//------------------------------// // Tea, Plus the Secret History of the Changelings // Story: Changing History // by Darkstarling //------------------------------// Hey, Daring Do here. I know you want a story, and this one is a favorite of mine. And not for the swashbuckling and adventure. It has that, sure, don’t get me wrong. I mean, this is me we’re talking about. Some days I’d swear I couldn’t take a shower without an anaconda deciding that it was it’s one day of the month feeling peckish, and the pony intruding on it’s personal waterfall would substitute for delivery pizza. But no, this story is important. I’ve had my days of heroism, advanced the science archeology, and sometimes even stopped a madpony from getting their hands on a stupidly powerful ancient artifact. But still, it’s not every day you change the fate of an entire species. It began when I was summoned to speak with Princess Celestia. Now if you’ve been following along with my adventures, you know this wasn't the first time we'd spoken. You know everything about her beauty, grace, poise and wisdom that a hundred poets have expressed more eloquently than a dusty antiquarian like me. I just dig up the art, I don’t make it. And you’ll also know that I’ve come to dread these meetings, because something is always up. Always. No exceptions. These past few years, I’ve come to shudder at the sight of Seasons tea. And don’t get me started on Anise Cake. So it was with an increasing feeling of doom that I was escorted down the Tulip-Pillared Gallery to the Looming Solarium. I wondered in passing just what Celestia was thinking when she named the castle rooms, but it could be worse. The ‘tulip’ pillars are positively phallic, we’re just lucky the Princess doesn’t have a dirty mind. And I knew that I was mentally rambling to distract myself from whatever was to come. To be honest, I’ve faced Ahuziotl with less apprehension than I did the smiling demigoddess seated before me. “Daring,” she said in a friendly tone as the butler turned and abandoned me to my fate. “It’s so wonderful to see you.” “Your Highness,” I replied with a quick bow and what I hoped was a cocky grin. She laughed a bit, and it was of course musical. “Daring, how many times am I going to have to tell you to drop the formality?” “Oh, at least once more, as ever, your Highness” I said, slipping into banter easily. After trading quips with Cabelleron all these years I swear it’s become a reflex when I’m stressed. She shook her head fondly, and I took the seat beside her. The solarium really was lovely, looming or not, and gave a beautiful view down the mountain to the sun sinking over the plains beyond. We sat, and for a moment we just looked, and I felt some of the tension ease. “Well, I do hope you know that I mean it,” she said eventually. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for the crown all these years, of course. But I really do enjoy the time we get to spend together as well, even if it’s always in less than pleasant circumstances.” “I do know. And of course I’m always glad to see you, how couldn’t I be?” I was too, for all I like to complain. And for all I was still waiting for the bad news to drop. “But that’s life isn’t it?" I continued. "I know how you can’t take time off, you’re the Princess. It’s why I’m glad I’m just an archaeologist. Give me an honest poison spear trap over a crown any day.” She raised an eye at that, and smirked. “Well fine,” I admitted. “A crown that’s occupied. Skulls don’t count.” “Much better,” she said, mostly managing to keep a straight face. “You know I have always encouraged honesty in my subjects.” She poured the tea for both of us, and I took a sip. It was, of course, excellent. “So...how bout you tell me what you need from me?” I asked, then immediately realized how that sounded. “I mean! Not that this isn’t nice, because it is. I just don’t want worrying about it looming over our time together, you know? I’d much rather know and get it over with.” She sighed and put the tea down. “Do I really make you so nervous, Daring?” She asked. To my surprise she sounded almost hurt. “Hey, don’t take it that way,” I said, trying for my usual cheeky tone. “Tea in the palace of the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria? I’d be a nervous wreck even if I didn’t know some big mission was coming.” What? Everyone knows they say it’s funny cause it’s true. At least it made her blush. “Really, Daring,” she said, shaking her head, “one of these days your charm will get you into trouble. Somepony will get the wrong idea and take you seriously.” “What makes you think it hasn’t already?” I felt a genuine smile appear on my face, almost verging on a smirk, and I slipped on my worst high society accent. “Oh, your Highness, I’m sorry but we simply must stop meeting like this. The scandal! I, a lowly author and historian, enamored and daring to tempt the heart of a Princess. Such a thing cannot be! Oh woe for it is our fate, crossed by stars and separated by duty…” “Oh stop!” Celestia said, bursting into laughter, unable to keep a straight face any longer. “Besides, we both know that for love you would dare, and do, no matter the risk. For what greater treasure is there than the heart of your beloved?” I froze for a moment, saw her beautiful face and wise eyes lit by mirth and framed in the halo of her mane. And