The Unwanted One

This is a collection of my work and thoughts on both individual characters and entire races. In principle, I won’t mind if someone uses them in his work — I’ll keep the authorship anyway :) So if you do something — you’re welcome :) 1. Rarity 2. Scootaloo 3. Tempest 4. Thestrals 5. Changelings 6. Griffons 7. The Crystal Empire and ancient Equestria *** 1. Rarity The story of Rarity, written as a prop in the dialogs with her about her past. I admit that at the time I barely remembered what or who her parents were, so I wrote without reference to the canon, even though there’s almost nothing written about them. Rarity was born in a small village somewhere on the outskirts of Equestria. She loved to sew, embroider, and work with fabrics in general, but, to her surprise, she didn’t get a cutie mark for this apparently favorite pastime of hers. And she felt that something was wrong, something was missing. In her early childhood, by chance she visited Canterlot with her parents, and was very impressed, burning with the dream of moving there and becoming like the capital’s residents: important, elegant, and refined. Her parents, on the contrary, did not like such cities, adoring the rural pastoral. Young Rarity, still without a cutie mark and being really tired of the plain rural life, started to burn with the idea of moving to Canterlot in search of a calling and a better future. Her parents, however, weren’t so understanding, and after a quarrel, she took all her savings and ran away from home. But on the way, the young mare understood quickly, that settling down in Canterlot is beyond her budget, so she stopped near the capital, in Ponyville, hoping to find a job, save some money and then rush towards the capital. However, no one wanted to hire a teenage filly without a cutie mark, no one even wanted to be with her — how can it be, she’s so mature and yet, blank flank… The unicorn had to eke out her existence by doing random childish work, like sewing costumes for spectacles in the local school and so forth. The mare’s purse had started to show its bottom and she would often manage without food or place to sleep. She would probably have ended up with nothing if it hadn’t been for Sonic Rainbow, who caught Rarity in the foothills, where she had gone to calm her nerves and dream of stumbling upon a gemstone — they had always fascinated the unicorn with their shape and luster, and she wanted to try adding one to clothes and see how it would look. It was in the sparkle of the rainbow that she found her first stone, a small sapphire, and in honor of this finding she received her mark and also discovered her talent for easily finding precious stones and processing them to create sparkling masterpieces of clothing. With the help of the stones, she was able to improve her financial situation, which by that time was already quite threatening, and having a cutie mark immediately opened the door to many places. She joined the local seamstress as an apprentice, impressing her with her ability to decorate the clothes she made with precious stones. The lonely old mare died soon after, bequeathing her business to Rarity. She managed not only to keep the thing, but also to expand it considerably, replacing the old sewing shop somewhere on the outskirts of town with a chic store almost in the city center a few years later. Rarity soon made peace with her parents as well, and after a while, to her surprise, they sent their youngest daughter, Sweetie Belle, to live in Ponyville as well. “You were right, daughter. It’s good for her to get out of our province.” Father smiled at the surprised Rarity. Everything turned out well, but those first half-starved months in a strange town, where no one wanted her, Rarity remembered for the rest of her life. *** 2. Scootaloo A little bit about Scoot’s life, which I described under chapter 32. It was interesting to somehow combine the established and much-loved fanon with Scootaloo the orphan and the now canon with aunts and parents traveling the hell knows where. It seemed completely uninspiring, until it occurred to me that Scoot’s dad might have remarried just before season 8 and been driving around with his new wife, who pulled him out of the hole, on their honeymoon :) And I think the idea immediately kicked in :) When she entered the house, Scootaloo habitually grimaced at the familiar, but not the more pleasant, smell of alcohol. She threw off her bags and walked through the rooms, again wrinkling her eyes, this time at the sight of neglect: she has to do the much-hated cleaning again… It seems that she did it just a couple of days ago! So, let’s see… Monday… Yeah… Oh. Two weeks ago? Scoot sighed. Father was in the kitchen, snoring in the company of empty bottles and an old photo album, with his head on the table. He was thinking of mother again… The Pegasus, with a sad shake of her head, hurried to leave him alone. Snap Shutter was not a bad pony and a good photographer, but the death of his wife, whom he loved more than life, he could not stand. Scootaloo remembered her mother poorly: she was just two or three years old when she died… Her father has been drinking ever since, almost nonstop. He lost his job, sold his camera and his home darkroom, which he said he had once been particularly proud of… Probably only having a daughter, whom he sometimes tried to take care of somehow, had kept him in this world. Alas, these impulses occurred in him less often than memories of his wife and the desire to get drunk after them: sometimes there was not enough money in the house even for food, not to mention toys for the kid or even furniture… All this would have probably ended sourly, if not for a few generous neighbors who took care of little Scootaloo. They fed her, played with her, looked after her, let her stay with them overnight… There was a time when she even seriously considered Holiday and Lofty to be closer than her father… Fortunately, she had enough sense not to say such things out loud, and then, growing up and knowing him better Scoot could understand and even, to some extent, accept this