AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 293
ARES III SOL 289
[08:02] JPL: Good morning, everybody. Since all of you except Mark are waiting for your spacesuits to finish curing after the maintenance yesterday (I know this because I do actually read all your reports), I hope you all enjoy one more sol off before you get back to work on the rover modifications.
However, I ask that you spend at least some of your time today brainstorming to see what parts of the modifications you might want advice on. You need to get those questions in quickly, because we’re about to lose contact.
We currently estimate an effective communications blackout beginning less than thirty sols from today as (from your point of view) Earth passes behind the sun. That blackout will last at least two weeks and probably closer to three. Please leave Pathfinder powered up during that period so we can ping the probe for a link once the solar conjunction is over. If we can’t connect in four weeks, we’ll begin contacting you by the Friendship radio system at 0900 Hab time every day until we get a response.
The sun, and the distance between Mars and Earth, is already making this connection ratty and unreliable. Data packet transfer failure is over 10% due to noise in transmission and rising, which considering how low the transfer rate is in the first place is getting critical. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
With that in mind, tomorrow is the last day for emails in either direction before we restrict Pathfinder to chat and science data transfer only. We’ll restore email service after two weeks of continuous Pathfinder link up-time.
Dragonfly in particular has one email we’d really like her to answer. It contains the most asked questions by the reporters gathered at the press conference we held yesterday about her awakening. It would help us very much to give the reporters, and the world, the answers to those questions. (We’ve excised the more thoughtless ones.)
Finally, we’re still working on MAV modification procedures. If it seems like we’re dragging our feet, remember you don’t really need them until Sol 440 at earliest, because the MAV won’t be normally fueled for orbital liftoff before then. We are being as thorough as we can with our testing and simulations here to give you the best odds for a safe and uneventful docking with Hermes. Just wanted you to know we’re doing our best.
[08:35] WATNEY: Front desk, I wish to make a complaint. There is a bedbug in my room. She’s a bit more than a meter long head to tail, weighs thirty-five kilos, insists she has a reservation, and she keeps trying to stick a straw in my ear. I insist you remove her. At the very least take away her straw.
[09:07] JPL: We’re sending someone up now to take care of it. They should arrive in about two hundred and sixty sols. In the meantime, remind Mr. Fireball that you booked a non-smoking room. Enjoy another sunny spring day in Club Mars, where your forecast high temperature today is a balmy -4 Centigrade. We invite you to enjoy our planetwide Zen sand garden as a means of relaxing away your straw-in-ear anxiety.
[09:40] WATNEY: Clever. Clever Venkat.
[10:22] JPL: You don’t get to put Director in front of your name if you aren’t clever, Mark.
From: Dragonfly (email redacted)
To: (list)
Subject: Re: Questions About Your Hibernation
Hello, everyone! I’ll try to answer all of these questions in my statement.
Yes, I am glad to be back. However, I’m also anxious. I went into the cocoon because I didn’t think I could control myself anymore, and I gave up trying. There’s still some danger it could happen again, but I have been reminded that I have a crew- that I have friends- who will watch out for me and help make sure it doesn’t happen again.
As for how I feel about the whole thing, I’m mostly ashamed. And not just because of running away from what I did to Mark. Losing control like that is one of the most shameful things a changeling can do. It endangers ourselves and the rest of the hive. Strict control and concentration is drummed into those of us who are trained for infiltration duty from the first day. Even if we don’t have to do those things anymore, that was how I was raised, and I still feel the shame.
I’ve read the story you mention, and yes, “changeling” is definitely the English word for my species. Replacing children was one of our tactics, although we would replace anyone who we thought would be the recipient of a lot of unconditional love. You may think it’s not a nice thing, and I agree, but starving to death or reverting to mindless monsters is much less nice. But thanks to the wisdom of our current queen, Chrysalis, we don’t have to do those things anymore.
Should humans fear changelings? I wish you wouldn’t. That was why I didn’t tell you all about us before. I wanted to wait until my queen or the pony princesses could handle it themselves. I’m no queen or princess. I’m just a high-ranking drone whose duties, as I’ve been told many times, should never include diplomacy. Unfortunately, what happened, happened, and now I have to clean up after myself.
Yes, we could replace your leaders. We could infiltrate your military and sabotage your defenses. If there’s sufficient magic on Earth for us to survive, it probably wouldn’t be all that difficult. But we would need a reason to do that, and “Because we can” isn’t enough.
