//------------------------------// // A Rock // Story: The Fractured Unity // by Time Reaper //------------------------------// As time passed and things started to calm down, Twilight Sparkle started to asses what she just heard a few minutes ago. Apparently Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were about to discuss with two changeling queens about something, probably regarding both her and the citizens of Ponyville's foalnapping at the hands of that disguised changeling. As Twilight's mind started to settle in from the weird experience she had on that cocoon, she started to wonder if all of this, the idea of talking with those two queens, was a good idea to begin with. By that, she meant that she had her doubts about what those queens would like to discuss and that was something on which she wasn't alone. "Hey, Twilight" -. The scholar unicorn turned as she saw her friend, Rainbow Dash, speaking to her in a very low tone, just enough for her to listen as the rest of her friends surrounded her. - "From what I understand, is Princess Celestia really going to talk to those two? Why aren't we kicking their flanks right now?" Twilight understood her concern but, sadly, she saw no other way out. So she answered Rainbow Dash on the same low tone as her. "I understand your concern Rainbow, but, there are innocent civilians here and who knows what could happen to them if we fight those queens" -. In that moment she decided to give a look at the two queens who were discussing about something as well, the blue queen (filled with scars across her body) catching almost all of Twilight's attention. - "For all we know, those two queens have enough power to equal the princesses in one way or another and that fight its not worth risking civilians." In that moment the blue queen turned and saw Twilight, her cold eyes and stone face sending shivers towards Twilight's spine. Twilight, quickly, decided to turn away, hoping the blue queen didn't notice Twilight looking at her. And there was the problem, who knew what she was capable off? That was the great concern but, before she could speculate more about the blue queen, Rainbow continued on her discussion. "I know but, I just don't like sitting here and do nothing. Can't we at least talk to the princesses about it?" Twilight took a moment to think about it and saw the importance of it, so she decided to comply and talk to Princess Celestia about the dialogue coming ahead. As she got closer to Princess Celestia, she saw some glimmer of happiness looking at her, which made Twilight very happy in turn. "My faithful student, I'm so glad to see you back." Said Celestia with a warmth tone of voice which made Twilight respond in the same warmth way. "Me too, princess. I'm sorry for falling on that trap, I promise I won't fall again." In that moment, she saw Celestia's eyes widening quite a bit but then quickly kept her cool face and continued to talk to her as if she saw nothing. "Do not worry my faithful student, you went through something that I wouldn't wish on anypony." In that moment, Twilight decided to press a little bit about what were they expecting to talk about but, before she could even open her mouth, the changeling that, from what Twilight understood, foalnapped her and her friends came back, announcing that the meeting room was ready. "My apologies for taking so long, your Majesties, but it was in my desires to make the room as appropriate for the occasion as possible. Now, if you excuse me, you can follow me to your meeting room." The changeling queens quickly started to move, with the blue queen, Twilight noticed, limping on one of her legs, and followed the little changeling as Twilight heard the bronze looking queen responding. "Ah, thank you Diamantis, it makes me glad that you've done the proper preparations for this sudden meeting. Please do take us my little one." The kindness and softness in her voice greatly contrasted with the blue queen's frozen tone of voice, who didn't even thank her. All she did was lean her head close to Diamantis' ears and whispered something to her, something that (for some reason) made her smile a lot. In that moment, Princess Luna looked at her sister, prodding her to move, at which Celestia quickly nodded and then talked to Twilight. "And now, if you excuse me, I'm going to get into the bottom of this." And, as the princesses moved to follow the changeling queens, Twilight couldn't help but feeling as if they were entering into a trap of some kind, she wanted to go with them and make sure that everything would go fine, but she wasn't invited for it. All she could do was following them in the hopes of protecting them as long as she could. Granted, although it was Twilight's idea to follow them, she felt surprise seeing her friends following her even though she never asked for their help, probably thinking the same as her, to look at their princesses as much as they could before the meeting begun. As they moved, Twilight took her time to watch at some of the captured civilians and noticed a gray mare with a musical note as her cutie mark cleaning herself up with a bunch of towels provided by the Royal Guard. There were other ponies in there as well, such as Cheerilee, but she didn't have the time to look at them all and continued to see the meeting room. After moving for a few trots away of the other civilians, and taking one or two turns away in what looked like a growing labyrinth, the royals stopped