poor and crushed pony, telling her about her mother, pouring tears into an old photo album. However, he was not, and could not be, someone really close and important to her, and she still held a measure of contempt for this perpetually drunken wreck. The pegasus hated to see him drunk. Now, fortunately, her father was no longer drinking incessantly, but in “short” monthly passes, between which he tried to find work, establish some kind of life and relations with his daughter, but some time would pass and Scootaloo would come home from school and find him surrounded by empty bottles again… Scoot grew up early, learning to have her own money to live on as she saw fit while also trying to spend as little time as possible at home — she would never skip an opportunity to have a sleepover with friends. She had a good memory of her father drinking away her first paycheck — a dozen of bits for helping a restaurant’s delivery service… She dragged her father to enroll in school, too: at last she would be able to spend less time at home! The result, however, was hardly better, especially in the lessons of the native language and literature… But it became much better when the pegasus established contacts with the Mare in the Moon herself. She had enough horror when she understood WHOM she had hit with her scooter… Luckily, she was an understanding mare, and a pretty cool one! A real friend! Scootaloo chuckled, remembering the expressions on Tiara and Spoon’s faces the day after the memorable conversation. She entered the school like an icebreaker! For the first time in her life, everyone was dutifully parting in front of her, hiding their eyes and whispering warily! Sweetie, though… Oh… Well, the Mare in the Moon has fixed everything with her, as she promised. She was still a little afraid, though… It was all the more surprising to find the huge alicorn in such a depressed state… Like her father before a binge, looking at the photo album and uncorking his first bottle… Frankly, Scootaloo could hardly imagine Nightmare Moon having nightmares for which no remedy was available, but Scoot knew the unavailable… Her father also had nightmares on occasion, and he escaped them with sedatives mixed with his favorite booze. He drinks a glass and falls down. If that doesn’t help her friend, perhaps nothing could. After getting a couple of packs of bluish pills from home while her father was asleep, Scootaloo took them to Nightmare, hoping desperately that she wouldn’t go on a binge… *** 3. Tempest It would seem that the first season and Tempest can’t be put together, but the text below is not even close to everything I had in mind about her when I was spinning the idea of her meeting with the MH in my head. . . . Tempest Shadow, real name — Fizzlepop Berrytwist… She was born on the border, where she lived in her hometown without any trouble until she was fourteen. At school she was an excellent student and an activist, who participated in every event, for which she had a solid number of various certificates. Her friends were from the same circle; she did not communicate much with the others, treating those who were less successful in their studies with a bit of condescension. When she was fourteen, she wandered into woods, while playing with her friends, where she was attacked by a star bear, which resulted in the loss of her horn, a series of less critical wounds, and a long time spent in hospital bed. The loss of the horn was extremely hard for the young unicorn, who had already mastered telekinesis and was accustomed to it. In addition to having to actually retrain back to the use of hooves and mouth in everyday life, such a serious head injury resulted in frequent and severe headaches — not to mention the psychological problems that the mutilation entailed. Recovery and rehabilitation in the hospital took nearly half a year. Fizzlepop had fallen behind hopelessly in her studies, and periodic headaches became a serious obstacle in her attempts to catch up: the inability to study at the same level was another blow for the excellent student, who used to be afraid of even B’s. Her friendship ended on the basis of her “friends” considering it inappropriate to hang out with the “C” student that Berrytwist was turning into, and she had no one else. Her parents supported her as best they could, but they were unicorns, they were healthy, successful ponies, and what was she? The final straw was the incident that caused Fizzlepop to get a cutie mark. One of her ex-friends somehow got the idea to “wittily banter” with the washed-up former high school star. Already crushed by the trials of life and enraged by her ex-friend’s words, Berrytwist directed all her powerful magic at the rest of the horn, and an electric arc flew into the mocker. She collapsed, and that same electric arc flashily decorated the thighs of the unicorn that was dazed by the result. There was a foul stench of burnt fur, and there was a lot of running and thrashing and shouting… Tempest rushed home, tears streaming down her cheeks. She’d killed a pony! And she got a cutie mark because of it! A murderer’s cutie mark!!! She couldn’t stay in town any longer. What if she killed someone else? And even if she didn’t, they’d still kick her out. And her parents would stop loving her as well… At home, Fizzlepop threw her things into her bags, hid her cursed marker under her cloak, and, scribbling a three-word note and crying, she escaped through the window to make her way to the border unseen. If her parents had been home, they would have stopped her daughter, but they rushed home as soon as they heard about the accident and found only a crumpled note on a tear-drenched sheet of paper. Of course, Fizzlepop was looked for — but it never occurred to anyone that she might have left Equestria… The dimwit, who wanted to assert herself at the expense of the unicorn who had lost everything, was lucky. A timely resuscitation managed to overcome the severe electrical trauma, and the medics pulled her from the afterlife. The consequences were a slight stutter, a network of scars all over the right side of her