“Are you up to answering some questions?”
I grimaced at Luna’s question.
“Fine. But I’m not answering them if I don’t like the question.”
“How would you describe Equestria, and how would you describe your world?” Shining asked, surprising me by being the first to ask a question.
Then again, maybe the distance between us meant he cared less about my feelings, and so there was less restraining his curiosity.
“.... Equestria is very…. Small. Small and calm. Despite everything that’s going on, it feels like only one bad thing happens at a time. Most ponies, and changelings now, are happy. No droughts, no disease, no corruption, and the wars that do happen have relatively little bloodshed. Well, I suppose that’s not true for the changeling’s perspective on this war. I imagine our death toll is in the tens of percent of our species’ entire population.”
“We’ve bounced back from worse,” Thorax offered.
“So the legends say,” I agreed. “As for my old… home…. Higher highs and lower lows, I guess. Lots more people suffer, but we’ve achieved more than Equestria.”
“That fits with the glimpses we’ve seen,” Celestia said. “What did your species look like? Perhaps Starswirl the Bearded, our most renowned scholar, had managed to scry visions of your world, as he did many others.”
“Humans are primates, and they walk upright on two legs, with two arms. Skin color ranges in shades of white to black. Hair color could be black, brown, red, blonde, and a few other colors. We couldn’t fly, we couldn’t do magic, or anything else like that.”
“No magic?” Shining repeated.
I shook my head, “No magic anywhere on Earth.”
“Earth?”
“That’s the name of our planet. Earth.”
“You named it after dirt?”
I shrugged, “Well, yeah. You look down, there’s dirt. You’re on dirt. Earth. I mean, maybe it’s named after some ancient deity or whatever, but it’s probably named after dirt. Look, we named ourselves Wise Man because we were the only ones capable of thought. Don’t expect too much creativity from our naming conventions. No wait, what am I saying, you named an entire subspecies after dirt! Earth ponies! You literally named your farmers after dirt, you have no right to call us out on naming our planet the same way!”
“Earth ponies are not farmers–” Celestia began to proselytize.
“Bullshit! Their only ability is to get hurt less and grow plants, which relegates them to the military and farming. But this isn’t a discussion on the lowest stratum of your society, this is about the most important person ever. Me. Celestia, you said you know of other worlds. Have you seen Earth?”
Celestia frowned, “Most visions showed the worlds with very little detail to its inhabitants. Your description doesn’t match any of Starswirl’s, if my memory serves me correctly. Was there similar architecture to Equestria?”
“Yes. There are many similarities between our worlds, including architecture.”
“In that case, I will need to go over Starswirl’s notes. There were a significant number of near-Equus worlds he had scried. Perhaps when the balance of Equestria is not in question. Though you said Earth has no magic, correct? Who rises the sun and moon? Who paints the night sky with stars?”’
“The Moon revolves around the Earth, and the Earth revolves around the Sun. The sun revolves around… uh, the galactic core, I guess? Gravity holds everything in line.”
Celestia blinked, “Oh. Yes. I forgot they can do that. Thousands of years of manually adjusting the orbits puts that idea right out to the curb, I suppose.”
“I’ve got a question, Phas!” Thorax raised his hoof.
“Yes, Thorax?”
“If there was no magic, how did you get here to Equus?”
“I… don’t know. Chrysalis performed necromancy, and here I am. I have far less experience with anything fantasy than anyone here. I don’t know anything substantial about magic, or gods, or the afterlife– despite my own experience, or traveling across worlds. I just… I was there. Now I’m here.”
Coxa voiced his question next, “So how much knowledge did you bring from your world then? You didn’t bring any spells, which makes sense if you had no magic, but the rest of the stuff?”
“All the paperwork I make you fill out, yes,” I guessed the origin of his question. “Military tactics, too. The idea of forming a mafia during a prohibition on alcohol also came from Earth. We had one of those, and all it did was make organized crime spread, so I knew I could capitalize on that.”
Lacewing spoke up next, “And you, Phasma? What was your history?”
“... Huh?”
“Who were you?”
I blinked. I rubbed my forehooves as I thought about Lace’s question.
‘Who was I? Uh… I was… me?’
“Does that matter?”
“Of course it matters,” Luna’s wing squeezed around me reassuringly. “But if you are not ready to talk about that, then you don’t have to.”
“Luna is right,” Lace said, “I’m sorry if I’m pushing you, Phas. It’s just that… Well, you’re far from a normal changeling, let alone a royal. You’re the kind of king whose stories would be told about for generations. So of course we would want to know your full story.”
I cringed, “I think that you would be telling stories about the changeling royal who led the invasion, regardless of whether or not it was me.”
“While you may have a point,” Coxa nearly yelled, cutting off both Luna and Thorax who began to talk at the same time, “you have gone above and beyond any of that. Need I remind you about the Third Hive? You blew up a city, and then went back to save a single drone! And a pony, I guess, but mostly the drone! I’m positive that no royal in history has ever done anything like that.”
The changelings nodded and Cricket added, “Coxa is right, Your Majesty. That level of dedication is… unprecedented. And for good reason, too, if I might add my own personal opinion here. You nearly got yourself killed, and for just a single drone. What would we have done without you?”
