//------------------------------//
// Dream Lesson 
// Story: The Substitute Demon 
// by Reykan 
//------------------------------//

	It wasn't difficult to gather all the children in the nursery, in fact it wasn't that difficult to gather most of the kids from around the Temple, those in the port and if he was completely honest he likely even picked up a few from Zarris. He wasn't certain though, as he'd done an age-based sweep of the area to make sure he didn't forget anyone. Part of him worried about angering the parents, but with what was about to be discussed, there likely wouldn't be a better time. Also, what kid would want to get left behind, having all of his friends talk about it?
The large collection  of children, Queen Pandinus, Queen Zelus, Cadance, and even Gleam and Celestia were all looking around, as were the kids. He didn't blame them; it's not every day you find yourself standing on the moon.
"Is everyone ready to start? First of all, does everyone here know who I am?"

There were a few nods, a few vocalized affirmatives. There were also a few negatives, the kids looking around in confusion. Many of those that seemed confused were clumping together with others they knew, friends from around their homes.

"I apologize if I've scared you, I wasn't certain of the range of the spell. Right now we're all in a combined dream. Everyone here is currently safe and asleep in your homes. The only part of you here is your mind, your consciousness.
"My name is Cimmerian and I'm in charge of the Temple of the Shadows. I'm here to give everyone a little lesson as well as let you have some fun and enjoy a very interesting experience. As you can see, we're in a very strange place. Can anyone tell me where we are? Raise you arms or forelegs."

Instantly a large number of them rose into the air, a few hushed giggles and whispers going through the crowd of children. It was fun in his opinion. He'd always liked tours of the Children's Museum when he'd been given the chance to go. With a little power, he lit up a small griffon tom.
"You."

"This is the moon, I think," the child answered, drawing a few gasps of realization from the group. After the words were spoken, most of their eyes tracked upwards, zeroing in on the planet above them with shouts of awe.

"You're correct, though it's not your moon. We're going to be talking about another moon, as well as all the planets in the area. We're also going to be talking about some interesting things about different types of planets. The planet above us is called Earth. Yes, it's the same word as earth pony, earth meaning ground or soil. It's a very interesting place, with millions of living creatures, some of which still have not been discovered in spite of the best efforts of those that live there. There are actually seven other planets similar to this in this star system. I could have chosen Equis as the target planet, but we'd be missing out on a lot of cool stuff. Does everyone knows what the different colors we're seeing on Earth are? Raise your foreleg or talons to answer, there's quite a few of you."

He lit a few of the children up with his magic, acknowledging them and allowing them to answer one at a time.

"Clouds."
"Grass!"
"Water. Lots and lots of water!"
"Snow!"
"I heard some places are just dirt. Is that the brown?"

"Good answers. The brown is actually very dry areas that don't have much in the way of plant life. Many of those places are deserts, where a lot of the ground is nothing but hard, dry dirt or sand. It's not an easy place to live, but it is possible to live there. Now how many of you have ever seen a full picture of Equis?"

A few arms went up, the chattering and giggling increasing every moment. Without actually picking one, Cimmerian shifted the planet above them to one from Luna's memories. Specifically the days before and after her slumber on the moon. There were a few patches missing from the memory, but he was able to fill those in from his work with the maps in the war room.

"...and we are riiight...here!"

A small section of deep green right against blue lit up in a white color, highlighting a small section of the jungles and shoreline. He made certain to include Zarris as well, seeing as he'd accidentally brought a few of those kids along as well.
"It's a lot bigger than it seems, isn't it? Some of you know how long it takes to get from one end of Zarris to the other, or how long it takes to get from one side of the Temple to the other. Here's the actual size of our homes. They looks pretty small, don't they? 

Instead of actually lighting up the area, he highlighted two very small points. Certain that the kids had been able to see the points, he connected the two points with a simple line of white light.
"Walking this distance especially with a supply convoy, so with wagons for trade goods, takes about two to three days. That's a lot of walking. Now, lets give some perspective."

