Author's Note

There are a lots of Naga and concepts introduced here. Many with similar sounding names which may get confusing. So, I'm giving a quick guide at the top to help keep track of them all for you to reference. I recommend skipping reading over the rest of this note initially and only coming back to it as needed. Putting it in spoilers accordingly.

1. Sheffe: Hides most of the time, has black scales, no head frill, and larger claws. Burrower type.

2. Syx: White and blue scales, extremely fast and invades others personal space. Asks a lot of questions. Hyperactive. Head frill. Scout type.

3. Stella: Green scales with purple stars. Has painted the scales around her eyes purple to match her stars. Head frill. Rookery nurse type.

4. Sentie: Slightly larger and more muscular than the others. Green scales with red splotches. Head frill. Enforcer type.

5. Saba: Female. Green and yellow scales. Head frill. Large scar on side. Forager type.

6. Met: Male. Glasses. White splotches on green scales. Head frill. Forager type.

7. San: Adult rookery nurse. Brownish green scales with neon green stars.

Two unnamed naga youth. One a male with black scales with yellow stripes and head frill. Another a female with no further description.

Three adult males: all with various shades of green scales and color splotches. Enforcer types.

Naga types: Enforcer, Scout, Burrower, Rookery Nurse, Forager, Kingsnake.

Enforcers: Larger, more aggressive tendencies. Head frills.

Scouts: Very fast, ask many questions, tasting constantly. Tend to report what they see.

Burrowers: No head frills. Larger claws. Can dig quickly. As fast as scouts but less able to visually keep track of things.

Rookery nurses: Head frills. Have distinctive star patterns on scales. Naturally protective and nurturing of young.

Foragers: Generalists. Head frills, variety of colorations of scales with stripes or splotches. Tend to be more submissive towards enforcers and rookery nurses (all naga tend to be submissive towards kingsnakes).

Kingsnakes: As youths they look like foragers, but they keep growing beyond the sizes of other naga and have much longer lifespans. Only naga that can see in color.

Chapter 36: Meeting The Crystal Clutch

"Hey! He doesn't look that special!" one of the naga said.

"He's smaller than me!"

"Sheffe, you're being a scaredy-scale for nothin'!"

As soon as he entered, he felt like retreating. There were more naga than he had heard voices for—he saw seven, but he knew one was still hiding—eight naga his age. Most were primarily green with either stripes or splotches of some other color, although there was one that was black with yellow stripes. They were all looking at him, tongues flicking.

His nervousness increased as he caught sight of the adult naga in the corners, but they didn't seem that interested—he counted four of them. He could tell they were watching, but there were no tongue flickers, just watching. They were all green with different colors of stripes and splotches. There were also four grown-up ponies standing nearby in a group, watching, the shiny crystal pony types.

It was a big open room, all the same blue crystal as the city above. There were cupboards off on the side walls. There were little tables, pillows, and blankets spread around the middle of the room, along with books and toys. There was one wall that had lots of papers with drawings on it. There were a few doors, all shut. He wasn't sure where they all slept. Maybe they slept out in the middle of the room. There were a lot of pillows and blankets.

"Are you really a kingsnake, or were they just making that up?" one of the male naga asked.

Sisstet looked at him. "You have yellow ssstripes going down your ssscalesss."

The naga blinked and flicked his tongue but didn't say anything.

A blanket rustled and another naga stuck her head out. She was green just like the rest, but he could see purple scales around her eyes, and it looked like she might have some purple scales in other spots. She saw him looking at her and immediately retreated back under the blanket.

Another naga, this one bigger than the others, with red patches here and there among his scales, rose himself up high on his tail. "You're supposed to be what we're scared of? I don't think you're that special. They could have told you Shesh had yellow scales."

Sisstet coiled himself up and hunkered down. He recognized the voice. This was the one who was bullying before, Sentie. They said he was an enforcer type. That must mean they were the tough ones, the fighters.

"Don't pick on him. You remember what the princess said. He'll remember," another naga, one that hadn't spoken before, said. He had glasses and white splotches on his scales. Sisstet wondered what type he was, but he didn't even know there were types before just a few minutes ago.

One of them suddenly slithered quickly over to him, coiling around him and flicking his tongue quickly. This one had a mix of white and blue scales.

