• 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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9- Seiðr

“Now, to cast the ice spear spell, you must imagine a hole in your surroundings, devoid of heat and energy. Then, you must fill that void using your mana, channeling through your horn.”

I rubbed my eyes, “We’ve been at this for at least two hours now. I think we are done for the day.”

“Ok,” Katydid said, following my example. “You did a good job today! You are knocking these spells out quicker than any nymph I know! I mean, of course you are, Your Highness.”

One week of lessons and Officer Katydid still was as unsure of himself as ever. I have to admit, changelings are kind of cute. Especially when they shuffle their hooves like Katydid is. I probably looked even more adorable, with my shorter proportions.

“Thank you for tutoring me,” I said the now well-practiced goodbye.

“It was my honor, My Prince,” Katydid responds as usual. However, before I retired to my room, I had a few questions I’ve been meaning to ask. I stopped him in the hall.

“Officer Katydid, I have been wondering… How come I do not have any siblings?”

Katydid frowned. “Oh, that… uh, yea. Well, changelings only lay one egg at a time, so–”

“No, I know that. But why hasn’t my mother had any nymphs before me?” I had a suspicion I knew the answer to this and that Katydid didn’t.

‘Katydidn’t. Apparently I’m not too tired for horrible puns today.’

Katydid looked around and shifted uncomfortably on his hooves. Still adorable. “W-well, uh, she most likely has had princes and princesses before you. I wouldn’t know, My Prince. Perhaps you should ask Q–”

‘It’s time to fish for some answers.’

“If I had siblings born before me, where are they? Changeling royals are ageless, so wouldn’t they be here?”

Katydid failed to hide a sigh, “I really don’t kn-”

I continued on, “I checked the Weave. There’s nothing on my brothers and sisters.”

‘C’mon, take the bite.’

“W-well that would be because any old information is removed from the Weave, a-and stored physically.” I looked at him expectedly. When he didn’t continue, I pressed further.

“Physically?”

‘Here, fishy, fishy!’

Katydid gave me a smile, most likely thinking I was an adorable nymph pestering him with questions, as is tradition for all children. “Yes, in the vault.”

‘We got a live one!’

“A vault? That sounds cool! I wanna see it!” I added a grin for good measure. If I could, I would have made my eyes twinkle.

He shook his head, “It’s all the way down at the bottom of the hive, just above the underground layers. Until you can fly, I’m afraid there’s no way you can go down there. Even so, the vault is sealed.”

“Sealed? Then how do changelings put information in it?”

“These are good questions for the Queen. She is the one who opens it, no one else.”

I got enough answers, best not push my luck here.

“Oh. Well, thank you Katydid. I look forward to our next lessons!”

“I also look forward to them. Good night, My Prince,” he said with a wave that I returned.

‘So, all information is stored in this vault, down near the center of the hive, and only Queen Chrysalis can enter. That certainly is going to make things difficult in the future.’


“Good morning, Prince Phasmatodea.”

“Good morning, Queen Chrysalis.”

“I have some good news. Since you have been so diligent the past week and a half, today we will begin learning shapeshifting spells. You have displayed a satisfactory level of knowledge in the outside world, so it is time for you to learn what it is to be a changeling.”

I perked up. Learning the inner workings of the hive, as well as how we interact with the outside world?

“Yes, you are ready,” Chrysalis noticed my surprised face, “the most important tool in a changeling’s arsenal is subterfuge. Deceiving ponies, as well as other species you encounter, will be key to keeping the hive safe.

“I will cover the theories, protocols, strategies, and goals of being an infiltrator. However, knowledge will only carry you so far. You will attend infiltration classes with the drones. I know you will be on your best behavior.”

“Of course, mother.” I couldn’t believe it; this is too good to be true!

“Being in this class will mean you will be with the nymph drones of the hive. So first, we will begin lessons on how to act as a changeling royal.”

I stifled a groan. There’s the catch. However, I could bear tedious lessons on manners if it meant being in contact with more changelings, and more importantly, learning infiltration. I am finally beginning lessons on entering the outside world.

Chrysalis’s lessons on how to be a prince differed greatly from what I expected a noble would have to learn. Instead of learning the difference between soup spoons and flower arrangements, I learned far more practical things.

Things like deflecting blame, accepting no insult or shame, and how to get away with making mistakes. Standard politician stuff. Now, since I was an adult already, I know how to do these things. But still, learning a few tricks from ol’ Chryssy would not go unappreciated.

This does mean that she expects me to be an even higher level of unparalleled excellence though. It seems with each new lesson, the bar set for me gets raised higher and higher. Now I can’t rely on cute looks, being royal, and my young age when I make mistakes.

