Getting to Know One Another
It was almost afternoon, snow was coming down hard once again. The griffons in Griffonstone were one of the creatures feeling the full force of it. Gilda was happy to have a home where she could stay warm, thanks to her heated furnace. She looked outside and saw some of the griffons were still outside feeling the blizzard on their furry bodies. She even saw some of them digging out snow piles with their shovels.
“Stupid snow,” she grumbled, still feeling a little chilly.
Gilda then heard a knock on the door and went to answer it. She opened the wooden door and found Gabby outside, wearing her jacket, pink scarf and blue not-that-thick mittens, holding a letter in her claw, with a couple of snowflakes in her feathers. She was shivering a lot, because, of course, it’s super cold.
“Oh, hello Gabby.”
“Hi, G-g-g-Gilda,” Gabby shivered. “Here, I’ve got a letter fr-fr-from Canterlot.”
“From Canterlot?”
“Yep. Just get it quick! I’m freezing!”
She handed Gilda the letter quickly before heading back home in a dash. She closed the door gently, went to the table and sat down on a chair to check the letter out. Gilda opened the letter and read what it said.
Dear Gilda,
We’re hoping that you’re doing alright during this winter season. As you are now Griffonstone’s new ambassador, we’d like you and the other ambassador’s of the Dragon Lands, Changeling Hive, Mount Aris, and Yakyakistan to meet at the Canterlot Castle this afternoon at 2 o’clock. We’ve understood they really haven't spent that much time together. Plus, it’ll be nice for you to get to know them.
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle.
After reading it, Gilda looked out into the snow, which was still coming down hard. She thought of not going out because of the strong snowstorm, but she can’t. She knew that this meeting she’ll go to is important; if she denies the request, there might be either consequences or something like that.
“It’s for friendship,” she sighed.
She put the letter down and went to her room to prepare herself for the winter. Gilda then got her scarf, cap, gloves, and goggles and wore them on. She opened the door and went out to visit Canterlot for a meeting. Gilda looked around and saw some houses nearby were nearly covered in heavy snow, some were barely covered, and others were completely covered in snow. She then found Greta before she left.
Greta was wearing her black cap, light green scarf and some thick dark brown mittens.
“Greta!” she called. Greta then turned to Gilda, who’s walking towards her.
“Hello Gilda,” she greeted back. “How’re you today?”
“I’m fine. Anyways, I’m going to be gone for a while. So, can I trust you to watch the bakery for me, please?”
“Of course,” Greta replied. “I’ll do anything for you.”
“Thanks, Greta.” She then hugged her and waved goodbye.
With that information, Gilda is all set off to Canterlot. She knew she wouldn’t be able to fly all the way there through the storm, so she made her way to the nearest train station. Still, that didn’t mean it was that easy.
A few minutes later, she finally arrived at the train station. She was tired and shivering at the same time, you know that she can’t handle the cold. She found a bench and sat down to rest her almost frozen brown wings. As she waited, she heard the whistle blowing, signaling that the train had almost reached the platform. She got up and quickly got in the queue. The train finally arrived and hit the breaks. It finally stopped and opened its doors, and the passengers went inside including her. When she finally got onto the train, she found her seat and sat down on it. Gilda knew it would be a long lonely ride.
Although, not many griffons traveled by train, much less in this time of year. The train to Canterlot did make a few stops to let a couple of passengers get on the car. Not many were wanting to talk to her. Gilda just kept quiet until she finally arrived at Canterlot.
An hour later, the train finally hit the breaks at the Canterlot Station. The doors were now opened and the passengers left the car. She left the station and made her way to the castle. She looked around and saw some changes that happened in the city since the beginning of Twilight’s reign.
Gilda arrived at the castle’s main entrance and found herself standing in front of 2 guards guarding the entrance.
“Who’re you, ma’am?” one guard asked her.
“My name’s Gilda, the ambassador of Griffonstone. I’m here because there’s a meeting with her.”
The guards now allowed her to go in and Gilda found Princess Twilight Sparkle waiting for her.
“Gilda, I’m glad you could make it,” the princess exclaimed.
“Good afternoon, princess,” the griffon said.
“Something wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s just the snowstorm is something I don’t want to go through again.”
