Guessing Games, or, How Many Changelings Fit In A Breadbox?

by ErraticOverlord

Where is its Queen?

The journal lies open in front of Edward, the words of an ancient spell looking up at him.

"'From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled,'" the interrogator says.

Edward's ear's perk up. He links with Needler. Jill is back.

Needler's eyebrows shoot up. Where was she?

Not here. Not Tartarus. You'd have to ask her for anything else.

Do we move?

Not yet. Soon.

Understood, Edward.

"I received this journal from Princess Twilight Sparkle. According to her, she achieved alicorn ascension by finishing the spell on the page in front of you." The interrogator sits down. "The spells in the journal are unlabeled and despite the efforts of the best unicorns around we still haven't cracked what they're supposed to do. Naturally, we can't cast any spells we don't know the effects of. The pages seemingly about something other than spells are no different in their application. Every piece of information, spell, or clue in that journal is framed to be unusable. It's horribly inconvenient. There are some scholars working to decode a passage now but I know they won't find anything. Do you know why this is?"

Edward smiles. "I guess Starswirl is just smarter."

The interrogator nods. "Smarter, yes. More paranoid, possibly. But there's something wrong with this book; something that leads me to believe it's not Starswirl who wrote it at all."

Edward looks down at the spell again. "What's that?" he asks.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle ascended to become an alicorn by finishing the spell on that page - something about understanding friendship more than Starswirl. But if that's true," the interrogator trots over to the book and picks it up to hold in front of Edward, "why is it unfinished here?" The interrogator points a hoof down at the spell.

Edward locks eyes with the interrogator. "Miss Sparkle must have written it in invisible ink."

The interrogator slams the book shut. "I find that unlikely." He sits. "It's a fake."

Edward feels Jill move through the halls of the building. "Aren't all popular books, nowadays?"

The interrogator's frown deepens. "Somehow, you changelings snuck into Princess Sparkle's library and stole the real journal, then replaced it with a nonsense forgery. You probably figured nopony would figure it out and Princess Sparkle was too excited being an alicorn to notice discrepancies between the journal she saw and the one you replaced. It's sloppy, though. If you copied the spell on the final page right from the real journal then why not copy Princess Sparkle's addition? It seems like such a minor thing. Unless you weren't copying it from the journal but instead something else. Do you have any nursery rhymes for that, Edward?"

Edward shakes his head. "Starswirl's spells didn't fit too easily to a tune. He doesn't even make them rhyme."

The interrogator leans back in his chair. "Why is this spell spoken, instead of just having the designs written down for the unicorn to perform? In the Starswirl wing of the Canterlot Library, they're almost exclusively diagrams. This may be the first spell I've seen that actually needed to be spoken aloud."

Edward laughs. "Starswirl The Bearded was a master of magical theory, not spellcasting itself. The spell on the page is unfinished so he only had part of the diagrams imagined and he bound his magic to the words on the page, just as Miss Sparkle did hers. Finally, the technical term for a spoken spell is an incantation. I would brush up on your magical knowledge before you ask yet another stupid question."

The interrogator's eyebrows rise. "You seem quite the fountain of knowledge. Is that what you study over in your changeling nests?"

Edward glares at the interrogator. "Hives. How's your hut life?"

The interrogator laughs. "Touché. But you didn't answer my question."

Edward shrugs. "Question? I thought we were just mocking each other's cultures."

The interrogator rubs his eyes. "You would. However, what do you study in your changeling 'hives'?"

Edward grins. "We have a liberal arts curriculum."

The interrogator sighs. "If you force me to guess, I would say education is separated through your different kinds. The green eyed ones like yourself learn about magic, strategy, and perhaps some information on specific ponies. The blue eyed ones learn about pony culture, history, and how to follow the green eyes' orders. Is that right?"

