Despite Tailslide's plans for the evening, they did not fly to the lake. Thankfully this wasn't the one hidden high in the mountains, requiring many hours of difficult trek up into the wilderness. A wide road led directly out of Agate, along the bank of a slow-moving river.
There was little in the way of boat traffic, only the occasional narrow barge laden with crates of whatever ponies floated out of Agate. The captain of one waved to them as he floated past, and Amie waved back.
Amie was used to carrying heavy saddlebags by now, using bodies that weren't designed for it. One of these days she would use an earth pony, and everything would be simple. But nothing Amie ever did was simple, and that wasn't going to start today.
"Let me know if you want me to take a turn," Tailslide said, as they reached the lake. "I don't expect you to carry everything yourself."
"They work you hard enough at your job," she argued, skipping out of his reach. "Besides, it's not as much as you think. A tent, a sleeping bag, and a single bottle of wine. How heavy do you think that stuff really is?" And a gun. But hopefully she never had to use that on anypony. She had a pretty good track record going so far.
"A sleeping bag," he repeated. "Are you trying to insinuate something, Amie?"
She lifted one wing toward him, grinning. "Oh, definitely. If there's any reason you don't want to date an absolute disaster, we can still turn around. Doesn't look like they locked the gate yet."
Tailslide led them along the lake, to an old dock. It was entirely abandoned, though there were several recreational boats tied up there. Rowboats mostly, though there was a single sailboat larger than the rest. "They use the honor system," he explained, as they stepped up onto the dock. "Just toss a few bits in there, and we can pick one. I'd suggest the sailboat, if I knew how to use it."
"I do," she said, tossing a few metal coins from her pack into the waiting bucket. "Those others are too small anyway. I don't want to tip over."
They loaded into the sailboat. Amie made sure he was secure, then untied from the dock, pushing them out across the water. "This lake looks pretty big from my map," she said. "Can we sail the whole thing? I'd love to get some distance."
The air was chilly over the lake, but that was expected. It was always colder on the water.
"Far as I know," he answered. The boat was larger than anything Stella Lacus had—not quite big enough to have anything belowdecks, but big enough for a little kitchen area in back for preparing meals, then a slightly recessed area with benches below the waterline. Tailslide rested in one of these, though he kept his wings spread at all times. "Guess it's a good thing you're a bat, if we're sailing after dark."
She let out the sail, then took the line in her mouth, guiding them away from the road, and the dock, and civilization in general.
The lake was beautiful by sunset, illuminating a mountainous countryside empty and natural all around it. That meant more privacy, though it did seem like a shame. This place would make for a gorgeous property to build a lakefront home.
"How'd you learn how to sail?" he asked, leaning one leg off the railing. The usual mountain breeze was more than enough to keep them moving, though it would be tacking against it to head home. "Is that a usual bug thing?"
How much further should she take them? There was a cove off in the distance, with a high rock wall on one side and nice shallow water beneath. How long since Amie had a real morning swim?
"We weren't bugs before, remember?" She raised the sail again, then lobbed their anchor over the side. They came to a stop maybe twenty meters from either shore, right in the center of the cove. A perfect place to watch the sunset. "Small boat sailing is one of the things we teach at camp. I taught it one year, but it wasn't my favorite. I like climbing better."
She sat down beside him, then fished around inside the backpack. She removed the bottle, settling it down in front of them. "I don't... know if I can drink this. You might have to enjoy it for both of us."
He picked it up with one wing, showing off a little more of that impressive pony dexterity. He turned it over, then settled it back down in front of them. "Are you sure... about all this?" He met her eyes for a second, then turned away just as quickly.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked. "I've been single for..." She counted out the months in her mind since Harvey. "Half a year. When I first appeared here looking like a... freak, I was glad I didn't have anything else complicating things. But the longer I'm here, the more I see how hard it all is. The responsibility sucks, but it would suck a lot less if I had someone backing me up. Someone I could count on being there for me on those nights when I just don't want to think anymore."
