Dreaming of a Green Christmas.
The next morning was normal in many ways for Cimmerian. Pandinus was still beside him, as was-
"Zelus, I thought you said you were going to find your own mate?" Cimmerian muttered as he stared at the queen. The queen who was currently pressed against his right side as she'd done for the last...how long had she been doing this again?
She stirred, blinking as his question registered.
"I said I was looking for one. I didn't find one, so I came back here. I'm not going to interrupt your time with Pandinus, so I don't see the issue."
"The issue," the alicorn ground out in irritation "is that I currently smell like sex, and there's a female that's not my wife right next to me."
"And this is...bad?" Zelus asked, still not raising her head from the bed.
"Yes Zelus," he said. "Yes it is."
"...would it help if I shifted so I can't smell? Though I have to say I like the scent." Zelus said, a grin blooming on her muzzle.
"I'm going to strangle you, mare," Cimmerian growled. "I don't care how awkward it is with hooves, I'm going to do it."
"No strangling queens, Cimmerian," Din admonished him with a tap of her hoof from his other side. "We need her to keep popping out eggs. Once we find a replacement you can do that."
The stallion groaned, wrapping his head in his hooves in defeat.
"I'll never get you guys, I swear. Every time I think I have something on how you tick, it's whisked away by something else you do."
"Psh" Din hissed dismissively. "I've gotten past that part. I just try to adapt to your habits. The why's are beyond me, so I just deal with the what's."
Cimmerian stepped off the bed, ignoring the irritated buzzing of the queens as they were deprived of their heat source. Stretching a bit and now ignoring the giggles of the mares behind him, he tried to remember the things he still had to do that day. The season's holidays were approaching, so he'd need to make sure that went well. There really wasn't any better morale boost than a familiar and well-liked holiday celebration. The trick would be trying to get them all done for the perspective races that were living at the Temple and make sure no toes were stepped on, metaphorically speaking for the ponies and changelings of course. He was certain there was the possibility for some misconceptions or confusion during the different festivals, plus they had the question of which would be held first.
'Likely have to do something like a rotation or something if everyone holds the holidays in the same time-frame. I'll probably end up flipping a coin to decide on the order, put my holiday last because I'm the only one who will be celebrating it.'
Slipping out the door and passing by a few changelings with their alpha-queen's breakfast, the stallion quickly made his way upstairs and into the dining hall. It was almost always busy at this point, having so many beings using it. The line was almost constantly being resupplied with more food or new dishes as the day went on. Even the chefs were being changed out every now and again, Slop making certain to keep fresh cooks in supply and allowing others to take time off or swap off to other jobs if they wished. Approaching the line and grabbing a tray, Cimmerian grinned at the idea of finally getting a decent supply of deserts. The next week would likely be sparse on the sweets compared to what many were used to but decorations should be simple to come up with. That and he'd finally get his damn Christmas tree.
Finishing the meal quickly, he went about trying to find out where the acorn he'd bought ended up.
It turned out to be more difficult than he first suspected.
"I think it ended up with Machination." Gleam answered, not looking up from the war room's table. "It was a seed after all. I don't think they threw it away, as oaks aren't local and familiar wood would be nice to work with for the crafters."
"That acorn that they gave us when you came back from your trip? I think the orange mare you brought back took it out to one of the fields with a bunch of her apple seeds."
Machination looked up from his charts and graphs, a pencil stuck to his hoof as he kept track of the farms near the Temple.
"I think she said she and her brother were capable of increasing the speed of growth and the yield of trees, comes with working the land for a long time. Some earth ponies are just better at accelerating tree growth, some are better with annuals, or crops that are fully destroyed or collected during the harvesting process. It just depends on what you put your time into."
"Hey there, mister Simmer'on! Pleasure ta see ya' again!" Applejack greeted, approaching and grabbing his right hoof in both of her own forelegs. He'd seen enough handshakes to recognize one even if it lacked hands, but when the mare started vigorously pumping his hoof up and down, he almost lost his footing.
'Almost knocked me on my flank, and that's with three other legs to balance on. Good gravy!' he thought while shaking his hoof.
"Pleasure, Applejack. I'm looking for that acorn I brought back from Silver City. Have you seen it?"
At the mention of the acorn the mare scowled.
"Yea, Ah know the one. Dern thang won't grow no matter what Ah do to boost it. Everthin' else we've planted has already sprouted."
The stallion chuckled at her irritation.
"It's likely because it's an enchanted seed. It isn't even an oak. It's actually a pine, one that I wanted for an upcoming holiday from my home. To get it to grow, you need to activate it."
Applejack stared at him for a moment as she processed the information, her eyes crossing before she fell heavily on her backside and pulled her hat down over her face.
"Magic. It's always gotta be magic, don't it?"
"It's fine, I got caught up in all the stuff happening and didn't keep track of the seed. I'll just...actually, I could pick a spot and I wouldn't even have to chop it down," the alicorn said, beginning to think out loud as his mind wandered.
"W-what?! Why would ya chop it down! All ya gotta do is move it, ain't like it's a tough thing ta do. All ya gotta do is get some unicorn ta lift it after somepony digs it lose and wraps it. Heck, I reckon ya could even get some of the changelin's ta move it for ya," AJ offered, looking strangely upset with the idea of cutting down a tree.
"It's just a tree, AJ. I'm sure we could let it grow long enough to get some pine-seeds or something, though I don't know how we'd get them pollinated. I don't even remember how pine trees work like that, just that the cones were sticky sometimes. There's also the issue of it not being native, would it need pollinators? Would the local animals or bugs even recognize it?" he mumbled, putting a hoof to his chin in thought.
"Just a tree? I-what are ya talkin' about?" the farmer asked, horror in her voice. "Those're our lifeblood! Without tha apple trees, Ah ain't got no farm, no product ta sell! What's a farmer without 'er farm?"
