//------------------------------//
// Concluding for the Day and a Visitor at Night 
// Story: A Meeting With A Changeling King 
// by origami 
//------------------------------//

The lunch concluded with no further incidents.  Princess Celestia and Luna excused themselves for a few moments while they went and checked on Prince Blueblood.  After Luna gave her say on the prince's conduct, both sisters impressed upon the stallion the importance of the meeting between the changeling delegation and Equestria, and also why it was important to keep things confidential for the time being.

After the display by both of his aunts, Prince Blueblood acquiesced rather quickly.

Returning to the changeling delegation, Princess Celestia made an offer to retire to her personal study to have a greater deal of privacy than they had before.  Once there, the group resumed their talks.

"I must apologize again for my nephew, King Apidae" Celestia begins.  "I fear I, as well as his parents, have shown him far too much leniency during his upbringing."

The king waved off the notion with his hoof.  "It's quite alright" he reassures Celestia.  "I'm sure there's a few drones back in my hive that believe themselves to sit in a higher station than what they actually hold."

Luna quirks a brow at this.  "That would suggest the threat of a coup in the future."

The king chuckles at Luna's remark.  "To challenge the king would require an actual army, and I can say with great confidence that I would have a vastly larger army than any opponent that would foolishly think to challenge me."

"I must caution you against such overconfidence" Celestia chimes in.  "I have seen many leaders in my life carry that particular sentiment at one moment, and then be deposed of the next."

"I appreciate your concerns," King Apidae responds, "but I hold that confidence because I follow the old adage of 'keeping friends close and one's enemies closer still'."

"You see, I hold no fear of a usurper because I do my best in my rule to give those I have authority over no reason to wish me not to sit upon my throne."

"And how do you accomplish this?" Luna asks with curiosity.

"Simple" the king responds with a smile.  "I do not subject my subjects to rules and laws that I myself would not want imposed upon me."

Celestia smiles.  "The golden rule, or at least a variation of it."

King Apidae nods, smiling at her understanding.

"I too try to follow that ideology," Celestia continues, "but I fear that, sometimes, one has to make concessions with wolves to protect their flock."

"You speak of the nobility, I presume?" the king infers.

Celestia gives him a nod.

"Well then," he says while producing a piece of parchment and quill from his assistant's saddlebags, "simply give me the names of these nobles, and they shall no longer trouble you."

Celestia and Luna both look at the king in shock, before his demeanor gives way to hearty laughter as the pen and quill go back to the saddlebags.

"Ha!" the king lets out as he grabs a nearby tissue to wipe his eyes.  "You thought I was serious about such a thing?"

Celestia and Luna look at each other with unease, and then back at Apidae.

His smile falters slightly.  "By the mother tree, you thought I was truly serious, didn't you?"

"I must admit," Celestia begins reluctantly, "I did think you were.  However, I must point out that while there is some prejudice because of the incident at the wedding, it is also partly because visiting dignitaries from nations such as Griffinstone have made offers such as what you did, and some far more serious than you were."

The King loses his smile and adopts a worried frown.  "Then I must apologize for my attempt at humor" he says to Celestia and Luna.  "I would have said nothing had I known that it would be seen as being in such poor taste."

"Tis fine" Luna replies.  "Situations such as that do not occur often, but when they do, we find it tends to strain the potential for future relations with other nations."

The king's frown deepens a little more.  "I should hope that this has not set back our attempts at peaceful deliberation?" he asks, a small twinge of guilt in his voice.

Celestia and Luna then look at each other, then allow their facades to break as they begin smiling and giggling.  King Apidae looks on in confusion, but then realizes what has happened.

"By the maker," he says while holding back a laugh, "you have managed to put one past me!  I must commend you on the control you hold over yourselves."

The princesses were joined in laughter by the king, and after a few moments, the laughter died down as all parties then relaxed into a moment of comfortable silence.

"I must say," Celestia says to King Apidae, "I had no inclination of how this meeting would go, but after a few hiccups, I would say things have turned out well.  Wouldn't you sister?"

Luna nods.  "Things have gone much better than either of us had expected them to.  We have learned a great deal about your hive and yourself, you have made a fair number of concessions and have offered us aid in a rather serious matter that is of great concern to our citizens."

Celestia then chimes back in.  "Which is why I would like to conclude our discussion for the day in the most positive manner that I can think of."