then I blushed a deep crimson and turned away, staring determinedly at the landscape. “Well, that got turned around on me didn’t it.” I coughed. “But speaking of ancient treasures more valuable than kingdoms, you do have something for me to dig up right? Something tangible?” “Well, I suppose I do yes,” she said. I couldn’t see her expression. The treetops of the Everfree were certainly beautiful this summer, and were demanding my full attention. “This one is actually a bit different then the usual," she continued after a pause. "More something a simple archaeologist might be interested in, rather than a dashing and heroic adventurer.” “I hate adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner. I don’t know what anypony sees in them.” I found the nerve to turn and look at her, and simply found her smiling at my little joke. Nothing out of the ordinary. Well. Good. But her face turned somber. “In all seriousness though Daring, this may be mostly a research mission. But believe me when I say this is an incredibly important and sensitive assignment. I can’t trust anyone else with it.” I nodded. “You can count on me, your Highness. To the ends of the world and back, if need be.” “As if you haven’t proven that already, many times over.” She gave a brief smile before her serious expression returned. “What I’m about to tell you is secret information, and extremely politically sensitive. And it all revolves around the newly founded Changeling nation.” I whistled. Equestria’s newest and most controversial ally. And in the midst of a resurgent isolationist movement at that. Even with all four Princesses pushing the public opinion, anything even vaguely related to them was like lit dynamite. “Indeed, I see you grasp the magnitude of what I am about to tell you. King Thorax is working hard to establish them as a legitimate nation, and their metamorphosis has cured them of their hunger for stolen love. Everything seems to be going perfectly.” I nodded. “But?” “But… I have seen this before. Exactly this. Thorax has not founded the first nation of reformed Changelings. He has merely founded the first in recorded history.” I stared. “But...how is that possible?" I sputtered. "Whole nations don’t just vanish. They leave ruins and records. Well, except for the Crystal Empire of course. But nopony, nocreature, had even heard of Changelings until the Wedding Invasion.” Celestia nodded. “Indeed. It was then as it is now. It was the year 351 when Hive Mantodea came, a threat we had no records of nor strategy against. They hunted among us, unseen. Replaced our leaders and subverted our military. Equestria teetered on the edge of utter defeat. But in the end they were stopped, redeemed and metamorphosed by the power of Agape. They joined us in friendship, under their new leader Queen Apocrita. We had such plans to build a new future together. And then, in a single generation, they were all gone.” She sighed, and it seemed for a moment I could see the weight of ages as she looked backwards. “It began simply, and slowly. Their eggs changed. Just a few at first, turned dark and strange. They refused to hatch. All our tests showed they were viable, but some curse or poison left them trapped in stasis. And it spread rapidly. Within years not a single unaffected egg was laid. And nothing anyone tried, Pony or Changeling, made a difference. Worse, the eggs began to drain the magic from the land. It was slow, and certainly not subtle. We knew exactly what was happening. But it could not be denied that they had become a menace. And yet we could not destroy them. They were our friend’s children, their only hope for the future.” She looked at me sadly, and I was shocked to see tears in her eyes even after all the centuries. I’ve often wondered how she lasts through the ages when she cares so much. “I still remember the day Queen Apocrita declared defeat. She swore that they would never again threaten Equestria, and that a life lived in friendship was worth everything that might have come after. And so they carried their eggs far away, to desolate lands where they would harm no one, in hope for a better future where they could be cured. And they returned to Equestria, to live out the rest of their lives in peace. I thought the last Changeling had died well over five hundred years ago, and there was nothing I could do to save her.” “And yet here they are again.” “Here they are. And history repeats itself. I need to know what happened. I have heard rumors and seen references to other times this has come to pass. The signs were there, once I knew to look for them. A hive of Changelings is reformed, only to be cursed to collapse and die. And few have ended with the dignity Apocrita brought them. Someone, or something, does not want to allow Changelings to live in peace, and before long it will come for Thorax and his people. Daring, I need you to be my eyes in the past. See for me now what I could not at the time. This must not happen again.” I nodded, and gulped. And I thought my thesis was high stakes. Now it was only the fate of an entire race that hung on my research skills and Octarine level clearance. No pressure. “Of course, Princess. I won’t fail you, I promise.” And she smiled, and it was like the sun came back. “I know,” she said, and she said it with such absolute confidence that I almost believed it myself.