"Relax, AJ. Pine trees were farmed and harvested for this exact purpose back home. With how widespread the holiday is, they sold thousands if not millions of pine trees every year. In fact a lot of trees were used like that. Businesses would plant thousands of trees all in different areas and harvest them at specific growth levels depending on how big a tree someone wanted or needed. In this case though, I'll just stick the acorn over by the large field. There's a nice spot I saw earlier over there and since I plan on keeping this thing, it will probably grow pretty large.
"Come on, I'll show you the spot and you tell me what you think," Cimmerian said before stopping. Looking at the farmer he chuckled half-heartedly.
"After you tell me where the acorn is, of course."
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The acorn was planted with little fanfare less than an hour later. The instructions were simple. Set the seed where you wanted your tree, touch your hoof to it and give small jolt of unfocused magic (which was why the Apples were having so much trouble with it; their magic was attempting to speed the seeds growth and thus it had a focus), then stand back and watch it grow. It didn't take long for the tree to sprout and begin growing, leaving the alicorn giggling and jittering in excitement. After about ten minutes the growth finally stopped, leaving the tree sitting at about four feet tall.
"You plan on making a tree similar to the one in your dream," Pandinus said as she approached, Zelus walking beside her.
"I do," the stallion affirmed. "It's something familiar and as I said it's nice to have something I can recognize. I have a lot of good memories attached to this sort of thing."
"We can tell," Zelus chuckled as she walked around the tree. "You're positively glowing at the moment. it's a nice change from yesterday."
"You ladies do realize it's not normal for someone to be happy all the time, right? It's perfectly natural for someone to cycle through different emotions," Cimmerian said with a shake of his head. "Most people would ask what's wrong with someone if they actually were happy all the time."
"'Ceptin for Pinks. That mare was nuthin' but cheer and smiles all day," Applejack said with a wistful smile. "She doin' better now?"
"It's not physical damage she sustained that must be healed. It's mental strain, so it's just going to take time. If she were linked Pandinus or I could rush the process by personally repairing any damage and inspecting her mind for any weaknesses, but such is not the case," Zelus explained. "For Pinkie Pie, it is simply going to be a matter of time as she rests from the strain. Even in her dreams she is tired."
The farmer nodded.
"Ah understand, Miss Zelus, it's just with how things were goin' fer a while there, hearin' about Pinks being under tha weather was just about more than Ah could stand. Shy was hurt, and we already knew Twi was basically foalnapped, it's just gettin' ta be a mite too much."
"Crap," the dark alicorn knocked a hoof against his head at the reminder. "I completely spaced that. Applejack, I want you to get your friends together in the war room after dinner. This includes Celestia. I have something to give you guys. Din, I may need your help getting it all onto physical paper. Before that, I've got a name to check into with the minotaurs and then I'll speak with you about the thing for the bearers, Celestia and Spike. No, I'll give the information to Heart, and she can give it to Spike. I can't believe I spaced that."
"I will, Cimmer. I'll be overseeing the hive until you're ready and have a few changelings ready to put whatever you have to paper," Pandinus answered even as the alicorn took off for the Temple. Watching him go, she spoke to the farmer.
"Do what you wish to keep the tree healthy. I'll see about getting your friend to throw together some additional decorations for it for now. I'm certain we can find some ways to replicate his 'Christmas tree' in most ways. The lights may be beyond us at the moment though. I don't know if we have enough gems to enchant for such a large number of lights."
Before the mare could ask what she meant by additional decorations, several changelings approached with boxes and began flitting about the tree, laying simple gold chains around the tree.
Sensing the farmer's confusion, Zelus grinned.
"Changelings are quite industrious when it comes to digging. Normally we have no use for gold and merely stock it as something that looks nice. Other times we give it to infiltrators to trade for the local currency. It also holds magic decently and is often found in higher concentrations than gems so we can use it for inlays when we have the energy to spare on enchantments. That's not been very often the last century or so, however."
Applejack nodded as she turned her attention back to the tree. It already had a bit of a holiday look to it, and a pony had just attached a few simple ornaments to the lower branches before a few more pegasi showed up, one bearing a cloud. Several unicorns were discussing cold spells before Celestia herself noticed the commotion and approached.
Seeing the tree and cloud, she giggled in a way that honestly left many there a little uncomfortable. It's not everyday Celestia of the Sun starts giggling like a foal, after all.
The white alicorn moved between several unicorns and whispered them instructions before lighting her horn with power. The unicorns around her did the same, channeling the power into the older mare to help power the spell. Celestia unleashed the spell at the cloud, causing it to crackle with energy before a single snowflake fell from the dark fluff.
"Thank you, Celestia," Din said as the first few snowflakes began to fall onto the tree. All would fade after a while due to the ambient temperature being so high, but the effect was still beautiful. The queen's smiled happily as the residents of the Temple began to gather, chatting excitedly and emitting emotions the changelings had come to associate with nostalgia. They couldn't wait to taste the stallion's shock when he saw what they'd been preparing.
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The dream realm was still a bit...sticky for lack of a better word around the area the minotaurs resided in, but even as he passed by the effects were lessening. Easily slipping through the lingering tar the artifact had left over the area Cimmerian quickly focused on his target and entered the dream. He was starting to feel doubt about targeting this minotaur. A seer, a witchdoctor, a sage; whichever she may be this woman could very well be the first dreamer he faced that may be openly hostile and had prior dream-walking training. As such, he'd been certain to don his armor before heading to the ritual room and surrounding himself with a few defensive runes to better protect himself while dream-walking.
'Likely the easiest way to kill someone who's as physically durable as myself, actually,' he thought to himself even as he neared the dream. Surprisingly it had more shape to it than the other dreams he'd encountered so far, even having a distinguishable top and bottom somehow.
'She's expecting me...'
The alicorn gingerly set down on the grassy plains of the dream world and quickly took note of the large tent nearby. He approached it, watching every step for any traps or anything that may seem dangerous. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he stopped just shy of the entrance and spoke.
"Crone Ravendraft, I need to speak to you."
After waiting for about a minute, the tent flap opened slightly, revealing an older minotaur female poking her head out to scowl at him.
