Chapter XXXIII: Chance
"What were you thinking‽"
"I was thinking that maybe I could get my hooves on another pool of recruits."
"They're changelings!" Twilight screamed at me after learning that I let one of the changelings loose. With the exception of Pinkie and Fluttershy, everypony was pretty miffed over my release of one of them while the other changelings were stuck in one corner. Okay, they were furious, and Twilight was about to go into angry rant/lecture mode when I shoved a hoof into her mouth.
"Jeeze Twilight, here I thought this world was supposed to be about friendship and harmony, but if you hate changelings that much, it makes it seem that I was wrong about that idea. Or maybe it's just for ponies?" I commented, causing Twilight's anger to simmer out at my words before I pulled my hoof out of her mouth.
As Twilight pondered my words, Applejack spoke up "Sugarcube, you just don't know how dangerous these changelings are. Their queen actually beat Celestia once while they were invadin' Canterlot."
"You know that means we could potentially have an ally that has somepony, or someling I guess, that is strong enough to match one of the princesses. Why not have them as an ally instead of an enemy if war comes to this world?" I countered, causing half of the Elements to facehoof till Twilight came out of her funk.
"Aether, do you really think Princess Celestia or Princess Luna would just let you have changelings in your squad?" Twilight finally asked. Before I told the Elements of my plans, Twilight had sent word to the princesses on the changeling matter in order to get advice on what they should do next. So the Elements were waiting for some response from the princesses, that is, till they were informed of the recent changes.
"Not sure on that part, depends on what the changelings do on their end. If they're genuine about their intentions, then these seven could be the first changelings to work with ponies openly," I answered, causing the changelings to just look at me in surprise.
"Why us?" a changeling squeaked out, before flinching when Rainbow shot it a glare for speaking out.
"Well, since you seven already been through the debriefing, it saves some time," I explained.
"And what if this didn't turn out like you hoped?" Twilight asked.
"Then you and the princesses figure out what to do with them. They're only my problem if I have to train them." Receiving an exasperated stare from most of the Elements and my recruits, I just rolled my eyes before walking over to and fixing a glare on the changelings. "So... is there anything else you changelings want to tell me while you still have a chance?"
"Like they'll tell you anything that isn't a lie," Rainbow said as she flew over to me, keeping an eye on the changelings the entire time.
"Yeah, well it will only hurt them in the long run if they try to lie to me. I already showed that I'm fine harming ponies without a second thought between my first test and the fact that I literally electrocuted all of the volunteers to find them," I replied before turning my attention to the changelings again. "So, is any...ling going to speak up, or are you going to wait till either your queen comm—"
Before I could finish my question, the pop of a teleport spell rang throughout the room. Turning around, I saw that both the princesses have arrived. Unfortunately, the changeling that I guessed was the loudmouth decided to make its move, lunging at me only to receive a buck to the face. Instantly two of my recruits were on the changeling, pinning it down as I turned around just to look it in the eyes as I said, "Do you really think I would let my guard down when so close to something that may want to hurt me? You're dumber than Stalwart."
"Hey!"
"Oh shut it Stalwart," I nonchalantly replied before turning my attention back to the princesses. "Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, it's good to see you again. I take it you two wanted to handle the changeling matter personally?"
While Celestia frowned at the order of my acknowledgement of the two, Luna on the other hoof kept her eyes on the changelings as she said, "Indeed Dame Aether, we will not let any harm come to thou whi—"
"Excuse me Princess, but the situation has changed," I interjected, causing the two to look at me with slight confusion on their faces. After explaining what had happened after the letter was sent, the look of confusion was replaced with shock and anger.
"Aether, while we don't agree on what approach we should do on these dimensional matters, trying to make negotiate with the changelings after they just infiltrated your volunteers is just... crazy!" Celestia reprimanded, only for me to roll my eyes.
"Jeeze, everypony is really being so uptight about what I have done. How about everypony calm down, take some deep breaths, and listen to the reasons for my actions?" I asked in irritation. While Luna's sessions have improved my control over my anger, it still doesn't take that much to push me over the limit, and I was just a few comments about from reaching that limit.
Thankfully, Pinkie recognized that, chiming in. "Maybe we should do what Aether said. I'm super sure she has a really good reason for this."
As everypony just looked at Pinkie in surprised for a moment, I decided to back her up. "She has a point, nopony really asked me for why I have chosen to do this. So is everypony going to calm down and listen?"
Receiving begrudging nods, I continued, "Look, I know changelings are untrustworthy after the last three incidents with them, and that you Elements have more than enough reason to... despise them. However, since they are a species that is capable of being more aggressive than ponies, that can be employed in my new military branch since if we are dragged into an interdimensional war, we will be facing aliens that are much more aggressive than anything Equus has even seen before. Face it, Equestria's long periods of peace had render ponykind soft, having a tough force like the changelings would help to give the military a stronger backbone.