Rotating the world above them, he highlighted a series of mountains.
"These are the High-Talon mountains. That's where a lot of the griffons come from and where they keep their capital."

Drawing a long line, the alicorn began rotating the planet back to it's starting position. After connecting the two locations, he lifted the line off the planet and floated it next to the line from Zarris to the Temple.
"Now if it takes almost three days of walking to reach the Temple from Zarris, how long do you guys think it would take to walk from Zarris to High-Talon?"

There were a few guesses that were shouted out before he saw a confused gnoll pup raise its paw.
"Isn't the blue stuff lotsa water?"

Smiles broke out amongst the adults as the chatter increased three-fold, some of the kids chiding their friends for their guesses, others offering that they knew how to swim.
"He's right, it's a bit difficult to march through water. So your going to need a boat or ship. Now, what would you do if you wanted to get to the moon?"

That question drew a renewed cacophony from the crowd, the children shouting answered from 'you keep flying up' to 'you can't'. 

"There actually is a way, but it's very difficult. You need to make a boat that's completely air-tight. Up here on the moon, there's no air to breath. That means we need to take our air, food, and water with us. Can anyone tell me another problem we'd run into if there's no air in space?"

The kids looked around, chattering loudly as they tried to come up with some answer. To Cimmerian's surprise, even Zelus and Pandinus were mulling the question over. The armored queen suddenly went wide-eyed as realization struck. As if she were included in the class, Zelus raised a hoof.
"Quiet down! Zelus?"

"Didn't the airship we used require wind to accelerate?" Zelus asked. "I know it was magically manipulated air, but it was still pushing around air to move."

"Correct. Both airships and those that sail on water use air to move. That, or oars. This is a problem when there's nothing around to push off of, don't you think? So the simplest way to solve this problem, without magic anyway, is by using something that's contained within the ship."
To punctuate the statement, he had a space shuttle drift into view, the engines blazing silently as it passed by.
"Normally the sound from the engines would be deafening. There isn't a good way to transfer noises in space though, because there's no actual air to help it reach your ear. So even if you were this close to an engine that would hurt your ears on Equis, you won't hear much of anything. Now enough of standing around talking, how about we go out and see some cool things?"

At this announcement the crowd of children went ballistic with cheering and shouting. Cimmerian gestured to his right and their eyes tracked to follow his gesture, soon spotting a descending Imperial Lander that settled nearby in the lunar dust. As soon as the ramp was down and the alicorn had told them it would take them to their destination, many raced up the ramp, curious to see what the inside would look like. Even those who were much more weary of their situation were soon cajoled by their more enthused compatriots into entering the ship.


"We could just blink there, you know. It is a dream after all." Din muttered as she followed the stallion up the shuttles ramp.

Cimmerian just chuckled as he shoved the queen on board.
"Come on, Din. The trip is half the fun." 



<-(0)->



The tour took the group from Saturn, where the children had the opportunity to ogle the massive rings of the gas planet,  all the way to the frozen plains and craters of Pluto, the poor planetoid that was demoted by the hateful scientific community. Currently the children were roaming a flat, empty block-world, giving them plenty of space and resources to try and build their own ships. Some looked like boats, others tried to mimic the two space-ships they'd seen earlier that night. As he watched them go about their task, Cimmerian noticed a grinning Celestia practically prance up to him.

Looking about to make certain there were no younger ears nearby she looked him in the eyes and asked him a single question.
"How was it?"

After a few seconds to decipher what the 'it' the mare was reffering to he began sputtering.
"I fail to see how that's your conce-"

"It was fun," Pandinus answered, cutting Cimmerian off. "My only complaint was that we need something stronger. I used changeling adhesive, but he ended up tearing a few chunks out of the wall at the end of his turn. I enjoyed my own turn immensely. There was just something about it that..."
The queen shivered at the memory, a dazed look crossing her face.

While the white alicorn burst into laughter, the darker stallion blushed hotly.
"Dammit, Celestia. Leave it alone please, especially with the kids here."

