3: Tastes Like Chicken
Chrysalis stopped to catch her breath as she dropped Alex on the cobblestone of a back alley. Without her empathy, she'd be totally lost by now. The only really big structure that had ever been in her life was the crystal palace, and it was nothing like the monoliths of glass, brick, steel, and stone that lined the streets of this city. The inside of each one would have been a complete mystery to her if she was still a normal pony, and she wouldn't have any idea that she'd just stopped outside the purest (to her senses) brothel in town. Most of those places had a strong flavoring of misery and fear, with no love or other positive emotions in sight. This one, however was clean lust with a touch of love and playful laughter. While the former could become fine cuisine if properly aged, it was an acquired taste in addition to not making a changeling's best first meal.
Speaking of which... She glanced down at her companion, lying slumped against the wall. She needed to wake him up so she could teach him to feed. However, that required a kick start, a large dose of magic delivered all at once. She sighed wistfully as she leaned over him. He wasn't going to be happy when he woke up, so she had to savor it as best she could.
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The first thing Alex felt when he woke was a surge of heat. It raced along his nerves, waking up tired muscles and making his heart beat erratically against his rib cage. The feeling petered out at the tips of his toes, and slowly got stronger as it traveled up his chest, reaching its peak around... his mouth? Alex suddenly realized something warm and soft was pressed against his face, and he shoved it away as his eyes shot open and he shouted, "Chrysalis, what the hell?"
Chrysalis stumbled back a pace, her wistful expression quickly being replaced with a distinct, "Sorry, not sorry," air. "I had to give you a large dose of love magic to wake you up, Alex, and Changelings can only do that a few different ways. If you'd rather I had used one of your other holes..."
Alex growled as he stood up shakily, "What do you mean love magic?" he hissed, his lips parting to reveal his fangs. If this 'changeling' thought she could enthrall him again-
"I don't mean a love spell, if that's what you're asking," Chrysalis told him, causing his anger to hiccup. She began to pace across the alley cobblestones, and said, "But the answer is part of a much larger explanation, so you'll just have to be patient until I get to it. Also, you better sit down for now, that fight almost drained you dry."
Alex sat, although that was more because his legs gave out than because he wanted to. "I'm listening, but I'm not happy you did that," he told her, reminding himself that he'd made sure she wasn't out to get him, "Though it's not like I can go anywhere like this. Where are we anyway?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Chrysalis replied, poking her nose out of the alleyway to look around, "I think we're on the eastern side of town, but all these modern buildings are getting in the way. Anyway, that's not important. What is important is why we're here, and we're here to feed."
A shiver went down Alex's spine at the way Chrysalis said that word, "Feed?" he asked.
"It's a bit complicated, so bear with me here," Chrysalis stated as she walked over and sat down against the opposite wall, "First of all, how much do you know about magic?"
"Not much," Alex replied warily, "I know unicorns can cast spells, and I know love spells are the most horrible monstrosity ever invented, but that's about it."
"I see," for a moment Chrysalis was silent, then she said, "I'll just have to explain as best I can then. The short version is, well, magic is more than just spell casting. Much more. Magic is literally the breath of life, the energy that separates a living from a nonliving creature. Every plant and animal in the entire world generates magic, even if no more than a single drop. For sapient species, it also acts as the glue between the soul and the body. Without it, your soul drifts away, and you... cease. We changelings, however, can't generate our own magic. We have to gather it from our surroundings."
Alex's jaw dropped, "You're kidding," he stated, "You mean I'll die if I run out of magic? That's messed up."
"So would anypony else," Chrysalis said, cocking her head to one side, "The only difference is they make their own magic stores."
"Well," Alex retorted, "where I come from there's no magic at all, and it doesn't seem to be much of an obstacle to life over there."
Chrysalis gave him a odd look, "That's not possible," she told him, her voice wavering slightly, "Magic is life, and life is magic. You can't have one without the other. If you didn't have magic we wouldn't be having this conversation. Period."
"In this world, maybe," Alex grumbled, his arms crossed. After a few moments of silence while Chrysalis tried to process that statement, Alex spoke up again. "Well," he admitted, "I do have a little magic. I wouldn't even have known it was there if the doctors hadn't pointed it out, but it does give me a plus two on all dexterity checks."