Making a gesture to her sister to come closer, Celestia and Luna then have a private discussion.  After a moment of listening to her sister, Luna looks her straight in the eyes and nods.  Celestia nods back and then proceeds to ring a bell sitting on a nearby table.  After a few moments, a guard pokes his head into the room.  "Yes, your highness?"

"Would you please bring Ms. Inkwell here?" Celestia asks her guard.

"It will be my absolute pleasure" the guard responds as he leans back out and closes the door.

Celestia turns and faces the king again.  "I am still very much in favor of the points that we have discussed and come to agreement on, as well as my sister.  If there is nothing you wish to change or add, I would like to have them transcribed into an official document."

The king considers for a moment before responding.  "I am happy with what we have discussed here today, though I thought that our discussions would take a bit longer than this."

Celestia nods.  "I figured on a longer series of discussions as well," she admits, "but I would say we've reached agreement on a great many things.  If there is something that should need be decided on in the future, then we shall add an amendment to this treaty."

The king raises one of his brows.  "Treaty?"

Celestia and Luna both nod.  "With the groundwork we have laid here today, both my sister and I would like to officially present to you and sign the Equestria-Dragonlands Changeling Hive Peace Treaty."

Before the king can offer a response, the door the guard had poked his head through opened and in walked a pony mare.  She was grayish white with brown mane and tail both pulled up into a bun style, and had lighter brown eyes.  She was also wearing a collar and what appeared to be a red ascot.

"This is my assistant, Raven Inkwell" Celestia introduced the new pony.  "Among the many hats she wears in assisting me in my affairs, she is also a certified notary."

Celestia then turns to Raven.  "Miss Inkwell, I wish to transcribe a peace agreement between the citizens of Equestria and the changelings of the Dragonlands Hive.  Will you do this for me?"

Raven gives Celestia a bow.  "I would be honored to perform such a task, your highness."

"Very good" Celestia says with a smile before turning back to the king.

"Now then, shall we get down to business?"

King Apidae looked at her for a moment before smiling.

"Yes, we shall."





Hours later, with a brief break so the two sisters could change the sun for the moon in the sky, the final draft of the peace treaty had been agreed upon.  Raven had been given thanks and allowed to retire for the evening.

In truth, it was a rather late hour, with all parties showing exhaustion from the events of the day.

"As much as I am glad for the outcome," Luna says before yawning, "I do dread the process of drafting these agreements."

"As do I," Celestia concurs, "but it is of course necessary for us to accomplish this if we are to move our kingdom forward towards peace and prosperity."

"There is always a price for good leadership," King Apidae chimes in, "and often that price is a great deal of time being put towards it."

Celestia and Luna both nod agreeing with the sentiment.

A few yawns from his advisors causes the king and princesses to reach the same conclusion.

"Perhaps the signing of this treaty can wait until the morning?" the king offers.  "We can say that we have agreed to peace in principle and make it official in the morning."

Both Celestia and Luna look at each other before nodding in agreement.

"You and your advisors may retire for the evening" Luna says to King Apidae.  "Unfortunately, I still have some duties to attend to."

"As do I" Celestia adds.  "We have pushed a great many things to other dates, but unfortunately, some things we could only postpone until we have finished for the day."

"Then I must apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you" King Apidae says with a bowed head.

"There is no need for apology" Celestia says with a waved hoof.  "We are doing something meant to broker peace between our peoples.  I only hope that we have succeeded in our endeavors."

"As do I" King Apidae says before letting out his own yawn.  "I do believe I should retire before I fall asleep on my hooves."

"I shall have one of the servants escort you to your rooms for the night" Celestia tells the king as she rings a bell for a guard, telling him to bring a servant to escort the envoy.  After a mutual exchange of bows, King Apidae and his advisors make their way to bed.

Now alone in the room, the two sisters reflect on the day they have just had together.

"Today was... eventful" Luna said to Celestia.

"It was" Celestia replied while nodding.  "I did not expect us to make such headway in only one day."

Luna looks a bit uneasy.  "You don't believe that they told us those things simply to placate us, do you?"

Celestia considers what her sister has asked her.  "You mean to suggest that you believe they were trying to lull us into a false sense of security?"

Luna nods somberly.

"I honestly don't know," the solar princess replies, "but I do know that, if this truly is a farce, then we are as best prepared for it as we can be.  We are guarded by the best our kingdom can provide, we have used the best enchantments and wards as back up to that protection, and in the event of those two things failing, then we have the fallback that we agreed to with Captain Shining Armor."