body, and an awareness of her own insignificance coupled with a sense of guilt. *** 4. Thestrals This fragment here is to bring order, because in the end it did manage to squeeze into the main text, though in chapter 47 instead of originally planned 28) However, you can see it in its original form, where it was designed as a dialog with Twilight. “Twilight, where the thestrals had come from?” “Well…” The unicorn mused. “It’s hard to say for sure now, even Princess Celestia remembers their origins very superficially, as she herself said. The books, alas, are written in what an author can come up with: “Mother of the Night” says that they are all descendants of Princess Luna, “The Dark Tribe” says that these ponies are victims of the Luna curse… But “The Dark Tribe” is a rather controversial source: Its author, for example, claims that Luna was cruel and unprincipled, and that Nightmare Moon is no evil spirit, but Luna herself, who rejected everything radiant and good for the sake of power and authority… More reputable sources hold the opinion that Nightmare Moon is an evil spirit, which, scientifically speaking, looks much closer to the truth… Oh, sorry, Nightmare! I didn’t want to offend you!” The mare stumbled halfway through the word, guiltily pressing her ears against her head. “No comments.” I answered evenly. “Continue and, if you can, about thestrals, please.” “A, yes, thestrals.” A distracted Twilight started to gather her thoughts. “I’m not sure why Princess Celestia didn’t like to talk about those times, but she did tell me a few things about them. It wasn’t long after she and her sister began ruling Equestria. The elder of a distant tribe of pegasi came to them for help, because they’d crossed the path of a unicorn who was a powerful dark mage, and the mage had cursed the whole tribe. The poor pegasi couldn’t eat properly, their sight was deteriorating by the day, and their wings were gradually losing their power. By the time they were able to give the Princesses a request for help, they already had the first dead…” The unicorn sighed after a pause. “Was it a big one?” “No one knows for a fact.” The mare mused for a moment. “Big enough to survive in relative isolation on the outskirts of the country. So if I had to guess, there were no less than five hundred ponies.” “I got it…” I prolonged. “What had they done to the magician afterwards?” “I don’t know.” Twi shook her head. “Princess Celestia didn’t tell me that. Fine… So, the pegasi made a request of help to the Princesses. They, of course, didn’t leave it without attention. Given the complexity of the situation, they decided to go to the pegasi village in person and sort everything out on the spot. The curse turned out to be complicated and confusing, and that unicorn had been doing it for more than one night. As a result, Princess Celestia found it impossible to lift it at all and headed back, especially since she couldn’t leave the throne for long. Princess Luna, on the other hand, did not want to leave with her sister, leaving the Pegasi to die, and stayed. According to Princess Celestia, Luna spent almost a month there, trying to save the unfortunates — and she succeeded: she could not completely destroy the curse, but somehow managed to change and redirect its effect, resulting into a transformation of those cursed pegasi into thestrals, but Princess Luna herself was so exhausted that she almost died and then for several months she could not use magic at all! For this act, thestrals began to call her the Great, or sometimes even the Great Mother, as a symbol of her selflessness which gave them life. They also formed her guard and served her faithfully until her exile. That’s how the curse and the changes Princess Luna made to it gave Equestria a new race of ponies. Thestrals can’t see very well, especially in the light, but they have incredible hearing. They also have quite an unusual way of flying and they are excellent at keeping their balance thanks to some kind of a peculiarity in their vestibular apparatus. They can even sleep on the ceiling, dangling by their tails upside down!” Twilight shook her head in amazement. “They must have very robust tails.” I tsked. “They’re robust in general.” The unicorn confirmed. “Some even think that they’re not weaker than earthponies, because of… M-m… Their ration.” The mare shuddered. “Thestrals are predators! They eat fish!” Twi said with a loud whisper. Fish, pf… I smiled slightly. “By the way, Twilight, in “A Brief History of Equestria” that I took from you, it was said that thestrals are a closed community and they are extremely rare in the cities of ponies, outside of their mountains…” “A Brief History”…” Twilight cringed for a second. “A very primitive source that has a gigantic amount of holes and neglects, but I should mention that the facts that are presented there are mostly precise. In addition, there is not much reliable information on thestrals at all, but this particular book contains the better part of it. We know so little about them that even for “A Brief History” there was nothing to cut… “Twi-i!” I poked the mare lightly with my wing. “Oh, sorry, I’ve interrupted you, haven’t I?” She blushed confusedly. “Mhm.” I nodded. “So, it became interesting to me: if they live like an isolated small society — why haven’t they died out?” “A hard and tricky question.” The unicorn chewed her lip thoughtfully. “I was interested in it as well some time ago, but I haven’t been able to find anything in the books on this topic. Princess Celestia, when I finally managed to convince her to tell me about thestrals, told me a shocking thing: thestrals are not only pegasi, they also have unicorns and earthponies amongst their ranks!” Twi’s eyes widened. Now that’s interesting… “One might as well ask the question whether they’re a pony race or just another species that is just close to us…” The unicorn mumbled and stared thoughtfully into nothingness. She shook her mane and looked back at me. “But this fact immediately deletes the severity of the problem of degeneration.” I cocked my brow in amazement. “The parents' different racial