Interview with a Changeling

by Obsidian Ink


Chapter 2

When princess Luna had first returned to Equestria, the mare of the starry sky had spent the first month in her sister's private chambers, almost never leaving, and hardly interacting with any other pony besides a series of unicorn doctors who charted her magical levels and prescribed therapeutic regimens and potions to help restore the now foal-like goddess's powers.

Then, almost a year to the day past her cleansing by the elements of harmony, and only a few weeks after the escape of Discord from his stone prison (why on earth her sister had decided to place his petrified body in the gardens of her new castle, Luna had no idea) the moon princess had regained, while not ALL of her power, enough to validate resuming her traditional royal duties.

The castle staff had thus been given new routine duties. At sundown every evening, the tapestries, carpeting, and even the throne in the main audience hall were to be replaced with decor more suitable for the princess who would hold court there during the dark hours. Indigo, purple, and black replaced brighter, hotter colors to better mirror the princess who held court through the darkest hours of the night. There were still, obviously, banners with the national emblem of Equestria and a few token pieces of Celestia's symbolism but they were mostly closer to the door. Back by the throne it was all about the princess of the night, so no-pony would forget who's time this was.

The first midnight court had been silent as a tomb. From the moment it started to the moment it ended, not a single petitioner had come forward. This was despite her having made a proclamation backed by her sister's signature as well that had been posted in every public gathering place in Canterlot to inform the citizenry and nobility of the change.

The next month... saw very, very few petitioners indeed. And then only those bureaucrats who needed a princess's yea or neigh on a matter of some importance immediately.

On her own initiative, she went about reforming her social image on a festival devoted to her endarkened alter-ego. The results had been a success... after some initial setbacks, and now she was seen as an approachable -if a little old fashioned- princess of the common pony. Perhaps not as much as the lovely Cadence, but still...

In any event her midnight court now saw almost as many petitioners, and even sporadic well-wishers and gift bearers, as Celestia's day court.

Now if only she could get everypony to accept her beloved nightguard as easily. Their bodies altered by a magic ritual to give them greater prowess and night vision made them more than a little intimidating to normal ponies.

Case in point: Two and a half hours into her court, Luna looked up from the face of the noblestallion Jet Set -who was trying to get her approval on clearing part of white-tail wood so he could build a chateau- as a wave of gasps and startled whinnys of fright from every noble, commoner, and bureaucrat alike down the line leading to the door to the audience hall sounded as a transformed pegasus galloped up, through the open door, and down the hall to the steps leading to the dais upon which her throne (styled in the same fashion as her carriage, naturally) sat, and bowed deeply before her, fanning his wings out over the stone in a deep bow, placing the scroll on the smooth marble floor. “News from the guard captain at southgate, your majesty.” he said, voice deeper than any normal ponys would ever be by at least an octave.

Luna gripped the scroll with telekinesis and levitated it before her, unrolling it and scanning the contents. Her eyes widened slightly in shock, but she maintained most of the rest of her outward composure... at least till she got to the end.

“Captain Armor has been made aware of this as well?” she asked, for confirmation.

“Yes, your majesty, Captain Pavise considered it imperative that we begin gathering information, and the.... subject refused to speak otherwise.”

Luna frowned as she rolled up... and summarily incinerated the scroll with a small burst of magic. No need to let anyone who didn't have to know see the contents. She then turned to her Majordomo, Inkwell. “We are afraid that there is a matter that requires our immediate attention elsewhere. Please offer apologies to the remaining petitioners, and tell them we shall speak to them on the next midnight court, if they wish, or they may take their case up with my sister come noon, should they wish.” she said before turning to walk towards the nearest balcony door.

The pale cream colored unicorn nodded, his red mane bobbing slightly as he did so. “Very well your majesty.”

“B-but what about me! Princess, you can't just leave in the middle of my audience!” Jet set exclaimed... or maybe it was whined. The tone certainly grated on Luna's nerves.

“Jet Set... tell me, did you bring this topic up previously with anypony?” Luna said, pausing

“Ah...” Jet set suddenly balked.

