Shining Armour spun around on his front hooves to deliver a powerful back kick to his target. The un-equine, twin toned voice crying out in shock and pain a satisfying confirmation of his handy work.
His hooves clopped loudly against the frozen cobblestone pavement were his quarry now huddled, reduced to a shivering pile of putty by the imposing stallion and nursing a cracked leg leaking thin purplish blood. Shining Armour glared down at the crippled cretin in triumph, made all the more intimidating by the pair of armour clad Crystal pony guards behind him bearing stoic scowls.
When they had set out to establish contact with the surrounding towns of the Crystal Empire he had not expected this. What they had expected was a town holding on to its survival, on the brink of starvation only surviving on emergency rations alone. If they were lucky the ‘crystal vein stones’ in each of the settlement’s keeps had ignited along with the crystal heart spreading warmth to the homes and ponies that undoubtedly needed it so.
The reason for this assumption was because King Sombra’s curse was cruel in an oddly selective way. While it erased the ponies and their homes, even those beyond the capital and its citadel, seemingly from existence it left behind the crops to wither and die without the much needed attention the climate demanded for their cultivation.
They were mistaken and what they found was far more tragic.
To the west and north all the settlements were abandoned ruins accompanied by the graves of everypony who lived there. It was determined that the curse had initially covered these settlements but as its power waned the curse was set to release the towns further from the epicentre of the spell a few hundred years earlier than the capital. The result was that without their crops and without aid from the capital’s emergency food stores or the empire’s allies in Equestria oblivious to their reappearance they could not have lasted long.
But that was when things started getting strange. The further east they went the fewer graves they found, far fewer then there should have been and no bodies to account for the rest. Eventually some bright spark pointed out that if they were only finding graves and no bodies that somepony must have survived to bury them. After further examination they noticed that anything of practical use not bound by foundations had been striped, including the vein stones.
When they finally reached the south east their scouts started finding not just surviving towns but thriving communities supported by immense green houses in addition to the traditional hardy crystalline crops required to live this far north. Naturally they withheld making contact until a proper delegation could be formed.
So when the time came Crown Prince Shining Armour, six escorting guards and a small group of royal advisers, accountants, legal experts and surveyors made their trip to the largest settlement yet discovered, one so large it might as well have been declared a city. According to the maps stored in the Royal archives and the grand library it was named Black Peak, after the large solitary rock formation its back edge was built on to. The multi-tiered city was supposed to be the second largest settlement outside the capital but had clearly grown to support many times the population as it did before, not to mention heavily increased defences when compared to records.
Each of the four tiers of the city now had a set of crystalline walls and watchtowers topped with anti-areal ballistas. Why the city needed such defences was yet unknown. It was suggested that maybe the settlements were at war with each other but that was disproved by the open trade that was observed, gate houses left open long into the night and opened early in the morning.
It was decided that they wouldn’t gain any more information by sitting around watching them. Besides, if they were caught ‘spying’ it would only disrupt negotiations. So he had confidently approached the guards watching the gate, having been spotted far sooner by the ones atop the watch towers.
His arrival caused surprisingly little commotion but the guards at the entrance had been rather surprised to see him walk confidently towards the gate. However they were not nearly as surprised as he was when he saw it happily walking across the street beyond in a thick green coat and fur boots that hid it’s more obvious features from view. The resulting charge and buck bringing Shining and the creature to their current predicament.
“What, are you doing here changeling!?” he demanded, having plenty of loathing and authority to pour into his voice. Even his guards seemed unnerved by it for a moment. Almost nothing could get their new captain to behave this angrily.
It began to stutter in an unsound mixture of fear and confusion.
“What are you doing here!? Is this some kind of take over? Are you squatters? Answer me, now!” Shining knew the vile emotions this creature was drawing from him were fundamentally adverse to who he was but the fact it was responsible for sparking those emotions out only made him hate it more. They simply dragged up too many uncomfortable, violating memories for him to deal with properly. The Queen had never gone that far with him but she had still done enough to make him feel queasy every time he thought of the illusive creatures.