"Well, you have some manners. Better than I can say about most of the beings I deal with these days."
Taking a moment to look at him, her scowl soon shifted to confusion.
"You're not the Dream-Warden."
"You mean Luna? No, I'm Cimmerian. Theodore Cimmerian Fredson, ruler of the Temple of the Shadows and likely your biggest supporter during this problem with Queen Twilight and her Changeling swarms," the stallion replied while giving a slight bow. "While Luna and I are fairly close, I am not the same being as her. In fact, I didn't even know her until recent- no wait, I've been... sorry, my timeline's a bit skewed. I spent a lot of time in a, a compromised state of existence. I was recently freed, and have been working to help both those who helped me and the world at large. I supplied the Talons with the runes and asked them to give them to you."
That last bit seemed to draw a reaction out of the cow.
"So it was you who gave the griffons the key to her armies...why would you stand against a fellow alicorn?"
"Twilight Sparkle is infected" he responded. "She's host to a parasite that's controlling her actions, the same type of parasite that brought Luna to madness and nearly made her destroy all life. I've spoken to her, both of them, actually. Both Twilight Sparkle and the Nightmare that even now masquerades as a mare. Twilight is sickly at the moment and I believe it has to do with the parasite that has been feeding off of her misery."
The old cow stared at him for a few moments before asking him a single question.
"How long have you been dream-walking?"
"Uh, about two, four months? It kind of happens when I go to sleep whether I try or not," Cimmerian explained.
"You were not taught dream-walking?" Ravendraft asked, her confusion only deepening.
The alicorn shook his head.
"It was something I've been capable of from my release. Luna taught me a trick or two when she had the chance, but she's no longer available. She had other things to teach me as well."
"No formal training in dream-walking...I suppose it makes a bit more sense in that case. Very well, enter. I will teach you what the Dream-Warden has neglected."
Even as Cimmerian's jaw dropped at her comment, the minotaur stepped back and held open the tent flap. Not feeling a particularly aggressive mood being given off by the minotaur he followed her, entering her tent and sitting down across from her.
"I was certain one would be coming to visit me this night," the cow explained. "Had you attempted to breach the tent without my permission, you would have found yourself both ejected from the dream and subject to a rather painful defensive spell. My magic is not as instantaneous as a unicorns, but do not doubt that it exists.
"Dreams have been fleeting for the last decade or so. When Chieftain Cairne came to me speaking of demons and nightmares I had to refresh my memory on old spells and laws. Tell me, have you heard of the Dream-Accord?"
When he shook his head, the crone did as well.
"Before one is taught how to use such abilities they are often taught the rules associated with them. The Dream Accords are a set of rules that govern the use of dream walking. Included in these rules are promises to not invade another's dreams to attack them, with the intent to steal information, or to remain after you have been asked to leave. I'm certain you can guess how this pertains to your current situation. You have broken several of the Dream Accords laws and will be held accountable for-"
"Your going to yell at me for not following laws I had no idea about? And expect me to listen when Cairn is talking about enslaving those I'm working to free?" Cimmerian asked in disbelief. "I came to him in peace hoping to learn the fate of those who fled to the plains, as well as possibly finding a way to coordinate our attacks against the Nightmare's forces. I understand that he has the right to refuse hosting a dream walker, but I'm not going to cripple myself by dropping one of my best ways to communicate from the other side of the planet because some laws say I need to ask permission ahead of time when I have no way of doing that, nor am I going to allow someone to punch me in the face after threatening those I'm working to protect do so without consequence.
"Lives are at stake, in fact according to Cairne your people will be attempting to conquer everyone else. I need to know if this is in fact how it's going to be, Crone Ravendraft. I'd be more than happy to work with you and yours, but I'm not going to stand back as innocents are enslaved. I don't want to fight more people, but Cairne is putting me in a very bad position. I don't know what he expects, but I'm not going to just stand around while he does whatever he pleases to people who have already lost their homes."
Eyes narrowing at the minotaur, he spoke in a low tone.
"I'd like to add to my allies, but I'm not afraid of making another enemy."
"And what of your destruction of our people's artifact?" the minotaur shot back. "By what right do you destroy something that has been in our possession for so long?"
"Do you even know where that thing came from? It was a gift from Luna before her banishment to your ancestors," the stallion said with a snort of disgust. "You claim it as a priceless artifact of historical importance to your people, then go and enslave the very race that gave it to you as an offering of peace? I'm certain Luna and I could reconstruct one given a bit of time, in fact I plan on making several of them and use them as a defense against further incursions by the Nightmares. Until I find that you're willing to work with me though I'm not giving you any more support besides further distractions for the Nightmare. And you can tell Cairne that if he tries to attack Canterlot once we've taken it back, you're going to find out what happens when an alicorn that's not afraid of tearing up the countryside cuts loose."
"Are you threatening me even after I offered to teach you what the Dream Warden failed to? I am offering to enlighten you in ways she neglected to. One of your abilities should have been taught these rules from the start to prevent you from breaking the laws of-"
"I'm not threatening, Ravendraft. I'm telling you. I'll leave, and I promise not strike your people through dreams. That I swear. I will not sit idly by though. You can be certain that I'll be heading towards Canterlot in the near future. Tell Chieftain Cairne that if he continues to treat those around him like so much waste, him and I are going to have a problem. Once this world is stabilized again and people have a chance to get back home, both the ponies and the griffons, I'd be happy to learn the rules. Until then, I have more important things to worry about. Like the lives of those who are currently having their bodies stolen by the Nightmare."
The old cow stared at him with a look between anger and irritation. She took a breath and gave him a smirk.
"I look forward to seeing what comes of this. At this rate we'll get to see who stands above the other. I'm certain that if you take Canterlot first, Chief Cairne will challenge you for the city. Now leave. Unlike you, I will abide by the Accords and not harm a being that is not presently hostile."
