Under the Equestrian sea...
Aquamaris may have been Aquestria’s capital for millennia, but what was created for seaponies was simply not quite as comfortable for the kelpies. Defend the seaponies they would, but if they truly had a home, one would have to turn elsewhere.
That is, they’d have to go into a marine trench, thousands of feet deep into the sunless sea. Under where a bright ball of balefire burned, shining a strange ivory white luminescence into the surrounding water and onto the sloped walls of the trench, was the kelpie capital Vol Oros.
Along with the massive burning ball of magical fire that, strangely enough, was the only bright light in the world that wouldn’t blind the kelpies, the underwater city was perhaps the downright strangest thing you might have ever seen. For one, it was perfectly circular, the two or one story houses in the city arranged around neat roads that pointed directly to a massive central spire of smooth rock that pointed right up to the ball of balefire. All of the city had a dead-white color to it, from its walls, to rooftops and even the ground directly underneath the city.
There was also the matter that the city was actually floating above the still waters of the trench floor, suspended in the sea by the city’s own magic.
Still, perhaps the oddest thing about Vol Oros though, was that it didn’t look like something a seapony or a kelpie would design, more like… something that once used to be on land. For why would an underwater creature really need roads?
Prince Typhon had mused on this question once or twice as he swam through the city, passing through the market square as he headed to the unmistakeable central spire. In the market square kelpies swam to and from various stalls selling their wares. Really large and exotic fish being among them, such as tuna.
Typhon took some amusement from how schools of kelpie young swam playfully through the water under the supervision of their parents, but found his heart sinking as he remembered the purpose of his visit.
After a brief salute to the guards at the doorway to Vol Oros’s central spire, Typhon swam into the spire itself, through its dimly lit corridors and into the central throne room.
Atop of her throne, once colorful coral, now faded to the same dead white as the city, Empress Tethys sat, roughly alicorn size, her eyes half-lidded as she listened to the reports of the seaponies and kelpies floating around her.
Bowing, Typhon approached the throne. It appeared his regent had shrunk down to allow her kelpie doctors to better help them to heal her eyes. “Empress. I’m glad you are recovering.”
Tethys glanced at Typhon, but didn’t open her eyelids any wider, which puzzled Typhon until he realized that his regent’s eyes were not completely recovered yet.
“Why are you here, Prince Typhon?” Tethys asked, her shark’s tail flicking left and right.
“I’ve heard of your confrontation with the Equestrian princesses; is it true you’ve rebuffed their requests for peace?” Typhon asked slowly.
“I only spoke to one Equestrian Princess, Typhon.” Tethys frowned. “Why are you including the changeling queen as one of them?”
“Well, I was momentarily captured by the Equestrians—”
Tethys’s eyes narrowed even further.. “How did they manage to capture you? Were your guards not sufficient?”
Typhon shook his head. “Um, no! They were entirely sufficient. In fact, I am sure that is why the Equestrians found that they could not take me in for good. I got knocked off my leviathan as it impacted their battleship and was knocked out.”
The Empress seemed to relax back into her throne. “And why were you riding a leviathan into battle in the first place? You’ve never fought as a kelpie before.”
“If I am to lead my subjects, I can hardly sit back idly as they commit themselves to battle, Empress,” said Typhon.
“Yet you do not fight as a sea pony, but as a kelpie,” said Tethys.
Typhon frowned. “Is the principle of leadership not the same?”
A ghost of a fanged smile flashed across Tethys’s features. “Some of your former nobles would have said I lead very differently than your mother. Nonetheless, you say you were captured. What did the Equestrians say?”
“Thanks to the enchantments on my regalia, I was able to speak to one of their leaders, their supposed changeling princess, Alternia, and her sister, Queen Chrysalis and found out several things.” Typhon paused for a moment. “One, the Equestrians truly seem to want peace. Apparently, after a thousand years, they have forgotten our existence, something not helped by how Princess Luna was banished to the moon and Princess Celestia was in a healing sleep for a thousand years—”
“They fed me the same line about Celestia being asleep, however the simple fact changeling queens are involved means we can’t trust them to speak the truth. They are deceptive creatures, Typhon. Do not underestimate that,” said Tethys.
“Ah. I assume then that the changeling queen Alternia then claimed she ruled Equestria in Celestia’s stead?” Typhon asked.
Tethys nodded. “Yes. Something easily claimed but not so easily proven. And you say there was another queen involved?”
“Yes, her sister.” Typhon took a moment to recall what the queen… what this Chrysalis had told him. “She explained much of the situation regarding Celestia’s sleep to me and when this Alternia joined us, I found it preposterous as well at first but…” Typhon frowned. “I cannot fathom another explanation as to why an Equestrian battlegroup crewed by ponies would be accompanying two changeling queens, so I listened and found out something else.” Typhon swallowed. “It appears that the Equestrians have completely forgotten about the existence of Aquestria and its denizens. Apparently, our lack of contact meant that we… faded from their memory.”
Tethys grimaced and Typhon could see her brow slowly knitting together. “As I said, changeling queens are deceptive creatures. As for forgetting us, I refuse to believe such a blatant lie. Even if she were asleep, Celestia is awake now and still somehow forgot us? Despite the fact she was in contact with Samudra? Explain how that makes any sense, young Typhon.”
Typhon blinked and his eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t aware that Celestia remembered the treaty. Did they explain why they violated it?”
Tethys snorted. “Something about a memory transfer causing confusion of some type.”
“That does actually sound quite preposterous, but…” Typhon tapped his chin with his hoof. “If we take their story of a changeling queen impersonating Celestia… it isn’t too farfetched, but still pretty crazy.”
“Except the fact that magic of the mind means everything that was said is suspect. How can I trust their word if they don’t even know if it’s their words or the words of someone else?” Demanded Tethys.
“You raise a very good point, Empress,” said Typhon his mind whirring. His regent was no fool. The story being presented to him just seemed really surreal, and the Equestrians seemed incredibly unbelievable. The logic of their story made sense, but the situation that they were telling him was getting increasingly hard to believe. He did have one more point though to report.
“They did provide an explanation, not a bad one, for why the Gryphon and Equestrians ignored our missives to their capitals.”
“And what is that?” Asked Tethys.