“I understand.” There was a loud boom and they looked to see Prince Rutherford walking in.
“Yak here!” he declared.
“Rutherford,” Twilight said, “Did you... Have any trouble in the snow?”
“Pony snow nothing compared to yak snow. Yak just smash through drifts.”
“Well, good for you.” The prince walked over to a table that Twilight had set up earlier as Gilda was impressed to see the yak up close.
“Okay, don’t want to be rude,” Gilda spoke, “But do all yaks get that big?”
“Yes,” Rutherford confirmed. “Yaks just smash through snow. Like most problems.”
“...Good to know.”
Looking to the entrance, Gilda could see a green changeling and blue dragoness walk in.
“It really hits you like a landslide when you leave the hottest place in Equestria,” Ember sighed.
“It’s gotta be better than being inside almost all day,” Thorax remarked. He looked over to see the alicorn princess. “Twilight!”
“Thorax. Ember,” the princess replied. She walked over and hugged both of them, which Ember still wasn’t comfy with.
“Yeah,” Ember giggled after she was released from her hug, “Great to see you.” She then saw Gilda. “...Who’s that?” the dragoness asked. She pointed to her, who was a bit surprised when she got called out.
“That’s Gilda,” Twilight explained.
“Oh. You know I’m still trying to memorize your names. Fluttershy is the only one I’ve remembered.”
“It’s okay,” Thorax said. “I’ve been a little confused about why all griffon names start with the letter ‘G’.”
“Yeah, what’s with that? Changelings have names after body parts, but you’ve got variety.” Gilda didn’t like how things were starting up.
“Hey, you guys made it,” came a voice. They looked to the entrance and could see Spike walking in.
“Spike,” Thorax cheered, “Long time no see.”
“Hi Thorax,” Spike greeted him back. “I see you all got your letters.”
“Yeah,” Ember said. “It was kind of hard to miss after the mail mare just crashed into the side of a mountain. I don’t know if she had cross eyes before or after the collision.”
“Did I miss something?” asked a female voice. The last ambassador to arrive was Queen Novo, queen of the Hippogriffs.
“Novo,” Twilight said. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“The weather was easy considering I came by train.”
“Lucky you,” Gilda moaned. “I had to fly to the station.”
“You too?” Thorax asked. Gilda nodded.
“I’m sure you’ll find we all struggle in the snow,” Novo reassured.
“Yaks not struggle,” Rutherford said. “Yaks live in snow. Yaks know how to work through snow. Yaks strongest in Equestria.”
“You know, dragons bathe in lava,” Ember stated.
“Please don’t start a fight,” Thorax begged.
“Yaks not lie,” Rutherford said. “Yaks best.”
“Let’s get on each other’s bad sides,” Twilight spoke. “We’re all here to get to know each other better.”
“Princess Twilight,” said a royal guard. “Sorry to interrupt you, but there’s a package for you.”
“Okay...I’ll be right back. Spike, make sure things don’t go wrong.”
“Got it,” the dragon replied. The princess walked out of the room, leaving Spike with ambassadors. “So, what’s happened in your home towns?”
“Nothing special,” Queen Novo replied. “Many seaponies are staying underwater to try and keep warm.”
“What about the hippogriffs?” Thorax asked.
“We usually have materials to help the ones on land. How do you handle colder temperatures.”
“Dragons are usually surrounded by lava,” Ember explained.
“And changelings usually stay inside the hive at this time of the year,” Thorax added.
“Yaks always live in snow,” Rutherford said.
“We noticed,” Gilda commented.
“What about griffons?” Thorax asked. “What do they do?”
“Welp, it’s either you get a home or you find a dry open area.”
“...That doesn’t sound nice.”
“It’s not. Griffonstone is a tough place. You either trick others or get tricked.”
“Kind of sounds like dragons,” Ember commented, “But less violent.”
“Well, we make up for it in trickery. Take some advice for me, don’t challenge a griffon to any kind of card game.”
“Noted.”
“Anyways,” Spike said, “Ember, how have you and Thorax been doing?”
“Really good,” Thorax said. Ember wrapped her arm around the changeling, who blushed a little bit.
“Hold on... No way.”
“Yep,” Ember confirmed, “We’re dating.”