Cimmerian opened his mouth to argue, to say that Cairne started that fight. He thought better of it though, deciding it would only sound childish and that he should take his leave while he could. He'd never had to fight a talented dream walker in their own dream and until he was properly trained he'd like to keep it that way. Without further words he left her dream, irritation coloring his mood. He'd need a more hooves-on approach for checking the minotaurs. It would be something he took care of later though, when he went to back up Heart and the griffons. The Nightmare was at its weakest in a long time. If he were to strike her at any time, it would likely need to be soon.
He stopped by Heart's Dream-hive, handing over a small dream-construct scroll that contained Twilight's message to the drake and told the proto-queen to wish Spike a happy Hearth's Warming.
"I'll be heading your way after the holidays, Heart. We're going to need to finish this soon. The minotaurs are looking to take Canterlot. Pass it on to the griffons as well, would you? And ask Spike or one of the ponies about holiday foods. If you can spare the resources, the boost to morale will be amazing. Not to mention you should try some as well. I think I've got Din and Zelus hooked on it."
The queen waved farewell as he left and the stallion made a beeline back to the Temple. Looking about the dream realm near his home he quickly found Din and entered the dream-hive. He wordlessly passed a few drones copies of the notes Twilight had given him to transmit to their waking counterparts. The awake drones would write down the notes on separate papers to be given to the intended recipient.
"I take it contacting the minotaurs has once more ended in failure?" Pandinus asked as the drones worked.
Cimmerian nodded.
"They seem pretty dead-set on causing us problems. Crone Ravendraft was a bit more personable than Cairne but she was still giving me flak for breaking some ancient laws I've never heard of even as her people engage in slavery. Granted they may not see it as such, but I have better things to do than argue who's right with minotaurs."
"They will be dealt with. You are correct though, we have other things to deal with besides a minotaur with delusions of grandeur," the queen said dismissively. At his raised eyebrow, she shrugged.
"Changelings have had to resort to enslaving other beings to survive until recently. I won't fault them for that. I do wonder what use for such slaves they could possibly have though. It seems wasteful."
"Sometimes it's not about efficiency, Din," the stallion replied. "Sometimes it's just about power."
"Yes, well I'm certain he'll be happy to know he can be our slave next. That's how it works right? He takes slaves, so we make him a slave," Zelus said with a fanged grin as she approached them.
"No Zelus, that's not how it works," the alicorn replied. "We make sure they don't have any of ours slaves, then we either beat them back, preferably with the biggest stick we can find, or we teach them what happens when you pick a fight with a few alicorns, a few changeling queens and all the subjects those beings rule."
"Well that's no fun," the armored queen responded.
"It's not supposed to be. I'm trying to be a good guy, that means no slavery," Cimmerian explained to the larger queen.
"I don't want a bunch, just one. Please?" the larger mare pursued. "You can't tell me they'd notice a little one just disappearing. It happens all the time, right?"
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"So when are you going to tell me what's going on?" Cimmerian asked in a mixture of irritation and amusement.
The queens had started shuffling him back outside the moment he was done with his meal. He figured that with their giggling and knowing glances they'd set something up for him, but considering what they considered 'nice' he wouldn't be surprised if it was another queen they wanted to add to their 'family' or something equally odd. As he approached the door, he saw Pandinus snatch an offered cloth strip from Rarity, the unicorn's knowing grin the last sight he saw before the queen's magic had wrapped the cloth around his eyes. Now blindfolded and stuck between the two changeling queens who were still directing him forward, he sighed.
Unless he wanted to either try to go through a fully empowered and armored queen or the mother of his kids there wasn't any getting away. He could have taken the cloth off of course, but if even Rarity was in on it, it must not be too bad.
'At the very least I don't think she'd be accomplice to either an unwanted binding marriage or something weird.'
"Okay, we're just about there. Are you ready?" Zelus asked, surprisingly sounding more giddy than Din had moments ago.
"Ready as I'll ever be," he answered. "If it's not interesting, I'm going to take it out of your paycheck."
The queens just laughed at the threat, though whether it was because they understood the joke or were just reading his mood he'd never know. His ears flicked as he was led ever forward. There was a crowd here. A big one, by the sounds of it. They were all strangely quiet though. As if they were expecting something. Anticipating something.
"Stop," Din commanded, using her neck to hold him back. "Tell us what you think."
With that the cloth was pulled back. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the light but noticed something in front of him. It was green, a familiar green shape that smelled faintly of pine. His tree.
The details become more clear as his eyes adjusted and he was soon tracking over it, noticing the golden chains that were draped over the entirety of the tree. Each shimmering golden ring was crafted personally by either the smiths Sterling and Spot or perhaps one of the new thestrals. Hand, hoof, or talon-crafted orbs that hung from the branches, each sparkling, gleaming, or shimmering in the afternoon sunlight. Some were glittery, others were simply glass or metal that had been colored for the holidays. A few gems twinkled brightly with contained magic from their positions inside the needles, giving the tree a pseudo-Christmas tree light effect. Finally, a fluffy cloud was suspended only three feet over the tree, slowly releasing snowflakes onto the tree that would stick to a needle for a moment before melting.
He stared for a long while, in fact he was uncertain just how long he took in every detail. He circled the tree, committing every detail to memory. This was the first, as far as he knew. He'd need a star later, or perhaps an angel. Still, recreating the decorations they'd only seen once in their lives? Yea, he'd give it Din and Zelus, as well as whoever else helped out on this project. There was more here then he'd hoped to scrap together on his own.
He turned to the giggling females that were whispering and grinning amongst themselves. Din was nearly jittering with happiness at this point, just repeating 'he likes it, he likes it' over and over again while Celestia was being strangled in the pregnant mare's forelegs. Zelus was giggling as well, but it was more of an energy at a job seen to fruition. Approaching the group that had likely set this up, he pulled Din into a hug, coincidentally crushing an already squeezed Celestia between them.
"It's beautiful Din. I love it."
Looking out over the gathered crowd, he gave a more general praise as the white alicorn escaped her prison.
"It's beautiful, everyone. Thank you for the work you put into it. I hope that this is just the first of many holidays celebrated here."