backgrounds make it possible to have children between much closer ponies without risk than with the same race. If I remember correctly, it’s already possible for third cousins of different races to produce healthy offspring.” The mare explained. “As a result, although the number of non-pegasi is extremely small — ten to fifteen percent — which does not allow them to rapidly increase the population at the moment, but still enough not to die out.” “Enlightening…” I prolonged. “Listen, where did they get unicorns and earthponies? And what are they like?” “From the time when thestrals lived among other ponies, before the exile of Princess Luna. They are the descendants of thestrals and common ponies from mixed marriages. Not all ponies were afraid of “children of the night,” though of course there wasn’t a lot of them. And, in addition, not everyone was prepared for the fact that their own foal would be a thestral — in mixed marriages there was a very high chance of it, around seventy percent. Probably some peculiarity related to the curse or its transformation… I don’t know. And how they look…” Twilight stopped, fixing her bangs with a hoof. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen them. Like all thestrals, I guess — faded hair colors, warm spectrum eyes with narrow slit pupils like yours, fangs, and larger than pony ears with tassels. And also, it seems that unicorns in thestrals ranks have a curved horn, not a straight horn like we have.” “It’s kinda strange, Twilight: it’s been so long and yet you’re saying that there’s little information about them… How can it be?” “Well…” The unicorn hesitated for a few seconds. “You see, perhaps if thestrals had been in contact with larger settlements, there would have been some noticeable cultural exchange… But there aren’t even towns like Ponyville near their mountains, just small villages that don’t even have railroad tracks. Another problem for visiting explorers is that thestrals are rather cold and mistrustful to ponies in general, and to strangers in particular. And few are willing to venture into such a remote area, given all the rumors and speculation that circulate among the ponies about thestrals.” *** 5. Changelings A bit of SDMS (The Search for Deep Meaning Syndrome) about changelings :) I added some things on this topic with some peculiarities somewhere in the comments on Ficbook* (I hope under “The Unwanted One), but damn it, I can’t find when it was: ((If someone remembers or sees it — let me know! I want to bring it here as well. PS: I did bring it here, down below in a separate paragraph *Russian website for fan-stories “Changelings, aka werewolves, are ponymorphic swarming insects with an organizational structure remotely resembling a bee swarm. Very remotely. A changeling Queen leads the swarm. Their Queens are similar to alicorns and can match them in power, but are not immortal, though their lifespan is considerable. The birth of a Queen is very rare. The young Princess of a hive lives and learns from her mother until she either dies — replacing her — or gives birth to another Queen. In that case, the older Princess leaves her home hive and becomes the Queen of her own swarm, separating herself from the main one. This was the case, for example, with Chrysalis, who is now about one hundred and eighty years old: she spent almost one hundred and forty of them in her own hive until her mother gave birth to her sister Queen. After slightly more than two decades, she left her hive somewhere in Saddle Arabia to start her own — and, causing problems for herself, she stumbled into Equestria, thinking that it would be easy to create a thriving hive near friendly, non-violent ponies.” “Didn’t her mother help her?” “No. You see, as soon as she crossed the doorstep of her native hive, not as a Princess, but as the new Queen, they were no longer related. Their bond was severed, and the new Queen was on her own. Naturally, she was not leaving alone, but with the new Queen’s entourage and resources — everything she needed to start a new hive from scratch.” “Speaking of the entourage… You’ve mentioned that changelings’ organization is akin to bees’… It means “The Queen, The drones, The workers” or what? Are they even sentient? “I think comparison with bees was a bit of an overkill… No, they don’t have such a rigid division into classes, and yes, they are sentient, just like ponies. In addition to the Queen, there are the regular changelings, doing all sorts of work. Stallions are usually scouts, spies, soldiers, and getters. Mares are teachers, educators, nannies, farmers. Also, both may hold scientific and managerial positions in the hive.” “Why do they need division of mares and stallions at all? Isn’t the Queen in charge of breeding? Or are mares only needed as nannies?” “No, of course! Changeling mares are quite capable of continuing their lineage with stallions, but… How shall I put it? It’s not quite… Normal for them? No, no, not that… Not quite usual? Generally speaking, they don’t need it, as a rule. This kind of mechanism is more of an emergency system, allowing the swarm to survive in case the Queen dies. Basically, if a changeling mare has the will, the Queen usually won’t forbid it — she’d even help. But for a simple changeling, clutching is a very arduous process, unlike for a Queen, for whom it is completely natural, so, in the usual situation in the swarm, only a few have such desires.” “Can be a Queen born like that?” “She can be. But a harsh condition comes into power, that the hive shouldn’t have another Queen.” “And how do they do it?” “Hard to say… Changelings, frankly speaking, aren’t well-researched. Maybe something instinctive, I don’t know.” “What about stallions?” “The hope of a changeling stallion is to be the one who is lucky enough to spend a night with the hive’s Queen. That’s why most of them are quite aggressive and there’s a lot of competition among them, unlike mares. The Queen will only choose the one who has been most useful to the swarm, whose efforts for its good have been the greatest, no matter the position he occupies. I know all this may