December/January Finale: Defining Love

December/February Event Finale: Defining Love

 

Initially Ponyville was plunged into chaos. Changelings tried to run and hide from the Famished, but their pony forms didn’t fool the pursuers one bit. Some resorted to direct confrontation, fighting against their transformed kin. And they were not alone. Just as ponies had shown their support with banners and protest, they now too defended their changeling neighbors. Guards and Knights fought famished directly, while other ponies hid or hurried the changelings away. This was far from over! As the famished pressed on through the hours, so too did ponies everywhere resist.

 

It was clear as the conflict broke that Queen Vespa intended to take the train to move her captured kin, so that is where Princess Dawn Bringer and her guard held the line. They refused to let the changeling monarch access the train, holding steady for hours as Queen Vespa’s strongest tried to uproot them. This was only a temporary solution, however. Something else had to be done. The problem was that the Famished were a thing of stories…no one had seen one in nearly 500 years. Dawn Bringer had never met one herself. All she had were the stories and what was written in the history books. Would Princess Luster Dawn have fared any better..?

 

Dawn Bringer felt her balance waver and she spread her wings a bit to catch herself. It was taking a lot of effort to maintain the magic barrier she had placed around the train and she was growing weary. 

 

Queen Vespa struck again to dispel it, only to cry out in frustration when the magic held. “No, no, no! We’re finally free to leave the hive after all these years! This can’t be why we starve! I won’t let it be!” With a shriek, she threw herself at the barrier. The action was reminiscent of a foal throwing a tantrum. There was such genuine frustration behind the action.

 

It was then that Dawn Bringer realized she had been unfair with Vespa.

 

“I owe you an apology,” Dawn Bringer said. She took a deep breath to settle herself, to gather her resolve. “You wear your crown so well and time…well I admit the years escape me sometimes.”

 

“What?!” Vespa shrieked, landing just outside the barrier. She stood indignant, nostrils flaring wide.

 

“I forgot you were born to all of this,” Dawn Bringer said gently, tilting her head down. She dropped the barrier. “Is that what you all feared, that you would run out of love in the hive the wild magic trapped you in? You thought you were destined to see your people die of hunger?”

 

Vespa lunged into Dawn Bringer’s open embrace.

 

The changeling royal thrashed, kicked, and bit at the alicorn that held her tightly. What did this pony know of feeding not on food, but on emotion? Of what that did to you when you were trapped and everyone’s emotions kept spiraling further and further down as the years went on?

 

“Vespa, you’re not in this alone anymore. You never really were. Don’t you see?” Dawn Bringer held her tiger despite the pain inflicted by Vespa’s struggles. “You might not have known it then, born as you were in the enclosed hive, but can’t you see it now? No one will starve. Love doesn’t know distance or physical boundaries…and can’t you feel it? How much love there is for your people?”

 

Vespa slowly stopped her thrashing, her pants and heartbeat gradually coming down to the steady rhythm she could feel thumping in Dawn Bringer’s chest. 

 

“The love has always been there. From the day you came here, your people were already loved. You saw it yourself as everypony shouted for you to let them stay. You saw it in their banners, their protests, even their rash youth insisting on bargaining with you…those were all acts of love. Love for changelings. No one will starve. You just have to let yourself realize it’s there…no matter physical distance or boundary.”

 

Vespa closed her eyes. She had seen the passion of the ponies here in Equestria. She saw them stand, unified to keep changelings in their homes. She had seen ponies even risk harm for near strangers, all in an effort to help her people escape entrapment. These ponies, beings she had only heard of in stories, had shown unbelievable devotion to her people. And what had she tried to do? Trap them just as the Wild Magic had for all those years.

 

A hot tear slipped down her cheek as she swallowed a tinge of blood from biting her tongue. What was she doing?

 

The young changeling began to tremble and slowly the dark colors melted from her body like oil running over stones. With each tear and shake her yellows and bright colors returned. And Dawn Bringer just held her close, wings wrapped tight around them both.

 

“It’s okay. We’ll fix it together. The ponies of Equestria have the biggest hearts…they never gave up, even now,” Dawn Bringer whispered.

 

Famished across Canterlot and Ponyville all seemed to stop in their tracks. Many hunched over and collapsed until they returned to their original forms. They lay where they fell, exhausted and emotionally spent. A few Famished sensed a change, but did not revert themselves. Instead they became agitated and fled, but not back to Queen Vespa. These few ran even from her, trapped in their dark emotions, and disappeared into the wilds. It took a while, but everypony seemed to realize the fighting had stopped. Guards and Knights started helping any injured or lost. Changelings that had remained themselves helped those recovering from their transformations. Princess Dawn Bringer took Queen Vespa back to the castle in Ponyville. The young royal ended up sleeping for a few days after the whole ordeal. 

When she awoke she the first thing she told Princess Dawn Bringer was that no changeling need leave their home. She would not force changelings to return.

 

The news spread long before Queen Vespa’s departure. Equestrians were overjoyed. They had done it! Celebrations appeared all through Ponyville and Canterlot. Ponies and changelings danced and sang side-by-side. There was laughter again. The tension blew out of the cities like a held breath. By the time Queen Vespa was at that fateful train station again, the buzz of joy had rippled into small crowds by the tracks. 

 

When Vespa saw all the ponies and changelings, she seemed surprised, even sheepish. She had not expected a friendly send off after what she had done. But somehow, word too, must have spread over what had happened and what the hive changelings had feared. Her people would be fine here. And if she followed their example, her hive changelings would be fine as well. 

 

She took a deep breath and announced loudly, “All ponies are welcome to visit the Hive. We would be honored to have guests like you someday.” With a shy gesture of her wing she ducked into the train. Her hive changelings followed behind as Princess Dawn Bringer waved them goodbye. 

 

This concludes the December/January event!

 

The Hive is now a location freely visitable by train! (updated map soon)

 

All changelings have the option of taking either a standard or “Famished” form. You can only earn PP for one of these forms at a time. Switching between these forms requires a new piece of art or writing each time. Please know that these are NOT like Pony Forms which can be turned off and on like a switch; these are full-on physical transformations based on a changeling’s core emotional state of being.

 

Frostbite had 5 CP added to his inventory!

Night's Waste had 10 CP added to their inventory!

Flash Float had 10 CP added to his inventory!

Brownie Sundae had 5 CP added to his inventory!

Witching Hour had 10 CP added to her inventory!

Summer Solo had 10 OP and 5 CP added to his inventory!

Mint Chip had 10 CP added to his inventory!