Chrysalis stared at him blankly, "Right, you wouldn't know what that means. I forgot. Basically, I'm a little bit better at anything that requires a good sense of balance, quick reflexes, or fine motor control. It's nothing like the ponies have, not by a long shot. At least," he looked down at his hands, "That's what it used to be like."
Chrysalis decided that, as curious as figuring out where exactly Alex came from was, they were wasting valuable time, mentally shelved it, and said, "In any case, like I said we can't produce our own magic. We consume it, use the magic of others to fill that gap in our bodies.* Dragons do much the same thing when they consume gems, which are essentially magic in physical form. And no," she added, running over Alex's protest, "That doesn't make us soulless monsters preying on the general populace. Consuming magic, if done carefully, will not harm the target. That's more than most predators can say about their feeding habits. Changelings do still need to eat normal food, by the way. Just nowhere near as much as before. We generally only need one meal a day unless we're recovering from a serious injury."
Alex's frown relaxed a bit, and he nodded thoughtfully, prompting a smile from Chrysalis. Even after all these years, she still loved to teach, and relished the chance to dust off her old toolbox, so to speak. In fact, it was during one of her lectures that, that...
She shut down that line of thought before it could reach its painful conclusion and started talking again. "While we can eat raw magic, it's completely bland on top of being hazardous to gather, so we tend to avoid it if possible. Instead, our preferred food is emotional magic, or magic charged with emotions. Sapient creatures radiate magic whenever they experience strong feelings of love, hate, fear, joy, etc., and changelings can soak that magic up and use it for our own ends. The stronger the emotion, the more magic they put out. Every combination of emotions possible makes a slightly different flavor, but love is the sweetest. Anything combined with it tastes better than it would otherwise."
"Like snow cones?" Alex asked. When Chrysalis didn't reply, he continued, "They're a dessert from back home. You take a scoop of crushed ice and soak it in sweet syrup flavored with some kind of fruit. So the magic is the ice, and the emotion the syrup?"
Chrysalis smiled and nodded, "Yes, very much so," she told him. Alex's face flickered for a brief moment, a proud smile combined with a sense of elation at figuring out a problem before it was quickly buried under a mound of apathy and a neutral expression. Curious.
"That's what I meant when I said I gave you love magic," she continued, making Alex perk up and focus on her intently, "I didn't cast a spell to induce love, I transferred a packet of magic infused with love. Between your transformation, that accidental anger wave, and what I now realize was your natural magical talent boosting your abilities in combat, you basically had nothing left. There's a big difference."
"Ah," Alex said, his eyes lighting up in comprehension and giving Chrysalis a strong dose of satisfaction. His voice trailed off after a few seconds and he fell silent, clearly lost in thought. Chrysalis was about to tap her hoof a few times to get his attention when he said, "Thanks. For saving my life, I mean."
"You are quite welcome," Chrysalis said, and meant it. It had been a long time since she'd been on the receiving end of a genuine thank you, and it brought a warm feeling to her chest. "It's also why we're outside this building it particular," she added, pointing at the one Alex was sitting next to with a hoof, "This storefront contains the purest tasting pleasure house I have ever had the pleasure of dining at. Once I teach you how to open your magic to feed, this place will be your first meal."
"Pleasure house?" Alex asked, "You mean a prostitution business?" his face hardened when Chrysalis nodded, "I've never paid for a mare of the evening and I don't plan on starting now. Can we go somewhere else?"
Chrysalis burst out laughing, her voice echoing off the brick walls, "Y-you don't need to do it in person," she said once she had herself under control again, "I did say radiate energy. Being nearby is usually enough, although if you want to drain a lot of magic all at once direct contact is required. Just open your magic, reach out, and drink. Besides," She continued, more to herself than to him, "This is an unusually nice pleasure house. Normally these places have a nasty crust of sorrow and a pinch of fear covering the the lust. This one is not only clean, but it even has traces of joy and actual love in it. I'll have to mark this place for later, I don't want to forget it's here."
"Hmm," Alex said, slipping back inside his mind. Chrysalis rolled her eyes and started to reach over to tap him, but before she got close his eyes focused on hers and he said, "Is there a chain of barbers across the street?"
Chrysalis blinked, then looked and said, "Yes, but why-?"
Alex relaxed a bit, "We must be outside Barley Bee's Home For Wayward Mares. I've been here a few times, even if I never tried their full services, but everyone in the city knows this joint. The owner is obsessed with matchmaking, and cares more about his mares's happiness than he does maximizing his profits. In fact, I even asked him for help with getting..." he trailed off, and Chrysalis felt a spike of sorrow directed towards an unseen mare, "Nevermind. It's not important."