“For how long?”
“Well... It was a little while after Celestia and Luna’s resignation,” Thorax answered. “We did have a few bumps before, but it’s working out.”
“Good to hear.”
“It’s nice to see times changing,” Novo commented.
“Yaks not used to changes,” Rutherford admitted.
“Tough,” Gilda said, “It happens.”
“Yaks change at their own speed.”
“Then you’re going to have to catch up.”
“Where did that attitude come from?” Spike questioned.
“If two of the leaders are dating now, I’m sure you’ll be fine if some pony and yak are dating.”
“Which yak?” Rutherford questioned. “Yona Yak?”
“I think that was her...”
“Gilda, please don’t ruin this,” Spike begged.
“Well, sorry. We have a king of the changelings, a queen of the seaponies and hippogriffs, a prince of the yaks, a Dragon Lord, and some griffon that given her role by an old man who didn’t want to do the job anymore.”
“...Griffon talking about herself?” Rutherford questioned.
“What do you think?”
Thorax and Spike looked at each other as they felt like things were going to get ugly pretty fast. Thankfully, Twilight came walking back with a rock being levitated with her magic.
“Oh, good,” Spike sighed, “You’re back. What do you have there?”
“Star Swirl says it was a mysterious geode,” the princess replied. Twilight took another look at the letter that was sent with it. “He said he saw it glowing for about seconds. This happened multiple times, but he couldn’t exactly figure out what caused it. So, he sent it to me to figure it out.” She placed the geode on the table for the ambassadors to see.
“Sweet,” Ember commented, licking her lips.
“You eat geodes?” Novo questioned.
“Well, we mostly eat gemstones. Rubies, emerald, sapphires, any kind of gem we can get our claws on. Diamonds and geodes are some of the hardest ones to eat. Diamonds are tough and geodes are just stuck inside the tasteless parts of rocks. Still, the taste is great.”
“That’s interesting. Do you eat anything other than gems?”
“Well yes. We do sometimes eat fish. There’s a river near the Dragon Lands.”
“It’s true,” Thorax confirmed. “There’s a lot of fish in there.”
“Lucky you,” Gilda grumbled, laid her head on the table.
“Is there something you want to tell us, Gilda?” Thorax asked.
“I’m saying you have things easy.”
“You think being a dragon is easy?” Ember questioned.
“Oh boy,” Spike sighed silently.
“You have to be strong to be a dragon. Sure, many of them are quite nice, but their toughness still stands.”
“You wouldn’t last a single day as a griffon,” Gilda stated. “Unlike you, we aren’t fireproof or having scales as strong as diamonds. We have feathers and fur.”
“So do we,” Novo said. “We have just as many problems as griffons. Not to mention, I have a whole kingdom to keep under control.”
“I know how that feels,” Thorax commented. His words were quickly ignored.
“Yaks live on mountains too,” Rutherford said. “Yaks always have to work through snow.”
“Would every creature please just calm down?” Twilight begged.
The alicorn’s voice just fell on deaf ears as an argument started brewing with four of the five ambassadors. Twilight, Spike, and even Thorax tried to help calm things down, but it was no good.
“If you knew what it was like to be a griffon, you wouldn’t be talking like that,” Gilda said.
As she said this, the geode started to glow. Not just that, it started floating and spinning.
“Red flag!” Spike cried.
It wasn’t just the geode that was floating. Thorax would find he would start going up without having to flap his wings. Gilda had the same thing that happened to her. So did Ember, Queen Novo, and even Prince Rutherford started floating.
Twilight and Spike tried to help them down, but whatever kind of magic was making them float was keeping them up there. Suddenly, the geode broke into five pieces, each one floating over to each ambassador. Then there was a bright flash that engulfed the whole room.
When the flash died down, the princess and advisor rubbed their eyes as they couldn’t believe at what they saw. Instead of seeing the ambassadors of the kingdoms, they saw a white and purple changeling, a big brown griffon, a blue hippogriff, a green yak with orange horns, and a brown dragoness with a white head and golden chest with matching horns and claws.
“Please don’t tell me what I think just happened,” Twilight begged.
The creatures looked at each other and then themselves before screaming in shock. “What in the name of Equestria?” Queen Novo questioned, “Why am I a changeling?!”
