“Can you believe that Nymph is her daughter?” Twilight asked Arthas in a hushed tone.
She didn’t need to point at the black figure walking in front of them; Arthas was right there with them when Chrysalis had told the entirety of Equestria that Nymph was her daughter. The timid changeling who was currently dating Big Macintosh was daughter of the Queen of Changelings!
“Actually, I can,” Arthas replied, surprising her. “I thought there was something odd about her.”
He was also speaking in a whisper; they, as well as everypony who was at the balcony moments ago, were currently trotting through the castle’s corridors to the Council Chamber, not too far off from the Throne Room. Back in the times of the dawn of Equestria, the Council - comprised of the representants of each pony tribe - that ruled over the land gathered there. Currently, though, that place served the princesses as a place to discuss important matters with foreign rulers or with trusted advisors and authoritative figures; such as what results, on a national scale, could come from the sudden introduction of another entire nation’s population.
“What do you mean by odd?” asked him Twilight, curious.
“Despite her timid nature, she seemed much more cautious than Wind Reaver as to how much she revealed to us, while at the same time, she was eager to gather as much information as she could,” Arthas replied, eyeing the changelings.
Twilight followed his gaze; aside from Queen Chrysalis, there were eight of them, four of which seemed to be their counterpart of the royal guards. They wore heavy dark blue plate armor, and walked in perfectly synchronised motion. Of the other four, two also wore armor, except that one had theirs adorned with strange symbols, and the other’s was much lighter, more similar to the Royal Guard’s design.
“That implies she had some spy training - at least, more advanced than Wind - and yet she had claimed to be a ‘scholar’,” Arthas continued. “Which, considering that she’s the one that will tell us tomorrow about changelings’ biology and society, must be true. Also, according to the report Storm had given me regarding that short skirmish with Zahara, she has some combat skills. It was confusing that Chrysalis would send such a highly trained changeling to Ponyville, but since she is her heir, it makes sense that she wanted her to befriend ponies, given her change of policy towards us.”
Twilight thought over what he said; indeed, it did make sense now, although until Arthas told her about Nymph’s multiple skills, it never crossed her mind that there was anything weird about her.
Before she had a chance to voice her opinion, another voice chimed in: “Also, she might have wished for her daughter to become more comfortable around ponies.”
The unicorn looked surprised as Cadance slowed down to even with them. It took Twilight one look at her face to realize that she was also not surprised by Chrysalis’ revelation.
“Nymph told me and Shining that she’s Chrysalis daughter when she was in Crystal Empire,” said Cadance,
“So that’s why she wanted to stay alone with you,” Arthas said, narrowing his brow. “Why did she tell you?”
“Come now, Sir Lightbringer, she told us that in secret,” Cadance replied, smirking.
Twilight giggled, then looked around to find her brother. He was talking with a pegasus guard who wore armor similar to his purple armor. “He must by Shining Armor’s replacement as the Captain of the Royal Guard,” Twilight realized.
At that moment, she noticed that Princess Celestia had stopped by the open doors and turned around to the changelings. “I hope you don’t mind waiting before we start; there are a few more ponies I had hoped that would join us.”
“Not at all,” Chrysalis replied, glancing briefly at the changeling in ornate heavy armor.
The changeling nodded and glanced at the four of their guards. They at once turned and trotted to the wall opposite of the entrance.
“No point in standing around, lets go inside,” Celestia said invitingly, and she herself entered first, with Luna right beside her.
As guards from both sides took places on the corridor, ponies and changelings followed the Royal Sisters. Twilight had accompanied Princess Celestia during a few meetings in this chamber, so she was already familiar with the large, circular chamber, big enough to easily accommodate several dozens of ponies. In the middle of the room there was a round table, with cushions for everypony to sit. Each seat was marked by enchanted gems that were embedded into the table, as well as a glass of water next to it.
There was already one pony waiting inside. “You’ve sent notice to the others, Raven?” Celestia asked her aide, a light gray unicorn.
“Of course, Princess,” Raven replied, briefly nodding respectfully to others before falling a step behind Celestia and Luna. “I’ve got confirming replies from all three, even Doctor Angelic, and you know how she dislikes attending meetings.”
“So we are waiting for three more ponies, then?” Chrysalis asked as she and four of her changelings walked around the table from the opposite side of Celestia and Luna.
“Two,” said a voice from behind.
Twilight looked back to see who that was. In the door stood a bright orange pegasus mare in blue uniform. “Captain Spitfire,” Celestia greeted her as the mare saluted. “Fast as ever, I see.”
As Spitfire replied to the Princess, Twilight wondered why exactly she was there. Of course, as the Captain of the Wonderbolts, the last remaining division of the Pegasi Armada, she was the commander of Equestria’s aerial forces, but was she really needed?
“Unless, the Princesses hope to discuss more than just how Equestria might be affected by the alliance with changelings,” Twilight realized, glancing at the new Captain of the Royal Guard and a bat pony she did not know as they took places beside the table as well.
She also wondered how had Spitfire managed to take a shower and change into her uniform in such short amount of time.
As Twilight pondered, the mare in question had walked up to her and Arthas. Spitfire smiled at her and nodded in greeting - probably recognizing her from way back during tornado day, when she came to oversee the water transfer - before turning to the stallion.
“So you’re the head of those paladins?” she asked, eyeing him thoughtfully.
Arthas smile. “Yes, that’s me.” He extended his hoof towards her. “I’m Ma-”
“Oh, no you don’t!” Twilight thought, swiftly grabbing his his ear and pulling.
The stallion yelped, more from surprise than pain, then frowned at her. She stifled a giggle as he sighed in defeat. “I’m Arthas Menethil,” he said, turning back to Spitfire, who was looking at the exchange with raised eyebrow.
“I thought you were called Lightbringer?”
This time Twilight did giggle as Arthas facehoofed. “Yes, I happen to go by many names.”
Judging by Spitfire’s amused expressions, she figured out that this was an uncomfortable subject for him. “I passed two of you paladins,” she said, changing the subject. “I thought there was also a pegasus in your Order?”
“Ah, yes, Knight-Lieutenant Storm Clash. He had to stay behind in our Abbey in Ponyville.”
Twilight tilted her head in confusion, noticing the smirk of amusement on his face.
Storm took a step back, forcing back the urge to vomit. He massaged his neck as he “admired” his work.
This toilet was clean.
Sighing, the pegasus paladin readjusted the toilet brush in his mouth and went on to the next.
“He gained a lot of duties after getting promoted,” Arthas added, somehow managing to not burst with laughter as he recalled what punishment he had given Storm Clash. “There’s also a crystal pony amongst my paladins, but she’s currently in the Crystal Empire. I’m sure they both would have been awed by your performance, it was really amazing. Especially considering how little time you had to prepare for it.”
“Wonderbolts are always ready to do their best,” Spitfire replied, though a slight change in her posture told him that she was pleased with his praise. “We were prepared even for an occasion where things wouldn’t go quite smoothly,” she added with a glance at the changelings. Shrugging, she added: “I’m curious what exactly they plan to talk about here; you two wouldn’t happen to know?”
“We can only guess,” he replied for himself and Twilight.
As Spitfire left them to talk with the Princesses, the unicorn turned to him. “And I guess Wind’s mate will be one of the topics.”
Arthas nodded in agreement as they sat down by the table. “I know from Luna that the Night Guard had as much luck so far as the changelings in finding her. I hope Chrysalis will understand that they hadn’t had enough time to do something they haven’t been able to in months, otherwise this meeting could get a little… heated.”
“What else do you think could be talked about?” Twilight asked him. She frowned in cogitation. “I had thought that the major issue would be how this could affect Equestria, but in that case why invite the captains of the guards and Wonderbolts?”
“Did you already forget that Chrysalis thinks somepony had tricked her into attacking Canterlot? Or that somepony had poisoned Apple Bloom to drag us away from Ponyville?” he reminded her quietly. “There are enemies somewhere within Equestria.”
Seeing that Twilight looked a bit sickened at the thought, he decided to cheer her up. “Hell, the most dangerous enemy Equestria faced is in the garden, serving as toilet for pigeons.”
Twilight snorted with laughter, causing several heads to turn to her in surprise. “You’re terrible,” she whispered once she calmed down.
“Who do you think we are waiting for?” Arthas asked her, knowing she had been to few meetings like those.
“Aside from Angelic Touch, I have no clue. I’ve never accompanied Celestia during meeting like this. In the past, she usually could have dealt with most issues by herself, or with the help of Raven. Only when issues like a legislation work or reform of health services, and in those cases, Princess Celestia had conferred with her aide, the Royal Physician and the Royal Treasurer. She also discussed international politics here a few times, but I wasn’t invited,” Twilight replied quickly. When Arthas glanced at her, he saw that her eyes were on the changelings. “Who do you think they are?”
Arthas followed her gaze. Due to the size of the table, it would have been slightly impractical if Chrysalis and her people would have chosen to sit on the opposite site of the ponies. However, the closest changeling, the one in ornate blue armor, sat three seats away from the closest pony - the pegasus Shining Armor had briefly introduced to him as Cyclone Strike, his successor as the Captain of the Royal Guard.
