//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Grudges and A Beloved Folder // Story: Not As It Seems // by TempesttheDragnix //------------------------------// Grudges and A Beloved Folder ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A hazy yellow light pushes through the hoof I’m using to cover it up and I roll over with a groan, accepting defeat. Curse my hooves and their stupid holes, I wanted to sleep in today. I reluctantly sit up in my bed, stretching and muttering about how I wish Celestia wasn’t such an early riser. Then I remember what’s supposed to happen today, and nearly fall back into the bed. Council meeting. That’s another term for ‘Mother spouts some crazy plan and everyling else nods their heads’. And since I’m the hive princess, I have to go. Whoop-dee-doo. Just how I was planning to spend a day I could be doing something perfectly productive with. I get out of bed and walk over to my mirror, starting when I see my hair. What in the name of Faust… My head looks like a swarm of pale yellow snakes decided to huddle on top of it. Did I run into some poison joke? I quickly brush down the tangled mess. Then re-brush it a second time. Then use a spell to hold it down with magic. Just in case. Just then Diage flies in, settling down by the doorway. Thank goodness she didn’t arrive earlier; I wouldn’t want anyling to have to witness that hair. “Umm, Your Highness,” she says nervously. That changeling always seems to be nervous for some reason. “Queen Chrysalis wants to you be a little faster in getting to the meeting. She didn’t put it quite that nicely, but…” I smile at what for her is a harsh insult and walk out of my room. “Yeah, my mom has a bit of a stick up her butt sometimes. Come on, let’s go before she decides to send a search party.” Diage chuckles at that, and together we head down the hall, her flying as she usually does, me trotting along the ground just in front of her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As I walk into the meeting room, I hear an annoyed voice come from somewhere above me. “You’re late.” I sigh. “Yeah Mom, love you too. So, what crazy scheme are we ‘discussing’ today? Stealing love from earthworms? Moving to the Everfree? I’m surprised we’re not invading the moon by now.” I fly up to my throne, which looks suspiciously like chitin, though I know it's not, and plop down on it, already bored. I hear a few quiet chitters, probably at my behavior, but they're soon quited by one of Mother's glares. “Very funny. I actually have a perfectly good plan, if you’ll just be patient enough to wait for me to say it.” She huffs a little and mumbles something that sounds like “Teenagers these days.” Which makes me laugh a little. She’s exasperated with me? Considering she’s barely even looked at me since I was 6 years old, I find that hard to understand. If anything, I should be tired of her, what with her constant bossiness and idiotic insistence on tradition. Either way, she’s still my mother, and I have to at least respect her a little bit. So I refrain from snapping a retort at the teenager comment and instead say that I’m ready to start the meeting. Mother does the same, and then for the next hour it’s nothing but boring discussions on civic issues that could be easily solved with some sort of innovation or new system, but instead become complicated messes because Mother insists on doing everything the old way- which, might I add, is what probably caused the problems in the first place. I mean, really, the issue of lack of space has been brought up in a least 3 meetings now, and instead of trying to reorganize the common quarters, or giving less space to the 'lings who aren't here all the time, or suggesting anything useful, she simply says they'll have to deal with it until we can spare some energy to the worker drones and expand. And when I tried to point out some ways of fixing the problem, I just got a lecture on how we need to respect the 'ways of our ancestors.' Yeah, because our ancestors will totally think improving lives is a bad thing. At last we get to the big issue, the ‘perfectly good plan’ Mother mentioned at the beginning of the meeting. She smiles in a way that was probably supposed to be confident and hopeful but comes out a conceited smirk, and begin her speech. And I do mean speech. “My loyal subjects, today I am unveiling an… objective, of sorts, that I have a detailed plan to achieve. This will be a conquest, counselors, one that will push our race out of the shadows and into the spotlight, one that will give us all the food we will ever need, one that will make the changelings one of the most powerful races on this side of Gaia!” Twenty-eight minutes (I kept track) of this propaganda later and I’m just about falling asleep in my throne. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very motivational speech, it’s just… TWENTY-EIGHT minutes!? I can’t listen to an idea build-up for twenty-eight minutes! You understand that, right? Because Mother sure doesn’t. “What is this amazing proposition I’m suggesting, you might ask?” Finally! “Well, wonder no longer. We, my subjects, are going to take over EQUESTRIA!” ... …Excuse me, what? Did she just say what I think she just said? Equestria? The nation whose monarchs CONTROL CELESTIAL BODIES? Is my mother crazy? I’m shocked, but also increasingly indignant. She had no right to put something like this into motion without asking anyone else! She should have at least told me she was planning this. And even though she is asking the council for permission, by the time Mother gets this far with a plan, she’s going through with it no matter what, to say nothing of the council’s very large tendency to agree with her. But this plan is going to almost certainly get us all killed. So I stand up, and, before she can say anything else, tell her so. “Are you serious? Are you SILKING SERIOUS? You’re talking about Equestria here. You know, the super powerful nation with a defense system that RAINBOWS YOU TO DEATH?! How about the alicorn rulers who raise the sun and moon? The SILKING SUN AND MOON! You’re telling me we’re just going to waltz in there with barely 4,000 'lings and just take the place? Our army is only a quarter that much! What, we’re going to magically slip past all of the guards, knock out the two alicorns on duty, miraculously disable the ELEMENTS OF HARMONY and then expect the whole population to just be okay with the whole thing? Or are we just going to kill everybody afterwards to keep them from rebelling and waste our entire food source? Sorry, Chrysalis, I don’t care what kind of crazy scheme you have, that is NOT HAPPENING.” I pause from my angry tirade and catch my breath, casting half-angry, half-incredulous looks at the council, who seem to shocked to speak. My eyes settle on Chrysalis- there is no way I’m calling her Mother right now- who looks like she just saw a kitten tell off a manticore. I hide an amused smirk at her reaction, and, without a backwards glance, hop down to the floor and walk out of the room, still fuming. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An hour or two later, Diage knocks on my door, looking disappointed in a kindly mentor sort of way. I smile weakly, knowing that I’m in for a lecture but still happy that at least it’s being given by the one changeling who actually understands me. I let her inside, and she sits down. She looks like she’s about to say something, but I beat her to it. “How ya doing? Look, I’m sorry for getting angry at Mother today. I know you’re probably mad that I-“ She cuts me off. “I’m not mad at you, Ceremi, just disappointed. You shouldn’t be that quick to anger, especially since most of that anger is from a grudge.” “What?! I don’t have a grudge. That plan was insane, and you know it! I only got mad because she suggested it!” I close my eyes and sigh, talking more gently this time. “Look, I’ll try not to get that angry in the future, but I think this time I was justified.” “Maybe, but maybe not. Do you remember last week when you showed Chrysalis your new idea?” I do. Shifting my hooves around, I sigh and let the memory come bubbling to the surface. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I buzz into the throne room, beside myself with excitement. Behind my back, clutched in my hooves, is a notebook overflowing with ideas and invention schematics. Mother looks up from the scroll she’s reading- knowing her it’s a business something-or-other- and scowls like I’ve just interrupted the most important moment of her life. I don’t really care, though; I’m too excited! “Guess what I just discovered?” I ask in a sing-song voice. Before Mother can respond, I answer my own question. “A way to shift into someone you don’t know!” “And?” Mother raises an eyebrow in a ‘so-what?’ look? I figure she doesn’t understand what I mean and try to clarify. “You know; a way to change into a form or person that you’ve never seen before. Normally we can’t do that.” “I know what you mean. I’m just not sure why you think it's so amazing.” That throws me for a loop. Not sure why I 'think it's amazing?' This could completely eliminate the need to take captives or have to try to act like someone else to get love. I mean, sure it would take a while for our infiltrators to build new relationships using their personas, but we could always just keep with our current system until that happens. I try to explain this, but Mother just cuts me off. “I don’t really have time for this, Ceremi.” She looks back down at her scroll and makes a dismissive motion with her hoof. “Go show your little idea to Diage or something. I’ve got important things to do.” ‘But this is important!’ I nearly scream. My excitement fades, replaced by disappointment and a little bitterness. What did I expect? I’ve come to her with ideas like this before, and every time she waves me off. Ans as if that's not enough, she then turns around and makes 'renovations' that only change a small detail or two, like she's afraid to take one step away from our traditions. Suddenly a wave of anger wells up in me. Why should she get to wave me off like that? I’m the princess, not a bug stuck to her hoof. I should at least get a fair chance to explain why I’m excited. I drop to the ground and stomp my hoof in frustration, my notebook flung onto the ground by my magic (not enough to hurt the papers inside, mind you. I’m not that angry). And then I really do scream. “Is it really that hard for you to just take me seriously for half a second?! This is important! Do you even know how much good this could do? Do you even really know what I just said, or are you too caught up in your- what is this” I grab the paper out of her magic,”-monthly reports to even pay attention? I’m tired of having every single idea I have shot down or dismissed. You know what, I’m not even going to show you my ideas anymore! See if I care when the hive breaks down because we can’t live with all these traditions anymore and you wish you had listened to me. See if I care when you fail!” Twirling around with tears in my eyes, I shoot out of the room, dragging my folder behind me. I don’t stop for or even try to dodge the changelings in my way. My emotions are a jumbled mess and I keep wondering why she doesn’t just listen for a minute, why she doesn’t even care. She’s my mother; she should care! She should care… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I suddenly feel ashamed of my childish behavior that day- it was only what always happened, why get upset over something you expected- but I also see where Diage is coming from. I sigh, fidgeting my hooves a little bit. “So… you think I’m still mad over Mom blowing me off?” Diage nods. “Well what do I do? I mean, I already stormed off. Do I go back and apologize, or just forget it, or what?” I don’t really feel like I have a reason apologize, but if it would make things right, I suppose I could. Diage must have noticed that thought somehow, because she smiles sadly and speaks. “Just do whatever you feel would help you cool off without making the problem worse. You shouldn’t apologize unless it’s sincere, and you bottling things up doesn’t help any, but if you think one of those is the best option, do it.” I feel a little bit better, though I don’t know why; all she said was to make the decision myself. But I guess right now just having someling believe that I can actually do things right is a big help in itself. And it is kind of nice to know why I’m so upset over Mother’s usual stupidity. Either way, though, I don’t think I’ll ever quite understand Diage. One minute she’s a bundle of nerves and trying not to say something wrong, and the next she shows up at my door and starts giving me advice. I guess she’s just more bold when she’s helping someling; I need to figure things out, and so she puts her nervousness aside to make sure I do that. Somehow the thought comforts me. I blink, realizing I’ve been staring at my caretaker for about a minute now. Embarrassed, I tell her that I might need some time alone, and she nods and flies away. My eyes rove to my bed. A nap does sound good after the day I’ve had so far, and I was woken up earlier than I liked this morning. Besides, it’s not even noon yet. Normally I’d still be sleeping right now (I’m not a morning changeling, okay?). Picking myself up off the seat, I plod over to my ever-welcoming bed and plop down, not bothering with blankets. Just a little nap. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The young princess stirred in bed, mumbling something to herself about "missed two meals already." With a huge yawn, she flips over and grabs her pillow, eyes opening sleepily. With another yawn, her eyes settle back close and she drifts off to sleep, completely unaware of the startled changeling hovering above her, trying desperately not to drop the overstuffed folder in his mouth...