“Apparently, their capitals have moved. The Equestrians relocated their capital to a place called “Canterlot” after Princess Celestia fought with her sister and devastated the castle a thousand years ago? I’m not sure how that happened, but that’s what she said. The Griffons also apparently relocated their capital five hundred years ago… something about some griffon idol being stolen. This would explain why we received no reply.”
“And they “forgot” about us so they failed to enlighten your mother to this fact completely?” Tethys asked.
Typhon blinked and frowned. “Hm, you’re right. Something doesn’t make sense about this whole situation.”
It was just then that Ebb Flow, one of Tethys’s captains swam in.
“Your majesties, Brinewing wants to speak to you urgently,” said Ebb Flow.
“Send her in then.”
The doors to the throne room opened and Brinewing waded through the water, her head in an air bubble of sorts. She performed the equivalent of a breaststroke as she swam gingerly toward the foot of Tethys’s throne. When she finally got there, she set her hooves on the ground, and opened her mouth. She stopped immediately at the warning look in Ebb Flow’s eyes and dipped her head respectfully first.
“Pardon me Empress, I have just returned from the surface world and have found out something disturbing. Equestria has a new princess.”
“We’ve heard, though I do not believe it,” said Tethys, stone-faced.
“Oh. Well uhh, you should.” Brinewing blinked and froze as she spluttered. “I mean. I have some uhhh evidence that seems to suggest that that is true.”
“What evidence is that?”
Brinewing took off her saddlebags and pulled out several items, all of which had been waterproofed by seapony magic beforehand. Several newspapers, a book, what looked like a toy flag and a recording crystal.
“These are newspapers. They document current events in Equestria and the ones I have describe how the changeling became Equestria’s ruler, apparently a thousand years ago—”
“Yes, we have heard this however as the young Prince and I were discussing, there is a slight matter of manipulation of a certain Princess's memory that has called events into question,” said Tethys in a firm tone.
“Well the thing is, Empress, I have gotten newspapers from several different organizations, and they all tell the exact same story. Celestia passed her crown to this Princess Alternia a thousand years ago after fighting with Nightmare Moon and went to sleep. I mean it is a preposterous story, but as Equestria isn’t in rebellion I can’t say it isn’t true,” explained Brinewing.
“The problem is they all have the same source. Celestia and whatever the younger is called.”
“Luna, that’s the younger princess. But the thing is, they’ve even altered the school textbooks.” Brinewing punted the book to Tethys, who made no move to pick it up. “While yeah, perhaps you can mind control the alicorns, but these things take ages to change. I know, I went to an Equestrian school and yet within a few months they’ve already confirmed the story?”
Tethys was unconvinced, and gave Brinewing a flat stare. “Months to cement the truth or another lie? They don’t need to control all of the government, just key members. Two alicorns and whatever other ponies they need to solidify their control. How many queens are there involved?”
A thoughtful look came over Brinewing’s features. “Apparently four in total, counting Princess Alternia. Her sisters apparently.”
“Four queens, which means four hives worth of changelings to feed. Brinewing, you’ve seen your fellow ponies current attitudes. Do you think an entire country would feed these changelings?” Tethys asked.
“Well, now that you put it that way… yes. But that’s not the point. We’re talking about Equestria, the entirety of Equestria, somehow accepting that a changeling queen is one of their monarchs, to the point they’ve changed the flag itself!” Brinewing waved the toy flag she had brought. Instead of just two alicorns circling the sun and moon, now there were three, a changeling and two alicorns in Celestia and Luna’s colors. “Got that off of a souvenir shop. Yeah, perhaps you can mind control the right ponies, but that’s a LOT of mind controlled ponies if that’s the case. And what would be the payoff? It exposes all the changelings at the same time. They could just control the alicorn sisters if they wanted to. Why make one of them a ruler?”
Tethys paused for a moment before she spoke. “Granted it is very different from past methods employed by changelings, but if done right, it could guarantee an immense food source for their changelings. Mind control a few key ponies, fabricate a story about one being their leader for ages and initiate a merging of pony and changeling cultures. If it goes well, then they are set for several lifetimes as well as secure a major world power for their own.
“Well I don’t know about you, but words right from an Element of Harmony who figured out the changelings’ ruse at the Canterlot Wedding seem quite reputable. I talked to her actually and she later confirmed that story over the radio and explained a few things too… Uh, radio is basically how they spread stories through speakers placed all over the country.”
“Perhaps, but I still cannot bring myself to believe what they say. The best lies are half truth. The consequences of believing them are dire.”
“Can we not give this a chance though, Empress? Why fight a war when we can get what we want through peace?” Typhon asked.
Tethys turned to Typhon. “Several reasons, young prince. For one, we know they can quickly replenish what naval forces have been lost whilst it takes years for us to regrow our leviathans and dragon turtles. We have won this time and perhaps we will win in future battles, but there is no guarantee we will always do so. A cease fire will merely give them time to rebuild and to learn more about kelpies, something we cannot allow.”
Typhon bit his lip. “Haven’t we already crippled them in that respect? Just what is the point with continuing this war for our waters?”
The Empress didn’t answer Typhon’s question. Instead, she asked one of her own.
“When was the last time you have eaten, Typhon?”
“Uhhh… not too long ago, Empress,” said Typhon, caught off guard.
Tethys shook her head. “I don’t mean a snack fish. I mean when was the last time you have eaten.”
Typhon blinked and a look of realization came over his features and he grimaced. “A long time ago. I haven’t had time to hunt as of late.”
The Empress narrowed her eyes reprovingly at Typhon before turning to Ebb Flow. “Ebb, bring the Prince a prisoner.” Turning back the Empress stepped out from her throne. “Typhon, you know why your mother imprisoned kelpies. And now not only are we free, we have started to merge with the sea pony kingdom.”
“Which means our goals are theirs and theirs are ours. We need to continue this war not just for our waters, but so that we don’t go mad and restart a bloodbath,” said Typhon in a slow, resigned tone.
Tethys nodded once. “Precisely, Typhon. What will the kelpies feed on if the war is over? Your subjects? This war is not just to secure our place as a sovereign nation and secure our waters, it’s also feeding the kelpies, feeding you. Until we have an alternate food source, then there is no other choice unless we wish our species to fall upon one another.”