in front of a very secluded door, even though it was still in a hallway, it was very far away from other doors, making it feel as if it was trying to avoid intruders of any kind. As the princesses entered into the room, the blue queen waited a bit and whispered something else to Diamantis' ears, which made her stutter a bit and move in an very strange way. The door then closed, with Diamantis making guard, and the meeting begun. Twilight and her friends were about to leave when, out of nowhere, Diamantis started to run far deeper into the hallway, making the mares chase after her as well. If she was planning something, they were going to stop her. After chasing Diamantis for a minute or so, to the point of taking a few turns that made them go even deeper into the cave system. She stopped right in front of a very lonely door, with no other door being close in quite a noticeable distance and it was here that Twilight and her friends decided to engage Diamantis and see what was she up to. "Hey!" - Shouted Rainbow Dash, making Diamantis flinch, turn on her back and realize that she was followed without her noticing as the prismatic pegasus kept looking at her. - "What are you planning to do!?" Diamantis looked at the six mares for a few seconds, she then turned her head to the door with a nervous look on her face and then relented. "Alright" -. She said. - "I'm only telling you this because you're part of my hive and I have plans for you, so listen well" -. Twilight was about to scream at her but Diamantis didn't give her the chance. - "I managed to arrange the meeting room so we can hear the conversation from this other room, so, do you want to come and listen?" The mares' shocked faces said quite a lot. Twilight, on one part, thought that, for the way Diamantis looked at the other queens, Diamantis wasn't planning on something so low as spying on her superiors, but she was wrong about the changeling; Rainbow Dash felt as a traitor for the sole idea of spying on Princess Celestia, Applejack felt it as dishonest, Rarity, despite liking to gossip, still saw it as improper of a lady to spy on royal figures; Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, considered it to be wrong, as if it was a low step she didn't want to take, but Diamantis didn't seem to care for their emotions as she opened the door and it could be heard faint voices talking at each other, what sounded to be Luna being the one talking right then. "...planned to be like this?" The answer, if listened closely, came from the voice belonging to the blue queen. "You see, although Changelings can take ponies and transform them into other changelings, we have certain protocols to make sure that it doesn't affect the equestrian society and, sadly, Queen Diamantis didn't follow them." Twilight and the girls noticed how Diamantis started to blush quite hard, something very hard to hide considering she had a white shining carapace. They then heard the voice belonging to the bronze queen, again, very hard to hear because they haven't entered into the room yet. "Granted, it doesn't help that neither Queen Valeris or myself told her said protocols. We were aware that she didn't have the proper training all changeling princesses must have at her age but we never expected it to be so lacking." Diamantis' blushes were starting to turn her into a red changeling, at which she then started to close the door. "You know? I think its rude to hear private conversations, so let's close this-" The six mares quickly stormed the door before she closed it and entered the room to listen better at the conversation, much to Diamantis' chagrin, at which she responded in a very quite voice. "Alright, but remember that this sounds are bilateral, I managed to reduce it but, if you scream loud enough, they can hear us, so be very quiet." The six mares nodded and decided to listen again to the conversation, with Twilight trying to figure out what was going on in Celestia's head as she was having this conversation with those two queens. Suffice to say that Celestia was trying to suppress her feelings, she didn't want her two potential enemies to be aware of how nerve wrecking this was and she was sure that they were acting as well. From what she could tell, Fortis (the bronze queen) was of a more well meaning nature as she was talking to both her and her sister with nice intentions or, at least, with more willingness to make this meeting to go well. Her mannerism and how she always referred to both her and Luna as 'princesses' while her face showed all the emotions there were to be. It was quite clear that she was either faking those emotions or she wasn't trying to hide anything and Celestia was really doubting it was the former. The other queen though, she was a different story. Queen Valeris was always stoic, she never showed emotions or signs that could allow Celestia to read her. If she ever moved or made a gesture, it was clearly planned and her wording always was meant to say everything and nothing at the same time. The best example of it was how Celestia asked her how it was possible for Diamantis to be lacking so much in training but was still being sent to Ponyville instead of keeping her with her mother, all she answered was: "The situation regarding Diamantis' royal conditions are in a complex situation, that required for us to point her into a direction good enough to fix her short term needs while Fortis, the other queens and I could solve the