In a small minka in Hokkaido Prefecture, the Changeling Royal Family of Imperial Neighpon—more specifically, they were the Morifumu Family—were all sitting in silence at a chabudai table. They were sipping sencha tea, chewing on the pieces of salmon from their shiozake dishes as they waited for someone to speak first. The quietness in the room was beginning to get a little awkward, especially whenever one of them glanced at one another, practically begging them to say something to break it.

Eventually, the slender male with a long dark cerulean mane, tied into a half-up half-down style with a sakura kanzashi holding it in place, and soft red eyes broke it by softly uttering, “What are we supposed to do? We… I can’t go through with this option.” He was the current Crown Prince of Neighhon and inheritor of the Chenji Colony, as well as the subservient husband of the trembling female with a short deep blue mane in front of him.

She responded through clenched teeth, “Is that so, my dearest Ume? It’s not like you had a choice in the matter in the first place.”

“Jasmine, there’s no need to be so hostile,” another female, Rikugun-Tai-i Himawari, protested, placing her teacup down before continuing with, “and he’s not the only one confused about this situation, for the God’s sake, this hasn’t happened in centuries!”

Ume sighed as he watched his wife take in a deep breath, releasing it to say in a much calmer tone, “alright, alright. But once again, it isn’t any of your choices on what we are to do in this situation; it is mine.”

“Even if they aren’t our children?” Ume asked softly, flinching back when Jasmine shot him a deadly glare.

“If only you knew the number of illegitimate children I have,” she stated without care when she saw him sink into his seat in humiliation as the others at the table gave him pitiful looks.

Silence once again befell them, and after a few minutes of them just staring down at their now cold plates of food, Himawari mumbled, “one of us should check on the princess, and I think that should be Ume.”

Rikugun-Shōsa Fuji added with a nod, “and his palace attendants could accompany him perhaps?” She gestured to the two males on either side of the prince, both of whom had a taregami hairstyle with differing colored manes and eyes, baby blue and amaranth, faces painted a pale orange and light turquoise respectively with heavy makeup to contrast them, dressed in colorful jūnihitoe dresses like the prince.

They both smiled at their prince, showing off their blackened fangs in the process. Ume raised his head and muttered for them to go ahead before him, ignoring their attempts to convince him to follow them. When they gave up and went to the other room, he sat up and stated, “our daughter is making the most difficult choice of her life right now, will you join me with her when she finally makes it?” He stared at his unamused wife, ignoring the fear tingling in his gut.

His wife ignored the question with a roll of her eyes, taking another sip of her tea as she tried to figure out what to say next. Before long she coldly concluded, “I should’ve known her flamboyant nature would come back to bite us in the ass eventually,” before wiping her hoof down her face, her deep grimace being enough to make everyone else at the table cringe.

When no one replied she harshly snapped, slamming her hoof onto the table, “why did no one inform me of her relationship with that… that street whore?!”

“Because none of us expected anything to come out of it! And it’s not like you care enough to pay attention to our daughter’s wellbeing!” Ume finally snapped back, baring his fangs in anger.

Jasmine’s eye twitched a few times, making the two female soldiers with them look towards the prince in worry over what her next move might be. Once the princess stood up from her spot and made her way around the table towards him, Ume just sighed and squeezed his eyes shut.

He was already prepared for the inevitable strike across his face.

Ume’s palace attendants both stopped in place when they heard a loud thud behind the shoji, whipping their heads around as they saw the shadows of the princess and soldiers moving around erratically behind the thin sheet and shouting profanities at each other. They managed to figure out the princess was yelling at them in her native tongue, Marpunino—more specifically, Carabaon dialect.

The blue-haired attendant whispered to his partner with wide eyes, “should we step in? What if the prince was hurt, Harlequin?” The answer to his question came in the form of the prince sliding the door open and closing it behind him, trembling as blood ran down his muzzle.

“Your majesty!” He exclaimed, running to the prince and taking his face into his hands as he examined the minor injury, noticing the small bruise on his nostril but the prince just waved his concerns off.

“I-I’m alright, Popillia. Let’s… Let’s just go check up on her…”

“Ume…” Harlequin quietly protested, but upon the firm shake of his prince’s head, he sighed and turned away from him, making his way to the shoji separating them from the young princess on the other side.

“Of course, your majesty,” Harlequin obeyed, quietly sliding the door open to reveal a curled-up female in the corner of the small room.