“I don’t know,” Thorax replied. He started getting nervous and stomped in place, which caused the floor to shake.
“Thorax, stop!” Spike cried as he hovered above the ground. The new yak stopped as everyone on the ground had fallen over due to the shaking.
Ember, who was now a hippogriff, looked her body. “Where are my scales?” she questioned. “Why do I have feathers?”
“Yak confused too,” Rutherford added. “Yak much smaller.”
“You’re not a yak anymore. You’re a griffon.” Rutherford looked at his body. He was amazed at his new wings.
“Forget about that,” Gilda said. “Look at me! Do you think I wanna be a dragAAAH!”
Gilda interrupted herself when she suddenly breathed fire. This caused the table to catch fire. Spike wasted no time and got a bucket of water and splashed it on the table.
“Okay,” Twilight said, “Let’s take a moment to calm down.”
“How?” Ember questioned. “I’m a hippogriff.”
“You’re not the only one who just became a different species,” Gilda stated. Suddenly, the five were forced into sitting positions as Twilight made herself heard.
“Everyone, calm down!” she boomed. For a moment, the room was silent. “I’m going to check with Star Swirl and explain everything that happened.
“But what do we do until then?” Thorax questioned. “We can’t stay like this forever.”
“Thorax is right,” Novo agreed. “There has to be a way to fix this.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Twilight replied. She quickly ran off to send a letter to her old friend.
“How are you guys feeling?” Spike asked.
“Weird,” Ember admitted. “Is this what it’s like to have feathers?”
“It is,” Novo confirmed. “It feels weird to have this thick skin.”
“It’s actually called chitin,” Thorax explained.
“Good to know.”
“Yak want to know how to be yak again,” Rutherford spoke.
“No kidding,” Gilda said.
“...So,” Thorax said, “Maybe we could... Try and figure out how each other’s bodies work.”
“Not really much to work with,” Ember commented. “I mean, I can still fly, but I can't breathe fire anymore.”
“How do you control that anyway?” Gilda asked.
“Have you ever thought of having a second set of lungs?” Gilda was confused by listened to what Ember had to say. “Just think about switching back and forth between it if you want to breathe fire or not.” Gilda thought of her throat kind of like a switch and let out another breath of fire. This time it was in her control.
“Okay. That was cool.” Soon, Twilight came running back.
“Alright, I think I remember a spell that can fix this,” she said. She slowly started levitating the ambassadors and tried to work her magic. There was a brief flash and when it died down, everyone was still the species they were before the princess tried her spell.
“...Why didn’t it work?” Ember questioned.
“Well...”
“I thought you said this would fix it,” Gilda spoke.
“Hey! This isn’t the first time one of my spells didn’t work. I’m not sure why it failed though.”
“Maybe only another geode could fix it,” Spike suggested.
“Probably.” Twilight then showed Spike a letter, which the dragon breathed fire on to send it.
“Okay, it’s on its way.”
“Twilight, what do we do if your magic couldn’t fix us?” Novo asked.
“Hopefully, Star Swirl will be able to give us some answers.”
Later, Spike burped as a letter appeared.
“Oh, good,” Twilight sighed.
She opened the letter and read what it said.
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I was completely unaware of the geode’s powers. I can only assume the shock that the ambassadors are going through right now. I have a bit of bad news; however, as I’m a little busy at the moment and can’t go back to the mountain where I found this geode. However, I can give the map on the location of the mountain. Hopefully, you’ll be able to send one to go and get some geodes.
Sincerely,
Star Swirl.
Looking a little further down, Twilight could see a map printed on the letter.
“Hmm, this is interesting,” Twilight commented. The transformed ambassadors looked at the map.
“We should go there,” Ember said.
“Why?” Novo asked.
“Well, we can’t exactly go home looking like this,” Thorax said.
“New yak right,” Rutherford said. “Creatures go get geode.”
“Okay,” Twilight said. “Though, I feel like you’re going to need some supplies.”
“Yak don’t need...” Rutherford paused when he remembered their predicament.
“Yak not yak?” Gilda asked.
“No.”
“We’ll help you get set up,” Spike said.
