“Okay...” Rarity took a deep breath. “Let’s try again. Darling, please, speak to me,” Rarity prepared to sense some else’s will to move her body, as Her Majesty described.
A minute passed, Rarity could only sense the methodical clicking of the clock on the wall of her room and a distant chattering of the staff and guests of the palace.
“Why don’t you speak back?!” Rarity cried in frustration, her attempts to contact the creature inside her head already made hours fly.
But frustration was hardly the larger part of the emotion she felt. If the prospect of someone waiting for an opportunity to steal her body away from her was frightening, then having to willingly let it do so was almost more than Rarity could comprehend without giving into a panic. The unicorn struggled valiantly to ensure her fear would not sway her intention, but she was impossibly far from Nightmare Moon’s coldbloodedness. Oh, how much she’d appreciated the tiniest grain of it now.
Rarity tried time and time again to compel her unwilling new “friend” to cooperate with her, but the creature seemingly refused to respond, in fact, Rarity did not even feel it try once.
Rarity took another breath and lowered herself onto a chair next to a tiny table for a rest,
“What is it I am doing wrong?” she asked aloud, hoping for an answer. Still, there was silence, “Just give me a sign that you are there. That I am not a target of a sick prank,” Rarity pleaded. “Please,” Rarity whispered. And yet still, Rarity’s pleas were answered with silence.
Rarity didn’t know what to think. Did her Majesty just find another way to make her life miserable for what the poor unicorn did to her? Rarity refused to believe that, for she knew better. But what is she doing wrong then? Perhaps… she simply did not want to talk?
“Dear, I only want to be friends with you! You know that I do!” Rarity spoke to herself again. “Her Majesty, your sister, wants to know you! Don’t you want to be treated the same as Lunat?” Rarity tried the carrot approach. “No reason to be shy, Darling. Just say a word.”
Silence.
“Well, alright, Darling,” Rarity gave up. “Think a little bit.”
Rarity sighed in disappointment and stood up from her table, then approached her tiny workshop. Quickly forgetting about her recent failure, Rarity’s face bloomed in a joyful smile. ‘Soon you will be in use again!’ Rarity thought happily while loving stroking her trusty stitching machine. But for now, Rarity had other tasks. Unexpectedly, Her Majesty’s request opened Rarity’s eyes to the brighter side of her situation. She now had much more time to pursue her other interests. Cloudy, poor darling, waited months for their morning together in the royal gallery! And when was the last time she could have a cup of tea with dear Fluttershy? Or Spikey-Wikey...
Oh, so much to do and Rarity now had time to do all of it! And she could do even more as soon as her new friend accepts her offer!
Someone knocked on Rarity’s door,
“Oh, come in, Darling! It’s open!” she cheerfully invited. Rarity’s smile though was almost immediately soured.
“Lady,” General Pharynx politely bowed, although not quite smiling back. Rarity only stared back in bewilderment at this most unexpected guest, “May I enter?” the changeling asked. Rarity reflexively noded. The officer uneasily stepped inside, evidently not being glad to be in her presence himself. Pharynx threw a look around her room, stopping for a moment on her tailoring equipment, he approvingly nodded and returned his attention back to Rarity who was slowly regaining her ability to speak.
“Ah, what can I do for you, sir?” Rarity cautiously asked.
“You have a good room, ma’am. No unnecessary gloss here. Your Empress should consider building more of these to relocate the rest of the garrison, living in a dormitory is good for morale comparing to barracks,” Pharynx commented.
“I shall convey your idea to her,” Rarity mechanically responded.
Pharynx closed his eyes and shook his head,
“Ma’am, I have a favor to ask,” he straightly asked. “I asked around the palace and the staff regarded you as a pony they speak to when they need help. Yesterday, me and my brother were detained when attempting to leave the palace, I’ve been told that Your Empress still requires my presence. I can take a hint.”
At this point Rarity’s confusion and a degree of disdain turned towards curiosity,
“Why, certainly, General,” Rarity gestured to the table with seats. “Would you like tea, or coffee?”
“I do not think this is a good idea, ma’am, I am sorry.”
“Oh...” Rarity internally facehoofed herself for letting herself forget what sustenance does Changeling kind consume. “Well, alright then, sir. How may I assist you?” Rarity tried to smile.
Pharynx nodded gratefully at her gesture,
“Ma’am, I need your help in organizing our long term residence. Especially… feeding,” the changeling General lowered his voice. “I do not expect Your Empress to take kindly to us doing it ourselves.”
Rarity heavily sighed at the request,
“I’ll arrange something for you,” Rarity tiredly answered. Pharynx blinked from surprise.
“Just like that? Without even putting any conditions forward?” Pharynx voiced doubt.