I shrugged, “Survived.”
“That’s a load of horseapples!” Thorax cursed. “You’re the one ending the war. You’re the one who managed to get the ball really rolling on saving Princess Celestia. You’re–”
“Alright, alright! I get it. But if you want me to stop trying to save my fellow changelings, you’re going to be disappointed.”
“I don’t think you’d be the same person if you did,” Luna said.
“Agreed,” Thorax nodded.
“I feel like we’re missing out on the full story here,” Cadence said.
“Yeah, what’s this about blowing up a city?” Shining asked, or rather interrogated.
“It’s news to me,” Lace shrugged.
I rubbed the back of my neck, “It was the ruins of the Third Hive, the one I mentioned already. So no shit, there I was–”
“Just tell them the basics,” Coxa rolled his eyes.
“–blowing up an artificial sun to kill the demon that ruled the place. I was about to head out– I sent the changelings with me ahead to evacuate before I blew it up, when two people fell behind: a changeling and a pegasus pony. I had worked hard to save the pony up till that point, and condemning the changeling to die to my own sabotaging sounded especially heartless, so I… went back in. I managed to get a shield up in time to not get roasted, and they carried me out afterwards.”
Instead of answering questions, I seemed to have bred hundreds more.
“Wait, the changelings made an artificial sun?” The pony with a sun tattooed on her butt asked.
“Holy buck, that’s awesome,” Cadence muttered.
“You expect me to believe that you survived being at ground zero for an explosion that was felt as far north as Rainbow Falls?” Shining said as he crossed his forelegs.
“You had all this fun without me?” Lace said, looking genuinely hurt.
‘And like that, I’ve successfully derailed the conversation.’
“I have one more question about your past life,” Celestia said, tipping the table quietly.
“Damnit!”
She paused at my outburst, “.... Just one last question. How did your civilization treat the death penalty?”
“You want to know why I’m pushing so hard for it?”
“I want to understand your perspective.”
“You’re making it very hard to be frustrated with you, Celestia.”
She smiled, “Thank you.”
“Uh huh. If you must know, there was a series of trials held for those who violated the peace and committed crimes against humanity. My understanding was that they were somewhat lenient for the minions, but almost all of the top brass of the perpetrators were sentenced to death.”
“And you believe Division-P is comparable to these perpetrators?”
“... I think I would need to hear Lace’s whole story to be sure of it, but I think so.”
“You’re pushing for their deaths?” Lace asked. “All of Division-P?”
“I want trials with changeling juries, with that as a possible sentence. Celestia doesn’t want any death penalties, and ponies on the juries. We refuse each other’s demands.”
“So… telling my story will help you, Phas?”
“It would. Hey wait a second, isn’t that Thorax’s nickname for me?”
Lacewing glanced at Thorax, who just giggled, “You can use it too, Lace. I don’t own it or anything.”
“Heh, thanks, Thorax. I really missed you guys,” Lace smiled. “Let’s get this over with. The sooner, the better, right?”
“Yes, Lace. Though if you are sharing your story, I think it’s only fair that I give my perspective on this, and answer more questions you have. What I went through is, as I imagine, only a fraction of the pain you did.”
“You died, Phas. I don’t think it gets any worse than that…”
“It can always get worse. Look no further than the Ascension Chamber for proof that it can always get worse…. Right. The individuals from Earth pursued a policy of prejudice. That’s nothing new, there’s been plenty of hatred in humanity’s past. The problem is that they were good at being evil. They managed to industrialize evil.”
“Industrialize? What does that mean?” Luna asked.
Celestia shrugged, so I answered, “Not really something that’s a thing here on Equus. Industrialization is sorta the next step for the economy. Right now, Equestria, and every other nation on Equus, operates on a so-called cottage industry. Everything is made at home, and by experts. Eventually… this won’t be the case. Things will be automated, and produced en masse.”
“This is a lot to take in, should we be taking notes?” Shining asked jokingly
“It’s going to be on the test, so yes,” I answered. “Anyways, these monsters who were very good at evil also wanted to conquer the world. Invading other nations tends to create enemies,” I said, winking at Luna and Celestia, “and the whole world was plunged into a war, if only tangentially in many places. Eventually, the bad guys lost, and were put on trial. The industrialized evil I referenced earlier… the bad guys had killed millions of people by the time they were stopped.”
“Millions?!” Everyone gasped.
“Please tell me that is an exaggeration,” Celestia said.
I shook my head, “Death toll of the war was around seventy million, I think. The extermination that the bad guys committed was around eighteen of that, I think, all against defenseless civilians who did nothing wrong. I can’t be sure of the numbers anymore.”
“By Auntie Celestia, I think I might be sick,” Cadence said, fanning herself.
A bucket was produced from somewhere, and Shining immediately rubbed her back as she held it below her muzzle. Thankfully enough, that was the end of that.
“And this is when the trials were had?” Celestia reminded me.
“Yes. The leaders and a lot of other people were put on trial by a jury consisting of the ones they tried to exterminate. Death sentences, life in prison sentences, and so on, depending on each one’s actions during this global war.”