“According to the minutes, he brought this plan to the attention of your sister, Princess Celestia, two days ago during noon court.” Inkwell said, flipping back a few pages in the tome he and his daytime counterpart used to record the goings on of the court.

Luna perked her ears. “Oh really? We are most interested to know how our sister reacted to this plan.”

“Well, she....” Jet Set fumbled.

“After listening to his plan to clear a large swath of whitetail wood, which just so happens to be a wildlife preserve, your sister's decision was to deny Jet Set his request to purchase the acreage to be cleared and his 'country house' be built on the land.” Inkwell paraphrased from the minutes.

“And thou thought to try asking us in hopes that we might unknowingly countermand our sister's decision?” Luna stared at Jet Set with a look of growing anger.

Jet set started to look decidedly nervous. “Ah... well, you see, I hadn't quite figured out all the details when I spoke to your sister... princess Luna...”

Luna raised a hoof to forestall any further speech. “Be silent. My sister's decision stands. I will not grant you what she would not. Leave.” Luna said. The fact that she dropped the royal we during official business a clear indicator of her ire.

Jet set swallowed convulsively, made a rapid bow, then turned and left as quickly as he dared without galloping away in fear. Luna may be friendlier and more approachable. But she had gained a reputation for having a nasty temper when riled.

Satisfied that the situation was dealt with, Luna walked to the nearest balcony and leapt out into the open air, her wings snapping open. Behind her, four pair of very different, leathery wings snapped open as several members of her nightguard accompanied her in formation.

“Is there trouble princess?” The closest of her guards asked.

“There may very well be, if a certain pony lets his pain rule him.”

* * * * *

“Alright, you came here to talk. Let's talk.” Shining said, giving the changeling across from him a hard glare. “You can start by telling me why you dared approach my city, or my country, at all, Changeling.”

“Maxillus.” The changeling said.

Shining blinked. “What?”

“My name. It's Maxillus.” The changeling gave a wry grin... a very fang filled one at that. “I find it easier to converse if both creatures know each others names, don't you?”

Shining snorted. “You smug sonofa...” he thought darkly. “Fine then... Maxillus.” Shining spoke the changeling's name through gritted teeth, as if distasteful. “I repeat the question. Why are you here?”

“Straight to the point, then.” Maxillus cleared his throat. “I am here at the behest of my queen to open peaceful negotiations between our hive and your kingdom.”

Shining almost laughed at this. “So since we sent her running with her tail between her legs like a scolded diamond dog Chrysalis wants to make nice all of a sudden? You can go tell that witch-”

“Chrysalis is not my queen.” Maxillus interrupted him in a voice that was as cold as hardened iron.

That actually gave Shining pause. “What?”

“I serve queen Diaphene, and our hive and Chrysalis' has never shared blood ties, let alone political ones.”

Shining's pupils narrowed to pinpricks as realization washed over him like a tidal wave. “There's... more than one hive of you monsters?”

Maxillus cringed at the last word, but forced his expression to return to neutrality with a visible effort. “Did you seriously think that the group that attempted to overthrow your city was our entire species?”

“For a while, yeah, I kinda did.” Shining armor grumbled under his breath.

Maxillus shook his head. “Crysalis is insane. She's always been power hungry, every good changeling queen has to be. But our species's very survival depends upon our ability not to draw attention to ourselves. We live as myth, a bogey under the bed. Chrysalis did the unthinkable, she exposed the truth of our race's existence to the entire world. There is no going back.” he sighed. “So, rather than wait for fear to turn to hatred and a war of extermination, My queen deigned it necessary to extend the first hoof of understanding. Hence, here I am.” He said, spreading his hooves for emphasis at the end.

Shining blinked as he processed everything the changeling said, then frowned. Peace? Between ponies and a race of love-sucking emotional parasites?

“Assuming I believe you mean any of that...” Shining said, rubbing under his horn with the back of a foreleg. “I still want to know how you managed to get all the way to the gate of Canterlot without sending half of Equestria into a panic.”