"Oh they're fine. They're much too absorbed in the puzzle you've given them," the alabaster alicorn dismissed with a wave of her hoof. "I must say I had fun as well. Twilight would love to see that, I'm certain. The field trip that is, not your bedroom escapades. Last I remember hearing of her, she was still a bibliophile. 
"We have telescopes, but I don't think we had anywhere near the amount of information your species does. The idea of throwing cameras off of the planet? I bet most scholars would find the idea ridiculous. The entire tour was enjoyable."

"I'm glad you had fun, both of you. I wanted your opinion on something though. I, I'm a bit nervous about it, but I want to tell everyone the truth over the holidays. That I've no relation to the Nightmare. I've already let many know, even Herrick and Sah Kest. Is there any way I should do this?" he asked nervously.

"I think you should tell them during your, your Christmas party," Celestia offered. "That was the last one you plan on having, right? Tell them about the holiday, then tell them where it comes from. The only ones who may take offense are the ponies who originally freed you and perhaps the griffons. The Thestrals know that Luna has faith in you, so they shouldn't cause any problems. The changelings follow Pandinus, and she already knows. That, and as with most who have been welcomed into the Temple it wasn't the Nightmare who offered them a place to rest. It was Cimmerian."

Queen Pandinus didn't respond, merely sidling up to his side and leaning against him while resting his wing over her back. Sitting there watching the hundreds of different young playing and chattering excitedly, she let her mind drift to the future of her own hive, of her own children.



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Three days later and the first holiday celebration was scheduled to begin. Rather than the suggested coin flip, Weaver, Gleam, and Thrisha all decided that the griffon holiday, being only a day long event, would be the first celebrated followed by Hearth's Warming, a two day event. Finally, Christmas would finish off the event, many of the changelings taking their ruler's holiday as their own. Being a species that was either sleeping through the cold winter or was never celebrating much of anything, it stood the chance of being the changelings' first official holiday as a species.

The griffons holiday, The Burning, was a souped up bonfire event with a splash of food everywhere. A celebration in the dead of winter to both boost spirits and give them all a reason to meet together and swap stories, to make sure everyone was still alive and kicking. It eventually picked up the tradition of gift-giving from the pony holiday, but otherwise it wasn't so much a historical celebration as it was an ancient tradition from time immemorial. Oh, and booze was to be drunk by all celebrants, some of the younger griffons that were just on the cusp of maturity being granted a small, watered down drink as a privilege of their coming maturity.

The bonfire was set to be held by the port of Shadowtalon, seeing as it was the location most griffons had settled. A large area just outside of town was cleared and Shadow Weaver, with Celestia's help, set up a field around the bonfire that would keep the area comfortable. The array was designed to both keep back the cooler night's chill so that the changelings could enjoy the festivities as well, while also dissipating the heat from the fire so that it didn't become too warm. The holiday was meant to be held on snowy mountaintops after all. The large bonfire would be a bit warm in a jungle that was barely dropping into what Cimmerian considered a brisk Maryland fall day.

"So we have about forty trees to keep the bonfire going," Gleam said as she checked off her list. "The food's being cooked as we speak; everything from fish dishes to some ponies getting their hearth's warming recipes done early. A good portion of the Talons from Zarris are headed here as well from what I heard. This celebration will be a bit larger than the port's own, so they're looking to get a taste of home. Over all, we're set to have an interesting night."

Cimmerian nodded as they toured the port before turning to Amald.
"I want the same set-up as before with guards. Those who are on duty for this celebration will have at least one of the holidays off. Be certain to remind them that they may be on shift the next morning so unless they want to work with a hangover, keep the drinking reasonable."

"Idiots should think about such things before chugging an unhealthy amount of booze," the old griffon said dismissively. "Still, I'll mention it. I know not all of our guards have experience in such things. Living through that kind of thing is a great learning tool but if they're smart enough to avoid it I don't see why I shouldn't help them out. Will the Dragon be there?"