“You’re right.” Typhon sighed. “Can we at least check if the Equestrians are truly mind controlled by the changelings? We still need to figure out precisely the nature of our enemy, whether it is the changelings or the Equestrians.”
“Then we’ll need an expert on changeling behavior.” Tethys faced Ebb Flow and asked, “Where’s Murmillar?”
“She went for a swim outside,” replied Ebb Flow.
Tethys nodded. “Fetch her.”
Murmillar, Changeling Queen of the Sea Snakes, had seen better days. As Ebb Flow brought the changeling queen in, she moved slowly through the water. Her bronze colored mane was groomed, but long, uncut, and salt-encrusted towards the scalp. Her gaunt cheeks and thinner legs showed signs of love deprivation. The fact that she never had been the tallest or most well-built of changeling queens didn’t help either. Yet, she maintained a calm smile despite the guards flanking her and her amber eyes shone with sharp intelligence.
“How can I serve you today, your majesty?” Murmillar asked.
Typhon briefly explained the situation to Murmillar, all the while, watching the air-bubble trapped features of the bronze-haired queen. Yet, in spite of all the news, the queen remained unfazed, her expression impassive as the situation was described to her.
“Ah, I see. So you wish to ask me about this queen called Alternia?” Murmillar asked.
“Yes,” said Tethys.
“What do you wish to know specifically?”
Tethys’s gaze bored straight into the changeling’s eyes. “Were you aware of this changeling plan to take over Equestria?”
Murmillar pursed her lips thoughtfully. “No. Though I doubt this was the case.”
“There are four of your fellow queens in a perfect position to assume control of Equestria if they manage to successfully merge changeling culture with pony culture. How is this not the case?” Tethys asked, her voice stoic, but clear disbelief in her words.
Murmillar took a deep breath, trying not to grimace as she tasted the rather salty and stale air in her bubble.
“First of all, I know of most of these queens. The eldest being Queen Chrysalis, her third sister, Queen Simulacris, who is a close friend of mine. I even have talked to their youngest sister, Queen Belladonna, who tends to keep a low profile even as changeling queens go. However, this is the first time I’ve heard anything about Queen Alternia being alive.”
“Then how do you know their intent when you don’t know this Alternia?”demanded Tethys.
Murmillar smiled. “I’m getting to that. The thing is, Queen Alternia’s supposed to be dead. I assume you know about Nightmare Moon?”
“Better than you know. What of her?”
Typhon, Murmillar and Ebb Flow were all puzzled by Tethys’s reply, but stored that thought away for the moment and continued on.
“According to Queen Belladonna, around the time when Nightmare Moon rebelled against Celestia, Queen Chrysalis killed Alternia along with their mother, one of our most respected queens, Queen Chamelia.” Murmillar grimaced. “Granted, I wasn’t born then, but I’ve done some of my own independent research. I found that Queen Chamelia and queen Alternia seemed to disappear quite conveniently around the time that Chrysalis became the queen of her mother’s hive, which was somehow weaker than before. This is rather odd, considering that Chamelia’s hive was one of the largest in the world and her two younger daughters, that is, Simulacris and Belladonna have previously established successful hives. It made no sense why Alternia wouldn’t have been able to do so.”
Tethys’s eyes narrowed. “So matricide and usurpation, all from one of the known queens involved. You are not doing a good job of convincing me, Murmillar.”
Murmillar smiled sheepishly, but then narrowed her eyes. “Consider this then. I was admittedly skeptical of Belladonna’s account, so upon my insistence, Belladonna showed me magically stored memories taken from Queen Alternia’s chevaliers.” Murmillar grimaced. “Alternia was run clean through with a spear through her abdomen, a mortal wound, before she was teleported out of her mother’s hive, and assumed to be dead. I have no idea how she could have survived that unless she had magical help from somebody of immense power…” Murmillar grinned. “Now consider that Chamelia’s hive is located in the Everfree Forest, not too far from the Castle of the Two Pony sisters, where the battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon took place.”
“Also where I lost a hundred good warriors that night. The price of trusting ponies to actually carry through with a deal.”
Murmillar blinked. “Huh, I did not know that. What happened, if I may ask?”
A scowl came over Tethys’s features, thought it wasn’t directed at Murmillar. “As you know, the battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon wasn’t immediate. The dark one escaped long enough to gather some support and so she came to me. How she knew of us, I don’t know, but she came with a bargain too good to pass up. A hundred of my best warriors for a chance to be free of the “tyranny of the sun”, so she offered. With my kelpie under siege by Samudra and a chance to return to the surface after millennia in the abyss, I accepted. I never got those warriors back and Nightmare Moon was banished. According to the sole survivor, it was Celestia herself who attacked my soldiers, burning them from the sky when they managed to push the guard back.”
“I always wondered why Celestia was never able to bring the full might of her Royal Guard to bear against her sister… but I digress. I was talking about Alternia correct?” inquired Murmillar.
“Yes.”
The changeling queen paused for a moment and said, slowly, “If you ask me, the story about Alternia impersonating Celestia for a thousand years is probably valid. It’s not a far stretch to think Alternia was teleported outside the Castle of the Two Pony sisters, where Celestia could have saved her and where the pair could have agreed on the switch. It’s the only story that explains how Queen Alternia could have survived when all her sisters thought her to be dead.”
“Yet they know she’s alive now and part of the pony triumvirate and yet the kin slayer is not only alive, but welcomed in Equestria,” retorted Tethys.
Murmillar nodded. “I must say that that part surprises me as much as it does you. However, I’m not entirely sure from the memories Belladonna showed me, that Chrysalis meant to kill her mother. It was more along the lines of Chamelia was trying to protect Alternia and was killed doing that.”
Tethys nodded once in understanding, but then her eyes started to narrow as she regarded the queen.
“And how is it you come by these memories, Murmillar? It was to my understanding you queens do not work well together. I could understand cooperation between siblings, but with foreign queens?”
Murmillar chuckled. “We’re all changelings, Empress Tethys, and are, well… were at this point, one of the most persecuted races in the world. We could hardly survive without some interaction with each other outside of our immediate families.”
