//------------------------------// // 132- (XX) ʇuǝɯǝƃpnſ // Story: Changing Expectations // by KKSlider //------------------------------// Coxa and Cricket each gave me a nod. With Thorax overseeing the transition back to Manehattan from the city’s side and Lacewing touring Canterlot’s surface with some acquaintances she made in Locksdale, the four of us would be our species’ representatives for the remainder of the negotiations. Which, by my count, was two more days. Tomorrow, we would finish wrapping up negotiations with agreements on further military integration, cultural and technological trade, and the creation of the war plans to finally conquer the Fourth Hive. ‘They need me to get past the Fourth Hive’s anti-magical field. They don’t even know about the Mithril Throne; that detail never came to light, despite Division-P’s torture. Say what you want about the individual changeling’s desire to survive and willingness to backstab each other, but when it comes to the survival of the Hive Eternal, there is no more glorious death than to die saving it.’ Celestia, Luna, and Cadence sat opposite of me. Normally, Celestia would be at the head of the table, and myself sitting by her left side with Luna and Cadence across from me. Today, the tribunal of Princesses of Equestria sat as one. ‘They need me.’ Today, we conclude the matter of Count Double Dealings. ‘Surely they won’t be so stupid as to find me guilty?’ I was less and less sure of my position as today’s meeting encroached. “Let this meeting be commenced,” Celestia announced to the stenographers present. “The matter of today’s topic is of utmost importance: the death of Count Double Dealings, as well as other pervasive activities committed by King Phasma and the changelings of the Fifth Hive. As per already agreed-upon articles of this Confederacy, the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol, a substance currently banned within Equestria, is void by diplomatic immunity. King Phasma, let us start with the death of Count Double Dealings. Please describe every encounter you had with him.” I cleared my throat, “Contact with Count Double Dealings was made through a subordinate of mine, Froghopper. I do not know how or what the specifics were, only that Froghopper had arranged a meeting for the purpose of selling alcohol to Count Double Dealings. So, Froghopper and I went to this meeting. We expected him to betray us at some point, you ponies have very apt names, but we didn’t expect it to happen within ten seconds of us meeting. When we arrived, Froghopper and I were directed to the Count, who was hosting the meeting in an open-air restaurant in Manehattan. “When I tried to begin the discussion by talking about the potential deal, Count Double Dealings made it clear immediately that there would be no deal, and that he wanted to take everything I owned in Manehattan by force. He ordered a number of agents to go with Froghopper to confiscate everything we owned. I ordered Froghopper to replace the ponies sent with him, and to bring back reinforcements. “When the changelings returned, the criminals having been stunned and podded, the Count then ordered his cronies to dismember me. Despite following all of his instructions without protest, he decided to remove a leg. So I gave the order, and the ambush was sprung. All of the ponies present, all having been under his command, were taken down. The Count I dealt with personally, by skewering him through the neck. Then I…” I coughed, “I made him give me all of his assets during his final moments. Manehattan’s guards came to check on the noise, but turned out to be on his payroll, too, so they just kinda… left. That was that.” Cadence voiced the first question, “From testimonies recovered from the freed ponies, the only ponies who were verifiably not under the Count’s control were the staff of the restaurant. Is there a reason why you podded them too, rather than try to come to a more peaceful solution?” I rolled my eyes, “A single witness to my survival leaking the info to the Royal Guard would have been lethal to both myself and my Hive. Daybreaker didn’t know about my survival at the time.” “Would you say that your life was in danger?” Celestia asked. “The Count ordered my dismemberment, which had I been a normal changeling or pony, I would most certainly have bled to death.” “But did you feel threatened?” “Of course I did!” “So these ponies had approached you with the intent of fulfilling his orders?” “What kind of– yes. There were several ponies present at the table itself that would have enacted his orders, if given the chance.” Celestia nodded, “Thank you for the clarification.” “Could you not have overpowered them with less than lethal means?” Cadence pressed. ‘Spare that piece of…?’ I started to say something, but I couldn’t come up with a solid enough reason. The truth was, I absolutely could have spared him. I just didn’t feel like there were enough reasons to. Killing him was… “Why did you decide to use lethal means?” Luna asked. “He threatened me.” “You’ve been threatened plenty of times before–” “And everyone who’s threatened me is dead,” I cut Luna off. “Daybreaker, Double Dealings, Eucharis, The Prophet, and more.” ‘.... Maybe that’s a bad stance to take. I should change my position on the issue.’ I cleared my throat, “I’ve died once. I have no intention of ever letting that happen again.” “This specific record will be available for public view sooner rather than later,” Celestia reminded me, pointing out that I am mentioning my reincarnation. “I intend on making my past clear as soon as possible.” “So your experience with death influenced your decision to kill the Count?” Luna asked. “Yes, of course it did,” I found myself saying again. “That bastard…” “Did the Count remind you of your murderer?” Cadence asked. I blinked in surprise before remembering I did yell at Cadence a while back, and she probably had pieced it together from that. Still, it was an impressive connection from my perspective. ‘Celestia must be training her protégés well.’ “... Yes,” I admitted, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. “How?” Celestia asked this time. “... I complied with all of his demands. I did everything I was supposed to, in order to avoid bloodshed. Still, he... they… tried to take away everything. I can’t lose this life. I just, I can’t.” I muttered. “We motion for a break,” Coxa said abruptly. I frowned, “What?” “We’ve only just begun,” Celestia said. Coxa gave me an unreadable look, “We motion for a break.” “I’m fine,” I dismissed him. “Phasma, you–” “I’m fine. We’ve only just begun, as Celestia said. I’m not a coward who can’t face the consequences of their own actions, or shrinks at the sight of things not turning out perfectly. We’re continuing.” “... Very well, Your Majesty,” he said. “Next question.” Celestia raised a hoof and projected a silence bubble around the three Princesses. “Can she do that?” Coxa whispered. “I guess so,” I whispered back. “Are you actually doing well, Phasma?” “I said I’m fine.” “If I said I shit gold, would you believe me?” I snorted, “What does that have to do with anything?” “I’m saying this is opening a lot of old wounds, and there’s no way in hell you’re doing okay. I sure as shit wouldn’t be.” The silence bubble vanished. “Due to the presence of external factors,” Celestia announced, “we will move the investigation along. Next up, we will quickly discuss the usage of mind control spells by King Phasma. Would you list the incidents where mind control was used by you, King Phasma?” ‘Lying is far worse than telling the truth. If I come clean, ponies will eventually accept what I did. If I lie, I’ll only be pouring gasoline on the fire when the truth gets out.’ “Two incidents,” I replied. “The Count in his final moments to make sure I got everything from him, and before that, against a Division-P Inquisitor as a non-lethal method of stopping her from reporting my survival to Daybreaker.” Celestia nodded, “We’ll note that usage against the Count, but would you please go over the interaction with the Inquisitor?” “I was living in the town of Hooferville following my near-death at Canterlot. I was saved from the brink of death by the ponies there, and was given an opportunity to work with the guard. So, the former Prince of Dread spent his days yelling at ponies to stop loitering, filing paperwork, and otherwise wasting taxpayer bits. You know, standard guard stuff. Then came the rats.” “The rats?” Celestia asked. “The rats. Hooferville sat at the edge of the notorious Blackthorn Forest. Scaled rats the size of a pony with a penchant for eating anything they can fit into their maw attacked the town. The swarm was in the hundreds, so it was all hooves on deck. I was stationed at the front gate and was one of the unicorns shielding the town against their advance. I held up long enough for reinforcements to arrive, and together we all routed the swarm. The fact that I had held up a shield against so many attackers attracted a lot of attention, namely the Inquisition. Kinda hard for a unicorn to hold up a shield against an entire army. Captain Shining Armor can tell you all about how he’s the only non-alicorn or royal alive that can accomplish that, I’m sure. “The Inquisitor brought with her a prisoner. Seeing another changeling in irons…. It was everything that I feared would happen to changelings. Since she was asking questions that I couldn’t possibly even come up with convincing lies for, I freed the prisoner by using mind control on the Inquisitor. That covered up our tracks long enough to be nothing but distant memories by the time Division-P began combing through the town. That was that, really.” “You’ve never mentioned a prisoner,” Luna said. “I… forgot about him up till now. Not that I forgot his existence, his skills have been crucial to the Fifth Hive’s success in acquiring land and buildings, but the fact that I freed him is something that slipped my mind. There was an Inquisitor who would reveal my survival to Daybreaker, so I had to silence her.” “Could you have stunned and foalnapped this pony like you have others?” Cadence asked. “No. Not only would her immediate disappearance put Division-P on our trail sooner than we could deal with, but the changeling’s prisoner collar was only removable by the Inquisitor. Without her, I feared that the changeling