Tailslide wrapped one wing around her shoulder. The mountain breeze was cold, but not cold enough to penetrate his wings. "When I asked you," he finally said. "I just wanted to make sure this wasn't about debt. I don't expect you to repay me for helping you. A relationship that starts so tilted will never balance out, and just leave everypony unhappy."
Amie shook her head. "I'm not out here because I think I owe you. I saved your life, you saved mine. We're square, so far as I see it. I like you. You were brave enough to fight monsters, but... smart enough to see when we weren't. And principled enough that you refused to do something you know is wrong. Who am I going to run into who's better than all that?"
Tailslide nodded. "Just so long as we know what we're getting into, here. I... can't really do anything to make Equestria hate me more. Dating a bug..."
Amie shifted her weight closer to him. Being a bat gave her excellent senses, but her wings were also covered in naked skin. The cold was doing her no favors. Once she was comfortable, she took out a pair of metal camping glasses, and poured.
Amie was just old enough to drink in the first place. Her Rent-a-Friend apartment had come furnished with this stuff, she didn't know the first thing about choosing it. Strangely, it didn't smell rotten like so many other foods. Maybe that was a good sign?
"One last chance for you to get off this boat and fly to safety," she continued, settling the cup into his grip. He held it with his wing, and didn't spill. Somehow. "I've only ever dated people with two legs before. I have no idea what pony customs for this stuff look like. And when the sun comes up tomorrow, only God knows what's gonna happen to me. I'm already twisted up in contracts, I've got a whole little hive of kids to take care of. I don't expect your help with all that, but you are gonna have to deal with me."
He sipped from the glass. "I stayed in Agate so I could help save your tribe, Amie. If I didn't want to, I'd already be back in Cloudsdale."
"Great." Amie lifted her own glass in both forelegs, and sipped. It tasted nothing like she remembered, though there were familiar hints of grapes buried under a whole new species’s worth of flavors. It wasn't bad, just different enough that it would take her some getting used to.
"Mhmmm." She got halfway through the glass before setting it down, with Tailslide watching her every sip.
"I thought changelings couldn't eat," he asked, after a few minutes. "You sure that's a good idea?"
"It's definitely not. But sometimes that's the point. I want to save my friends, but I want to live too. Am I allowed to do both?"
"I can't give you orders," Tailslide said. "But I'm in favor."
It wasn't the craziest night Amie had ever had, or the most romantic. But it was hard to beat watching the sunset in the mountains. Recent developments to her diet and anatomy certainly didn't hurt the whole situation.
If there was some part of her whispering that she was only moving so quickly because her brain was rewired, and she shouldn't even be interested in aliens in such a short time—it was a small voice, one easily silenced by the abundance she enjoyed out on that boat.
It was so much more than the trickle of nutrition she had while disguised as Rain Fly with Ivy. Looking like a pony wasn't a lie with Tailslide, it was just a fashion choice. She could pick other things, and maybe she would, down the road. So long as he knew who was underneath, Amie would still reap all the benefits.
She told herself being a changeling was secondary to her experiences that night. She wasn't hungry, she didn't need food. What Amie really needed was someone to hold her for a while, someone to tell her that everything would be okay. Someone strong enough that she didn't have to wonder if they could do it.
Amie slept soundly that night, really slept, for the first time since Transit. It didn't matter what terrors were waiting for her when she got back, or the mantle of responsibility over a thousand bugs. For one night, on one boat, she could put all that aside.
It was also the first time she dreamed, more vividly than she could remember at any point in her human life. Her mind wandered through vast, subterranean spaces, caverns excavated with hooves and teeth. The shapes were alien to her, but also somehow comfortable and familiar. The maze served a purpose, a descending series of teardrop-shaped rooms, connected by a tunnel. Figures crawled up and down, so vast that she couldn't count them.
Even so, they welcomed her, by smells or gestures. This was her home too, even in near-total darkness. She navigated by smell, following trails others had left.