“I think this is the leader of her guards,” he whispered to Twilight; he certainly seemed such. He, along with those four changelings that they left outside, was of a bulkier build than most changelings Arthas had seen so far. He was also sitting right next to his queen. On her other side, though… “That one was with Chrysalis when she came to Ponyville. He’s Ghost Step, and she had called him one of her Swarm’s best information gatherers.”
“Information gatherers?” Twilight repeated, confused.
“A polite way of saying ‘spies’, I suppose,” Arthas told her, then glanced at the remaining two. “I’m not sure who the other two could be, though…”
Next to Ghost Step sat the other changeling without armor; it had a more slender body, and its muzzle was shorter, more similar to Nymph, making Arthas think that it was female. However, her most conspicuous characteristics were her eyes. They were larger in proportion to her head than any other changeling Arthas had seen, and she hardly seemed to blink. She was looking with those eyes at the crystal in front of her curiously, almost studiously.
The other one was definitely a warrior; aside from the armor, it could also be recognizable by a barely visible mark running from its cheek down its throat, looking like a scar.
“A military advisor?” Arthas thought, observing him.
His musing was interrupted by a gasp on his left and tapping on his shoulder. Arthas looked at Twilight, whose eyes were at the entrance…
… through which was trotting Daring Do.
The memories of the night he met her - especially those of the last few seconds of their acquaintanceship - resurfaced as the pegasus mare smirked. “We seem to keep running into each other,” she said as put her hat on the table right next to him.
“Good morning, Doctor Do,” Celestia greeted her before Arthas could reply. Daring turned to the Princess and bowed. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“You were lucky your message had reached me, Your Majesty,” Daring replied. “I was just about to leave for the Crystal Empire when I got it. Can I expect some compensation for missing my train?”
“My husband and I will be returning home on our private train once this meeting ends,” Cadance, sitting between Twilight and Shining Armor, said. “You’re welcome to join us if you wish.”
“Thank you, Princess Cadance, I think I’ll accept the offer.”
“Hoping on decoding that stone tablet there?” Arthas asked.
“Planning,” Daring corrected him. “So what happened to Storm?” she asked, changing the subject.
“He found the Eon Petals and came out of the Forest. I will give you more details after the meeting,” he answered, knowing that Daring Do would be grateful to learn that her theory about Commander Hurricane mating with Everfree was right.
“Um, excuse me?” Twilight spoke up, sounding a bit nervous. She smiled as Daring turned to her. “It’s an honor to meet you, Doctor Do. I’m-”
“Guessing by you sitting so close to Lightbringer, I’m gonna guess you’re Twilight Sparkle,” Daring interrupted her, smirking. Seeing the dumbfounded expression on her face, she chuckled. “Your friend here made me sign a book for you when I ran into him two nights ago.”
“Really?!” Twilight exclaimed, looking at Arthas. “You hadn’t told me.”
“I wanted to surprise you when I would give you your book back. Thanks for ruining it, by the way,” he added, scowling at Daring Do.
The pegasus mare gave him a smirk. “Be glad that’s all I said, handsome.”
“What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked, confused.
Thankfully, before Daring could say anything embarrassing for Arthas or worse, the last pony had finally walked through the door, which closed behind her. “I’m here, I’m here,” Doctor Angelic Touch said, appearing as if she was a bit sleepy. That impression assured itself as the blue-white mare yawned when she trotted past Arthas, muttering greetings to the passing ponies.
“Doctor Angelic,” Celestia greeted her, apparently not offended by both her tardiness and her behaviour. “I would have expected you to be more excited about a prospect of meeting with changelings.”
“You already told me that you won’t let me dissect any of them,” Angelic replied, sitting down between the bat pony and Cyclone Strike. “No offense meant,” she added, glancing briefly at the five changelings.
Arthas had a sudden thought that maybe Luna’s comparison of her to Professor Putricide - the abomination-making alchemist who was long on his way into insanity before he was called into service of the Scourge - was not so farfetched.
“Now then,” Celestia spoke up, “I believe that it’s about time for this talk to start. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss several issues, first of them being possible repercussions of the announcement that took place today. I am talking on both national and worldwide scale.”
“Well, that’s obvious,” Arthas commented in his thoughts.
“However, there are other matters I would like to discuss with all of you. Especially with our guests,” she added, looking at the changelings. “I know that, in accordance with the plans we’ve made earlier, we’re supposed to learn about your biology and social structure tomorrow from Nymph. However, if we are supposed to draft some plans on how we should coexist with one another, there’s a certain matter than needs to be addressed. Namely, your diet.”
Chrysalis eyes narrowed. “I thought we had also agreed that before any final decisions will be made, you will help us locate our missing changeling. How’s that coming along?”
Arthas exchanged looks with Twilight, certain that she also thought “I knew it,” at that moment. He turned his eyes to Celestia in time to see her cast a glance at the bat pony, who, Arthas assumed, was the leader of the Night Guard.
The bat pony - whose name Arthas made a mental note to ask later - straightened a bit. His coat was light gray, almost blue. It was still a bit weird for Arthas to look at him and know that it was no illusion, that he really had featherless wings, narrow pupils and fangs. “He seems more like a carnivorous animal than herbivorous.”
“We haven’t been able to locate her as of yet,” the bat pony spoke up in a calm voice. “The Night Guard has searched estates of everypony who would have the means to hold a changelings against their will, and we’ve looked through all the reports we had about you since the Canterlot Invasion, trying to calculate possible areas in which she could be. It’s frustrating, but so far we have nothing to show for our efforts, for which I apologize, Your Highness.”
Chrysalis seemed to be slightly surprised by his polite reply, but she quickly shrugged it off. “Once this meeting is over, if the Princesses have nothing against it, you should converse with my Spymaster. I’m sure your task will prove easier with his help.”
“I’m sure Nightshade will appreciate your Spymaster’s help,” Princess Luna replied. “But I hope you don’t plan on leaving the matter my sister brought up not discussed today, Your Highness. While it is true that we cannot make any final decisions as per our earlier agreement, it doesn’t mean we cannot talk about it, wouldn’t you agree?”
By how quick it took Chrysalis to nod, Arthas had figured that she had planned on approaching the issue anyway. “Very well; however, before we discuss it, perhaps it would be best if I introduced my advisors to you? Since we already all know your names,” she added, smiling mischievously, “it doesn’t seem fair for us to have such an advantage over you.”
“She doesn’t need to brag that they know more about us than we do them,” Twilight hissed quietly as Celestia replied that she and everypony else would be delighted to know the names of her advisors.
Arthas leaned to her. “Actually, things are going quite civil so far for this kind of meeting.”
As Twilight cast him a dubious glance, Chrysalis nodded at the changeling on her right. “Commander Unscathed, leader of Praetorians, my elite guards,” she said, confirming Arthas’ earlier guess. The Changeling Queen turned to her left. “Spymastar Ghost Step, head of intelligence gatherers. Grand Magistrix Lucid, the Swarm’s top magic user. And lastly Wing Lord Dragon Blood, leader of my warriors.”
Each changeling nodded their head as their queen named them. Arthas, who noticed that some among the ponies were intrigued by some of their names, decided to voice his own interest. “I know from Wind Reaver that changelings chose their name that defines them best upon reaching maturity,” he said, omitting that it was Rainbow Dash who learned about this from him. “How does one get defined by the name Dragon Blood, Wing Lord?”
The changeling to which the question was directed smirked. “Dragonsss often sssstray into our territory,” he said in weird hissing voice. “The Ssswarm warriorsss’ main tasssk isss keeping them away, or killing them if they prove too ssstubborn. My team had encountered ttthree sssuch ssstuborn ones before I’d reached maturity. When reinforcccementsss arrived, they found me bathed in dragon blood… asss well asss my own,” he added, lifting his hoof and running it down his scar. “I figured that the dragonsss owed me my name for damaging my vocal cordsss.”
“You killed dragons?” Spitfire asked him, her tone of voice and raised eyebrow suggesting that she found the story to be unbelievable.
“He can join the club,” Arthas thought in dark amusement.
Dragon Blood seemed amused by her disbelief. “It’sss not ssso hard… provided one knowsss what they’re doing.”
Spitfire frowned, but Princess Celestia spoke up before the pegasus could raise to the bait. “I can understand why you wouldn’t want dragons in your land - wherever it might be - but taking their life seems to be extreme,” she said.
“Our lives are harsher than yours,” Chrysalis replied. “Do you not justify in similar manner the ways of the zebra tribes? That they live in a harsher, more dangerous land? Or the griffons’ way and custom by their natural ferocity?”
“But why would dragons continue to stray into your territory?” Daring asked instead, changing the course of the discussion.
Chrysalis eyes narrowed before she shrugged. “They might be driven there by their instincts. After all, they used to live there before a certain pony drove them out.”
Several jaws on the ponies’ side of the table as they apprehended what this implied. Arthas, who had a lot of experience with encountering unbelieveable things (especially as of late) was the first to recover. “You live in the Dread Wastes. The area once known as the Valley of Life.”