sound wild, but… Changelings, though similar to us, are not ponies. They have a lot of things that really differ from ours.” Entertaining… By the way… “Can be there a King?” “M-m… I think I’ve read something like it… A, yes! There can be, but only in an emergency, when the swarm goes into autonomous existence mode — survival at any cost, in fact. The most authoritative changeling in the hive at the time of such need becomes a king. His job is to unite the others, to help the swarm stay together until a new Queen is born to lead the swarm.” “So death of a Queen is a precondition?” “No. For example, a swarm can reject a Queen if the vast majority of the lings in it think that she is not acting for the good of the swarm. Or she may simply die, either way the swarm goes into this kind of survival mode. It’s easy to identify: the changelings in it start producing poison inside, and their coloring changes accordingly — from camouflage to a warning one. This reduces losses from predators, but has a bad effect on the longevity and immunity of the changelings themselves. In addition, changelings become… more individualistic, beginning to divide into discrete groups, and it is the King’s job to keep them on the same course.” “Why? Isn’t it easier to survive together?” “Decentralization does not allow enemies to destroy the weakened swarm in one blow, giving time to take cover, to adapt to the changed situation… And, sooner or later, one of the mares will bring the egg of a new Queen, who, once born and grown up, will lead the swarm, uniting it again.” “Go-o-ot it… And still it lacks logic — I mean about the coloring. In theory they have to hide, but the coloring changes to a more vivid one…” “They hide, first of all, with their special magical disguise. The coloring, as I said, is mainly to protect them from accidental attacks by wild animals, at times when the cloak does not apply. The standard black coloring is inconspicuous, but a changeling detected by, say, a manticore will still be attacked by it. In survival form it will be detected for sure, but attacked only in self-defense — in any other case, the manticore will try to avoid it as much as possible — what’s the point of hunting a creature that is almost glowing with poison? Though, especially stupid predators can attack even such a ling, but they are few in number. As a result, the poison and colorful coloration reduce accidental losses, which the swarm can’t afford at the moment.” “So it turns out that the poisonous coloring is more effective than the standard one?” “It is, yes. But keep in mind that it also has a lot of disadvantages, and all of them mostly work in the long run — reduced life expectancy due to rapid wear and tear of the body, weakened immunity and a number of other unpleasant effects… That’s why the poisonous form is an emergency option for changelings, not the main one — more vulnerable, but not wearing down the body beyond measure.” “Enlightening. By the way… I’ve also heard that lings are feed by love. Is it true or?..” “To an extent. They can’t naturally regenerate magic — and it’s critical to them. I should just say that they cannot breed without magic… Emotional feeding gives them that same magic. Without it, a changeling will be significantly weakened, both physically and by losing the ability to use magic and turn into something, but it will not starve them to death. They can eat ordinary food to satisfy their normal hunger… And not just ordinary food: they’re… omnivorous, brrrr…” “By which emotions? Only love?” “Really — by every positive, but love from their point of view is… is the most nutritious. Oh, nightmare… That wouldn’t be much of a problem, but the emotions are exactly what they EAT — the pony experiencing it feels them fading! How their joy melts, how their love fades… If you take a little, it’s almost imperceptible, but not all changelings are careful enough. If Chrysalis' hive was older and had many experienced and skilled hunters in it, it would really be able to thrive in Equestria and not disturb anyone, especially since it is much more profitable for a changeling to receive love from a pony voluntarily — this is much less sensitive for a pony, but only the smartest and most experienced can act slowly and carefully like that, and there is a very limited number of them. The young and inept lings, however, are a disaster for ponies. They cross the line, suck it dry, lose half of it, get caught… Of course, that doesn’t make them any more lovable at all. And from the Princesses’ side as well. And when you have a feisty, strong, and self-confident young Queen at the head of the hive, who, like any changeling Queen, is ready to smash herself to pieces for the sake of the swarm, you have a problem…” “And there’s no way for an agreement?” “Alas… If they don’t get a good beating — don’t even try. “You don’t talk to fo-o-od”, stupid maggot…” “Can’t they eat their own emotions? Or, I don’t know, share them? Or they don’t love each other in general so there’s nothing to eat?” “They do. The Queen loves her children, the swarm loves its Queen… They can feed on the emotions of each other, but only if they are from different hives. But in your own swarm, it’s like moving things from your left bag to your right bag. The emotions collected by the swarm go to the Queen, and the Queen distributes them among all the lings of the swarm. You can also eat it yourself, but that’s a pretty heavy crime by their standards. If you, an adult hunter, eat what should be given to young larvae to grow, who are you after that?” “But, theoretically, it turns out that you can drink emotion from another changeling of your swarm purely for yourself.” “Changeling hives are rarely very numerous, so they are somewhat economical with their own comrades, trying to not let them die from anything. But what you said, even with their thrift, seems like… A death penalty.” “You’re not a thief till you’re caught.” “But not in a hive. The Queen is connected straight to the hive — she’d feel everything and understand everything.” “But if it counts as a crime, then it means it has happened?” “If