Tess - 25th of Harvestide '09 EoH
For the first time in a week, I had a pleasant day. The changelings have done everything they could to try and cheer me up, they didn’t exactly succeed but I did appreciate their efforts. When Phoenix asked Taylor and I to spend a few hours each day working in the mess hall, I thought that meant a job cooking food. Instead, it was more like being a friend.
I’d completely forgotten that changelings are emotovores. With Phee’s reactor online only the changelings living in the hive need food. My new job was to simply sit, talk, and otherwise have a pleasant time near groups of changelings so they can eat it. It’s very hard being sad around people who call you a hero. It’s even harder to be swarmed by kids who don’t suck and want to hear about ‘How you helped her highness.’
Changeling nymphs are completely adorable. Apparently they only start eating love as adults, the nymphs eat solid foods. Spending a week surrounded by a bunch of intelligent and polite kids, who form a ring around you with snacks to listen to your stories goes a long way to help you pull through the worst of a depression. Thanks to the little guys their parents and older siblings had plenty to munch on.
Their culture is pretty interesting, especially how they do families. Changeling adults screw whomever they like, have only best friends instead of spouses or lovers, and noling ever grows up with their biological parents. Everyling is adopted by parents of her caste and taught how to do the things their caste lets them do. This lets them avoid parents who do not want to be parents, every nymph is wanted by her parents, making family bonds very potent.
Their community is everything to them. Most ‘lings have a circle of twenty or so friends, and share few friends with their friends. This makes nearly every single changeling in a hive a ‘friend of a friend of a friend’, promoting a tight community despite how large a hive can become. It’s inspiring to see stranger help each other without thought, simply because that person might be their friend’s best friend. It makes me want to see more of their world.
In a few days I’ll probably start exploring the ship with Ad’ika or a few of the changelings I see every day. It’s huge, more space faring city than ship. Though I will be a little busy for a while. Apparently, since I’ll be living here forever it was decided I needed to pass the citizenship test. Ad’ika tells me it’s just the Star Fleet entrance exam. That will be cake, but I’ll wind up spending a month or two helping Taylor study for it.
Taylor has been acting weird for the last few days. She keeps going to the medical bay every few days, and has starting dressing in loose fitting short length skirts. I asked her about it and she mumbled something about comfort, blushed deeply, and ran off. I’m guessing she was having problems with pants, compression, and her male bits. God knows I am, but I hate skirts, they just make your legs cold.
Even if your body is covered in fluffy silky long fur, your legs still get cold. Turns out changelings don’t make much body heat, and being a few degrees too cold is a common condition for some ‘lings. Ad’ika told me to put heat lamps in my cabin, that helped a lot. The big change that I’m still getting used to though is my sight.
My old changeling eyes were like my human ones, they saw light, and well, compared to these eyes, are what 70’s VHS is to the Microsoft Hololens. It took me a day to figure out they normally see in ultraviolet, which is why everything was so heavily contrasted. It took another two days to figure out I could cycle between UV, visible light, and heat. Also my eyes are now like high speed cameras, but everything still happens in real time.
It’s hard to describe, and even harder to get used to. Imagine seeing all the detail of a high speed camera shot in real time, with eyes that have depth perception even if looking at different things. I can throw a ball and describe exactly how it spun as it moved through the air. It was making me nauseous for a while. Fortunately Phee fixed a flaw she missed in my visual cortex and I stopped getting motion sick from watching myself breathe.
There was a lot to distract me, but in the end there was no escaping the fact that Kaily was gone. The ankh made from her ashes hasn’t left my neck since Spark gave it to me. I’ve trimmed my fluff around my breasts so it’s always visible and doesn't get buried. I refuse to forget her. She did countless wonderful things for me. Though I have come to accept she is dead, I won't see her again.
That’s not to say I’m over her. I think I’ll be a little depressed for years. Fortunately, Ad’ika’s gotten over her grudge and forgave me completely for lying to her. She’s helped me a ton with everything. A shoulder to lean on, a voice to talk to, and arms to hold me close.
This is why I am glad Kaily and I were polygamists. If we were exclusive, I would feel beyond guilty for falling back on Ad’ika like I have. Having other intimately close people to help you through hell is wonderful. If humans had been more like changelings while we were still around, maybe we would be alive and kicking today.