“I-I live here!” It declared desperately in a seemingly male voice, it was hard to tell through the naturel distortion and fear induced shaking. “Please j-just leave me alone!” It continued to wail depravedly, calling for help.
Startled murmuring was beginning to reach Shining now. Looking around he saw he had gathered quite the crowd of onlookers, passers-by and ponies emerging from their worn crystal grown houses. There were quite a few calls for the guard too.
He snorted in triumphant recognition. “You here that? The guards are coming; we’ll have you locked up where we can get some answers out of you. You won’t be hurting anypony anymore.” Hopefully catching this creature between disguises would put him on good terms with the locals.
“What!?” a voice from behind him called him out much to his surprise, a voice reverberating with astonished anger. “But He hasn’t done anything wrong! Who in Tartarus do you think you are!?” He turned to see a beige crystal pony donned in a thick apron with a hammer and tongs stud stamp/cutie mark on his flank. A half prepared smithy opening up for the day was visible not far down the street.
Shining met his stare, though with a nagging pang of disbelief. “Are you blind? This here is a changeling! They’re parasites, a threat to society and a public menace; shape-shifters that steal away your family and feed off your love for them. No matter what it’s told you it’s lying, they deceive so they can thrive at your own expense.” He explained confidently.
This only seemed to make the stallion angrier but before he could answer a distinctive buzzing filled the air, a buzzing that was all too memorable for Shining. Two changelings dressed in similar warm clothing with now more obvious slits for their wings dropped down on either side of the first, looking around in confusion and eyeing him and his guards suspiciously.
They braced themselves for a fight and Shining’s group did the same.
“Mr Tongs!” The one on the right called, voice higher in pitch then the one he had attacked. Possibly female but Shining had next to no information on Changeling biology. “What happened here? Who are these ponies? Did they do this!?”
“Don’t know who they are but if they don’t answer for themselves sharpish you’ll have my hooves to help you give them a walloping for marching in here and attacking young Fly Fast for no good reason.” His dead level voice indicated no fear of the three combat trained stallions.
At this point Shining was beginning to realise the glare he was receiving from the smith was not unique. Many of the town’s ponies were wearing similar looks and they were all directed at him. This was bad; if this many of the town’s ponies were under the control of Changelings chances were so was its guard. The guard that judging by the loudening hoof falls was rapidly approaching. Soon he was blocked in a ‘T’ junction with a dozen crystal pony guards clad in chainmail, simple helmets and thick yellow tunics over the top displaying the coat of arms for the city. Most were armed with ornate halberds but a few had bladed hoof boots that would allow for quicker manoeuvring and faster attacks at the cost of reach.
Behind him an almighty slam rang out. As Shining turned sharply to look that way he saw the portcullis had been released by the two guards he passed on the way in trapping the rest of his procession outside the town walls. Being surrounded on all sides may have seemed like a bad situation and Shining’s two escorts were certainly troubled but he felt he could repeal them without harming the guard ponies or any frenzied civilians. Getting out though would be a problem, if this town was as well defended as he thought it was that portcullis would have precautions against magical tampering.
One of the guards, a lieutenant judging by the extra decorative armour and markings, stepped forward from the right group. “What happened here? I got word of an armed assailant,” he demanded before his eyes caught sight of the whimpering Changeling.
“Who hurt the young colt!? Was it you?” he accused in disbelief. “Damn it! Fire Starter’s not going to be happy about this. Only thing we need now is for his wife to turn up…” he muttered agitatedly.
“Sir!” one of the gate guards answered briskly. “The white unicorn and entourage entered moments ago unannounced. He then proceeded to assault Fly Fast without warning or provocation.”
The calls of confirmation from the growing crowd were disconcerting. He didn’t want to hurt anypony but if the changelings made them all charge at once he didn’t think he could avoid it so easily now.
A second glance indeed told him the changeling was smaller than usual but this youth did little to limit his anger at their trickery here. Shining finally spoke up, doing his best to temper himself. It wasn’t their fault, but whether they had been brain washed magically or simply manipulated through more conventional lying he still had to stand his ground. “That is no colt. That is a Changeling. I’ve dealt with their kind before; removing these parasites should be of the upmost importance.”
