A Meeting Of Royalty
"Please, have a seat," Celestia said to Queen Papilio, gesturing toward the cushion opposite herself. Papilio did so.
"It's good to see you again, Princess," Papilio said as Celestia used her magic to slide a steaming cup of tea toward her. They were in a small meeting room in Canterlot Castle, at one end of which was a window overlooking the city. In the center was the circular table at which they sat.
"And you too, Queen," said Celestia, levitating her own teacup. "How have things been at The Hive? Are your reforms making progress?"
"Well..." Papilio shuffled her hooves and looked down. "I'm afraid I'm still having problems."
"Chin up, dear," Celestia said. "A ruler's job is never done. Problems will always arise. It's up to you to face them as a ruler should."
Papilio nodded, then looked Celestia in the eyes. She had to look up to do so. Papilio's body was still changing and growing into the figure of a changeling queen; now she was just slightly taller than a normal drone, her horn a bit more crooked, and the shadows of pupils forming in her eyes. Eventually, she would stand level with Celestia.
"I've been working nonstop to make pod leaders and Cluster Commanders stop being cruel towards the common drones," Papilio said, "but a lot of them didn't listen. I'm doing the best I can to find the troublemakers, but I can't be everywhere at once. The abuse is such a normal part of life that the changelings I can trust have their hooves full trying to verify every reported case.
"If we find a leader or a Commander that continues to abuse those under their command, I demote them to a common drone, then shuffle them off to a different pod or Cluster so that their former subordinates don't take revenge on them. Cluster Thirty-Two has proven useful for penal purposes when full imprisonment isn't warranted, though obviously I've taken every measure to ensure that the drones there aren't thrown into danger like they used to be."
Queen Papilio squared her shoulders. "I'm pleased to be able to tell you that a few months after that, complaints of abuse have dropped dramatically. It would seem that the newly-promoted pod leaders and Cluster Commanders aren't especially eager to beat and starve their friends, and that the ones who haven't been removed realize that the old excesses will cost them their titles now."
Celestia nodded. "It sounds like things are going very well. What troubles you?"
Papilio, who was taking a drink of tea, guided her cup to its plate. "The drones who are leaving The Hive. That's not a problem in itself, of course. I myself gave them the freedom to leave if they find that they aren't suited for our way of life. What worries me is who is leaving."
She began to rotate her teacup on its plate. "Many of those leaving are particularly cruel pod leaders and Cluster Commanders, along with former members of Cluster Five, internal security." Her gaze dropped for a second. "We were all afraid of Cluster Five. They could do things to us that even our pod leaders couldn't get away with, and they would jump on any excuse, too. They locked away one of my friends for years, and I never found out why. I didn't even know she was still alive until after my coronation, when I visited the cells myself to free prisoners.
"Now, it's not as though I'll terribly miss what they contributed to The Hive. In fact, if they leave, that should make things easier for the rest of us. The problem is that I don't think they're going to travel to some faraway land to retire in peace. They want the old Hive back. They want to be in power again, where they can terrorize my drones like they used to. I have this terrible feeling that they'll start an insurgency."
"Your fears are reasonable," Celestia said with a nod. "It's unfortunate that easing the burden on your drones by letting them travel and change pods has also made it easier for those addicted to cruelty to try to take their revenge."
Papilio frowned. "You aren't saying I should take that away from them again, are you?"
"No, I don't think that will be necessary," Celestia said. "There are other ways we can ensure no harm befalls your subjects. You're still monitoring arrivals to The Hive, correct?"
"With the help of the unicorn guards you provided to un-disguise changelings coming in, yes."
"And I assume you're keeping track of which drones are leaving, since you were able to tell me that most of them were from Cluster Five?"
"I didn't think to start keeping records right away." Papilio almost looked down, but caught herself. "I have some, though. Many, in fact. Enough to make it difficult if they try to sneak their way back in, I'm sure."
"Then we have at least one line of defense," said Celestia. "In a situation as volatile as this, though, we need more. How would the intelligence agents that are loyal to you feel about working with ours in the Royal Guard?"