"Ohhhh, I get to see the kingsnake! You smell dusty. Why do you smell dusty? Your name is Sisstet? I'm Syx. Do you want to be friends? Where are you from? We don't go outside much. I want to see other places. Do you get to see a lot of places? What are other places like? What do they taste like? Are there lots of things to see? Are there lots of things to do? What do little ponies look like? Do they look like big ponies? Do they have fur or scales?"

"Syx, give him some space," one of the ponies standing close by said.

"Yeah, back off, Syx. You never give anycreature space," one of the other naga said.

Syx sniffed and flicked his tongue close to Sisstet a few more times and then cautiously slithered back to the group. Sisstet struggled to remember all the questions he had been asked. Why had Syx gotten so close to him and spent so much time tasting him?

"How about you all line up so we can do proper introductions?" Princess Cadance suggested.

"Come, foal, you heard the princess. Line up," one of the ponies standing close by said.

The other naga started moving to line up after that. Stella, who was still under her blanket, moved with the blanket still on her, but he could see more of her as she moved. There were definitely purple stripes.

"Sheffe, that means you too," one of the ponies said, speaking at a cupboard.

Sentie turned, still standing high on the tip of his tail so he was almost as tall as the princess, and gave the cupboard a menacing look. "Come on out, scaredy-scale! He's little, and he cringes as much as you. You should get along great!"

The cupboard cracked open and a tongue flickered out. The door suddenly opened, and the naga inside quickly slithered out. He moved so fast that Sisstet barely got a look at him before Sheffe got under a blanket at the end of the line and hid there. How did he move so fast? Sisstet could move fast, but not that fast! He looked like another black one, but it was hard to tell what other colors there were, not with how fast he moved and hid.

"That will do," Princess Cadance said. "Sisstet, to quell their curiosity, and because you are the guest here, how about you start by introducing yourself?"

Sisstet didn't really feel brave enough for that, but it would be rude if he didn't do what a grown-up asked him to do, and he didn't want to make a bad impression by being rude. He lifted his head.

"I'm Sssisstet. I only found out I wasss a kingsssnake lesss than a month ago. I go to Ponyville Elementary Sssschool. Sssilver Ssspoon wasss my teacher, but now sshe isss trying to adopt me. I'm friendsss with poniess and a kirin. I like trainsss."

"You talk weird," Syx said. "Why do you talk like that?"

"He sounds like the guardians," one of the others said as they glanced at the adult naga in the corners.

Silver Spoon came up close to Sisstet and touched him gently. "Sisstet tends to draw out his S's when he gets nervous but speaks more clearly when calm. Please be nice to him. This is his first time being around so many of his own kind, and his old guardians weren't always the nicest to him."

"Why were they not nice? Is he defective or something?" Sentie asked.

"Sentie, manners. Don't be so rude. We'll give Sisstet some more time to settle," Princess Cadance said. "With that in mind... Stella—"

The blanket with the purple-scaled naga jerked. "Yes?"

"How about we start off with you introducing yourself? Come out from under the blanket and let Sisstet see your pretty scales," Princess Cadance concluded.

The blanket shook. "Why me first?"

"Because I think you will make him less nervous," Princess Cadance explained. "Can you think of anycreature better to do that? You are less pushy or overbearing out of our normally outgoing naga, and unlike Syx, you can give others time to breathe and process what you are saying. No offense to you, Syx. Your inquisitive and eager nature is endearing, but a little overwhelming for some."

Stella shook the blanket off herself, displaying herself at last. She really did have purple highlights on her green scales, but they weren't stripes or splotches—they were stars, aside from the purple around her eyes. It really made her stand out a lot.

"Hmm, Stella as in stellar," Silver Spoon muttered.

Sisstet didn't know what that word meant, but it seemed good.

Stella looked at him. "I'm Stella. The guardians say I would probably be a rookery nurse if I was back at the main clutch. I guess that's nice, but I don't know if I'd want to be stuck with that job. I met Lady Rarity and saw all the pretty dresses she makes. I want to make pretty things. I'm not sure I could make dresses, but I draw things. Do you... do you think I'm pretty?"

"Y-you're very p-pretty," Sisstet stammered, blushing.