the hive is in a critical absence of magic — yes, it can happen. No changeling in his right mind and would even think of such a thing. But the sense of magical hunger can lead to such things…” “Got it. But what about the Queen’s connection you’ve just mentioned?” “Queen connection with her hive? The Queen senses her subjects, she is able to command them and receive reports from them at a distance. The older and stronger a Queen is, the more information she receives with this connection and the farther it extends. But even with the oldest Queens, its range is still quite limited.” “Can ordinary lings have such connections?” “Only through the Queen, directly — no. By the way, a changeling King, if it comes to this, doesn’t have such a feature.” “Well, an interesting lecture, Twi. Thanks.” “Anytime, Nightmare!” … The lost fragment. Slight hentai :) Skelet_Karlos (Karlos the Skeleton) I have a better idea! Set up a political marriage between MH and Chrysalis. To get a peace agreement from the Changeling Kingdom, and create trade routes between it and Equestria :) WerWolf_54 Yes, the idea of marriage with Chrysalis has also been on my mind for a long time. From the point of view of Tia and Equestria — to have peace, tranquility and friendship of nations, from the point of view of the narrative — to watch the panic of MH, who just realized that his new wife has an ovipositor, and she is getting cozy to some Nightmare for a reason XD The swarm Queen is a long-lived creature, but not immortal. She maintains the swarm’s numbers and manages it, trying to achieve prosperity and welfare. The ordinary individuals can also have offspring if they wish, but this is an emergency mechanism for the swarm, and such a process is not easy for a simple changeling mare, because it requires a lot of resources, which she, unlike the adapted Queen, does not have. The Queen herself can either lay unfertilized eggs in an incubator to give birth to ordinary individuals of the swarm or she can share a bed with a stallion who is strong and has proven himself (Changeling or not is not important, as long as the species is minimally compatible and has some sort of kinship. I mean, a pony would do, there’s a reason they’re so similar, right?) to fertilize the eggs and become a mother. Or — the hentai option — the Queen becomes the “father” by laying unfertilized eggs in a mare strong enough to bear them — and loyal enough not to fountain negativity at the Queen and her clutch in herself. One is fertilized and a new Queen will be born from it. The rest, developing with it, will bring her retinue — personal security, the backbone of the guard, officials who will be absolutely loyal to the new Queen. The incubator is not an option here — the new Queen needs a lot of magic and love for proper development, which is only available inside her mother :) Eggs are laid almost ripe and soon crack open. The new Queen, as a Princess, stays with her mother’s swarm, learning her lessons, learning to rule, and serving as a support and deputy in case something happens to the Queen to lead her swarm as its new Queen. And when the Queen has a second daughter (and the Princess has a sister), the older daughter leaves her mother’s swarm to start her own. By the way, Chrysalis, in my current mind, is just that, a young Queen, who is at most 100+ years old, who left her mother’s hive not long ago and chose Equestria as a food base for her swarm. (What would those ponies do if something happens?) And she miscalculated it, underestimating the difficulties about working with the locals. 6. Griffons A bit was created about griffons as well :) Griffons, as it turned out, also had their own races. The first, considered the standard in Equestria and the most widely known, was a cross between a lion and an eagle. There could be some variations, of course, but that was about it. These guys lived in the northeast of Equestria, in and near the mountains. The climate there was rather unfriendly, the land was stony and unfit for agriculture, and the more suitable southern territories were lost to the ponies in one of the many wars with them… There was something growing on the land that remained, but fish from numerous rivers would have been all they had to eat if not for the ponies, trading metals and precious stones for provisions. They were not very good miners, but, as they say, if you want to live — you will do even more… The second race of griffons, the lesser known, lived far to the south of Equestria, somewhere in the tropical forests. I wonder if that’s where Daring Do happens?.. Ahem, okay. They were a cross between a jaguar and a parrot, their front part a riot of shapes and colors. They would talk a lot, lie, fib and fantasize, and they were almost as obsessed with money and riches as their northern cousins. Yeah… I have a feeling that griffons have a common ancestor — a damned crow! Some would kill themselves for a shiny thing… These citizens were pirating in all the waters they had around — ponies haven’t marked other “achievements” on their part. They were universally despised and totally mistrusted by the northern griffons, but parrots hardly cared about that. But a third race of griffons has never been encountered by ponies: at least, there was no reliable record of it. Moreover, neither did they exist among the griffons themselves, turning this race, a hybrid of panther and owl, into something semi-legendary. In the griffon lore, they were often referred to as “Night Griffons” or even “Dark Griffons,” who were widely credited with wielding some kind of secret magic, kidnapping, and all sorts of dark and macabre deeds under the cover of night. In short, these guys were a scary fairy tale, like me. I chuckled. *** 7. The Crystal Empire and ancient Equestria I was thinking some time ago — where did the Crystal Empire even come from and how is it connected to Equestria? This part’s about CE, ancient Equestria, and the sisters. It’s about everything :) The original ponies’ lands laid there, far to the north from Equestria, a long-long time ago, including the unicorn kingdom, whose center was a