Cimmerian shrugged his wings.
"I don't see why not, though I don't think he'll spend all three holidays here. I don't want to deal with a drunk dragon again. I'd hate to have to try to pry him out of the guard tower, that poor building's seen too much action as it is."

The group came to a halt as Zelus flew down to intercept the group, a smile on her face.
"Cadance's body is just about done healing. With a bit of a boost from an additional portion of love added to her pod, we estimate she will be able to participate in the festivities, though her skin will still be raw. Din and I have advised her it may be a bit painful, but she seems adamant that Amare will spend the holidays in her own shell. Celestia's offered a painkilling spell, but we're not certain how well it will hold after so long in the pod."

"That's wonderful to hear," Gleam responded. "I'm certain Cadance will enjoy being a bit on the tall side again, as well as being fuzzy. Don't get me wrong, Queen Zelus, I don't have anything against your kind, but I can't imagine sleeping while encased in chitin."

"I admit that was one thing I enjoyed about the transformation. Everything just felt more...vibrant. The food also tasted much better, likely because my body actually needed it at that point," the queen hazarded a guess.

"The not eating thing was cool, but kinda weird," Cimmerian added. "As for the shell, I didn't really think about it at the time. I guess the best part was that I was kind of resistant to cheap-shots."

Amald looked to the alicorn in curiosity.
"What do you mean?" 

"Most species have pretty sensitive genitals. For my changeling form, I think everything was under the plates," the dark stallion explained, rapping on Zelus' shell as an example. "I don't want to put it to the test, but I think I could have been bucked and been relatively okay, instead of crippled."

Amald winced as he realized what Cimmerian was talking about.
"I know some toms trust spells to help them perform better, but you'll never catch me allowing magic anywhere near that part of my body."

"Even if it meant the mare's would be falling all over you?" Zelus asked, sidling up to the griffon with a mischevious grin. A moment later she found herself shoved away by an irate hen.

"Find your own male, Zelus," Thrisha scolded as she pulled the old tom into a hug. "This one's mine."

Zelus slumped in irritation at the hen's claim.
"I'm trying, but finding an agreeable male that's willing to allow me to harvest on multiple occasions is harder than I thought it would be. Griffons are too strict, ponies are still jittery about changelings and those that aren't are uncomfortable with how close I am to their princess's size, and changelings... changeling kings don't really exist as far as I know. Cimmerian's the only one that I ever saw. I didn't even know that such a version of changelings was possible."

"I'm sure you'll find your harem someday, Zelus. I believe in you," Cimmerian said with a patronizing pat on the back. 

Instead of taking the insult for what it was, the queen's ears perked up.
"That's not a bad idea. If I have several males available, I could chose whichever type of seed the hive was most in need of. The males would be well cared for of course, and I'm certain I could spare a few drones to entertain them in the meantime. Perhaps that would work..."

As the queen stared off in the distance, fantasizing about her own harem, Gleam  rose up on her haunches and punched the alicorn in the shoulder.
"Do you see what you did? Do you have any idea what we're going to have to put up with now?"

"Oh it's not like she's going to go around kidnapping them against their will," the alicorn said while rubbing his shoulder. "Heck, I'm certain there would be some guys back home who would be A-Okay with being a boy-toy. Now come on, we have a party to get started."



<-(0)->



In the depths of the Temple, a long-silent creature stirred. From the pod burst a single pink hoof, caked in slime. The hoof tore at the membrane restraining the creature, allowing it to breath its first breath in too long. As its eyes opened, a single word escaped its lips in a desperate hiss.



"Paaarrrtiiies!"





"Dammit, all you had to do was ask and we'd have let you out of the pod," a changeling nurse complained as she began cleaning up the spilled gel. "Ugh, you also ripped the membrane, the pod will be out of commission while we repair it. Those things are meant to be cut, not ripped open."

The creature winced at the scolding, nearly pulling back into the pod.
"Soooorrrryyyy..."