• Published 18th Oct 2020
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Changing Expectations - KKSlider



What does it mean to be a Changeling? To the former human Prince Phasma, that means doing what you can to survive and thrive in an utterly alien world.

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119- Pax


Act 9: Sins Of The Father


“I need you to disband Division-P and cancel any standing orders, Princess Celestia.”

The white alicorn looked up at me and grimaced, “I will do what I can immediately, of course...”

“However?”

“However I had– Daybreaker had created contingencies for just such events. In fact, I believe Cadence already told you of them.”

I gritted my teeth, “The Dead Hoof Protocol. I know. Can you stop it?”

“The moment word of Daybreaker’s defeat leaves this room is the moment Division-P opens their sealed letters and… the more fanatical will carry out those orders. The good ponies roped into that horrible organization I made will throw their orders away and wait for more news. You can’t shake their faith in Harmony. The zealots, though… I am afraid I will not be able to stop them. You will have to go to the dungeons right now and free your changelings yourself. I am terribly sorry I can’t help in any way.”

To her credit, Princess Celestia seemed almost at the verge of tears.

‘Not her fault anyways, it’s that damned Nightmare’s.’

“Already taken care of,” I waved a hoof.

“Wh– what?!”

Luna snickered, “Phasma’s appearance served more than one purpose. He was to draw away Division-P from–”

“–from the dungeons!” Princess Celestia gasped. “You already freed your ponies? I… I’m a bit upset that you ordered an attack on Canterlot, but I am relieved beyond words that there won’t be any more blood on my hooves…. I…” Celestia broke off and stared down at the burnt flooring beneath her.

Luna swept her sister up in a tight hug which was enthusiastically returned.

“It is not your fault, sister. This is something that has been trained into my head by my friends, and now it is something that you must accept in time, too. That was the Nightmare’s doing.”

“What about the Royal Guard? What do we do?” Shining asked.

Princess Celestia sighed, “Well if the changelings have saved themselves from my… errr, Daybreaker’s doing? Then you should immediately order a ceasefire. I trust King Phasma will do the same?”

I nodded, “I will. You can call me Phasma, by the way. I think we’ll be living together from now on...”

Luna winked at me, still hugging Princess Celestia.

“Only if you call me Celestia.”

“That sounds fair. I will send word–”

Seven changelings flew through one of the shattered windows, dropping around me and quickly encasing us eight in several shields. They faced outwards around me, snarling at the alicorns. Out of instinct, Captain Shining Armor pushed past Cadence and put up his own shield between us and the ponies.

“Your Majesty! We’re here to save you!” One of them barked.

“Save me? I uh, I’m fine, guys.”

“This is unexpected,” Luna murmured, her voice distorted through the shield.

The ponies shifted around, with Luna and Shining standing in front of and protecting Celestia and Cadence, respectively. Celestia looked grateful but confused, while Cadence seemed mildly annoyed.

“You vanished, My King!” A changeling informed me. “Your Weave, sir. It vanished! We were one of three teams sent to find you. The moment you appeared again, we came as soon as we could!”

“One of three? Where is–?”

“Freeze ponies, you are surrounded!” A changeling yelled, flying in through one of the shattered windows and hovering in the air. Thirteen more changelings swarmed in through the other windows, taking positions and aiming at the ponies in the room.

“There is no need to–” Celestia began.

“Hold! Stand down, changelings!” I yelled through the Weave.

“– fight today– oh. That was… easy?” Celestia wondered as the changelings all stopped casting their spells and looked at me.

Even the shield around me vanished as the changelings looked to me for orders. Shining Armor was confused, but let his own shield drop as well, though the tension never left him. Cadence put a hoof on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.

“The war is over,” I announced. “We will need to work out what to do about the Fourth Hive, but for now, the war is over.”

“What happened to you, My King?” A changeling stepped forward to ask. “We thought you died!”

“Discord cut off my connection to the Weave and to magic in general. It’s okay, I’m fine now. How did the jailbreak go?”

