A Meeting With A Changeling King

by origami

Time to Depart

Princess Celestia, Luna, King Apidae and the remainder of the changeling delegation spent a good portion of time traveling about Canterlot. The changelings themselves were disguised as usual, but the princesses also changed their appearances, causing them to resemble a unicorn and pegasus respectively. Their use of disguise magic, as Apidae had referred to it when they performed it, impressed the ruler, causing him to critique their appearances, much to the sister's chagrin.

The day had been spent visiting various boutiques, from clothiers to jewelers, to artisans of varying crafts. A small collection of trinkets had been acquired by the sisters for the changeling delegation, and King Apidae promised that, should their be a visit by them to his hive in the future, the gesture would be returned in kind.

The outing between the ponies and changelings had concluded with a meal held at one of the princesses favorite spots in Canterlot - Donut Joe's. Each pony and changeling received a donut and a drink.

"I must say that these donuts are simply delightful!" King Apidae says between bites of his donut.

"I had a feeling that you would appreciate them," Celestia tells the king, sipping at her own cup of hot tea.

"Truly, this day has been wonderful, but I am afraid that my advisors and I will have to depart soon."

Celestia takes a look at the sky and realizes that the afternoon was waning, and not long from now, she would be lowering the sun and her sister would raise the moon. When that happened, the changelings would exit the castle in their disguises, head to the edge of the city, then change into a group of thestrals and fly off and back to their hive.

At that moment, she realizes that the king had nearly revealed his actual nature, and in an effort to maintain their secrecy, Celestia casts a small, nearly invisible dome over the group that would conceal their conversation from eavesdroppers.

"I wish you did not have to leave so soon," Celestia laments, "but I also understand you cannot leave your hive unattended for very long."

"I wish that I could stay for longer as well, but if I stay away for much longer, the other hives may make a move to seize my subjects from me."

"I thought that you had said they would observe you and your hive before making that sort of a decision?"

"Much with the other hives and feeding, changelings are creatures of opportunity. Need I remind you that I have the changeling who is effectively in command of my entire army here with me and not back at the hive?"

"If he was so important for defense, then why did you bring him with you instead of another changeling?" Luna asks.

"That was a decision made by Nero, and one where I trusted him to make a wise choice. As I understand it, he has an apprentice he has been training for some time, and he has needed a proper test of his abilities to see that he will be able to perform his duty when called upon, and maintaining the security of the hive and the integrity of its army while both Nero and I are absent is a perfect opportunity for him to be tested."

"If I may, your highness?" Nero asks, to which King Apidae nods his approval. "Voltaire has been my apprentice for nearly a decade. I have taught him all that I know in regards to combat and battle strategy, organization and logistics, and have tested him many times with table top war games not too dissimilar to the kind you use to train your own guard commanders. He is as well-honed a blade as I can make him, but you never know how good a knife is until the first time you cut with it."

Celestia nods to the general. She could speak from her own experience of training the commanders of her army during the early days of Equestria, when the relations between nations such as Griffinstone and the Dragonlands were much more volatile than they are today.

"As I have said, we will be departing soon," Apidae continued. "As we agreed earlier, Dionices will remain behind to assist in identifying infiltrators in the ranks of your guard and advising them to return to their hives. All I ask is that, once her task is complete, please have her return to us as soon as possible."

"We will ensure that she gets back to you as quickly as possible," Celestia assures the king, "but there are some things we would like to discuss with her. More specifically, we would like to learn of the way to heal the drained ponies so that we may be able to return them to their families."

Apidae frowns. "As I stated before, learning that process will take time. Even with your best mages, you wouldn't be attempting it for, at the very earliest, another month."

Celestia frowns herself. "There is no way to expedite this learning?"

Apidae shakes his head. "Even the medical drones that are taught this spell take a great deal of time to perform the spell properly, and your mages may take even longer."

"It may take them longer?" Luna parrots.

"The spell to restore the affected ponies is from the kind of magic taught to changelings. Your mages would be learning an entirely new school of magical thought in the process of learning this spell."

Luna nods. Celestia's eyes suddenly go wide as she realizes something.

"If our mages learn this new school of magical thought, then that would mean that we could develop countermeasures to your own spells."