Once the three stepped inside they were able to hear soft chirping and cooing sounds… the sounds of happy newly hatched grubs. Ume took the lead and without hesitation, walked over to his daughter and gently stroked her light blue mane as he whispered, “hey, my darling princess. Forgive me for not coming in sooner; your mother made it hard for me to find a time to leave.”

“Hi papa,” she mumbled back in a weak voice.

Ume approached and sat next to her, asking in a gentle tone, "how are you faring? I can't imagine you're doing too well at the moment."

His daughter sat up straight, having no other answer than a feeble shrug.

“I think she wouldn’t be nearly as bitter if you didn’t hide the eggs before they hatched,” Popilla butted in to suggest, which made Harlequin nod in agreement.

“Most likely. If anything she would have disposed of them a lot earlier if she had caught wind of them, and for all we know, that would’ve been for the better.”

“Well, I wouldn’t put it that harshly.”

They quickly stopped talking when Ume shot them an irritated look before tilting his head towards the door, requesting through his clenched teeth, “would you two be a dear and grab us some refreshments, preferably some castella and sencha from the kitchen?” Thankfully they obediently listened before rushing out the room, making sure to shut the shoji behind them.

Tsubaki gave him a once over, noticing the minor injury on her father's usually flawless face.

“You’re hurt,” it wasn’t a question, just a mere and sad statement.

Ume wiped whatever blood had begun to trickle again, brushing her words off with, “it’s nothing to do with you, darling. Whatever is the problem… other than the obvious, of course,” it was a dumb question and he knew it but, he never was that good at small talk, the majority of what he said was rehearsed nonsense if he were to be completely honest.

“Geez, I don’t know!” She sarcastically snapped, “it’s not like you and mother are making me leave one of my grubs for dead… oh wait, that’s precisely what’s going on, isn’t it?”

“Please don’t raise your voice too much, your mother is already irritated enough right now,” Ume quietly pleaded, petrified at the idea of his wife laying a hoof on his daughter as she had him.

If anyone deserved the abuse it had to be his foolish self, not his sweetly naive little girl…

Ume sighed, “I know how you feel, it's not easy being in the public eye… especially when it’s something as controversial as this could be–”

“What would you know?!” his daughter snapped, glaring at him with tears streaming down her flushed cheeks, “the public loves you and can’t stand me! You’re a fashion icon, the tennin of Neighon, the changeling’s beloved prince! Even our rivals to the west adore you and despise mother and me!”

He had no response to her outburst, as everything she was saying was true to an extent. It had been hammered into him growing up that he must be the perfect face for their family: graceful, beautiful, kind, and above all, honorable to their family. To be anything else was practically a death sentence, and as much as he wanted to explain the pain this perfect image brought to him, he knew it just wasn’t the time to do so. Instead, he would let her vent her frustrations in a way he hadn’t been able to growing up in this damned family, it was the least he could do at this moment.

After he let her cry it out a bit on his shoulder, he heard her take in a few deep breaths, “I’m barely seventeen…” Tsubaki eventually whimpered out with a sniffle, hanging her head down in shame.

Ume cringed, “I know, I know. If it was my decision you wouldn’t have been promised to someone so soon; I probably would’ve helped you choose someone else instead of Cicada… don’t tell anyone said this but I find her quite boring, it’s hard to blame you for finding interest in… what was his name again?”

Tsubaki seemed to brighten up at the mention of her mysterious lover, needing to forcibly hold back her chortle before blushing softly, answering with ease, “Danh Văn Trần… he says he comes from the capital of Vietrot. You know, he's honestly the sweetest boy I’ve ever met. He tells me I’m captivating and the loveliest being he’s ever laid his eyes on; knowing his handsome face, there’s no doubt he’s met countless others much better than me but he still chose me! And, and… oh father, he’s just wonderful!”

Ume couldn’t help but smile warmly at the sight of his daughter’s starstruck description of this boy, asking as he took her hooves into his own, “may I confess something to you?”

She nodded eagerly, intrigued at the idea of her father letting her in on his personal feelings for once; he normally bottled them up as she observed since she was younger.

