Much had changed since the last time I was sent onto Equestria as I stared at the kingdom of the two Alicorn sisters, well, of what's left of it anyways.
Equestria had a different aura than it used to radiate before. The towns I had passed by so far are nothing but smoldering ruins, crumbled not by mere age but by force. Same for the fields and forest that had the same fate. Nothing but ruins.
The land was destroyed and thus abandoned, not a sign of life.
Well, besides the two ponies at my side as they watched me intently. They had always been doing that as I continued to stare down at the old world, from an airship.
These ponies were not in league with the Equestrians but instead under a banner of a hulking empire, calling themselves "Remorians".
I however, stood upon them as a diplomat, representing my home that lay in the far south. The Changeling Hive. I was sent on a task to continue relations with the hive and the ponies affiliated with the Remorians.
Much is not known about them as we are to them. Yet they seemed so intrigued about our ways and specifically our magic. And in turn, we were caught by the machinery they possessed.
The airship I was standing on was an example of what they are capable of. It was unlike any Equestrian ship I had ever saw. Instead of using giant flaps to propel the ship it was adorned with a pair of huge propellers. The pair wasn't even powered by manual paddling, but by what these ponies call "steam".
What the hive did know about them however was that the Remorians were involved in a bloody conflict against Equestria, and with their technology achieved something that the changelings couldn't ever reach to.
Conquest, the downfall of Equestria.
It had amazed us of what they had accomplished, but the Remorians also claimed that their army spanned by the millions, their machines by the thousands.
And yet us changelings foresaw what they were also capable of in the battlefield.
It was during a time when the ponies were in the middle of their conflict, the Remorians came down south and encountered our hive for the first time. First contact.
What ensued were violent reactions, as we attack them by instinct due to the fact they were near our home.
But they thundered and our defenses dropped like flies, until our queen had ordered us to cease the defense of our home and go for diplomacy instead.
Diplomacy had helped and we managed to ally with the Remorians, we settled to a treaty that they were allowed to place their soldiers in our lands while studying our ecology and in turn the soldiers can aid us if it is permitted.
Our queen had asked them to aid us to battle our rival hive, the hive of Chrysalis.
They reluctantly agreed and dispatched troops along with their machines.
As a young drone of the time, I was tasked to watch from the sidelines as the battle unfolds.
Chrysalis 's hive was immediately met with the fire of the Remorian war machines. Cannons fired in hundreds, ones well known to the known world and others impossibly hoof held. What had ensued was complete immolation.
That was merely a decade ago and much had change ever since indeed, and yet we still barely knew much of each other. Interactions were only limited to the queen herself and changelings with special capabilities, myself among the few but at the most important task.
Not to only enforce relations but to find a way the Remorians can greatly benefit the hive.
I was sent by the queen herself, and solely because I could write in a written language and with her as one of the only changelings that can read, I was also tasked to write down all of my encounters into a journal. The reason of using a journal was simple,the hive mind had a limit of range. A few more miles and I was left to be cut off, but after that I still had to stay on task.
"Enjoying the view?" a feminine voiced chirped from behind me. I turned to see a mare in a blue uniform that was highly decorated. The mare herself had a radiant light blue fur as she fixed her blonde mane, her golden eyes studied my lanky form.
Unlike other changelings, I was a tad bit taller.
"Yes, I find it enjoyable to watch of what's below." I stated blankly. "Do you also enjoy the view?"
"...Aye..." she awkwardly replied after the short silence. "I just actually came here to tell you that the Captain will be seeing you shortly."
I nodded, and with that I made my cue.
The oak floorboards screamed under me as I trekked down the hall of grey walls. Each side adorned with a numerous amount of protruding pipes until I had reached a flight of stairs.
It then led to a room, decorated and personalized with lavish bright red curtains along with a darker shade of red across the carpet.
"What do you think of it so far?" A figure sat in the the middle of the room (I had never met the Captain in person nor I ever heard of what he was like).
"Fine..." I answered.
"Fine?"
"Yes, I thank you for your hospitality Captain but much is left in question when it comes to politics. One thing had seemed to left me to question itself."
"And what question would that be?" he leaned out of the shadows, his canine-like face revealed. Diamnond Dogs were common among Remorian ranks as I heard, but my reply would question that.
"How are the diamond dogs in near with equal status with ponies of your nation? You for example, a diamond dog in charge of a ship full of ponies. Something that's never seen in other cultures."
He stayed silent for a short period as he stroked his chin with his paw. Then replied," Well, our culture aren't most cultures-" he stood up, his height looming over me. "-it's a long, complicate chapter of the story of Remorian history. One filled with ignited wars and violent events with complicated causes. Or you can imagine instead of a story of two races, one black and one white, and at the birth of their own nation the whites stood supreme. It took a while for the race of blacks to stand in equal footing with the whites, and it took centuries. Overcoming unfair laws, poverty, segregation, war..." he glanced back at me as he paced around the room. "...Then at the end, there was unification. The ultimate achievement, and despite our differences our combined strength had made this empire last more than it could have when the inhabitants were alone. And ever since, our people were united and closer than the darker times and much has been done together."
"I see..." I muttered. "But one other question, how about the diamond dogs of the Equestrian region. Are alike or different to one of you breed and stature?"
"You do ask many questions for a changelings," he commented then sighed, "but it's simple. The diamond dogs of the former Equestrian region had spent their lives forced to live as savages since the rise of Equestria. They were driven away from their homes to the caves, having no choice but to live by the most primal of ways, along with a lacking stupor, degraded. Compared to them, Remorian diamond dogs were more likely...literate. Equestria may be prized of its arcane knowledge, but below that is a cruel backwards society of equine supremency, cruel to anything not of their own kind..."
"I understand.." I nodded. "I experienced it first-hand...Will the ponies of the Remorian nation be the same?"
"I'm not sure, despite the ponies respecting the diamond dogs I'm not sure if they'll tolerate seeing a changeling for the first time. Even sometimes there were ponies that outright don't tolerate diamond dogs..."
"It's good to know..."
"Aye..." he lightly smiled, but then sheepishly asked," What was your name? I never bothered to asked."
"My queen addressed me as Hornet." I answered.
"Well Hornet, we'll be at your destination by one summer. But in the meanwhile we'll be making multiple stops at the provinces ahead."
"That sounds delightful."
"And Hornet, I don't mean to pry but I wanted to ask you...what caste are you? What type of changeling caste are you?"
I sighed," I'm classified in the hive...as a defective..."
