Mark My Words

by Goldfur

Change of Direction

There was a lot more to being a Prince of Equestria than sitting on a throne and making regal pronouncements. For example, all the paperwork that went with the job. To be fair, my secretary took care of most of the day-to-day stuff and only passed on to me those items that required royal authority. It was still an impressive amount but I had to admit that I had myself to blame for that. In trying to modernize the empire and Equestrian society, I had undertaken way too many projects that only someone alien to this world could facilitate. In other words, being a former human with Earth-based knowledge made me uniquely qualified. I really had to find some way of recruiting some highly-capable people from my home world to help cope with the workload – but how do you run an employment campaign for another dimension? Sure, we could offer some very good incentives and our medical system had America’s soundly thrashed, but we needed to keep the portal to another world secret. I hoped that someday I could find a solution with Phil and Rosa’s help, perhaps through their company. For now, I just had to deal with the problems on my own.

In the face of going over these intractable problems for the umpteenth time, more often than not, I welcomed interruptions to give myself a break. The tap on my office door immediately brought my attention to the hallway. My secretary would normally alert me to visitors, so this unannounced caller was most likely family. Sure enough, my eleven-year-old daughter, Diadem, was standing in the doorway.

“Have you got a moment, Dad?” the young proto-queen changeling asked.

My eyebrow rose. While Diadem was a friendly and outgoing changeling, she usually called me “Father” rather than the informal “Dad”. Her mother, Queen Chrysalis, tended to encourage proper forms of address. That Diadem did otherwise told me that she had a personal problem. I deliberately put aside the documents I had been working on and said, “Come in and close the door.”

She did so and then seated herself. I rolled my chair around next to Diadem while she fidgeted.

I waited a bit before saying, “Okay, Di, spit it out. What’s bothering you so badly?”

She looked up and gave me a lost look. “Dad – what is it that I’m supposed to be?”

I blinked. That was not what I had been expecting. “What do you mean, hon? Hasn’t your mother been training you to run the hive almost since the day you were hatched?”

“Yes, of course she has, but so what? Do you know how long changeling queens live? Centuries! What am I supposed to do in the meantime? Am I supposed to just do meaningless trivial things until Mother passes on?”

“What about the responsibilities to the hive that keep you busy?” I asked. “You’ve often told me about what you’ve learned while growing up. And Chrysalis can’t spend all her time at the hive due to her role as my Advisor.”

“You don’t get it, Dad. Mother can handle both jobs easily – it’s what queens do. Any task she gives me is just more practice and I don’t want to spend year after year being the Princess-in-Waiting. I want to do something meaningful!”

I frowned. “Do you want to take over the hive now?”

Diadem shook her head. “No. Mother loves what she has built and has plans to make it even greater as my brothers and sisters grow into maturity. The hive is her pride and joy and I would not want to take that from her.”

“I agree,” I said with a slow nod. “And I see your point. Chrysalis wanted an heir available to take her place as Queen of the Canterlot Hive if she passed away unexpectedly, but that may never happen. Aside from the brief times that you’ve been left in charge to give you experience while your mother and I went on diplomatic missions or such, you really haven’t been needed to fill that role. So, the question is – what would you like to do with your life?”

Tears welled up in her eyes. “I don’t know!” she wailed. “All my education and training have always been directed towards the hive to the exclusion of everything else.”

I sighed. “That’s my fault. I felt that I was too ignorant of the needs of changeling queens to be able to offer more than a few suggestions. Perhaps I should have been firmer with Sally on that subject. And while your mother has had nothing but good intentions, she may have been slightly misguided in your upbringing. However, I do seem to recall you gushing excitedly about various subjects over the years. Did you ever try to pursue those interests?”

Diadem looked downcast. “No, not really. Mother wanted me to concentrate on my lessons rather than passing fancies, as she called them.”

I grimaced. “I’m going to have a word with your mother about her perceptions of what is important. You are as much a pony as you are a changeling and you naturally have curiosity about non-changeling matters and interests beyond the hive, or even the palace. So, what does interest you? Forget about how it pertains to the hive right now.”

My child looked thoughtful for a long moment before slowly replying. “I’m not sure. Magic, I suppose. Making some friends outside of the castle. Colts—” She slapped a hoof over her mouth and looked embarrassed.

I chuckled. “Like I said, you’re part pony and of the age where boys become interesting. I think I have an answer for you. Why don’t you apply to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns? You can learn a lot there while making new friends, some of whom might be colts. Youth is fleeting. Go be a young mare rather than a queen-in-training.”

Diadem began to look excited. “What will Mother say though?”

“Maybe she will surprise you. And if she needs a little persuasion, tell her your Dad supports you. It’s about time I had a bigger say in my daughter’s path to fulfilment.”

She giggled and got up to give me a hug. “Thanks, Dad. I’m going to do that.” She then started heading for the door.

“And if you’re looking for something to do before the next semester starts, you could always help me wade through this paperwork, Princess.” I gestured at the mounds of documents.

She glanced at it and stuck out her tongue. “No thanks, Dad. I did not list that as one of my interests!”

She had me there. I looked at it again and said, “Screw it. That can wait a bit. I think I need to check out the rest of my buggy children and see if I can do something about their education. It’s time for a little change.”

Author's Note:

In the epilogue of "Off The Mark" it was mentioned that Diadem was going to attend Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. This short story was written to show how that came about as well as to give a little more depth to the character. The Canterlot Hive will revolutionize how changelings interact with the rest of the world and Diadem will not be a normal changeling princess.

Comments

[EnderHooves]

Very nice. I like that you put this here, rather than later. Will we see some misadventures of the Royal Princess of the Canterlot Changeling Hive in the former Solar Diarch's school for gifted unicorns? (Also, didn't she switch it to gifted ponies in this universe? Or has that not happened?) I'd like to see more of her, she sounds nice.

[Black--Soul]

Very unexpected. Neat.

[EonAon]

Personally I say this would probably be a easy sell to Chrysalis. Know your enemy/ally, get taught magic to help the hive overall and just the knowledge in general, interactions to help understand other ponies if in case you need to infiltrate. The better educated the better the queen. Admittedly do make sure to compare contrast pony history to changeling interpretations of it since all history is written by the winner and outside views of the same points can bring wider understanding of both POV.

Also early pony pov is extremely biased towards themselves and their tribes being the best individually.

[Eroraf86]

Nice. I've always had a bit of a fascination with the growing pains of mixed-heritage fantasy characters. Heck, that's part of why I love InuYasha so much.

[Black--Soul]

Space Program over Earth relationship. Gift the Tech to Phil and make his name and position in history and important matters imortal and unriveld.

[harts fire]

so Goldfur i am a bit slow at times but the name Diadem,, would she be named after a sears of books bye John Peel??
just wondering as i have the first 6 of them.

this is a grate chapter and i can see Diadem being in the story more.

[eL VeeJay]

Nice new chapter.

A thought for future chapters: pony tourists on Earth?

[Goldfur]

10913929
No, the name has nothing to do with John Peel's books.

[Goldfur]

10914219
Not on Phil's Earth. Or at least, not anytime soon. Mark does not intend that a portal to another be revealed. The recent incident with Ivana has only reinforced that policy.

[Black--Soul]

Unless his Queen Daughter will get a Alicorn sister/Brother she will last the longest.
When old age claim her siblings she will help Mark over the grief...

[tsaukpaetra]

Hybrids and conjoined cultures do need intermingling by nature. Let's mix up that great equestrian melting pot!

[BirdsBooksBrownies]

10914232
Ivana?
(edit)
nevermind