“But that’s impossible!” Daring was quick to exclaim. “The Dread Wastes are inhospitable to any living being, the ground is dead and the air is toxic-”
“Which is precisely what we want the world to think,” Lucid, the Grand Magistrix, cut her off. “While I don’t doubt that, originally, the Dread Wastes were such as you describe them, by the time our kind chose them as their home the air had cleared. Magisters primary job is ensuring that our Hive is safe; and the illusion of toxic air is our first layer of defense.” Even as she explain this to everypony, she was still eyeing the crystal embedded into the table. “This crystal serves to project thoughts and memories, correct?” she asked, prodding it with her hoof.
“Yes, that’s right-” Princess Luna replied, but she was cut off as suddenly a transparent vision appeared in the middle of the table, circling around its own axis.
“I thought so,” said Lucid, who appeared to be more interested in the now glowing crystal rather than the image she had conjured, unlike the ponies.
Arthas, though he had never seen any image of it and was certain he was watching a scaled model of it, realized what it has to be. It was Daring, however, who said it: “That’s the stump of Ashvattha. You’ve made your... Hive in the cave beneath its roots?” she asked, glancing up from the image of the empty, scarred land with remains of the World Tree in the middle.
As Arthas wondered on what scale this image was, his eyes scanning the long roots coming off the dead World Tree, and the remains of its trunk, which most of the higher part got destroyed, either by fire or time, Chrysalis answered: “The term ‘caverns’ would be more accurate. Beneath Ashvattha’s roots laid a real maze even before we started to build our home there.”
“How long ago that was, if I might ask?” Celestia asked. “We have no record of changelings’ presence before my and Luna’s reign.”
“That’s not surprising,” Chrysalis replied as Lucid had finally taken her hoof off the crystal, causing the image to disappear. “As far as I am able to tell, we changelings came into being sometime within that century, and we found our home a little before you defeated Discord. I’m sorry I cannot give you a precise date,” she continued, ignoring the confused and thoughtful gazes she was receiving, “my mind at the time was probably less advanced as that of a drone after it first molted.”
“You lived at the time?” Angelic exclaimed, sounding excited. “Are all changelings so long-lived, or is it just-”
“Tomorrow, Doctor,” Celestia cut her off, causing the Royal Physician to frown. “She raised a good point, though; are we to understand that you are over thousand years old?”
“Yes, that’s what I meant,” Chrysalis replied, appearing to be slightly amused by Angelic Touch’s enthusiasm. “I am the oldest living changeling, and I’ve been their queen since the dawn of our species… though, as I said before, I don’t remember much from that time.” For the first time, she looked genuinely troubled. “As you will learn tomorrow from my daughter, when we are born, our minds are primitive, and it takes time for them to mature into a state of consciousness and awareness sentient beings possess.”
Arthas noticed that Doctor Angelic was making notes of what Queen Chrysalis just said.
“I believe the same process applied when we first came to be… however it might have happened,” Chrysalis finished.
“So you had no idea where you came from?” Celestia asked.
“No. I and my subjects had long since concluded that focusing on our origin was pointless. Although, some clues as to where we came from had come to our attention recently,” she added, her eyes locking with Arthas briefly, “which is a matter I hoped we could elaborate later.”
Arthas winced inwardly. Assuming Chrysalis had shared with her closest advisors what he told Nymph (which he was certain she had), there were still three (probably) ponies in this chamber that did not know he came from another world. Arthas wasn’t exactly too keen on explaining the story again.
“For now, though,” Chrysalis continued, putting her forelegs on the table and joining her forehooves beneath her chin, “I believe you had asked about our ‘diet’. As all of you know, we changelings feed on love. Love is our only source of nutrition, as well as source of our power. Our entire kind’s existence depends on it.”
Angelic seemed as if she wanted to inquire about what the Changeling Queen had just said, but only a look from Princess Celestia silenced her.
“Due to the incident from several months back,” Chrysalis carried on, clearly carefully picking her words “you ponies might have been under wrong assumption that when we feed on a pony’s love, it’s harmful to him or her.”
Shining Armor snorted, probably offended by the word “wrong”.
“However, the condition Prince Shining Armor here was in had been caused by prolonged draining of love,” the Changeling Queen said. “I admit, it was an intended action on my part. As more and more love is drained from a pony, he enters and apathetic state, causing a severe decrease in mental capacity as well as magical prowess, which was my goal. It was a strategic move.”
Beside Arthas, Twilight was grinding her teeth. She must have been angered by Chrysalis talking so casually about what she had done to her brother. “Calm down,” Arthas whispered, leaning to her ear. “Shining Armor and Cadance remember those events more vividly than you, and they’ve given this idea their support.”
“Doesn’t mean I cannot be angry,” Twilight whispered back, although she relaxed somewhat.
While they conversed in hushed voices, Chrysalis was bringing her explanation to a close: “Normally, a changeling would never feed on a pony to such degree. The amount we drain from them doesn’t harm them, but it’s more than enough to sustain us.”
“If that’s true, then perhaps coexisting would be much more easy to bring about than I had anticipated,” Princess Celestia mused. “But I am worried as to how you have ‘fed’ on ponies until now.”
“I assure you, Princess, not a single pony had been harmed by my changelings for the past thousand years… recent event aside,” she quickly amended. “My subjects are also instructed to ensure that their actions won’t endanger relationships of ponies; if ponies started getting divorces or breaking up, it would cause too much attention. As for how we feed… it depends on the scenario. We have teams assigned to specific towns, and they are coordinated by their leader. One changeling takes the shape of somepony’s spouse and bumps into them during their lunch break while their partner goes to the other spouse and acts similarly. Another two separate the two ponies before or during the date, and if necessary modifies their memories a little… Those are basic scenarios. Also, about a third of mares employed in Equestria’s brothels are changelings.” She paused and mused in silence, while several ponies looked at her with mixed emotions of shock and repulsion. “I think I actually own one…”
Celestia sighed and massaged her temple. “Well, that’s a topic I hadn’t expected to hear… again…”
“When have you discussed brothels?” Luna asked, turning to her sister in surprise.
“About four hundred years ago one ‘moral activist’ wished for me to force a law to close all such establishments,” Celestia replied, sounding slightly uncomfortable. “As much as I personally do not approve of such practices, I had no legal basis to do so. Both selling and mating are legal, but trying to explain that to that mare…” she trailed off and shook her head, while Luna snickered. “I don’t suppose it would be possible for your Swarm to survive on by those means alone?” Celestia asked Chrysalis.
“Not unless you would have allowed to multiply the number of such establishments by ten,” Chrysalis replied, and Arthas realized that she must have done those calculations prior to coming here.
“Oh, well, it’s probably for the best,” Celestia said, shrugging. “It wouldn’t be good if the relationship between ponies and changelings was built on making your entire kind into hookers.”
“To be honest, I don’t see any reason why we should change status quo,” Chrysalis continued. “If you would remove your scrying and protection spells from your cities and let my subjects gather love in peace-”
“Steal love,” the white alicorn corrected her, frowning.
“They are not being harmed,” Chrysalis said, her eyes narrowing.
“Even so, you cannot expect me to allow you to lie to my subjects and use them.”
“Then what do you propose, Your Highness?”
It was Luna who replied instead: “What if you would pay for love?”
Every changeling looked at her with wide eyes. Arthas was no less surprised than them, although he was mostly shocked that such an option hadn’t came out earlier. “Basic rule of a trade, you want something you have to pay for it.”
Chrysalis was quick to recover. “Oh, yes, that sounds reasonable,” she said mockingly. “Anyling knows the current exchange rate of love into bits?”
As Ghost Step and Dragon Blood chuckled (or hissed in case of the Wing Lord), Luna replied calmly: “I’m sure we would be able to put a price on amount of love you drain from a pony.”
“And how would you expect us to pay? What little resources there were left in Dread Wastes, we had long since used on building the Hive...” Chrysalis trailed off and mused. “Though I suppose we could sell you all those dragon skeletons-”
“Dragon skeletons!?!” Angelic exclaimed, her eyes wide with excitement.
“- and the other huge animals that lay all around our front yard,” Chrysalis said with mild disgust, ignoring the doctor. “We’ve incorporated some into our structures and defense mechanisms, but that still left hundreds-”
“You used their remains in your buildings!?” Twilight exclaimed, disgusted.
Ghost Step made a motion as if he rolled his eyes. “Zebras do the same in their land with sacrificed animals, or even remains of their ancestors. How are we worse for using the bones of creatures that were dead longer than our kind probably existed?”
“And what you do with the remains of the dragons you kill?”
“We bury them,” Dragon Blood replied, shrugging. “The lassst ttthing Dread Wassstesss needsss isss a carrion-feedersss infessstation.”
“How exactly are they used the in your ‘defense mechanisms’?” Cyclone Strike asked intrigued.
Arthas was also curious by that. The first thought that came to his mind after hearing that was necromancy, but he could think of some more uses of dragon bones, and he didn’t want to assume the worst.
Lucid turned her large, almost non-blinking eyes to the Captain of the Guard. “You don’t think we’re going to reveal more about our defenses at this point, don’t you?”
Cyclone Strike frowned, but at the same time Princess Celestia spoke, gaining everybody’s attention. “I think it would be possible for us to buy several skeletons for academic purposes,” she said. Angelic looked as if Heartwarming Eve came early this year. “As for those we would not buy, assuming you won’t bury them, I think it would be best if you would try to sell most of them to the zebra tribes, as they use them in some of their rituals.”
