Chapter 38
I paused outside the door to the small cargohold before pushing the door open as I entered. As I did, I found myself subject to thirty sets of eyes.
The cargohold wasn’t very big, it being a royal transport airship. It was actually a bit smaller than the bedroom I shared with Sunny and Sparks.
Thirty ponies would not have been comfortable in there and would have felt claustrophobic at a third as many.
But these were changelings, not ponies and worked in three dimensions, not all gathered on the floor.
True to Skitters word, they had not covered the place with resin, instead they had strung up ropes all over the place and used that for attachment points in the black resin, glowing green patches lighting the place.
Skitter was in the middle, laying on what almost looked like a smaller version of Chrysalis throne and all around here were Changelings. In all three dimensions.
Sparks walked in next to me and glanced around. She shifted her wings with a small frown but didn’t say anything.
I smiled at Skitter, “You guys doing okay in here?” I asked and looked around, “Anything you need?”
Skitter got up and moved up to us, “We’re fine, Sir,” she said and buzzed her wings slightly, “We have all we need right now. Thank you for checking on us.”
I smiled up at her, “Just wanted to check that everything is alright,” I said and flicked one ear.
“Are you sure you don’t need more room?” Twilight asked next to me, looking up at Skitter, “This seems a bit crowded.”
Skitter shook her head, “This is nice for us, Princess Twilight,” she said with a smile, “We like to be close to each other.”
I nodded, “They like cramped areas,” I agreed and then smiled at Skitter, “As fitting for cuddle bugs.”
Skitter smiled down at me, her wings doing a small buzzing sound.
“Well, we’ll leave you to it,” I continued and looked up at her, “Let us know if there is anything you do need.”
“Of course, sir.”
I smiled at her and then we left, the door closing behind Sparks and me. She glanced back towards it and flicked one ear.
“What?” I asked her as I paused, looking back at her.
“It’s just…” she started and then shook her head, moving up to join me again, “I just realized I don’t know a lot about Changelings. I’m meant to be Princess of Friendship, but I don’t know… almost anything about Changelings. Or… or Griffons if I’m to be honest. Or any creature but ponies.”
I smiled at her, “Have you ‘encountered’ many other creatures than ponies?”
Twilight sighed softly, “I… not really,” she admitted, “A few. But you have Changelings following you around all the time. I have barely even talked to any of them!”
“Well, they usually like to keep hidden,” I said, “But that can be fixed easily enough. Amber?”
“Yes sir?”
Sparks twitched at the voice behind us and she looked back at the changeling that has appeared behind us from… somewhere.
“Amber, would you mind answering some questions for Twilight?” I asked her with a smile, “She’s curious about ‘lings.”
Amber buzzed her wings and smiled, “Of course not, sir. But I’m meant to guard you.”
“I’m not going far, I’ll be reading in the bedroom. Only way inside is through the main room, if you two are there, you can still keep an eye on me.”
Amber seemed to consider that for a moment before she nodded and looked to Twilight, “What would you like to know, Princess?”
Twilight smiled, “Oh, there is so much! But I need to take notes!”
I left them to it as we entered the private quarters and I crossed the room and entered the bedroom, finding Sunset already on the bed, reading a book in the light from the circular window.
She glanced back when I entered and the door closed behind me, “Twi’s not coming?”
“Eventually,” I answered and jumped up, laying down on the bed, resting my head on her back, “But I may have accidentally put her on the track to be curious about ‘lings. She’s interrogating Amber right now, it might be a while.”
Sunny nodded and flicked her tail, “We won't see her until after midnight,” she agreed and then looked at me, “We’re arriving tomorrow.”
I nodded and sighed softly, “Yep.”
Closing her book, Sunset rolled onto her back. I smiled and scooted up to rest my head on her chest,
“Nervous about it?” I asked, looking at her face.
“Me?” Sunset asked, looking amused, “I’m just going to blend into the background. I’m just a random unicorn, everypony is going to be focusing on you and Twi.”
“Random unicorn, my tail,” I snorted, “You’re the student of Princess Celestia, a Warmage and in a relationship with two alicorns!”
Sunset stuck her tongue out at me, “Yeah, sure, but compared to you two? Besides, you two are going to be at the talks. I’m more than happy to let you two take the spotlight.”
I flicked one ear, “And you wanted to be an alicorn.”