problems that separated her from her mother." And all of that while keeping a straight face. Masterful. Granted, it did told her that all of this was because of something happening between the changelings but it didn't tell her what neither gave too many details about it. Thankfully, Luna was with her and was capable of making other questions that could help the two of them. "Does this have anything to do with Queen Chrysalis and her invasion on Canterlot a few weeks ago?" Both Fortis and Valeris looked at each other for a split second before Valeris proceeded. "No. While Chrysalis was influential on her situation, I assure you, what happened in Canterlot wasn't the main reason why Diamantis was separated from her mother. Granted, what Chrysalis did was reprehensible and has been dealt with as of now." Celestia tried to keep her face straight as she tried to understand that information, apparently the other queens didn't like what Chrysalis did. That meant this queens could be helpful but she needed to know how or if Chrysalis was 'dealt with' because of her going on her own account. "Well" -, said the princess of the sun, - "That's something that brings soothe to our ears, but we would like to know more details about it. In example, what were your involvement on all of this and what was done to Chrysalis for trying to invade Canterlot." Once again, Valeris was the one responding, making Celestia think that perhaps she was the one in charge here. "While our involvement in all of this is confidential, I will say that a changeling tradition is to not show ourselves to equestrian society, for that's been traditionally seen as dangerous for our species' survival. Suffice to say, Chrysalis broke something considered sacred among us, and we decided to respond with all the punishment the law allowed us to bring upon her." Both Luna and Celestia were frowning, it was quite nice to know that they had some sort of justice but it still didn't help at all to not know anything about it. Thankfully, it was Fortis who decided to continue with the conversation, with a few hints of worry and sorry on her face. "My apologies if Valeris' position is annoying regarding our secrets, but we've been taught to never reveal ourselves neither reveal the secrets of our society. To say much could be seen as dangerous and, considering that Valeris made those laws, she's quite restrictive on what to reveal and what not. Trust us, we would like to say more, but we can't." The two princesses looked at each other, a few questions arousing from this, with Luna asking first. "She wrote them? As if she banned changelings of revealing themselves?" Fortis started to put a nervous face and looked at Valeris, who then nodded and prompted her to continue. "Well, not as in 'the original writer'. That was originally set as a tradition whose origins was lost to time, although changelings has historically known only suffering from revealing themselves to ponies and other species. What I tried to mean is that Valeris decided to make it an official law, more than anything, with the other queens ratifying it on a national level." Well, they weren't as old as them, but, it was actually interesting to know that Valeris had enough influence to make laws that other queens would accept so eagerly. But still, they needed to know more about changelings and that law was making it harder for them. Then, suddenly and out of nowhere, Queen Valeris decided to enter the conversation once again, and said something that none of the monarchs in the room ever expected her to say. "Well, to be honest" -. Said Valeris as she was eyeing Fortis as if she was searching for a confirmation on this. - "While it was made into a law, in the last couple years there's been a debate regarding if we should keep ourselves secluded from Equestrian society" -. As she said this, Fortis started to show curiosity on her face, wondering where she was going on with this, feeling equally shared by Celestia and Luna. - "The problem is that there's never been an actual reason to reveal ourselves. In fact, many started to go more in favor of isolation after Chrysalis' latest move, more out of fear of how would you react to us than as a desire to isolate ourselves even more. But, should there be a reason that could potentially help the case of opening ourselves to the world, things could still improve. That is, if you know of some changeling, or pony, that could be of use for the cause and be evidence that both ponies and changelings can coexist together." The princesses' eyes started to wide as they realize what she was going for, with Celestia being the most angered about it. "Absolutely not!" - She said, almost using the royal canterlot voice. - "We will not allow our ponies to be transformed just so a political agenda could be pushed. They're innocent ponies, not pawns." Luna then continued, with the same tone of voice being used by her. "Indeed! If you want to open your species to us, then convince the other queens to open up, not use a young queen, or innocent ponies for that matter, as a political tool for your advantage, don't you have a shame!?" Valeris kept her stone face, although her eyes showed something being brought, anger? Laughter? Confidence? They weren't sure, but Valeris's next sentence was quite revealing for that matter. "Understandable to be on that position and I would respect it completely for that matter. But we have a problem, you see, when your ponies