First Impressions are Misleading

by Luyten

Chapter Three: What is Going On

Part Three

"Princess Celestia, Luna. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." The changeling queen began, and looked around the room,"Some of my requests may be unreasonable, but I would like you to hear Odyssey and I out before you make any decisions." The queen then started to look around the space immediate to her and then asked Odyssey if he had seen a piece of paper with writing on it.

"I've been gone for eleven days now, my Queen." He reminded her. Archae smiled sheepishly,"It appears I've lost my notes...could you spare me a few minutes to find them? Thank you." The Queen the stood up and strode around wherever she was. Odyssey groaned and let his head fall to the table with a 'thud'. A few moments later Odyssey groaned again as a higher pitched voice called his name. The diplomat looked up and sighed; on the other side of the portal were a group of changelings.

"Hi Oddity! How's the trip! Are those the Princesses?" One of the nymphs blurted out. The other twenty or so changelings looked at him in awe, it wasn't often a changeling went out of the hive, much less Canterlot!

Odyssey sighed again,"Hello, I'm fine, and yes, those are the Princesses. And I suppose while I'm at it, I'll introduce you to the advisors." He turned to the ponies in question.

"These are my brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters, these are the Princess's advisors. And I told you not to call me Oddity!" The last part was directed at the nymph, who giggled.

The group of changelings scampered off as the Queen returned with a sheet of paper held in a neon orange telekinetic field. She grinned triumphantly as she neared the open rift, and pulled out a pair of reading glasses from who knows where, and began to read.

"My hive is one of the most mechanically and socially advanced hive out off the Eastern Badlands. We can provide Equestria with tungsten, aluminum, copper, steel, and a few types of gems, along with a few workers, should the need arise." The Queen looked to Odyssey, who picked up where she left off.

"In return, my Queen's hive would like to settle in Equestria as citizens, and keep our hive as a metal mine, for Equestria's benefit. All of this is in hopes that changelings will be viewed in a better light than Chrysalis and her kin." Princess Celestia nodded and asked her advisors if they had any inquiries for the changelings. They did.

"Excuse me for asking, but why do you talk about Chrysalis like she's a terrible po-changeling?"

"She made a rash decision putting her entire hive above the rest of us. It was a risky plan from day one, and Odyssey knows the other queens and I tried to dissuade her from going through with it. She's an embarrassment, and made ponies fear us, even though we shouldn't be. We're just a little different, that's all."

"Why do you want to live in Equestria?"

Odyssey answered,"Because the badlands are no place for my hive to be." Seeing blank looks, he explained further,"The only differences between my siblings and I and any pony is that we look different and have a different diet and a few other minor details. That's because my Queen believes in quality over quantity." As a result of that philosophy, Queen Archae's hive only had a few hundred members as opposed to the thousands and the occasional hive in the tens of thousands.

Before another question could be asked, a white stallion with a gray and blood-red mane burst through the door shouting about Shining Armor and a changeling. He paused at the sight of Odyssey, and glanced out the door, and then back at Odyssey.

"Aren't you the diplomat? I could've sworn the changeling outside looks just like you..." He said.

"Odyssey, are you aware of any other changeling being here? In Canterlot?" Celestia asked, concern etched on her face.

"No, Your Majesty, I'm not aware. But I might be able to see where they're from, which could tell us a lot of things."

"It appears we will have to postpone this meeting until the changeling problem is solved. Until then, enjoy yourselves." Princess Celestia said, and then turned to the white pegasus,"Cerberus make sure Shining doesn't do anything rash. Odyssey and I will follow." With that, Cerberus cantered back down the hallway, with an alicorn and a changeling right behind him. After a minute or so, they slowed to find the captain of the Guard staring down a changeling that looked exactly like Odyssey.

"Captain," the Princess said,"please back away, and let Odyssey talk to the changeling." Shining Armor grumbled and backed away.

Odyssey trotted to the new changeling and walked in a slow circle around him.

"You did a very good job on the disguise, I'll give you that. But what are you doing here?" He said. The other changeling rolled his eyes, and sighed.

"The same as you, to discuss possible buissnes with Equestria, and when I heard you were in canterlot undisguised, I figured I'd shift into you to minimize panic." He paused and then added,"I suppose you want to know who I am and what hive I'm from?" Odyssey nodded, and the changeling disappeared in a flash of flame, and an instant later, became visible as a changeling, as would be expected. The changed-Odyssey was now significantly shorter and less stocky than Odyssey, and had bright green eyes and a mane to match. Almost immediately, the ponies watching let out an 'awww'.

The new changeling was from the proto-Queen Idque's hive (eedikay). Which meant that the changeling in front of Odyssey wasn't as experienced with dealing with ponies, or anything for that matter (the first few generations were like nymphs and with each successive generation, they became more like adults) meaning that he'd probably need to watch her every move.

Great. Just what he needed on top of other diplomatic meetings! Odyssey sighed.

The Princess called,"What do you think of the situation, Odyssey?"

"Uh...this is a nymph, which are comparable to your fillies. The only negative thing she could do is be annoying."

"I see, I'll leave you two to settle in, I'll have a room prepared for you."

"Thank you Princess." Odyssey said, and then after she left, he picked up the nymph and put her on his back, where she settled down in between his wings.