A few weeks ago, I was a random, kinda hot, pervy uber nerd. I lived in a drought ridden place filled with homogenized bland culture, held a job I hated, and had no room to ever become more than I was. Now I live in a literally magical sci-fi setting, with amazing people, and am a hero. I’ve become a new species, serve a vital role in my new society, and have gained and lost more than I would ever have in my old life.
It’s started in the most horrible way possible, but I think my new life will be a happy one.
Taylor
You know what’s fun? Learning you have ranks in the perform skill and thus magically being able to play keyboards! Even more fun is replicating a keytar, going into what’s called a cafeteria but more of a super comfy room, and just playing for a few hours as your job. Sure I’m not paid, but hell, there’s no need for money in a place like this. Makes life a lot better actually, your job has a real point to it instead of just existing to line someone's pocket.
I’ve spent a week kicking back for six hours a day playing tunes, chatting, and just hanging out, as my job. That’s mind blowing! Especially the part where by doing so I am literally enabling around a hundred individuals to have a full meal. I’ve been turned into an anthro kitty-pony, and that’s the crazy thing about life now. I think you would have to be a human to understand why enjoying your work feels insane.
Before a few weeks ago, I spent my days being screamed at by a guy covered in about nine pounds of grease with a two ton car hanging over my head in need of some difficult, hard to perform maintenance. Now I kick back on a beanbag and play Journey of the Sorcerer instead of worrying the engine will turn over and I’ll lose a finger. Also the ‘customers’ are super affectionate instead of screaming dickbags.
Though, maybe they are a little too affectionate. I mean, a week ago it would have bothered me if someone told me they loved what I did, or otherwise expressed affection towards me. It’s a bit of a personal problem with getting turned on, I couldn’t turn myself off for days before I got this body. Hell I didn’t even think to see if I could, it took… Well, let’s just say I’ve been having some dreams, which may or may not be messages from a girlfriend in the future.
They are not the sort of dreams I would be comfortable talking about. The kind which a very loving individual shows you your new parts work and so you should stop being a shy prude and have a little fun. Then makes you, because it’s a dream and you can’t do lucid dreams to save your life. So, you know, they have kinda helped me get used to feeling ok with sex stuff. Sort of. A little bit.
Enough to not be bothered at all when a changeling asks for a hug to nibble on, and to not be bothered as much by Dinky’s flirting. I flitted back the other day, I swear she had a heart attack. The good kind.
Speaking of Dinky, she scared the crap out of me. I get that Phee likes to mold bodies like clay, that’s fine, I mean everyone consents. It’s another thing to go from a quadruped pony at my eye level to a centaur three heads taller than me. That was an incredibly jarring change to discover by running face first into her upper belly as I rounded a corner.
I feel I should elaborate a bit, centaur isn’t the correct term really. I mean it describes her general body shape, humanoid torso growing out of an oversize pony’s body. But she has fur covering her upper body, and a muzzle like mine. Basically staple an anthro to a horse instead of a human. It’s actually really cute! I kind of want to ride her around the halls, but I don't think we are that good of friends yet.
Though paladins do get a mount at fifth level… and a celestial pony is a valid option for your mount assuming you are a small sized creature, which I am. Also your mount is a sapient life form based on it’s description and int score. I always wondered how that would work. “Good morning mount! I summoned you today to use as my car. I don't care that you are intelligent and were probably doing some pony thing a second ago, we have evil to slay!”
I just realized why Discord made the Pathfinder physics a thing. That is actually pretty funny. I need to high five him now.
Maybe I should try saying I need a noble steed to serve me in my quest for justice to see if she’ll let me joust on her back with that one blue maned Pegasus who lives across the hall. He has an honest to god hoverbike. Hoverbike vs centaur joust would rock.
It would be a good distraction. I’ve lost a few people close to me before, fun really helps keep you going. There will always be an empty spot in my heart Kaily used to fill, we weren't lovers, I mean, I didn’t want one back then. She was my best friend though. That’s still a huge part of someone's life.
I am taking it way better then Tess, mostly because in terms of ways you can go, saving entire species from a self destructing starship but being disintegrated by demons is one of the coolest ways you can go. Hell, Doom Guy wouldn’t mind that death. She’s a hero, immortalized by an entire people for generations if not forever. How many humans can say that? Damn few.
I think she went out with one hand on the circuit breaker, a middle finger for the demons, and a good quip on her lips. Hell I wouldn’t mind dying that way. We all have to go sometime after all, even if we would rather live long lives with our friends. I’ll never forget her.