“Now I know that you're going to say that it would be a horrible idea to incorporate them into our military, for reasons like they would get early access to the new tech and that they could betray us at any time. However, we could do something to prevent it; make some restrictions or some deal with their queen on this matter, as well as make them pay reparations or do something to make up for their actions in the past. We can also try to find a way to satisfy their love eating problem without putting anypony in danger. If we can pull that off, wouldn't they be more willing to stay as allies with us than betray us?"
Everypony looked at themselves with a mix of various expressions ranging from anger, annoyance, confusion, surprise, and thoughtfulness. Twilight was the first to speak when she said, "As idealistic as your reason is, I don't think it would be that simple. Changelings are already viewed in a bad light with pon—"
"Can't be worse than how they reacted when they learned that I was an alien," I deadpanned, interrupting Twilight as one of the changelings just gave me a skeptical look.
"I think you're mistaken, surely no ponies would react as bad as what had just happened," the changeling said, causing me to cock an eyebrow at it.
"It was during a party for me, and once they learned I was an alien, one pony succeeded in whipping up the crowd into a frenzy where I was chased around for a bit as ponies tried to attack me, luckily Twilight teleported me to safety. Then they brought out pitchforks and torches and were burning anything that had my name on it while searching for me. I think that if they caught me, they would have tied me to a stake and lit me on fire."
This caused the changeling to gape at me for a moment before turning its head to the other ponies. "...And you thought we were evil, she's just a foal!"
"Yeah, all I would do if I had my hooves on her was use her as a hostage to get me out, but I wasn't planning on doing any harm with her. You ponies make me sick," said the loudmouth changeling in disgust. "Even our Queen didn't harm the fillies she foalnapped, no matter how much they annoyed her."
As everypony was left sputtering after what was said, I decided to cut in. "Well, that shows that there are bad sides and good sides to both ponies and changelings. I guess the changelings will just have to do some service to Equestria to put them in a better light, or maybe the Princesses could make a speech that presents the changelings as some misunderstood species."
Twilight finally recovered from the interruption to say, "There's still the matter of the crimes they committed! As well as personal feelings that everypony would share! Chrysalis almost ruined Shining and Cadence's wedding, along with their attack on Ponyville!"
"Look at it this way, two warring species, so of course there will be bad blood between everypony... we really need a better word that we can use on non-ponies... anyways moving on. If their queen is willing to give you all a formal apology, which would just be a start, can't you give the changelings a second chance?" I declared, causing all of them to look at each other in uncertainty.
Luna was the first to break the silence as she said, "Dame Aether has a point. It would be wrong of us to deny the changelings a chance of redemption."
"Indeed, if we give Discord a chance, we must give Queen Chrysalis and the changelings a chance," Celestia added in.
Turning my attention to the Elements, I asked, "So what do you girls think?"
"Aether's right, we should give them a chance! I bet they would be great at parties with all the disguises they can take!" Pinkie said, jumping in glee at what I assumed to be more party plans that would involve changelings.
"Well... we could give them a chance... I mean, it wouldn't be nice of us if we didn't," Fluttershy answered in agreement.
"While I don't trust those varmints, I reckon we should at least give them a chance."
"I agree dear, it would be barbaric if we don't try to take a step forward in the right direction."
Eyeing the others, Rainbow let out an exasperated sigh as she declared, "Fine, I'll give them a chance—" until she flew right up to the changelings' faces "—but any funny business and your faces will meet my hooves!" She pounded both her forehooves together for emphasis.
With all eyes now turned on Twilight, who's face was scrunched up in thought until she let out a sigh."As much as I don't like this, I didn't like it when we tried to reform Discord, but in the end he was reformed... to a degree. I suppose we can give the changelings a chance too."
"Does that mean you will take our chains off?" asked the loudmouth changeling.
Before any other pony could say a thing, I answered, "Of course not. It's one thing to give you all a chance on redemption, but it's another thing to give you outright trust from the start. You'll just have to wait till we have a talk with your queen." This caused everypony to eye me for what could be called accusatory stares like I was some kind of hypocrite. "What? Everypony here should know that I advocate caution and that I claimed that ponykind is still naive. I may want the changelings on our side, but I'm not going to be stupid about it."
As everypony gave me an acknowledging nod, Celestia replied, "Oh, before I forget, there is a word in Equestrian that could be applied to all species, it is 'everybody'."
This caused my left eye to twitch as I asked, "You mean to tell me that there was a word for that? Are there other words like that too, and why didn't I find it in the dictionary Twilight gave to me?"
"There are more words that can be used for all species, and I believe that the word fell out of favor due to majority of ponies normally interacting with other ponies most of the time. So it was simply viewed to not be necessary to be... included... are you alright Aether?" Celestia answered as well as questioning my well-being, due to the fact that I could feel my left eye twitching badly.
Ponykind is trying to advocate friendship and harmony but have tendencies to have tribalist and possibly specist views! What is wrong with these ponies!
