Path of a daughter

Early mornings are rough for everyone, and Princess Celestia, currently being rushed into the throne room by the Royal Secretary Raven Inkwell with her normally flowing mane now motionless, frazzled, and sticking to her head with sweat, is no different. Telekinetically holding a full kettle of water and coffee that’s reaching boiling point thanks to her magic, she enters through a small door behind the throne, head hung low, eyes barely open, frowning, and sighing when she sees the dreamlings sitting huddled on the floor with Blazing and Guiding Light in the front. They’re surrounded by four Nightguard bat ponies and one technically Nightguard changeling drone, inasmuch twenty-one individuals can be ‘‘surrounded’ by five. Two more Royal Guards are standing by the main door of the throne room, gripping their spears and clearly on edge, but since the identity of dreamlings and the extent of their power isn’t general knowledge they haven’t called for backup.

“What is it this time?” Celestia breathes out, the white robe hastily tied by her barrel with a sash that she’s wearing slipping as the sash loosens.

“Your Highness,” the Nightguard to whom Blazing referred as Sharp and whom Guiding presumes to be the leader, opens with, “Princess Luna sent us to a new and intense source of nightmares-”

Blazing Light silently looks sideways and nudges his daughter, whispering:

“Hiding it didn’t work, time to come clean and see how things play out. Buuut stick only to the questions, just to be safe.”

Guiding nods.

Share only what’s necessary. Understood.

With that, Blazing stands up and clears his throat. Contrary to the Royal Guards who lower their spears into a charging position, the Nightguards only look at him and Sharp pauses his report.

“Sharp, no need to have Raven take down your memoir. Long story short, Your Highness, you locked the dreamlings up without any chance to feed and, luckily for them in this particular case,they don’t eat love but fear-” he hears the Royal Guards gasp, and Celestia’s eyes open wide, “Yes, yes, I get that it sounds bad, but you try and make living weapons able to indefinitely sustain themselves behind enemy lines without any supplies, and we’ll see how many war crimes you roll into one. The point is - none of that is their fault and I have a working theory, or more working wishful thinking, that they might be able to feed both on love and on normal food like I do. With some practice, that is, and I wouldn’t start them off in the Royal Guard kitchen. The question is - what are we- well, you going to do in the meantime?”

“Is that accurate?” Celestia looks Guiding in the eyes, and finds herself an equal in that staring contest.

“The part about us feeding on fear is, Your Highness. However, while I admire my father’s optimism-” for some reason, several of the Nightguards quietly snort, suppressing a chuckle, “-I have no idea whether we’ll be able to sustain ourselves on other emotions or pony food.”

“Hmm,” the kettle floating next to Celestia’s head starts quietly whistling, “It’s certainly worth a try. However, it’s likely to take time and our knowledge of changeling anatomy is woefully limited. How long do you think you can last without feeding?”

“Over the three days in captivity, we’ve recovered to a reasonable degree. We should be able to go on for a week or two depending on activity,” Guiding takes Blazing’s advice to heart again and undersells the estimate, “Even so, it will be harsh.”

“We’ve dealt with worse things in a shorter time frame,” Celestia forces a reassuring smile which feels like she means it and is only marred by her sudden, rough awakening, “And while keeping you under lock and key could be easier both for me and maybe even less tiring for you, it would get us nowhere in figuring out your feeding options,” she glances at the black-maned, cream-colored and bespectacled earth pony mare with a notepad by her side, “Raven, the dreamlings will be allowed to move around the castle grounds freely and in the city with an escort,” she looks at Guiding again, “Those terms are non-negotiable, Your Majesty. Any breach by any of you will be considered a hostile act towards us. It’s both for oversight and protection, yours and that of my ponies. The tempers are still high after the changeling invasion, and I doubt anypony will bother trying to figure out the difference between you and Queen Chrysalis’ hive. in fact, if I were you I wouldn’t leave the castle grounds, but I’m aware that the more you can experience the better.”

“I understand,” Guiding nods, “Will there be anyone we can ask for clarification if we’re not sure what’s acceptable?”

“Raven here will answer your questions or direct you to somepony if I’m not available,” Celestia glances at her assistant, “Your father knows a good deal about the castle’s inner workings, so he can be a guide if he can keep his sass in check-” she shoots Blazing a look to which he replies be whistling innocently, “Commander Sharp Biscuit of the Nightguard can also help if need be and if his duties allow.”

The leading bat pony gives Celestia a courteous bow.

Finally, the kettle of coffee starts emanating enough heat for the air to start warping around it, and the Princess gives it a longing look before putting the spout to her mouth and downing the entire thing in one go.

“Raven, let’s sort out the assignments for today,” she says in a friendly, refreshed tone of someone finally somewhat awake, “Commander Sharp Biscuit, take our guests to the waiting room, please. Raven will be with you in a moment.”

Sharp nods, turns to Guiding, and simply says:

“Follow me, Your Majesty.”

***

The dreamlings’ new accommodation is the two-room guest suite on the bottom floor of the castle that’s the furthest away from the public areas. Despite its lavish comfort, twenty pony-sized occupants are still a serious overcrowding problem, not even counting the one current guest in Blazing who is nervously sitting on the bed with Guiding while the other dreamlings are either lying on the carpet or poking around in the other rooms. Since they have very little idea about what most things around them are, the poking is often literal.