Down into the largest room of all, its walls covered with a waxy honeycomb of many cells. There were thousands of eggs, either tucked away into waiting alcoves to grow, or tended to by a throng of hardworking insects.
Finally she reached the bottom, where a throne of wax sat against the wall. Around it were familiar objects—books she had read, a few old family portraits stuck to the wall, repainted in oil at much larger sizes.
Eggs surrounded the throne, some still wet with greenish mucus. They obviously hadn't come from the one in the chair.
She was the tallest creature Amie had ever seen, except for the Rent-a-Friend's resident hippogriff. Her coat was deep blue, and her eyes as sharp as swords.
"A new queen arrives in Equestria," she said, setting something down on the throne beside her. Amie's phone, with a slideshow of her camp photos scrolling through it. "What kind of creature is she? What curse will she bring on Equestria?"
Amie didn't want to look like a bug anymore—so in the way of dreams, she didn't. Suddenly she was a bat. The body might be new to her, but the way she'd used it also supplied Amie with permanence in a way only Rain Fly's could've done. But that wasn't the form she took. Rain Fly would've run from pressure like this. The bat was still Amie—she would defy it.
"I don't want to curse anyone,” she said. "I don't want to build... this place. I don't want to rule anything, or control anyone."
"You speak as the master of liars," said the towering pony. Up close, Amie saw more frightening details—she had wings as well as a horn, something she'd never seen in Agate. There was something special about these creatures, though she didn't exactly know what. Maybe if she was awake she would've remembered. "Yet even now, you wrap yourself in a lie. Why should we ever believe you? You search for a meal, and you find it. You don't care the harm you do in the process."
"I'm not harming anyone," she argued, defiant. This burrow might feel familiar and safe, but it wasn't what she wanted. Amie willed it away, and something took its place. Cabins on a lake—a little like Stella Lacus, but not temporary this time. A street ran between them, a little town filled with bugs.
She populated the vision with campers she knew, as she imagined them when they grew up. If the camp counselors could do their job and keep them safe, maybe one day they'd build somewhere better. There were even ponies visiting, joining the locals for waterskiing, or buying snacks on the lake.
Amie didn't understand what she was doing, or how. But the effort cost her, and soon left her panting. No part of the hive remained, except the waxy throne directly in front of her, where the pony sat in judgment.
"I'm not what you think," Amie said. "I'm not the queen of anything. I'm not here to curse or conquer. I just want to keep my kids safe. And if I can figure out how—get them home."
The pony stood from her throne, surveying Amie's vision. When she finally spoke, her voice was softer now. She wasn't shouting anymore. "If that is so, then fate has dealt you the cruelest card of all. Your desire for peace will be swallowed in your instinct for dominion. You will never give to any creature, only take from them. You may not wish to harm—you may not even wish to take. You will anyway, because it is in your nature.
"Wherever you go, ruin will follow. One who destroys cannot build. First you must feed a thousand. Then you will birth a thousand more. Your future is tragic… and your end, inevitable."
With that pronouncement, the vision ended, and Amie woke with a start.
Oh shit, Luna?? And what she said was totally not ominous.
Oh dear... Sounds like Luna has a history here
Damn Luna harse
Well, damn. That ain't a good sign. Is Luna going only by what she knows of Chrysalis? She may be judging Amie on limited knowledge…
But yes, still quite ominous nonetheless.
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Or maybe that's how changeling queen instincts work.
That sounded like a threat...
Recently Luna made a not very flattering appearance in Sisters of Willowbrook, and now here she comes in this story as well. News flash to her: lots of ponies don't produce anything and only take from others, and there's nowhere better to find those parasites than in Canterlot. Chase them away like how ponies chase the changelings away, then you can chill on your moral high ground.
Whelp there goes princess luna digging a deeper hole
You can't just say that and not have me expect that that's precisely what will happen.