"We're going to continue building, we're going to keep making this place a better place to be. We're going to be the best not because we've existed longer, or because we have more people here. We're going to be the best because no matter what heads our way, we can find a solution. A solution to not only circumvent the problems we face, but to turn some problems into strengths. We had no way to mine for the materials we needed but we've taken in changelings, some of the most natural tunnelers I've had the pleasure to meet. We live in a dangerous area so we took in the griffon refugees and made their strength our own. Our population grew so the earth ponies stepped forward, harvesting in weeks what would normally take months to grow to maturity, let alone harvest. Now the thestrals lend us their strength, a group that will find themselves welcome in a place where we don't ask what an individual is doing here.
"We don't ask why a changeling, a gnoll, or a pegasus wants to stay here. We don't ask because we're better than that. We've learned that each being here has their own gifts to bring to the table. I appreciate what you all have done, both here today in giving me this gift, and in what each of you do every day to make this place home. I'll be speaking to all of you later on, before a few of us begin preparations to head out to Equestria and support both the Equestrians, the freed changelings, and the griffons in ending this threat. It is one of my greatest hopes that this entire conflict will be spoken of in past tense in the very-near future. Right after your continued safety and happiness."
Looking to the queen still pressed against his side, he gave her a kiss before adding one more addendum.
"And the healthy birth of the kids, but that goes without saying."
As the crowd began to dissolve, some returning to their duties while others talked with friends or family, the queens, Celestia, Cadance, and the Bearers all stayed nearby.
Cimmerian smiled brightly at the gathered Bearers of Harmony as well as Celestia.
"You girls have been doing well and staying out of trouble, for the most part at least. Celestia, thank you for your help, both with the tree and the nursery. Heaven knows those kids deserve every moment of attention they can get. I'll be doing a dream-thing for them tonight, so give them a heads up please.
"Now onto business, or at least what I was calling you for. I have a bit of an early Christmas/Hearth's Warming gift for you all, I hope you enjoy it."
Without needing prompting, a changeling flew up to the group bearing a small stack of scrolls. He checked each name before giving the scroll to the correct mare, leaving a final scroll at Din's hooves before giving a short bow to his rulers before leaving.
As Celestia, the first to receive her note, began to read it, her eyes widened in shock.
"Th-this is..."
"Ah don't believe it, you mean, ya managed to find her?"
"Oh my goodness, I had no idea the poor dear was..."
"Oh that's it. That nightmare's gonna be eating out of a straw by the time I'm done with it!"
"Oh, oh my. This is, this is..."
"Twily..."
"I know this is big for you ladies," the stallion said gently "but please don't worry yourselves about her too much. I've given her a job and she's accepted, so I'm not worried about her looking to self-harm too much. I will ask that if all goes well, you keep an eye on her. She's going to be scared and riddled with guilt and not everyone will accept possession as a viable excuse."
"I understand, sometimes my little ponies allow their fear to blind them to the truth," the white alicorn responded.
"I'll also likely have her help me research trans-dimensional magics. I really have no idea where to start with that stuff," Cimmerian admitted sourly.
"I thought you'd given up the idea of returning home?" Din asked while pressing tighter against the alicorn, her tone between fear and hurt.
"Not going home, per se," he explained. "At the very least I'd like to know that my family is okay, or that the first nightmare hasn't blown the earth up. If I can get a message to my family back home saying I'm still alive and kicking it would be wonderful but I'll honestly settle for 'Earth's still there, it wasn't scoured of all life in the nightmare's mad attempts at genocide.'"
"I'm certain Twilight would find the challenge acceptable. Cimmerian. Thank you for giving us this. Be certain that Pinkie gets hers when she's felling better. I'll let the foals know about tonight, enjoy your holiday."
"Oh, we will," Queen Pandinus said with a fanged smirk.
The dark alicorn gave en exaggerated sigh of disappointment.
"Is that all I'm good for to you, Din? A boy-toy to keep you satisfied?"
"No, you're also decent to look at and your emotions are delicious" she answered with a laugh.
Not wanting to be outdone, Zelus made certain to put her two cents in.
"I'd keep him in the throne room if I was still queen of my own hive. Or maybe in the bedroom. Yes, tied to the bed, ready to serve his queen at any time. He's certainly soft enough to sleep on. Warmer too. Much better than my old bed."
Even as the stallion blushed deeply at the mental image, the queen at his side put a hoof to her chin, humming in thought.
"I think I know what I want to do tonight."
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I liked this chapter. It's nice that Cimmerian get to spend a Christmas with his subjects and that he still thinks of home to the point of wanting to devise a spell to talk to his family and screw over the Nightmare who stole his life. Kinda disappointed that the crone was not helpful in avoiding a fight with the Minotaur, but I guess Cimmerian would have to kick Cairne's ass. Thanks for the chapter.
Who ever Zelus snags is going to wind up with a very active sex life. And maybe also the most intense. Because orgasming bug in effectively a can of her own chitin. Queen Huggle Buzz is relatively used to it, and her first time was a very happy and love drunk alicorn that at the time was a bit bigger than her.
Ah, Christmas. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
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I really expected him to get misty eyed when he saw the Christmas tree. I know I did a tiny bit-- from more than a few powerful memories around that holliday. As for the minotaurs, gah! Stupid pompous ass-backwards... augh! It's the blind leading the blind over there. Din and Zel's idea of taking just one slave is an idea I can get behind. The rest of them, well, they're just following orders to an extent but reparations will be had, that is a moral imperative.
On to happier things, like the mass dream for the foals as Cim plays Saint Nick. Oh god, I am really looking forward to that.
Diabetes be damned, bring on the adorable overload!
Also...Worries about Luna.
I liked this chapter but still ignorance of the law is no excuse. That should and probably applies in all countries both in this universe and real life. But still, the minotaurs don't want to push the issue as Cimmerian is still a powerful ally against Nightmare Twilight, but afterwards, they have have a few words.
Crone is basically one of those "The Law stands above all else" types of idiots. The ones where they won't budge on that par someone murders their entire family and "the law" somehow screws justice.