Other than their curiosity, the mood in the suite isn’t great, because the deal regarding the dreamlings’ newly given freedom of movement came with a caveat - the majority of dreamlings will be split into pairs and sent out to various places of Equestria, with an escort of course, to learn about the world. Celestia wanted the dreamling to guard ratio to be 1:1, but Guiding flatly refused due to the problems that diluting the hive mind knowledge even further would cause in the short term. After all, the exhaustion and deaths of tens of thousands over the past month before they jumped through the portal left the dreamlings in a state where not all of them can even communicate effectively or recognize most common objects.

“This is not a good deal,” says a dreamling mare once everyone gets settled. She sounds calm but Blazing can hear it in her voice that she’s controlling herself.

“Yeah, this is the move of someone who wants to split us up so that we’re easier to take out,” agrees a different one in an openly aggressive tone.

“Any ideas other than to flee and prey on ponies until we’re discovered and either wiped out, forced to flee, or worse - fight and win?” Guiding looks around the room, eyes narrowed.

“May I?” Blazing raises his hoof. Everyone looks at him which makes him withdraw, “Uhh, I don’t think you’re entirely wrong-” he points at the aggressive one.

“That’s 3,” comments Guiding.

“-3, in your assessment, but you arrived under seriously unlucky circumstances, and you’re just going to have to take it up the tailpipe for a while until you prove yourselves. Think of it this way - you are a potential danger to Celestia’s sister who only recently returned from her banishment and is still adjusting, you are a living reminder of what Nightmare Moon was capable of, and she’s still giving you a chance which she, frankly, doesn’t need to.”

“She has no idea what we’re really capable of-” growls 3 but stops mid-sentence when the mare who originally opened the discussion shoots her a sideways glare.

“Probably,” admits Blazing, shrugging, “Neither do I and I know how powerful your Nightmare Moon was. If you wiped out your world, you must have killed other alicorns too, or at least supported her while she did so, but that only proves my point - if Celestia believes that you may be dangerous but still way within her ability to handle, whether it’s true or not, she doesn’t need to split you up to get rid of you. That means that her real goal is to integrate you into the society and gain allies in case there’s more trouble in Equestria which, to be honest, is bound to happen eventually. This place is a disaster magnet.”

“Thank you,” says Guiding Light and smiles a weary smile at her kin, “I want you to be on your guard, but also open to new experiences. Besides, half of us will be staying here in Canterlot, only in different parts of the city. I remember some of the other areas where you’re supposed to be going and only Manehattan, Las Pegasus, and the Crystal Empire are considerably out of reach. That’s also why I want you, 2, as well as 3 and 4 to go there.”

“Queen, you can’t be-” 3 objects and is shut up again by another narrow-eyed glance from the same mare, which makes Blazing curious.

“Who are you, Miss?” he asks and, to his surprise, the mare seems even more taken aback by his interest than he is unsteady at talking to an unknown mare. With only Guiding, as the Queen, having mane, tail, and normal eyes, it’s tough to make out any major differences between the dreamlings past a general mare/stallion shape.

“I’m rank 1,” she replies, “I’m a firstborn like the Queen. That means I’m your direct daughter as well,” she adds when Blazing glances at Guiding for confirmation, “So is 2,” she nods to another dreamling silently lounging on the carpet and watching the ceiling.

“3, 4, and 5,” Guiding adds, pointing at three others, “Are from my direct clutches. Everyone else is just whoever survived the end times. It was impossible to keep track of bloodlines when we were being spawned all over the world. Not that it matters,” she shrugs in the end.

“And who’s that?” Blazing points at a dreamling that’s smaller than the others and who, to him, looks completely androgynous. Unlike even the more curious dreamlings, this one is openly rummaging in a chest of clothes while sitting inside it. When it sees Blazing point, it nervously smiles and waves at him with a piece of skirt stuck to its hoof.

“That’s 19,” says Guiding, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to keep the topic of 19 for after we’re more familiar in this world.”

“Fine by me. I was just curious,” Blazing shrugs and yawns, “Geez, I guess the adrenaline from being ambushed by a bunch of Nightguards is finally wearing off. I should get back to Chokey’s place for a good night’s sleep.”

“You can stay here,” offers Guiding.

“No,” Blazing chuckles, “I’m way too nervous around all of you already for reasons I don’t want to get into right now. I’ll be back tomorrow and, now that you can go outside, I’ll show you where I live.”

He tenses up when Guiding pulls him into a hug and his breathing quickens. All the dreamlings can sense his fear, but something about its flavor tells them it’s not tied to their identity as such. When she’s about to pull away, he finally wraps his forelegs around her as well.

“Sorry, I’m not… good with ponies,” is all he mutters before letting go and sliding off of the bed as the other dreamlings clear out a path towards the exit.

Outside, he finds the off-duty Nightguard changeling drone patiently waiting with four pony plush toys - two on its back, one under its foreleg, and one in its mouth.

“They’re all yours, 65536,” he yawns again, “Good luck! I hope the love-eating experiment works immediately and we’re all good.”

“Mmphmmh mhmmmm mhmh!” the drone salutes, poking itself in the eye with the held plushie. Thankfully, changeling eyes are covered by a tough membrane, so it's harmless.

“Whatever that was supposed to mean, you too,” Blazing heads off and 65536 lets itself inside.