Papilio smiled. "They're good drones. For the good of The Hive, they'll do it."
"Then we'll arrange a meeting as soon as possible and figure out what our agents can accomplish together," Celestia said.
"Of course," said Papilio. She took a swig from her teacup. "I think it's a good plan. Now, there's one more issue I wanted to bring up while I was here. You remember my plan to broaden the larvae's education program, right?"
"Yes, I remember." Celestia frowned. "Is that going alright?"
"It's too early to tell how well they're learning. By all reports, though, it's properly started. I've taken the curriculum some of your educators have helped us write, and I've had it distributed to the creche-nurses, and they've been given training on education techniques."
Papilio took her teacup in her magic grip and slowly began to rock it back and forth. "The creche-nurses are, of course, good with the children, and more knowledgeable about a lot of academic subjects than most changelings. The problem is that even they don't have a lot compared to most ponies. There are many subjects they likely won't understand well enough to effectively teach, especially areas like the sciences and the arts.
"Beyond that, I've brought a lot of new drones to the creches who obviously aren't as experienced as the longtime nurses." She glanced down. "Those poor larvae never did get enough attention under Chrysalis." She caught a hint of a frown on Celestia's face.
"All in all, it's a large problem," Papilio continued. "I think I've figured out how to correct that without relying on pony teachers, though."
The teacup rattled to a stop. "Not that I have a problem with them!" she said, the words tumbling out. "It's just that I don't think most changelings are ready to trust the larvae to ponies, and I don't want to risk their safety or stir up tensions more than I have to!"
"Be calm, Papilio," Celestia said, rapping the table with her hoof. "You can't start tripping over yourself every time you're afraid you misspoke. Remember, a smooth recovery can make a mistake almost disappear."
"Oh, yes! Of course!" Papilio said. Catching herself, she looked confidently at Celestia. "I mean, I understand. I'll remember that."
Celestia smiled. "So, what was your idea?"
"Well," Papilio said, "there is one group of drones that had to learn diverse skills that aren't normally taught in The Hive. Skills ranging from farming to physics, from painting to engineering. I'm referring, of course, to our infiltrators." She saw what looked like a glint of understanding in Celestia's eyes.
"We wanted spies with as many roles in pony society as we could manage," Papilio continued. "And to play those roles convincingly, they needed to learn the skills involved. With how things have changed between The Hive and Equestria, they'll be wanting for a new purpose. This will give it to them while preparing our teachers to pass them to my children." She drained the last bit of tea from her cup and looked at Celestia expectantly.
"That sounds like a workable plan," Celestia said, nodding. "I still think there would be benefit to pony scholars assisting in the matter, though. Though I'm sure your drones are quite skilled in their fields, knowing how to teach others is an important and distinct talent."
"A joint effort, then," Papilio said. "I can hardly refuse that." There was a brief silence during which Papilio's eyes briefly strayed from Celestia.
"Is there anything else you'd like to discuss while I'm here?" she asked. "I can't think of any other outstanding issues I wanted advice on."
"Oh, don't let me keep you," Celestia said, smiling reassuringly. "You're a busy mare now. If you have nothing further to discuss, feel free to leave."
With that, she set aside her plate and teacup. Taking this as her cue, Papilio stood up, and Celestia followed. "It was nice to see you again, Queen Papilio. I wish you the best of luck in leading your kingdom."
"And you as well," said Papilio with a nod. With that, she turned and left, ready to guide her people to a happier, better chapter of their lives.
THE END
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Huh, so this tale is at it's end. What a good run it was.
That was unexpected
Ooh, this story continues!!! It was a good chapter. Nice to actually see Queen Papilio. At least, I don't remember seeing her before, but it's been awhile since I've read the fic.
Can't they do it themselves?
What are creche nurses?
I am assuming that means that the wannabe changeling teachers will be teaching them on how to teach? Damn tongue twisters.
“THE END”, huh?