This is not our home universe. We would never be more than visitors, and probably not for long. And it is not in the least bit easy to get from one universe to another in the first place. Invading your world doesn’t make sense, especially since (if we wanted to do that sort of thing) we have a world which includes a species so foolish and naive that one of them spent the night next to a starved changeling she had reason to believe would awaken while she slept. Ponies, to be blunt, are an easier target than humans.
(At least, I think so. I’m going by your old television shows for this. I hope Mark isn’t an average human, because he’s a little easier target than a pony. He thinks he’s on guard because he’s seen some movies, but it doesn’t work that way).
Also, there’s a matter of numbers. My hive has about thirty thousand drones. There are millions of ponies. There are billions, B, of you humans. I would ask my mother to write me a note excusing me from invading your world, except my mother is Queen Chrysalis, so I would have to ask Epstein’s mother instead.
In any case, although I wouldn’t mind seeing your world, I very much want to go home- straight home. I’m better than I was, but I am not well and don’t expect to get well so long as I’m on Mars. I don’t belong here. And as much as I like Mark, if I woke up tomorrow and one of the airlocks opened up onto my home world instead of Mars, I’d be, “Later, stink-monkey!” and gone so fast you’d think I was Rainbow Run.
Speaking of Mark, none of you asked this, but I want to say it: Mars is a terrible, awful place. Yes, it’s another world, but after a hundred sols of everything about this other world trying to kill you, the thrill wears off. You know it is dangerous. Your NASA knows it is dangerous. And despite that you find people that volunteer- that compete with one another- that give up everything else in their lives for a chance to come here for thirty days. These people, people like Mark, are the bravest people I’ve ever met or seen, ever, and I’ve been in combat. I don’t care how much you appreciate them, it isn’t enough.
Maybe that’s a difference between your world and ours. You take your time, do everything safely, and you send the absolute best among you to the stars. We send our crazy people (like me) and hold them back just long enough that they might, I said might, not get themselves killed right away. We get away with it because we have a kinder world, with magic and rainbows and happy endings even for those who don’t deserve them. You have to work for your happy endings, and I think you do a better job than we would.
Sorry. I talk too much- it’s a changeling flaw, and it’s got infiltrators caught many times before.
To answer the rest of your questions: every time we visit the cave we’re making a magic environment for a few minutes a day to help keep us healthy. (I’m not the only one who suffers without magic, just the worst affected.) The others are still feeding me, three hugs a day, nice square meals. This should be enough for me to build up a reserve that will last me when we leave the cave behind, plus the little magic we generate ourselves can be used to recharge the batteries for more doses of concentrated magic during the trip.
And to whoever asked about all the homemade bug-pony dolls kids have made, I say: kids, take care of your changelings. Yes, we’re scary. But most of the time- not always, but most of the time- the scarier a thing looks, the more scared it is inside.
And no, sorry, but your dolls won’t share the love they collect from you with me, not if they’re doing their duty to the hive. But I appreciate the wish.
Thanks to everyone who was worried about me, and I’m sorry for disappointing you. I’ll do better next time.
Dragonfly
My feels...
seeing that reminds me of a quote "When someone says 'what could possible go wrong?' the universe stops, looks at you and says 'Challenge Accepted"
8989884
Murphy Law, the most hated Lawyer in Ponyville, Equestria,and the whole planet Equis XD
The kids with changeling dolls made me tear up a bit.
I see several prominent writers in the comments quite frequently. If you'd like some filler (people on earth doing stuff, ponies/changelings on Equestria doing stuff—not related directly to the plot, of course) I think there would be a few who would bang you out a chapter each.
8989884
Somewhere, Shao Kahn looks up from his throne of skulls and announces:
ROUND ONE...
How I imagine ponies reacting to being sprayed with a plant mister.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/7/24/1207793__safe_artist-colon-witchtaunter_lyra+heartstrings_animated_bad+pony_behaving+like+a+cat_-colon-c_ear+fluff_female_flinch_floppy+ears_frown_glar.gif
Is there a chance, any chance whatsoever, that Chrysalis will ever actually face consequences for the things she's done? Because no matter how much pain she causes, and no matter how self-serving and sadistic she is, she just gets more praise from all sides. It speaks to very strong conditioning and very poor education that the changelings still think she's worth following, but everyone from the ponies to the humans is also either putty in her hands or actively admiring of her.