I’m still going to abuse those three as much as I can, but I think Chrysalis will be paying even closer attention to my behavior.

And since I will be with other nymphs, I am expected to be a paragon of virtue. At least, look the part. Chrysalis makes the distinction very clear: in the hive, I obey the rules. Outside the hive, I disregard the pony’s laws when needed.

In addition to lessons in manners, I was also being taught how to rule. As a second-in-command, of course. Don’t want me to have illusions that I will ever be in charge of the hive, after all.

These lessons covered topics such as giving orders to drones, following all of Queen Chrysalis’s orders, accepting no insubordination, examples of punishments to give to drones (ranging from exile to execution), and managing the resource allocation of a city with a population in the thousands.

I admit, that last one really lost me. Apparently being a changeling ruler meant that you had to control the entire economy from the top down.

Sounds like Soviet-socialism to me but I can’t explain the negatives to Chrysalis. I am only a month and a half old or so, who am I to know the nuances of macroeconomics? Besides, it seems that the system in place was created in response to the growing famine problem the hive was facing. There was probably a good reason why it is run the way it is. Probably.

All this was in addition to my lessons on politics, spell theory, practicing spells, language lessons, and a bit of math and science. To accommodate the new lessons in changelings rulership, management of a society, and the basics of infiltration, Chrysalis decided to extend my lessons earlier into the morning. I wasn’t a larva anymore, and that means my days of sleeping half the day away are long past.

And still not a single piece of paper in sight. Studying for verbal exams is damn near impossible when you can’t even take notes. All my ideas for acquiring information on my siblings, or their suspected whereabouts, had fallen wayside. I just didn’t have time to pursue anything.

‘And she considered these lessons good news? I can’t believe I was even excited for this.’

The days were blurring together. Wake up, eat, go to lessons with mother until the late afternoon, practice with Katydid, go to my room, stay up late trying to go over the new material I learned, maybe study for an upcoming exam, then sleep for the few hours I had left in the night. If I had any dreams, then they were nonsensical ramblings, usually involving the moon or insects.

Then repeat. Over and over.

I knew I couldn’t keep this up forever but that’s exactly what I had to do.


Chrysalis was going over the latest report from Canterlot. The new infiltration team put in place in the unicorn-dominated city had yielded far more value than she ever realized. The information, bits, and materials smuggled out of the city made her wonder why it was even protocol to avoid the lavish mountaintop city.

A stray thought of its ruler reminded her why.

She placed the papers back down onto her desk when her door opened and Phasma stepped in.

“Good morning, Prince Phasmatodea.”

“Good morning, Queen Chrysalis,” he mumbled.

Chrysalis recalled today’s lessons. Ah yes, the political structure of Princess Celestia’s upper court, infiltration, Laughing Newt’s three laws of motion, adverbs, the political structure of Queen Chrysalis’s upper court, and tapping into the disguise spells that changelings have an innate affinity for.

Not light material, but Prince Phasma has proved himself more than capable of handling this. Phasma already finished with mathematics, he seemed to take to that like better than any changeling she knew.

“Let’s start with the exam on Celestia’s court. Name the positions and their duties of office.”

She leaned forward to listen to the prince. In fact, this information was new to her as well, having come from a report hooved to her last week.

Phasma looked up in thought, eyes closed. “The Minister of the Interior is in charge of herding cats– I mean, nobles, the Secretary of Court is in charge of organizing the royal court, the Chief of Staff is in charge of everything related to the palace and crownlands, the Captain is in charge of the Royal Guard, as well as nominally in charge of the border guard and the navy…

“Uhh, I think the Judicator was in charge of the courts,” Prince Phasma finished.

When Phasma opened his eyes to look back at Chrysalis, she looked at him pointedly. “Laws? Finance?”

“O-oh, yes, the Treasurer is in charge of monetary policies and the Magistrate is in charge of making the laws.”

“The Magistrate does not write the laws, Prince Phasma.”

“I, uh, knew that...”

Chrysalis sighed. “I’m certain you will do better on the quiz on my court, Prince Phasma.” At that, Phasma looked down at the ground dejectedly. To segue to the next lesson, Chrysalis stepped out from behind her desk and lifted Phasma’ chin up with a hoof.

“When you’re out in the field, you need to cover the gaps in your knowledge better. You will encounter unexpected information, and you must remain calm in control of the conversation.”

She gave him a smile, “I demand excellence because I know you are capable of it. Now, onto formulating fake identities.”

In the back of her mind, Chrysalis was wondering if Phasma just lacked incentives to try his hardest...

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