I think you forgot to mark this as complete… unless there’s an epilogue coming that we’ll be waiting the next four months for.
5465057
No. Changelings have almost no magic beyond their ability to transform.
They're nurses who work in creches. Neither of those is a made-up word.
Excellent. Though probably best to not keep putting The End at the ends unless you mean it for the full story. XD But, other than that, another excellent chapter.^^
i like that you show a later on chapter to see how things are going
5465106 Sorry I am just greek and don't know every english word.
Well that's... that makes the horn redundant right? Except for stabbing.
Sorry I know it is more likely through watching the show that it is true but I like to think that the whole scene with the changelings and the mane 6 was more likely to be an act of...
Crushing hope. Failed true but anyways... I am derailing. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Its finished? It doesn't say that on the overview.
5465091 Oops, yeah, sorry. No further chapters. It's marked complete now.
Absolutely love this after reading the 2nd chapter I transferred this from read later to favorites
5465106 Also couldn't she built like wards with those spells of hers so that they don't have them tampered with?
One more thing... would evolution eventually lead changelings to activate magic within them?
Very nice, Mr. Man.
B-b-b-but... I-It's the l-l-last chapter though...
5465198
It's not that much different than what America did to Japan at the end of WWII, except that Equestria didn't NUKE the changelings before doing it.
Also, I'd argue the changelings are currently in no position to choose their own leader given that Chrysalis intentionally kept them uneducated and such, and they are currently very badly misinformed about the world.
5465274 Yes, the changelings are terribly misinformed. Not at all like the enlightened North Koreans, whose divine leader rides a unicorn and is so holy he doesn't even crap!
5465198 It's not like there was truly a leader out there that could possibly make things better. If anything from what is suggested it is likely that though a puppet Papillio is an improvement.
The thing is however that leaders in the changeling community at least in this story aren't voted upon rather they get chosen once by the previous Queen and it goes on and on and on. A recipe for disaster if you ask me.
It is likely that Chrysalis was a product of said disaster inevitably waiting to happen.
I don't agree with it either. It is the writers' headcanon. But this is a quite frankly... simple story. Things are waaaaaay too simple. As if the ideas in this fic are played safe from every point of view. Changelings carnivores, few numbers so ponies can handle them, simple "Integrate with pony society" story.
Quite frankly I think Celestia in this fic has her OOC moments and moments where I think she's a pretentious dick. This may sound harsh for you but you are free to say it is my opinion. I do not wish to start a comment war here.
I also don't think the way Celestia approached the subject to Chrysalis was the right one. She wanted her co-operation yet she spouted a speech that was like saying "This is all your fault allow your people to move on..." while she may be in the bad you'd think Celestia would take it more lightly and not anger her in this point risking her "going mule".
This is a simple fic that describes an integration with pony society rendering them ((at least in most cases)) innocent. That may not be true fully but I still don't feel that as a fic this offers something more than a better written material. Which is why I disliked it. i favorited it nonetheless and read it but I do not agree with it in many cases.
Despite disliking it you need to agree this was a well written story. And one that is regardless worth reading regardless of like/dislike.
5465307
Given how Chrysalis was treating her subjects, I think it's safe to say there isn't a great deal of national pride among most changelings. But also, again, "if someone comes to the USA, blah, blah, blah". Once again, I point out that the USA did the same damn thing to Japan, only worse, because they nuked Japan first.
5465398
Easy to say when you are sitting comfortably in front of a computer away from any danger.
5465307 Please tell that to nations around the times where Austria ruled Europe. Around the Napoleontic wars. Or the time they put Othon as a ruler of my country Greece. WE had to tolerate it because if we didn't they'd cut our heads off.
Thing is however this fic is an approximation of this but in a "nobler" way. Per say. It's not meant to be a perfect ending.
5465369 Given how the system of ruling was how it was and how this was practically a recipe for disaster you think Chrysalis is the source of the trouble? Granted she's bad and all but don't tell me that she wasn't feeding/supporting a system that already had the potential to screw things up ((and hand't done so already)).