"She paints the scales around her eyes. She asks the ponies to make sure the color matches her stars," Syx said, getting close to her and pointing at her eyes. She hissed and tried to bite him, but he quickly dodged her. "Hey! Ponies said no biting!"

"Stella, do we need to get one of the gel pillows?" one of the ponies asked.

Stella gave Syx a dirty look but shook her head. "No, I won't bite him. He needs to back off, or I'll claw him."

Syx coiled up and giggled. "Naw, I'm too fast. I don't know why you all always try to bite and claw me. Why do you do that? I think it must be a game sometimes. I am very good at this game. You never get me."

"Idiot," Sentie muttered.

"No clawing either. We settle our disputes with words. Syx, your turn," Princess Cadance said firmly.

Syx slithered in a circle where he was. "I'm Syx. I like to see new things, but they don't let us out much, so I have to look at pictures in books instead and look at what the others are doing. I'm really excited to meet a kingsnake. I thought you'd be bigger. Do you have the power to shrink? If I could shrink, I would slip under the door and go explore outside. I tried digging, but I can't dig through crystal. It hurts my claws, so I don't do that anymore. The others are always biting and clawing at me. The ponies say I invade everycreature's personal space, but I don't understand that. We all live here, so it is all our space. It is as much my space as theirs, so how do I invade it? Getting close to them lets me see what they are doing and what they taste like. Guardians say that I would be a foraging scout if I were back at the main clutch. I like that idea. It means I'd always be out looking at new things. I love seeing and tasting new things, and want to see and taste them all then tell everycreature what I tasted and saw."

"You really never let him out?" Silver Spoon asked the princess.

"We're concerned he'd get into trouble, or that he'd slither off and not come back," Princess Cadance explained.

"Hhhe'd come backkk," one of the adult naga hissed. "Ssscoutsss don't jussst ssscout. They rrreport. Hhhe wouldn't be able to resssisst coming back to ssssay what he ssssaw. It isss what he isss."

The princess gave the naga a dirty look. "He is more than just a creature of impulse, and even if impulse drives him that much, it is dangerous for him to be slithering off on his own."

The adult naga shrugged. "If sscout doesssn't come back, that isss report in itssself."

"This is not your clutch in the badlands. This clutch is meant to become more. Their lives are treated with value here. I'm not risking their lives," Princess Cadance asserted.

"Then you are sssuppresssing them and making them weak," the naga replied.

The princess flared her wings. "I'm an honorary kingsnake. Are you going to argue with me?"

The adult naga flicked his tongue and turned his head. "No... do asss you like, kingsnake. I missspoke."

Sentie looked on eagerly. "Are you going to fight?! Are you going to force the guardian to submit or be eaten?"

"You do not fight a kingsssnake, foolissh worm! To fight a kingsnake isss death," the adult naga hissed. The other adult nagas hissed along with him, and Sentie quickly cowered.

The princess lowered her wings. "It is okay to question me, but I am the authority here, and I will guide this clutch as I see fit. You are free to voice your opinions, and if you do it constructively, I'll listen, but any naga that chooses to get violent with me will be sent back to their homeland. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sshould jussst sslay troublemaker and make example, like true kingsnake. Naga that do not lissten to kingsnakes only good for food. Young would behave better if you ate one or two of them for dissobeying, or at leasst sscewered them," another adult hissed. "But I sssshall not quessstion you."

"It seems like you are trying to walk both sides of the line here, princess," Silver Spoon said.

"I'm trying to find the right balance," the princess replied in a tired voice. "They respect my daughter more. They like her physical approach to things. She actually decked one of the adult naga here once after they got into an argument. We had to hospitalize him for about a month after. He couldn't understand why we nursed him back to health or understand why I was furious with Flurry for lashing out violently. I can't get through with these adults, but I'm hoping for more with the kids."

"Saying you can't get through with all of uss is unfair. I try my best to adapt to what you wish," a different adult naga said, this time a female, the only female out of the four.She had stars on her scales like stella did, but hers were a neon green on top of her normally brownish green scales.

"And do you have disagreements with how I do things?" the princess asked.