"Which I hope is more than enough proof of my intentions for peace. After all, why would I give you the sword that you could slay me with at any moment?"

"Because you trust us not to slay you with it," Luna answers, a gentle smile on her muzzle.

"Precisely," Apidae responds as he finishes his drink.

Celestia and Luna both digest the information provided by the king, then look at each other as though to have a wordless conversation, then look back at the king.

"I assure you that we have no desire to use this information against you or your hive," Celestia tells him.

"And I assure you that, for the time being, the information will only be known to us," Luna adds.

King Apidae nods. "I trust you both with it. After all, we have worked together to draft a formal peace treaty, which is a step in the right direction as far as becoming allies is concerned."

His cup empty, the king sits it back down and the table and looks to both princesses with a serious expression.

"I would like to say now, to both of you, this: if you come under attack of another changeling hive, you need only call out my name, and my subjects will come to your aid, and those that can will call to me, and I shall answer that call with my army. In fact, if you come under threat from any kind of threat, we shall answer your call."

Celestia smiles and nods. "You have said as much before, but I thank you for that affirmation."

Apidae smiles and nods, then his expression turns sad.

"It is nearly time for us to depart. Shall we return to the castle now?"

Looking out the window, Celestia sees the sun is nearly to the point where it will require her assistance to take it below the horizon. "Yes, we should be going now," she agrees sadly.

---

The princesses and changeling delegation returned to the castle in time for Celestia and Luna to exchange their respective celestial bodies in the sky. Once the sun and moon were where they needed to be, the group gathered in the throne room.

King Apidae stood in his vestments and undisguised, his advisors beside him in their natural forms as well. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stood at the base of the dais that held their thrones. All parties were smiling, but there was sadness in them too.

"It is a shame that you must leave us so soon," Celestia said to the group, "but I also understand the reason why. But before you go, my sister and I would like to present you with some things as a token of goodwill from our nation to your hive."

Luna nods in agreement and then steps forward. Using her magic, she picks up a package wrapped in brown paper and twine.

"This is a framed copy of the Equestria-Dragonlands Changeling Hive Peace Treaty," she informs the king. "Please display it in your hive proudly."

"We shall, and thanks to both of you," he answers as he takes the treaty in his own magic, then gives it to Andromeda for safekeeping.

Celestia moves up to her sister and produces her own package, this one resembling a hat box.

"I have taken the liberty of commissioning you another crown," she tells him, "should you decide to make another your queen in the future."

King Apidae looks at Celestia in shock as she opens the box to reveal the crown resting inside. It is nearly as ornate as his own, but its smaller size would be a better fit for another changeling a bit smaller than himself.

Upon seeing the crown, the king smiles. "I'm sure whoever becomes the recipient of this will be quite pleased with it. I thank you kindly for this."

He takes the crown from her magic and again passes it to Andromeda for safekeeping. Once she has stowed it away safely, the king nods to her and she produces two wrapped bundles from her saddlebags.

"Your guards saw these earlier," the king begins, "but I'm hoping they kept the surprise I had asked them to. I wanted to see your genuine reactions to these."

Both Celestia and Luna look at each other with nervousness. The guards cooperating with a creature who, at the time of their meeting, was still considered an enemy of the nation? There would need to be talks, even if this surprise turned out to be fairly benign.

Andromeda presents the packages to the king, who then presents them to Celestia and Luna. "I have commissioned these from one of the hive's best clothiers. I asked them to use my size for reference in making them, so I hope they are not too ill-fitting on both of you."

Celestia and Luna accept the packages, calming themselves before undoing the twine on them and cautiously opening the flaps of paper concealing their contents.

Both sisters gasp upon seeing the gifts given to them.

Inside the packages are silk capes similar to the king's own, but lacking the elaborate fringe around the neck. Celestia's is a bright white, with cyan, magenta, green and light indigo pinstripes running across it. The fabric had a shine to it that seemed to catch the light and make it glow more intensely when it reflected back, almost as though it were glowing. At the base of the neck was a broach in the shape of Celestia cutie mark.

Princess Luna had a similar cape, but hers was a very dark blue that bordered on being black, and set into the fabric were pieces of white gemstone in varying sizes, each capturing the light and reflecting it, imitating the twinkling of stars in the night sky. Just as on Celestia's, a broach shaped like her own cutie mark sat at the bottom of the neck hole.

