Natureshy: RotE Episode 11

by Dream Volt

Negotiations, part 1

"You're so cute."

I tried to dodge, but she was too fast and there was too little space to go with AJ on one side of me and Twilight on the other. Sky and Trixie were next to Luna a little further away. Cadence was holding back Shinning on the far side of the room. Then I realized it was just a hug. Yes I was having a little trouble breathing, but Pinkie hugs me much tighter.

"I mean I saw you on the link since obviously I had to reconnect for this, but that was okay because this is so cool. I mean mom said she had and a surprise for me, but I had to join the hive again for it. I wasn't sure it would be worth it but it totally was."

"If you do not release her in the next five seconds I will cut off your legs." Said Sky "As I know they will grow back this is not an idle threat."

"Trixie thinks Sparkle's sister should listen to Fluttershy's"

"What?" Yelled Twilight "She isn't my sister."

"Whatever you say Sparkle."

The blur I'd barely had a chance to look at finally released me. Sky didn't actually stop glaring at her. She was a black changeling, and looked like Twilight. Not exactly, but she had the same hair cut, other than the holes, and it was the same shade of purple as Twilight's coat. She also seemed to be the same height and build, and her eyes even though they looked odd were the same color too. Her face was different though, but even with the fangs and other stuff she looked a little cute, not half as scary as her mother.

"Uh, so yer not gonna do nothing now right?" Applejack asked

"For now at least." The changeling said

"Truly you are here as ambassador?" asked Luna

"Yea, Luna and I are both checking fer lies so don't even think about fibbing."

She nodded a smile on her face. "As I said so totally worth rejoining the hive. I mean not only are their ponies everywhere, but I can even stay as myself. So awesome."

"Why do you look like me?" Twilight then turned to Luna "Oh I'm sorry princess that was out of turn and…"

"Worry not Twilight. We said watch what you say, but we did not mean you are not an equal here, merely the fey are tricky. Answer, and also introduce yourself."

"Oh right. So yea I'm princess Maxilae of the changelings and mom's ambassador to Equestria, which is super great. You can just call me Maxi though."

"Equestria or being an ambassador?" asked Twilight

"Both, duh." She rolled her eyes. "Ponies are super awesome, but some of the things you do are just so lame. Like that question."

"Come let us sit."

Luna made a motion with a wing to the circle of large cushions and a table with short legs set with tea. The tea set almost looked right because of the designs, but it didn't seem to actually be set up for a proper tea ceremony. There was also a small cake, dish of candies, and a clear glass pitcher of what I would guess is apple juice based on the color. As we all sat down I noticed there were two extra seats. Maxi ended up between Sky and Shinning. I didn't hear them ask her to sit there but it worked that way. Twilight and Trixie were next to each other, and we mostly stayed in our little groups so the only open seats were next to AJ and Cadence. Maxi frowned.

"Seriously, don't be so lame. I love ponies, and I totally don't mean just as food either. I mean you're so amazing. I don't know how I could cope with being so limited, but all you ponies do it so easily."

The table briefly grew very quiet.

"Wait, ah'm confused, was that an insult or not?" said AJ

Maxi gasped. "Of course not. Really I'm super impressed."

"Let us move on." Said Luna "First, help yourself to whatever you like, all of you. Second what does Chrysalis want?"

"Well a bunch of stuff, duh. Mom's dumb like that. Thought the first really obvious two are what you promised her. Castle Everfree, and for changelings to be citizens under the law, both rights and responsibilities."

"Energy draining is illegal." Said Shining

Luna sighed. "Actually there is a very specific threshold for that."

"All unicorns can drain small amounts of magic from others Shinny." Twilight shook her head. "You should really know that."

"You do?" I asked

"Yes, at least if there are any ponies nearby when we cast a spell. Ambient magic is mostly from the air, but it's everything nearby."

"It is of course negligible." Said Luna "But a new law replaced the old when an anti-unicorn group tried to get every unicorn in Canterlot arrested."

Maxi laughed. "Yea, mom was surprised how easy it was to change the numbers just a little. Of course if I was around I totally could have told her that of course it was easy with ponies panicking like that."

"So it ain't illegal to suck the life outta ponies?" asked AJ

"It's not like it's really that much." Maxi then waved a hoof

"Yes. It's higher than ideal, but as I said it's very specific. Specifically about the limit where changeling feeding starts causing real harm."

"And because we have our own group of friendly and seemingly loyal changelings the law remained." Twilight sighed. "Even though logically it's unreasonable to have it quite that high."

"Yes." Said Luna "And why they found it so easy to block it being adjusted downward now makes far more sense."

"Omigosh, I almost forgot. I get to meet my most awesome brother. He is going to be here soon, isn't he?"

"He is currently busy, but you will meet him some time today certainly."

I decided to take a little slice of cake and some tea. The tea was nice and the cake was so good I was almost sure Pinkie had to have made it. I still didn't even know his name. Applejack knows him pretty well because of some sort of problem on her other grandparent's farm down south, but she didn't use his name. I just asked her if she knew the changeling prince's name and she started talking. It was such an interesting story I didn't even notice she never answered my question until after she left.

