulling her notebook from the aether. “Uncle Mo Mo!” Errant exploded from one of the hallways in a fervent buzzing of wings. I braced my forelegs—deploying the stabilization rods, yet creating a cushion like density for the outer layer of chitin—and Errant slammed into me, wrapping my right leg in a death grip. They thrummed as I fed them bits of my happiness upon seeing them, and they tossed me theirs in kind. Electric pride tingled from me to him at the exchange, further spoiling him. I didn’t care, though. Errant’s perfect willingness to have heart to hearts was one of the things helping me reach out to the others. “I’ll just leave you two to your moment.” Twilight smiled at the interruption. “I’ll be in the library if anyling needs me.” I let Errant spend a few more moments of constricting my legs before pulling them off of my leg and onto my back. They turned around several times before settling down to watch the occasional twitch of my tail like a cat hunting prey. “So how was your date?” Their eyes never left my tail. Flicking once or twice at the question, I glanced around to make sure Spike had gone to the kitchen. “Same as usual, although you know it’s not a date.” They batted at my tail as it darted about. “Not true. It fulfills all the criteria of a date. I asked Sweetie Belle about it today when she had the Crusaders try writing romance. Ve thought there had to be kissing and stuff, but she was really adamant about the fact that different ponies had different kinds of romances. They blinked their haw. “Then she got kinda flustered when ve asked her if I could write a more passionate romance. Didn’t like my example of an alicorn of lust learning to love at all.” I thrummed. “Ve imagine she wouldn’t. It’s not very age appropriate for pony foals.” “It totally was!” Errant pouted. “Ve remembered to censor everything this time! I didn’t want father getting scolded by everypony’s parents like a week ago when we tried becoming rap stars!” “Well, I suppose an alicorn of lust must have just been too cliche.” I chuckled. Errant’s pout transmogrified, becoming larger than it had any right to be. “She suggested I write about you and Twilight, but I can’t do that if you aren’t actually dating. Why can’t you two just get over your denial and get on with it?” I blinked, head tilting to the side like clockwork. “What?” “Nevermind…” Errant sighed before muttering to himself. “Grown ups are so stupid sometimes….” I chuckled again, letting it go. Nymphs would be nymphs. They all went through that phase, thinking they saw love in everything.