I mean, it was kind of funnny how Sue-ish she was in CSP, but this is a more "serious" story, and I cringe every time someone talks about how much they love the psychopathic monster.
8989913
Wow...
Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking...
That was a really nice letter, good job Dragonfly. Honest about the scary parts, self deprecating and contrite while also giving pragmatic reasons so you get the emotion and logic sides at once. Still glad she's back.
Now, what is going to explode next?
8989917 That's a truly tangled can of worms which I will, in general, leave to you readers to sort out. In this case I will simply point out that this is one of Chrysalis's most loyal subjects talking about her here. Dragonfly is not the bug you should expect to hear criticizing her queen.
There it is; that's a glimpse at the true drone under all that "taunting the pale horse" nonsense. Underneath all that bravado is an experienced being with a real sense of wisdom, which is something that even Chrysalis has had to grudgingly admit at some point - hence the comments about royal jelly in CSP.
Welcome back, Dragonfly. It's good to see you returning to duty...
This is the greatest description of Mars I have ever seen.
I had thought about suggesting that you could potentially include the mars 2020 rover in the story. It would have been interesting to see how the improved equipment could have changed the communication situation, but NASA has narrowed down the landing sights to 3 potential targets, and they would all make 2020 as useful to Watney and the gang as the Curiosity probe.
Oh well.
I'm glad Dragonfly is back.
8989905 I have no objection to people playing in the sandbox on their own- after all this is fanfiction. A fanfic writer who objects to people writing fanfics of their fanfic is a flaming hypocrite. But for me one of the main goals of this exercise is a personal challenge; daily updates, no matter what, from my own creativity. I've fudged it a couple of times, but it's not broken down quite yet, and I hope to keep it going until the final fates of the Maretians is revealed.
8989934
Like I said in my post, I never expected Dragonfly to criticize Chrysalis. She, likes most changelings, is under-educated and borderline sociopathic. The "problem" is that the people who would criticize her either seem completely taken with her, or are bending over backwards to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Having watcyed the weather, I'd advise against this.
8989994
You'd expect at least Cadence and Shining calling for her immediate disposal.
Especially Cadence. Crystalis f**ked up her wedding. She f**ked up Canterlot. And she f**ked her husband. -------DWK
Maybe I missed it, but did they in the first story?
8990022
They were basically just a footnote in CSP. I don't think they actually made an appearance.
Not that it'd matter. Everything bad that the changelings do is played up for laughs in CSP, including the invasion, which is basically brushed off by Celestia as soon as the story starts.
Your name has been bothering me for MONTHS and now I know why!
8990022 In CSP Cadence has as little to do with Chrysalis as possible, to the point of actually being the pilot of (while it lasts) the Crystal Empire's space program. At one point she actually splashes down fairly close to the changeling space center, but she firmly refuses an offer of recovery from the changeling recovery team.
As for deposing Chrysalis, the problem there is that Chryssy has too many loyal changelings. The only way to depose Chrysalis is by outright war, which Celestia wants to avoid. So, if there isn't a war, it means that sooner or later you have to find a way to live with the consequences of not having a war, i. e. coexistence with a selfish, sneaky, psychotic monster with tens of thousands of loyal (if somewhat dim) followers.
And as you might notice from their few joint appearances in this story, Twilight Sparkle in particular finds coexistence with Chrysalis hard going... and Chrysalis takes pleasure in making that road just a little bit rougher for her own amusement, ex. "I declare this road/bridge/supermarket open."
8990022
Hm she is also a foreign head of state with things you REALLY REALLY want... You get some leeway when the things you did were for Reason of State. Then you have the INCREDIBLY forgiving ways of the Ponies. All given, well, it's not so out there.
8990046
They may try to get along, but doing so with Crystalis' changelings would be like trying to do so with the Goa'uld from Stargate. Eventually it's going to come back to F**k you over. It's not a matter of if, but when. I'm sure Celestia is smart enough to know this and is making contingency plans for when it happens. (At least I hope she's smart enough.)
She wasn't dumb enough to leave a free Discord running around without the Mane 6 having the Elements with them.
8990066
Not that it matters. The ponies in CSP (especially the Alicorns) are portrayed as...somewhat less capable than the Changelings, and given how..."dim" they are, that's saying something.
8989917
8989934
tl;dr: Politically Kris, this may surprise you, but you have made a situation where the Changelings are rather untouchable. No matter how the Equestrian's try to pressure the Changeling state its either ineffective or the end result will be negative for Equestria.