“Zebras despise us even more than ponies do,” Chrysalis pointed out.
“I’m sure I would be able to arrange meeting for you with the Dowunai Tribe chieftain, if you would wish to make a trading agreement with them. In fact, Luna and I planned on organizing a Royal Summit sometime in the future,” Celestia added. “It would seem proper for the Changeling Swarm to join worldwide politics, seeing how you are coming out of the shadows.”
Chrysalis smirked. “Perhaps. But before we talk about that, let’s wrap up this issue. Now, assuming we would agree on this ‘buying love’ idea, how do you propose we should go about that? Last time I checked, ponies didn’t have the ability to siphon love.”
“Perhaps we could open some sort of embassy?” Raven spoke up. She glanced at Celestia and continued: “Ponies who would need bits could come, spend some time with a changeling-”
“Are we back to the brothel idea?” Chrysalis asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because it sure sounds like a brothel idea to me.”
“You don’t need to be intimate with them,” Raven retorted. “Couldn’t you… I don’t know, take shapes of passed away family members and friends?”
“That’s an idea. Unfortunately, such bittersweet love has a terrible aftertaste,” Chrysalis said, cringing.
Several ponies facehooved hearing the comment. “How does-” Angelic started, but Celestia once again silenced her.
Several similar ideas were thrown following this, though all had one or another flaw. As this most bizarre trading agreement Arthas had ever been witness to unfolded, he noticed that more and more participants were starting to get bored. Spitfire laid her head on her forehoof and looked as if she was about to doze off, Daring was playing with her hat, Angelic (still pouting after the last reprimand she received) was scratching something on her notes, Dragon Blood crossed his forelegs on the table and laid his head on them, and Lucid’s eyes were on the ceiling. Also, Arthas was willing to bet that Cyclone Strike and Unscathed (and Shining Armor as well, probably) managed to remain as if if they were listening intensively due to them being experienced guards. Aside from Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Raven and Chrysalis, who remained active through this discussion, only Nightshade, Ghost Step, Twilight and Arthas himself continued to listen attentively.
Finally, that part of the meeting was brought to a close by Cadance. “I believe further discussion on the subject is pointless at this moment, especially since this was supposed to be just preliminaries. We have other matters we need to focus on, after all.”
The other three monarchs nodded. “You are right, Cadance. At this point, far more concerning should be the reactions of our subjects and the world to this treaty. Cadance, perhaps you can start?”
“Very well, Aunt Celestia,” Cadance replied with respect, smiling. “I believe the crystal ponies will be very acceptive of changelings. The Crystal Empire’s banishment works in our favor on this matter; as they’ve been gone for the past thousand years, they’ve never grown to fear or hate you. When Nymph was seen walking together with Knight Serenity through the empire not so long ago, it didn’t cause panic. They were almost indifferent to her. In fact, I think Knight Serenity had drawn more eyes than Nymph.”
“That’s good to hear,” Celestia said. In the next second her face became troubled. “I wish I were able to say the same for Equestria. Many ponies viewed changelings very negatively even before Canterlot Invasion.”
“Since then, those who were at Canterlot at that day often had bad dreams about you,” Luna added. “The frequency of such nightmares has lessened over the last few months, but after today, I fear there will be many more.”
“And there are the nobles,” Celestia continued. “Even though they’ve long since lost the privileges they had during the times before Equestria was founded, they are still the richest group of ponies and can be influential if they want to. And they can keep grudges,” she added, glancing at Chrysalis. “A lot of their mansions got destroyed during your invasion, and even though they were able to easily afford the repairs, they’ve made things difficult for me and Luna. It took us quite a while to convince the highest officials to agree to the idea with the nobles meddling-”
“Speaking of, Your Majesty,” Captain Cyclone Strike interrupted her. Celestia nodded at him to continue; “won’t the nobles be offended that their representative hasn’t been invited for these talks?”
“Oh, definitely,” Celestia replied nonchalantly. “But considering how much we have to discuss and how much constant interruptions would have slowed us down, we’ve decided that a little more trouble from them will be worth it.”
“How much trouble do you think they can cause?” Chrysalis asked.
“At worst? They’ll hire instigators to speak against the alliance with you, maybe proclaim me senile and try to dethrone me and Luna.” Her carefree voice betrayed that she found such scenario to be highly unrealistic. “Though I really doubt that. Despite their arrogance, they aren’t that stupid to try anything such dramatic.”
The Changeling Queen hummed. “Still, I would hate if there were any problems from those buffoons… When you are able to sense the emotions of others, you grow to really dislike ponies such as them,” she added unexpectedly. “Self-obsessed, arrogant… the only love most of them can feel is for oneself. They disgust us. Which is why several of my subjects damaged those mansions of theirs.” She glanced at the Wing Lord as she said that.
“Not all nobles are like that,” Celestia retorted, but Chrysalis shrugged.
“I said most.” She tapped the table with her hoof, pondering something. “If they are going to go out of their way, perhaps it would be best if I were to… talk with several of their representatives?”
Celestia and Luna exchanged glances. “What sort of ‘talk’ do you have in mind?” Luna asked.
Arthas felt he shouldn’t like the grin on Chrysalis face. And he wouldn’t, if they had been talking about any other group of the populace. “I just want to let them know what kind of consequences there could be if they ever try to pull out anything similar to what that nephew of yours tried. In short - if they’ll play dirty, we’ll play dirty.”
When the last word left her mouth, green flames danced around her as she transformed into… Prince Blueblood.
Her demonstration was met with silence, as everypony tried to imagine what kind of possibilities laid behind her suggestion.
“He doesn’t have such a sinister smile,” Nightshade commented after a second.
Celestia, on the other hoof, sighed. “Queen Chrysalis, we cannot resolve to such underhoofed tactics, especially not when we are trying to mend our relations after a good thousand years.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Chrysalis said, reverting to her true shape. “But if that insolent whelp tries to harm my daughter yet again, I will not guarantee anything.”
“But perhaps,” Ghost Step spoke up, “we could help with the issue in some other way? We know plenty of the nobles’ secrets. For example, did you know that Lord Clean Gem has three bastards?”
Eyes of several ponies, including the three princesses’, shot wide. Celestia, however, had quickly frowned. “That’s scandalous, assuming it’s true, but I don’t see-”
“He’s also involved with illegal trade, and in his castle near Hollow Shades he keeps two zebra mares that I am fairly certain are his slaves.”
This time everypony, including Arthas, stared at the changeling with their jaws dropped. In the next heartbeat there was a quiet puff sound, and the bat pony had disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
“Is that true?” Celestia asked, visibly straining herself to remain calm. When Ghost Step nodded, she started. “Then why-”
“Until this morning, we were officially enemies,” Chrysalis replied. “There was no reason for us to intervene. Also, this is information that we’ve come upon only recently, during our search for our missing changeling.”
Celestia closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. “How many more are there like Lord Gem?”
“He happens to be the only one to own anypony,” Ghost Step replied. “If you wish, Your Highness, I can make a list of each noble who broke equestrian law.”
“We would be most grateful,” Luna told him, and, at the same time, Nightshade returned.
“I’ve ordered Officer Vendetta to gather a team and quickly fly for Hollow Shade,” he said, getting back to his seat. Nightshade glanced at Ghost Step; “If Spymaster here is speaking truth, we will know that in several hours.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Luna said. “For now, lets consider the case closed, and return to our original topic. Queen Chrysalis, you have yet to tell us: what do your people think?”
Chrysalis straightened a bit. “My subjects are unquestionably loyal to me. Even though there are many among them who consider it to be a bad idea, they’ll obey my orders. I cannot, of course, guarantee that they will start dancing, singing and hugging ponies, but I’ll make sure that until there’s more trust between our races, they won’t wander into Equestria.”
“That’s reassuring, to some degree,” Celestia said. She was now in a better mood than she was a minute ago. However, Arthas noticed her eyes narrowed as she touched the crystal in front of her. “Now we have to discuss what other nations will think of this.”
An image of the world of Equestria appeared above the table. Arthas looked in marvel at the globe as it turned around, displaying all its lands. The continent on which they were (also named Equestria; he wondered sometimes how come nobody on this world ever thought to name their continents or the world before ponies practically became its dominating species) was larger of the “two”. It started on the roof of the world, which was now covered in ice thanks to the windigo, and where once the Three Tribes of Ponies lived, as well as griffon’s Snowfeather Tribe. Then, south of it, were the Crystal Empire and Equestria. Further down the continent stretched out; on the west, beside the West Sea, laid huge San Palomino Desert. On the east, beside East Sea, Hayseed Swamps stretched out. Between the two, in the center, laid Macintosh Hills, high enough to be covered in snow, except for a big crater the Badlands created during the Sundering of Griffonia. South of the Badlands, surrounded by Macintosh Hills, were the Dread Wastes.
Below San Palomino Desert were the Eyrie Mountains, a long, crescent-shaped range of very tall mountains, possibly (Arthas hadn’t remembered precise numbers) the tallest in this world. They slowly declined the more they went east, and ended with Barren Highlands. From the south, almost in between two ends of the Eyrie Mountains was another desert, the Scorpid Desert, much smaller in size than San Palomino’s.