would be killed by the collar. He was told that the collar was explosive, and had relayed that to me.” The Princesses shared a look. “Have you or the Fifth Hive used any other harmful spells or committed harm against any other pony?” Celestia asked. “I don’t think so,” I said, looking to Coxa for confirmation. “The battles with Division-P,” he offered. “Ah, right. Eventually, Division-P discovered the Fifth Hive, and were attacking us out in the open. We retaliated, and went on the offensive. There were deaths on both sides.” “Yes, we have the full comprehensive reports on those battles from our side,” Celestia said. “Would you provide any information you have on those?” “We didn’t keep any details,” Coxa explained. “... I understand. Thank you for your cooperation.” “Wait, we’re done already?” I asked. “We have been reviewing what facts we already had for some time now. If you’ll excuse us, we will need to go over what you’ve provided us today. All we needed was your side of the story.” Suddenly, I remembered a certain white unicorn constantly griping about a single filly being hurt while a city was burning. “There’s one more thing,” I announced. “During the Invasion of Canterlot, I used a foal as a hostage to coerce Captain Shining Armor into surrendering. The foal was slightly hurt, but was otherwise fine. I mention this because I know the Captain would raise hell if I didn’t.” Cadence leaned over and whispered into Luna’s ear, who passed the information along to Celestia. “Of course,” she muttered. “Well, thank you for being completely honest during this investigation. Your complete cooperation will be noted and kept in mind. If you’d kindly give us an hour, we will contact you when we are ready to conclude this matter.” “That went well,” Cricket remarked. “It did?” Coxa asked. I gazed down into a fountain’s pool of water, looking at my reflection. We had decided to visit the castle’s extensive gardens, and found a particularly secluded spot to hang out in. There was a pair of ponies already here, but they had made themselves scarce the moment they saw changelings arrive. “It went well,” Cricket said. “Judging from what scant emotions they offered, they seemed more than sympathetic to His Majesty’s cause. I am certain that they will give us a favorable outcome. In the event that they don’t, we can simply ignore them.” I sighed, “The Fifth Hive needs this. The Hive Eternal needs this. Stable peace with the Equestrians will forever solve the food supply issue that has plagued our kind since time immemorial. Though we could come back and try to negotiate another peace later, this is our best shot.” “The Fifth Hive and the Hive Eternal might not survive without you,” Cricket said. “In fact, if the Equestrians do something drastic, odds are the changelings won’t accept this peace.” I grunted, “They’d accept it if I told them to.” “Not if you are imprisoned, or worse.” “What?” “.... Cricket’s right,” Coxa agreed. “You highly undervalue your own importance. You’re more than just a king to them. You're the king. There was already a sort of reverence for you in the Lodges, and in the Fifth Hive that’s only been intensified.” “The changelings would have secured a peace without me. Besides, Thorax was the one who really made all of this possible,” I waved Coxa off, still looking into the water. “Maybe,” Cricket said, “but we didn’t. You are the one bringing us peace. You were the one who planned the war. You were the one who has worked the hardest to bring an end to the catastrophes that have plagued our species from the day you were hatched.” “You were the one to save a single drone,” Coxa added. “Back in the Third Hive, you saved a drone that was doomed to die. Sure, there was a pony that you saved too, but you don’t even know the drone’s name. He was nothing to you, and you put everything on the line to save him. Even despite your fears of death, which are more or less common knowledge amongst the Fifth Hive, you went back to save him. He wasn’t important to the Hive Eternal, which means your effort cemented you as a…. Well, I suppose the more radical changelings would call you a Saint.” I stared at Coxa. “... What?” I repeated. “A single changeling is utterly worthless compared to a King,” Cricket explained for him. “You risking everything despite your own personal faults for a single drone is simply… your banner. A single meaningful icon of everything you stand for. The changelings of the Fifth Hive hate that you risked your life for a single drone, but we all love you more for it. That is to say, we’ll never let you do that again, but the fact that you did do it… it means more than you can understand. For all our lives, we’ve been nothing compared to Queen Chrysalis, who would sentence us to death for merely inconveniencing her. You are about as far away from that extreme as possible, so of course every single drone looks up to you.” “Oh,” I said. “I, uh… oh… Thanks. You’re, uh, very good at these speeches, Cricket.” She had given me a similar speech once before, when I was about to address the newcomers to the Fifth Hive. That was right before I went off to deal with the Count, in fact. “Just reminding you of your