“My King,” A changeling bowed after approaching. It was Captain Katydid himself, “It was a success. Several changelings died, as did a few ponies, but we hit them hard and quickly. They didn’t have a chance to execute the prisoners. There are still changeling prisoners with Division-P elements spread throughout Canterlot and Equestria, but everyling in the prison has been freed.”

I sighed deeply, relaxing so much I nearly fell onto my haunches.

“That means that Lacewing is okay?”

“Indeed, My King. She expressed her desire to see you as soon as possible. I do not know where she is, as I came topside as soon as I could…”

“You have done well, Captain Katydid. All of you, you have all done well. I’m definitely going to have to invent medals to give for today’s efforts.”

“My King, what happened? You said… Discord?”

I chuckled, “My failsafe plan was to free him. I had to fall back to it since all other plans fell through. As I hoped, we still won in the end, even if it was closer than I would have wanted.”

The changelings parted, forming a half circle crowd behind me, letting the ponies come closer to me.

“Well Phasma, this was not how I expected the Gala to go,” Celestia smiled, “but I am elated that this is the course that Harmony has set for today. Captain Shining Armor, I need you to restore order to Canterlot. Assist any victims of Discord’s mayhem who yet need our help. Arrest any Division-P members and bring them to the dungeons. The calm ones will come quietly. The ponies who break faith with Harmony… They must be helped, whether they want to be helped or not. Do what you can, delegate what you cannot, and do not forget to rest afterwards. The last thing Equestria needs is for you to collapse from exhaustion, Captain.”

Shining saluted, “At once, Your Royal Highness.”

Celestia cringed, “Please, drop the Royal in the title. I don’t want to hear anything like that ever again.”

“Uh, of course, Your Highness. I… it’s good to have you back,” Shining said again.

“Thank you, Captain. Its good to be back.. Now go save Canterlot.”

Shining saluted once more, got a farewell kiss from Cadence and an uneasy glare from me, before he galloped out of the room.

“And what of your changelings, Phasma? Will anyone need medical assistance?” Celestia asked me.

I looked to Captain Katydid who shook his head, “No, Your Majesty– and Highness,” he threw on Celestia’s title, not sure who he should be addressing. “The wounded have already been looked at. The ponies used far more lethal spells than we did, so it is your wounded who will be far more numerous.”

“But you will have more dead,” Celestia sighed. “One final battle to end this terrible war. What about Queen Chrysalis and her Hive? Have you a plan to solve that issue diplomatically, Phasma?”

“Fuck no,” I laughed. “I was too busy with today to do much about tomorrow. We’ll uh, brainstorm and figure something out. Maybe send a messenger through the blockade and uh… shit if I know, that’s a problem for future me. Okay Captain, go help the survivors and wounded of the fight. You know the drill: give out rations to the starving, arrange sleeping arrangements and duties, take stock of who we rescued, who they know died, and so on. I need a proper accounting of everyone in the Fifth Hive now. We’ll work out the more complex systems later, now that we will be out in the open.”

Captain Katydid saluted, “And what of your close friends, My King? When they ask to see you, where should I point them?”

I snorted, “They’re all okay, right?” He nodded. “Then tomorrow I will see the whole Hive. Tonight, induct everyling into it. They do not have a choice, though I doubt any would refuse if they did. I will visit as many lings as I can tomorrow after a ceasefire has been properly negotiated.”

“We will hold a preliminary negotiation… after lunch?” Celestia suggested.

“That works for me. Oh, and Captain? I need you to bring a case of whisky to the kitchens here in the Castle.”

“Uh…. at once, My King?”

“Thank you,” I stifled a laugh as I saw Celestia sag in relief.

“I will go aid Shiny in helping ponies out. I’m more useful out there than in here, and I can think about ways to apologize to Shiny while I'm working,” Cadence said, turning to leave.

“Be sure not to overwork yourself, dear Cadence,” Luna warned her. “You should get some rest soon.”

“Soon,” Cadence agreed, but left all the same.