So when dealing with a rogue state, or an enemy state, a nation has 3 possible tactics, and 2 possible goals.
The tactics are:
War
Economic Sanctions.
Political Sanctions.
And the goals are:
Return of prisoners/territory
Abdication/Desolving the current political establishment
Reparations, usually financial.
War is always bad. Essentially almost always, and while its all well and good to say, "Well Equestria outnumbers the Changelings" and "In The Maretain and CSP universe they aren't hiding anymore" If war came, it would not in ANY way be one sided for Equestria. Guerrilla warfare is incredibly effective, and the average drone, though rather dense, is a better solider then the average Pony AND can change their appearance to look like anything. And we can VERY SAFELY assume that in the CSP universe, Changeling tech is good enough to create Suicide bombers if pressed hard enough. Worse, they can capture and MIND CONTROL pony civilians to turn them into suicide bombers.
Meanwhile Equestria's tech is far less at detecting such threats. To be blunt, a War between Equestria and the Changeling Kingdom would go very similar to Iraq or Vietnam but much worse....early victories that push the Changelings underground, then a PAINFULLY slow Guerrilla war, where the Changelings rapidly splinter, the Queen relaying orders through her smartest drones to infiltrate every major Equestrian, city establish cells and cause terror.
And given the panic pony's show at a bunny stampede, it wouldn't be hard.
So war, while possible, is an INCREDIBLY unpleasant option. If you want to know just how bad this could get for Equestria, look up the Skanderbeg's rebellion, where one man led a 25 year rebellion by himself against the Ottomans AND held Venice at bay at the same time back in the 1400s. Even when they lost to the Ottomans (not uncommon due to 10 to 1 numbers) the Ottomans almost always took 10x the Albanians number in casualties.
Sanctions are the next thing you would traditionally try....except the Changeling race has only one use for money...its space program. So the only thing you can Sanction is the ONE THING that is giving the Changelings a peaceful way to exist with ponykind. To say thats unwise is a massive understatement.
So when war is not an option, and Economic Sanctions will make things worse, the only thing left is political sanctions....except they only have one leader, Queen Chrysalis. And she can change her appearance at will. So saying, "She cannot enter Equestria until reparations have been made" literally is laughable.
Ok, what about the potential goals:
The return of Prisoners or territory is only on the list for completeness. The Changelings currently have stolen neither from Equestria.
Abdication/Desolving the current political establishment: Yeah...thats totally not going to happen. Unlike what we see in Cannon, the Changelings in CSP LOVE Queen Chrysalis, and while they didn't like the battle of Canterlot, overall they trust her judgment. They also recognize that FEW Changelings in the hive have the brain capacity to take over from her.
Long story short, this isn't going to happen.
Ok, what about Reparations. Well political reparations (admitting fault) has already been done. Its somewhat awkward, as they were doing it to feed their kind, but Queen Chrysalis has never been shy about the fact that it was their fault and their plan that the Invasion of Canterlot happened. As such, its a question of financial Reparations.
Except the Changelings whole economy is built around funding the Space Program....they didn't have one BEFORE the space program and they have spent all their pre-space funds already on space. So again, you ask for financial reparations, you are asking them to slow down or even stop the space program, that, as we established with sanctions, is the very THING that has made them peaceful with Equestria.
With all this in mind, Celestia and Luna have likely done two things. First they will have written a very strongly worded letter (UN style) to Queen Chrysalis, requesting an apology from her, the release of all prisoners, and some form of Reparations. They will do so knowing that Queen Chrysalis will ignore it, but it will mean the media will shut up about it, and then everyone will move on.
Secondly, they will have subtly encouraged the Changeling space program once it becomes clear that its a path to peace between the two states. Nothing outright, as that would be politically unwise, but certain groups that work with the CSP may have received some sort of financial incentive from the Equestrian Bureaucracy, to grease some wheels. Nothing that if the paper trail is followed that can lead back to Celestia or Luna, that would be to big of a scandal risk.
8990046
I think you kind of illustrate my problem here. The changelings are basically North Korea, with the same history of brutality, corruption, unprovoked aggression and xenophobia. The parallels run even deeper, when you consider the mutual interest in kidnapping, murder (for the
statehive, so it's okay), and propaganda.The problem is...that isn't funny. So when the story stops making jokes and wants me to take it seriously, I have to remember that this shouldn't be funny, and that these are all horrible people. Chrysalis is a sadistic psychopath, Cherry is a self-centered collaborator, and the regular changelings are brainwashed fanatics with neither morals nor ethics.