Edward shakes his head, no. "Follow orders? You think Linkers give orders and Collectors follow them? Just like you? You ponies have such complicated castes, Celestia gives orders to all the ponies beneath her, Luna beneath her, the captain of the guard beneath him, the nobility beneath them, mayors, beneath them, public servants beneath them, doctors beneath them, parents beneath them, the colts and fillies have free reign to order any other foal with presumed slights. You even think you can order me. You feel that you can order me because everypony in your society orders somepony else. If changelings ran on this pathetic system then it would collapse in seconds. No. Collectors don't 'follow orders' from Linkers. We follow our queen until such a time as we die or we get a new queen."

The interrogator raises his eyebrows. "How would you get a new queen?"

Edward smiles. "Wouldn't you like to know."

The interrogator rubs his eyes. "As a matter of fact, I would. So far, the only information I have on queens is conjecture and that nursery rhyme you told me. Something about 'steps in a changeling queen'. Judging from what happened at the Canterlot wedding, I would guess changeling queens have the abilities of your Collectors and Linkers. That would explain how she got Shining Armor's love and used it to make herself stronger without any other changelings in the vicinity. However, it doesn't explain how changelings replace queens or how they're born in general. Do queens beget queens?"

Edward laughs. "Probably not in the way you're thinking, but not too far off mark."

The interrogator tilts his head. "Does that mean changeling queens are created in a way other than being born like a normal changeling? Is there a process similar to alicorn ascension to become a queen?"

Edward grins wider. "Very similar if Celestia's stunt with Twilight Sparkle is any indication. Making a queen, however, is a bit more structured with heavier collateral damage. Have you ever heard the expression 'good chess players move three plans at once every time they touch a piece'?"

The interrogator stands up and stretches his legs. "No, I can't say I have."

Edward cracks his neck. "A good chess player thinks in the long-term, short-term, and an alternate strategy. With every piece he moves, he advances these three goals. Move a knight, take a pawn, attack a city..."

The interrogator raises an eyebrow. "Are you saying that when you attacked Canterlot and stole Starswirl's journal, you also ascended a queen, somehow?"

Edward chuckles. "Attack Canterlot in the short term, steal the journal in the long term, ascend a queen-..."

The interrogator interrupts him. "As an alternate strategy. Where is the queen, now? Was she launched away in the shield? How did you get the queen through the shield in the first place?"

Edward clicks his tongue. "So many questions, yet you haven't even asked why we'd need a new queen if Chrysalis did exactly as she was supposed to."

The interrogator shakes his head. "You wouldn't tell me if I did ask."

Edward shrugs. "Maybe. Can you take that chance?"

The interrogator sighs. "Why would you need a new queen?"

Edward grins. "Do you know anything about bee swarms?"

The interrogator frowns, grimly. "No."

Edward's grin widens. "When a bee hive gets too big, the current queen births another. The hive then splits with one of the queens leaving to form a new hive. The worker bees go ahead and create the new hive, the queen follows and moves in. Thus, a new hive is born."

The interrogator stands up, his chair clattering to the floor. "You mean to build a new hive, within Canterlot."

Edward's eyes light up. "Precisely, Puzzle Solver. Your daughter would have been very proud."

The interrogator's face contorts in rage. "You bastard." He leaps over the table, knocking Edward to the floor and slams his hoof down again and again on Edward's face.

The door opens and the two guards come in and restrain the interrogator.

Edward laughs. "Oh, and one more thing, Puzzle. I didn't kill your daughter, but I know who did. Say hi to the Princesses for me."

The interrogator makes another lunge at Edward, but the guards hold him back and drag him out of the room. Needler follows, casting a puzzled glance at Edward before departing.

Edward lies on the floor, laughing to himself and counting down the hours to Awakening, until the guards take him back to his cell.

Author's Note:

Do you have any questions about Guessing Games? Post them in the comments or send me a PM and I'll answer them in a blog post. I'll take any questions from ones about changelings to how I came up with the story and pretty much anything else. I won't be answering spoilers though, just so you know.

Comments

[Chaosreverent]

I might have missed something or gotten the timeline confused, but if the changeling's attacked Canterlot with the intention of stealing Starswirl's journal then why did they only get it from twilight?