“General,” Rarity sighed again. “We all have our purpose here. Mine isn’t to ask for anything.”
“I appreciate it,” Pharynx took off his formal hat and bowed, as much as the table before him permitted.
The uneasy silence ensued. Pharynx didn’t know what else to say, he didn’t expect this to be so simple. He had to just ask, surreal,
“So...” it didn’t feel right to Pharynx to end their acquaintance on him asking for a favor. “I heard you have other changelings here? My brother says her name is Shadow.”
“I am not sure if I can tell you,” Rarity politely answered.
“Well, she isn’t much of a secret. Soldiers chat about her. I heard them talking about her broken horn.”
“I suppose, you are correct,” Rarity agreed. “Truly, I do not know a lot about her. She appeared here sometime during the war and became Her Majesty’s favored agent. Recently she has sustained an injury, so Her Majesty permanently stationed her at the palace,” Pharynx nodded
“Just appeared?”
“Well...” Rarity stumbled. “Yes, just appeared.”
“Well, alright,” Pharynx decided not to pressure, he knew when someone couldn’t say something. “How’re her relationships with everyone? Is she treated nicely?”
“Well, of course. Her Majesty looks after her servants. Guards and the staff do keep their eyes on her, naturally, but they do not mistreat her,” Rarity sighed sadly.
“Is there something you’d like to add?” Pharynx took the hint.
“Well… the poor thing just seems so lonely,” Rarity lamented. “She has me and Twilight, and Her Majesty, and Thorax, but it still must be very hard to be so far away from home. Other ponies stay away from her, which is just tragic with how much of a dear Shadow really is.”
“Well...” Pharynx found himself at a slight loss at this sudden confession. “I can put her back in contact with her siblings back in the hives… if they still there.”
“As nice as that would be, Shadow wouldn’t like the idea, General. She is quite adamant about severing her ties to the rest of her kind. She doesn’t take too kindly others mentioning her kinship,” Pharynx was left scratching his head. The more he learned about this mysterious drone, the more he wanted to meet her. There was something vaguely familiar about all of this though.
“And my brother? Does she treat him that way too? He mentioned himself being on good terms with her.”
“Well no, I don’t think so. She seemed to be rather cordial with him, although I did not have an opportunity to speak with him myself yet. It is surprising, I admit, Shadow is rather… reclusive. She prefers to stay away from others, except for us and Her Majesty. Shadow is rather fixated on her “Mistress.” Pharynx had to scratch the “runaway drone” theory out, this one notion already meant that Shadow didn’t rebel against Chrysalis as his brother did. Far to much respect for authority.
“General, if I may,” Rarity seized the opportunity. “How are you doing these nights? It must be awful there, living in the ruins,” Rarity noted with genuine care.
“We do not quite live in the ruins, Ma’am. Our infrastructure is in a sorry state but we still have an extensive underground tunnel network. Not a comfortable existence, but we manage,” Pharynx said with a hint of pride. “I must admit, our situation is better than I expected. The Imperial Engineering Corps, together with some volunteers, help to restore water and electricity supply. It’s still too early to talk about rebuilding the industry, but in a few months we’ll have most communications operational. In a year or two, we might even start being useful again.”
“How so?”
“Well, we may have lost our queen and much of our population, but we are not entirely worthless. We have much expertise when it comes to military production. Mark my words, on one night the Imperial Military will be armed with weapons made by changelings. And they will be damn good ones too,” Pharynx promised.
“Ah, why thank you, sir,” Rarity resisted an urge to swallow at the thought of ponies raining shells on other creatures with changeling weaponry, “but don't you have more… your own business to attend to? I imagine a state without a monarch would be struggling.”
“Ha!” Pharynx laughed. “I don’t think this is happening, Ma’am. We’ve lost, to the victor go the spoils. Maybe it’s better this way, maybe Thorax was right about everything after all. Guess we’ll see.”
“Well, Her Majesty does take good care of her loyal subjects, General. You are in good hooves.”
“That’s what I’m counting on, Ma’am.”
“Rarity.”
“Rarity,” Pharynx nodded, agreeing. “And how are you doing now? With your monarch such a far cry from ours, it must be nice around here here, the palace is also a much nicer place than a trench I imagine.”
“Well, yes, it is rather nice here. Much nicer than I expected myself, frankly. We all feared the worst when Her Majesty returned for the third time.”
“Third time? I am sorry, we did not quite pay attention to the pony doings.” Rarity widened her eyes and pressed her hoof to her lips, realising what she almost said. Pharynx disappointedly shook his head.