“And I’m to believe you just encounter these changelings from across the sea by pure accident? Changelings whose actions and their consequences played a part in the founding of your host nation, Venecia?” Tethys asked.
“Well of course not, Empress Tethys. Queen Belladonna and I met several times deliberately. She had an information network on the Equestrian mainland and I had one at sea in Venecia. We traded information to benefit each of our hives,” replied Murmillar, still smiling.
Tethys’s frown only intensified. “And just how extensive are these networks? Earlier you mentioned this Simulacris as a friend or ally as well. That’s two other changeling queens and I doubt it stops there.”
“Quite extensive. Depends on the experience and age of the Queen though. The longer one has lived, the more time one has to develop such a network,” said Murmillar in a nonchalant tone.
Tethys shifted slightly in her throne, her eyes still affixed onto the changeling queen.“Are Belladonna and Simulacris the only queens you are in contact with?”
“No. I was in contact with Chrysalis and Queen Sarar, the eldest of all the queens who harkens back to Queen Chamelia’s era and has a hive based in Griffonia.”
“Only four queens?”
“Well no, more. But those were the most evident and powerful ones that I thought you should know.”
“Indeed. With so many queens, it’s a wonder you somehow manage to avoid conflict with one another. Sharing one’s food source with another hive would be rather draining on both hives would it not?” asked Tethys.
“We negotiate whenever there is a problem and try to manage things peacefully. There aren’t that many queens anyway,” said Murmillar calmly.
“But negotiations means you’ll need all parties involved and a mediator, someone neutral that isn’t involved in matters.”
A look of recognition appeared to dawn over Murmillar’s features. “Oh, you’re talking about the Queens Council.”
“Considering you’ve been willingly obtuse about it, yes,” said Tethys.
“Well I wasn’t sure what you wanted to know.” Murmillar smiled. “The Queens Council is the governing body of sorts of the changeling queens. It meets once every two years or whenever there is a major crisis at hoof and together the queens mediate any disputes, while also sharing beneficial information.”
“I see. Have there been any recent councils about current events?” asked Tethys.
“Yes, but it was while I was being a guest at your court,” said Murmillar gingerly. “That being said… rumor has it the council was arranged to demand an explanation from Queen Chrysalis and her sisters about the situation Equestria was in and as to why Queen Alternia was somehow alive once more.”
“And how do you manage to coordinate such a meeting with so many queens from all over?
Murmillar sighed almost regretfully. “Through a long and painstaking process of messages between hives, which means that not all of the queens can meet at a time because some hives move around, but it’s the best we can do. That being said. I really wish I was at the council because I would very much like to know how Alternia convinced them not to execute Chrysalis.”
“So long and painstaking message running that runs the risk of interception is the best the changelings have come up with for long distance communication?” Tethys asked.
“Changelings are not the most powerful of species. I was captured by you after all.”
Several of the tentacles on Tethys head twitched. “But you are the most subversive and deceptive species. Masters of disguise and lying. One of your kind has impersonated a world leader for a thousand years with no one suspecting a thing.”
“I thought you didn’t believe that Queen Alternia impersonated Celestia?”
“My personal belief is irrelevant if the facts point to an obvious solution,” said Tethys in a rather blunt tone.
Murmillar nodded. “Of course. Though I would not think too much of Queen, or should I say, Princess Alternia’s impersonation abilities. Considering that Celestia was a changeling queen, she has been the most unchangeling-like queen I have observed.”
“How is that?”
“Her loyalty to her pretended subjects as shown by her policy decisions. Any other queen impersonating an authority figure would have simply cultivated a cult of personality without investing too much time into the wellbeing of their pretended subjects, or just enough to make sure they survive.”
Murmillar shook her head and snorted derisively. “This Alternia… she makes Equestria a superpower by delegating to those with talent, and allowing them to take credit for it, thereby giving up opportunities for her to become the savior in name and to gather more love. As the sole monarch of Equestria, she could have exploited the Tartarus out of the population, while having them love her, but she didn’t. Sure some of it may have been to maintain the facade of being Celestia, but that she did so for a thousand years when all she had to do was maintain some consistency for the first hundred? Phah. Alternia’s impersonation is a joke. She may have lied about her identity, but she didn’t take advantage of it, becoming the role of a trustworthy, diplomatic and thereby respected world leader instead of acting it out.”
“The problem with that reasoning is the whole scheme shatters upon being exposed if she had done it in your way. How she has done it not only allowed her to retain power, but to be welcomed with open arms among ponies. And that is what I worry,” said Tethys.
“Perhaps, but historical record shows this queen endangered her own life and her impersonation to save her pony subjects, something no good actress would risk unless they became defined by their role. “Celestia’s” rallying of her troops at the First Griffon-Equestria War at the Battle of Hat Sings being an example. Records say she suffered critical wounds from that encounter and for a changeling, that runs the danger of revealing one’s identity.”
“And you’re saying that because she let her role define she is trustworthy? That is quite a dangerous assumption.”
“Oh? Did I say that?” asked Murmillar, obviously feigning confusion, of course, Murmillar knew Tethys was aware of that, so she smiled. “No one is completely trustworthy, Tethys, but once you know how someone’s ticks, you know when they speak the truth. If we assume that Alternia is loyal to her subjects, which evidence seems to suggest she is because she hasn’t acted like most changelings, why would she endanger her subjects by seeking war with your kind?”
Tethys was silent still frowning, but lips merely pursed as she considered this information.
Typhon on the other hand seemed intrigued by what Murmillar was telling them and he turned to Tethys.
“Empress, we can’t trust Murmillar.”
Murmillar didn’t react apart from rolling her eyes, while Tethys didn’t even glance at Typhon.
At least until Typhon said:
“So why don’t we invite Princess Alternia to talk with us and we can question her thoroughly then?”
Tethys glanced at Typhon, features expressionless. “Again, what is the point, Typhon?”
“To see what they have to offer. We are in a terribly good position right now and at a time when they still do not know much about who we are. We can also judge how badly they want peace from actually meeting them out of battle.”
“And if they want war?”
Typhon shrugged. “As you said earlier, that’s to our benefit as well. Either way, we will gain more if we listen to them, and we lose nothing by doing so.”
“There is merit in what you say. I’ll consider it though it could well be a trap.”