Chrysalis gave him a hard look, but let the subject drop, "If you say so," She purred, "Does that mean you're ready to feed?"
Alex's stomach growled. "...I guess so," he said, sounding cautious, but quickly rallied, "What exactly am I supposed to do?"
"Just open your magic, seek out the sweet tasting emotions inside, and pull them towards you," Chrysalis told him.
Alex stared at her blankly, "What was that first part again?" he asked, confusion clear in his voice.
"Open your magic?" Chrysalis repeated, growing slightly annoyed. Feeding wasn't that hard, it only took her a few tries to pick it up.
"Yes, that," Alex confirmed, "I have no idea how to do that."
At that precise moment Chrysalis realized her new 'king' knew less about performing magic than a unicorn foal. Her hoof met her forehead and she groaned internally. This was not something she had signed up for.
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"Let me guess," Captain Armor said heavily, "There's no trace of them."
"We're sweeping the city now, sir," said Sergeant Backplate, frowning deeply, "but no. If they're still near the hospital, we can't find them. I do have the statements from the guards they defeated, though, and I will be having harsh words with Private Scapegoat for attacking first."
The Sergeant shoved the paperwork onto Shining's commandeered desk, saluted sharply, and left. Shining sighed as he picked up the files and start to look them over. Guards that worked in the cities and guards from Canterlot or the army proper had a friendly rivalry at best and a not-so-friendly one the rest of the time. Only Shining's personal reputation was keeping the locals from using passive aggressive tactics on him, and it still wasn't quite enough to keep the resentment out of their body language. Still, Shining could deal with that as long as they kept it in check.
He carefully read through the reports, then skimmed them a second time to make he'd gotten everything and set them aside to think. Well, to start with, this confirmed Alexander's identity. One time a while back Alex had ended up helping to make an arrest, and the smuggler, when asked to describe him, had called him, "A monster with the force of a minotaur, the speed of a griffon, and the temperament of a sleep-deprived dragon." That matched with what the guards had described, and the paramedics, when shown a picture of Alex as he used to look, had confirmed that it was Mr. Fleming that went into that room. The main thing the guards added was that the same person had come back out again, or at least something that could use his body as well as he could.
This led Shining's thoughts to the transformation itself. He had no idea what had caused it, and everything he'd tried so far had come up negative. Sweeping Mr. Fleming's home had uncovered a variety of interesting, unusual, and sometimes disturbing artifacts, but not a single thing he owned had been magical except for a lone reinforcement rune carved into the back of his shield.
The doctors, meanwhile, were too busy trying to make sense of Mr. Fleming's results to be able to tell Shining what had happened, let alone identify the source. Apparently Mr. Fleming did not generate magic, which was so utterly impossible that the doctors had scrapped an entire regimen of tests, at least until the patient had vanished and that was all they had to work with. The only thing they agreed on at this point was that the transformation's source was external, not something Alexander had done to himself, either by accident or on purpose.
This, in turn, led Shining to the day's most unexpected development: the appearance of a pony that seemed to share Alex's condition, and their subsequent escape. Somehow, the pony had managed to enter the hospital without attracting any attention, gotten into Alex's room, and convinced him to come with her. The pair had also slipped past a platoon of guards on full alert and only been exposed after a stroke of bad luck on their part. If not for that, they would have vanished without a trace, and Shining had an inkling of an idea of how they'd done it.
According to the guards on duty at the time of the breako-incident, Alex was not a prisoner, so he wasn't breaking out, a lone nurse had walked up to them, said a few choice words, and they'd let her inside. The thing was, neither of the guards could remember what she'd told them, and the mare they'd described had turned up outside, unconscious after a blow to the head and completely ignorant of the whole affair. This was all pointing in one direction, but Shining needed more information before he could be certain.
With a sigh, he opened a draw with magic and lifted out a few pieces of paper and a quill. He thoroughly didn't want to do this, not after last time, but he had no choice. Not if he wanted to find Alex before it was too late, although too late for what he didn't know. With a strong sense of resignation, he dipped the quill in the inkwell and began to write.
Dear Twily,
If you've got a moment to spare for your BBBFF, I need you to look something up for me...