“I would not be so foolish as to travel through a territory fearful of my natural visage undisguised.” Maxillus replied.

“So you crept your way from... wherever it is your hive is, using the same tricks Chrysalis did to infiltrate Canterlot, to evade every local garrison of guards across half of Equestria, just to drop the act at Canterlot's doorstep.” Shining said, tapping his hoof idly on the top of the table.

“I.. wouldn't put it so crassly, but yes.” Maxillus replied.

“And I haven't heard of any cases of actual changeling being spotted in any province in Equestria, so I can only assume that you basically proved that my guards, even on high alert, are once again completely useless against your kind.” Shining said, glaring at Maxillus. “You play all of us for fools, and then after you get exposed and beaten back you try and come begging for peace? Why, so you make us even more vulnerable?”

“I told you, mine was not the hive that attacked you. My queen would never have tried something as insane as attempting to conquer and enslave an entire kingdom. Even if you didn't have the means to decimate an entire hive in a single blow!” Maxillus shot back.

Ignoring the changeling, Shining continued, voice raising to a shout. “And what's to stop you creatures from kidnapping ponies out of their beds and impersonating them, the same way Chrysalis did to Cadence!”

The changeling regarded him with a measured expression. “I'm going to be completely honest with you, Captain.”

“If it's even possible for you things to be honest.” Shining grumbled, expecting any number of hollow platitudes from this ting to try to get on his good side.

The changeling took a deep breath. “You terrify me.”

That had not been one of them.

As Shining stared at him, Maxillus continued. “I'm sitting across a table from a stallion who single-hoofedly turned love, a thing that we need to feed on to grow and thrive, into a weapon that killed three quarters of a hive of over six thousand changelings, and horribly maimed those who managed to survive it. And yet, his attack didn't even so much as ruffle the coats of his own kind. I know if you wanted you could have me executed by any number of your guards, or crush me between a wall and your shield spell in a heartbeat. Yet here I sit, for honor and duty and a commitment to my own people that demands that I seek peace. And I will do everything within my power to achieve it.”

The conviction in the changelings voice almost moved Shining, almost. Part of him, the old Shining Armor from before all of this wanted to believe this creature's words. But he couldn't. Not after what they'd done to the love of his life, what they'd tried to do to his kingdom. What these creatures were, deep down.

Vile parasites.

A loud knock sounded at the door.

As the three occupants of the room turned to look, it opened, admitting the starry maned visage of princess Luna, head held high as she surveyed the interior of the room as she entered. “Ah, good, I see you've not executed this one yet, captain.”

“Princess Luna!?” Shining boggled, then quickly got to all fours and stepped before her. “Your majesty, what're you doing here?”

“I was alerted by the commander of my guards of our 'visitor' and came to see for myself.

Shining shook his head. “Princess, you shouldn't be here. I'm trying to determine if there's a threat-”

“I've no doubt about that.” She interrupted him, walking forward.

Shining jumped out of his seat and lifted a hoof high, at the alicorn princess's chest level, to prevent her from coming any closer. “Wait! Princess, I'm still not convinced he isn't a threat.”

Luna turned her gaze on Shining. The stallion looked up at her, his hoof firmly planted on the front of her gorget as he held her back.

“Well then, perhaps you can tell me what you have discovered.” Luna said, lowering her hoof to the ground and standing still.

“Very little princess... I need more time.”

Luna turned her gaze on the changeling... who looked back at her in a steady gaze that while not challenging, didn't give any ground either.

“Please, Captain, bring me 'up to speed' on this situation.” she said, sitting down on her haunches where she stood.

Shining grunted, and sat down. “This is breaking all sorts of regulations, I just know it...” he sighed. “Princess Luna, this is 'Maxillus'. He apparently slipped past all the defenses I’ve put in place to try to prevent changeling incursions, and appeared at southgate a couple of hours ago... waving a white flag I was told?” he looked at the nightguard soldier in the corner.

The bat winged pegasus reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a heavy, rough broken tree branch with a white hoofkerchief tied onto it to make a crude flag of truce.