“Understood, Empress. With your permission, may I borrow Brinewing and Ebb Flow to ask them further questions about the surface world?” asked Typhon bowing. Tethys nodded, dismissing the prince and he swam off, followed by Brinewing and Ebb Flow.
Alone, except for her own guards and Murmillar.Tethys then settled back in her throne, her eyes settling on the queen.
“Guards, take the changeling to a holding cell.”
Murmillar froze, her eyes flickering wildly left and right. “What? Wait, why?”
“Because you’re withholding information.”
The queen frowned. “What information?”
Tethys peerlessly stared down at Murmillar, black eyes darker than night. “Do you truly expect me to believe your fellow queens to rely on runners and physical messages to coordinate on at least a nation level? When until recently, secrecy has been key to your existence?”
Murmillar grimaced and for a moment, she looked as if she had swallowed something incredibly sour. “Alright you got me. We do use runners, but we have another method of communication.”
“And why did you not mention this earlier?” Tethys asked coolly.
“Let me explain. The Queens of every hive use a crystals called Queen Crystals to communicate across the world with one another. Every crystal is linked with one another in a vast network. By channeling their magic through the crystal, all queens can communicate telepathically with one another instantaneously.”
“That does not explain why you did not mention this earlier or why you attempted to deceive me.”
“Well, because of the Queen Crystal’s ability to allow us to communicate instantaneously, changeling tradition and rules within the Queens Council forbids the queens from talking about it to any non-queen.”
“So you thought rules and tradition are worth more than your own life?” Demanded Tethys.
“It is more like I consider them guidelines as to what I should or should not do in a situation that is vastly out of my control. I’m sure you recognize that knowledge of the Queen Crystals is dangerous, but considering my current position…” Murmillar swallowed. “I was forced to reconsider what I should do.”
Tethys crossed several over her tentacles and slowly, methodically started to rub them together, and Murmillar was forced to flatten her ears as the armor plates of the appendages scraped against each other, creating an uncomfortable, rasping noise.
“And yet you attempted to lie about them in the first place. Considering what we were talking about earlier, you should see why I find this behavior so dubious. I do not keep you for the company, I keep you for potential insight. Making me question how useful you really are is not a wise move.”
Murmillar swallowed and bowed, her head sinking low to the floor. “Forgive me, Empress, you are right. It is just that... giving knowledge of the Queen Crystals to any being is tantamount to signing my own death warrant. The Queens Council pride their secrecy very highly and ruthlessly punish any wrongdoers…”
“How so?” Asked Tethys, a hint of curiosity in her voice.
Murmillar cringed. “Execution through a rather wide variety of means. Poison is a favorite, as is the old fashioned caving in of the skull. The Queens Council was established to prevent changeling queens from revealing our race’s secrets after all. I am fairly certain the only reason why Queen Chrysalis is not dead is because of her sister’s position in the Equestrian government, and even then, there is likely some humiliation the council has forced Chrysalis to undergo due to her transgression.” Murmillar blinked. “Actually, it may be that the council ordered Chrysalis to escort Alternia into waters they know to be inhabited by kelpies… that sounds like them.”
“So execution. About how often does that happen?”
Murmillar frowned. “I must admit that I am slightly disturbed by your interest, but they usually happen about once in a few decades… depending on whether the changeling queen survives to be tried and executed. The last time was Queen Ratched, about twenty years ago, who the council executed for collaboration with the Gryphon Warlord Nasty Bone Parter. She was using Nasty Bone Parter to try to destroy Gryphonia and Equestria, but it was getting to the point that the Equestrian spy agency under Princess Celestia— well Alternia were becoming very suspicious. Queen Kagura, Ratched’s mother, did try to persuade Ratched to stop her crazy schemes, but she refused. So Queen Sarar, the leader of the Council personally apprehended her after a battle at her hive and the Council then fed her poison, cyanide I believe. To be honest, I think it was a mercy to execute Ratched at that point, considering the battle wounds Sarar had inflicted upon her.” Murmillar didn’t mention that she had provided the information that allowed Sarar to apprehend Ratched.
“What became of Ratched’s hive?” Tethys asked.
“There wasn’t much left of it after Queen Sarar was through. There’s a reason Sarar’s lived for more than a thousand years, she’s utterly ruthless and her hive is full of extremely experienced fighters. All of Ratched’s children, of whom one was a queen were killed in the battle, leaving only some changeling young, who were judged innocent and dispersed amongst the other hives, particularly Queen Kagura’s. Queen Ratched did get a proper burial… it was Queen Kagura’s chief stipulation for allowing Queen Sarar to kill her daughter without consequence.”
“So captured, force fed poison, and had her hive dispersed.”
“The worst case scenario for a queen,” explained Murmillar.
“Possibly. Shame they tainted the meat so. What do you think they’d do to me if given the chance?” Tethys inquired.
Pausing for a moment, Murmillar’s brow relaxed. “Huh. Assuming that they’d even want to kill you considering that your kelpies would likely slaughter our kind out of revenge, that is an interesting question. I’d think they’d be quick about it and they’d make doubly sure. Fast acting poison, a sharp killing blow using some kind of projectile or melee, if they knew exactly where to hit, and they’d combine multiple methods for redundancy.”
“Shame. Say what you will about my methods, I actually faced Samudra in combat. And to their credit, Celestia and Alternia faced me as well. Seems like your fellow queens don’t see much merit in stepping down to face an enemy without an army, even one with nothing left.”
“They pride themselves in what they see as efficiency, and as I’ve said, Alternia is a very unchangeling-like queen. I must confess, I would have run. I’m a researcher not a fighter.”
“Indeed. Speaking of your fellow queens, these crystals. How do you and your fellow queens obtain them?”
“Ah, the Queen’s Crystal is something every queen of a hive creates for their queen daughters before they set out in a sort of hereditary ritual ingrained in our memory. I can’t duplicate the process for you as it’d require my daughter to be here.” The full truth was that Murmillar just needed some of her daughter’s blood and that the ritual was actually just a technique passed down from mother to daughter, but she wasn’t going to say that. “Also, it is my duty to inform you that there is one major safeguard to the crystals.”
“Such as?”