Luna nodded as her sister pointed out that last fact.  Only a few days after the attempted invasion, Captain Shining Armor reviewed the security protocols and made suggestions on how to improve them.  His newest idea was what he referred to as a "fall back point", which was a place the princesses would go if they found themselves in such a desperate situation that they would have no other choice but to escape.  By doing so, the kingdom would still have leaders to help organize a resistance against any who would dare occupy them.

While Luna was for it, Celestia was initially opposed.  However, Captain Shining Armor was able to convince her of the merits of the idea, especially when he pointed out the fact that she had been incapacitated and cocooned by the changeling queen, and Luna could've been captured as well.

"That said," Celestia continued, "I do believe the king's words and sentiments are genuine.  I do no think he would have taken the time to sit with us if he wished to attack."

"Nor do I," Luna responds, "but I must admit that I still feel a bit ueasy about this."

"I understand" Celestia tells her sister.  "I'll tell you what we'll do.  Tomorrow morning, we'll invite the king and the advisors for breakfast and then sign the treaty afterwards.  I'll see to it that we have our remaining guards put on alert and ready should something be amiss."

Luna mulls over the decision before nodding to her sister.  "I agree.  That is what we should do."

"Good" Celestia responds while smiling.  "Now, let's finish our duties and get some rest."





King Apidae sat at a window in the room the princesses gave him and his advisors.  The four changelings were currently resting in two of the three beds, paired up so that the much larger king could have his own place to sleep.  The monarch himself was looking out over the city and countryside, thinking over the events of the day.

"I truly wish to make peace with them," he thinks to himself, "but I can still feel their trepidation about our kind.  Even with this peace treaty, we still have a ways to go."

The king, who had been nursing a glass of red wine that had been left as a gift for his stay in the palace, set the glass down and opened the window.  While the device only opened so far, it did allow a current of fresh air to flow into the room.  He closed his eyes and breathed in the air and was reinvigorated, albeit for only a moment.

"Already selling us out to the prey?"

King Apidae's eyes shot open as he snaked his head out the open window.  Looking around, he eventually found the source of the voice.

Attached to the wall of the palace was a single changeling drone.  It wasn't one of his, or one of the rogue queen's.  It had glowing eyes which looked like they were portals into another dimension.

The king steeled his resolve as he recognized whose drone this was.

"Hello, Carnation" he said to the drone.  "To what do I owe the pleasure."

"You know damn well what!" the drone spat, its voice mimicking that of its queen.

"I would be cautious of raising your voice" the king warns.  "I cannot vouch for you if your drone gets caught."

The drone says nothing as it moves closer to the king.

"You have caused a great deal of anxiety amongst the other queens and kings" Carnation says through her drone.  "One questions not only why you are doing such a thing as what you are doing now, but for how long you have been planning such a thing."

"Do you want the truth of me?" Apidae asks, getting only silence as a response.  "I will admit, I have been planning to make contact with the ponies and reveal my hive to them."

"So you admit to treason then?" Carnation says accusingly.

"I admit to seeking peace and nothing more!" the king defends himself.  "If you speak of our laws, Chrysalis has already broken our most important one by revealing us!"

"And yet you admit to plotting to do the same as her" Carnation says with a glare.

King Apidae stands his ground.  "My intentions here today have and always will be to establish peace.  As for Chrysalis, she chose a gambit that she thought would pay off and leave her in charge of Equestria and the ponies, which I hope you realize would make her and her hive an immediate danger to all of the other hives, including your own."

Carnation's drone again glares.  "What exactly do you mean?"

"You haven't figured it out?" the king asks almost incredulously.  "The invasion of Canterlot had nothing to do with feeding her subjects.  It was all about control!"

Carnation's drone stood there silently, so Apidae chose to elaborate.

"You know that Equestria has been a boon for our kind ever since the first kings and queens found it after unification.  Since then, several hives have been established here and each has carved out a territory for themselves, with clear boundaries that have been respected by all."

"The territory around Canterlot is not under any hive's control, mostly because it is the home of the two princesses.  However, just because it is avoided does not mean that the territory isn't technically available for a hive to take control of."

"Now, imagine how much love could be harvested in the capital of Equestria, where the princesses do their best to ensure their subjects live in total comfort, with that magnified by a new, and previously unknown princess, marrying a captain of the royal guard who was once little more than a commoner recruit.  Aside from the announcement of a royal baby being born, I cannot imagine an event that would create such an outpouring of love.  It would be a literal bounty for us."