After a while, the ambassadors were packed up with gear to help them climb a mountain. “Creatures really need gear?” Rutherford said.
“Unlike you, we are walking tanks,” Gilda stated. “So, where is this mountain again?”
“It seems to be on the west edge of Equestria,” Novo commented. Since she didn’t have talons anymore, she just had her hoof acting like a paperweight to hold the map down.
“Have you tried using your horn?” Thorax asked. “We can do levitation like unicorns.” Queen Novo looked at the map and thought about elevating it up and slowly managed to lift it up. Though, her magic made it look like the map could fall out of her grip with the slightest push.
“Okay, Spike,” Ember said, “If we’re gone for too long, can you let the Dragon Lands and Hive know about what we’re doing?”
“You think they’ll believe this?” Spike asked.
“Have Twilight explain it if you have to. They’ll probably believe her.”
“Are you sure you don’t want us to come with you?” Twilight asked.
“Listen, if we go back to our kingdoms like this, there will be chaos.” The train soon arrived to take them to where they needed to go.
“I hope we’ll be able to understand each other’s bodies,” Thorax sighed. He and the ambassadors boarded the train and taking one more look at Spike and Twilight.
“Good luck,” Spike said. The train slowly rolled out of the station before he turned to Twilight. “They’re going to need it.”
The five mixed up creatures all sat in the passenger car with a couple of ponies staring at them. “Would you quit staring at us?” Gilda asked, rather annoyed.
“They’re probably not used to seeing a variety of creatures yet,” Thorax guessed.
“That doesn’t give us a reason for how we can get them to stop looking,” Ember muttered. She could hear some faint stomping and could see Rutherford trying to stomp and make the coach shake. However, since he was a griffon now, he was only tiring himself out.
“Yak miss being yak,” Rutherford sighed. “New yak try.”
“Me?” Thorax questioned. “I’m not going to shake a coach to get ponies to stop looking.”
“Let me try,” Gilda said. She took a deep breath before letting out a breath of fire. This frightened a couple of the passengers and they scurried into the other coaches.
“That was not called for,” Novo commented.
“But it did fix things,” Gilda stated, “Can’t argue with results.” The hippogriff turned changeling simply gave a lowbrow.
“It’s going to be a while before we get to the mountains,” Thorax commented. “We should probably learn more about our abilities. Novo, I should probably tell you more about changeling magic.”
“I’m glad you want that,” Novo replied. “How do I change my form?”
“Just try thinking about a certain species and think about what you’d look like if you were one of them.” Queen Novo stood up from her seat and thought for a moment. A flash surrounded him and she now looked like her original hippogriff form. “Good job.”
“Thank you.” Novo then had another flash surround her as she now looked like a seapony. “Okay, maybe...” Then she changed back to a changeling. Then a griffon. Then a pony. And then a dragon, which made the car quite crowded.
“Try thinking about being just a changeling,” Thorax wheezed. She did so and changed back into a changeling.
“Sorry.” Novo looked at her necklace that had fallen onto the floor.
“What pink piece on necklace?” Rutherford asked.
“It’s a shard of the Pearl of Transformation,” Novo explained as she managed to pick them up. “We use the pearl to change us from hippogriffs to seaponies and back.”
“Oh, so that’s how it works,” Thorax commented. “Though, since you’re a changeling...”
“I know.” Novo looked over to Ember and handed it to her.
“Why are you giving this to me?” the former dragoness asked.
“I don’t need it right now. Besides, you never know when you’ll need it.”
“Mountain likely cold,” Rutherford stated. “Not good for swimming.”
“He’s got a point,” Gilda commented. “Do you really want to freeze your feathers off?”
“It’s better than leaving it around doing nothing,” Novo stated. “Rutherford, have you tried your wings out?”
“No,” the yak turned griffon replied.
“Try it out.” Rutherford did so and started bumping into every wall in the coach.
“Okay, it’s going to be harder than you thought,” Ember said. “Look, you’re doing it way too hard. You don’t just constantly flap them.”
“Then how creatures fly?”
“You need a steadier pace.”
“Try flapping them slower,” Novo explained. Rutherford stood up and did as the queen said. At the current speed, he would give a gentle breeze.
“Faster,” Ember said. Rutherford said so and kept flying his wings faster and faster until he started gaining lift.