“Non-queens can use and communicate in the network, but once the user “speaks” in the link, they express their emotions, and so any queen would be able to tell my emotional state if I communicate, or yours if you tried.”
“But you can listen. However how do I know you won’t willingly give it away?
That question elicited a groan from Murmillar. “Well, if you’re in contact with the crystal with me, then you’d be able to listen in on the link, and you would know if I give it up,” she admitted.
Tethys’s head tentacles writhed as she narrowed her gaze at the queen. “And yet all you have to do is speak and they’d know something is wrong.”
“And that would be useless to my goals, Empress,” said Murmillar, her amber eyes meeting Tethys’s gaze. “I want to live, not because I’m selfish, but because I have a slight chance at persuading you to try for peace with the surface world… and I need to be alive for that.”
“Prince Typhon is planning on attempting to meet with the Equestrians to see how sincere they are about peace,” stated Tethys tonelessly, but as she continued, her voice took on a hard, grim edge to it.
“I do not hold much hope for the meeting. Either way we kelpies need to eat and what we’ve gained from our battles will only last us for so long.”
Murmillar could only nod and resist the temptation to swallow, for there was nothing she could say to that.
Tethys's first demand will be for everyone to stop peeing in the water whenever they go to the beach.
7094994 wait. People actually do that???
OH gross!
7095011
It's worse in public pools, look for the south park episode on it.
So they can survive on fish but choose to eat sapiens?
Hmm... More questions have been answered, but many more still remain... Amazing work on the chapter as always!
7095087 Read carefully please. They NEED to eat Sapients. It was practically stated. As to why... there's a hiint.
I await your theories
7095075 The yellow tide
Oh lord, I'm so twisted right now.
Peace, but bloodbath?
War, but no bloodlust rampage?
7095147
Well my theory is that they need to eat sapients to stop themselves going into a frenzy which is why they pushed into the abyss, eating changelings is a way to push against this and that Tethys is going to die at the en
7095147
In other words they need to eat changelings in order to keep from mentally destabilizing. I say let them fall apart. >:)
7095147 So... they're physically irredeemable and they really do have to be wiped out, then, since it's literally impossible to have peace with them instead of just practically impossible.
Although it sounds like they're eating the dead from the battles? Although if they could just eat sea-ponies who died of other causes they wouldn't have been talking like they needed to prey on the living.
Well, consuming things is one way to get energy. We have the feeling they're more like changelings than we realized... Is it possible they don't know they can feed on emotional energy and instead rely on physical consumption of things that hold it?
At least our little prince Typhon was given as good a blessing as he could get.
Keep going! ;)
7095315
But are the number of natural deaths high enough to sustain the current population, or will they need to kill their friends and families to cull the numbers?
7095293
This would kill children. You know, innocents not a part of the conflict and probably unaware of the politics and culture involved? Thats a war-crime when done intentionally.
Sapients or Sapience? Because I can buy the idea of a creature that feeds on thought much like changelings feed on love, but I cannot for the life of me buy the idea that they need to eat meat from sapients. That is to say, brain chemistry is called brain chemistry because its the chemical reactions that are important. That's why ponies are sapient but corpses aren't. The same physical stuff is there, but the reactions aren't in harmony to create thought or emotion.
Now... They might be feeding on a combination of meat and some lingering abstract or magical thing that only exists in sapients. Heck, maybe they eat souls, but that's not needing sapient meat. That's needing some meat in addition to needing something only sapient creatures can make. It's two separate issues, and nothing there says they need to eat the sapient itself to get that abstract extra thing. I refuse to believe that there wouldn't be another method to obtain what they need when something like changelings seems to eat much the same way only requiring love.
7095364 In the long run everyone dies, so the number of natural deaths is going to be at least as high as the sustainable harvest rate, unless you're farming the prey species and they're resource-constrained. Or unless someone who dies of old age is less food than someone who dies in their prime.
7095315
... or they ( Equestria) can just build cloning facility ( dead brain clone) or something like that.
(or solution can be linked to leviathan {if he really was that island}).
7095433 Kelpies make use of leviathans as war beasts. The island is...something else
7095147
well this is certainly a difficult situation, on one had they are dangerous creatures, but one the other hand genocide is not a concept that should be taken lightly. (yes everyone saying kill all of them you are in fact advocating genocide) this may be a situation were there are no good solutions, only band and very bad ones.
7095147 They were feeding on each other. 'restart a bloodbath'. They'll have to go back to it without an alternate food source. This is probably why Tethys has no real desire to end the war. Also, they're not eating the war dead. They're eating the live prisoners.
“Which means our goals are theirs and theirs are ours. We need to continue this war not just for our waters, but so that we don’t go mad and restart a bloodbath,” said Typhon in a slow, resigned tone.
2 possible outcomes:
1. Scouting team learns the full truth and tells it, but wouldn't believe them.
2. Scouting team learns full truth and tells it, but would slightly believe them.
7095011
Yeah, the fish do it, too.
7095315 Except elimination is going to be harder than you realize. Far harder. A price I doubt any of the ponies are willing to pay.
7095422 Everyone does die, yes, but not many will let themselves simply because of that. Plus, with as long lived as these races are shown to be, and the noticeable lack of predators, the number dying from outside causes would be small, couple this with how they seem to have families, telling you child to take a bite out of grandpa would probably end with trauma just like everyone else.
And in my opinion, personally, Equestria needs to get off it's high horse at this point when it comes to carnivores in general.
7075342 It bothers me that Twilight more or less ruined the life of every single person who worked there over a personal need to make people trust rulers who can't seem to get their heads on right till someone kicks them in. I can't assume being tied to that would make getting a new job easy, and with whats more then likely going to happen, will make them easy draft material while she sits back safe in a tree house.
Edit: add to this that keeping the press in the dark opens this can of worms to start with, so once more a simple order on anyone higher up could have stopped this in it's tracks. But the ones in charge don't have a reason nor a duty to keep people safe and informed unless it benefits them it seems.
Also: Pegasus recruit carrying a report to the printers, problem solved in spades.
7095854 Yeah. Lets ignore the fact that they published a paper, mind you this is during and incredibly tense situation where the mass public is very terrified and vulenerable, that wasn't 100% properly fact checked and is doing nothing but stirring up the fears of the Equestrian people? And for what? "Freedom of the Press"?