8990095
I would point out that much of that is contradicted in CSP. Not that it really matters, since the gist is the same. Chrysalis has massive plot armor (and the services of a bonafide Mary-Sue in the form of Cherry Berry), so she can't lose, and the Equestrians have caught the idiot-ball and refuse to let go, so they can't "win."
It's like 8990066 said. It's not a matter of if, but when Chrysalis betrays everyone.
8990095
You've clearly put a lot of thought into this. I have but one quibble, and it might not even be that big.
In episodes I think Kris is taking as canon, Twilight (A Canterlot Wedding 2) and Zecora (The Cutie Re-Mark 2) have both demonstrated methods of identifying changelings. It's not a perfect advantage--Zecora's camp did get infiltrated--but it appeared that Twilight formulated her de-cloaking spell without prior knowledge of the existence of changelings. I can not only conclude the spell is simple, but extrapolate that it can be cast automatically via the available battery and computer magitech.
Still, that's only if the ponies do a war. If the changelings start one and don't tell anypony, or if--as is the case now--neither side sees a benefit to starting/winning a war, this is just idle speculation.
8989934
Plus CSP is far from finished. Presumably whatever consequences Chrysalis had to face, she's already faced by the time The Maretian rolls around. (Speaking of, I hope to see more of that once this is done - though not right away, of course! You'll have to build up a chapter and edit and all that stuff you're not doing in order to get these out daily.)
8990145
Hmm, when were changelings doing something from this list?
8990151
It's like they say. If you fall off a cliff, you might as well try to fly.
8990198
Well, they do do all four of those in the show...
Club Mars.
Ha.
8990146
The ponies do have their magic canceling gates from the Equestria Games, so that would help. But it wouldn't prevent a Changeling from turning into a rock and being thrown through the window! And even if your bases and buildings are safe, you cant really run a war without moving some troops. Even of you cast it on every pony and animal you cross, you cant account for every inanimate object you might find. Of course, of EVERY unicorn could cast a Shining Armor spell you could probably take care of it pretty quick.
8989917
8989934
8990095
8990145
More than just plot armor, the changelings are the protagonists in CSP. And Comedic Sociopathy is in play. Chrysalis suffering for her crimes both "wouldn't be funny" and it would be a downer ending, because she's the the primary character...at least in CSP. Can you imagine if a Link game ended with Link being arrested and thrown in jail for all those pots he destroyed? Or if Die hard ended with Bruce Willis' character being put on trial for massive destruction of private property? Would this in any way be a satisfying turn of events for anyone?
There is one story that ended that way. Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail. After an entire movie of following its characters, watching them assemble an army to storm a keep and recover the Holy Grail, police show up and arrest them, roll credits. It's one of the biggest, most unliked cop-outs in cinema history.
I don't think any of us want CSP to end that way.
What about the Maretian? Since her villainy isn't on display here, having her punished couldn't really be anything more than an out-of-context footnote.
Also, the whole premise of CSP is that Chrysalis wanted to capture the power of Luna's moon in order to use it against ponies. And from the point of view of a reader...I think probably most of us assumed that over the course of the story she'd end up not doing that, and slowly coming to terms with the fact that the conflict between changelings and ponies basically ended at some point, even though she'd never exactly intended for it to happen. They can walk around openly, they're generally accepted, they can collect love without subterfuge...there's very little reason for her to seek conflict with ponies, and a fair amoutn of incentive to avoid it. The changlings lose so much of what they've gained if they resume hostilities.
It's both easier and in their better interest to, as Chrysalis phrased it at one point, "be symbiotic about it." And the same for ponies. Nobody benefits from conflict anymore. So why do it?
So with that in mind
1) Would it be wise/ for Equestria to seek retribution on the changeling hive mother? What would the consequences be? Would the changelings all starve to death? Would they go to war? Would all the friendships and progress made with the space programs suddenly come to an end? Rather than retribution, wouldn't it be better for Equestria to simply pardon her?
2) Given that Chrysalis' plan was to capture the power of the moon to use against ponies...and given that Maretian starts with trips from Equus to its moon down to two hours and now even the Equestrian Space Program has caught up to CSP and is now trying to visit other planets...can't we fairly well assume that whatever it was Chrysalis was planning to do with the moon...she already had her chance?