Luna seems quite overly hostile even to newly arrived changelings. But I don't think she knows about Wes, about what changelings could become.
Let's hope that Amie can avoid that fate. It's clear that she is becoming a queen but her will might be strong enough that she can resist the instincts. Of course if she manages to become like her brother there will be no more issue.
Well tbf most changeling queens don't have a rent a friend empire in the works.
I feel like Princess Luna may speak the truth but it doesn't necessary spell doom to Amie.
Reason 1: the orange tribe, so far, called the other tribe specifically as "invaders", which makes them seem more peaceful that Luna gave credit to. Now we don't know if Luna know orange tribe, since she reached Amie so easily, it's unknown if she know at least 2+ changeling queens to really deduce how bad is this 'instinct'.
Reason 2: Wes, sweet, kind Wes. We never saw what sharing love do to changeling queen in canon, but there's hope that Wes can help his sister.While I said Princess Luna might not really understand changelings, I feel like the instinct will be very real. Still I'm sure Wes will bring change to the world and his tribe.
Also one thing I feel like why Luna might have not really understand changelings... the dream she woven for Amie, the mucus is green. As Chrysalis' color. I feel like Amie's tribe could produce ehhh blue ones? I forgot the color of Amie's tribe.Edit: ok I was rereading and found out Chrysalis' color is coded blue while Stella Lacus is green. It was quite confusing as canon changeling magic was green.Though speaking from another side... it's understandable after a country's invasion that Princess Luna is so suspicious. I wouldn't judge too hard on her as only us readers have this part of perspective.
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from what she said she knows about how the changlings arrive and that they are confused and act out of desporation. So this means luna knowingly left potental innocent beings to starve and did not communicate this to the guards meaning that any death on both sides can be attributed to luna actions.
I wonder what would happen if this info was made public? That luna has and does done this in the past most likely
I wouldn't believe the vision, Amie
Luna you fool
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I personally don't think it was Luna, but could be wrong.
I can't really tell if Amie got to meet Luna or a Changeling queen in her hivemind. She seems to know about how their biology works.
Amie would probably assume the dream was weird and not magic in nature.
This Luna is why ponies preferred celestia a thousand years ago
Chrysalis is jealous I think, or Luna is just a mean in this timeline
Lovely bit of dramatic irony there given Wes. Luna's warning could prove to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, but Amie knows there's another path than the one walked by those who came before her. Heck, defying these claims about her nature may provide the inspiration needed for Amie to metamorphose.
Of course, that requires Luna to not alert the local armed forces about the new queen in their midst. We'll see what happens next.
luna can stuff her Professe where her sisters sun dose't shine -.-
ore that really was one of the other queen's
Assuming this is Luna... she apparently knows more than what she has let on. It's possible that she only believes these things to be true of Queens- because assuming that Thorax is possibly known at this point, he's regarded as an exception, and is not a Queen, besides. It stands to reason that the transformation is possible for all changelings, including Queens- but we never got to see that happen in canon, so it's hard to say for sure whether or not that is true. We never saw any other changelings, either, for that matter; and it seems implied that various changelings feed on various emotions, not just love. (I wonder what Pa'chua and his tribe eat...? Speaking of, does his tribe have a Queen? How many changelings does Luna know about, exactly? Who all is she monitoring? Or can she only contact Queens in this way? She surely doesn't know about Wes just yet.)
If this is not actually Luna (tho this is a bit doubtful, since a newly transported hive has little reason to even know who she is), then Chrysalis (the other major contender) has a sympathetic, if ultimately quite grim, view on the destiny of her species, and Queens in particular. I dunno that she'd have all that much care or forethought, though. It seems more likely that Luna has extensive knowledge of changelings, but only of Chrysalis's hive, specifically. In any case, it seems she intends to eradicate them, sooner or later- or at least, eradicate Amie, due to the perceived threat she poses to the safety of Equestria. I really hope that this isn't gonna be one of those stories where the protagonist tries so hard, makes it so far, only for them to lose their minds and/or get slaughtered in the end of things. Those kinds of stories don't seem very satisfying to me at all...