5465410 #COMMENTwarDRAMA
5465398
5465427
You place too much value on the objection to being ruled by another. The majority of people couldn't care less who is ruling them as long as their lives are good / improving. You could put a horse in the White House and if people's lives are good, or better yet, improving, the majority of people are not going to care that a horse is president of the United States. They are only going to care if their lives start getting worse.
5465425
I'm not saying she wasn't. The system has likely been bad for a very long time. Which is all the more reason for Celestia doing what she did. At this point in time, there is absolutely no way that the changelings are going to be able to fix things without outside help. They've been broken for too long, the changelings themselves have been intentionally kept ignorant for too long, and they simply don't have the capability to fix things without outside help right now.
In a few years, once things have stabilized and the changelings are on their way to being educated and informed, they might be in a position to choose their own rulers and forge their own destiny. But right now, they aren't.
5465474
What's good for us is fairly objective, actually. What's good for us is low unemployment, low crime, good education, and so on. If people are happy and secure in their job, they have access to the services and entertainment they want, they don't have to worry about crime, and so on, then chances are they are going to be happy, and they aren't really going to care who their ruler is. They are only going to care when things start going badly.
5465464
Where did you get the idea that ponies are trying to take away their home? Celestia hasn't disturbed things very much. It's not like she forced them to make radical social or structural reforms. The only thing she really did is stop them from preying on ponies and also, encourage them to stop some of the abuses of changelings that were going on in the pods. However, their social structure is still the same. They still have pods, etc.
Glad to hear that things are improving at the Hive, though these rogues could be a problem. Papilo seems like a good Queen, albeit an inexperienced one. Let's hope there's a sequel!
Ouch I've gone through the pain if the end of this story more than once. Not fun, it's happy at first for another chapter and painful again.
2747342
What's with all the Pincers anyway?
Wow, I'm so glad that you finally completed this fic! I'm not sure why I enjoy stories with emotional anguish like this... But you really nailed it XD
5466092 The techniques they use on Pincer are actually very similar to deprogramming treatments for victims of cults in the real world. It may seem like brainwashing, but when an idea gets very deeply rooted in a person's brain, you have to really dig to get them to seriously rethink it.
5465454 #lunaforpresident #newlunarrepublic Elect a leader who can do something about climate change herself!
I can't decide whether the the ending was open or completely closed.
But I definitely won't mind more if it comes
5466151 I did some research and it doesn't seem that bad. I mean sure it's like brain washing people but yea, I think it's the best way to get brainwashed.
5466407 where'd you find out that it was a bet with luna and chrysalis?
5466517
Ok, I'm not normally one to go jumping into arguments, but this...
First off, debates like this one would have been better done in private after they've gone and lost relevance to the story. This one kind of has. Secondly, I don't care how frustrated you are with anything. Calling someone a dumb ass when they've taken the time to explain their point of view is both rude and indicative of a lack of tact, intellect. and the grace to come to some form of compromise. Obviously its not really my place to comment on this, but I seriously want to find you and slap you a good one. Did no one ever teach you etiquette for debate?
5465483
Thank you, truly, for providing your point of view in a structured manner. You raise a good point and one that provokes a bit of thought. I wish to apologize on behalf of all rational people for the insult paid to you by Luna Secret Stallion. It was uncalled for on his/her part.
5466517
I'm curious to know what about his statements was so dumb. If you could explain that to me, instead of simply calling someone a dumbass, I'd appreciate it. To me Moonrise's post seemed a fairly accurate representation of the general behaviour of a populace.
5466593 If thats true why hasn't it come to be? Thats not what we want or it would have happened. Don't tell me because we can't do it or you have no reason to agree if so. Why would we want someone thing we can't have? I know what I want a home food and companionship. Anything else is a bonus so when you say we want all of what he said then you really are crazy and not normal crazy.
5466657 Why'd you delete your entire conversation? I'm curious :C
Yaaaaaaaay