After Discord learns about the fate set for Equestria, he can't help but do something drastic. After all, Fate and Chaos are like water and oil; they'll never get along. Let's see what happens when an extra character is introduced at the beginning!
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A somewhat sticky situation for sure.
Okay, the ending just killed me with laughter. Thanks for the double chapter. Great way to start my birthday. Still, I wonder how Maximus will react when he finds out that Luna found a new changeling and added her to her flock. Really wish to know if he'll be accepting or there would be trouble due to culture clash.
Boner Alert!
Bandits, battle, bows and boners.
Gee, Reykan! How come you get TWO updates?
But seriously though, this was a treat, and I am very happy with how things are moving. Nice curveball with the town being in cahoots with the bandits. I can't wait to see what they end up doing about it.
7545296 There's a difference?
But yeah...sounds like Luna just caught a wild Chyssie and the 7th gen games aren't even out yet...
1> Double Chapter Release Woot!
2> Obligatory.......
7545313
Not that strange that a town would be forced to support the bandits. Same deal with the old time mobs and gangs. 'Give us money monthly and we wont burn down your stuff'
That fricken end
The return of the Awkward Boner!!
If he drank the honey while in battle, would it be a battle boner?
s2.quickmeme.com/img/8b/8ba9adc06eae1ed7a2bcf3102b2f67863f226060223eb8ce2aff9d5f92631dff.jpg
The raging boner xD
Gee, i wonder if they'll have three changelings now. They lost two ponies, but gained two prisoners.
Were the bandits cannibals or merely bandits?
7545590
The bandits were probably going to either sell or keep them as slaves. It's a lucrative trade when you don't have a central government breathing down your neck to stop.
is that similiar to the proto queen Din from sub, can she evolve to a proper queen?
Y'know, I really hope that there's some fallout from the events of the last chapter, because what Luna did might be cool by pony standards, but by human ones she literally jumped the bones of the first thing that took her fancy the moment he was gone.
7545860 Seriously, the only thing that bothered me.
Even if, and I stress IF, max is ok with a little polyamory. That's really something to discuss with your potential partner long before you do anything physical.
I'm pretty sure this will lead to a fight in this story considering all else that has happened, but it just seems odd for her to just immediately add a changeling to her 'flock/harem' without a second thought after that whole talk about gender roles. I guess it will drive home just how different cultures are in this case, but still...
7545335 Old time? Shit still happens with business today with the mafia and other gangs.
I think you meant botanist.
I'm also suprised no one asked what a radar is.
7545860 7546010
Unless this goes a very different route than Substitute Demon did, don't count an anything happening from it. The guy's partner in that did pretty much the exact same thing, his partner effectively ignored his complaints, and then the guy just sort of rolled over and took it. And in this case, since he literally can't leave her or piss her off too badly without killing himself, I don't see it going any differently.
And on a completely different topic, I'm surprised no one's brought up the fact that Luna literally drugged the other changeling and then coerced it into having sex with her while it was incapable of making rational decisions.
7546098
A Botanist studies plants specifically a plant scientist, a naturalist is more a nature historian. Someone who studies biospheres and the how and why things adapt certain qualities. It's not just limited to plants.
Also In the context of radar it could be inferred that's Radar is some sort of detector. Magical detection is probably not be outside the realm of common word use, they probably think Radar is some sort of detection spell.
7546200
I think inserting Human values here is a bit strange. When dealing with an emovore casual sex goes from an intimate affair of the heart to something like staring drinks with a friend. While Max might be put off with his human sentiments I'm sure he'd understand having potentially shared Crystal's fate.
7546222
I don't see why the fact that he lives off emotions would make a difference here, since lust isn't an essential emotion for them. It's love that's important, and that doesn't require sex at all. Sex may be a shortcut, but Max already said that lust doesn't do nearly as much for him as love does, so Luna just legitimately caring for the thing would have been just as--if not more--effective than sleeping with it.
But even if he comes to be ok with it in time, the fact that he's not ok with it now and the fact that Luna didn't even ask, despite knowing how he views relationships, is what's important. Trust and understanding are important things for a real relationship, regardless of how many people are involved, and Luna pretty much threw both of those out the window when she did that. He's already not sure that he actually loves her or anything, and she's not helping her case any here.
7546252
As humans we don't require Meat to survive, but we eat it to maintain our health. Also Sugar is unhealthy in large quantities, yet we eat cake. So even if he isn't as full off lust doesn't mean it isnt nessary. It was also determined that Lust was the quickist way to share emotion as love takes time to build. Also sex helped form a connection between Max and Luna so from Luna perspective sex may be the only way to feed her and keep her from running away.
Our values are driven heavily by what works for a good society and in a population of nearly 50% male to female that seems to be monogamy. So in a society where polygamy is the norm, isn't putting our values of fidelity here a bit presumptuous?