Either that or "as long as the law is in my favor, fuck you" type of deals.
7209433 The Minotaur's instigated this fight and have been enslaving other races thus breaking several actual international laws in the process...and don't get me started on this whole Dreamers Accord shebang because unless I see it on paper I'm going to call bluff on Crones act here...besides no one remembers the whole, makes us whole line from last chapter? I don't think twi is the only one with a nightmare anymore...and I don't think crone has been keeping up on her own people...
Tuna complained about smelling of sex. Then he went to grab food and do stuff without washing up.
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At least if you are powerful enough. Generally not knowing about a law does not make you impervious of it. Say, you don't know you shouldn't just grab a TV from a shop and walk away. That does not mean you can do it.
Albeit there are laws (especially old ones) that are either useless, or just plain silly.
Also, how the heck can that tree hold up gold chains? Gold is awfully heavy.
And if he gets into a defensive war, he could use gunpowder already. Tuna should know how effective it is in the hands of non-magic users, and they are relatively easy to train. Also, old cranky-gatlings.
Why use alpha-queen? The only other queen I am aware of is a proto-queen/hatchling still. There is Heart but she is far away.
Or would AJ say it "Miss Zee-lust".
I get the feeling Luna sees these laws as guidelines.
Zelus doesn't want a mate... she wants a sex slave!
If only he could look like a giant alicorn sized changeling though, Din would really like to snack on that.
But... but thing of the CHILDREN! Don't want to do something for them while Din is having her fun.
7209592 Pandinus and Zelus are both queens. Pan is the queen-queen and Zel is the annoying-bodyguard-queen.
Ah christmas tree, taking a healthy tree in its prime, cutting it down, bring it to your home as it slowly suffers and rots, let your kids play around it to make its suffering even greater. And finally decorate it to immortalize its suffering.
Our traditions are very strange.
Wonderful chapter! The feels, oh the feels were unquenchable, especially when Twilight's friends read the scrolls. Brilliant. Stupid minotaurs, they don't seem to realise that the Nightmare is the biggest problem at hoof here. I think that Cimmerian was right to break the artefact (even though it was a much-loved one) because Cairne was on the offensive with it. I wonder what the minotaur shaman would have thought if she had been in the same situation?
It might be that sometimes laws have to be broken, because there are beings in the world who don't play by the rules, like the Nightmares for example.
7209787
You just reminded me of this scene. Now I'm gonna have to rewatch Metalocalypse.
I still want Zelus to be with them. She has grown on me and brings alot of humor into the group.
Hmm... given the arrays are now somewhat useless (at least the old ones), can't Nightmare-Twilight just carpetbomb the area, given how effective the one on the ship was if improperly handeled?
Honestly, still going for conquest seems kinda pointless from her side on.
7209433 I'm afraid that laws are only worth the value that a country puts into them. This accord sounds like it was signed by many of the countries at the time of its inception, BUT Cimmerian's burgeoning shadow empire, that he has created, has not signed this accord. He is not bound by it. He is not bound by Equestira signing it either as he is at war with Equestira. They are a hostel nation. Would you have the USA have followed laws that Nazi Germany enacted? No, Nor would you have a country in Africa follow laws set by the EU. Cimmerian isn't above the law, but he isn't under this law either. He doesn't live in a country that recognizes it and such is not bound by such law. This old crone has no ground to attempt to force him to comply other than the right of force.
No mater if you feel a law is just or not has no bearing on the legality of such a law. Nor does it have any bearing on who is or is not bound by such a law.
Its been so long for Cimmer, he cant even break down from the memories.
Now, where was that old SciFi story about a spaceship, pirates(?), an accountant, and home.
Laws are written by those who want the power to control others, because otherwise they would be writing laws to limit themselves.
Five bucks says the Nightmare has infected and is controlling Donald Trump.
7209531
If I recall correctly, that was actually Cimmerian trolling Cairne before he fully left the dream. It was probably a reference some horror game/movie or other that he's played or watched before he came to Equestria.
7209433
U wot m8?
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I suspect Cimmerian's reaction and that of everybody that matters is going to be kind of like this if the minotaurs try to make an issue of it:
quickmeme.com/img/cb/cbb59254bee1f158812f9cbd175e8efb43fe593dacbb63719d849996032e4c5a.jpg
7210078 I agree, but it seems like if such a thing is going to happen there will be a lot of drama involved.
Plus it looks like the author is going to play it safe with Zelus and focus more on the upcoming battle rather than more polyamory drama.
It's a bummer, but it helps me to think that many centuries from now he will likely end up with a herd anyway.
The Dream-Accords eh? I suppose it makes sense that there are a set of laws regarding dream-walking, considering the potential for malicious use it has. Still, being unaware of the law is understandable, but that doesn't excuse you from breaking it. Granted, Cimmer's got some truly weird circumstances here, so cookie-cutter solutions aren't going to cut it.
I'm curious to see how the introduction of these laws plays out in the epilogue. Will Cimmer submit himself for trial regarding the laws he broke? Will he give everyone the pony equivalent of a middle finger? Or will he try and compromise with everyone? I can't wait to find out.
Actually, something tells me Twilight is going to get more shit over this than Cimmer, since she, or rather, the Nightmare, took dreams away in the first place.
7209611
With how this is worded, both are alpha-queens but the only other queen in currently Cadance (in Amare's body). Can just as easily use queens and proto-queen.
Should be omnicide. Genocide implies the annihilation of a specific ethnic, religious, or etc. group within the human race.
7210997 Pan and Zelus are both queens (which is a physical state of being). Pan is the alpha-queen (which is a social status). Zelus is a beta-queen (also a social status). Proto-queens are to changeling queens as caterpillars are to butterflies: genetically the same but physically quite different. Does that help?
7210956
By LastLight.
That said, my personal opinion of that law is that of a law trying to limit someone's use of their hands, to make a person ask for permission to use their own hands because it is dangerous and that it is public properties when, in fact, it is not.