The response unexpectedly came from behind. “Colt, may very well be the wrong term. But he is a youngling, my youngling, my Nymph! And you have attacked him for no crime that is his own,” a stern female voice of the same overlapping pattern as the other changelings denounced.
The city guards around him began to glance nervously around, some even looked a few shades paler.
Slowly Shining turned to see a new changeling, one a bit more alien looking then any he had seen before flanked by yet another two of them looking equally as nervous as the guards. She had all the things that made a changeling a changeling, shiny black carapace, holes in her hooves, predatory fangs but was taller than average for a changeling. Her horn too, was larger with a single back curve at the base. That and she had a rich blue mane like the queen’s in substance but retained the same blue compound eye structure as the others. Then there was the one thing he had not seen before, a pair black antenna ending in small white orbs.
Before Shining could properly take in what he was looking at a force jerked his head sharply to the right, a stinging pain now spreading through his left cheek. It took a moment for him to register that in the previous moment she had slapped him; a moment in which there was stone cold silence before all manner of cheering and gearing rang out in approval.
“Miss Lash! Please, control yourself,” the lieutenant cried, trying to lower the sky scraping tension. “Let us handle it.”
Surprisingly, she backed down but not before she had the final word. “You’re lucky they are here unicorn, or I would have cut off your horn and grind it down for use in my alchemy experiments. I do not suffer those who hurt my brood,” she hissed at him. “Maple, Mildew; come with me. Let’s get Fly Fast to the apothecary. Storm Fly, Double; keep an eye on this violent horse. If he doesn’t get what is coming to him be sure to tell your father,” she instructed strictly before hobbling off, cradling her wounded nymph.
As she did Shining noticed yet another unusual feature. Her wings were not clear, instead displaying a mosaic of bright blue segments, separated by velvet black and a smattering of golden streaks around the edge. It made her resemble some kind of vicious butterfly of sorts. It even struck him as beautiful in an odd, sharp way.
“Now you,” the lieutenant said, addressing him and his escort. “I need you to surrender your armoured and weapons. You’re under arrest for battery and assault.”
“What! But, I… they clearly have you under their influence. I can’t trust you with mine or my comrade’s custody with those parasites controlling you,” he proclaimed boldly, the slightest niggling of doubt working its way into him.
The lieutenant looked perplexed for a moment before seeming to figure out what he meant. If Shining didn’t question himself before the harsh laughter certainly drove home that feeling. “Let me get this straight, you think Gold Lash and her family are brain washing me? No, just me won’t do, it’d have to be the whole city! Ha, maybe we’re all just changelings eh?”
Shining shifted uneasily, if discreetly, under his mockery. Looking to his escort he saw they had held their ground but it didn’t look like they were in any state to do anything if things kicked off. Over by the portcullis his group was watching with apprehensive eyes, clearly questioning Shining’s actions and worrying for the outcome. A couple even had the gall to start staring at him accusingly.
“If she had me under her spell why would I stop her from tearing you apart? You’re lucky I believe in the rule of law because the mob would hardly be kind after the work she does enchanting things and making potent fertilisers around here, not to mention her husband is a Housecarl. Now, I ask again; surrender your weapons and armour or are we going to do this by force?”
The dead pan response left him looking like a fool and a violent one, or at least to their audience anyway. A part of Shining finally began to feel like caving in and letting things sort themselves out like they often seemed to do. Unfortunately he still had a duty to do here made all the more difficult by this.
It took a lot of effort not to sigh in exasperation at this point but he calmed himself. “Look, I’m afraid I can’t do that. Changelings or not I’m here to contact you, to re-establish your connection to the rest of the Crystal Empire.”
Now that had an impact. The civilians and guards alike dropped their anger in exchange for astonishment in an instant. Even the guards slackened up a little.
The lieutenant stared on wearily. “That… may changes things. You don’t have a rank or title do you?”
“Shining Armour. Crown Prince and captain of the newly reinstated crystal guard,” he stated flatly.