“You’re doing great,” Novo said. The former yak soon found he was now airborne.
“Yaks best at flying,” Rutherford cheered.
“You’re not a yak!” Gilda stated.
“Just let him have this,” Thorax said. Gilda just sat back in her seat and waited for them to get to their destination.
“...Okay,” Thorax said. “We’ve got some time to kill. How about we talk about what our kingdoms are like? Novo?”
“I’m glad you asked,” the new changeling replied. “My kingdom is actually split into two parts. One part has the hippogriffs on Mount Aris, and an underwater aria called Seaquestria. Many of the seaponies have gotten used to living underwater, so I have my sister, Ocean Flow, looks after them down there where I take care of the hippogriffs on land?”
“What is Mount Aris like?” Ember asked.
“Well, we have our homes in trees, as we are proud of our species.”
“Like yaks?” Rutherford asked.
“Yes. Do, we’re probably not as... Showy as you. What about your homes?”
“The Dragon Lands are what you’d expect,” Ember responded. “Pools of lava, mountains with sharp edges, basically fitting dragon behavior.”
“Yak live on top of mountain,” Rutherford spoke. The ambassadors enjoyed the start of their new conversation. However, Gilda stayed quiet.
After an hour and a half, they arrived at the station that was closest to the mountain they needed to climb. The five transformed creatures looked up at the area they were about to climb. “You sure we couldn’t just hire someone else to do this?” Gilda asked.
“We’re already here,” Ember said. “We might as well start climbing.”
“New yak will have easier time than other creatures,” Rutherford said. “Mountain had to climb.”
“The gear Spike and Twilight packed us should help,” Thorax said.
They checked over their supplies on more time before heading towards the mountain. “Let’s get this over with,” Gilda said.
The climb started off well but some snow started coming down. This made it quite hard for many of them to fly, much to Rutherford’s frustration. “Griffon can’t fly through snow,” he growled.
“You should land before something bad happens,” Thorax said. The yak turned changeling didn’t listen, thought Ember and Gilda decided to play things safe. The snow started piling on Rutherford’s back, making it quite hard for him to keep flying. Eventually, he landed on the ground, unable to fly through the weather.
“He tried to warn you,” Ember said. She helped up the down griffon before carrying on with their journey.
“Yaks usually have easy time in snow,” Rutherford said.
“It feels easy to me,” Thorax admitted.
“I’m still struggling,” Gilda spoke.
“Dragons are still pretty strong,” Ember stated.
“Well, I’m not the creature that’s made of hair and lead.” They carried on until they came across an obstacle, a massive gorge.
“This shouldn't be too hard,” Ember said.
“But I can’t fly right now,” Thorax stated.
“So, we’ll just carry you.” Ember flew over to the yak and tried to pick him up, though because of her new body and Thorax’s weight, she struggled to even move him. “Gah... Rutherford... How much do yaks weigh?!” The griffon just shrugged as the hippogriff gave up on trying to lift her friend. “Okay... I hate this body.”
“Let me try,” Gilda said. She was the next one to pick Thorax up. She managed to get his legs off the ground, but was unable to find her balance and started wobbling about. Thankfully, their comrades were able to stop them from falling down the gorge.
“Okay, new plan,” Novo spoke, “We’ll each grab onto Thorax and lift him over that gorge together.”
“Sounds good to me,” Thorax said.
The four flying creatures worked together to lift Thorax up. Slowly but surely they carried him over the gorge. The wind wasn’t doing them any favors, nearly knocking the yak out of their grip. Thankfully, they made to the other side, but not without a rocky landing.
Rutherford lost his grip, causing Ember to overcompensate and dropped Thorax, causing the former changeling to land on Gilda. “Oops,” the griffon sighed.
“Are you okay?” Novo asked. They could hear some angry muffled screaming until Thorax stepped off of her.
“...What do you think?” Gilda asked.
“Hey, if you were still a griffon, you wouldn’t be talking by now,” Ember remarked.
“We’re on the other side now,” Thorax said. “Let’s keep going.” And so they carried on.
The snow wasn’t stopping any time soon, but the wind was clearly getting worse. The ambassadors were nearly knocked off their feet, but Rutherford had an idea. “Lie low to ground,” he ordered. They did so, and it was slower but easier.