Damn Luna, pulling the evil is in your nature card, eh?
Also very curious on why she visited a changeling dream. Is it only possible when a changeling is in a non-changeling form or because Amie is in Equestria or because she's just interested.
Heh, my dear sweet naïve Luna. If there's one thing you know not about humans is that we like to like to exceed expectations—even our own. A few years before the Wright's brothers first flight, society said that we'll never fly in forever. Many thought that journey to the heavens was just a pipe dream, but Apollo 11 had done it. If humans are determined, we can overcome almost anything. Amie will find a way to be a skittlebug like Wes. Not a matter of may but a matter of will.
I don't know whether to say "pot and kettle" to Luna.
She was once upon a time a villain who tried to usurp her own sister.
But...she might have some personal baggage with the Changelings and such things are not easily forgotten, no matter how benevolent you may be.
Some theories going around that it's either Luna or Chrysalis. Either way, somebody knows about Amie now and the camp.
Still, I have the confidence Amie can beat her instincts. She reworked her dreamscape to fit her camp, and there's still Wes.
well crap..
and yet this is not right.
this is not Luna this is something else.
Ahh, good old Race Realism. I guess pointy hoods fit well over horns.
If that was actually Luna, she's in sore need of a reality check. Moonbutt assumes too much.
Somehow I doubt Luna actually has the knowledge to make those claims on the “nature” of changelings. Methinks she has simply generalized from her understanding of Chrysalis’s nature. Pachu’a didn’t even speak of a Queen himself, he was talking about “Elders” with a capital E. Amie has certainly felt more protective about her people, but she hasn’t turned greedy.
Well, we can say that this meeting could have gone MUCH worse than it did.
But anyway, I can't wait for Amie to rub Luna's words in her face.
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Well here’s the thing the campers aren’t human anymore. They are dealing with instincts and feelings that weren’t possible as a human .
Everything even their brains have changed
Idk about the hate for Luna . The alicorns are supposed to be thousands of years old.
A lot can happen even in a century.
What’s to say that they seen this happen before in the past. Though it seems new human turned changelings haven’t appeared in a long time
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Yes, while they are no longer biologically human, mentally they still are. Remember the search party meant to find Amie was ambushed by Tailslide's group still used guns. They have the knowledge and showed the human adaptability on using guns with hooves. I myself have no idea how they did that, but I haven't been morphed into a changeling so I don't know.
Looking back, there's a lot of people here not loving Luna's display of her prejudice, but now my biggest fear here is that the story might move to make her point valid. If it does, I'll be upset.
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The thing is people on this site in fanfics say humans are adaptable and can use tools but that would also mean the same for ponies for them to become sentient and sapient.
They also had their Stone Age, they also adapted in a world full of equally intelligent carnivores and competitors .They are already speed running certain aspects of development with magic .
Even some animals that are considered intelligent use tools like crows , and some apes, .
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I don't think it's very likely to be honest. The obvious reason is that we have Wes, and it's also worth pointing out that so far there's nothing that suggests changelings really need that much love to sustain themselves. Stella Lacus went without love for months without mass loss of lives, and it seems Pachu'a's hive was also in a stable condition without causing troubles for ponies. Luna kind of suggested that changelings would multiply extremely fast, which could be a problem, but again, we haven't seen any evidence of that. I don't remember whether Starscribe mentioned how changelings reproduce in the story. Maybe they can't reproduce without a queen, which would make Amie's new status quite concerning, but it's not like she's already feeling some uncontrollable desire or anything. From what we've seen so far Luna's accusations are pretty baseless. She was thinking about orcs from Lord of the Rings.
Also, I haven't read too many Starscribe stories but my impression is that in their stories the protagonist(s) generally can justify their actions.