Maretian happens after the original, central point of conflict from CSP has already been resolved. And neither war nor retribution have happened. Chrysalis is very much still around.
Presumably, that means that Chrysalis avoided "serious consequences" for her actions.
Maybe there's some play room there. Maybe she was pardoned. Maybe she's still officially a wanted criminal, but Equestria refuses to act on it. Maybe she's under house arrest and wearing an ankle bracelet that she can take off at any time and only wears during interviews with Equestrian reporters. Maybe she landed on the moon herself and while madly cackling about phenomenal cosmic power, Luna tapped her on the shoulder and asked what the big deal was, it's just a big rock. Maybe Chrysalis has a great big red "betray everybody" button next to her bed that she stares at every night while she hugs herself to sleep, constantly reassuring herself that she will push it...eventually, because she hasn't gone soft, no really...just not yet.
Who knows? But pretty clearly neither execution or imprisonment happened.
Whatever happened, Miss karma Houdini Chrysalis, got away with it.
8990198
Granted, the "brutality" is mostly implied in early CSP, and by the fact that Chrysalis is a sadistic psychopath. For the rest...
8990259
I would say stuff at the Canterlot Wedding count as brutality.
8990252
The Maretian at least purports to take itself seriously enough to ask that we be invested in the mechanics and world-building. The author spends a goodly amount of time in the comments and author's notes expanding on those aspects, so they were clearly given a lot of thought. But every time the story takes things back to Equestria, or references the satirical world-building of CSP, and insists it takes place in this universe, I can't reconcile the two.
The Maretian, when it's not focusing on Equestria, is about characters with realistic, believable characterizations, i.e. they feel like people (or ponies, whatever).
When it's focusing on Equestria, it's about cartoon characters. They have cartoon motivations, and they make cartoon-character mistakes.
Except it hasn't been resolved. The "conflict" of CSP revolved around Chrysalis's character, which has not changed.
The problem, as I keep coming back to, is that Chrysalis in CSP isn't "misunderstood" or "cynical" or "desperate" or anything that could be fixed by a thorough application of time and friendship. She is sadistic, narcissistic, psychopathic, power-hungry, and a whole lot of other things that basically add up to "irredeemably evil." It's made pretty clear, even in this story, that she's not going to "learn her lesson" (because she hasn't had to), she's just going to wait until they lower their guard before she kills them all and enslaves Equestria. The well-being of the changelings is irrelevant because she only views them as an asset to increase her own power.
Looking at Chrysalis in the CSP universe as a whole, she kinda' has faced the consequences for her actions in a roundabout way.
She may not be deposed, imprisoned, or executed for her actions, but she's suffered.
Remember, Chrysalis is not just a bit of a sociopath with sadistic tendencies. She's got a COLOSSAL superiority complex that refuses to be humbled, with a possessive streak wider than the Mississippi river.
On the road to becoming an astro-ling, she's done a number of things that both bolster her complex, and put her life in perspective. She had to ride the centrifuge until she passed out in front of some of her subjects. She's been strapped into a rocket that was put together by her 'best and brightest'... A fact she was secretly terrified about (but refused to show it). And of course, the biggest blow that infuriated her the most, despite ALL the life-threatening dangers... Chrysalis was humiliated on (brand new) public television by a combination of subordinates making calls above their station, another bout of her 'Best and Brightest', and a refusal to scrub when it was obvious things were going to be bad.
Chrysalis is a case of the One Sane Mare (and that's questionable for someone willing to strap themselves into a prototype rocket) who's stuck simultaneously trying to corral an army of children while herding cats. It is shown that in general, changelings are kind of stupid, and they're kind of stupid in spite of getting advanced training. Occupant, despite ending up as the head paper pusher and getting really good at sorting them out, is still dense as a brick.
Chrysalis leads this pack of idiocy... somehow. And it drives her NUTS. And what makes this even more punishing, is that it's shown that while she has near absolute say in everything her changelings do, she internally admits that she still has to bend to the whims of the hive as a whole if her changelings REALLY want something.
But when she started the Space Program, after two weeks preparing to swallow SOME pride and putting CB in charge, she discovered that she would have to sacrifice more than a little pride to go after her goal.
She'd actually have to make nice with everyone else at large. Literally, make nice with beings she sees herself as superior to.
So really, despite how Wicked she is, Chrysalis has willingly signed up for her own punishment and has been having it spoon-fed to her by the snow-shovel-full.
She not only has to put up with her changelings and their whims.