“Is this a trick in Yakyakistan?” Novo asked. Rutherford nodded, and the changeling changed into a yak.
The wind was fighting them all the way. Ember found she was having a hard time to keep going. Thorax could see her struggle and stopped beside her. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Just... Cold...” The hippogriff shivered. “If only I had my fire breath.” Thorax decided to place Ember on his back. His wool was quite soft and warm. Novo clicked her tongue as she felt a mysterious taste in her mouth.
“We can’t keep going like this. We need to find something like a cave.” Luck would appear to be on their side as a cave could be seen through the storm. Slowly but surely, the team made their way inside.
The cave was surprisingly warm and had a homely feel. This would be a great place to take break and catch their breath. They set their bags down and looked around the cave. “What’s making this place so warm?” Gilda questioned.
“Maybe there’s an underwater pool of lava,” Ember guessed. “Whatever it is, I’m glad we’re actually somewhere warm.” They decided to unpack their food to see what they had.
“Hey, Thorax,” Novo said, “Do changelings usually have weird tastes?”
“Oh, you felt love?” Thorax asked. “Yeah, it happens to most of us. Our tastes are different depending on the type of love. It’s kind of complicated.”
“Well, we have some other food that they pack,” Ember commented opening a box of oats. “Seriously, if they’re going to have our species live in equality, can’t they serve meat?”
“Tough,” Gilda said.
“What is your deal?” Novo questioned. “We’re just as upset as becoming different species as you are. Why are you being so upset?” Gilda didn’t reply.
“Is there something you’re not telling us?” Thorax asked.
Gilda looked towards them and let out a frustrated sigh. “You are all royal,” she said. “I’m just some griffon that owns a rundown bakery. Grandpa Gruff just gave me the role as ambassador because he didn’t want to do it anymore. Not to mention, I was trusted in helping to spread friendship across Griffonstone. And I couldn’t do that.”
“Well, you’re just one griffon,” Ember stated. “It’s like feeding a hundred dragons with just one crystal the size of a snowflake.”
Thorax walked over to the upset dragons. “We understand what you’re talking about,” he said. “I had a bit of trouble with leading the changelings to change.”
“Same with the dragons,” Ember said. “They are really stubborn and hotheaded.”
“Sound like yaks,” Rutherford said.
“We have different challenges throughout our lives,” Novo said. “Even when we don’t want help, that is sometimes the best option.” Rutherford nodded in agreement.
“We’ll take our break and head back out there to see if we can find any of those geodes,” Ember said. The team unpacked their food and had their break, hoping the weather would clear up soon.
However, something caught Ember’s eye. There was a rock that had a chip out of it and there was something sparkly inside. She picked it up and was amazed.
“I think I found something,” Ember said. The hippogriff showed what she found to the others.
“Is that a geode?” Novo asked.
“It looks like it.”
“If that’s the case,” Thorax said, “How do we get it to work?”
“Maybe you rub it like a lamp,” Gilda suggested. Ember tried that, but nothing happened. Rutherford’s idea was to smash on the ground in typical yak fashion. However, when the rock broke open, it could barely be called a geode.
“Maybe its the number of crystals inside a geode,” Novo guessed. “You saw the one that got us into this mess, maybe we need one with a similar amount.”
“There’s gotta be more around here,” Ember said. They found that the cave was deeper than they thought. Eventually, they came across a body of water. Novo put her hoof in the water and was surprised by its temperature.
“This water is hot,” she explained. The others placed their appendages in and found she was right.
“You think it’ll be safe to swim in there?” Thorax asked.
“Well, we still have the pearl shard,” Novo reminded. She pointed to the necklace that she had given Ember.
“How do I get it to work?” Ember asked.
“Just... Think about changing your shape. Like a changeling.” Ember grabbed onto the pearl piece and a flash of light surrounded her. The dragoness turned hippogriff was now a seapony.
“Okay. This is kind of weird.”
“Your tail and legs will feel like the same. You’ll get used to it long enough to find a geode.”
“We’ll keep looking on land,” Thorax said. “Good luck trying to find anything.” Novo turned herself into a seapony and dived into the water with Ember while the other three looked around.