“That'd be the one...” Maxillus said.

“And then when they brought him in here, he refused to talk till I got here.” Shining snorted. “Since then, he's told me he's been sent here to negotiate with us to prevent us from using the spell me and Cadence discovered we could do by combining our love to destroy his species, of which there is apparently more than one hive, because HIS queen isn't Chrysalis.”

“So basically introductions and my mission, nothing really important yet.” Maxillus said, waving a hoof dismissively.

Luna examined the changeling from across the table. “I can't decide, Maxillus, whether I should call you bold, or foolish. You are speaking to a warrior, the captain of my sister's guard. He is no diplomat-no offense, captain- his duty is the safety and security of all ponies in his realm. Your species has proven a threat to them. Why speak to him? Why not my sister, or myself?”

Maxillus grinned. “A good question, Lady of the moon.” he looked at Shining Armor in that cool, even gaze he'd maintained since shining had arrived. “I suppose I wanted to take a measure of the one my kind now think of as a living weapon.”

“Pardon?” Luna said.

“Excuse me?” Shining said at almost the same instant.

“To my kind you're as big a bogey as Nightmare Moon ever was -no offense to you princess Luna- however, all I know of you is hearsay. I wanted to know what you really were, and what better way to get the truth than to face you as myself?”

Princess Luna and Shining both stared at the changeling for a long moment, but the indigo alicorn broke the silence. “Bold, I think, shall I judge thee, Maxillus. For now, at least. Captain Armor, I would speak to you privately.”

Shining looked from the rather smug looking changeling, to the princess, and back, several times. Before he snorted, and forced a neutral expression. “As you wish, your majesty.”

* * * * *

“What the buck was that back there!? I don't know what things were like back in your day princess, but you do not simply barge into an interrogation!” Shining snapped at the much larger mare.

“An interrogation that was not, captain. That is what one does with a criminal. Last I checked, neither I nor my sister passed any laws stating 'twas illegal to be a changeling within the borders of equestria, despite pressure from the stable of lords to do just that. Sitting in yon chamber is an envoy of a foreign nation seeking to make peace.” Luna said stoically.

“You cannot actually be thinking of letting him into the palace, after what Chrysalis did!”

“The instant my sister hears of this come the morn, I am certain she will say as much.”

“The entire species lives off deception and treachery, this has to be some kind of a-!” Shining shouted, but went quiet when Luna raised her hoof.

“This is why I am glad this occurred during my watch, and not hers. I am able to shape some of these events without her interference.”

Shining tilted his head. “Princess...?”

“My sister, the great benevolent matriarch of the sun, is a very kind and forgiving creature in many respects. She always holds out hope for there to be the presence of a better nature in a creature she does not know. Discord she knew only too well, and wasted no time in attempting to re-seal him, and chrysalis declared open war on us, and she reacted accordingly. This creature? He professes a willingness to negotiate and bring harmony, and she will attempt to embrace the possibility of peace with even the enemy if they professed a willingness to talk.”

Shining looked away. “I'd think Celestia would be a bit wiser than that, Your majesty.”

Luna shook her head, sending ripples through her starry, ethereal mane. “Be that as it may, I know my sister too well. She only wishes for harmony not only amongst all her little ponies, but throughout all the world as well. And the opportunity to extend it may blind her. I, however, am not so optimistic as to completely drop my guard, and thus I wish to give you my orders for this situation, Captain armor.”

Shining's ears perked and he looked back at the princess.

“Continue your vigilance. Your mission is to discern if there is any plot, any threat to Canterlot or Equestria as a whole. How you do this I leave up to you, but you have all of my resources added to your own if you have need of it.

Shining began smiling. She was on his side! She understood!

“However, I want you to let evidence and logic rule this investigation, not personal vendettas, so no brash, poorly founded claims.” she added.

Shining's expression dropped.

“Do not give me that look, captain. I too wish for the possibility of peace. 'Tis all any pony can wish for. I merely will not completely lower mine shield and sword at the prospect of it."

Shining sighed. “I suppose, your majesty.” he grumbled.