Not saying that Max doesn't have a right to be mad. But I'm saying that he should be more understanding since emotion is a food, and sex is an emotional activity.
Damnit Reykan... I keep getting eaten by your stories and then get upset when I reach the limit of what's written.
7546320
That's the thing, though. They aren't necessary. Doesn't mean that they're not delicious, so I'm certainly not saying that a changeling wouldn't enjoy experiencing their emotional equivalent, but they're not essential. In fact, comparing it to cake is a good analogy. A diet of nothing but cake will kill you. It's too poor in nutrition, just like lust seems to be. It's tasty, and fun to eat, but the bulk of your diet has to be real food (or for a changeling, love) in order to live a healthy life.
The fact that lust is a quick stop-gap for when love isn't available and Luna's lack of knowledge is one of the ways that this could be easily explained away. But given what we know of her thoughts at the time, it didn't seem like that was part of her thought processes. It didn't seem like she was really thinking about anything besides how much the changeling reminded her of herself.
And that's not even counting the fact that since it's Luna's emotions for the changeling that are important, not the other way around, sleeping with her right off the bat wouldn't do anything to increase the emotions she was receiving. In a case like this, Where Luna already knows that Crystal is a changeling but still cares for her anyway, using lust to build to love is unnecessary.
Or to go to the changeling side of things, even if sex is necessary for them to absorb emotions (which it doesn't seem to be), the fact that love is their goal means that changelings would be more likely to seek out long term, meaningful relationships rather than casual sex, whether they maintain those relationships on their own or use them as a determining factor when it comes to choosing who to replace. It makes sense for them to use a weaker substitute when nothing else is available, but they would still be actively looking for that deeper relationship since that's what would give them the most benefit.
I'm actually curious to see what the gender spread in Equestria is in this universe. Only pegasi and earth ponies typically practiced polyamory, so a third of their population was/is still mostly monogamous, and the fact that Luna mentioned having many mothers and fathers (plural) makes me doubt that the gender ratio is significantly unbalanced.
7546395
Obviously anything will kill you if you eat too much. But the point of sugar is a very important dietary need. Also love and lust arnt mutually exclusive, but they are connected.. Sometimes you need one to foster the other. It's like sugar in diary, sometime they just go together.
I disagree here, Luna had one over arching goal. Learn more about the one she loved. To do this she needed to form a bond with the changeling mare. From there she starts to lose perspective, but he never leaves her thoughts. But an obvious bond is being formed, and that was the whole point of the activity.
Again I disagree here, for Luna to form a bonday she had to convince herself that this mare was a herd mate. It was similar to her first time with Max. Love didn't form until after they were physically connected. Sex goes a long way to forming a deep connection with someone. Far more than sympathy or comrade.
The difference is that Changeling see ponies as food. It's likely that sex with food has cultural taboo within the Changeling society. Like the idea that a cow that is loved produces better milk, but if you were to treat your cow like a beloved family member your neighbors would shun you as a deviant.
7545199>>7545213
7545306 Bandits, battles and boners, oh my!
7545313
because I ate my veggies and went to bed on time? Seriously, this sounds like your asking why I received them when I gave them to you guys
7545365 I really don't remember coming across too many stories that run with them like this. Even the ones at the start of the kingdom that I've read have them being these all powerful, super-smart mares who can do no wrong or at least seem untouchable. I've had a lot of fun writing them as very touchable. In Celestia's case this last chapter, it came to the fore how she has no combat experience whatsoever. She fought against Discord, yes, but he doesn't really fight the same way most people do.
7545665 Not quite. I'm going with the changelings all starting from one hive in this case. Discord came along and shattered the changeling empire, causing the empress to basically go insane while trying to drive him off. He doesn't leave until he's good and ready, thus she ends up killing a good portion of her city and running through their entire food supplies. Thus the great changeling empire falls.
In the case of Crystal, it would be a queen-type changeling that was raised for the sole purpose of leading from the front, someone the Queen could send out to lead the drones from a large distance. The I could give more, but Crystal will be explaining a lot of this in the next chapter or so. However, I will say that retirement plans for field queens sucked.
7545860>>7545925 It's something I wanted to point out. Luna's not well. Not by a long shot. An unfortunate side effect of her loneliness being cured by a creature that invited her to bed is she's going to see it as a solution to other things. In this case it works, as Crystal was starving and it's a quick blast of emotion, but if she tries it in other situations she could get hurt.
7546299 See above. As for not having a name, they didn't. They just had the idea of shape shifters that could look like ponies. They were like fairies in folklore, no specific name at that point. Just shape shifter.