Laws are created to control, to keep order, not justice and sometimes even moral. Justice in otherhand can be achieve either by following the laws, skirting the boudaries or outright breaks it.
As said before though, Luna and Cimmerian are likely the ultimate authorities on this issue. Mainly because it IS THEIR DOMAIN.
7211056
I didn't see the apostrophe when I read it this morning.
7210134 Cimmerian never agreed to the magical Geneva Conventions, you can't hold him to a treaty he was never part of
The Minotaurs are gonna be bull-headed, eh? Fine then, Cim can keep his promise of not attacking the cows through their dreams, and still give them a world of hurt.
Send dream-messages to Twilight of REAL Minotaur troop movements instead. and while the Minotaurs are charging into the meat-grinder, occupying Nightmare-Book's troops, Cim can just waltz on into Canterlot...
7188669 Lot less rape and horror, though. I'll admit that bothered me a bit about the story, and is one of the reasons I fell off of it.
7209311 Zelus will likely be dropping a bit of that armor once most of the danger has passed. Right now she's a bit of a walking tank because the other queen is the opposite. She has to pick up the slack.
7209329 I get misty eyed sometimes, but other times nostalgia gets a different reaction from me. I become ridiculously happy. I sometimes even get jittery with excitement. Yes it was a wonderful gift, but it was just that. It was from someone. That earns Pandinus and Zelus an extra helping.
7209433 The biggest mistake the crone made was not explaining who made the laws or when, as well as who actually uses them. All she did was bitch about him breaking them. By story standards (I'll have this come up later) they weren't a thing until well after Luna, when there was no-one around to watch the dream-realm anymore. I plan to have Luna bitch about them when I get the chance
7209531 I don't know if there's actualy any laws like that, stating slavery is illegal. Even if there was, the biggest proponent of that likely would have been Celestia via Equestria, so with her out of the picture slavery may not be as big a deal anymore. The issue at the end of the day is 'why do you have slaves?' In the case of the minotaurs it's because fuck ponies.
7209544 He uh, used a spell! Yea. I'm sticking with that. (sticking, had sex, ha! I crack me up)
Biggest issue I see with jumping tech ahead like that is sometimes they may not be ready for it. The minotaurs would get decimated by it, certainly, but for a race that likes honorable combat like the griffons? It would put the catbirds in a bad place.
7209855 I saw it on KYM but can't find it. Someone had that scene with Twilight and two others and spike as the servant. They replaced the faces, but that was it. Otherwise, it was ponies using those lines.
7209592
The original format of that line would have been "Can't I just pick off one of the little sick ones?" in the first few seconds of this vid.
Dastardly is right about the alpha thing. It's a social position. Din was the first queen and started the hive and Zelus answers to Pandinus. Both are queens, but in this species queen isn't a rank, it's a subtype of the species.
7210084 The changeling bombs are a bit of a new thing for her, and at the current setting, she just doesn't have the resources to make them en mass. Each rune has to be added to the drones. With her attempting to enslave everything, who's going to have to do the runes? She is.
7210134 Many would assume that an alicorn is aligned with Equestria just because for so long they all lived there. That doesn't make it right, but it's a possibility.
7210857 As I said, I was originally going to make it another race that he could work with. In fact, I was writing it out that way when I either hit backspace without a text-field highlighted, thus my browser went back, or I tried closing something and closed the wrong tab. Either way I lost everything I'd written. During the rewrite I changed the tone.
7210900 Get lost, feather-duster.
7210991 It's my headcanon that Chrys never intended a full invasion, but between starvation and getting plastered off of the intense love she was extremely compromised mentally. It's the only thing I can think of that allows for a race that survived millennia in the shadows launching a full on, mid-day assault. I mean come on, at least do it at night!
7211664 Not ready for it is really a bad excuse. You are at war, you either beat the enemy, or the enemy beats you. Also, the griffons already are using crossbows, so they would just get a different ranged weapon that can also double as a spear with bayonet, or a club without it. I would expect most of them hating it though, due to the massive reload time.
Give them to the militia (guns are realtively easy to train to), maybe with some magically made powder that can be whisked away by Tuna after the war. After taking Canterlot, he will have a tired army with him and a lot of confused ponies he can recruit from against a large force of minotaurs that were not really bothered during their march, due to evilTwi focusing on defending herself.
I think Zel is going to find herself a nice widower who eventually falls madly in love with her. And he ain't submissive, at all.
7210956
Hm. Actually, did he really break those laws?
Cimmerian did not invade Cairne's dream with the intent to attack or steal information, and did, in fact, politely request to speak with him. Any direct rule breaking only occurred after Cairne's speech of hostility and punch in the face.
So, yes, he technically broke the rules of this Accord. But in my opinion he was justified in doing so and it turned out to be entirely warranted in the end.
It the minotaurs can argue that Cimmerian is guilty of breaking the Accords (ignoring the fact that Cimmerian and his nation never signed any such agreement and thus aren't bound by it, legally speaking), then Cimmerian can just as quickly accuse Cairne of unprovoked physical assault and their nation of slavery and possibly murder. I mean, if there is an Accord against invasive and hostile dreamwalking, I cannot imagine there isn't an Accord or equivalent against slavery. And even if there isn't, I doubt any of the other nations are going to be particularly impressed with the practice.
And we also have to consider: will Cimmerian even consider the minotaurs to have the right to demand anything of him? They have basically declared themselves to be a hostile nation with the intent to conquer the world, which, unless Cairne changes his mind and backs off, makes them the enemy of everyone else. Exactly who is going to help them enforce that law and its consequences?
Personally, I think any consequences will not be of a legal nature. Cairne is more likely to resort to violence and threats, especially if he is as arrogant and egomaniacal as he appears to be. It could get nasty.
7211909 Best argument I have against your "IF there's rules against x, there must be rules against y" thing is Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The dark elves native to the island hate necromancers, yet bind the dead to guard tombs. They put others to death for doing what they do because the necromancers don't use the 'it's ritualistic' excuse. In this same vein, the minotaurs see their actions as justified (taking slaves, which we find horrible) while pointing out he's breaking the law.