“I would give just about anything to be in love for the first time again,” Ume confessed as he once again began to stroke his daughter’s unnaturally soft mane–meaning she must’ve soaked it in snail slime earlier that day, “understand that your mother and I did feel something for each other when we first started our courtship… what a spitfire and charmer she was, gods, how she made my foolish heart skip a beat with just a look. She was a highly respected aristocrat from the Fillypines and I was merely a softhearted Neighhon prince with too much on his plate. In retrospect, I might’ve been so desperate to be happy with my arranged marriage that I tricked myself into falling in love with her but then again, maybe it was real, even if it was just for a short moment.”

“Oh, don’t feed me that folly, papa!”

Ume froze as he saw the knowing look on his daughter’s face, she elaborated, “like no one sees the way you and Popillia sneak around behind mother’s back, if she wasn’t so busy trying to get into his bed as well she’d probably notice it too.” He flushed bright blue, immediately trying to derail the conversation back to his original point as he wasn’t comfortable with discussing his suddenly revived sex life with his stupidly smug daughter.

“My point still stands! The first time you fall in love will always be different from the second or third time it happens, you’re inexperienced and confused about what you feel, it’s life changing.”

"Yes, yes. I get it," Tsubaki giggled.

The shoji opened, making them both turn to see an exasperated looking Harlequin holding two trays, one in his mouth and the other with his magic. He levitated the tray out of his mouth to explain the absence of his companion, "Popillia has been snatched up by that old witch so, it's just me now... and my massive headache, please help me set these down before I pass out."

"Of course, Harlequin!" Ume immediately got up to take over holding both the trays, having significantly less trouble with levitating light objects due to personal training.

It was borderline idiotic how they didn't teach and train males how to use their magic properly, it would make simple tasks like this leagues easier than it currently was; but no, they were afraid of them taking advantage of that possible knowledge and believed that the males would have an uprising if they had that much power.

If only there was someone out there who could pull them out of this limited mindset, whether it was in Ume's lifetime or his children's didn't matter to him; he just wanted the best for those in pain at the moment.

And well, speak of the devil... or rather, that particularly controversial figure.

“Apparently Princess Celestia of Equestria wants to get into contact with us to discuss…” Himawari was holding a letter in her hooves, pausing as she read the next line a few times over, wanting to make sure she read that part right, “peace negotiations?”

Fuji gagged on her egg, spitting it out to furiously reply with, “Those dreadful ponies think they have the authority to speak to us, nonetheless discuss peace when they were the ones who struck first?! Do they not remember what they did to our species’ name? Calling us ‘heartless savages’ and saying that we feasted on emotions when we did nothing but defend ourselves against them!”

“This could be beneficial to us,” Jasmine muttered as she apparently ignored Fuji's tirade, tapping her chin in thought. “Regardless of our thoughts on them and their thoughts on us, if we can form an alliance we could eliminate any more issues between us. Not only that but tensions are rising here and it would be rather helpful if they helped us… quell those who talk too much about fantastical things, like how males deserve to be of equal standing to us, how utterly ridiculous!”

“I… suppose that’s true but,” Himawari hesitated to continue, only doing so when Jasmine gave her a nod of approval, “what if this is some sort of scheme to finally get us? We can’t put too much trust into a kingdom we’ve had a major conflict with since before any of us were born, we mustn’t let down our guard if we do speak to their princess!”

Jasmine grinned widely, “just my exact thought, Himawari!” She then caught sight of Ume’s attendants attempting to sneak past them with treat-filled trays held in their mouths.

“Oh Popillia, my enchanting boy, break out the saké won’t you; this is a discussion worth celebrating!”

Popillia was about to set down the tray to properly protest that he was busy but Harlequin levitated his own tray out of his mouth to say, “I suggest you listen, Popillia. I’ve got this so please, don’t disobey her orders, alright?” After looking between his red-haired companion and the impatient gaze of the princess at the table, he gulped and nodded.

"Of course, how could I be so silly to assume otherwise," he finally said, impressed with how he didn't cringe before or after saying that.

And judging by the perverse look in the princess's eye, this was going to be a long day for him.

Meanwhile, Ume and Tsubaki were looking down at the napping grubs in their crib, having abandoned their half eaten castella and long gone cold tea. Harlequin had left them be to make sure Popillia was alright in the other room. The both of them bore solemn looks on their faces, knowing that by the next day, one of them will be dead on the streets.

"Why must we do this? What if this isn't a curse like those dusty old books say, what if this is a miracle?" Tsubaki uttered, looking desperately to her father, silently pleading with him to take her side on this.