place in the Hive,” Cricket smiled. “Besides, I’d prefer you to have your moments of weakness and doubt before shit hits the fan, not during.” “Yeah, so get it through your head,” Coxa said. “We won’t accept your sacrifice. Not now, not ever. So take your sacrificial-selflessness and bury it deep down, beneath your desire to survive! That desire has kept you alive, and has kept all of us alive and successful by extension.” “I’ll try–” “That means no more touching ancient artifacts that are probably haunted!” “You’re worse than Chrysalis!” I screeched. When the ponies’ messenger sent for us, we returned back to the negotiation room. As we all took our seats again, the Princesses were looking at me with… pity. It was a flavor of sadness that I didn’t care for. ‘Okay, that’s a total lie. Pity is delicious, and I love it. So long as they don’t lose respect for me, they can pity me all they want.’ “King Phasma, we have reached our… conclusion,” Celestia said slowly. “Uh huh, go for it,” I said. Celestia cleared her throat, “As leaders of nations, we cannot put each other on trial. That would imply one nation is inferior to another. However, given our unique position, you have accepted that we must all be judged as equals, and must cooperate on a level that is unprecedented for our positions. Princess Cadence, Princess Luna, and myself have reviewed the facts made available to us. “You arrived on Equus immediately after being murdered callously. You were put to the task of preparing for a war by an overbearing Queen, and given no time to recover from the psychologically scarring events that brought you here. You were put on a pedestal and expected to be loyal, only to discover that what you were being loyal to was a murderer and butcher of your own family. Then, pressured into helping your new species survive, you did all you could to further that goal. At times, you went too far. Sparkling Water the filly, Count Double Dealings, and so on.” ‘Right, that’s what their names were. Guess they knew everything, and just wanted to see if I would be completely honest, and to hear my side.’ Luna spoke next, “Despite the constant pressure put on you, and the amount of bodily harm you suffered, you have done good deeds. It is important to remember that you selflessly protected the town of Hooferville, going so far as to deal with the origin of the threat that nearly overran the town. You have tried to deescalate situations from bloodshed where you could. This is all besides your efforts to aid the changelings, a people you were completely separate from up till a year ago. We have heard testimonies from the changelings and ponies you have interacted with, from Agent, strike the following name from the official record, Daring Do, to your close friends. Such testimonies are not part of any judicial process normally, but this is far from normal.” Cadence said her piece, “King Phasmatodea of the Fifth Hive. We three have reviewed your actions and your character. The death of Count Double Dealings was an unacceptable escalation of force to lethal means. The usage of mind control on Inquisitor Cogent Flourish was a necessary action to save the life of one of your citizens. The capture of all ponies who knew of your survival was a necessary step to protect yourself. Your fights against Division-P were part of your conflict against the now officially-disbanded agency, and were found to be within acceptable limits in terms of morality.” Finally, Celestia read off their conclusions, “We cannot allow you to remain in Equestria permanently in your current state, King Phasma. Your propensity for lethality presents countless dangers and concerns. However, you have shown nothing but complete honesty, a desire for a peaceful resolution, and for cooperation between our kingdoms. Given your desire to uphold Harmony’s values, the pressures put upon you, and the need to resolve the conflict between the Principality of Equestria and the Fourth Hive, we are prepared to offer you a deal. In exchange for amnesty for your crimes, you must attend Crown-mandated sessions with a licensed therapist, and must prove a desire to improve and become comfortable with your new level of power. You must correct your behaviour, and never let something like this ever happen again. Which, as an immortal, means more than you currently can understand. “All four of us have at our hooves the ability to level mountains and crush civilizations. However, unlike us three, you have had only a single year to get used to this fact, and worse yet, you were put under the greatest stresses, possession by Nightmares not included. So it is of utmost importance that you learn your limits, and how to survive before reaching them. You cannot be allowed to operate with such callousness, even if it is born out a of fear for your own life.” “Do you need time to consider the offer?” Luna asked. ‘They’re demanding I go to therapy, something Luna was going to drag me off to anyways? Sounds like I’ve been Operation Paperclip’ed!’ “No,” I said. “I accept.” The Princesses rose, and I followed suit. Coxa and Cricket rose too, following their King. “Then we conclude this matter,” Celestia declared.