[ErraticOverlord]

5351855 Haha, that's totally my fault. I explained that in one of my drafts but pushed it back to the next chapter so it'll be explained then.

Sorry for the confusion.

[Lazy_]

Holy shit Edward, calling a mockery on someone using a murdered relative is NOT cool. Especially if it's their children. But I will say it was a great use of timing, well played.

[ErraticOverlord]

5352060 Edward's pretty slick like that.

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[TheNomad]

I love Edward, the little sick fuck that he is, because

If I was a villain I would buy my time.
Get under my enemies skin with words of rhyme.
For the worst I could do.
Is make there hate for me stew.
and when they finally explode...
I can kill them with a finally blow.

[ErraticOverlord]

5353815 With you I must agree
Edward's much like me
Thinking of the nursery
and spreading misery
interrogator has no class
Edward's packing all the sass
Needler's acting kinda tame
stay tuned for more Guessing Games.

[Blade Star]

Tut, tut. The interrogator has made the oldest mistake in the book; he has let the subject control the situation. There's little hope of getting anything from Edward now. Best bet is to terminate and move on to a new subject.

[Scruffy]

If I was the Interrigator, that last comment by Edward would be responded with by some permenant crippling. Wings clipped OFF, ligaments tottally severed, eyes taken out. You don't need to fly or walk if the guards carry you everwhere. Or heck, even saw off the smug little jerks horn.

[ErraticOverlord]

5354648 Needler? He's not exactly swimming in eligible changelings.

5354900 I'd bet that would hurt.

[Scruffy]

5355753 Edward only needs to be able to hear the questions and verbally respond to them. There's a loooot of other fleshy bits that aren't vital to his new job as a living encyclopedia on changelings. I hope the interrogator gets a break from Edward, either in some useful information or some cathartic maiming. If I was supposed to sympathize with Edward, um, my bad?

[ErraticOverlord]

5355954 Haha. Actually, I tried to make it so you could sympathize with both Edward and the interrogator - apparently named Puzzle.

The story is told from Edward's point of view but that by no means makes him a hero. At best, I might be trying to emulate the dynamic in Death Note between Kira and L. I find it really interesting that most people sympathize with Edward, actually.

[Raistlin]

I don´t get it... why do the changelings need the journal to birth a new Queen, a natural process for her specie? unless they are trying to combine their magic with Starswirl´s to create an Über Queen.

[Fire Soul]

5358888
It's just a guess, but I'm thinking they may very well plan on turning one of the Princesses into a Changeling Queen. I don't think they're doing this the legit way.

That's just conjecture though.

[Loeden]

Oh dear. They did have Celestia in a cocoon for a while there, didn't they?

[The Crimson Reaper]

5353835 ehem...
I wonder what will come to pass
Will it be neat, or will it be crass?
What enigmas bounce around in the mind
What is it that the Readers will find?
If you cannot answer the question in time,
then I bid you, farewell! for I have not a Rhyme.
So what will we do with this little story?
Why, sing a song, Make it nice and Gory!
But I do confess, Im quite out of time.
So, until next time! Remember this Rhyme! :3

[WorldWalker128]

Gentlemen, it is time to found in this dimension, the NLR.
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[The Omega Directive]

Yessss...
LET THE SWARM DESTROY THEM ALL!!!
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[Razzy]

Hahah, and Edward hurt the interrogator without even touching him, nice.

Cya
Raziel-chan

[SpahiSpam]

Alright, I think I have a guess on what's happened. The Changelings replaced Starswirl's alicorn spell with a spell that turns the user into a Changeling Queen - which means that the Awakening refers to Queen Twilight.

Let's see if I'm right...

[Crocoshark]

"Precisely, Puzzle Solver. Your daughter would have been very proud."
The interrogator's face contorts in rage.
"You bastard."

His daughter is suddenly dead because Edward referred to her in the past tense?

I feel like I missed some prior dialogue that was supposed to give this bit context, like if Puzzle said his daughter was one of those missing after the invasion.

What am I missing?