This was the home of the Dowunai Tribe, the only Zebra Tribe that had diplomatic relationship with Equestria, as well as the rest of the world. The mountains, the highlands, the desert. “A harsh land for harsh people,” Arthas thought, his eyes briefly stopping on the area before moving on.
South of the mountains and the desert, surrounded from both the west as well as south, was Savage Jungle. It ended on the east, the land transforming into a large barren land called the Great Savannah. Further up north of it, another mountain range started to grow between it and the sea, called the Outcasts Mountains, much shorter than the Eyrie Mountains. The Great Savannah continued further up north, until it met with shadowy and leafy Mirkwood Forest. Despite its seemingly dark nature (which some attributed it to the Dread Wastes, as they were on its northern border), inside the forest was the largest lake on Equestria (unless one actually counted Friedrich’s Fall Lake as a lake), called Sun’s Basin. The Outcasts Mountains also bordered with the forest, before they turned right on their north end, as the forest and mountains met with Hayseed Swamps around the Dragon Crater.
However, Arthas’s eyes focused not on the forest or jungle, neither captivating at the moment was the savannah or even the lake or the Dragon Crater. No, his attention was drawn to a small lonely nipple that laid on the “crossroads” between Barren Highlands, Savage Jungle, Mirkwood Forest and the Great Savannah. The Oloora Mountain, a rotund beacon of the land, housing the Great Spirits’ Temple of Oloora. The most spiritual and sacred place for all five zebra tribes.
“The Temple dedicated to all six Great Spirits, five of which became patrons to each zebra tribe,” Arthas mused, fascinated.
West of the continent, not far from its southern shores, was a Forgotten Island. It was called such, because, as they said, “time forgot about it”. On this huge island, covered by jungle, walked animals which had long since been extinct on the mainland. “Who happen to resemble azerothian dinosaurs a lot,” Arthas sighed inwardly. They were even called the same!
The image of the planet, like the image of the Ashvattha remains before it, was turning around, letting Arthas see what was on its other side.
He recalled how, after looking at several equestrian maps, he began to wonder how the cartographers from two thousand years ago could have considered Griffonia to be a separate continent. Though the roof of the world was now covered in ice, Arthas knew that the two huge land masses had been and still were connected. The only difference was that there were no longer two huge land masses. The Sundering of Griffonia shattered the continent, breaking it apart for smaller parts. The only part big enough to be considered a continent, the land of Minotauria, that made about half of the original land mass’ size, was far down south, but somehow all those lands together were still called Griffonia.
The northern half (or rather, its remains) was populated by griffons and ponies. The Kingdom of Griffonia consisted of (aside from their dominion in southern Equestria) three big islands, three fifths of their original kingdom. Icecliff, northernmost (which wasn’t exactly an island, as it still was connected to Equestria), Lionclaw (aptly named, as the isle’s shape resembled a claw), eastmost, and largest Refuge Rock, on the west. Ponies lived on the fourth island south of Lionclaw, named Cockneigh, on the land that was taken from griffons after the Equestrian-Griffonian War.
The fifth of the land from two thousand years ago laid on the bottom of the sea.
In between the island was the Friedrich’s Fall Lake. In truth, it wasn’t a real lake, as it was connected to both the West and East Sea. It was a name the griffons gave to the land where New Griffenburg once was, and where their first king had perished.
There were several smaller islands around what was left of the northern part of the continent. However, there was one that, in the time before the Sundering, lay almost exactly in between Griffonia and Equestria. After it, though, it moved a bit closer to Equestria. A small island now called the Dread Isle.
While he looked upon those lands, Arthas couldn’t help but think about the cataclysm that had ripped them apart. In his ears, echoes of Daring Do’s words rumbled. It seemed even more ludicrous now as he beheld what was was left of Griffonia. A single pony wasn’t capable of causing such destruction.
More in effort to escape those thoughts than curiosity, he led his eyes down to Minotauria. It was a land even harsher than the lands on which the zebra lived. What it lacked in humongous beasts and hardscrabble land, it made up for twice in volcanos. The Minotaur Khanate was practically studded with them. It was no small wonder that the minotaurs worshiped fire; there was nearly more of it on their land than there was ground.
Further down south, and the very bottom of this world, was a white mass of ice and snow. Arthas knew that to be the fallen griffin civilization from before three thousand years ago, though little more than that.
He spared those observations of his merely several seconds. He had already seen plenty of globes and maps before. Arthas was far more interested in what Celestia had to say now. He turned to her, trying to see if he could predict each of the other nation’s attitude. Being once a Crown Prince, he knew the importance of knowing your neighbor rulers well. Celestia knew each of them practically all their lives, and Arthas was certain her predictions would be very accurate. His guesses were supported by nothing more than what he read in the latest history books and newspapers.
Celestia opened her mouth to speak… but then closed it. “Actually,” she said, as if in afterthought, turning towards Arthas’ part of the table, “I think this would be a nice opportunity to see how well my student remembers her lessons about geography and civics. Twilight, can you?”
Twilight looked startled as Celestia asked her that question. “Um, yes, of course, Your Majesty,” she quickly replied.
Arthas smiled as whatever sign of nervousness left Twilight. When she reached with her hoof for the crystal, all he saw in her was eagerness to show how much she knew.
The image flickered when Celestia let go of her crystal, letting Twilight control of the projection. The unicorn cleared her throat quietly and spoke up: “Let’s start with the closest - after Crystal Empire, of course - nation to Equestria.”
On the giant globe, almost the entire region of San Palomino Desert started to glow.
“Saddle Arabia, the land of horses,” Twilight said. “Its current ruler is Sultan Akhal the Fourth.”
The image of the world flickered and disappeared, replaced by another. In the middle of the table was a projection of an obese horse. He was much bigger than ponies, like all horses, though he was still shorter in height than Celestia. Akhal was clad in loose white robes, and what was visible of his coat was yellow like a desert’s sand. His mane was hidden behind a turban that was adorned with diamonds.
“I don’t think there’s much we have to fear from Saddle Arabia,” Celestia started. “Horses were always ignoring of the rest of the world. As long as nothing changes in their trade agreements, Akhal will probably not even react to another nation appearing on the political scene.”
“Are you certain, Your Majesty?” Cyclone Strike asked. “Horses have a tendency to… think poorly of mares. Won’t Sultan Akhal be concerned about a nation ruled by a queen?”
His words caused Luna to giggle softly. “Captain, you’ve just said it yourself that they think less of females. Why would he get concerned? Even if he should,” she added, nodding to Chrysalis.
The Changeling Queen, pleased with her comment, smiled. “I agree that Saddle Arabia will be the least of our problems,” she said, her eyes traveling to the image of Sultan Akhal. “Although I don’t think I will like very much to have a conversation with the likes of the sultan, I would take his insults over real threats.”
Several others voiced their own opinions, but Arthas listened to them with one ear. He wished now that he had accompanied Celestia to Saddle Arabia, so that he could have made up his own opinion about Akhal rather than relying on those of others or what he could read about him. From what he could tell, Akhal was a strong follower of his country’s traditions, and yet when conversing with Celestia or some other female representatives from other nations, he behaved quite respectfully.
“Unlike his guards,” Arthas thought, recalling Guard’s and Tucker’s argument with them.
He also knew that Akhal has nine wives, four sons and seven daughters. Arthas couldn’t imagine having such a weird family life.
Beside him, what little arguments there were started to subside. “Depending on the Saddle Arabia’s reaction, I might consider offering him some gifts in a gesture of goodwill,” Chrysalis said. “As rich as the sultans of Saddle Arabia are, they’ve never seen what a changeling can offer to a friend.”
Though Arthas wondered what she could possibly offer to Sultan Akhan (probably something as intriguing as Nymph’s gift to Rarity), he had to admit that she was right about sultans being rich. Thought they lived on desert, and aside from Hippocrene Delta and several oasis they couldn’t produce much food, they had a lot of gold mines and diamond mines. They’ve also had oil, which they traded to griffons for a high price to serve as fuel up their airships. Such exchanges had made Saddle Arabia the richest nation on Equestria.
“That would probably be the best course of action,” Celestia agreed to Chrysalis comment. “Let’s go to our next neighbor.”
She nodded at Twilight, who quickly brought back the image of the world. This time, another region was highlighted, except it wasn’t anywhere on the land.
“Aquastria,” Twilight said as a big part of the West Sea glowed brightly on the globe. “underwater kingdom of sea ponies. Currently ruled by King Ocean Tide.”
Again the projection faltered as Twilight focused on the image of Ocean Tide. Arthas, who knew she had learned about all the foreign rulers from her books, was curious just how true to reality those images were going to be. He then realized that this was Twilight, and had to suppress an urge to facehoof.
King Ocean Tide was definitely a much different sea pony that those he had met so far (meaning Ripple). The king was surprisingly broad shouldered, which was in high contrast to Ripple’s slender body, making Arthas wonder if that was a common difference between male and female sea ponies. His scales ranged in colored from blue to green, the colors of the sea. A shock of red mane circled his head, from which two dragon-like horns spurred. On that head rested a crown, embedded with pearls and ornamented in images of shells. However, what drawed Arthas’ attention the most was the king’s face; rather than ponies, it resembled to him more that of a sea lion.