“Anypony have anything else they need to say?” Celestia asked, looking around the room. “No? Good. I’m going to my room now. Luna, I will need you to raise the sun and lower the moon come morning. I will ask somepony else to help me with a meal and something to drink. Take the rest of the night and morning off. Cadence can deal with any emergencies,” Celestia chuckled.

Then, she winked at me before turning and leaving.

‘What? Why did–’

Luna’s wing wrapped around my withers as she stared at me with something more than happiness and nervousness. She was radiating love, and I immediately got the feeling that I was soon to overdose on the delicious emotion.

“Captain Katydid! Fetch my hammer and armor and bring it from the ballroom to the Hive!” I called out moments before Luna teleported us away.

The burnt and shattered remains of the room vanished with a cyan flash of energy. Luna’s teleportation was far from the smooth transition between dreams, but compared to my own teleport spell, it was a smooth ride. Still, when my hooves found themselves on a different surface entirely, I had to catch myself from falling over.

Luna strode past me further into the room. Looking around, the room we were in was steeped in a lunar theme, accompanied by white swirling clouds. The curtains, the carpets, the tiling on the floor, the bases of the furniture, and even several pieces of the furniture themselves all were styled in silver moon motifs. The ceiling was a mosaic mural of the night sky, which no doubt was entirely accurate. If it wasn’t, Luna probably could make it accurate in an instant.

I shivered as I was reminded of this world’s screwed up astro-physics. The less I thought about that stuff, the saner I felt.

Luna hopped up onto the piece of furniture that sat in the middle of the room. Her bed– ‘Definitely going to need a bigger one in the future,’ – followed the same theme of the room, going so far as to be a large crescent moon that leaned backwards, spilling out blankets and pillows from its center.

“Daybreaker did not realize how little I wished to spend my nights back up on my moon,” Luna sighed. “This bed will be the first thing to go, I should think. However, unlike any night for the past thousand-and-one years…”

She stretched out across the bed, removing her boots, tiara, and peytral with her telekinesis and placing them beside the bed. Then, with a dramatic flip of her nebula mane, she smiled at me and beckoned me over.

“... I will not be spending this night alone, nor any in the future.”

“Panar is real, and she is a beautiful blue pony princess.”


Something warm pressed up against me, making me realize just how cold I felt. Then I realized that I was awake now. I was sleepy not just from the long night and interrupted sleep, but also from the massive amount of love I gorged myself on. It was a miracle that I didn’t swell up like a tick.

“Wuh?” I mumbled, trying to muster the willpower to blink my eyes open.

“Shh, go back to sleep, Phasma,” Luna whispered.

‘Oh. It’s Luna.’

“Time s’it?” I mumbled.

Luna pressed up against my belly, and I pulled her in close. She snuggled up beneath my head, resting her horn on my cheek.

“I just lowered my moon and raised the sun. We’re sleeping in for a few more hours.”

“Sounds good,” I sighed.

We lay there, silently enjoying each other’s presence. But as hard as I tried, I couldn’t fall back asleep.

“Don’t we have stuff to do?” I asked, still keeping my eyes closed.

“That is the nice part about being in charge. We can make others do the work for us. We are not needed until after lunch, so I think we shall spend the morning in bed.” Luna giggled, “I can think of a few ways to pass the time.”

“Mmm…. sleep,” I agreed.

The rest of the morning passed by too quickly for my taste. Eventually, we had no more excuses to hole up in her room.

‘Or is it our room now?’

Luna led the way into her adjoined bathroom, where we took a bath together. I had taken showers in my time here on Equus, but never a bath. The room was far more subdued than Luna’s themed bedroom, instead taking on a melding of both the gold theme of the palace and the silver theme of Luna’s personal room. The bathtub was extremely large, as big as her bed, and had far too many spouts and jets than even Luna knew how to operate. So we simply relaxed in the hot water, leaning on each other and using soap and scrubbing as an excuse for wandering hooves.