7546320 Very much this, most of it anyway. Luna is aware that sex was a fast way to build that connection, as it's the way she learned from Max. Therefore she's going to use that lesson when dealing with another changeling who, much like him, is in need of food now. It builds that connection and by mentally accepting the mare into her herd, Luna's boosting that connection even more. It's about what Luna feels, not what's moral or right. And right now she feels that sex is the answer to both her problem and Crystal's problem. They can find solace in each other; Luna until her stallion returns and Crystal until she's recovered enough to make an actual decision.
7546395
I have to argue this. By engaging with Crystal in this way, Luna physically and emotionally accepts the mare as family. She makes that leap and connects to the changeling, mentally assigning her a similar priority as Max. While the emotions certainly wont have the depth as her love for the stallion, she hopes that the fact they exist at all and in such quantities is proof of concept for the other changeling and enough to encourage her to stay. After all, Crystal spent a good portion of her time in Luna's room looking for an exit.
Except that as changelings, they cant access that deeper emotion because that puts them and their disguise at risk. To reveal yourself is a great danger. The only reason any of the changelings Max came across did so was because they can see him in his base form and the ponies seem okay with it. It's something that doesn't make sense to them on many levels, but also leaves the possibility of deeper connections in the future.
7546572
Nitpicking is pointless. I've been enjoying this, and now you're approaching the meat of this what-if fic...a very unique take on ancient equestrian history involving a pseudo-changeling who paves the way for a very unique and more inclusive, harmonious equestria.
Keep up the good work. I'll be interested to see how this resurgent changeling angle plays out, both on the homefront and for those on walkabout.
7546824 I don't mind nitpicking. Even if it's something I later dismiss, it forces me to refocus and double check my reasoning.
pegasi
pegasi
an
changeling's
alicorn's
7546572 Huh. Well, looking forward to seeing how things resolve.
... and now I can't help but think that Celestia is going to be simultaneously comforting of Luna and smug that all her... let's call it fraternizing? - has caused a problem.
Okay, suddenly there are changelings everywhere.
Why am I surprised? I don't know.
Hopefully his injuries will all heal properly.
7546572
That's annoying. I didn't get notified if your reply.
7546252
Disregarding that you are imposing human morals and ethics on a race of sapient equines and emotovores, you are also trying to apply modern social niceties to a midevil time.
Luna is actually acting perfectly in line with a ruler of a fudal society. See a desirable potential mate, take said mate. The target of the affection would rarely, if ever, have a choice, so consent is pretty irrevelent. I'm pretty sure you don't realize just how people treated sex back then.
Do you know the reason a bride wears a veil? It's because more often than not, the bride and groom had never seen each other. Their first glimpse of their partner's face is AFTER they are married. And they are expected to try to conceive on that very night.
As for Max's feelings, how about we wait and see what happens. Personally, I hope there are few issues, but given his dominant nature in the story so far, I don't think things will go smoothly for Luna.
7546588
I don't see how sleeping with her was at all necessary for that. As I recall, Luna made that jump before the sex ever happened. But even if it was necessary, there was still no reason for Luna to go there right then. Crystal had already consumed an absurd amount of love, there was no risk of her starving (or even being uncomfortable through the night and likely the next day) even if Luna's emotions weren't enough to keep her fed on their own, which we have no reason to believe they wouldn't be based on what we've seen with Max (referring to max's interactions with ponies besides Luna and his comments on how even simple positive emotions would be enough to keep him going as long as he didn't suffer any major trauma).
And by then, Max would likely be back and she could have actually talked to him about it instead of sleeping with a changeling she had just met simply because it reminded her of herself.
I also don't see how this puts them at risk. Or rather, at any greater risk than just going around sleeping with everything. We've seen them create totally unique disguises that aren't modeled after any other pony, so what's stopping them from simply acting that persona, acquiring an emotional attachment from another pony, and nurturing that attachment the same way a farmer would a garden? No part of that requires them to ever reveal that they're a changeling, or even have any real feelings towards the pony they're with, and it gives them a vastly greater return for their effort and time.
On a completely different note, wasn't Max noticeably larger than the average changeling? I seem to remember that being a thing, but none of the other changelings have commented on it or found it unusual in any way, so it might just be me remembering something wrong.
7546546
I feel like this all keeps coming back to the fact that, in your arguments, sex and love are inseparable, whereas in mine, they very much are. I see no reason why Luna can't care about this changeling on a deep, personal level without sleeping with her immediately, or even at all. I just don't see any reason why that's a mandatory part of her deciding that she cares about Crystal, especially after all of her revelations about how Crystal was so much like how she used to be.
Would it be romantic love? No. But that's not the only type of love you can feel for someone, so that's likely not a problem. But since sleeping with Crystal didn't suddenly make Luna fall for her, she's not getting that right now anyway, so why not take a bit more time to find out if she actually likes this changeling instead of rushing into this like she did with Max? There's a very good reason why relationships that are too rushed have a very high chance of failure, after all. At least with him she had the excuse of desperate, crippling loneliness.