“Sea ponies are one of the friendliest people on Equestria,” Celestia said. “Of all the nations, Aquastria is sure to cause least problems. That is, none at all. Furthermore, King Ocean Tide, despite his name and fierce appearance, is known for his magnanimity. I’m sure he will see wisdom in our negotiations.”
“Also, the sea ponies are too thrilled about the underwater tunnel you are drilling for them across Equestria to have any objections against your decisions,” Ghost Step said, smirking.
“I suppose that’s also a factor,” Princess Luna, who, as Arthas knew, was responsible for finalizing the negotiations on that project between interested parties, replied.
Celestia gave Twilight a sign to go on. As she did so, Arthas noticed that everybody tensed a bit. The next closest neighbor wasn’t going to be as easy to please or as friendly.
“Dowunai Tribe, one of the five zebra tribes,” Twilight said as on the projection of the globe flashed the Eyrie Mountains, Barren Highlands and Scorpid Desert. “Its chieftain is Farseer P'aqo, who’s also the tribe’s Elder Shaman.”
Just like Ocean Tide before him had intrigued Arthas, so now had P’aqo. The zebra shaman was in the autumn of life; wrinkles covered his face more densely than stripes. He was clad in simple brown robes, wore saddlebags and a necklace very similar to the one that Arthas received from Zecora and was currently placed around his own neck. Around each of his hooves were beads, made from bones, rocks and other materials on which mystic symbols were engraved, along with a miniature totem. His mane’s black stripes had long since lost their color, becoming as gray as the other half of it.
His eyes were clouded as if by a mist.
“Farseer P’aqo is wise, and as a shaman, he should understand the value of peaceful coexistence,” Celestia started carefully.
“Or, as a shaman, he will consider us as an unnatural creatures that should be removed from this world,” Chrysalis countered.
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Cadance replied, rolling her eyes. “Feeding on love is a bit bizarre, but saying that such a wise shaman would call you unnatural is paranoid.”
“So you say, Princess,” Chrysalis retorted, annoyed. “And yet that is what the zebras have been calling us for over thousand years.”
“Which is why it’s about time to start changing that,” Celestia said calmly. “During yesterday’s incident in Ponyville, hadn’t the zebra Zahara been quick to apologize once it had been explained to her why Nymph and Wind Reaver were there? It would seem that zebras aren’t incapable of changing their views,” she added as Chrysalis’ expression faltered.
“Perhaps some zebras are,” Luna said cautiously, “but we cannot be sure all of them will think such. Zahara is the older sister of Zecora, who is known in Ponyville for her wisdom, is she not?” she asked, glancing at Twilight and Arthas, who quickly nodded. “She is bound to be wise herself. Farseer P’aqo would probably support the idea of coexistence, true, but we cannot be sure how his people would react. Even if he is their chieftain, he has to listen to their worries.”
“That is true,” Celestia said, her eyes slightly narrowed. “However… the patron of Dowunai Tribe is Marahute the Eagle Mother, who loves all winged beings. I might be wrong,” she said, glancing at the changelings, “but considering that you are also creatures of the skies, she might look upon you with sympathetic eyes. If that is so, her prophet will convey to the tribe that she wishes to give you a chance.”
“I would have preferred to not have the future of my kind depend on a whim of a demigod, but I suppose you have a point, Your Highness,” Chrysalis sighed. “I’ll best start thinking about sending envoys with offerings to her.”
Seeing that the issue was almost resolved, Arthas dared to ask: “It is uncommon for a zebra to be both chieftain and a shaman, is it not?”
Having once merged with a shaman, he understood that following both paths, one dedicated to his people and other to the world as a whole, wasn’t easy. Such was the reason why Thrall, the former warchief of the Horde, had to leave behind his title and duty to the his people, so that he could be free to help Azeroth.
“You speak truly, Sir Lightbringer,” Celestia replied. “During the last thousand years, there were only two other such leaders of the Dowunai Tribe. It is not easy following two paths at the same time; one of those two had to resign from his title as chieftain to go work with other zebra shaman during Great Draught six hundred years ago. It speaks volumes of how much respect P’aqo deserves for maintaining both sets of duties for so long.”
“He seems to be nearing the end of his life,” said a voice that Arthas hadn’t yet heard speak there today. He turned to look at Unscathed, Commander of Praetorians. “Maybe we should discuss his successor's possible attitude?” He had a strange voice; it was hoarse, much unlike that of the other changelings.
Before anybody could reply, a lengthy hissing chuckle sounded in the chamber. “Sssaid the changeling who doesssn’t want to dissscusss hisss own retirment,” smirked Dragon Blood.
Unscathed didn’t even look at him as he replied: “Last changeling who challenged me ended up collecting his chitin across Dread Wastes.”
There was a hint of a threat in his voice. Dragon Blood must have sensed that as well but thought little of it, because he snorted and said: “When wassss that? Fifty ye-”
“Enough,” said Chrysalis quietly, and the Swarm’s Wing Lord immediately ceased. “My apologies for that scene,” she added to the rest.
“No need, You Majesty,” Luna replied.
“The Commander of my Praetorians raised a good point,” the Changeling Queen continued. “We should perhaps talk a little about P’aqo’s successor. It’s his grandson, correct?”
Celestia nodded. “Yes, his name is Tsume.”
As the white alicorn touched the gem in front of her, intending to show everybody this zebra, Arthas watched Unscathed closely. Apparently, he was old for a changeling other than Chrysalis, or at least according to Dragon Blood. However, Arthas could not see any physical marks of advanced ago on him. Only his voice seemed to indicate that he was old. Were all changelings like that?
“Nerubians also showed no visible signs of aging,” Arthas mused, turning to the image.
Tsume was a muscular, but lean zebra, clearly in the prime of his life. It took one look at him to see that he hadn’t followed in his grandfather’s hoofsteps to become a shaman; he was a warrior. He wore leather armor underneath a cloak of wolf’s fur by the looks of it. On his forelegs were braces with exserted blades.
Arthas frowned. Young warriors had a tendency to be hotheads. It could spell trouble.
“I know little of Tsume,” Celestia started. “His parents had died in an avalanche twelve years ago, and since then he had been raised by Farseer P’aqo. Though he is young, I hope his grandfather’s wisdom seeped through to him.”
“However, according to Night Guard report, he was involved with some argument with horses over their shared border very recently,” Luna said, glancing at Nightshade. “We don’t have details of the incident, but it can mean that Tsune isn’t fond of other races.”
“Your Majesty, almost nobody is fond of those horses,” Cyclone Strike said, causing several ponies and changelings to chuckle. “In all seriousness, for all we know, the incident could have been caused by Saddle Arabia.”
“My contacts in Neighyadh haven’t been able to find out anything about it so far,” Nightshade added. “It would seem that the local emir is trying to keep this matter under wraps.”
“We also know nothing regarding this issue,” Ghost Step said. Then, as if trying to explain himself, he added: “We tend to stay away from zebras’ lands, and most of my changelings’ attention had been directed into search of our missing one as of late.”
“It would appear we don’t know enough about Tsune to predict how he might act if he were to became chieftain. Luckily, the last time I saw P’aqo, he was in health belying his age. Let’s move on, shall we?” she asked, looking around if anybody had anything against it. When everypony nodded, she looked at Twilight. “Since the other four tribes of the zebra do not engage in worldwide politics in any way, I think we can skip them.”
Twilight nodded and quickly took control of the magic projection. “The Minotaur Khanate,” she said as once again an image of the world of Equestria appeared, with glowing subcontinent Minotauria. “And it’s current leader, Khan Steel Rage.”
The image flickered, changing into that of a minotaur leader. Arthas looked up… and up…
“What scale is this?” he asked, shocked.
“One to one,” Twilight replied, sounding amused by his reaction.
“Lovely,” Arthas commented, cracking his neck to better see the head of Steel Rage.
He knew from books that minotaurs’ average height was around seven feet tall, making them slightly smaller in height than Azeroth’s tauren, who themselves were eight feet tall (the males were; a female’s average height was around six and a half).
This behemoth in front of him was well over ten feet tall.
Steel Rage wasn’t just tall, he was overall huge. He was easily the biggest mountain of muscles Arthas had ever seen. The Khan of Minotaurs wore only metal-chained pants, leaving his powerful chest, shoulder and arms in full view of the world. Symbolic lines, both painting on his dark brown coat and tattoos on the skin underneath emphasized the primal strength he radiated. The end of his fur in several places started to grow gray with age, especially around his face. However, his massive wide horns and iron nose ring drew attention away from them.
“Minotaurs are terrifying when angered,” Celestia spoke up, “and from what I heard, none can compare to Khan Steel Rage’s fury. However, he’s an honorable ruler, and since he assumed the position of the khan over thirty years ago, he had never caused any international incidents. Also, he, along with his people, still remember the help they received from Queen Platinum that let them form their nation, and there have been strong friendships between us ever since. Which leads me to believe that he would also support the Swarm joining our world’s political scene. Although,” she added, glancing at Chrysalis, “he doesn’t appreciate others making snarky comments to him, or sarcasm in general.”