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That's what made us special, we've no magic to bring us progress. What brings us progress is our violent nature—war, conflict and chaos. As gruesome as the Hiroshima and Nagasaki detonation went, it taught humans that nuclear fission can power up cities too, thus the nuclear reactors and nuclear energy for the spaceprobes, Voyager 1 and 2. V2 Rockets used to bombard London in WW2 invented by Wernher von Braun who was one of the main scientists for the Apollo 11 mission. We evolved from apes.
Apes don't do that, apes make simple homes and simple weapons, they can throw big rocks but we physically can't thus we invented trebuchet and catapults. When throwing rocks can't reach far enough we invented bows and arrows and eventually developed into rifles. Apes didn't invent bows to throw projectiles, crows didn't invent fighter-bombers to drop rocks on people or invent pipes that can go upstream, they just use rocks to make use of Archimedes' principle. Animals invented nothing, we invented everything. Animals are adaptable but we are more adaptable than them by a longshot.
Earth Pony magic brought more crop yield, unicorn magic made production line easier, pegasi weather manipulation brought more crop yield and avoid natural disasters like hurricanes and typhoons. We had to invent fertiliser for more crop yield and we did it in the 19th Century and we had no weather manipulation, thus crop failure is common. Yet, 1000 years under Celestia's rule, they got as far as the steam engine, ponies had this ability from the very beginning and they remain united since the Three Tribes got together and never again divided(unless if we consider Season 9). It's in their Biology. We don't have that, all we have is a brain each to bring us forward, which the ponies also have. Yet, it took us less than a century when we learnt to fly to get us to the moon. We've done this out of nothing but survival, greed, violence and power. From it, we birthed innovation and invent various machines and production and governance systems. No magic. No immortal Princesses to guide us. Divided as ever, modern than ever.
Just to clarify, I do not—in any way, condone war, it is destructive. I'm just saying that we managed to get this far even with wars that was supposed to drive us into extinction by killing our own species, but we didn't go extinct, we thrived.
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Still they just use whats natural for them plus they are only at their medieval stage , magic allowed them to advance in medicine agriculture and transportation.
Plus they basically avoided some very stupid mistakes humanity did .
The campers were changed physically and mentally yes they have their knowledge but now they are in bodies they don’t understand.
If an adult turns into a child they will have the knowledge and memories but they will regress mentally into a child
Same thing with the campers they have the knowledge to shoot or survive in the wilderness but now they need entirely different things to survive .
And unfortunately they don’t have that knowledge currently which is making them more violent and falling to their predatory instincts.
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Thankfully, Albrecht is still somewhat sane, he has finally seen that Amie isn't up to no good. Though, they might be just words. Fine words butter no parsnips as they say.
Since Wes can eat as well, clearly he is also a beautiful changeling queen.
I know this is referring to changelings, but if you told me this quote was from an environmentalist fic about humanity destroying anything it touches I believe it. In other words I don't think she would be less skeptical even if Amie was a human.
All I'm thinking of is
Oh boy, we've got Luna! And what an eye opener it is.
She starts out angry - and frankly, I don't blame her. Even the relatively friendly hives still call ponies prey - do we really think pachau'a's hive DOESN'T keep ponies as livestock with that kind of language? Her skepticism is warranted. Thankfully, she took the time to talk - even if it was probably initially intended as an effort to flood her dreams with nightmares.
Amie's planted the seed. She now needs to lay low, and try to get Luna on-side. Build atop the doubt she's created in her. Luna's pragmatic, but she isn't unreasonable. Her stubbornness just needs to be disarmed...
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If that's the case, Amie needs to get Equestria on side REALLY quick. If anything can make her escape a nature that screams for expansion and conquest, it's Equestrians. Hell, there IS mind-magic... Though that's assuming it IS a problem. But certainly, having a queen under direct observation with the potential to create an ally to help you deal with more aggressive changelings is a better alternative than a possibly angry one subverting you!
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"A new Queen arrives in Equestria" could mean anything. Maybe she imagines she's just been born? Maybe she's just talking about metamorphosis? Or... She doesn't know the details of earth.