His adversary once again hardened and this time into an icy glare, his weapon subtly readying. “I didn’t know Sombra had a spawn, or used ponies for his lackeys. Makes sense of you being a unicorn though…”
Shining’s face screwed up in discussed. “Ugh, just-just no! I’m prince by marriage to the rightful hair. My wife, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, is all that remains of the Empire’s royal family that fled from King Sombra at the beginning of his rule.”
Shining neglected to mention the line was now technically dead; Cadence was only the hair because she happened to be adopted by the last two members. She never talked about what happened to her real parents.
“I see.” His scowl lifted and a flash of embarrassment passed but his expression remained heavy as he thought. “I can’t arrest you then but don’t think you dare think your off the hook. Stand down and raze the portcullis!” The guards all obeyed, all lowering their weapons and those nearest rushing to the gate house to do as ordered. “You lot, I need ten of you to escort our…” he paused, looking over Shining suspiciously. “Our guests to the hold.”
Ten guards almost immediately formed up around the reunited diplomatic team.
“As for you and your group,” he addressed the diplomatic procession, “we need to go see the High King. Follow me.” He turned back to shining, narrowed eyes trying to boar a hole in his head. “Stick close, wouldn’t want to be ungracious hosts by letting our citizens dish out some justice,” he remarked with heavy sarcasm.
Glancing at the escorting guards cautiously he only had a few simple replies he could give. “Lead on,” well, give grudgingly that is.
Slowly they began to make the trek up the various tiers of the city to the keep, the biting cold nipping at their fetlocks. They passed many homes all arranged in the same curving pattern, fallowing the crystalline wall of their tier. Those walls were one of the main advantages the Crystal Empire had always had according to their library records. They were grown, not built and were far more solid than conventional stone and mortar walls. Could form a strong barricade in an hour or grow to a decent few stories height wall within half a week. Equestrian guards serving as temporary axillaries in the Empire often joked about; “Instant defences! Just add magic!”
As Shining walked he kept his eyes forward as much as possible, trying to ignore the unwelcoming looks he was receiving. A part of him was beginning to regret not proceeding more carefully, not for the changeling’s sake of course but for the sake of negotiations here.
As he walked a voice caught his ear. Now Shining was no eavesdropper but this voice was the distinct sort to belong to a changeling and any information would be helpful right now. “Hay sis, what does parasite mean? That wax for brains wouldn’t stop calling us that.”
“Seriously?” the same female who had challenged him earlier snapped. “Don’t you ever read?” Changelings didn’t exactly have the most expressive features but a glance could tell how sheepish the one who asked was looking right now, the poor shmuck. She sighed before explaining like she had read it out of a dictionary, “a parasite is a creature that feeds off of another living organism at such an organism’s expense, hurting them, often without the ‘host’ organism knowing.”
Another glance told that the changeling was now deep in thought, or rather as deep in thought as a creature like them could be. Then Shining got something he didn’t expect.
“Oh. You mean like ponies?”
At first he was shocked by the suggestion but it quickly evolved into a simmering, if confused, anger. How a changeling of all creatures had the gall to call a pony a parasite… well, it didn’t exactly make sense.
“Huh? What end of Cunabula Harmonia did that come from?” Apparently the female was as confused by this comment as he was.
Wait, did she just use the official title for their world? It was fairly well known if not commonly used but it was rather surprising for him to hear a changeling use it.
A deep breath in signalled one of those long, rushed speeches coming. “Well, ponies harvest fruit and vegetables, yanking them out of the ground, cutting them up, boiling them, roasting them, sticking them in a stew and eating them. Since the vegetables are dead and dissolving in stomached acid there kind of uh… not benefiting from it and they can’t think so they can’t know about it. So doesn’t that make them parasites? Wait, I like roast potatoes, does that mean I’m a parasite? Is that what the jerk was talking about? Because that’s just hypocritical. Or does he see it as some sort of exclusive club we’re imposing on? I’m not sticking to chicken and fish just because he says so.”
That… actually made sense, if you accounted for the definition he was given. He could easily dismiss it as an honest misunderstanding. It kind of reminded Shining of himself when he was younger; not the sharpest tool in the shed but certainly smart enough to get by as an officer until he smartened up.