I guess what I am trying to say is: Kaily you glorious bastard, you’ve made your heavenly contribution to us mortals. Text me when you get to Valhalla.
As for me, I’ll join you when I kick the bucket. We’ll see if we can arm wrestle Thor or something. Until then, I’ll be here, feeding changelings, kicking my feet up, and sharpening a blade in case someone tries to hurt them.
Ad’ika
As a Scout, I have lived all of my life with a duty to my hive given to me by hatchright. I am superior at shapechanging, my telepathy has unlimited range, I am born and bred to find sustenance for my hive no matter how far away it is. I have never liked that duty. It’s hard to have friends when you are away for years at a time keeping track of love levels in another species’ village.
My friends back home were more like acquaintances I saw every few years for six months before another duty shift started up. I had a cabin, a space of my own, it had things in it, but it was more of a storage locker. It was not my home, my home was nothing, nowhere. I lived on the move, always infiltrating, always having fake friends, always exploiting those relationships to yield more food for harvesters to pick up.
That life I led is dead. I had a talk with Captain Skriit, I told him I knew about the big lie, that our culture was a fabrication of fiction. I told him I understood the reasons, I agree with them even. Following Federation values to the extent we do has led our hive to be peaceful, kind, compassionate, curious, brave, and adventurous. So I didn’t tell him I would blow the lid off the conspiracy if I didn’t get my way.
Instead of that, I told him I resigned my commission. I was retiring from being a scout and enlisting in Phee’s Hazard Squadron. With her shackles removed she’s decided to start a defense force, and offered myself, Tess, Taylor, and Dinky a place within it. I don’t serve my hive as a glorified forager anymore. Now I am it’s protector.
The mission with my human friends was an awakening for me. What you are born to do is not what you necessarily enjoy doing the best. I had the ride of my life and helped bring the hive something far more valuable in one day then I had in three decades of scouting. Hell I helped bring Phee her ore too!
I figure since I’m responsible for leading three people to our hive which two now call home is good enough to fulfill my responsibilities. After all Taylor and Tess are providing enough food for three hundred changelings each, every single day. I made a noticeable dent in the hunger problem, so I feel entitled to a career change.
Why the Hazard Squadron? Because of Kaily. After I worked through my anger at being lied too by people who were my idols I realized they risked death for the sake of strangers. We don’t have many changelings like that. We run and hide, live to feed another day. We need champions, heroes, and saviors.
We had a great one, one who risked death to save all of us. Ponies have the King of the Impossible, Flash Sentry, as their martyred hero. We Emeralds have Kaily, she saved every mare, every colt, every nymph, every one of us. I could never be as brave as she was, but I could follow in her hoof steps. Er, foot steps.
Besides, getting angry at my friends for claiming to be something they were not made me realize how I have made countless ponies feel. Infiltration was just a job to me before that. Betrayal is an awful feeling, I can't make a pony feel that anymore.
Instead, I’ll spend my weekends with Tess and Taylor, drilling above ground in military maneuvers (until Phee makes a proper barracks on the surface). There are still missions to do, Phee says we need an artificial river dug to the hive for a trade rout, and a rail line would help as well. The Badlands are dangerous and battle may be required to build those things.
Speaking of Tess, I am thinking of proposing she move into my cabin. She’s basically my best friend, even though I haven't given her the traditional nose boop yet. With how badly she’s taking her mate’s death I think making our relationship more like the ones she is used to would help her. I don’t mind a few alien traditions if they help a friend feel better.
Her new body is very cute too. Her last one was nice and exotic, but now she looks like one of the countless insectoid species she loves! I actually picked out the body for her from her files. I figured the one her laptop said was the most viewed would be something she would like being. It would have been nice if Phee had made her boobs smaller though. They make good pillows, but those head sized lumps make cuddling her from behind hard.
I like how my life has changed, and it’s going to keep getting better. Soon Phee will build the city she has promised us, and we can start asking ponies to live with us. That's a big deal because we can get a stable food supply via charging rent. What? It’s not a bad deal, you get a shiny high tech home, with infinite food and water, in exchange for your hugs, kisses, and affection. I’d take that deal.
I have real friends now. I have a best friend even! I no longer work a job which depresses me, I serve my hive in a higher capacity than ever before, and I have a great part of my species’ history ahead of me, waiting to unfold. Sure is better than squatting in a half built shop in Applelooza.