I know im stretching it with that example, but there are plenty of cultures that have no issue with x, but as soon as someone mentions y they go ape-shit.
7211017 FYI Nobody cares about the animals.
7211917 Hmmm... Good point. But while the minotaurs might think slavery is ok (as long as they're the ones doing the enslaving, I'd bet), all the other species on the planet probably won't like it, either because they think it is a horrible practice or because they fear they'll be next.
Edit: To clarify, my argument is less "If there's rules against x, there must be rules against y" and more "I very much doubt slavery is considered okay".
7211664 Point still stands!
7211709 Oh, I wasn't talking about the changelings, I was talking about the crystals. You know, the one Cimmerian used to destroy her ship way back then. The one that disintegrated the ship and part of the beach.
In general, she's not really in such a terrible spot. She's in a bad spot for domination, that's true, but she still has good advantages if she chooses to employ a scorched earth policy, the biggest one being that she still possesses an element of harmony, which means while she lost 5/6th of her power output, she still has 1/6th left. And while the Nightmare isn't necessarily a magic-expert, she got one under her control. If Twilight resists her, well, it proves that her own mind is far enough removed that it won't matter if she has to turn Twilight into a mindraped mess via (changeling) magic if it means getting the information she needs. While Cimmerian has 5/6th of the devices, he has no idea how to use them, and while the Nightmare only has 1/6th of the power-output, it's still connected to a well of infinte magical energy (or not, in which case she just has to drain the tree to death and, after her defeat, wait for another villain to clean up after her).
And with power, you can do a lot. It's the only thing Cimmerian ever had going for him, after all.
The first possible thing she could do is to rewrite one of the arrays manipulating the queens. If she can force them to lay eggs and the changelings to attack, what stops her from giving the changelings the necessary instructions and force them to mass-produce them on their own, and, as previously said, make them faulty on purpose to have them overload, blow up, and disintegrate the dropzone, which will probably include the temple. After all, if her arrays just so happen to stop working in an area, that's a pretty safe tell for her to just start bombing it. How does she get the crystals? Well, she can just transmute them. It might be something that lasts only for a few days, but if she directly teleports them over the designated area, she only needs them to work for a few minutes...
The second thing could be using the sun and the moon as direct weaponry. Luna does know the spell to move them (probably, because there is no reason only Celestia knows the relevant specific spell to move both), and she doesn't need her beyond that knowledge, so she can employ another forceful mind-spell (and we know she has them because... well, Shining Armor). Backed by the Tree of Harmonys infinite supply, she can slam them down on the desigated area even if they work against her, because while they have a higher output with 6 Alicorn-like beings, she can do this 24/7, while they probably can't (not to mention that if things go really bad, she can simply repurpose another queen).
The final thing would be to target the core of... gaia, was it? If she breaks the planet, they die, she doesn't (I mean, the Nightmares in the comics live on the moon, so she doesn't need...breathing room). Twilight will, probably, but she can just abandon the worthless alicorn at that point in time, right?
7212443 Why wouldn't it be considered ok? Back in the day, many empires employed slaves.
7212630 This ain't Earth or humanity, though.
7212443 Hmmm, most of the powers will probably wouldn't really care, because curse ponies, they almost destroyed the world!
7212698 Humanity is not really that unique. It's effective, it's cheap, and slaves were actually only used in places where there weren't a large base of peasantry to do the bidding of the guys with the money. If the US (the most famous example) was colonized during the feudal ages, people would probably wouldn't buy slaves as they were expensive and have cheap workers already.
Due to current visible tech level I would expect any kind of colonisation effort would result in slavery getting a boost, as you need cheap workforce.
Aaaand I went off a tangent a bit.
Okay, so. Minotaurs hate ponies, ponies are naturally adept at doing specific work (like food growing for earth pones and weather stuff for pegasi). Unicorns will give them trouble, but they are bloody useful for, like anything. They are going their way in high numbers, easy to capture and extremy effective. Bam, perfect slaves. And again, since everyone now hates them, nobody will speak up.
7212698 While that is true, it's also true not every creature has the lack of common sense derived from inherit power like ponies do. That means that it's not likely for a race that didn't get everything shoved up their backdoor since birth to turn down a free workforce.
7212720
More that considering the "evil Queen" just attempted enslaving the world, everyone else is probably going to be wary of being "that guy who's also doing the slave thing"
7212821 I think the opposite would happen, as the occupying race would just justify it with "they almost destroyed the world, they must be punished" and those few who would speak up would be ignored. Even if not becoming slaves, ponies would be mistreated one way or another.
7212627 Nightmare won't touch the Element of Magic with a ten-foot pole. It was fine while Twilight was under its control and nightmare never wore the crown, but at this point Twilight wants it out and the crown, in my headcanon even on its own, is a powerful artifact of purification.
7212784
7212720
Too bad for the minotaurs that Cimmerian and company aren't planning on letting that happen.
Not to mention that it's probably a lot harder to control a slave population of magically capable beings than it is to control unarmed, unarmored humans.
Especially when two thirds of the slave population can either fly and manipulate the weather or cast spells.
Slave rebellions, ho!
Also, I don't think ponykind is quite that hated. There's a difference between thinking "fuck those guys" and "fuck those guys, they deserve a miserable life of slavery and suffering".
Also, it's hilariously hypocritical to enslave people when you are fighting their supposed leader for trying to do that very thing.
7213108 Never said they would stay enslaved, maybe for 2-3 years or so before they start to get their shite together. Albeit with the army currently broken there would be few actual trained soldiers to stand up against the minotaurs, so they would need time to form a large enough force that can counter a trained army (magic or not).
Maybe ponykind is not that much hated, but they are hated enough that nobody will say a word to the minotaurs. Hypocritical is only so until you win.
But oh hell, do I want to see Tuna tearing arses. If not gunpowder, maybe make some magical weapons (like some charged single use gems. Changeling drones can make enough for a pegasi strike force easily), or just give every soldier nightmares and wreck their morale and make them tired.