"Why the hell would Idque send a nymph barely old enough to change to Canterlot!" Odyssey asked, talking to himself. Odyssey disliked nymphs, they were like vacuum cleaners; loud, obnoxious, and constantly needed something to eat. In this case, it was love.

"Where are we going?" She asked, peering over the top of Odyssey's head.

"I'm not sure, but I understand there's a park somewhere around here...aha! Right across the street!"

A little more than forty feet away was the nicest park either changeling had ever laid eyes on, most likely because it was the first park they had ever seen. The pair made their way across the street, and started to wander around the vast space. Odyssey yawned, and fell over onto his side.

"Are you ok?" The nymph asked.

Odyssey yawned again,"I'm just tired, it's been quite a day so far." The nymph laid down next to him and watched him with curiosity.

"Why are your eyes like that?" She asked. The older changeling shrugged, to be honest, he always thought it was genetics, and hadn't given it much thought.

"Say, little nymph, what's your name?" Odyssey asked, and to his surprise, she didn't understand what a name was!

"Um...what do other changelings call you?"

"What do other changelings call me? Oh...we don't have many other changelings...it's only me, Meteor and Mommy."

Odyssey scratched his head, this wasn't a hive, it was a family!

"And I thought my hive was small..." He mumbled, and then had an idea,"How would you like to meet my hive?" She looked confused as he pulled out his notebook.

"Hello, Odyssey. How has the meeting gone?" Queen Archae asked.

"The meeting was going good, until we were interrupted by another changeling showing up at the castle gates disguised as me." The Queen cocked her head to the side.

"And who was this new changeling? Do you know where they're from?" Odyssey nodded and showed the nymph to his Queen.

"She's here to discuss trade with Equestria...but I'll tell you what I think later when I'm in private. And her hive only has three members: the nymph, another changeling called Meteor and the proto-Queen."

The Queen held up her hoof to stop Odyssey from talking,"Would her name happen to be Idque?" Odyssey nodded.

"Odyssey, I'll talk to you in a few hours. Goodbye." With that, the connection was severed, leaving the two changelings in silence.

The afternoon sun filtered through the leaves, giving it a slight green tint.

"It's very pretty here." The nymph said, pronouncing the 'r' more like a 'w'. Odyssey nodded, and heard the sound of flapping wings coming towards them. A few seconds later, he could make out a dark gray coat, and bat-like wings.

"Hello, Aurora," Odyssey greeted as she landed,"what're you doing here?" The bat pony was breathing heavily, and trotted over to him.

"We have...a changeling...problem....at the castle. Come on!" She gasped. Odyssey leapt up and started to gallop towards said castle, leaving Aurora to take the nymph. Sure enough, at the castle gates were five more changelings, each with different colored features and different physical attributes. That was the first thing he noticed, the second was the guards surrounding them. Odyssey was confused.

"Can one of you tell me what's going on here?" Odyssey exclaimed. Almost immediately, the square went silent. The gathered ponies whispered and murmured to themselves, and the Royal Guards were looking fit to kill something.

"What is the meaning of this?!" This statement came from a very surprised Celestia, who then stared daggers at Odyssey, who shrugged and trotted towards the five newest changelings. As he did so, he began to feel the negative emotions directed at the newcomers, and shuddered.

'Why wasn't I received like this?' He wondered,'they seemed to like me well enough...'

The first changeling Odyssey reached was swaying slightly where he stood, most likely the result of dehydration and exhaustion.

"Where are you from?" Odyssey asked softly.

"Qu-Queen Gilfur, milord." Replied the red-eyed changeling. Odyssey repeated the process with the other four, and discovered that they were all from the older hives: Zephyr, Gilfur, Nebula, Aliquid, and the lastly, Omnis. Their colors were yellow, red, dark blue (Chrysalis's hive's colors are light blue), dark green and purple. Odyssey swallowed nervously, these five changelings were part of the most powerful hives that make up the hierarchy system. The orange-eyed changeling bowed respectfully to each of the newcomers in turn.

The Princess, who remained quiet throughout the entire ordeal, finally asked what was going on.

"Princess, those five changelings down there are like royalty, treat them like you would treat yourself, unless they specifically say not to." Odyssey whispered into her ear.

"In that case," she said, starting towards the changelings,"I will welcome them to Canterlot myself!" Celestia continued to the guards, who (reluctantly) let her pass.

"Welcome to Canterlot, changelings! You must be tired and hungry after you journey. Come, I will have rooms prepared for you!" Celestia said, with a false excitement that could fool most anypony. The changelings nodded vigorously and gave their thanks to the Princess.

"Odyssey, will you join us? And bring your friend." Requested Celestia as they passed. He nodded, and scanned the crowd for the bat pony and the nymph.

"Looking for somepony?" Odyssey jumped back and turned to face the bat pony, who held the nymph out towards Odyssey.

"Thanks Aurora, and by the way, I'm going to apologize for my behavior in advance. Now I have to go, bye!" Without waiting for a reply, Odyssey shot off towards the Princess and the five changelings following her. When he did catch up, they were already in the dining hall, seated, and being served.

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Huh, instant invasion party time! Let one in, the mob suddenly appears!