“At least justice was served,” Luna said, taking a drink from a glass of water set on a table next to her at the end of the bench. “So many evil deeds and doers go unpunished. Still, one can not fathom a number that high. Seventy million? What is the population of your world? Equestria surely doesn’t even have that many ponies within its borders.”
Shining shook his head, “This is a war on a scale that cannot be imagined. How can that many people even die? Did it go on for a hundred years or something?”
“Around the war, the population of Earth was probably around three billion. Probably less than that. As for how people died, I did say that we were more advanced than Equus. Much more advanced. That includes the facet of waging war and killing. Especially that, given how adverse to war most people are on Equus.”
“I shall take that as a compliment,” Celestia said, shotgunning the last of her drink and motioning for another. “I have worked hard to discourage the propensity for war. Tartarus, even Luna had worked hard to maintain peace after she had set her lance down for good.”
Luna nodded, “It is true. For all its merits, war is something that should be forgotten. Not improved upon and advanced…”
Celestia plucked a folder from a stack of files that an aid had brought out for her, “So Phasma, you want Division-P to be judged just as harshly as these mass murders of your world? I have to say, as despicable as the Division was, they never achieved anything close to what you describe.”
“I haven’t even begun to describe the experiments, forced-labor, or other foul deeds committed by them. Division-P has blood on their hooves, and from what I’ve heard and seen, they would quickly follow in the hoofsteps– or footsteps, rather– of the monsters from my world’s past. Given time, they would be the ones exterminating changelings.”
Celestia frowned, “We cannot deal with hypotheticals. I will not judge somepony based on what they could do, but rather what they have done and want to do. You should remember your own position, and how you worked to destroy Equestria and put every pony in a pod, Phasma.”
“... I never tortured anyone.”
“Yeah, Phas would never do that!” Thorax supported me.
Celestia was unmoved, “Extracting love from a podded pony is a painful process, is it not?”
“It’s necessary.”
“I am inclined to agree. However, it is still a painful process, is it not?” I was silent. “Necessary torture, then? I understand that you had no alternative, and were actively looking for them, going so far as to ally with Nightmare Moon, even if for your own goals. However, torture is torture. If we were to judge you by the standards you are setting, what would your own sentence be? Would you be comfortable before a jury of ponies who lost everything in the fires of the invasion?”
I shifted uncomfortably, “No. But I was–” I sighed and rubbed my forehead.
“Phasma didn’t have a choice,” Coxa said.
“No, he didn’t,” Celestia agreed. “But many of the Inquisitors didn’t have a choice, either. Daybreaker had given the order, and had set the standard. Let’s go back to these monsters from your world. You said they were put on trial by a jury of the ones they persecuted, correct?”
“Yeah…”
“Where did these jurors come from?”
“Survivors, and those of the persecuted groups that lived in other nations.”
“So, they had a common understanding of justice, an agreed-upon set of increasing levels of punishments, and often lived in the same civilization as the perpetrators?”
“I guess?”
“The problem then is that we do not share a common understanding of justice. We come from radically different civilizations, and you from an even more different civilization than anypony– or anyone– here. What your changelings might view as a crime worthy of a death sentence, ponies might view as worthy of an extended time in jail. This is before even considering the level of crime and wrongdoing committed.”
I sighed, “So then what? We have to set some guidelines for the sentencing?”
“That would be the way forward, yes. We need to agree on limits and a standard reference for the crimes committed.”
“It would help to know what crimes were committed. Coxa, are we compiling a report on the eye-witness accounts from the survivors of Locksdale prison?”
“Uuuhhhhhhhhh suuuuuuuure!” Coxa smiled.
“Do it. Take photos. Lots of photos. Write down everyone’s story. Make copies of everything, too. Several copies.”
“So you’ll need my story, too?” Lace asked.
“Yes Lace. I’m sorry to revisit the trauma, but we will need everyone’s story.”
“And if I tell mine right now, it will help with negotiations, right?”
I looked at Celestia, who nodded.
‘I mean, there are other things to talk about.’
“We can wait if you’d like, Lace. There’s still a lot we need to negotiate over.”
“No, I want to tell my story now. The sooner I do it the sooner it’s over with, and the sooner you can figure this stuff out. I’ve heard a lot about pony vacation spots through Tarsus, and I’m definitely going to one after this on your bit, Phas.”
“As luck would have it, we’re already planning a trip to the mountains in the winter. If you can’t wait till then, then I’m sure there’s destination spots with vacancies. But before we get there, we do need to get this over with. Celestia, if you could help with the seating arrangement...”
The ponies had to bring out extra chairs so that we could all sit in front of Lacewing as she told her story. She still sat on the bench, and Coxa sat next to her, offering her company. I took a chair in what was the first of three rows, with Luna sitting next to me, and everyone else sitting in– ‘Oh, who cares. I am next to Luna and that’s the only important detail.’
The ponies with typewriters that had transcribed our meeting were brought back from their break, and were set to record Lacewing’s account of her treatment at the hooves of Division-P.
Then, taking a few minutes to prepare herself, Lacewing told her story.