Leaving the tub and getting dry was almost as unpleasant as leaving the bed, but we did actually have work to do. Lunch was fast approaching, and after it, our little vacation would be over, and I would have to negotiate the future of my race. I was fairly confident I could secure some good deals. I had a lot to bargain with, and it wasn’t like Celestia would be overly hostile to me. Especially not with the fact that I was her sole supplier for alcohol, apparently.

‘Definitely a boon I’m going to exploit the hell out of.’

Luna led the way– an increasingly common action– across the palace and to the dining hall. The Royal Guards eyes me warily and saluted Luna.

“I apologize for the hostile attitudes, it will take some time for ponies to acclimate to your presence and the new state of our species’ relationship,” Luna mumbled after she slowed down to walk by my side.

I looked down at her and gave her my best smile, “I know, Luna. This is where I say something cliche like, ‘let them stare.’”

“Then this is where I say something cliche back, like…. something cliche. I haven’t read any romance novels in literal centuries, so give me a pass.”

I laughed, “Just this once. I expect more cultural references in the future, though.”

“I am sure you will make more than enough for the both of us,” Luna said while pushing a large door open.

The dining room, like the vast majority of the rooms in Canterlot Castle, was themed to gold and white, with the addition of orange. The hallways, the meeting rooms, and I suspected even the non-personal bathrooms had this tri-color palette. Luna had explained to me that as part of the remodeling following the devastating Invasion of Canterlot, Daybreaker had thrown her own color into the mix. For the second time in a year, I was certain that the palace would go through a drastic overhaul.

If I had to live in a castle, I would not want it themed to the monster that possessed me, or my sister.

Celestia was sitting down at one of the high-backed chairs, glaring at one of the purple banners that hang from the walls. Where once her sun Cutie Mark sat alone in a purple space, it was now wreathed in an orange fireball. The rest of the room was empty, save for two guards that stood sentry at the doors, and an earth pony in a white kitchen staff’s uniform.

“Good morning, Celestia,” Luna announced, pulling out two chairs at Celestia’s side.

“Ah, Good afternoon Luna and Phasma. I was wondering when I might be seeing you two.”

“What’s up?” I asked, giving her a nod.

She sat down in the chair closest to her sister, and I sat on Luna’s other side. The kitchen staff bowed to Celestia and made their exit from the room.

“Will Cadence be joining us?” Luna asked.

“Yes. She and her fiancé took an extended break this morning after working themselves to the bone last night. I… should have expected them to ignore my order. Still, I am sure that the misallocation of work will be rebalanced in the hours upon hours of work it will take to stabilize the Kingdom once more,” Celestia monologued.

“An agreeable arrangement,” Luna said. “They work hard to restore order, and then we shall work hard to maintain it.”

“Did you two enjoy your night off?” Celestia asked coyly, effortlessly hiding a smile.

‘You can’t hide that smugness from an empath, though.’

“Yep,” I said quickly.

“We did indeed. The morning and waking up, less so,” Luna explained.

“I am glad to hear that…. Wait a second,” Celestia frowned, “I just remembered something. How old are you, Phasma? Your changelings said your hatchday was in October, but never mentioned the year. Are you as, er…. old as we are?”

“Uh, no, no. My hatchday, I guess it’s called, was in October. Apparently. I didn’t even know that.”

Celestia sighed in frustration while Luna giggled.

“What year were you born, Phasma? How old are you in years?”

“Uh…. like in a row, or cumulatively?”

Celestia mouthed the words to herself, “In a row or cumulatively? Wh– what?”

“Let’s just say mid-twenties,” I shrugged.

“Do you not know your own age? What do you mean by cumulative?”

“Is lunch on the way?” Luna interrupted.

“Yes, yes,” Celestia waved her off, “what are you talking about, Phasma?”

“Well…. I was hatched in October, apparently.”

“Yes, what year?”

“Last year.”

“Last year?!”

“Last year.”

“And this is where the cumulative part comes in?” Celestia guessed.

“Yes, I guess you can say I have an old soul.”

“What’s for lunch?” Luna asked nonchalantly.

“Food, Luna. How are you older than your own birthday?” Celestia pressed.