were introduced into the transforming wax, the time spent in there was too much for their bodies and now they're being transformed into changelings as we're speaking." Both princesses and Fortis stood there in shock as that information started to be assimilated into them, Celestia feeling a huge sensation of failing as she now had to live with the idea of not saving Twilight soon enough and now having to face being transformed while being conscious. "Are you sure?" - Asked the white mare to the blue insect in a nervous and scared tone of voice. - "Have there been studies of ponies being transformed even though they were removed? How do I know you're not making this up?" Valeris's response was soul crushing but, to be noticed, it looks like the story was also having some effect on Valeris, as her stone face quavered a bit and her tone of voice sounded a bit broken. "It was an incident that happened in my hive almost two decades ago. There were two drones that had severe problems between each other and, hoping to get rid of the problem, one of the drones decided to foalnap a pony and transform it into a changeling. Once the... 'problem' was discovered, I released the pony before the transformation began and brought justice to the couple of drones but, sadly, it was too late for the pony. It's body was slowly transforming in the likes of a changeling, its hooves filling with holes, a horn growing on its forehead, its eyes turning blue and changeling wings sprouting on its back. It was then that I realized that the wax starts the process and, once it happens, it cannot be stopped. But, if you still don't want to believe me, just look at your ponies and see, by this point some of them must have started to show signs of being transformed, perhaps some fangs are growing on their mouths, wings getting limp, eyes turning blue..." Celestia's heart sank as she remembered seeing Twilight's eyes turning blue for a brief moment, a true testament to Valeris' words and, with that, Celestia wasn't sure how to feel about it now. Not only was there another pony she failed to protect but it also was proof that her little ponies were now going to be transformed and there was nothing she could do about it. As Celestia sorrowed, Luna decided to clarify something. "And what happened to the pony? If it was going to be transformed, then that means the pony in question was going to be living as both species, so what did you do?" Her response though, was as cold and heartless as one would expect of a queen like Valeris. "I killed it." Luna was trying to solve the situation now, if she killed the pony in question, what was going to happen to Twilight and the other ponies? "So, you're saying that they have to either accept being part of Diamantis or they will be murdered? That's unconscionable!" And, as Luna started to rage once again, Valeris simply smiled and responded. "I think you misunderstood me, Princess Luna. You see, there's no law for the ones in their situation and, unlike the other pony, this is a quite nice moment to discuss their legal status with the other queens as we try to figure out how their transformation develops. I had no other choice last time, but now something can be done and, I think, the best they can live off now, as their diet will require love to certain levels, is as part of Diamantis' hive. She already picked them up, she can protect them from any other queen trying to take them and, should she be unable to stop them, then your ponies also have the protection of Fortis, who is the queen in charge of Diamantis." Fortis nodded as Valeris said this, confirming with her attitude her willingness to defend the equestrians that were taken y Diamantis. Valeris, meanwhile, continued talking. "Not only that, but I am also an ally with Fortis, so any queen that tries to face her would have to face me. And all of that while having all the benefits of living under a changeling hive with the profit of remaining as an equestrian citizen, should you want to keep them as equestrian citizens that is. In other words, should your ponies stay with Diamantis, this will become into a win-win situation for both of our species." The two princesses looked at each other, was this her plan all along? Was this why she wanted to dialogue with them? To keep a queen in Ponyville and use her as a political tool for both her agenda and, potentially, have changeling influence in Equestria. They were no fools, it was impossible that this changelings wouldn't try to use Twilight as a mean to influence them in some way, and it was that why Celestia decided to take the lead here. "And all of that at the price of losing their identity at a slow pace and you two having some level of influence in Equestrian politics?" Fortis looked as if she wasn't aware of any of this while Valeris kept her smile. "Well, I mean, those ponies will start very soon to lose their equestrian wings and have holes in their hooves, their coat will banish and they will no longer look as ponies, in the worst case scenario, they will look as a monstrous creature that's a mixture between the two species." Celestia and Luna could hear a scream filling them with dread as the idea of those ponies living like monsters started to dwell on them, a feeling that was then followed by the four royals trying to find where the actual scream was coming from, for they thought the room was secluded enough so no sound could be heard. In the end, Celestia had to choose between