88888888
"Ok, Alex, keep the picture of the egg clear in your mind," Chrysalis intoned, working her (hopeful) future-king through a basic magic training exercise, "feel the chick inside, alive, shifting, ready to break free. All it needs is a little push."
Alex's eyes were closed, his face screwed up concentration. For a creature who had never consciously used magic in his entire life, he was picking it up surprisingly quickly, though she couldn't tell whether that was due to natural talent or because he didn't give up after a few seconds like the protagonists in plays sometimes did. She always hated those brats, couldn't they see that all they needed was a smidgen of patience? Their lack of self control always led to their downfall, regardless of their supposed 'hero' status. Idiots, the lot of them.
"Do you feel it?" she asked, and Alex nodded slowly, "Then push. Hard and fast, all at once. You're busting that eggshell open, not carefully tearing a piece of paper."
Alex tensed, and Chrysalis felt his mental barriers crumble as energy seeped out. His eyes snapped open and locked with hers, accompanied by a surge of wonder so strong she almost could have fed off of it. "Wow," he said finally, anything more complex seemingly beyond him, "This city stinks."
...Or not.
"That it does," Chrysalis replied with a grimace, "Emotions don't disperse right away after being released. They tend to hang around, with the more intense ones lasting longer. Every settlement gets a distinct flavor, depending on which emotions are felt most often. This one just happens to be terrible. If the city changed, though, eventually its taste would change as well."
"Cool," Alex said, in a tone that told Chrysalis he was only half-listening, "Can you show me how to eat now? Something smells really good."
Chrysalis pouted for an instant, then rallied, "Of course," she said, "Just look at me, and do what I do."
Alex looked, and Chrysalis drank, reaching out and pulling on the sweet, savory concoction hidden within the dull stone structure. After a few seconds of careful scrutiny, Alex sent out a single, wavering thread (Chrysalis released with a start that it came from his fingertips, not his horn) and began to feed as well. His eyes lit up as his entire demeanor changed.
"Filet mignon!" He squealed, clearly delighted, and began to drink more deeply, "I haven't had a good piece of beef since the Christmas before I got here!"
"Beef?" Chrysalis asked, "What's that?"
"Cow meat," Alex replied, a dopey smile on his face, "Don't worry, our cows aren't like yours, they're nothing more than animals. Since they're sapient here consuming beef is both illegal and immoral, but that hasn't stopped me from missing it. Besides, pigs and chickens are fair game, so it's not a total loss."
Chrysalis blinked in surprise, latching onto the only part of that statement which wasn't confusing and/or disturbing.
"You're a carnivore then," she said, fitting this piece of information into her mental picture of Alex. She'd never tasted anything quite like lust before her turning, although most of the other emotions she'd sampled were familiar, but it made a twisted sort of sense. And Alex being carnivorous fit so well she that see really should have seen it earlier.
"Omnivore, actually, but close enough," Alex replied, "Good lord, this is delicious."
He started swaying from side to side while bouncing in place, and Chrysalis had to fight the impulse to burst into giggles. Alex was doing a happy dance! It'd been ages since she'd run into somepony who did that. He was even humming this little tune as he ate, a meandering ditty that didn't seem to be any song in particular. Frankly, in Chrysalis's opinion, it was adorable, the thought sending tingles across her skin.
A little while later Alex drifted out of his carnal bliss enough to focus on her again, and abruptly stopped moving and humming. He flushed, just a hair, and continued to eat in total silence, a mask of professionalism Chrysalis only saw through because she knew it was there sliding over his face and mind. Chrysalis frowned slightly, but didn't press the issue. Fresh greater changelings were always defensive, it came with the territory, but she'd get him back to normal soon enough. That moment of true expression was just way too cute to let slide.
Chrysalis finished feeding long before Alex did, as her stores were already about half full. While she could supercharge herself with a constant food source, anything above a certain threshold tended to bleed away without her using it. All changelings had this kind of limit, which varied from pony to pony, though the greater changelings always had a much larger one than the normal or lesser ones did. However, as Alex continued to eat and eat, longer than Chrysalis had at her first feeding, longer than any greater changeling she'd ever known (not that that number was larger than ten), worry began to creep into her mind. Was this healthy? How much power could he store, anyway?
Finally, after such a long time the light had changed, shifting to a slightly darker palette as the night inched closer, his tendrils retreated and he leaned back against the wall with a contented sigh, "Much better," he hummed, "I must have been starving."