"These are... incredible," Celestia finally says after a few moments of admiring the garment.

"Indeed," Luna agrees. "The craftsmanship is among the best I've ever seen, possibly the absolute best ever."

Celestia looks a bit guiltily at the king. "These must've cost a small fortune to make."

Apidae chuckles. "Perhaps if they were making something like this in another country, but not my hive. The gemstones in Princess Luna's cape were mined from inside the hive, and the fabrics of both were produced by ourselves, carefully processed and dyed to have the vibrant colors that they do. Our best metal smith crafted the broaches that hold the two articles together, and their paint was crafted by the best artists my hive can offer. It will stand the test of time, with proper care, of course."

"And we shall take proper care of them," Celestia says with a smile. "We thank you for these."

The king nods to the princesses with a warm smile on his muzzle, but it quickly becomes sad.

"Unfortunately, our time is up. I need to return in order to ensure things in my hive continue to remain safe. I shall leave Dionices here with you to assist in the identification of any spies in your rank, as we previously agreed. She will also begin instructing you both in the magic necessary for the spellwork that'll help in healing the ponies affected by the attack last month."

"I will make contact with you again sometime in the following week. That is when I plan to send Aulus to you to begin his duties as my hive's ambassador. You needn't worry about his security; he will remain disguised until we have announced all of what we have done here these past two days to your nation and subjects. As for his feeding needs, we will supply him with what he needs, so you can rest easy knowing he won't be drawing it from your subjects."

Celestia and Luna were wearing sad smiles as well, but they quickly change to nervous looks upon hearing of the impending arrival of newly-appointed Ambassador Aulus.

"Is that wise?" Celestia asks. "Sending your ambassador so soon?"

"I plan for him to live here in Canterlot in his own residence for the time being," the king answers. "He'll have a cover story, and we'll provide him the necessary bits he'll require. His main duty will be to assist you on any matters involving interactions with other changelings you may encounter."

"That is good to hear, but it still feels a bit too soon. We won't have a place for him to conduct business for some time, and even then, there will be the matter of dealing with other ponies that will either, at best, want to have words with him, or at worst, attempt to commit an outright assault against him."

"Aulus is well aware of the danger that is posed by his position, and he accepts the risks involved. As for the possibility of being attacked, he is trained in how to defend himself, as well as how to deescalate a situation. I trust him to be able to handle whatever comes his way, and to carry out his duties efficiently and with honor."

Celestia wishes to counter his argument with an idea that will make him reconsider, but she can think of nothing.

"My sister and I will discuss the arrangements that will allow him to perform his duties here in the castle," Luna tells Apidae, "but it will be some time before he may have an office on castle grounds. We will do our best to accommodate him, but if you would please tell him to come find Dionices and have her bring him to us, it would be appreciated. There are some things we would like to discuss with him directly."

"I shall see to it," Apidae responds with a bow. When he rises again, he is smiling.

"I thank you, princesses, for helping to make the dream I have carried for so long finally come to fruition."

Celestia smiles in return, but hers is much sadder. "It is a grand dream, but it will be some time before it is fully realized."

"Our efforts are working to make it so, and with each moment we work together in cooperation, the closer it comes to being reality."

Apidae turns to his advisors and gives them a nod, which they return.

"And now, we must be going. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, my advisors and I thank you for your hospitality, your understanding, and your kindness. May the maker smile upon you always, and may you and your subjects prosper from here to eternity."

"May the maker smile on you as well," Celestia returns, "and may you and your subjects prosper from here to eternity."

The king smiles and nods, and with no further fanfare, he and the three of his entourage returning with him depart the throne room and castle.

Author's Note:

This is not the last chapter in the story, but this does conclude the initial meeting between Equestria and the Dragonlands Changeling Hive. In just two days, the group have accomplished a great deal, having hashed out and signed a formal treaty, and King Apidae appointing his ambassador to Equestria. Only the future can tell what will happen between the now-allies.

For those who are not in the know, I have replaced A Business Lunch, Part II with a whole new version of the chapter, so please check that out.

Comments

[ChakatRedstripe]

Good story so far!

[midnight arrow]

love the chapter