I don't see any reason why she would need to force herself to try to love this changeling immediately, either. Though I can kind of give her a pass on that one since she doesn't know changelings can absorb emotions that aren't directed at them. We didn't find out about it until just this past chapter, ourselves, so she might be under the impression that if she doesn't feel romantically attached to Crystal then she'll starve.
7547735
So your complaint against my logic is that I shouldn't attribute human morals and ethics to non-humans, and then you turn around and support your own point with human morals and ethics. Well done.
But to get back on topic (and without the sarcasm this time), I think you overlooked a big factor in that post. I'm attributing modern human morals and ethics to this situation specifically because one of the two major players involved is (at least mentally) a modern human. One that has told his partner how he feels about exactly the things she chose to do in that chapter.
Do I expect them to immediately see eye to eye on everything and come to a perfect compromise as soon as these sorts of cultural differences come up? Of course not, that would be ridiculous. Even normal relationships don't run that smoothly, and this situation is far from normal for anyone involved.
But what I did expect was that Luna would take Max's feelings and opinions into consideration before doing something like this. And it's entirely possible that in her mind, she did. Did she do it in the right way for a healthy relationship? No, not really. Will that have consequences? I hope so, but I don't feel confident saying that it actually will (1), especially since Max can't do anything about it without risking starving to death. Though the fact that he's never actually claimed to love Luna may play a part in his reaction as well.
(1) - In Substitute Demon, when pretty much this exact same situation happens, the guy's partner effectively ignores his complaints, keeps doing whatever she wants, and the guy just sort of rolls over and accepts it.
7547914
Allow me to break this down a little for you.
These things do not exist in reality. To argue about what should or should not be moral for creatures is beyond pointless. The answer is whatever the author says it is. To argue details with another reader is one thing, but to argue with the author? You are by definition wrong. So kindly take your strawman elsewhere.
You claim that you are upset that Luna did not take Max's feelings into consideration. But most of your issues have nothing to do with Max or his feelings. For example:
So don't try to justify your arguments by saying that it's about how Luna treats Max. Just be honest.
As for how Luna treats Max, are you even reading this story? Luna regularly speaks of how she could/should/would imprision, cast out, or otherwise punish Max for his actions. And she believes it on many levels. This is NOT an equal relationship. The only reason Max has anything like equal footing with Luna is that he takes it.
And as you noted, dominant females who try to run roughshod over their mates, and males who indulge them seems to be a trait of Reykan's writing. You recognize this, so instead of ranting on topics that it seems only you care about, perhaps you should just enjoy the show.
7547909
I never said that you can't have Lust without Love, I am saying that lust can strengthen or lay the foundation for love. Love also works in reverse strengthening feelings of lust. What Luna is trying to do is make a connection in a short ammount of time. She did not have time to develop a meaningful connection a friendship. Crystal wanted to leave her instincts were telling her she was in danger. Luna felt that the only way to override that instinct was to feed her. After the jar of love was consumed all that Luna's options were limited. Since Luna was able to form a bond with Max with physical intimacy it would stand to reason that sex would also work on Crystal. And just as cake could be used to coax a starving child out of hiding, Luna used sex to feed a changeling.
7550367 Accepting it does not mean liking it. Also, you just met someone an hour ago and bam. Flock. Seems kind of irresponsible.
just read the last chapter. read from the begining. <3 thanks very much. can't wait for more.
choking on potato chips hurts...especially while laughing
Makes me wonder why the villagers gave these ponies to the bandits. I mean, aren't those villagers too? Did they sell out their own people? Or did they sell out travellers? I hope this will be answered.
You know, rereading this, I find this rather bizarre.
Swords have historically been rather rare weapons, barring periods of mass production-think the Roman gladius (before they changed doctrines and tactics), katana or similar japanese swords in WW2, etc.) They'd typically go to knights, leaders, the wealthy, etc.
These are freaking bandits primarily preying on villagers. Why would they have any amount of swords? Spears, by comparison, are enormously easier to make and consume fewer amounts of material, plus require less expertise. I've read this whole story, and I don't recall metal smithing being particularly advanced beyond what humans had in an approximately equal time, tech qise.
So...this seems very off for the setting.
8786124
Sure you know that, and i know that, but does he know that? unreliable narrators and all that jazz. For that matter, equestrian geology obviously functions on a wildly different scale, mineralogicaly speaking, so perhaps the requisite minerals are plentiful enough to spend on such things? For that matter, spears might not be so common, considering a stunning lack of opposable thumbs, equestrians might not get near as much utility out of spears as we bipeds do. Hence swords, long knives, and heavy rocks on sticks.
8861984
I love this sort of Fridge Brilliance!
le espera una sorpresa a la vuelta. no pudo hablar con el herrero