"…and that's why we can't do that now or the price of furniture would skyrocket." Said Twilight. "So it stays that way for now Shinny."

"Well said Twilight." Added Luna

"Oh my." I said, then blushed

"What is it Sugarcube?"

"Nothing important. Just go on."

"Twily this matters. We can't just…"

Twilight interrupted "No, what matters is you…" she pointed a hoof at Maxi "…need to give us a reason to trust you."

"What?" said Shinning. "No, that doesn't matter. We can't just let these monsters do what they want." He turned to Luna "How can you even think of honoring your deal. You saw what they did. You…"

"You can't break an oath to the fey Shiny." Said Twilight

Cadence put a wing around her husband. "Dear, I understand, but she's right. You just can't. Not even Fluttershy can change that."

"So we just accept it?" asked Shining

"Yea." Said Maxi "Don't worry though, mom's being like weirdly nice about this whole thing. In fact I'm not here to negotiate a peace treaty, but a surrender."

Again the table got quiet for a while. It was nice. A few ponies started getting something to eat or drink. Maxi was still smiling when Luna clapped a hoof on the table.

"We know your mother quite well, and that just sounds, wrong."

"Well she still wants stuff and such, just ya know, she gets she can't win so she's settling for being the high queen's right hoof and chilling in Castle Everfree."

"But she almost won. Why would she…" began Shinning

Maxi laughed. "No she didn't. She totally wasn't anywhere close. But yea, seriously, mom just wants to settle down with the rest of the hive in Equestria."

"The rest of the hive?" asked Twilight

"Yea, oh uh if it makes you feel better like our entire hive is still in Equestria, most in like important positions and such. So yea, that is her bargaining chip and junk."

"It ain't just the guard." Said Applejack "It's everything."

Maxi nodded. "Yep. With out us like everything will shut down."

"I'd really you rather not do that." I said

Luna went wide eyed. "You don't have to do anything, do you? You aren't threatening us with sabotage, just that we need changelings to keep going."

"Actively doing nothing is something." Said Twilight "This is like a guild strike, but worse because it can be anything and furthermore you don't have to talk about it or even completely stop for it to be effective."

"Yea, mom would really rather not do that because making all the ponies unhappy would mean love harvesting would drop, but I would just be sad because I don't want to upset any ponies." She looked at Luna "It's just you know how mom is."

Luna sighed. "Yes, she would never allow herself to negotiate from a position of complete weakness. In truth there is little to discuss."

"No." Shining said standing. "You can't just let…"

"We really ain't got a choice?" asked AJ

"There has to be something." Said Twilight

"Trixie is bored. The bug ponies tricked us. Just move on."

"This is serious." Said Sky

Then there was a lot of yelling. I knew I was invisible. Maxi was frowning. Discord was worse, and in the past did even worse than the short time he was free with his full powers. Luna told me stories. Chrysalis wasn't the same. She was mean, but maybe she deserved a chance. Luna was really nice now even though Nightmare Moon was super scary, and did try to kill us. Chrysalis never tired to kill anypony, even if it was just because ponies are her source of food. Then suddenly everything went quiet. Luna's horn was glowing dark blue.

"Sister has repeatedly reminded me to avoid shouting, so I apologize for the silence spell. I should point out that while you are all here because I felt your input would be useful, there are only three mares at this table whose opinion matters."

"So me, you, and the high queen, right?" asked Maxi

"Uh, you can call me Fluttershy." Then I gasped. "Oh my."

Luna rolled her eyes. "You should not be so surprised. So, what else does she want? Let us get though that quickly. Hopefully the others will be more reasonable after you are done. I assume there is a great deal more."

"Nah, not really. She wants to be classified as a foreign royal even though she doesn't have a country. Cadence has the same status right now."

Cadence nodded.

"That is a surprisingly reasonable start."

"She also wants the same status for Fluttershy."

"Oh I don't need that, really."

Luna nodded. "We expected as much. Her current title is more than sufficient for her needs." Luna smiled. "She is our friend and we have discussed this mater in some detail. Also before you ask Equestrian law prevents us from granting any fey a noble title of any sort so it is only by loophole she gets to keep her current title."

"We knew that part actually." Said Maxi "Mom figured the other might be okay, but I told her Fluttershy wouldn’t like it."

"I really wouldn't. My current title it bad enough. Is this going to last much longer, because nopony else looks happy."

Cadence actually looked okay, but Shining hadn't stopped glaring at Maxi. Sky looked okay mostly, but she couldn’t keep her wings quite still. Trixie was pouting. Applejack had a constant frown on her face. Twilight was looking intently at something, but all I saw was the ceiling. Unlike some rooms there wasn't anything up there either. Maybe she was looking at the spell somehow?"

"So, what other demands are there?" asked Luna

"Oh, well you don't have to admit everything immediately, ponies are obviously going to be upset for a while so right away isn't good, but within a year you need to give changelings the freedom to walk in our true forms."