The female flicked her tongue. "I agree, in principle. I do not undersstand many of thesse things, but I do my besst to try, and my besst to learn. I think the issolation is not good. You wissh them to be more like ponies, but the only ponies they regularly ssee are thesse rookery nursesss. They are good ones, but not what most our young need to interact with. I think they should go to regular pony sschool, like thiss kingsnake."

The princess raised an eyebrow. "I take your opinions more seriously, San, since you are the only rookery nurse they sent, and one of your eggs is among our foals. Do you not worry they'll get into major trouble?"

"Cannot learn if never get chance to mess up," the female replied. "The kingsnake iss alive and has not been murdered. He goes outside. He goes to pony sschool. Ponies don't hurt him. He musst not hurt ponies."

"You're a mother to one of them? Which one?" Silver Spoon asked with interest.

San pointed. "Sentie iss my hatchling. He will messss up more than the othersss. He doesss not fit asss well with gentle poniessss. That meansss he needsss more chancesss than the resst to get it right. I want him to return to clutch to hold great authority, not to be viewed asss failure and devoured."

"Failure... how... what do you mean failures get eaten?" Sisstet asked in fear.

San looked at him. "You're different. I don't think they will let you return. Booksmart kingsnakes too dangerous to allow in the clutch. They want booksmart common naga. They want them to run clutch and make the clutch benefit from their smarts and get lots of food eassier. If Sentie cannot help clutch run better because he iss booksmart and can work with poniesss to get the clutch food, then Sentie may end up being food."

She looked at the other adults. “They don’t care if young fail or the young do well. They only do their job. They have no egg in this nesst. Sentie iss my egg. I’d rather he face little rissssks and live than face a bigger rissssk unprepared and die.” She looked at the princess. “Would you demand the ssame for your daughter? I don't underssstand the thingsss you teach the young. I try, but maybe I’m too sset in old waysss and my mind can’t adjust to the new. Sentie knows more than me about many thingss, for which I am glad, but I know Sentie needssss to be better. My hatchling issn’t going to return home unprepared. He will not disappoint the kingsnakess and become their snack. I will defy you if I think that will be the case—honorary kingsnake or no.”

The three other adult naga hissed angrily at her, but San ignored them.

The princess blinked. “They surely wouldn’t-” She looked at San’s face and then bit her lip, looking down nervously, before looking back up. “If this is a legitimate concern, then I want to discuss this in much more detail with you later. Why are you only now bringing this up after eight years?! I thought that they would be too valuable to your kingsnakes to ever face that fate.”

San pointed at Sisstet and he cowered down. Why was he important?

“That one goess to pony school. That one hass pony guardian. That one might not return to clutch, but that one iss doing well with poniess, desspite being a kingsnake. Poniesss should be running in terror, but he sslitherss in here with no trouble, yet my sson iss confined in here because he iss too sscary,” San hissed, spitting as she did. “You think kingsnakess getting forced to adapt to pony culture with this treaty, but kingsnakess ssee opportunity—not booksmart, but cunning. They ssee better trade thankss to naga trained and educated by poniess making good dealss and making clutch run better. What elsse they do doess not matter, only that the clutch runss better. If they don’t do that, then they failuress, and not worth anything, ssince they can’t do normal naga jobss either now. They are only good for meal if they fill no role.”

Cadance sat down. “I thought we were building bridges—that they saw the strength of the pony society that defeated them and wanted to emulate it and grow stronger. We’ve had such success with other species doing the same thing.”

“Maybe you can do that, but only with common naga, not kingsnakess,” San said. “Kingsnakess are unchanging. Kingsnakess only look for more opportunitiess for food for themsselvess and clutch. They care nothing about how they get it. They care nothing for each naga on their own, only ssuccesss of clutch ass whole. They sssee thesse naga ass having job to do, and if any naga can’t do job, then that naga can only ssereve the clutch ass the kingsnakes’ food.”

Some of the other naga went and hid under blankets and a few of them started eying cupboards. Even Sentie was looking around like he wanted to hide. Sisstet wanted to join them, but instead he coiled up in place as tight as he could.

“Sisstet is a kingsnake and he isn’t like that!” Silver Spoon said touching her hoof to Sisstet’s side protectively.