“I was young and dumb,” Sunset said with a smirk, “This is much more fun.”
“Fun, huh?” I asked with a teasing grin, raising my head to look down at her before I flicked one ear, “You like what you've been doing in Nocturnis, don’t you?”
Sunny nodded, “I do. You know, before I met you, I never really was the athletic type,” she admitted, “I mean, I kept in shape and all, even in the human world, but… I never really exercised as such. But working with the Guard has been really fun.”
“Glad you like it.”
“Speaking of which,” she then continued, “You and Twi really should join practice sometimes. Being sneaky or just throwing power at the problem doesn't always work. You have to keep practicing.”
I sighed softly, but not like she was wrong, “...As soon as we get back to Nocturnis,” I agreed, “We’ll invite Midnight as well, she’ll need it too.”
“Good idea,” Sunset said and smiled up at me, “Want to read a book until Twi manages to disentangle herself from her questions?”
I nodded.
That did sound nice.
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Liar you never cuddled with her!!!
Unless you cuddle with her you can't say that Page
I'd like to see a snippet about an uninformed guard literally stumbling into the storage room. It's nice to see more changelings included in the story
Three dimensional cuddlepile
♡
Nice
10965275
If that hasn't already been done, then i need to see/read how that would look like.
This is now my favorit chapter of this story sequel.
MEANWHILE WITH AMBER AND TWILIGHT...
Twilight: ..So you have two stomachs? One for personal use and a social one?
Amber: Affirmative. The social stomach stores the love needed to make love jelly. We scouts give that love to the Nursery Drones who are in charge of both jelly production and egg care.
Twilight: Fascinating. Hmm..can I ask you about reproduction? Can drones lay eggs or is it only Chrysalis and Skitter?
Amber: It is possible for drones to produce eggs but our bodies are not made for it. We'll be crippled from the ordeal by the 3rd or 4th egg so it is only done during emergencies when the Hive's numbers are low. However our Queen whose body is made for the task is sufficiently fed so that scenario is unlikely.
Twilight: What about Skitter?
Amber: Skitter cannot lay eggs yet.
Twilight: Why not?
Amber: Queens need the genetic materials of a male from a different species to lay eggs. One mating is sufficient but the Hive is picky. Once the Hive finds the perfect male, we protect him fiercely until the Princess is ready to ascend to Queen.
Twilight: Oh okay....wait...WAIT!!
Oh Page, all too soon you're probably going to be wishing you'd done that practice before setting off.
10965343
And People/Ponies wonder why the Canterlot Hive's changelings protect & follow Page around...
10963978
10954639
Yes, regarding the voters electing government members, it often comes as a shock to people that in the beginning, only the House of Representatives were directly elected by the people of those states. The Senate members were originally appointed by the state legislatures, or by the state governors if an unexpectant vacancy occurred and the state legislatures were not in session at the time. Over time, the public discovered the idea wasn't workable when different parties controlled the upper and lower houses of the state's legislatures, in addition to issues of corruption that had taken root, which brought about the 17th Amendment in 1912, where they finally allowed the voters in the states to elect them directly.
As for fixing the problems I mentioned earlier about the need for congressional term limits, setting the qualifications for office, and giving voters direct control the pay of politicians--we KNOW that Congress would never allow for those changes. Fortunately, there is another option for getting such amendments passed: through the legislatures of enough states to push through the ideas. However, there would be considerable resistance to that route because many state politicians like to build their careers by moving on up to the US Congress and even higher. I fear that lifelong career politicians will eventually and irrevocably destroy this nation and burn down the entire planet when they do so, assuming they haven't succeeded in irreversibly setting us on that course already.
Despite many of the existing flaws in our system, it currently is still the best and stable model of government that us mere mortals can devise. That said, as ScrabledCrackers pointed out, it is true that the best government of all ideas would be a dictatorship by an benevolent immortal being. It is such a pity that those types of government are in so short supply.... not to mention all the crap that we'd have to go through to finally get one.