At that point they might as well find a burning house and willing spray gasoline on it while the firefighters are trying to put it out.
7095940 oh, Fact checked. When none of the information was ever available to anyone outside of the military and even then, mostely amongst the higher ranked individuals. Many of whom didn't bother acknowledging the lack of information distributed till Twilight called in a General. You know, the person a step below the peak?
Thats worth putting everyone from an intern to the head on the blacklist and guranteing they won't find a job.
My problem isn't with the fact they were called out on it, it's that everyone else involved is pretty much a prime example of a hypocrite, what with the Element Bearers having multiple offenses just as bad under their belts but being pardoned because of magical artifacts they are overtly dependent on, or in Twilights case, a zealot. All of this could have been avoided if the military kept them informed, you know, so the people near water would know to get the hell out of dodge, during what amounts to a cold war and almost a full blown assualt waiting to happen?
Would you rather the civilians stayed near water front property and just ignored a potential tidal wave of destruction when things go up, or be safely inland, panic or not?
Edit: And how were they trying to put a fire out when they were dead silent on the topic long enough for a paper to be printed? The military did nothing and now people doing their jobs are shafted because they published what they could find and even remotely trust as fact when none was available.
7095843 So you're saying ponies should let themselves be eaten? The issue isn't 'carnivore', it's 'needs to eat people'. Possibly living people.
Unless they can eat people who died of natural causes, or unless each kelpie needs to eat less than one person during their entire life, there's no morally defensible way for them to live.
Well... That answered all my questions I made almost two weeks ago. Especially why Empress Samudra was persecuting the kelpies, seems the kelpies were indeed consuming live sea ponies. And worse, cannibalism...
With Ebb Flow, it shows kelpies can walk on land, how long & how far is another question, but walking on land they can. If Tethys is able to utterly defeat the Equestrians & the Gryphon, what the chances of kelpies marauding on dry land during the night picking up or harvesting communities of ponies or gryphon to feed their people? Hence to keep from falling into madness & going into a murderous rampage among themselves.
This just makes it harder for their to be peace.
7096121 No, I was simply saying it's more complicated then black and white morality.
Its white morality to save and defend lives.
It's black morality to kill simply because of something outside of the targets physical and mental control.
The Kelpies need to find something else to feed on, but they don't have the time, resources, nor expertise to do it. They distrust the surface, and with the current track record on both sides I can't blame them, adding to this is... Well, can't remember how to spell her name at the moment, but Tethys' personal Queen being a snarky, sarcastic fool isn't helping matters.
Ponies are terrified, their rulers are continuing to show a ridicoulous level of secrecy and otherwise inept lractices, and they have the knowledge that they are not capable of fighting back, but they also have the means to more or less fix all the problems currently plagueing the Sea-folk in general.
Simply put, both sides are in deep waters, and not in a good way. They need to fight a middle ground and fix the Sapient food issue after proving they are telling the truth, and potentially garnering Tethys patience.
Simply killing all of the Kelpies or letting them degrade is cruel, malicious and decidedly malevolent when other solutions are but transparent talk away.
Killing and eating thinking entites is just as bad, but given their choices, the Kelpies can't be fully held for something they can't affect.
All of this falls into the gray morality of the real world, not the black or white morality of a cartoon.
No true evil exists in mortals, only in abstract forms.
Edit: spelling errors and another point. The ponies don't really have a positive view on meat. The Kelpies need for sapient meat only adds to a preexisting prejudice and paranoia leading to more issues. If they wouldn't care about carnivores in general, it would make this a small, tiny bit less damaging to negotiations.
This was a fascinating chapter. Absolutely fantastic. I don't see why this would be controversial. It's your story, so you get to make the rules for anything you introduce. Really loved learning more about the kelpies and their side of thing. Interesting to see Tethys slowly starting to see that the evidence points towards the Equestrian Triumvirate telling the truth about recent events.
7095996 It's clear that everything is flying completely over your head.
The point here is they put out information that scared the damn public.
Equestria is in a dangerous situation involving a war and you have newspaper which is making problems within the damn country and spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt because they couldn't be bothered to wait and properly check what was being written and put out.
This is not complicated.
Kelpies are worse than useless to my enjoyment of the story if they continue as they've been described.
7096121
This is something not touched on in the chapter, but kelpies don't eat with the same regularity as other races. Say when Typhon said he hadn't eaten. He's not talking about not eating for a couple days. If it were April 4 for him as well, he's talking about a meal he had at the beginning of January.
As it is...
Who's morals? Your's? The ponies? The kelpies?
7096146
Worse than you think. Kelpies can't eat one another due to something that will become apparent in future chapters.
7096527 Then I can't wait for the next chapter.
This is indeed a good story.
7096527
It looks like you guys are trying to make the kelpies look like sympathetic villains, but it seems that every chapter that's written from their point of view just makes me want them to lose more. Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly fine with the story the way it is. Just confused as hell on if I'm really suppost to hate the kelpies as much as I do.
7096607 They're not supposed to really be sympathetic in the sense that most stories would have, they are supposed to be incredibly dangerous just to be around, but at the same time we want to make it understood that it's not them being evil for the sake of it. They're effectively predators that have no other choice but to find themselves in conflict with other sapient species. if a wolf kills and eats a person, noone questions it, it's the wolf's nature. Now say that wolf can speak and reason, but is still going to kill humans to eat because it's still within it's nature to do so.
7096583 Thanks. Next chapter might actually be a little later than usual since Vren has a metric crap ton of work with his thesis and various other papers crushing down around now. We will be doing what we can to get it up whenever possible.
7096514 Sorry about that, but it's not going to change.
7096527
That side steps the question. It was apparent from the chapter that the special emphases put on "eaten" had a deeper meaning than three squares a day. That said considering the Empress told Ebb to "Ebb, bring the Prince a prisoner" it sounds like live feeding is required. Though I have a hard time seeing any race agreeing to being eaten alive.
As for the morally justifiable "from a certain point of view", if that stance is taken instead of striving for a universal moral right, than any action a group of people decide to take is morally right.
7096653
That's a hell of a leap. After all, being able to think and reason means you arnt bounded to your nature. Not to mention they seem to be eating live prisoners of war. They must be a race devoid of all empathy if they can eat something that could think, feel, laugh and love and not even think twice about it.