"You were," Chrysalis said cautiously, "but... you feel fine, right?"
"Should I not?" Alex asked, shooting her a raised eyebrow, " I stopped when I thought I had enough. I mean, I could probably keep going if I wanted too, but this seemed sufficient. By the way, why can I tell you're worried about me? It's surprisingly bitter."
Chrysalis jumped on the subject change, using it to squish her nervousness out of sight as she explained, "It's just your empathy. Some ponies have made the assumption that because changeling feed on emotions, which itself isn't accurate, we can't feel them ourselves. That is obviously a load of horse-apples. Changelings can feel, we just don't generate emotional magic the way everything else does."
"I see," Alex said evenly, although Chrysalis could tell he wasn't pleased with her explanation, "I guess I can kiss my privacy good bye then. While were on the subject, though, can you tell me why whenever you look at me you taste like chicken?"
Chrysalis blushed as Alex laughed bitterly, "I suppose I'd be flattered if I wasn't dead to romance at the moment," he said as he stood up, brushing the backs of his legs off and swinging his arms around to loosen them up, "Now come on. You still owe me quite a few answers, and I wouldn't call this place secure. Can you cast that concealment spell again please?"
Chrysalis nodded as she stood as well, quashing a touch of disappointment at his (at this point natural) rejection. Alex had just placed his hand on her shoulder as her horn lit up and made them both fade from sight when a question popped into her head.
"If I may ask," she began, "Where are we going?"
"The one place no one would ever think to look for us," Alex said with a grin, "My home."
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Twilight darted through the Canterlot library as quickly as she could without getting in trouble, her BBBFF's request dancing in the forefront of her mind. Nothing. She'd been looking for three straight hours and come up with nothing. She was Twilight Sparkle, personal student of the Solar Princess and the best up-and-coming scholar in all of Canterlot! Tracking down a few tomes about bug-ponies who might be able to shapeshift should be effortless for her! So. Why. Couldn't. She. FIND ANYTHING!?
Twilight paused at an intersection before turning towards her last hope of textual salvation: the history section. History in Equestria wasn't taught in primary school, and anypony who wanted to study it needed to pass a mental aptitude test (which only really filtered out the ponies who couldn't take the strain and ponies who shouldn't be given any ideas) first or have the Princess's express permission, like herself. The moment Twilight had cracked open her first text it been obvious why this was the case. Equestria's history was sickening to any modern pony, filled with sorrows, death, and destruction the likes of which just didn't exist in the modern world. In Twilight's opinion, the Princess was extremely wise in only allowing access to those ponies who were strong (or sane) enough to bear it.
Twilight thought she was strong enough, but that didn't stop her legs from trembling as she set off down the darkened bookshelves. This place always gave her the creeps. Normally she loved books, no matter what the subject matter, but these books held nothing but pain. She could feel their presence pressing down on her, telling her to leave and never come back, lest she be subjected to the horrors between their pages. This had never stopped her before though, and it didn't now. She pressed onward, and soon enough, she found it, the lone reference in the entire library. Normally she'd spend another hour or so compiling everything she'd gathered before sending Shining a stack of paper as thick as her hoof, but in this case all she had to do was copy the text for him. It wasn't even a full page of material, just a single paragraph in a book about the last days of the Crystal Empire.
Dear Shining,
I could only find one reference, I know, that's crazy, but I hope this helps.
...and so the Empire fell to shadow, consumed from within by the darkness in their leader's heart. Only the Royal Sisters prevented Equestria from falling as well, thanks to the swift wings of a crystalline pony. She brought the Sisters word of the Empire's fall, and begged them to help on her people's behalf. It was only after Sombra sealed the empire away that the truth was revealed. The pony was not a pony at all, but a bug in pony form. She wept for the loss of her home, inconsolable, before dying quietly in her bed. She is buried in the royal gardens, beneath a sculpture in her pony image named only "Sacrifice."
I'd love to bury you in paper again, but that's all I have. Sorry to disappoint. I have to ask though, how in Celestia's name did you manage to learn about something I had to spend an entire afternoon to find?
Love,
Twily
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Hmmm, so far a much better construction of the Changeling condition and species than cannon and comics give us. Can't wait to see the next bit!! Bet of luck and good work!!
more!
There is a surprising amount of world building here on the city and those in it. I wonder if any of that will be relevant later, or once they leave, it'll be forgotten.