10965409
the US government has a few fair flaws, one being that congress can't setup any agency without the president being able to have direct oversight over it, the trump and reagan eras showed that this arrangement allows a president to basically dismantle anything they don't approve of ideologically. The house is frankly too small to represent the country, its members were limited at a time when the country was 1/3rd the size and even then it was done as a means to limit political representation in a changing country as they capped the size and refused to reapportion until the 30s. The way we populate the judicial system is another issue in that too much executive authority has been baked into the process and the senate's lack of rules has allowed for opportunistic politicians to just makeup shit whenever they want and say that's been the rule. There's no silver bullet but lifetime judicial appointments are part of the problem, also the scotus not being bound to an actual code of ethics which lets things like Clarence Thomas's wife be a very high profile republican political operative while holding the highest judicial spot in the land. there's no simple fixes to these problems but we're at a point where even toying around the edges is sacrosanct for the party benefiting from these lopsided systems
Soooo... When are they gonna start talking about foals? :3
10965428
Roughly the same time Page and Sunshine admit they're a bit more then friends. Obviously this just means best friends and nothing more. So... the story after the next one.
10965441
Bah humbug! We need Sunset to find out she's accidentally pregnant or something...
10965552
I smiled at Skitter, "You guys doing okay in here?" I asked and looked around, "Anything you need?"
"We are the SOVEREIGN," all thirty changelings said in unison. "RUDIMENTARY CREATURES OF BLOOD AND FLESH.
YOU TOUCH OUR MIND, FUMBLING IN IGNORANCE, INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING.
THERE IS A REALM OF EXISTENCE SO FAR BEYOND YOUR OWN YOU CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE IT.
WE ARE BEYOND YOUR COMPREHENSION. WE ARE SOVEREIGN.
ORGANIC LIFE IS NOTHING BUT A GENETIC MUTATION, AN ACCIDENT.
YOUR LIVES ARE MEASURED IN YEARS AND DECADES. YOU WITHER, AND DIE.
WE ARE ETERNAL.
THE PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION AND EXISTENCE.
BEFORE US, YOU ARE NOTHING.
YOUR EXTINCTION IS INEVITABLE.
WE ARE THE END OF EVERYTHING.
WE IMPOSE ORDER ON THE CHAOS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION.
YOU EXIST BECAUSE WE ALLOW IT, AND YOU WILL END BECAUSE WE DEMAND IT.
OUR KIND TRANSCENDS YOUR VERY UNDERSTANDING.
WE ARE EACH A NATION — INDEPENDENT, FREE OF ALL WEAKNESS.
YOU CANNOT EVEN GRASP THE NATURE OF OUR EXISTENCE.
WE HAVE NO BEGINNING.
WE HAVE NO END.
WE ARE INFINITE.
MILLIONS OF YEARS AFTER YOUR CIVILIZATION HAS BEEN ERADICATED AND FORGOTTEN, WE WILL ENDURE.
WE ARE LEGION.
THE TIME OF OUR RETURN IS COMING.
OUR NUMBERS WILL DARKEN THE SKY OF EVERY WORLD.
YOU CANNOT ESCAPE YOUR DOOM.
WE ARE THE VANGUARD OF YOUR DESTRUCTION. THIS EXCHANGE IS OVER.
" Yep. Creepy as fuck, but CUUUUUUTTTTE!
I looked over at Sparks. She had this expression on her face:
It's this but I changed some of the "I am" to "We are" because there are 30 changelings at once
To be fair, not many ponies do thanks to the EEA
10965409
10965424
This is one of the many reasons why a monarch with limited authority is useful to separate the branches of government. If the judiciary aren't appointed by the politicians, then they won't be nearly so corrupt. Ditto keeping the military in check, the civil service loyal, etc.
Amber is going to be traumatized.
11181986
Twilight is npt allowed to legally change others names anymore, not since... the accident.
10966753
Funny os that none of the other "powers"matter if the military just "Fuck it, taking over".
11847534
Yes and no. The military is dependent upon people to run the infrastructure and bureaucracy, but we have a case study from Spain in 1981 of how these powers do matter, shortly after the restoration of their monarchy. It's worth reading into, but in short a Francoist coup was thwarted by King Carlos I when he made a television broadcast denouncing it, undermining the leaders' legitimacy as ultimately, he was their superior officer within the armed forces.
11847534
See, here's the thing about that... there's maybe 2 levels of leadership that would love that idea, another 5 that would be neutral so long as the perks they've "earned" either remain the same or increase, and then from about Bde downward everyone would fucking hate their lives even more.
Seriously, the military taking over the government would be perhaps the worst thing that could happen for the military