The Great Equestrian Journey

Darn alarm clock.

My hoof slams on the SNOOZE button, my eyes shut tight. Sleep, I've come to discover, is a beautiful thing. In the Hive, there was no time for sleep. Just fighting and teasing and pranks abound.

Olive would call it a day in the office.

I fall back into that peaceful slumber, and I'm awaken again by the dragon form of an alarm clock. He pries my lids open, and I catch the blurred face of Spike beside the bed.

"No sleeping in," he says.

I groan, but it evolves into a chuckle. I shift the covers over my head so he can't see the smile erupting across my face.

A pair of claws try to snatch away the blanket, and I try pinning it with my hoof, but to no avail. Spike is relentless.

He's been relentless from the first day we met.

Relentless in friendship

and determination

and all of his quirks.

That's exactly what makes me give into him now. You can't stop Spike, especially when you have such a bond with him. Although little, he has a huge personality.

He stands by my bedside, smirking. "Kings don't sleep in."

I chuckle-groan again. "I'm not a king."

Spike cocks his head, wearing a joking grin. "Or are you just not ready?" He leans up and taps my antlers. "C'mon, sleepyhead."

With a sigh and a smile, I sit up, stretch a bit, and then get out of bed. Spike likes the idea of me being a ruler, and likes to tease me about it. He even sets my alarm clock, but I don't know how to undo the alarm. The only button I know is SNOOZE.

I wander after him into the kitchen, where a nice aroma fills the air. "Muffins?" I ask him.

Spike nods. He loves cooking for some reason. It's a hobby we've both come to love, but today I let him do it all. You just can't ruin his bravado.

I sit at the table and look out the window. Attempts were made to renovate the Hive, but meanwhile, some changelings resorted to living elsewhere in Equestria. There are teams of builders at the Hive, and it's all being manned by Olive, the co-captain of the Changeling Guard.

Me? I couldn't stay there. I may be a ruler

but I'm not ready

and the whole

stinking, rotten place

stings of Chrysalis.

It's better out here, in a cabin in the Appleachians, than in a place that once feared a coward.

Or so I think she's a coward.

Or maybe it's me.

Olive, she was my only companion in the pre-transformed Hive, the closest thing to friend. She had the typical changeling snark, the fierce determination, and strong opinions. She wasn't weak, either. She became the first female Captain of the Guard, before my brother took over, in a place that was mostly male. It was a strong feat, and I admired her for it.

After the reformation, she had come up to me and told me I could count on her to keep order while I took a break. She knew me well enough to know I was 'so obviously insecure that it was so sickly cute'. At the time I laughed.

Now I know

my insecurities

say the truth.

Spike, though...Spike keeps my sanity.

The day after he introduced me to the Crystal Empire, back when I was Old Thorax, back when nothing was wrong,

I was safe, I should've known that,

I woke up from a nightmare screaming.

It was about Chry-her.

Spike, Twilight, and the pony who introduced herself as Starlight were staying the night. I knew they were keeping an eye on me, even though they said they wanted to spend more time with Flurry Heart. Spike had chosen to stay in the guest room with me. It was strange, lying in a bed, wrapped with blankets and not a cocoon, while Spike snored on the rug.

When I woke up screaming, it hit me how unfamiliar this was. And I couldn't stop the tears.

Spike had jumped up, and soon he had crawled on the bed with me and shook my shoulders. I was panicking. I had trouble breathing for a while.

And then Spike suggested we take a walk. So we did. We tiptoed out the door, past half-asleep guards until we finally reached an empty hall. The moonlight was streaming in through the ten-meter windows that lined the hall on one side. Spike and I sat in the middle of the glow. I let the moon captivate me. It was silent for a while.

Then Spike told me a story. It was about two sisters, inseparable, who ruled Equestria since long ago. Really long. A few millennia. They stored the very things that held the balance of Equestria: the Elements of Harmony.

One of them controlled the sun; the other the moon. Ponies enjoyed the warmth and shine of the sun, but although the night let the soft glow of the moon and stars show, they slept through it. The sister that controlled the moon became jealous, jealous of the attention the sun, her sister, was getting, how ponies never noticed the moon.

So in a rage, she adopted a new persona and staged a coup. Tried to. Her sister struggled to reason, and in the end, the sun princess did the only thing she could.

The moon princess was blasted to the moon

and that was where Spike paused. And I thought.

If she ever looked down on Equestria she would see a beautiful blend of blues and greens and browns

and the sunshine glinting off the waves

and the lights that sprouted up in the night

and I thought

did she miss it all?

I asked Spike why he told me that story, and he shrugged. "I just wanted to share something."

It was quiet for a bit longer, and I felt sleep threatening to take over. That moment, right there, was the very first time I was able to let go. Let go with Spike at my side. My anchor.

My string of memories is interrupted when the oven goes off. Spike takes out a tray of muffins and sets it on the table. I notice the complete lack of a mitt. But all it takes for him is to wring his claws in the air and blow on them, and then he sits down across from me.

The Spike I knew before her second invasion wasn't so reckless, more scared of his own shadow. But around me, he likes to act tough. I guess he's trying to look cool. But I told him that he didn't have to try to be cool with me, and he gave me this look that said what are you talking about? For all I know, he's going through a personality change.

He looks at me with his usual grin, but there's something else to it now. Do I see the old Spike shining through? No-the grin turns into a grimace.

He pushes a scroll towards me. "I actually woke you up for this."

From the look on his face, this letter doesn't hold good news. Spike frowns, waiting.

I open it, skim it. It's pretty long, something about-

A disease. Lotus.

Lotus was one of the changelings that moved across Equestria. He was fascinated with nature, and there was no better place to study strange plants than the Everfree. Last I heard, he was exploring caves for wildlife. I talked to him once or twice. He had dreams of becoming a scientist. He had the smarts, the ability to make and read graphs. He was intelligent. He could've been the first changeling scientist.

Could've.

Now he's dead.

I take a deep breath. It's been only two months since the reformation, and even before that there were no deaths. Now there are.

And, even scarier, it's via a disease we don't know.

My first thought is her.