“Weight, what? That…” There was a distinct smacking sound. If Shining had to guess it was probably a face-hoof performed by the female. “No, a parasite is like a bed bug, a flea or a mosquito, they don’t kill their food. He was probably talking about how we feed on strong positive emotions, affection and stuff,” she explained uncomfortably.
Once again Shining started to feel off-balance. A moment ago he actually forgot just what he was listening to. After all, once you got past the voices they sounded rather like a pair of young ponies. He even had to steal another glance just to reassure himself they were still changelings.
“But that doesn’t make sense!” the first exclaimed in protest. “Feeding doesn’t hurt ponies. Why would that make us a parasite? Wouldn’t it make us a plant? That’s what plants do, they just feed on light but they don’t eat the sun. Like we do. On love, that is.”
Shining was beginning to think this changeling’s mind was a bit muddled. Not exactly stupid but he certainly didn’t think in strait lines. Oddly enough that reminded him of something, didn’t Twilight have a friend a lot like that? A vague memory of a frightening pink blur came to mind.
“Forcing it out with spells does hurt them though, if we do it too many times. It cases brain damage; they forget how to think or something. That’s why Mum said she’s not teaching us more magic till we’re older. Our stuff is more dangerous than pony magic; more fun but more dangerous. Besides, you can still hurt relationships if you’re not careful,” she chided, clearly the older or at least wiser of the two.
It was odd and only added to his growing discomfort but it reminded him of time when he talked to Twilight about why she wasn’t allowed to read Mum and Dad’s magic books. For Shining that just wasn’t right. They weren’t supposed to be like this! According to every expert in Equestria they were supposed to have the cognitive abilities of a parrot! Only able to mimic language, not debate it. All born from the Queen to only be tools to her hive, not have families. They were supposed to only be changelings, another monster to be rid of.
That was the catch though, wasn’t it? What if changelings were only another type of pony? They did look like ponies, roughly, and there were frankly more confusing animals out there like chimeras created long ago with rampant magical experiments performed by some demigod figure, Sleipnir if he remembered his history lessons.
What if changelings were just another one of those? Griffons were speculated to have been created in a similar way and they weren’t mindless beasts. Maybe it was even a curse of some sort that could be removed and they were simply victims of it? That was a comforting thought. The idea that maybe all they needed was to be zapped with the Elements of Harmony and they would be normal happy ponies again was very comforting in a way. After all, who wanted to be a love sucking insectoid parasite?
Comforting, but far too optimistic to be true. He dismissed the silly thoughts.
“We’re here. Come on your majesty. The King has a lot to discus with you,” a voice announced sharply, his title dredged in a sarcastic drawl.
Shining shook himself out of auto-pilot and back into the real world to realise they had arrived at the tall and imposing block of a keep, thick wooden doors open and waiting, beckoning him in with the wispy warmth spilling out. As they moved through the entrance hall each of his entourage besides the guards took time to examine the decorations. For the most part it was tapestries displaying heroes slaying various beasts or even battles against tribes of trolls and something that looked like Pegusi but just wrong somehow… wait were those fangs?
The occasional weapon also made an appearance. There was also the moderately frequent appearance of something that had a distinctly changeling air about it. This troubled Shining and the few of his companions who also recognised the significance. If these ponies had grown in whatever time they had been independent to glorify battle and fighting it would seriously conflict with the Crystal Empire and Equestria. To an even greater point they might have developed their own permanent government that would be opposed to connecting with the rest of the empire.
He was not left to his thoughts for long however as they soon reached the final pair of doors. They were smaller but far more impressive then the first, these decorated with carvings of crystal ponies farming their fields, building their homes and of course, fighting for their lands. It was some comfort as it showed they held value in constructive activities as well as warfare. Hopefully he could build on that.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to leave your weapons out here. Its protocol, if you march in there with them the housecarls will tear you apart before you can even get a word in.”
Reluctantly Shining removed his sort sword in its scabbard from his side and passed it to a waiting local guard. The rest were much the same in their discomfort, though he had two of his guards remain armed and waiting outside the room.