Unfortunately, her father was as kind as he was religious, meaning that he only had one answer to her blasphemous suggestion.

"As much as I hate to say this, it's not up to us to decide something like that; only the gods can rule what is right and wrong here, not us mere subjects of them. Sol ordered for things to be the way they are today for a reason, and that reason is because when the God of Death seduced the treacherous Goddess of War they birthed twins that were meant to bring the end of times. If it weren’t for our Sun God ordering for them to be killed immediately we wouldn't be here today, and ever since every twin born has brought nothing but curses to whatever family bears them. Haven't I explained this story to you more than once as a nymph already?"

Tsubaki rolled her eyes at his tangent, having forgotten just how dedicated he was to their cruel gods, to the point where it crossed his own morality at times; then again, it's impossible to be perfect so, there's her father's only flaw at its worst.

He seemed to sense her annoyance with him.

“You must understand that your mother only wants the best for us,” he reassured before being shoved back by his daughter.

“With the way mother treats you, are you completely sure of that?” Tsubaki replied with a cocked eyebrow.

Ume blinked a few times in thought, correcting himself with, “your mother wants the best for you; you are our only daughter together, and that means my duty to her is fulfilled until you take the crown instead of me. They will not approve of a male ruling this empire, especially when I have a powerful daughter such as you.”

“It’s not fair!” She wailed, throwing her hooves around his neck as she continued, “I never asked to be empress, why can’t we change the laws?! Aren’t we seen as gods here, why can’t mother do something if I’m that much of a disappointment to her–”

“Hush now, my darling princess,” Ume interjected, placing a hoof over her lips, “we mustn’t commit such an act of hubris like that, and... I don’t know why we can’t change the laws. It isn’t in my control and if I’m being completely honest, I didn’t ask for this role either.”

He then glanced at the crib with a frown, “unfortunately for you, you’re not fully from this place and they will already criticize you for that. That isn’t your fault but they will most definitely see this as your fault so, don’t you think it’d be smartest to just listen to your mother? No matter how much we both don’t agree with her, it’s the only choice we have here…”

Tsubaki sighed. "What would be your choice? For who will stay I mean," she asked, knowing she wasn't capable of making the decision herself.

"Logically and honestly? The blue-haired one will be the best bet of keeping this scandal under wraps, the public would never believe you and Cicada birthed a grub of very clear Thayđổnese origin."

"Okay..."

Harlequin popped his head back in to warn, "the old witch is getting impatient, she wants your decision within the next few minutes!" Ume nodded before freezing, staring at the other male as a thought crossed him.

It was risky, risky enough to get him executed on the spot if he messed this up in any way, shape, or form. Not to mention his internal guilt of betraying his beliefs and devotion to the very gods he'd offend if he decided to go through with this insane plot. However, one look at his sniffling daughter made any doubts in his mind dissipate in an instant, "Harlequin, come here for a second, you too Tsubaki, lean in a bit... I have an idea, but I need both you to cooperate with me to a tee."

“Princess Tsubaki Morifumu has made her decision.”

The three females looked towards the quiet yet firm voice of Harlequin, who held one of the grubs in her arms; the one with the green tuft of hair on its head. Jasmine let out a dry laugh, “what? That coward and little girl couldn’t tell us themselves, shows just how pathetic they both truly are; imagine how this empire will be run when Ume and his aunt finally bite the dust.”

The guards ignored her words as they approached Harlequin, who stepped away from them to affirm, “Ume and Tsubaki both ordered for me to take care of this, none of you are permitted to join me; prince’s orders, not mine.”

Jasmine squinted her eyes at him in suspicion, having a gut feeling that something was off about this. So, before Harlequin could move from his spot, she stopped him by stepping in front of the exit.

“If I find out that either you or that miserable creature you call your cousin are deceiving me,” she leaned in so close to his face that their muzzles touched, spitting out, “you’ll both be fed to the sharks before you can even think of ever crossing me again.”

“I wouldn’t dream of such a thing, your majesty,” Harlequin bitterly replied with a roll of his eyes, pushing her away from him to walk straight out of the minka.

Ume then suddenly appeared by Jasmine’s side, cradling the blue-haired grub in his arms, “welcome the newest member of the royal family, Kiku Morifumu of the Neighpon Empire.”

Author's Note

i am back!!! and i am exhausted wow i am going to bed lmao, hope ya'll enjoy and plz leave thoughts/predictions/discussions in the comments!