“That iss why he can never return,” San replied. “Kingsnakes cannot afford to change. They musst remain focussed on the ssame old thingss, or become dangerous. A kingsnake iss dangerous, but simple to understand and simple to know how to pleasse. The system works because they simple to understand and have simple goalss. A booksmart kingsnake changes everything. A booksmart kingsnake starts to want more than just food. Very dangerouss, very very dangerousss. Breakss undersstanding, demandsss more that might not be possssible, jeapordizess uss all with their unknowable wantss. Kingsnakes don’t learn much—basic numbers and letters, just enough to barely read signs posted by other creatures in case it iss important. They can’t write, but they teach young ones that it has happened before where kingsnakes got smart, and to be content with their simplicity for the good of the clutch. Smart kingsnakesss only bring death and destruction to clutch. Doesn't matter if there are good smart kingsnakes. Only takes one bad smart kingsnake. If all king snakes smart, there will always be at leasst one bad one or more. If they have to live with a good smart kingsnake, they will learn to envy smart kingsnake or feel challenged, and try to be smart too, and at least one will bad. Better if all of them are not ssmart; it iss not worth the risk. Just feed them and keep them happy and simple. That is what iss best.”

Silver Spoon gaped. “I think…I think we might have been building the wrong arguments for the kingsnakes to let me keep Sisstet. It might be much simpler than we expected....I also think my parents are going to be very disappointed.”

“Why?” Sisstet asked, unsure why Silver Spoon’s parents would be unhappy. This all seemed scary, but it seemed to him like they’d want her to keep him—which was good. Even if it was because they thought he was dangerous—which was bad. Was he dangerous? Thinking about that made him feel bad.

“I don’t think the kingsnakes would be very happy with the idea of you getting a noble title, which kind of ruins my parents plans,” Silver Spoon replied with a sigh. “I’m only disappointed because you might have ended up wanting it. Now, it doesn’t seem like you can be afforded the chance. I don’t like the idea of denying you the opportunity, even if it wasn’t something I would want for you.”

He snuggled close to her. “That’ss okay.”

“Are we going to get eaten?!” Sheffe wailed.

“Oh dear…” Princess Cadance said. “You are all very precious to me, and I won’t let that happen. I’m going to make sure you all have the tools to be very successful so you don’t have to worry about that, and if any of you look like you might be in danger…we’ll figure some other solution out. I can negotiate to keep you—not all of you, since that would probably make the kingsnakes mad, but those of you who might be struggling. I do want to see as many of you go back as possible, because you can do a lot of good, and make the lives of your clutch much better, and I believe you want to make them better too. I’d rather have to deal with any one of you effectively running the clutch than one of those kingsnakes who care about nothing beyond food. The kingsnakes might always be there in the background, but it is you who will hold the real power in the clutch. You who will govern. You who I will call my friends.”

“Provided they keep kingssnakess happy,” one of the male naga guardians said, sounding bored. “If young nagass make it sso I stay full and sstay ssafe from kingssnakes, I don’t care what they do. Crysstal Empire iss nice. We never hungry. We don’t have to work ass hard. If young naga make clutch more like thisss, clutch will be happy, kingssnakess will be happy. If they fail, we know how to ssurvive the ssame way we alwayss did.”

Cadance smiled at San. “Well, there is one thing we have as a bridge. Mothers still love their babies and will fight for them with all they have.”

Sisstet thought of his old female guardian, and how protective she had been of her egg. He wondered how long it would be until that egg hatched. What did baby naga look like? No creature had taken a picture of him when he’d hatched. So he didn’t know what he’d looked like. She likely wouldn’t let him get close enough to see. They hadn’t even let him out of the burrow until it was time for him to start school. It would be years before he met the hatchling. He’d be half grown by that time. Maybe he could be like a big brother to the hatchling. That might be nice. Some of his friends had lots of siblings, and they all seemed to care about each other a lot.

Princess Cadance looked around. “Maybe this way of doing introductions is too formal. How about we play a game instead?”

Sheffe stuck his head out of the blanket, revealing his black scaled face. The others had at least small frills around their heads, just like Sisstet, but Sheffe had no frill at all.

“Hide and seek?” Sheffe asked in a hopeful tone.

Sentie flicked his tongue. “I like tag better.”

