"Citizens of Ponyville, we come bearing news that will affect your lives," Luna called out to the crowd. Memories of the last time she'd made an announcement in Ponyville resurfaced as Violet stood on stage with her. However, this time, the ponies of the crowd were not afraid of her. "As of one o'clock this morning, Princess Twilight Sparkle reported two interstellar objects entering our atmosphere and landing in the Everfree Forest. Upon investigation with escort and guidance from Violet Light, we have discovered two more of her kind have come to our world."

The crowd slowly began to murmur amongst themselves, and the quills and cameras of the reporters were put to use.

"I now give the floor to Violet Light," Luna said before backing up and yielding to Violet.

Violet turned to the back of the stage, waving to her sisters. As the two joined her on stage, the murmurs became a dull roar as ponies began to talk to each other about their beliefs on whether or not they'd be hostile or if their presence meant any threat to Equestria or the world.

"Hello, ponies of Ponyville. These are my sisters," Violet said, gesturing to {Mae} and Rose. "They cannot speak Equestrian, so I will translate for them. My words are also limited, so please keep any questions simple."

She turned to Rose, and calmly spoke. "This is {Rose}, which would translate as 'Rose' in your language."

Rose bowed, and Violet turned to {Mae}. "And this is {Mae}. I cannot translate her name, but she has agreed to use the name 'Storm Mountain'."

Storm bowed to the crowd, and Violet turned back to the crowd. "My sisters and I have fought monsters all our lives, but I can promise you that we seek peace. I understand that you will have questions. I will answer what I can. Princess Luna will select ponies to ask their questions."

Almost immediately, journalist ponies began clamoring for attention in hopes of having their question specifically answered.

"You, griffon in the front row," the princess called.

The crowd went silent as the reporter asked, "What kind of magic is it that you wield, and do your sisters have the same kind as you?"

"What we wield we do not call magic. In your tongue, we call it Light," Violet said. "All of us wield Light, but we do not have the same kind."

Luna selected an earth pony stallion from among the crowd. "Why does she not wear armor?"

Violet didn't bother asking Rose for her answer. "Light comes in three kinds, and we all have a different one. Her Light we call {Solar}... She is... on fire... inside. She would become too... I do not know the word for it."

Luna selected another pony. "Why do her eyes not glow?"

Violet turned to Luna for a translation of a word she didn't know before answering. "We are the same kind, but also different. She is {human}. Storm and I are also {human}, but we are also {Awoken}. Only {Awoken} have light in their eyes."

This continued for a while until Violet expressed that she was getting tired. At that point, Luna stepped back to the center of the stage and relieved her, allowing her to step down and relax for a moment.

"Before we adjourn this public address, the Crown bears one more announcement," Luna said, earning the crowd's attention once more. Every journalist present perked up, ears twitching to face forwards, eyes tearing away from their notes. "As of this morning, Equestria has negotiated a treaty with the Changeling Hive."

The uproar was immediate. Every pony was immediately shocked into anger and disbelief. Panic struck the crowd, threatening to transform it into its more dangerous counterpart. Somewhere in the crowd, a pony picked up a rock. But before Luna could silence the crowd, it was done for her. Violet had leapt back on stage, quicker than anypony had seen her move, and placed herself between them and Luna.

The rock started its flight, soaring over the head of the ponies in front of its thrower. It was not graceful in its flight, nor in its form. It was a jagged, pale brown rock with plenty of corners and rough edges. It spun on a strange axis that didn't pass through its center of mass. Its trajectory was messier than a fly's path through the air to land on a pony's face. But its expected point of impact was what made this particular rock, rolling like a potato in the air, so significant: Princess Luna's eyes.

Violet flared her Light, stamping her foot on the ground and thrusting her hands out in opposing directions. The bubble of brilliant violet Light formed around her in an instant, enveloping herself and Luna within it. A thin film of blue light formed over both of them. The rock bounced off of the bubble as though it were made of hardened steel, denied its destiny to hit Luna. The mob went silent as they witnessed firsthand Violet's Light.

Rose and Storm leapt into the bubble as well, slipping through it as though it were air. In the silence, the sound of a sword being drawn and a crack of thunder echoed in the town square. From nothing, Rose had drawn a flaming sword and held it skyward. Fiery butterfly wings sprouted from her back, and the rest of her body caught fire. Storm, on the other hand, was now floating a few inches off the ground, electricity crackling and arcing around and through her. Her palms were lit with blue lightning she held in her hands. Both of the {humans} glared at the pony who threw the rock.