In the mean time, this chapter wasn't short, but it felt short, for some reason. I definitely want more to consume in this setting.
Really enjoying the story. Well written and interesting take on changeling and even the method of learning about them as the main character does.
This is disgusting.
Go Chryssie go!
Nice world building, your explanation about how changelings feed makes a lot of sense, though I personally prefer the explanation that most creatures draw magic from the world around them, leylines, etc. Though that could very well be just this worded differently.
And thanks for the mental image of Tirek stealing the engine from someone's car.
Wisdom of the ancients, ladies and gentlemen. Wisdom indeed.
Keep the nastiness of history away from the public so they don't get offended and suffer disruptions in their happy little lives.
Is it any wonder that Equestria always manages to come off as an Orwellian/Huxleyan shithole?
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7274492 This isn't something I personally think is a good idea for a variety of reasons, but it does have some semblance of logic to it, says quite a bit about the mindset of modern ponies without writing pages of exposition, and fits well with how canon Equestria is portrayed, especially how nopony knows anything about the latest villain from the depths of history until Celestia tells them. It sounds plausible that the Equestrians might do this, even if humans hopefully never will.
7274753 I personally liked that you used that notion in your story, it reflects the moments of ignorance, stupidy and panics very clearly. I am by no means angry at your story, I am angry at the notion.
It is no wonder when 6 mares (who have no proper military or any kind of defence training with many degrees of quirks and mostly lacking proper reason when facing big threats) goes missing the world ends.
Hiding the hardships of history creates a generation of cripples without proper character. Hardships and pain is what defines us as a person. Without them we lack means to survive in real life.
Ponies facing threats is equivalent of leaving a domesticated wolf back to wildlife. It is certain to die.
Nice chapter. Really liking how Alex is developing as a multidimensional character. He's got flaws and his own values that define him.
Unlike so many of those two dimensional 'hero' type characters that flood the majority of stories.
Wow this has probably been said, but ponies are kinda foolish. Anyway though it dose make a lot of sense in context with how each villain from long ago is a surprise to most ponies or just a legend to teach a lesson.
Well good sir, I can officially say I am hooked on this story and eagerly await the next chapter.
Great chapter, things are moving along nicely.
Considering that chrysallis does bleed a small amount of emotions, I can just see all the changlings get adorably close to Alex as he has not learned yet how to limit the output on his. "The king is here! And he brought food!! (Multi changling pileup)
This is just something that I found amusing.
7274753
I think your analysis has to be wrong, here. No society would survive that kind of historical censorship. There'd be oral histories and traditions, of just passing along knowledge, and the Princess would get a bit of flack for this. Not only that, those oral histories would be extremely racist, among other broken views, and it seems to me a standardized historical education would be the solution. No society has ever survived having no history, nor evolved in depth.
I can see an argument for a limited view of history to be taught, but the narrative claims no history at all. I don't buy that. There were also all those monuments that exist (statues, stain glass windows, and so on) that heavily disprove that concept. I mean, Cheerilee took the foals on a trip to the Canterlot gardens and even explained a bit of history of Discord.
You said you didn't want to have any outright villains in your story, but you are portraying the Princesses in exactly this light if there is no history being taught. It's Orwellian levels of thought control, and it's disgusting by implication. I can't feel sympathy for a people without any semblance of historical curiosity and active censorship of thoughts as basic as "what is my people's history?"
7274753
I'd like to add a few more things to the pot of evidence. You are assuming because they don't know of events a thousand plus years ago, that it means no history is taught.
Nevermind that Ponyville doesn't exactly strike me as a beacon of education, and Twilight Sparkle's research interests are very specific; it may be that she just isn't majoring in history in her research.
Ignoring that, let's take a look at real world parallels. Keep in mind all these examples are over a thousand years in the past.
1) Nightmare Moon - I can actually believe this to be purposely lost with Celestia, so her sister wouldn't suffer much resistance when she returned. She let Nightmare Moon become a mythical figure and a subject of a holiday. Note that in that regard, it's eerily close to the true, so not knowing who Nightmare Moon was (and then having Nightmare Night be a thing everypony celebrates) is just an inconsistency, in my mind.