“I don’t know what to think about your Empress, if I am honest. I am torn between admiration for how she reigns and pity for how pathetic she is in everything else. Luna? Is that her real name? How insecure she had to be to change her name just to be more intimidating. How did Celestia lose to someone like this? Did her years really make her so soft that she had no will left to resist? Was she simply tired? And, to our great shame, our queen proved to be even worse. She let her ambitions and lust for revenge cloud her better judgment. And we all paid for it,” Pharynx said grimly. “I wonder, is Cadance the same? And Celestia? Twilight?” Pharynx shook his head acknowledging the futility of the question. “How come good people are ruled by weaklings?”
“Well...” Rarity was taken back by Pharynx’s outburst. “Her Majesty is not a ‘weakling,’ sir. I mean, can’t a mare indulge herself sometimes? She is not a machine exactly.”
“None of us are, Rarity. If she can no longer do as she required, she should retire. A land cannot afford its monarch being weak,” Pharynx ominously concluded.
“General!” Rarity raised her voice. “I will hear no more of this! Our Empress is a munificent and kind pony who protects and provides for everyone who needs it and everyone who’d ask! She is not weak just because she has feelings! I’d rather be reigned by a creature, than by an automaton!” Rarity’s proclamation was soured as Pharynx laughed.
“Yes, I suppose she is not,” he finally answered. “Tell me: how did you come into her service? I have heard ponies were reluctant to accept her, to say the least.”
“The war was none of her fault!” Rarity blasted out.
“But hardly answers my question,” Pharynx retorded.
“Well…” Rarity propped her forehead with both of her forelegs. “I was aiding Princess Luna, as she used to call herself, with implementing certain reforms to resolve a thousand year long divide between our people. To shorten the story, I’ll say that things did not go where the Princess expected them to.”
“Hmph...” Pharynx snorted. “As if they ever do.”
“Ponies lashed out at each other in fear and the Princess was out of options to resolve the situation without having to resort to violence. Princess Celestia refused to partake, denying the army the order to intervene, but by doing so she provoked a mutiny. Many of the soldiers refused to idly watch, they tore the insignia’s off their uniforms and demanded Her Majesty to give them the order Princess Celestia won’t.” Pharynx tilted his head slightly, “Rather than letting armed and agitated soldiers to do as they will, Her Majesty decided to lead them instead.”
“So she’s just a victim of circumstance?” Pharynx concluded. “Rarity, I am sorry for being blunt, but I’m not buying this. She went from horribly failing a reform string to all of this?” Pharynx spread his hooves at the room. “I also hear she is nothing short of a genius in military strategy and political stewardship. This isn’t a change that can happen overnight, or even in a year.” Rarity bit her lip, but Pharynx sensed the weak spot in this ‘Empress’ armor’. “I heard from the Guards, there is a very certain pegasus lieutenant here that seems to be willing to share her perspective,” Pharynx emphasised his intention by standing up from the table.
“No!” Rarity jumped up, following him. “I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you! Just don’t ask her!”
“What? You’re afraid she’ll give me the bad light?”
“Well… yes, exactly,” Rarity admitted. “Rainbow has absolutely no concern for delicacy.”
“Shall we?”
“I did not lie to you, General. The story is the truth, just not the entirety of it. There are certain… delicate facts to it.”
“You’ll hear no doubt from me on this one,” Pharynx commented.
“Yes… well...”
“Let us start from the important part, how exactly famously timid Luna became so... imperious?”
“She… always had in her,” Rarity suddenly smiled nervously. “We all were quite surprised,” Pharynx narrowed his eyes.
“Indeed? I could never have guessed from what we could hear, or rather not hear, if I may put it so. One might almost say Princess Luna and the current Empress are two different ponies,” Rarity madly widened her eyes, her mind immediately racing to find a possible rebuttal.
Pharynx toothly smiled, content with the reaction he provoked,
“So that’s how it is then. She assumed Luna’s identity and took her claim for herself, clever,” Pharynx propped his chin with his foreleg in thought. “Perhaps I misjudged her afterall, a mare that can make her whole race believe her being the Princess she herself murdered is remarkable, a worthy adversary! No shame in losing to someone so skilled at deception and subterfuge!” To Rarity’s surprise the changeling’s admiration sounded quite genuine, maybe this wasn’t such a poor situation to be in.
“So, you do not intend to use it against us?” Rarity carefully asked.
“Oh, I will most definitely make use of this knowledge, be certain. But rest assured, fair lady, I won’t harm your Empress as long as she treats us well, her secret is safe with me. There is no point in starting hostilities when we have so much to gain from working together,” the changeling’s mood suddenly soured again. “For as long as she treats us well and for as long as there’s anyone left to appreciate the partnership,” he spoke gloomily.