“Good, now wait here,” the lieutenant ordered before moving forward through the parting doors to speak to the regal figure sitting upon a sparsely decorated wooden throne.
Unfortunately there was something far more attention grabbing standing not far to the right of the throne. Yet another changeling, this one with a two tone red and orange mane and eyes that if not for the dark blue compound irises would have strongly resembled the changeling Queen. This new one was also tall enough to look himself in the eye. To add to Shining’s list of problems the changeling was wearing an ornate set of steal armour, tufts of insulating fur protruding from around the edging and the large matching battle axe across its back. What made this even more significant was the similar sized pony dressed in matching armour on the other side of the throne.
The changeling was a guard, maybe even a soldier for this high King. What was the word the other used? Housecarl? If shining recalled correctly that was the name given to professional soldiers in Equestria’s more feudal days. That meant he had to have been sworn in at the very least and before which he would have had to have done something to become a trusted member of the community. Shining was having a hard time excepting that such a feat might not have been achieved by trickery in this case.
However as the guard was quietly explaining the situation the new Changeling grew visibly disturbed. A moment more and he was looking towards the other two who shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and then looked to Shining. The look quickly turned to a stare and that stare quickly turned venomous. This was most lightly the farther mentioned earlier.
“Hum, very well then. Come forth! I wish to know what sort of ambassador sees it a fit move to disrupt the peace in the land of those he wishes to speak with.” A stern voice rang out; one that reminded Shining of a disapproving Celestia a little too much for him to be comfortable with.
The source was the regal figure siting on the throne, a Crystal Pony bearing a dark blue coat of fur, black mane and a thin beard. Draped around his shoulders was a dark burgundy felt cape rimed with fine white and black spotted fur and upon his head an brass coloured crown encrusted with a modest number jewels.
Shining trotted forward, head held high and expression kept neutral and privately vowed to be unbiased in this meeting even if the King’s image vaguely reminded him of Sombra more then he liked. He could not mess this up; he had already put himself in a compromising position by attacking an algid citizen so he had to pull this off right.
“To whom do I address?” He asked curtly.
The stallion raised a brow, in some gesture of surprise. “High King Geodeus of the Crystal Remnant and Earl of Black Peak. I also believe I asked you first,” he replied in distastefully dull tone.
Shining gave a courteous bow, not a deep submissive one but certainly respectful. “Crown Prince Shining Armour of the Crystal Empire and Captain of its newly reinstated Guard. I take it you’re in charge here?”
“I carry the title of High King and you would think otherwise? I cannot say I approve of your reasoning skills,” he chided, clearly enjoying his position of dominance behind his emotional mask. “Very well, let’s get on with this. First of all you are fined one thousand six hundred Fragments for your crimes, the thousand to this city state of the Remnant and the six hundred as reparation to the family you committed the crime against. Do you have any objections?” he explained wearing a tired expression. It was clear this was a fairly common announcement.
Shining had no problem with paying a fine if he had committed a crime but the fact he was giving compensation to changelings still upset him somewhat. “Yes, but it ties into maters of the state. I am concerned about the presents of enemies of the Empire you are housing.”
For a moment the Kings face twisted to a baffled expression but quickly supressed it. “What enemies do you speak of? And how does this affect your fine?”
“I’m referring to the changelings; they have been declared a public enemy and are to be detained on sight and killed if necessary,” Shining answered harshly, the decree actually listed them as a dangerous pest but he decided to avoid mentioning that for now. If one thing had been made clear in the past hour it was that they were not the dumb beasts he assumed.
The King was now presenting a mild frown, worried whispers from behind reminded him of two young changelings that had no doubt just heard. “Pray tell, why is that? Contact was indeed made with their Swarm prior to Sombra’s takeover and while it was a far from present series of affairs it was certainly not enough to cause such a declaration. From what information we have only a few miners were injured when they accidently brock into their tunnels. The brief hostage situation that followed ended without any sort of bloodshed and an understanding was reached. I see no reason why the capital would see to declare that.”