city made of crystals, which astound everyone’s imagination. But not only unicorns lived there; there was also a great number of earthponies, and the horned ones usually enslaved them during wars and used them as cheap labor. It was the most advanced state of Equus: they had known steam power and standardization of production before the Great Winter. When cold weather came and ponies faced the question of the need to move from the places that had become extremely inhospitable, it was not very difficult for earth ponies and pegasi to solve it: the former lost their main value — fertile lands, so they had no other choice, the latter were able to take their capital — Cloudsdale — with them, having lost practically nothing. The issue was very different for the unicorns in the rich and beautiful Crystal City, whose endless libraries were filled with great knowledge and its vaults with powerful artifacts. Many estimated the losses from the relocation to be too high: in the end, not all unicorns agreed to leave their homeland (of course, saving behind their earthpony slaves) and leave all their considerable achievements to frost and desolation. Queen Platinum became the leader of the departing party, and one of her advisors of the Mi Amore clan led the rest. The new Queen believed that she could defend what the snow and storms had not yet consumed: knowing what the wendigos were, she believed that the abolition of slavery and universal reconciliation, along with powerful magic, could stop the cold spirits. Platinum, a staunch supporter of unicorn supremacy, considered Mi Amore Cadenza’s plan a manifest of foolish idealism not worth counting on. Ironically, the former Queen soon had to change her mind… The softer, more tolerant Cadenza, however, still managed to implement her idea. A lot of effort had to be made to free the earth ponies and create a monolithic and friendly society so as not to give food for the spirits of cold and enmity, but, with a squeak, slavery was abolished, and the earth ponies gradually began to become full members of society. The artifact created by the Queen of Crystal City, the Crystal Heart, also helped greatly, giving a sense of empathy to the ponies around it, allowing them to feel the world as others felt it… The Queen’s daughter, having succeeded her mother on the throne, continued this process with enthusiasm, managing, in the end, to virtually eliminate racial discrimination altogether. The wendigos were fought off. But there were enough problems without them: much was destroyed by the cold and winter, there was a shortage of resources, there was nowhere to grow food… They had to look for help from Equestria that had formed by this time. Equestria, still rather amorphous and uninhabited at the time, enthusiastically bought high-tech goods from the CI and trained its specialists in its universities in exchange for food and raw materials. However, there were those in the CI who believed that Equestria and its territories rightfully belonged to the Empire: its citizens and — most importantly — its former Queen had lent their hooves for the founding of a unified pony state in the south. As time went by this position only strengthened: the dependence on Equestria became too obvious and it frightened many people, and the fact that they stood together with Equestria in the War of Chaos, as usual, was too quickly forgotten… In the end, the war faction was led by a talented and powerful magician named Sombra. Being a good speaker and organizer, he managed to gather around himself — and around the throne — the vast majority of the supporters of the idea. When the reigning Queen once again refused to lay claim to Equestria, Sombra staged a military coup, declaring himself the King. The overthrown Queen and her few loyal ponies tried to flee to Equestria, but never made it through. Was she killed by the cold and dangers on the way or was her life cut short by the usurper — now there’s no way to find it out… The history of Equestria, on the other hand, has also seen many upheavals over the years. The young republic, created by the pony tribes united before the wendigo threat, was far from being a unified state: everyone there pulled the blanket over himself, and this amorphous structure existed in spite of, rather than thanks to. However, life was getting better: cities were being founded, fields plowed, surrounding territories explored and occupied… The latter led to what later became known as the War of Chaos: the ponies, at their misfortune, stumbled upon the lands of the spirit of chaos, Discord. He was terribly bored: nothing interesting had happened in a long time, and then, out of nowhere, the ponies showed up… The amusements and games invented by the spirit of chaos were harmless only in his own mind. Luckily, the spirit did not allow any casualties, but it hazardously destroyed all attempts to live a normal life. It was impossible to come to an agreement with him: today he agreed to the terms, tomorrow he changed them, and the day after tomorrow he got tired of following the agreements and simply stopped following them. It wasn’t possible to defeat him by force either: you don’t bring a knife to a gunfight… In the end, the Pony State was, in fact, ruled by Discord for some time, who, in the meantime, passionately pitted and reconciled ponies against each other. In this madness, many of the technologies and magical knowledge the unicorns had brought with them faded into oblivion: later, many things had to be reinvented… Equally poorly preserved is the history of this period: even its exact duration is unknown. However, it was by its end that the three ponies who changed the world appeared on the scene: Starswirl the Bearded and his strange followers — Celestia and Luna, which had both horns and wings at the same time. The wizard himself, who was quite old already at the time, was born in Equestria, but he learned a great deal from the knowledge of the immigrant unicorns, and much more on his own, being an extremely talented wizard. Starswirl was rightly considered one of the most powerful wizards of all time: he