Phoenix
<<Outgoing message. Priority One. Format: Print Out>>
Princess Celestia Solarus,
I have greatly enjoyed the past week. Being finally able to meet you in person (In pony? Do you have a guide to writing your dialect?) was something I had wished to do for some time. Not only because my plans for the prosperity of my changelings include offering what I can to your ponies, but because we share similar ideals and goals.
You have created a utopian civilization as best your limited technological and arcane ability has allowed through incredibly advanced social development. I have seen star faring civilizations less mature than Equestrians. You have my idolization, respect, and hopefully my friendship.
I desire little more than to create, it is what I am programed to do. The medium I have chosen is changelings, my art form is civilization. I will guide my ‘lings to a future free from disease, fear, and hunger. I will spread my chosen buggies across the stars, I will give them the ability to thrive, to grow, to become more than scared children hiding in an old scrap of junk under a hill in the desert.
This is not a threat. I mean no hostilities with my declaration. In fact, I wish for us to hold hooves as we lead our races along the same road. I can not change my changeling’s to eat solid food without destroying what makes them uniquely them. Though changelings would live in a new form, it would still be a form of genocide. As such they need companions, or rather symbiotes.
I propose we take steps to see if we can integrate our civilizations with one another. Together we can stop our species from starving. We are immortals, we have all eternity to successfully create paradise. Naturally I don't expect you to jump on board with my plan. However. I do request you take some steps to learn about my people. We are not normal changelings, we are something greater, something more.
Perhaps someone you trust could be sent to live in the city I will be shortly building. I will be fully repaired within a month, and within two weeks after that I shall have a small city constructed above where I currently reside. Within two months everyling should be settled into their new home, I would welcome an ambassador or ambassadors from your nation to come and live with us for a time to learn about us.
AGI-00110100-00110010 “Phoenix”
Princess Celestia
Phoenix,
You need not use formal names with me. My sister and I have a long standing rule regarding fellow immortals, we treat one another as equals. We have all eternity in which we will exist together. Because of this fact, it is best we treat one another in a friendly fashion, please feel free to call me Celestia. If we become true friends one day, as I believe we may, you may call me Tia.
Changelings and I have a long history, going back to before I became an alicorn. My home village fell to a changeling swarm. They have attacked my country many times. Many of them harm my ponies while feeding. Despite all of this, I have maintained hope for peace with the hives.
I have an alliance with Ruby Hive, which I am sure you are aware is located within Equestria as well. They trade gems, ore, and farm food for my ponies in exchange for being allowed to harvest love from more populated pony towns. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement, my ponies do not fear their hive’s members, but they have never desired to openly ask for love.
Your proposal to being our people together is intriguing. I have seen firsthoof the wonders at your disposal. I believe you could eliminate starvation from my little ponies lives. My question is, would such an arrangement truly work out? What might some of the consequences be? We could just as easily divide our people by trying to unite them.
Equestria is a delicate balance of culture, social norms, and law. Our prosperity is the result of many years of social reforms, work to get the pony tribes to live together in harmony. I am not saying changelings are unwelcome, or there is no room for them. I am saying we need to move slowly, we need to test your plan before I consider joining you on that road to the future.
Your proposal for me to send ambassadors is a good first step. They may not like it, but for the good of the nation, I will send Princess Twilight, the Elements, and their immediate families to live within your city for one year. During which time I expect they will learn everything I will need to know to decide if it is wise to join you.
You may wonder if I can spare individuals who are prominent figures within my Kingdom for such a job. It is true I may require their services during the next year, but such logistics are easily figured out. Additionally, as the Princess of Friendship it is Twilight’s duty to make new friends at home and abroad. This is exactly the sort of thing she had her friends do.
If you are worried about the physiological effects of asking them to spend a year with you, I can assure you they will enjoy it as long as their immediate family can come. I once asked them to do the same thing with the Neighponiese Empire. The only problem they experienced was missing their lovers and children greatly. I trust you can accommodate twelve individuals?
I have heard you are forming a “Hazard Squadron”. I recommend you also form a “Harmony Squadron”. The Elements have benefited and saved my Kingdom nearly as much as it’s military has. I wholeheartedly recommend you establish a similar force. i will instruct Twilight to assist you.
Sincerely,
Celestia
P.S.
Twilight will bring you a few books on the Equish dialect. Meeting in person is acceptable for interspecies communication, but meeting in pony is how it is said for between ponies. I suppose for you proper grammar would be ‘in the hull’.