Now that was new information to Shining but it did not change the facts. “They have violently attacked allies of the Empire and recently. The capital of Equestria, Canterlot-”
“What did you say? Equestria?” he cut off harshly. “They are no allies of ours… you…” he began leaning forward in his throne, examining Shining sceptically. “Tell me, you are of Equestrian breed are you not? And what of your wife, a unicorn of nobility?” Geodeus asked cryptically.
“No, she is an alicorn like all the ruling Princesses,” he responded tentatively, Shining could feel this was not a pleasant path of enquiry.
The King’s expiration seemed to twist into a painful grimace. “Celestia…” he murmured heatedly. “You are… a former citizen of Equestria? I know it is probable for obvious reasons. Would you consider yourself loyal to Celestia and Equestria?”
Shining had the distinct feel he was being asked a loaded question. “I… yes. I suppose so,” he responded hesitantly.
“Oh? And why do you think she is worthy of your loyalty?”
He was taken aback by the question. Very few had reason, even foreign powers, to distrust Celestia as far as he knew. “She is a fair and kind ruler; I served as the captain of her royal guard for many years before marrying Princes Cadence. I have no reason to question her judgment.”
“Then I cannot in good faith do more than negotiate with the independent Crystal Empire. I will give that manipulative chess mistress no ground here,” he declared harshly. He regarded Shining’s shocked expression with naught but neutrality. “Before you ask long before Sombra was even born of union between a crystal pony and a unicorn Celestia had made countless attempts at annexing the Empire into her own principality. For every new monarch on the throne she has made countless arguments about why they should allow her to succeed their power to ‘unite’ the pony races. Every plea was met with refusal and was in turn met with underhanded economic suppression and even blatant sabotage. There was never any proof but it was far too obvious with how that arrogant brat of a princess behaved at the time.
“I will not allow a pawn, for make no mistake that is what you are, of hers to advance her own goals at our expense! You are not native to our lands and neither is your wife. I will not, cannot submit my power to someone who loyal to a foreign power over my own people!”
Geodeus was standing by now, as angry as one in his position could allow themselves to be. “She is known here as the ‘Relentless Sun’ for a reason. I cannot trust her and I cannot trust you. I will also not allow you to dictate how we may treat one of our closest allies that have stuck by us through the ages,” he finished far more calmly.
For once in his life Shining was gobsmacked, to put it lightly. Eventually his brain managed to make some half sense of what had been said and came up with a question eventually. “What allies?” he asked dumbly.
The King retook his seat wearing a slightly smug smile and stated nonchalantly, “Have you not been listening? Why, the Changeling Swarm of course.”
It took almost a minuet for Shining to form any sort of response. Taking in a few scattered refugees he expected but not this. “The changelings!? You’re actually allied with those parasitic monsters!? Do you even know what they do to ponies?”
The King snorted, clearly showing his view of Shining’s credibility here. “Do you? Tell me, how much about them can you tell me for certain? I have read a few books imported from Equestria, through changeling traders I will admit, and none of your so called professionals on the subject seem to have any idea what they are talking about. They are certainly a fairly secretive race but that is no excuse for well-educated professionals to just take shots in the dark on a matter they do not understand.”
His mocking was beginning to great on Shining’s nerves. It was much like a parent’s scolding and showed that this King had no respect for him.
“I know for starters they are not to be trusted lightly. They are parasites by nature. Supporting them will only harm you in the end,” Shining responded factually.
“Yet four hundred years of history say, no, proves otherwise. They have always helped us when we were in need and in return we have helped them. The only incidents they haven’t were internal affairs they rightly stayed out of.”
“But what about their food!? Surly you can’t have known them so long and not know they consume ponies’ love. They literally drain you of it! I should know, I’ve personally experienced it.”
A slightly shocked glance from that changeling guard followed by a brief look of sympathy showed Shining there was at least some modicum of truth to their feeding magic and its ill side effects on victims.
“I know of their nature and yes their people have been caught feeding in our territory but as long as no harm comes of it we allow it. You however are the first Equestrian I have ever met and the first thing you do is start a fight in my city,” he countered, retuning to a more neutral tone.