“I’ll ignore the ‘I’m offended you’re looking at me while saying that part’ phase and move on,” Chrysalis said in a bit cold tone. She looked at the image of the Khan before she turned back to Celestia. “I also think that our plans have nothing to fear from the minotaurs. After all, they are passionate like the fire they worship. They would get along very well with us.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s not that kind of passionate,” Arthas thought, but kept that to himself.
Once again, after everybody murmured their agreement, Celestia nodded to Twilight. The unicorn cleared her throat as she summoned back the globe. “And lastly-”
“‘Lastly’?” Daring Do interrupted her, raising an eyebrow in mild surprise. “We’re not going to talk about attitudes of the buffaloes or the diamond dogs?”
“Why would we?” Spitfire asked.
Arthas thought that among them, she appeared to be the one most tired with these discussions. Not that he expected her to voice it; she gave away an impression of a mare that was adamant about seeing her duties through.
“Neither of them had a country the last time I checked,” the fiery pegasus added.
“True, but it doesn’t change the fact that there are nomad buffaloes tribes traveling between south Equestria and zebras’ lands,” Daring replied. “Or that there are several packs of diamond dogs living underneath our own hooves.”
“You are right, Doctor Do,” Celestia spoke calmly. “However, neither of those two races partake in worldwide politics.”
“Not to mention that diamond dogs are too dumb to even spell politics,” Cyclone Strike snorted.
Daring scowled hearing that. “If you had been on my lecture the other day, Captain,” she said, relaxing, though her eyes were still narrowed on the other pegasus; “you might have heard that during my expedition to the Frozen North we’ve discovered evidence of earth ponies having regular trades with a civilized city of diamond dogs not too long before our ancestors left those lands.”
“Really?!” Twilight exclaimed, her eyes huge. “Ugh, I cannot believe I missed that!”
Though Cyclone Strike, like several others, at first had looked at Twilight with mixed surprise and amusement, he then quickly turned to regard Daring. “I actually heard about that part sometime after your lecture. That, and the one about those documents mentioning about a diamond dog with two heads that could use magic.” He snorted. “Forgive me for doubting such reliable evidence-”
His sarcastic comment was quickly drowned out by another exclamation. “Really?!” Lucid shouted, her huge eyes even bigger. “A two-headed diamond dog? Able to use magic? That’s so fascinating! Oh, I knew I should have sneaked in on your lecture!” she added with pretense, muttering something under her breath.
Arthas frowned as Daring assured the Grand Magistrix that she could give her a copy of her report on that subject later on if she wanted, lost in thoughts. He recalled Serenity mentioning to him long ago about the Diamond Empire’s collapse three thousand years ago. Could this be with whom the earth ponies once traded with? He also wasn’t sure what to think about that supposed ‘two-headed diamond dog’ part.
He was pulled back from his musing by Twilight. “I cannot believe that Daring Do found some evidence of a civilized city of diamond dogs,” she whispered into his ear. “I still find it hard to believe that there was supposedly once an entire empire of them. The ones my friends and I had met hardly seemed smart enough to run an empire.”
“Don’t be so sure;” Arthas replied in a hushed voice; “you should never underestimate anybody. I recall hearing that back on Azeroth the Kingdom of Stormwind had huge problems with one gnoll, and those creatures aren’t too different from diamond dogs.”
“The entire kingdom had trouble from one of those gnolls,” Twilight repeated, deadpanning.
Arthas was spared the need to explain the matter further by Celestia speaking up. “If we can turn our attention back to this meeting’s purpose; Twilight?”
“Oh right, Princess,” the unicorn mare quickly replied, returning to her task. “Like I said before, lastly: the Kingdom of Griffonia.” The image of the world appeared, this time with three big islands that remained from the northern Griffonia, as well as the Outcasts Mountains, glowing, only to be replaced in the next few seconds as Twilight said: “Currently ruled by King Robert Snowfeather.”
King Robert was a powerfully built griffon. He wasn’t nearly as imposing as Khan Steel Rage was, that’s for sure, but he made up what he lacked in muscles in comparison to the minotaur with large talons, powerful wings, a strong beak, mane-like feathers around his head and neck and a fierce glare that his image was giving everybody with King’s eagle eyes. His feathers and fur were white, though not the same pure shade of white as Arthas’ coat was. Rather, it was a bit darker, more like light gray in comparison to his. He was clad in a silk tunic that was decorated with several medals. On his head, a crown forged out of iron rested.
“He’s definitely going to be the biggest obstacle,” Celestia commented. “The relations between Equestria and Griffonia had never been exactly easy, even after all the help they received after the Sundering struck them. King Robert is a proud griffon, like his predecessors, and like them he is a strong follower of traditions. Meaning,” the Princess said, rolling her eyes; “he’s not fond of Equestria having a dominating position in our world.”
Chrysalis smirked. “I would call you on being very modest, but…” she waved her hoof, ending that part of the discussion. “You also seem to think that Griffonia wouldn’t take kindly to Equestria gaining an ally out of the blue?”
“Indeed, and their recent behaviour is also worrisome,” Luna replied, glancing at Nightshade and nodding.
The bat pony looked a bit unsure at the Princess, but when he spoke, his voice did not waver. “We’ve discovered that during the last few months, Griffonia had been trying to tighten their relationships with the minotaurs, have made bigger orders on Saddle Arabia’s oil, and even implored Lady Nymeria Thistleclaw, Warden of the South, to send envoys to zebras’ Sovati and Aaztai Tribes.”
As the night guard was saying the last part, he pressed his hoof to the his crystal. The image changed to show the map of the territories of the Outcasts Mountains, belonging to Griffonia, and of Mirkblood Forest and Great Savannah, homes of Sovati and Aaztai Tribes respectively. Next to it appeared the image of a female griffon, Lady Nymeria.
While King Robert could almost pass as a human monarch in Arthas’ eyes - if one could somehow miss all the feathers, fur, talons, beak, wings, tail and paws - this female’s appearance brought forth similarities to Azeroth’s more primitive races. Unlike her liege, she didn’t wear clothes. She had, however, several decorations, the most prominent one being bone-like piercings in her beak and ears. She also wore ivory bracelets on her forelegs. Her feathers - bristled around her neck - were dark gray in color and less thick than King Robert’s were. The fur on her hind part was of much lighter shade of gray, with dark, almost tiger-like stripes.
Twilight once again leaned to Arthas. “Between her and that image of Tsune, I’m really glad Fluttershy isn’t here to watch them,” she whispered, glancing at her bracelets.
Arthas was about to nod in agreement when he noticed Ghost Step smirking. “Oh, they are not searching for allies, it that’s what you’re thinking,” he said, visibly pleased that he knew what bat pony did not. Nightshade narrowed his eyes but let him continue. “Rather, the griffons hope to learn something from minotaurs and zebras.”
“Learn something?” Celestia asked, intrigued.
“Shamanism,” Chrysalis replied. She then turned her eyes to Arthas. “It would appear that, with the news of ponies without horns were learning how to use strange powers, King Robert also desired his people to learn such a trick. After all, magic is the biggest advantage Equestria has over Griffonia.”
An unpleasant thought occurred to Arthas, and judging by the way Celestia and Luna exchanged glances, so did they. “Are you suggesting that he’s preparing for war?” Celestia asked Chrysalis calmly.
The Changeling Queen frowned. “Not exactly. Rather, he thinks you are getting ready for war. Between forming a paladin order and placing your niece in charge of the newly returned empire, some might have thought you are arming yourselves. And our alliance won’t make those fears go away.”
“But that’s just crazy!” Twilight exclaimed. “They cannot seriously think we would start a war! Ponies strived for nothing but peace for thousands of years, and we helped others!”
“Rulers have to act based on what they know,” Arthas said calmly. “All King Robert knows is that Equestria’s influence has spread, and that it gained a new addition to its force, all in less time than the span of several months.”
Though he spoke calmly, inwardly he was almost panicking. He hadn’t expected that spreading the Light’s teachings could have such a consequence! “Of course,” Arthas thought darkly, “considering that I am the one spreading those teachings, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe everything I touch can get corrupted and perverted.”
By then, everybody had grown serious. All of them understood how serious a matter this was. “I was afraid this was King Robert’s reasoning behind Griffonia’s recent actions,” Luna said. “But this makes our peace arrangements much more delicate than we had expected. We must find a way to soothe their worries.”
“Actually,” Chrysalis spoke up. “I think I might have a solution to that. However, it might lead to further problems.”
“What do you mean?” Celestia asked.
Chrysalis hesitated before she spoke. “Earlier, when we were discussion possible trade between our kinds, I lied. There is one more resource in Dread Wastes that we could use for trading, one that griffons would likely be interested in buying.”
Luna was quick to realize what kind of resource Chrysalis meant. “Oil,” she said. “Fuel the griffons use in their airships and several other contraptions. If you were to establish an adequately advantageous for griffons trade agreement, it could warm up King of Griffonia to you and convince him that we aren’t preparing for war. However, introducing a second importer of it could cause problems with Saddle Arabia.”
“Exactly,” Chrysalis nodded. “I was hoping that, having more experience in foreign politics, you would know how to best handle this matter.”
Celestia nodded thoughtfully, mulling over the issue. “Perhaps if in return we would have dropped prices on some goods that we sell to Saddle Arabia, they wouldn’t mind losing profits on their oil trade?”