The crowd took a step away from the pony who threw the rock, revealing him: a young earth pony colt. Violet placed her hands on Rose and Storm, whispering something to them. Both of them backed up as she stepped forward. She leapt from the stage high into the air, and jumped again before hitting the ground. The colt's face was wet with tears of rage. His face was twisted into a hateful snarl, and Violet looked into his eyes, past the fire of anger.

"Why did you do that?" Violet asked softly.

The colt refused to reply. His legs shook with fear and rage, and he likely thought he was glaring daggers at Violet. To any normal pony, they'd likely think this colt would react violently with such an intense glare. But Violet was no stranger to what this colt was feeling.

"You lost someone in the changeling attack," she said.

"What would you know, you monster!" the colt snapped. He reached up and struck Violet's cheek with a hoof. She didn't flinch. "You're an alien! You know nothing!"

"Did you see it happen?" Violet asked.

The colt turned away as more blazing hot tears streamed down his face. That was all the answer Violet needed.

"Who did you lose?" she asked.

The colt shivered. "M-my mom..."

Violet bowed her head in sympathy. "I understand your pain."

The colt remained quiet as tears dripped down into the dirt.

"If you saw the changeling who killed your mother," Violet asked, "would you know?"

The colt looked up at her, anger returning to his eyes, but no words came.

"Hating all changelings for one's violence is a mistake," Violet said softly, only loud enough for the colt to hear. "Attacking someone with no tie to your mother's death is waste. Allowing hate to become your food is to become food for hate. It will eat you unless you let it go."

The colt looked up into her eyes and saw unspeakable grief within them. "Wh-what do I do...? How do I forgive them?"

"You do not have to forgive," Violet said, placing a hand on the colt's withers before pulling him into a loose but comforting hug. "You just live. You find peace where you can, and hold on to that instead."

The colt cried into Violet's shoulder as the crowd looked on, not knowing what had just happened. But Luna had a soft, understanding smile on her face and a warmth in her heart. She didn't need the details. She didn't need to know what was said. She knew what Violet had done. Witnessing Violet's level-headedness in such a situation, as well as her quick defensive reflex only made her fuzzy feelings for Violet grow.

"As of this morning, Equestria has negotiated a treaty with the Changeling Hive. They are now in the process of becoming Equestrian citizens. Overseeing their integration into Equestrian society will be Violet, as well as her sisters, Storm and Rose. They will be assisted directly by Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Elements, and will have the full support of the Crown," Princess Luna said, drawing the attention of the crowd back to her announcement. "As of today, the changelings will be constructing a settlement near Ponyville, where they and Violet and her sisters can work on learning how to be proper citizens."

——————————

The changeling town was set up to the southwest of Ponyville, along a part of the same river that passed through the Everfree towards the South Luna Ocean. With the benefit of train tracks already passing through the area, the town's first construction objective was a train station, where supplies could be hauled in by rail. Upon completion of the station, a simple two-street town plan was drawn up, and construction of residences for the changelings and {humans} began. Though Chrysalis had been adamant about showing gratitude to Violet, and by extension her sisters, the {humans} had insisted they be left to build their own home.

Within a short period of two months, the town had completed construction of seventy percent of its planned infrastructure. Violet and her sisters had yet to complete their home by this point, due to "lack of appropriate materials". However, a small mining operation and metal foundry had been established. These would serve as the town's economic backbone, allowing the changelings, as well as the {humans}, to be productive members of Equestrian society by providing goods. This, Luna hoped, would allow Equestria at large to see the changelings as normal ponies just trying to live like everyone else.

In that time, Violet had become much more fluent in Equestrian, and her sisters had picked up enough for some conversation. Rose and Storm had the benefit of Violet's assistance in teaching, so their first month of learning had been far more accelerated. But that pattern had plateaued to a slower, steady rate as they had elected to learn how to read and write at the same time.

With Violet having learned to write in Equestrian to an appreciable degree, Luna had asked her to fill out the paperwork for her citizenship. Within those two months, she had been granted citizenship, and her sisters had submitted their own paperwork to follow in her footsteps.

Violet's overall mood seemed to have taken a drastic upturn in those two months as well. With her sisters by her side, she seemed to be much less anxious and reclusive. Her nightmares had grown less frequent, and the few that slipped past Luna were cut short from her waking by the hands of her sisters. Though she had yet to go without a weapon, she was more frequently going out in normal clothing, leaving her armor behind.

Luna found herself stunned to silence as she saw Violet in civilian-wear for the first time. She was beautiful in a way that artists could never truly capture, no matter how they tried. Luna thought Violet was beautiful with her armor, but seeing her out of it and in normal clothing... Her brain short-circuited, and her memory of what exactly happened from there were still a bit fuzzy. She knew that the two of them had gone out for coffee, and Violet had picked out a little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop. She remembered that the barista had treated her as she would any other patron, and that the other ponies were all too engrossed in their own activities to notice the royalty among them.