The drone's eyes hardened.  "Make your point, Apidae."

"My point is that that much love could be carefully metered out amongst many drones for who knows how long," Apidae replied tersely, "or it could supercharge an army capable of taking over another hive."

Carnation's drone showed no outward reaction.  "You mean to tell me that you believe Chrysalis did what she did because she wants to wage war against other hives?"

The king's look softens a bit.  "I believe she has done what she has done because she wants to control everything, including other hives."

There is a silence between the king and queen speaking through her drone for a few moments.  Eventually, the queen breaks the silence.

"I would like to not believe what you have proposed to me," she says reluctantly, "but I know Chrysalis just as well as you do."

The drone's posture relaxes.

"Are you sure that what you're doing is a good idea?" the queen asks.

"I would not being doing this if I didn't" Apidae replies.  "This is a decision that has been in the making for some time.  In truth, I would've waited a bit longer to do this, but Chrysalis has forced my hoof."

"That said, I do believe this decision will be of great benefit, not only to changelings, but even the ponies we gain sustenance from."

There's another silence as the queen considers what Apidae has told her.  However, the king decides to break this second one.

"Even if you don't agree with what I am doing," he says to her, "at least allow me to do this for my subjects.  The ponies are unaware of the locations of other hives, save for Chrysalis's hive in the badlands, but you know that was discovered by them two weeks ago, and they haven't approached on account of the anti-thaumic throne.  None of the other hives are in danger."

"We're well aware of that discovery" Carnation tells him.  "We're also aware that they now know what to look for when it comes to locating a changeling hive.  Her actions have put all of us at risk of discovery!"

"Which is all the more reason that we should reveal ourselves to them and cooperate" Apidae counters.  "If we don't, even just basic survival for any of the hives will become that much more difficult.  I believe that if we do this, we will not only survive, but flourish as well."

"And what proof have you of this?" Carnation asks the king.

"My drones" he tells her simply.  "They only maintained a disguise so as they wouldn't be found out as changelings, and they have more love than they know what to do with.  We have a surplus of love in our hive, and if need be, we are prepared to share it with the other hives."

Carnation balks at the king's claim.  "You would willingly share with other hives?"

To make his point, King Apidae approached the drone and touched his horn to it.  Immediately, the drone's eyes turned bright pink as a glow surrounded its body.  After a few seconds, the king withdrew his horn and looked at the drone.

The mental connection to the queen was severed.  The drone rubbed its horn with a shocked look on its face, not believing what had just happened.  After a moment, it suddenly remembered itself as it looked up at the king.

"Apologies, your highness" the drone tells the king, its voice distinctly feminine.

"It is okay" Apidae tells the drone.  "Please, allow me to speak through you to Queen Carnation again."

"Yes, your highness" the drone replies as she closes her eyes.  "Just allow me to find her again."

The drone takes a few moments, but once again, it has the look in its eyes that tells the king he is once again talking to the queen.

"I..." the queen stutters before finding her voice.  "I could feed on two ponies cities with a population of no less than one half million each and never get as much as what you gave in only those few seconds."

The drone's body looks at Apidae with something of a reverence.  "You speak truly?" she asks the king.  "This all came from peaceful cooperation with the ponies?"

Apidae nods.  "I do, and it can be this way for all the hives, if they are willing to cooperate as I have."

Carnation doesn't say anything for some time.  After about a minute passes, she finally speaks.

"I can make no promises of any other hives, but what you propose is something I will have to think about.  I only offer you this warning: the other hives may choose to see you as a traitor and seek to attack you.  I, myself, will not.  I can speak to the other kings and queens of this meeting, but they will have a very difficult time believing what I have to tell them."

"I'm afraid our time is up.  I do not wish to ruin my drone's cover."

"Before you go," Apidae says to Carnation before she severs the link, "please consider what I've said.  You know that I would never willing lead any of the other hives astray, especially yours."

"I know" Carnation tells him.  "I will consider this proposal, but I can make no promises on what my decision might be."

"That is all I ask" the king says before Carnation severs the link.

The drone blinks and looks at the king, giving him a bow.  "I must return to my home" she tells him.  "My source will get worried if I am gone too long and may come looking."

"You may go," Apidae tells the drone, "but please also consider what I have told your queen.  You may serve to be a 'test run' for my proposal."

"I shall, your highness" the drone says before detaching from the walls and buzzing its wings in flight, heading back towards the main city.