2) Discord - I'd argue that Discord IS taught, just no one really thinks its true. I mean, imagine learning about him in school as a historical event. Then you read such passages as "He made birds swim through the ground and ponies walk above water. Pies and Cakes would spontaneously appear when anypony was hungry, but if you ate them you would transform into the letter E. Everypony sang out of tune hymns in his honor, but only on second Tuesdays, and it was impossible to trot in any direction but sideways and jumping sent you up 3 stories at minimum." Your eyes would glaze over and you'd just go "ok." to this. Who would believe anything like that?
3) Changelings - They kept hidden as their modus operandi, and were a surprise for the Princesses.
4) The Crystal Empire and Sombra - Only the Princesses knew that there was something strange with Sombra, as they were the last to see him. Also, there was no evidence remaining. Also, it wasn't part of Equestria, but a separate city state, and I challenge you to name a city state that existed up to the 1500s that stopped existing afterwards off the top of your head.
5) Tirek - I challenge you to name 5 criminals who were arrested 30 years ago without looking it up. In fact, do you think you even learned the name even 10 important jailed figures throughout all of history that deserved it? It happened a lot, but its not surprising that unless you are learning of a specific event, it's just not considered worthy of coverage. Now consider that Tirek has been in Tartarus for over a thousand years.
6) Starlight Glimmer - Was a surprise
7) Horrors of the Everfree - You'd expect this stuff would be known to Ponyville inhabitants for obvious reasons, and most of them are. There was even a book on Poison Joke that Twilight ignored based on the title.
8) The Breezies - Were actually known to ponies.
9) The Yaks - Isolationist and didn't have much contact with Equestria.
10) The Buffalo - The area was being initially settled, so its possible this was actually new relationship information.
Those are all reasonable alternatives to the idea that history just isn't taught, and explanations for each example.
7285077 They do have history, it's just for mature ponies only. Any well balanced individual would have no problems, so the test was created mostly to keep ponies like Fluttershy and the Flower Trio out of the shelves. Foals, when they ask about history things, get answers along the lines of, "I'll tell you when you're older," like they do for sex, high level mathematics, and why that scary looking pony in chains is being put into a metal box. Eventually most of them stop asking, while those that don't take the test and learn for themselves once they've grown up a bit. Picture this: how willing would Rarity be to explain to Sweetie Belle the details of King Sombra's rule? She would balk, and that is why it exists.
The edict solely concerns official, written history, not things like family traditions. Remember, most ponies see the alicorns as close to godlike. If a greater being says you're not to know, one whose has led your entire people in a golden age of peace and prosperity for longer than living memory and is adored by all, you listen if you value your life and sanity. The general consensus among ponies who know history (a sizable chunk of the adult population) matches Twilight's point of view, though there are always dissenters. These dissenters, by the way, will soon find themselves with a bunch more ammo than usual as Cadance reveals her crimes and Nightmare Moon comes back.
Your deconstruction is very much a modern, American viewpoint, one I agree with in full. Ponies, however, probably would not share it, even if you explained it to them.
There's only so much you can do with a single paragraph of text. I will be coming back to this. I did go back and edit it so ponies can learn history in secondary school (high school) if they're so inclined, though.
World building tidbit: The Equestrian calendar is called A.D., After Discord, because if any history existed before him he went out of his way to erase it.
As a counterpoint, name one major event that happened less than a thousand years ago. This dearth of knowledge isn't restricted to ancient times.
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No, what is modern is the idea that before modern times, people didn't care about history. There is overwhelming evidence they did, but also overwhelming evidence that there was no such thing as widespread public education until the 1800s (when it became a national focus for imperial powers). There is reams of evidence of people referencing local history in various locations as existing prior. It wasn't actively censored anywhere and in fact there was a lot of it that is background noise (government declarations, titles, family history tries, etc, grudges, land ownership chains, etc). There was stuff that history forgot, but that's more things that just weren't considered worth recording, such as demographic information of ethnic groups changing in certain places and time periods. You can bet your butt that people in Prussia learned quite a bit of history of their nation and region, but these days that stuff isn't taught except in broad strokes unless you specialize in it, because it has little relevance to modern history.
It's a show meant for 6 year old girls. I wouldn't look too hard on the lack of historical accuracy here as a trend for the world unless you are actively trying to cultivate a pseudo Orwellian state, which I've no issue with, save I'm just arguing against the idea that it's a likely explanation. That has some really unfortunate implications when it's much easier to imagine that knowledge being off-screen, unless your point is to portray Equestria as being fit generally for 6 year old girls and no one older (despite a lot of these characters shown to be working, even in the show, and therefore having adult considerations that aren't spelled out but are certainly hinted at).