The two had talked about a number of things, but what she remembered most clearly was that their worlds' flow of time matched quite evenly, and that Violet had been alive for one-hundred and thirty-two years. Violet then specified that she didn't know how old she'd been when she first died, nor how long she'd been dead before her 'Ghost' had resurrected her for the first time, so knowing how long she had existed for in totality was impossible.

Luna now sat in that same coffee shop with Violet yet again, with her heart fluttering in her chest. Nopony noticed that she was a princess here, and no one paid any nevermind to Violet. The two of them were alone together in a casual, friendly setting.

"Violet, I have a question that I think you might be able to answer now," Luna asked softly. She plucked her warm cup of coffee from the table and took a short, delicate sip. It was still too hot to really taste it.

"Go ahead, Luna," Violet replied.

"What exactly, is Light? I remember you said it 'lives in all places and all things'," Luna asked, "but I've yet to grasp what it is."

"I'm still not fluent enough in Equestrian to answer completely, but I will try," Violet said. There was a flash of light, and one of her notebooks appeared in her hand. She set it down and began to draw as she explained. "There is a school of thought in my world about cause—" she drew a set of six panels; three rows of two, "—and effect. We called this {causality}. The world I come from, and yours, from what I have seen, are {causal}. Hitting a target—" she drew a target with an arrow sticking out of it, "—depends on if you drew the bow first."

She drew a bow drawn back, with an arrow nocked and ready, and an arrow pointing from that image to the previous.

"There were monsters from my home that could... disobey this idea. To them, drawing the bow was caused by them hitting the target," Violet continued. She drew the same pair of images, with the arrow pointing the opposite direction between them. "They were {acausal}."

"I'm guessing that Light is a unique third relationship in this philosophy?" Luna guessed.

"Yes and no," Violet answered with a sly smile. "It is {paracausal}. Light is the lack of a relationship between cause and effect." She drew the same two images one more time, but drew an X between them. "Hitting the target is caused by nothing. It is willing the universe to be a certain way, and shaping it through that will alone. It is declaring, 'Let there be light,' and by that will there is light."

"So, if what I've gathered is correct," Luna began, "then I also have Light, yes?"

Violet smiled and nodded. "Yes."

"What is it that makes you able to use yours the way you do?" Luna asked. "Why are you able to make that bubble, where I cannot do the same? Is it a difference solely in the amount of Light we have, or a difference in training, or something else entirely?"

Violet giggled softly, making Luna's heart skip a little. "There is a difference in amount, yes," Violet said softly, before her tone grew cold, "but the difference is death. Light is kindled in the darkness of death. Only by being consumed by the nothingness can your Light ever become more than a mere spark."

Luna nodded quietly, taking in what Violet had said.

"This is how Rose explained it to me," Violet added.

"Speaking of Rose," Luna said, perking up again. "Why do you and your sisters' Light feel and look so different?"

Violet took a sip of her coffee, cueing Luna to take a sip of her own. She was almost distracted by the pleasant taste.

"Light, as we know it, has three types. Most Guardians are able to use all three, though not at the same time," Violet explained. "We are... different. Each of us has one type that we are gifted with, one we can use but are below average with, and one we can't use at all. Rose is gifted with {Solar} Light, which is fiery and hot like the sun. Storm is gifted with {Arc} Light, which is energetic and wild like lightning. I am gifted with {Void} Light, which is quiet and cool like starlight."

"Does your Light affect you on a personal level?" Luna asked. "Is Rose fiery as a person because of her Light?"

"Yes," Violet said with a nod. "She burns hotter than normal {humans} because of her Light. Storm has to sleep with her because she gets cold and needs Rose for warmth."

Luna took another sip of her coffee.

"What is your magic like?" Violet asked. "From what I can tell, it is almost like Light, but... older...?"

"I... guess you could say that," Luna replied. "It still obeys your theory of {causality}, but it allows some rules to be... bent."

"Are there different types?" Violet inquired. "Or is it always unique?"

"Pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies all have distinct magic from each other," Luna answered, "but I hesitate to classify them the same way as Light. The lines between the three are... blurry at best."

"What of your magic, then? It feels different to all three," Violet asked. "It doesn't feel like a blend of the three..."

Author's Note

Chapters are getting slightly tougher to write, simply by virtue of having to go back and make sure I keep all of my details consistent.

Anyway, we're getting closer to the end of the story.

~GjallarFox