Shining Armour once again found himself breathing heavily at the King’s bullheadedness. However he steeled himself and calmed his nerves. “Look, I obviously made a mistake out there. That’s fine; I’m willing to pay the price for that. Right now however, all I am interested in is properly reintegrating your people with the rest of the Empire and if I can’t do that then at least secure some terms for peaceful coexistence, trade would also be nice. As for the changelings… I am merely concerned for your safety.”
The King looked a little more placated now, taking a moment to think.
Finally he levelled his eyes with Shining’s once more. “Very well, we had our own plans of how to handle the return of the capital but if the citizens there truly embrace you reign then there is little to be done about that. As for reuniting the fragments of the Empire… that is a far more complicated issue. We are used to doing things our own way and any changes Celestia sees fit to enact through you will probably not be welcome. One thing that is set in stone however is that if you take military action against the Swarm I warn you we will support them over you.”
“Even if they are responsible for some calamity against us?” he asked harshly.
The King was not dismayed by the question; in fact he smiled at it. “The answer to that question is simple. I trust them. I trust such strange creatures of deception over you. The reason being I know them well, my people know them well, so I know I can trust their word over yours. Unless confronted with undeniable evidence to the contrary their version of events and reasons will be accepted as reliable and trustworthy. I will be fair and give you a chance to prove your aptitude as an equal but I will not do so at the expense of their friendship.”
Shining had to admit to himself, this King’s and most lightly his people’s loyalty to their ‘friends’ ran deep. That was the magic word here; friendship. It bought forth the question that if the changelings were indeed playing nice with these ponies and that the chitin coated guard in the corner wasn’t some puppeteer in disguise, why had they attacked Equestria so fervently? Why not strive to create additional allies?
He gave a final sigh of acceptance. It would be best not to exacerbate things. “Very well, while it wasn’t how I expected things to turn out I would be more than satisfied if you are willing to engage in peaceful and mutually beneficial relations. You have my word that we will not engage in unprovoked hostile action against you or your changeling friends. However, if any are caught within our borders they will still be detained,” he outlined.
The King pondered this for a moment. “I suppose that is acceptable, I will inform them that being caught trespassing on your land will not be tolerated but as for your word… that isn’t exactly worth much to me.”
Shining kept his composure. “I am no villain. Yes, I made a mistake assuming there was hostility where there was none but I won’t start a war over a personal grudge. You said you would give me a chance to prove myself to you. Can I trust your word?”
An amused grin spread across the King’s face. “Indeed I just did. You will have your chance. I can’t guarantee my subjects will forgive, or at least forget but it’s most likely they will accept you in time,” he reassured.
Not the most reassuring notion but it would do. Now he had more important things to discuss. “Good. So… I think it would be best if we started by laying out our borders?”
He nodded. “A good place to start, yes. My map room should be able to provide us with all the necessaries. Tri Strike, with me. As for you Fire Starter I think your family need your attention right now.”
The changeling took a bow. “My thanks my liege.”
“Prince Shining wasn’t it? Come, I assure you my hold is large enough for all your company.” He rose and trotted off to the right where a door awaited.
They followed, Shining felling in step with the King.
“Oh, I just remembered. Your timing is rather fortunate.” The King chuckled, his pace slowing a little. “I am to host the ambassador from the Changeling Swarm this evening. Perhaps you can settle your differences then yes? I’m sure he won’t mind delaying his tour for the sake of sorting out whatever it is you have against them.”
Shining caught on to what he meant quickly. He wanted Shining to get in cosy with his own friends for whatever reason. “Are you sure that’s the right thing to do? So soon?”
Geodeus rolled his eyes quite openly at Shining. “No good in letting wounds fester my boy. I can tell most of the tension from you is because of them. You’ll see, they are quite agreeable if you let them sink their teeth into you!” he commented with a hardy laugh. “You’ll be surprised by some of the things they have up their sleeves they are willing to shear I can guarantee that. All the more so considering you think of them as beasts for now, we’ll change that misconception but for now let’s concentrate on us for now.” He picked up his pace and left a particularly worried Crown Prince trailing behind.
Shining couldn’t help but worry about the future and even more so about how Cadence would react. Still, he had to contact her and there would a lot of explaining to do. Good thing they had arranged for vague complications.