Luna blinked. "That soon."

"A year is quick?" I asked

"For the fey, totally. But yea, we don't plan to all step forward at once or anything, we just want the option to be ourselves and junk. Like ya know…"

Luna groaned, dropping her head to the table.

"Huh?" Maxi tilted her head "That seems like totally reasonable thing to ask other than the timing."

"Oh it is, but this fits well, as usual far too well, into one of sister's plans. She decided that telling the world about bat ponies and sea ponies on the same day is a good idea, for some reason. She mentioned something about waiting for a third."

"Oh, uh, that was totally the next thing we were gonna ask, though other than being descended from changelings I don't get why mom cares about bat ponies. But whatever, it's something she wanted so that was super easy."

"And now we start the truly unreasonable ones." Said Luna

"Huh, no, she wants a personal favor if possible, but it's not important enough to put in the treaty."

Luna glared "At this point she most certainly owes me, not the other way around, and that's counting her betraying Nightmare Moon as a good thing."

"Well, like, don't you? I mean Nightmare might have won if she hadn't and…"

"Not the point. The point…"

"Yea, but you totally might want to do this anyway. But she said not to mention it in front of anyone other than the high queen and the elements, so like, now totally isn't a good time. Maybe right after."

"Oh very well. I am likely to say no anyway, but she is good at judging motives if nothing else. So that is all?"

"Not quite. Now for the concessions."

Luna stared "Wait, you mean Chrysalis is offering concessions unasked?"

"Yea, I mean we are surrendering, it would just be silly if we didn't come up with at least a few. The first is she will totally help you with any changelings that break the rules, even if they aren't in our hive."

"Uh, isn't that just part of following the law?" I asked

Luna sighed. "It's not the same thing. Spelling out she will actively help is better."

"So yea, the second is we're going to give back any ponies we've had imprisoned for like any reason. Even the ones only trapped by lies."

"Oh my." I gasped "What exactly does she mean by…"

Luna shook her head. "That is a depressingly long topic."

"Totally. There is all sorts of ways we trick ponies to get love. It's super lame. But yea, we won't do that anymore neither, even the technically legal stuff."

"Sounds like none of that sort of thing should be technically legal." Said AJ, the then blinked. "Wait a tick."

Luna tilted her head. "Hmmm, you've begun resisting the spell. Now that is interesting."

"It was totally obvious to us she would, so not really." Maxi then laughed. "But whatever. Point is the whole legal thing is like super complicated."

"That don't sound like something that can be all that…"

Luna sighed again. "Never doubt the fey can make something complicated Applejack, they are very good at it. Especially changelings."

"Anyway, the last one is a list of every single member of the hive and their current primary identity, a list of secondary identities if they have them, and even a list of any subjects they regularly impersonate."

"Before anyone asks she means for brief periods." Said Luna "Soon after my return there was a changeling doing impressions of me acting like a depressed fool wallowing in self pity. Some ponies still believe me to be, I believe the term is, super emo."

I gave a little giggle. Everypony else outright laughed, though Cadence and Twilight only a little. Then Shinning shook his head.

"So I guess we can talk again?" asked Shining

"Obviously." Said Luna "You should have been able to tell the minute I removed it."

"Trixie of course noticed immediately, she just thought it wise not to interrupt again."

"I felt no need to add anything at the time." Said Sky "I assume this list will come only after this is all settled?"

"But you need to release the prisoners immediately." said Shining

"Well, we kinda can't do that. I mean some of them have been lied to their whole lives. We even have some ponies that think they're changelings that can't transform and can't link to the hive."

"Oh my, that must be awful for them." I said

"Yea, it totally is. I had to bug mom like forever to get her to stop it."

"Them folks really didn't notice that they don't got no holes and whatnot?"

"Nah, they have holes. We can turn ponies into changelings entirely, making them look enough like changelings is easy."

"Makes sense tah me." AJ then nodded

"I think we will take a break here." Said Luna "I need to talk to sister and she should have a break soon."

"You're changing the subject?" asked Shinning

"It is far from simple, and while as far as I can tell Chrysalis has stopped some of the worst offences, the changelings have countless ways to gather love, some very unpleasant, and most very illegal. If they don't stop, they will be punished."

"Yea, I mean we totally get what we're asking for. We are gonna stop all the iffy stuff if you agree, or at least try to. Mom doesn't always pay attention and there are a lot of different hives now."

"Yes, it is a very complicated topic and we will discuss it later in depth, but not now. We must focus on the treaty itself." Said Luna

"There shouldn’t even be a treaty. They're surrendering and…"

"The most important things I have to give them Shinning. You will be able to suggest further concessions, but not now." Luna yawned. "I need a nap."

Then Luna vanished in flash of swirling dark magic. Then things got very loud as every pony started talking at once. I immediately went invisible.

Author's Note:

Part two is in the sequel, a story about AJ, and also explains how AJ is doing what she is here.