“When a mommy Queen and a daddy changeling love each other very much, the mommy performs a necromantic ritual to pluck a soul from the afterlife. She then stuffs that soul haphazardly into a genetically modified egg.”

“... You were born through necromancy?” Celestia blinked.

“So I’m told. Would explain why I’m alive again.”

“So you lived a life before, then? And died in your twenties?” I nodded. “How long ago?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think I can answer that, or that it even has an answer.”

Celestia sat back in thought, “.... You did not live in this world, but in another?” She guessed.

‘That’s an amazing guess. Then again, she has been at the forefront of magical learning for literally thousands of years. It’d be more of a shock if she were a simpleton.’

“Another world entirely,” I confirmed her guess.

I heard the guards behind us shift in surprise, and tasted the complimentary emotion from them.

“That’s…. something,” Celestia muttered. “We have seen glimpses of other worlds, which is why I could even guess such an origin. But those glimpses were fleeting and far between… what was your world like?”

“Before we get into his backstory, I would at least like something to eat and some coffee to drink,” Luna said.

“The staff should be here any minute now, as should Cadence and Shining Armor,” Celestia explained.

“That’s good. I’d hate to have to explain everything twi– ah shit.” I facehooved.

“What did you do?” Luna asked.

“I may or may not have neglected to tell the First Fang about my previous life.”

“Yes, you said you were preoccupied with other things,” Luna reminded me.

“I was, and I still am. But if I’m explaining to everyone….”

“Then you would want your friends to hear, too,” Luna finished.

‘They deserve to hear the truth. I think. That’s how it works, right? Yeah, then they can tell me their mysterious backstories that they all totally have.’

“If this is a long story, then I suppose it can wait,” Celestia said. “Perhaps later in the evening? When all three of us have checked up on the state of affairs in our kingdoms?”

“I can work with that,” I said.

“The ceasefire should indeed come first,” Luna agreed.

The doors opened behind us, and I turned in my seat to see an exhausted Cadence and Shining Armor trudge in with about as much grace as Luna and myself dragging ourselves to the bathroom earlier.

They mumbled greetings and sat down at Celestia’s right side, directly opposite of Luna and I. It took a few moments, but eventually Shining Armor opened his eyes long enough to see me sitting directly across from him. With a yelp, he straightened up and his horn glowed with energy.

“Good morning, Captain,” I said, smiling with my fangs on display.

“Ugh, you’re here,” Shining said, horn dimming. “I should have… expected that.”

“Did you two sleep well?” Celestia asked.

“No, but we did sleep,” Cadence yawned.

“So…. where is King Phasma staying?” Shining asked.

“With Luna, I would imagine. Would you kindly check on our lunch?” Celestia said, gesturing to a guard at the door.

The guard saluted and walked away.

“I’ll have to work something out with the Fifth Hive, but I would appreciate it if I were… allowed to reside within the castle,” I said, remembering to be diplomatic.

‘I probably should also refrain from harassing the Equestrian Captain.’

“Of course you can,” Luna said. “As much as it has been forgotten in the past few months, I am a Princess of the Diarchy of Equestria. That means equal say in its ruling, and I say you can stay,” Luna said, looking at Celestia.

“Usually you have to let ponies make a mistake before you correct them,” Celestia joked.

“Hm. I suppose you are right, Celestia. Apologies, I just have had a bad experience with wresting any power away from Daybreaker.”

“Ah. Right. Sorry about that,” Celestia said, grimacing.

“What about your changelings, King Phasma?” Shining asked.

“Well we called dibs on the Crystal Caverns, so those are ours now. I imagine the Fifth Hive might be split up between those and our properties in Manehattan.”

“Dibs?” Celestia echoed.

“Yep. Dibs. The caves are rightfully part of the Fifth Hive now. Sorry, you should have planted a flag in them if you wanted to keep them.”

“... I suppose we could concede their habitation,” Celestia said quietly. “But what does Equestria get in return for losing the land right beneath our hooves?”

‘Looks like the negotiations are beginning early.’

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