Think about it. Imagine we're on earth, and suddenly, a meteorite (e.g. whatever magic teleports humans to Equestria) lands. An indeterminate time later, alien creatures appear. Some kidnap humans and keep them as livestock, others create hostile armies. More meteors arrive over time (e.g. the multiple different 'landings' of changelings throughout history), and each one contains hostile aliens.
Would you think these are innocents who have landed and are acting out of desperation? Or a very slow alien invasion? Luna has to think of her subjects first, and everything she has said makes it possible that she initially thought that humans were intentionally teleporting to Equus to invade. For all she knows, Amie is a general in an army that has decided that she wants to desert the war effort.
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It doesn't necessarily need to make her claim valid and make Amie the 'bad guy'. It's possible that changeling queens will invariably turn some flavor of 'insane conqueror / slaver' absent outside intervention... But Equestrians can be that intervention.
It'd be interesting to see Amie trying to fight instincts that are getting increasingly aggressive, as she convinces the ponies that she's worth giving a chance - and then it's an effort to help her fight the instincts, buying time to either turn her into a human or overcome the instincts some other way (mind magic/metamorphosis)
Meanwhile, other queens don't like the idea of a potentially pony-friendly queen and turn hostile...
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Problem is, entrusting her problems to Equestria may land Amie in the container cell of a secret lab with ponies in white coats trying to figure out what makes changelings tick...and how to stop it permanently.
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It would 100% have to be done cautiously. She couldn't run To Equestria and cry out "help me!" now. She needs to genuinely convince Luna that she's worth at least trying to help before anything else.
Perhaps Tailslide could help there... But whatever is done, it would have to be cautious.
To my knowledge Luna has only ever met one other changeling queen, Chrysalis... if she ever actually met Chrysalis during the invasion. How very pompous and presumptuous to judge an entire species based on the actions of one queen. Just imagine if the rest of the world judged ponies based on the actions of Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago and her recent repeat of those events just a few years ago.
Catching Luna's eye might be a dangerous thing. But further contact may allow Amie to convince a powerful pony to her side. Of course there's a lot depending on Amie's own discipline as a new queen.
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More like an observation. That being said, given enough time the same can be said for any species without much proper population or resource control.
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Still, there's still a question on the very nature of what reformed changelings are in this story. I don't think many humans would like it if it's achieved through an act of submission to whatever higher power exists in Equus. Changelings in MLP canon must give love to reform but in this story, there maybe some changes and quirks but nothing to suggest humans lose their humanity here. They are still people.
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In the end, one cannot create without taking from the Universe. Everyone is simply making their way in the world. Whether Luna is making an observation or denouncing changeling depravity and recklessness, she cannot deny that Amie is a legitimate player in this world.
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Certainly. Chrysalis may have given the changelings the image of a plague of locusts, no doubt she would have realized the ingenuity of Pachua's hive and the others feeding successfully right under their noses for possibly centuries.
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There's taking and then there's giving. And Amie has plenty to give.
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But hate is like an illness it's hard to kill. The ponies took one bad example and turned to genocide as the answer.
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Well yeah it was their first example. They didn’t know the changelings even existed.
Paranoia plus the attack on the capital can really cloud judgement.
I can’t really blame them. Imagine shapeshifting creatures that view you as prey managed to infiltrate your defended capital and government .
They launch an attack on said capital beat your immortal sun god and get driving away by a spell .
First impressions are everything and the changelings first impressions were shapeshifting monsters that feed on you until you’re a husk .
And if you think about it who were their ancestors because dark age humanity was kinda messed up .
So I guess the basis of changeling culture didn’t come from modern humanity but the more savage ,psychopathic ,conqueror era of history.
That’s my guess why most of the native changelings are kinda violent and undiplomatic.
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Or it possible ponies have reap what they sowed. Considering the ponies whenever they get a changeling commit genocide against them well I wouldn't be friendly.