her ponies being eliminated or to allow Changeling influence. She could try to purge the changelings from the Equestrians institutions, but she wasn't sure if she could achieve it on time or even if she could even figure out how far were the changelings infiltrated on Equestrian society itself. No matter how she looked at it, there was no way to save her ponies from Valeris, or the other queens, from taking them. Regardless, that didn't stop Celestia from making her decision. If she had to choose between getting her ponies killed or be part of the changelings, then she would try to ensure it could be under her terms, besides, if it was true Twilight would be under the protection of both Queen Diamantis and Queen Fortis, then that meant she could also influenced the changelings with Equestrian culture, besides, those two queens looked as if they could be influenced by her ponies as well, and Twilight was becoming better and better at making friends. "Alright, but some conditions must be held for my ponies" -. Luna looked at Celestia with shock as she was wondering what was going on in her mind. The changeling queens, on their part, were looking at her with some wonder in their face.- "First, they must choose if they want to belong to that hive, No foreign pressure." Valeris looked at Fortis and quickly answered without asking for her opinion on that matter. "Sounds reasonable, sure." Fortis started to look at Valeris with an angry look as she tried to get her attention. Meanwhile, Celestia continued, knowing there was more she could get from this, after all, how to trust a queen searching for a political advantage when she says that there was no other option than being part of the changelings. "Second, I want Twilight Sparkle to be allowed to investigate this condition and, should she found a cure, be allowed to be brought to the Equestrians that are now suffering the same conditions as her." Valeris kept her smile, it was as she predicted all of this, something that was aggravating both princesses. "Understandable, I think the two of our especies would greatly benefit from this research, so go ahead." By this point Fortis was openly trying to interrupt her fellow queen. "Valeris..." But the blue queen simply shrugged it off as she allowed Celestia to continue on her conditions. "Third, if Twilight finds out something about your especies, she and her friends must be allowed to tell me so I can tell if whether or not this was a good idea to begin with." For a moment, Valeris's smile wavered, being this the only time she went back to her serious demeanor. "Negotiable, considering you're getting close to ask us to break our laws and traditions, whatever information you get must be kept to yourself and/or your sister until the time comes when we manage to let loose the flow of changeling information. Otherwise, you'll be putting at risk not only on Diamantis, but also on Twilight's life should she reveal something that shouldn't be revealed." For Celestia, she would never risk Twilight's life but this condition was something that could be easily fixed in the long term. If it was true that Valeris was planning to change the laws, then she could ensure that Twilight would remain alive if she and her sister were the only ones getting the information. "Deal." Now Luna was looking at her sister with worry, for she couldn't figure out what was going on in her head. Not only that, but it looked like Fortis was thinking the same regarding Valeris. Meanwhile, Celestia decided to ask for her fourth demand, to ensure that no other ponies would get foalnapped as both Equestria and the Changelings tried to establish diplomatic relationships. "And fourth, I don't want more changelings coming to harm my ponies, including Diamantis foalnapping ponies to force them into a transformation. Should an event like this happen again, you must assure me that you're not behind it, and that you'll do anything in your power to bring down the changelings behind the crime." Fortis looked at Celestia for quite a while, this wasn't a simple request and it looked like Fortis was also aware of this, since she was eagerly trying to have Valeris' attention. "Valeris, look, I think we need to talk about-" In that moment, Valeris sent a very menacing look at Fortis, a look that said pretty much what were her intentions should she keep on trying to interrupt her. Fortis' frightened response was equally unnerving, since she simply shut up and apologized before looking down as if she did something wrong. And with that settled, Valeris gave her response. "That will have to be discussed and ratified with the other queens, for I only control one hive and protect other four. As long as the events happen under my jurisdiction, I will try my best to fix said problem. At the same time, I think it would be fair to demand the same from you. I don't want any innocent changelings being accused under false charges neither being attacked just because of their species and that's a responsibility falling completely under you and your sister, does that sound fair?" Celestia was quite sure by now who was her enemy and who was the one trying to put her own agenda into this. Even if Valeris said that Chrysalis acted like a criminal, Valeris's herself wasn't too different from her by trying to gain control over her ponies. And Celestia would make sure this threat weren't even close to achieve this, after all, the best deals were the ones where both parts