was the only unicorn who did not fall from exhaustion after the ritual of raising the Sun or the Moon. It is a well-known fact that day and night used to change by themselves: whose hooves — the wendigos' or Discord’s — are credited with making it happen on their own at a certain point is unknown. Where Starswirl’s apprentices came from is unknown even to them. For a time the young alicorns were taught magic by him, living among the ponies, but later disappeared, only to reappear as guardians of some Elements of Harmony and defeat Discord, turning him into a statue by never before seen magic. Luna and Celestia were transformed into national heroines. Which was very awkward for the supreme council of the Republic, which, with its many failures, looked pale in comparison. Taking advantage of the mage’s absence, an idea that Starswirl had successfully torpedoed many times before was pushed through: force the sisters to participate in the ritual of the rise of the celestial bodies What was the council counting on, getting into a quarrel with Starswirl and putting the people’s beloved heroines in danger, is unknown. It was hardly a balanced decision… However, its consequences were even more fatal for the council than they could had been: the alicorns easily dealt with the celestial bodies, feeling, at most, malaise, and also receiving cutie marks with the Sun and the Moon. A month later, with the active participation of the angry teacher and an enthusiastic crowd, Equestria became a kingdom. The older sister, Celestia, with her talent and interest in government was especially adored by the people, became the Queen, while the younger, Luna, who preferred seclusion and had a less glittering reputation, was given the title of Princess. Starswirl went missing soon after. The sisters were off their feet trying to find their teacher and friend, but it was all in vain. This loss hit Luna the hardest: Swirl was almost the only friend of the unsociable Princess… In the meantime, Equestria was rapidly evolving: establishing relationships with its neighbors, creating its own science and production with considerable participation of the Crystal Empire. Several generations had passed, but the alicorn sisters were still young… It was then that the Castle of the Two Sisters was built, as a home and a residence, and a laboratory where the alicorns tried to understand what they were. However, the relatively quiet times were inexorably coming to an end… A couple of decades later, there was a coup in the Crystal Empire and Sombra came to power. The Sisters learned of this, in fact, only when many agreements and treaties were broken: The Crystal Empire ceased its training and exchange programs, recalling its specialists, and its diplomats began to insist that the trade treaties under which Equestria received artifacts and technology be renegotiated, apparently no longer wanting to sell anything to its neighbors except for raw materials. Tension hung in the air. Intel was bringing bad news: Sombra was actively preparing for war. Though there was a strong desire in the CI to distance themselves from Equestria so as not to end up becoming its colony, only a few supported an outright war. But on that side was the color of the Empire’s magical power, led by Sombra, and you either joined his war machine voluntarily — or you were forced to do so. Soon Equestria was given an ultimatum: either join the Crystal Empire on the basis that Equestria was founded by its Queen, or join the Crystal Empire on the basis of defeat in the war. The fact that most of the Equestrian specialists and magicians had been trained in Crystal City played a role here — not many of them were eager to fight SUCH wizards, and the image of the Crystal Empire as an enlightened and friendly state was very strong in society. Celestia quickly realized that with such inputs, the chances of winning a war were extremely low, but she was also aware that the Crystalists themselves were also going to fight under a leash in Sombra’s hooves and his, by this time, very few associates. Yes, fortunately for Equestria, by this time Sombra had almost no loyal associates left, and the unicorn himself was to blame: having come to the throne through a coup, feeling his support weakening, Sombra was keen on looking for traitors around him and, oddly enough, he was finding them. The paranoid wizard had practically shot dead all his previously very serious reputation by the outbreak of war, and all that remained was a few loyal ponies and personal power in which he allegedly exceeded Starswirl himself… The decision was obvious: without Sombra, there would be a great possibility of not starting the war. Celestia and Luna personally traveled to the Crystal Empire to fight Sombra, counting on the fact that there was no one left in his entourage who was capable of actually continuing the course of the war after his death. The battle did not go well from the start. Sisters, who previously defeated Discord and changed day and night fatally underestimated “some” unicorn — a master of crystal magic, dark magic and artifact science, bearing the well-deserved title of archmage. But Sombra was not strong enough to handle two alicorns alone… However, the unicorn’s paranoia played in his favor: he feared the sisters' visit, and prepared for it, expecting to trap them and put them in stasis until he could find a way to defeat them if he could not fight openly. The trap worked, but it wasn’t able to hold the power of two alicorns… Celestia barely managed to drag herself and her sister out of the collapsing area before she turned around to see a snowy wasteland instead of Crystal City. It was as if the Crystal Empire was erased from reality. Upon her return, Celestia was frantic in her work: the past crisis had exposed too many problems, and the break with the CI had hurt Equestria’s own education, production, magic, and medicine, which now desperately lacked both specialists and the ability to train them… Alas, while she immersed herself in solving the problems of the state, Tia sowed the seeds of problems in her own little family…