But again, I think we can just point to the characters not personally caring, which is why they are surprised. Rainbow Dash didn't even know the history of the Wonderbolts, canonically, and she was certainly expected to know.
Oh, I didn't realize this was pre-series and Twilight was still in Canterlot and not just visiting (plus, how old is Twilight? I mean, we can assume Equestria doesn't have the concept of a documentary, despite film projectors...). Goes to show how much I'm paying attention.
7285296 Twilight is about 17, and will soon leave for Ponyville. She has special permission for history from the Princess because she started studying it when she was eight due to high mental maturity instead of the usual twelve or so. Most ponies do know history, although those that continually flunk the test, which is designed to weed out the weak-stomached (Flower Trio) and mentally unstable (aspiring supervillians), only get vague generalities.
The society I'm building isn't pseudo-Orwellian, but rather pseudo post-scarcity. In a world where everything is awesome, the idea that world wasn't always this nice isn't shared until someone is ready for it. It's a rule implemented with the best of intentions and reasons that sound plausible, but it also comes with disturbing implications by the truckload. Besides, Equestria isn't advanced enough to really warrant such an attitude, which makes it more dangerous than it might be otherwise.
If it ever comes up in the story, such as Chrysalis wondering why she has to jump through hoops to look at the books about her own people, I'll have Alex explain it then.
Well, on the whole, I can really only say I really didn't like this one a lot, sorry. The story has been kind of bad about voice in general so far - I've been having trouble really identifying Chrysalis in anything she says or does - but that first and last section were just... really bad about it. The entire thing was honestly just clumsy as hell, exposition dumping for its own sake, not something that actually really belonged in the story at all. The nerd joke at the end really drives home that this isn't even really a conversation between the characters. It's something that's just completely there for our benefit.
I don't know if it's for the better or for the worse that I only really got to read it now. If I had gotten the chance to comment on it before you published it, I probably would have recommended that you slash at least half the chapter.
I also don't really like the whole "changeling feeding is completely harmless" angle in general, honestly. It upsets my sense of cost, for lack of a better word. If it doesn't harm the host at all, then everything is literally just tossing around free energy all the time for no obvious reason. That kind of thing doesn't happen in nature. Parasites always take something that you need. That's what makes them parasites. They are only usually not harmful because they are so much smaller than you.
7289640 Not always. It's closer to the relationship between plants and animals, truthfully. Plants make oxygen molecules and disperse them freely as a part of making sugar. They don't need them, they'd think of them as garbage if they could think at all, but they produce them all the same. However, if you went and stripped all the oxygen out of a plant it would fare pretty poorly. Animals on the other hand, rely on that oxygen to survive, using it to break down sugars into energy. Sapients radiate magic emotional 'waste' as a part of being alive in a process as natural as breathing, making changelings closer to bottom feeders than parasites. It makes these Changelings unique, but I can see how it might mess with your sense of stakes. Also, it ties into the backstory.
Voicing can be a problem for me. I'll watch A Canterlot Wedding and pay extra attention to making Chrysalis sound distinct for the next chapter.
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It kind of plays havoc with the whole predator theme they've got going, if nothing else. Changelings as grazers who subsist on emotional poop is... weird, but fine, it's consistent enough, if nothing else. Weird, but functional. It still kind of leaves the whole "free energy" problem, though. Chrysalis is able to extract an outright absurd amount of energy out of just Shining Armor alone in that one episode. Where does it all come from? What are they doing with it? Where does it all go? I can't imagine that feeling things requires enough magical power to blow up Celestia with. In stories that handwave it as "life energy" or something like that I can accept it, but if all of this is literally from even just the magical body heat living creatures radiate, I can't help but wonder what they're doing with all the presumably much bigger rest of it and why they aren't a whole lot more powerful than they are.
Plus, there's the moral angle. The point of using vampires as protagonists in a story is the internal conflict. "I am hurting and killing other people just to preserve my own sorry ass. Am I really even worth that?" and such. This here is taking away from quite a lot of that.
It would be appreciated. Right now, I have difficulty even telling her and the main character apart from each other, which is obviously not a good thing.
Religion still considers something adequate? Really rotten country
Religion still considers something adequate? Really rotten country
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