“That in turn would anger our companies,” Luna pointed out. “Which our nobles could try to use against us. “
Arthas, who also pondered the issue, and was more worried about potential negative results, spoke up: “I see one more way of putting an end to Griffonia’s fears.”
Everybody looked at him. “Of course you do,” Luna commented, smirking. “Pray tell, what is your idea, Sir Lightbringer?”
“I could invite the griffons to join the order.”
He remained calm as everybody around him stared at him in shock. He expected such reactions the moment the idea came to him. Spitfire was first to break the silence: “So basically, as Griffonia is seeking to increase their war potential, you’re suggesting to offer them another weapon?”
Knowing that it could be perceived as such, Arthas turned to the Wonderbolt. “Light is not a weapon,” he remarked, smiling. “It’s a benevolent force that would help anybody. I’m hoping that, by passing teachings of the Holy Light to griffons, it would help bring them and ponies together. Also, it would send a clear message to King Robert that we have no intention of starting a war; what kind of fool would teach those they plan to attack?”
The princesses looked at each other thoughtfully, while Queen Chrysalis remarked: “King Robert might not agree, Hivespeaker. Even if you would not require griffons that would join your order to be loyal to your princesses, they could emotionally attach themselves to ponies too far for the King’s liking.”
But Arthas just shrugged. “Perhaps, but he would still see that we’re not have anything sinister in our plans if we send him such proposal.”
“Wait, why would he not accept this offer?” Twilight asked, frowning. “I understand that he would want his subjects to be loyal just to him, but he’s apparently prepared to have some of them learn from minotaurs and zebras. Zebras with which griffons of the Outcasts Mountains had as bloody of a history as pegasi once had with the Snowfeather Tribe, and continue to have skirmishes every now and then to this day,” she added.
“It could be that he sees them as much less of a potential threat,” Shining Armor replied. “Though I am still surprised that he would actually turn to zebras for help. I’d have thought him to be too prideful for that.”
“Actually, Prince Shining Armor, it wasn’t his idea,” Nightshade spoke up. Reaching for the crystal, he added: “According to my sources, the idea originally came from Princess Victoria, Warden of the North.”
The image flickered to life… and Arthas almost gasped.
Until that moment, he had never considered griffon females to be specially attractive. He could think of them as pretty, but the same way as back during his previous life (the part when he was still able to consider the matters of beauty) he would think of a gryphon or a horse as that. Since he was reborn as a pony, he found that in terms of ponies that had changed, but not griffons, not to such degree at least.
Now it changed, because the female he was seeing was hooves down the most beautiful creature alive.
Arthas shook his head to dispel the effect Princess Victoria’s look had on him and focused. He spared the moment to thank the Light that his heart was already taken; otherwise, he doubted he would have been able to think clearly. He could see that other stallions present in the room had similar problems; only Shining Armor and Unsceathed seemed to be dealing with it as well as he.
Unlike her father, Princess Victoria’s colouring was pure white, like that of snow, just like Arthas. She was much leaner than him and didn’t wear anything other than golden bracelets on her legs and a golden necklace, all with diamonds engraved into them. Her talons were gray, beak blue, and eyes - icy blue.
Nightshade, somehow managing to get his voice under control, continued. “As King Robert’s only heir, she’s been attending her father’s council and had advised him on several matters. Especially as of late, as she’s only a few months away from reaching adulthood.”
Arthas frowned; something was not right. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘only heir’, Captain Nightshade?” he asked, recalling what he read about griffons. “Doesn’t she have two brothers?”
“Yes, two, one older and one younger,” Nightshade replied, and the image of Victoria disappeared, replaced by two griffons, one of an adult griffon, and other much smaller; Arthas realized the younger must be around Scootaloo’s and others age.
The older resembled King Robert in build and had white feathers around his neck like his. That’s where similarities ended; the rest of his body was bright yellow, almost golden. His eyes, though, were the same as his sister. Their younger brother, however, had none of the white color they had; his entire body was golden, including his eyes.
“However, as per Griffonia’s tradition, only those members of the royal family who inherited Snowfeather Tribe’s colouring can became rulers,” Nightshade continued. “As you can see, neither Prince Richard nor Prince John inherited those traits.”
“Well, that’s the most ridiculous rule of succession I ever heard,” Arthas commented, surprised. “What would happen if none of the king’s children inherited those traits?”
“If I recall correctly, it only happened several times during the last two thousand years, but always there was some further descendant or relative all white,” Nightshade replied, shrugging. “Victoria is likely going to be the first female ruler of Griffonia, unless she marries somegriffon prior to succeeding the throne. Then, who knows? Anyway, this might be why she’s thought of the idea of turning to zebras and minotaurs for help and learning shamanism. Since she detached herself from traditions of griffons by being a female ruler, it might have caused her to be much more open minded than her ancestors.”
“Which means she might try to convince her father to accept the offer,” Celestia said unexpectedly. She turned to Arthas. “If that would happen, would you really teach them?”
Arthas bowed his head. “In the eyes of the Light, we are all one. I cannot deny anybody who would come to learn from me.”
“Perhaps we indeed should offer this possibility to King Robert,” Celestia mused. Looking at Luna, she added: “We will know for sure once we hear from Griffonia’s ambassador; we’ve promised him and the others that we would hear them tomorrow. We will decide what to do based on his reaction.” When Luna nodded, Celestia directed her gaze to the middle of the table. “We must ensure that we soothe their worries, especially considering the current situation.”
“Here we go,” Arthas thought, noticing several ponies looking at the Princess in confusion.
“For some time, my sister and I had felt as if… something was in store for all of us in the future,” Celestia started to explain in a calm voice. “Sir Lightbringer had also reported receiving such warnings from the Light.”
“You can add me to the count,” Chrysalis said unexpectedly. “I also had feeling as if something was amiss in the world, though I cannot explain what.”
“So, something bad is going to happen?” Spitfire asked doubtfully, though still with respect.
“It would seem that way,” Luna replied, “though we would prefer to stop whoever is responsible before they’re going to cause more damage. They already have,” she added, seeing confusion on some faces. “Sir Lightbringer had reported to us that he sensed some malicious intent briefly emanating from somebody in Ponyville; later, when Queen Chrysalis came to us with the offer of peace, she confirmed that there was indeed somebody hidden by powerful magic in town. We do not know what was their intention, but we know that they were responsible for poisoning a little filly and almost causing her death.”
“And I believe that whoever they are, they are also responsible for capturing my subject,” Chrysalis said while ponies who had just learned about this gasped at Princess’ words. “It would take really powerful magic to make me unable to locate her, something beyond what a little unicorn lord would do to hide his slaves.”
“So there are enemies among us,” Daring Do summed up.
Celestia nodded. “It would seem as such.” Turning to Chrysalis, she said. “Queen Chrysalis, when you came to Sir Lightbringer, you mentioned that you had some reason for attacking Canterlot, and that since then you grew suspicious that you were manipulated. Could you please reveal to us what you meant by that?”
Chrysalis long started into Celestia eyes before she replied. “It was because of a dream,” she finally said.
Everypony stared at her in surprise.
“It happened about a month before the Canterlot Invasion,” she continued; nopony dared to interrupt her. “In this dream, I’d been asked for help… by a pony. Some young colt.” She frowned. “I’ve never cared for anypony; at least, not like this. In that dream, he was in pain, and as he begged me for help, I felt as if I saw someling close to me suffer. It was a very vivid dream; when I woke up, I wanted to know if it meant anything. Luckily, among the zebra lands there are several hermit seers; I was able to gain one’s help.”
Arthas decided not to ask how did she persuade him, too focused on the story.
“All he could tell me was that my dream was tied to Canterlot, that I would find my answers there,” Chrysalis finished.
“You invaded the capital of Equestria because of a dream?” Cyclone Strike asked.
“I couldn’t search the city thoroughly without alerting anypony,” Chrysalis replied. “Anyway, since then, I’ve been thinking this over and over… and after the disappearance of one of my subjects, as well as those strange happenings in Ponyville, I came to the conclusion that somehow somebody had manipulated me.”
Luna, who knew the most about dreams, was listening to her thoughtfully. “Could you use the crystal to show us your dream?” she asked.
Chrysalis nodded. “Be advised,” she said as she reached for the crystal, “if you do not enjoy the sight of foals crying in pain, you might not like it.”
Arthas bit back a retort and focused on the middle of the table as the image appeared.
Immediately, ponies gasped, but their voices were obscured by the colt’s pleading: “Please, help me.”
Arthas, despite all that he had seen, was among those who gasped. The colt had a red mane, dark gray coat, and a strange cutie mark; a whirlpool of rainbow colors. He also had strange eyes; yellow, with red irises. However, none of those were the reasons why everypony had gasped.
The colt shook as if struck. “Save me, please.”
A scar was running up his spine, starting from his neck and stopping half his torso. And below his shoulders, dark blue wings were stitched to his body.
“Make it stop. MAKE IT STOP!!!”
The last sentence was uttered in a terribly loud scream. Everybody covered their ears as the terrifying wail washed over them. All of them now knew why Chrysalis had woken up at that moment of the dream.
However, it wasn’t the most shocking thing they were to hear.
As everypony recovered, all eyes, ponies and changeling alike, turned to Celestia as she uttered quietly in shock:
“E?”