made a compromise and promising to protect innocents from being falsely accused wasn't such a big problem for her. "Deal." And with that settled, the Princess of the Sun and the Blue Changeling Queen shook their hooves and made the deal that would change their species relationship on a historic level. Although not everything was resolved yet. "Now, before we leave, there's one last thing I would like to know." Celestia's serious tone took the two queens curious as they looked at each other as Valeris would make the question. "What would that be?" Celestia decided to make the question here and then. "Is there a queen located in Canterlot? I would like to know if there's one and who's in charge of that." For the first time the two queens looked worried and, surprisingly, Valeris responded more, what looked like, for nervousness than actually wanting to take the initiative. "Well, after Chrysalis was taken out of Canterlot, there have been no queen in Canterlot and, regarding who's in charge... that's something that will have to be settled soon" -. She then looked at Fortis. - "The situation with Canterlot isn't something so easy to discuss, right Fortis?" Fortis looked at Celestia and Valeris for a while before responding despondent. "Yes, it's something that has to be discussed." Once that was settled, Valeris and Fortis rose from their seats and moved to the door, but not before stopping and taking a close look at the wall. Valeris kept looking at it for a while before touching her fellow queen and pointing at something in the wall, after taking another look at the wall, Fortis mumbled something for herself and opened the doors, making the two changeling queens get out of the meeting. Luna and Celestia decided to stay in the room for a brief moment, trying to digest all they heard as well as they tried to understand what has just been settled between the two species. "Dear sister" -. Asked Luna. - "Could you please explain me why you accepted something like this? This was reckless beyond belief and you know it." Celestia looked at her sister, her serious demeanor gone and now showing her worries. "I know, but I saw an unique opportunity and I had to take it before it was gone." Luna raised an eyebrow as she tried to understand what she meant. "Opportunity?" Celestia just looked at her sister and tried to ease her worries. "Trust me, I'll explain it to you and Twilight once I tell her what was just settled and why I settled it that way, it may not be one of my best ideas, but I'm sure it was the best we got to avert a crisis." And, with that said, the two princesses left the room and went outside just to be met by Twilight and her friends, including a fainted Rarity who was being carried by both Rainbow Dash and Applejack and, the strangest thing, Twilight was keeping a worried face. "Princess, I'm sorry for saying this but, I heard your conversation, why did you choose to compromise us like this?" Celestia looked around, making sure that the changelings weren't listening. Thankfully, the three queens were having their own conversations far away in the distance. So, she decided to bring her plan to her fellow ponies. "I know this wasn't the best deal I could make, but I needed an opening and, for this plan to work, I want to bring it upon you Twilight, even though I'm not too eager to do it" -. She then decided to look at Twilight with determination filling her face. - "Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, I need you to use whatever position you get with Diamantis so you can infiltrate in the changeling society and ensure that they won't be dangerous for any of us. Can I trust you for this mission?" The five mares looked at each other and quickly decided to respond with the same tone they've always use when they had to protect Equestria from any threat endangering their lives, with Twilight taking the initiative. "Princess Celestia, you can trust us with this task, you'll have all the information of changeling society before you know it." There was more, of course, but it wasn't safe to discuss it here with those three so close to them but, now that she knew there were no queens or changelings in Canterlot, she would have enough freedom in there to give her full plan to her little ponies. And it was in that moment that Rarity finally decided to wake up from her faint and wonder what have just happened. "Ugh, I had the worst nightmare, I dreamed that I was turning into a horrible changeling and that we were going to be a part of a changeling hive." Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked at each other with faces that mixed between awkwardness and laughter. "It wasn't a dream, actually" -. Said Rainbow Dash. - "You're actually turning into a changeling and you screamed very high because of that" -. Applejack then decided to bring up something more. - "And not only that, but you also have some little fangs growing in your snout right now." Rarity flinched and quickly put a hoof on her mouth, quickly feeling a small teeth growing in her mouth in a very sharp way, making her faint once again. And with that everything was settled, the equestrians were finally part of a series of interwoven events that would take them into an unimaginable path. The return of the Crystal Empire, the murder of Truth Voice, the Equestrian Financiers and the Great Council of the Queens. All of this events would be what would soon change the fate of the world in a way never before seen.