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Really does feel backwards when humans, the only known sapient species on our planet uses "everybody" while ponies on a world filled with many different ones have words tailored to specific races.
Now I'm remembering that scene from the Foal's Necromancer remake attempt.
Awesome chapter.
Hehehehehhehe!
:Aether's eye stops twitching:
Someone, please pass me a chair.
Friendship is Tribalism
Nice.
Very nice.
I await further developments.
6559551 Is that worth reading?
Poor Aether, the only sane pony in all of equestria it seems lol. Loved how she slightly ragged on Stalwart earlier, also I think Celestia might want to find some cover cause Aether is about to blow another fuse from the sheer stupidity from that last scene.
Well Aether... You got to understand that these ponies are lazy
Aether anytime you have a question about 'why do ponies DO this?!" the answer is always, "Ponies are crazy"
6559632 agreed hide the chairs and wepons
Quick Aether, hit Celestia with Loudmouth.
That will definitely get the point accross.
I'm loving this, the changelings will be great allies for the battle! I'm what you call a changeling fan, two of my OC's are hybrids pony-changeling (no fics, I wish I had creativity for writing...), so you can guess I'm super excited for the next chapters.
ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING!
6559585 Stop.
She's beyond hitting ponies with chairs...
Use the taser.
6559782 dammit, forgot about the taser.
6559617 Aside from being discontinued, extremely so.
We need a gun that shoots electrified chairs! STAT!
6559858 As for as I know, the remake is still in progress.
Ahaheheheheeee!...This reminds me of my sergeant in basic. I couldn't stop laughing when I read that.
6559551 the one thing that annoys me about MLP to no end.
Besides everybody we have they, their,everyone, individual, an maybe the term People given one of the definitions of that is "a group of individuals". I wouldn't be surprised if their are even more species neutral words in the English language not to mention others.
6560024 A remake by another author, sure.
Aether mad! AETHER SMASH PRINCESS, MUHAHAHA!
this is awesome
stayclassy
Aether should have snapped and shown the changlings what type of stuff shes willing to do!
ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING HYPOCRISY!
TYRANT CELESTIA STRIKES AGAIN
6559886 I'd prefer a gun that shoots crystal chairs.
6560325 To be fair, though, many/most human societies have had large hypocritical streaks, so it's almost inevitable, really.
have to agree with Aether on this one pony kind seem to be very.... closed minded when it comes to other races. all lets be friends and such when its just ponies but when another race does something its hate hate hate.
6560953 But I hope that the changelings are accepted.
Absolutely adorable they can be!
6561001 That's actually pretty much what happens in real life. It's all fun and games until something goes wrong, and then everybody circles the wagons and blames every other group.
The changelings should be accepted! Imagine if they could take the forms of aliens! Extreme infiltration.
6561352 Extreme combat advantage if the aliens are organic tanks(metaphorically).
Have some Alovera Twilight, that BURN was massive!
I applaud Aether's goal of integrating the Changelings with Equestria, good going! I can see Chrysalis going along with it at first just to mess with Celestia and the Elements but warming up to Aether after getting to know her.
6559697 No, they are hypocritical. "Love and Friendship for everyone! Love and Friendship for everyone! Love and Friendship for everyone! Oh my Celestia it's a species I don't see day to day! Run for the hills, It'll eat us alive!"
I feel you man, I feel you xD hahahaa.
Awesome chapter dude, awesome chapter!
Let's hope Aether "confronts" Celestia on this issue...
6559782
6559585
One moment...
*Digs into a bag of holding and pulls out a purple and silver taser*
This is a special taser I found that works great against high level being such as Celestia. She won't be able to sake off the effects as easily as she did the first one. She should be down twitching for about a hour or two.
Also did anyone else laugh when the Changeling's reaction to the pony-mob that formed when Aether revealed she was an alien. i especially did at this comment.
That's what we'd all like to know, really.
I like the turn this has taken. The one-sided "evil vampire bugs" treatment they get in some stories always bothered me a bit. It's one thing to have an irredeemable villain for a story, but doing that to an entire species seems more D&D than MLP to me.
6562152
Yeah, not exactly much to be proud of. We even include non popular words in our dictionaries.
6560502 I wouldn't say 'Tyrant' more of 'Unintentionally Racist (or Speciseist?) Idiot', key word Unintentional.
6563277 but after thousands of years, she's gotta know of something thats better than everypony, even if it is only ponies
strikes again
6560053
How do you insult 2 individuals at once? Like that.
briefing. Debriefing happens after a mission.
6559551
YES!
6563476
https://www.google.com/search?q=Debriefing&oq=Debriefing&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8
6563140 Legit dough.
6563129
Agreed
6563476
They are crazy.
Eh, Aether seems to be a bit too high and mighty with her moralising in this chapter. It'd be a lot better for her to just explain the racial tensions from her time as a mercenary and why letting them simmer and eventually flare up is nowhere near ideal.
But no, a lot easier for her temper to just blow up on
everyponyeverybody.