“How about a treasure hunt?” Silver Spoon suggested.

Syx looked excited. “I get to find things? I can find things!”

Silver Spoon seemed to consider. “Maybe a little too good at finding things. Perhaps you can be one of the ones that hides things…along with Sheffe. You can divide into two teams. Syx and Sheffe can be on opposite teams, and their teams need to find what the other team has hidden first…with Syx and Sheffe confirming those are the things they hid after each thing is found.”

“Won't we see them hide the things?” Sisstet asked in confusion.

Syx laughed. “Sheffe and me move too fast. We can slither around the whole room too fast for you to keep track of. We can hide things without you knowing where we put them, even with you watching.”

Silver Spoon blinked. “Well, I was going to suggest the others cover their eyes—”

Sheffe shook his head. “Don’t worry. We’re super fast. None of the others can move half as fast.”

“I chase Sheffe out of all his hiding spots. He tries to get away, but I can keep up. None of the others can do that,” Syx said.

“Two little wormsss are very fasst. We can’t even chasse. Don’t think we could catch in open territory either,” one of the adult naga confirmed.

“Oh,” Silver Spoon said, sounding amazed. She looked at Sheffe. “Are you a scout type as well?”

Sheffe ducked back under his blanket. “No “

“He’s a burrower,” Princess Cadance explained. “He is made to dig quickly through dirt, and he can move even quicker when there’s nothing to dig through. He can match a scout’s speed, even if he uses it differently. Be careful, he has bigger claws than the others. He can accidently do a lot of damage with them if he is startled.”

The blanket shook. “I don’t want to hurt any creature. I’m very careful. I won’t hurt the pony or the others.”

Stella slithered over to a table and gathered up some small things. “They can hide these. I was trying to knit, but I’m not very good at it.”

“Thank you,” Princess Cadance said. “Don’t get discouraged about your results when knitting. You’ll get better with practice. I’m confident about that. No one starts out good, and your hands give you an advantage to develop better skills than ponies.”

The princess looked around. “Stella, how about you take lead of Sheffe’s team, and direct them. Sentie, you can lead Syx’s team. Consider yourselves the commanders. Sisstet, Saba, and Met—you all will be with Stella and Sheffe. The rest of you will be with Sentie and Syx.”

“Syx needs to have his eyes covered when Sheffe is hiding things,” Stella insisted. “It won’t be fair if he watches. Sheffe is fast, but Syx can keep track of him.”

“A fair point. Agreed,” Princess Cadance replied.

“Awwww,” Syx whined.

Two other naga slithered up close to Stella. One was the male who had glasses. The other was another female naga who looked plain green and yellow but had a huge red scar going along her side. It looked like she had gotten hurt really badly sometime before. Another plain-looking female and male slithered up close to Sentie. The two who came up to Stella must be Met and Saba. Was Saba the scarred female? Sisstet didn't know a lot about naga names to know which were boy names and which were girl names. Still, that scar looked like it hurt. What had happened?

She noticed him looking and moved so Stella was between her and him. He felt bad. He didn't mean to stare.

Stella noticed Sisstet looking at Saba, and she gave Saba a hug. She then looked at Sisstet again. "Saba doesn't like creatures staring at her scar. She's okay. It happened a long time ago."

"What happened?" Sisstet asked timidly, trying not to look at Saba.

"She startled Sheffe, before he got good at not clawing," Stella explained. "Sheffe felt really bad about it. He hasn't clawed anycreature since then, but the ponies still worry he will."

"I'm not mad at him. I know he didn't mean to," Saba said quietly.

Sheffe trembled under his blanket.

"Doesss it hurt?" Sisstet asked, still trying not to look.

"No, just looks bad," Saba answered in a low voice. "It used to hurt, but it got better. It feels bad when I coil up too tight, so I don't do that."

"I wanted to make her a dress to cover it up, but I can't sew very well, and clothes don't work so well with nagas," Stella said, sounding sad. "Wish Lady Rarity would come back. She could figure it out."

"It's okay," Saba replied. "The teachers tried to give me a bag to carry that covered it, but it rubbed and made it itch."

Sheffe's blanket continued to tremble, but he didn't say anything.

“Alright, foals, lets begin the game,” Princess Cadance announced.