She not only has to put herself in harms way on a regular basis.
She not only has to keep a firm grasp on an extremely technical enterprise.
She not only has to make nice with the inferiors.
She has to do it all at once.
She doesn't need to be deposed. She doesn't need imprisonment. She doesn't need traditional justice. She's living through self-imposed poetic justice.
And to make things better, her actions have a net positive benefit on society. And here in the real world, our prison systems would kill to be able to turn the foulest of the foul in the most productive members of society.
Chrysalis may be a foul tempered, arrogant, sociopathic, greedy little bug with a superiority complex, but she's done a wonderful job of turning her own evil ambition into a gilded cage. We won't see her personality magically do a 180. She'll always be 'just that way', but through her anti-hero's journey, she has been punished for her past crimes, and has put herself in a place where, despite her nastiness, is in balance with the heroes.
In my opinion, that's a better brand of applied fictional justice than any kind of imprisonment or 'reform'.
And one thing to remember about her plans in CSP and her wickedness.
She never told her subjects her plan about getting power.
We only know that through the narrative itself. As far as her subjects are concerned, she just suddenly decided to prove to the world changelings were great and would build rockets to the moon. And in months, changelings found themselves getting food abundantly, and could get along with (and in some cases even DATE) some ponies.
From the perspective of any changeling, even the highest up who knew Chrysalis was ALWAYS up to something, it just appears to be a move filled with wisdom... Not what it really was in being a totally random snowballing stunt focused on the vague idea that setting hoof on the moon would grant her all its power.
So yeah, I don't feel the North Korea analogue is an accurate depiction of Changelings. Honestly, I don't think there really IS a real-world analogue that fits them.
8989987
"Final fate" sounds ominous.
8990198
Pretty much everything from the show that Chris considers canon to CSP is unprovoked aggression. And the bits he doesn't consider canon are not any better. Simply put, it's a dumb counterproductive idea to invade anyone when you are a bunch of parasites. A changeling queen with an iota of rationality wouldn't be replacing ponies, period. The possible fallout is just not worth it. Instead, she would be grooming an army of Beibers to 'invade' and suck Equestria dry of dumb teenage love. Disgusting? Maybe. Effective? Hell yes, and risk free.
So when Chrysalis doesn't do that, we can surmise she does that purely out of sadism.
And all the what iffers in the worlds mil see, is, yes we can, easily.
Its a pity Hermes didnt get round the sun, due to its Venus dive, before the Earth did, or is that the Freindship radio link thing?
Wow, so much jealously about Chryssie being the best bug horse thingy in the comments. If you had to deal with the combined brain trust of all the changelings every day, all your life, for multiple centuries, you'd be cranky too. Heck, by now you'd probably be raving mad five hundred times over.
And really, there's been so many examples of ponies forgiving others with no repercussions, how is that instance so impossible?
D'awwww, that part about homemade changeling dolls.
8990151 Leaving aside power requirements, when you've just been picked up and thrown through the air towards expected horrible injury, you're not likely to remember your seldom-used ability to counteract gravity.
8990519 As of this point in the story, Hermes is behind the sun right now. Earth has yet to get behind the sun, which is why communication is still possible.
8990146
A valid point and yes, those two are cannon. Here is the problem though.
Its easy...ish to secure a building or am army base doing that. Its similar to airport security or the vhecks you have to go through to acess most nations political buildings, at least if they are in progress.
But stopping a changeling from entering a city is far More difficult. Martial Law would be required. Finding a Changeling already in a city is a nightmareish task.
But identifying a mind control victim and stopping them before they suicide bomb.... that's next to impossible. ESSPECIALLY since I suspect any unicorn can turn themselves into a living bomb.
8990344
Is that corralling an army of children and herding cats simultaneously, or corralling an army of children that is, in turn, herding cats? Because I’d think that latter would be a bit more difficult than the former.
8990344
You make a really good point.
It's a resolution that plays a lot better in a setting like CSP that doesn't ask you to think through the implications of what happens, and like a lot of things from CSP, it clashes with the logic and tone of this story, but it is appropriate for that story.
I still feel the NK comparison is apt, it's simply that CSP is more concerned with yucks than world-building. They're sort of like NK if no one cared about the human rights violations and warmongering. If you think about how people would have reacted to the CSP if it was not a comedy, it makes more sense.
8990720
Voodoo hugs should totally be a thing
I, the Universe, fart on your birthday cake.
Or computer or whatever.