Also, I haven't brought it up since I tend to let little details like this slide when it comes to fiction but since its apparently a plot point, what kind of species is REQUIERED to eat an intelligent being in order to survive?
7096653 Feh, I'm used to pain. That said, misery loves company.
7096692 Vampires and zombies!
So the Kelpies are the Equestrian equivalence to Ghouls? http://tokyoghoul.wikia.com/wiki/Ghoul
That would make more sense and unfortunately means there won't be any compromise to be made unless they just feed on sapients that die from other causes anyway and only need to eat once a month. And even if that were the case, that means that they can't allow their population to grow too large since their only source of food isn't domesticated cattle but people that will choose to fight back rather than sit there and be eaten (in 9 out of 10 cases).
7096692 Vampires and zombies as FinalFan mentioned. Not to mention changelings eat fucking love which requires sapient beings in the first place. Not too mention this hunger of their's is partially based off the Hunger from White Court Vampires from the Dresden Files which is even worse than the kelpies. As for empathy, how much empathy did you have for your supper tonight? Doesn't matter if you cared or not, you ate it.
7096662 Uh no it doesn't. The chapter clearly mentioned not eating snack fish, but clarified something else. It differentiated between the important meal and snacking on some random fish. As for morality, no shit. That's how morality is, it changes from person to person. Do you really think you're gonna have the same moral values as something that kills a thinking being to survive? Kelpies think eating sapient being is ok since it's necessary to their survival.
I would be curious to see how much thought Tethys has put into her goals here. What we had thought to be the cause of the conflict, the violation of trade route restrictions, has now been revealed as being of secondary importance at most. She really wants to obtain food for the kelpies, which apparently consists of intelligent creatures, possibly live. But how does she expect to gain this for her kelpies with these attacks? In the short term, she has done so, but perpetual war is not going to happen on any large scale. If the ponies figure out effective countermeasures, the kelpies will die, possibly taking seaponies with them. If they fail to figure out a way to strike back beyond surface defense, the most likely response would be for most civilian populations to withdraw from the coast as much as possible, perhaps with large cities instead becoming fortified enclaves, and heavily armed ships going out to do whatever business must be done on the waters. We have already seen that these measures would make very hard targets for the kelpies. Certainly this would not be foolproof; I'm sure some would venture out away from protection and a few of these would be caught, and kelpies can infiltrate on land and perhaps kidnap victims or feed on the spot. But I suspect this would prove effective at keeping kelpies from preying on land-bound populations in large numbers. If so, Tethys has started a war she literally cannot win in the long term. This obviously leads to the question of what she can win before then. But it may be that she doesn't have any other plan, and simply underestimated the difficulty of achieving her ends because of her ignorance of ponies' industrial capabilities.
In any case, she may be better off trying to find out if ponies and changelings can somehow find a way for kelpies to fulfill their dietary requirements without resorting to murder. There might be some interesting parallels to be drawn between their situation and that of the changelings up till recently. But in the absence of any solution other than "kill changelings/ponies/griffons", I think they will find a way to kill kelpies instead, by starvation if nothing else. However, one hopes it won't come to that because kelpies will surely turn on the seaponies before then.
7096405 No, I understand that.
What I don't understand is why everyone in power gets away with their mistakes and failures without any real consequence on them, and yet anyone else gets destroyed by even toeing the line at this point.
It's un-just and corrupt, no matter how you look at it.
Edit: I am aware of war time edicate, but for christ sake, they had days between the fleet getting destroyed and the paper being set to print. The military has just as much responsibility to distribute information at this point then anyone else, and sitting on their tails waiting for a royal order is the most brain dead thing they could've done if their trying to stop panic. And more so, tense situation or not, the general should have held a conference as a point before being pulled up by Twilight.
I don't care about the back-handed, moronic politics people use to justify idiocy in office. When people do stupid things from a lack of information and an inability to get more, and the ones doing the persecuting could've just opened their mouthes and fixed the entire issue on day one, their both at just as much fault as the other, one for negligence which shows they didn't think it mattered till it was to late and it cost people more then they deserve to lose, and the other for failing at their profession.
7096877 And do not forget, if they cannot consume a live sapient creature, what Tethys said: "Precisely, Typhon. What will the kelpies feed on if the war is over? Your subjects?" Obviously sea ponies are on the kelpies menu, so the sea ponies have a reason to work with the kelpies. Better they eat a land dweller then a sea pony. Even vren55 stated kelpies need to eat sapient beings, otherwise they become somehow ravenous & will devour the closest available sapient being, which are the sea ponies. Hence a brutal war between the aquarian races.
7096852
Zombies are mindless, and Vampires and by extension changelings since changelings are very similar to vampires can, depending on the setting of their universe, can eat without harming their victim if they're careful. And do I even have to explain the difference between a cow that has no sense of self awareness and a person with hopes, dreams, loved ones, and memories?
I'm not against having any of this stuff in the story, hell if anything I have a bit of a fascination with vore (don't ask) I just dont think the kelpies are as morally grey as you guys do.
While there is no way the princesses can agree to their subjects being preyed upon, killing off all kelpies might be difficult. The seapony prince is a kelpie, so they seem to be born(?) in a rather weird way.
And that weird underwater city is significant, isn't it? Maybe the Kelpies are its cursed former inhabitants or something.
7097530 No you don't have to explain how cow's are different. My point is the kelpies need to eat sapient creatures since it's an absolute need for their survival, something that humans have had to do in similarly extreme conditions, such as the crew of the Essex and the Donner party. Morality is good and all for everyday life, but when survival is on the line, it goes out the window fast. Were those people evil for trying to survive?
So the border violation thing is just an excuse, and the REAL cause is that the kelpies need to eat sapient creatures for some reason?
The changelings really dread the thought of kelpies and the kelpies seem to seriously distrust anything involving the changelings. I smell some ancient schism of proto changelings. There is some more detailed history there.
I really like how you've put some really old leader archetypes in a more modern political setting, seeing how they interact and work off of each other.
I definitely feel the college pinch, I've suddenly got a ton of research papers due all at once. And readings up to my ears. Good luck.