“How are you feeling?”
“I feel... Interested,” Ember said. “Is this what it’s like to breathe underwater?”
“Yes. You know, once this is over and the weather gets warmer, maybe we could meet up again at Mount Aris. I’m curious to see what you sea creature you’d become.”
“Maybe you could visit the Dragon Lands. Just be careful around the lava.”
“Noted. So, do you have any relatives at your home?”
"Well, the biggest, quite literally, is my father. He was the Dragon Lord before I took control. I needed a bit of help from Spike during the Gantlet of Fire."
"What's that?"
"It's a competition to decide who's the next Dragon Lord. Known fact, it's not for the faint of heart."
"Thanks for the warning." The two kept swimming around looking for any rocks that could be geodes.
On land, Rutherford was smashing some stones on the ground to try and break them open as he wasn't as strong as yak at the moment. "Any luck?" Thorax asked.
"No," the griffon panted. "How creatures stand... Not being strong?"
"We don't usually create earthquakes every time we jump," Gilda pointed out. Thorax stomped on a couple of stones but only found they were just rocks.
"How does a geode even form?" the yak questioned.
"Ember's the expert on gemstones. I'm sure that she would know." They kept searching around until they heard some growling.
"Uh oh."
"Now what?" Slowly stomping towards them appeared to be a dark yeti with blood-red eyes. "Seriously?" The yeti charged at them, but Thorax thankfully in the way.
"Rutherford, do you know anything about yeti?"
"Yaks only see one or two," the griffon responded, "Even then yaks stay away."
"Right. Gilda?"
"On it!" the dragoness replied. She let out a breath of fire on the yeti, who back up when he got hit by the flames.
Novo and Ember resurfaced while carrying a couple of stones.
"Hopefully we'll be able to crack a few of these open and..." The Queen of Mount Aris paused when she saw the beast the rest of the ambassadors were struggling with. "Did you ever fight one those before?"
"Not really," Ember admitted.
"Well, there's a first time for everything." The two transformed back into a hippogriff and a changeling and flew over to help the three out.
"Girls, you're back," Thorax cheered. "However, he was starting to lose his ground with the yeti.
"Where did this thing even come from?" Ember questioned.
"Who cares, just help!" Gilda cried.
Ember flew up with Rutherford to help throw a couple of punches. Novo decided to turn into a dragoness to help Thorax push the yeti back. Gilda saw what the king and queen were doing and joined in to help.
Slowly but surely they managed to push the yeti back into a different part of the cave. It was next to a cliff where a rather large boulder was sitting on. As the dragons and yak help the yeti back, Ember and Rutherford flew up to push the boulder off the cliff and keep the yeti until they found another geode.
With the two working together, they pushed the boulder down and the other three moved out of the way just in time for the boulder to come down and blocked the yeti out of the room.
"Yeah!" Rutherford cheered.
"Phew," Thorax sighed.
Novo soon turned back into a changeling. "Now that's over, how many stones did you find?" she asked.
The five brought all of the stones together and inspected each one to see which was like the geode that was at the castle.
"I don't think we would've gotten this far if we just sent one team consisting of our own species," Thorax said.
"Can't changeling just change into whatever they want?" Gilda asked.
"Well, Rutherford and most other yaks have more experience in the snow than most of us." The said prince nodded to this. "Not to mention, we could do a lot more if we'd work together more often."
"Yeah," Gilda admitted. "This was an interesting adventure with you guys."
"Please, you should see what happens in the Dragon Land," Ember said.
"Seaquestria would be an interesting place to visit too," Novo added.
"Yak would like to visit other places," Rutherford said.
"Yeah," Thorax said. "It'll be nice spending time together again."
Suddenly, one of the stones cracked into five pieces and they glowed as they started floating into the air. The five creatures started floating too, feeling excited they found another geode. There was a bright flash then engulfed the entire cave.
When they could see again, the five ambassadors saw they were all the creatures they were before they came to Canterlot castle.
"We're ourselves again!" Thorax cheered. He ran up and hugged Ember, who felt a little embarrassed from this.
"It feels good to be ourselves again," Novo said looking at her wings.
"Yeah," Gilda agreed, "Though it was cool being a dragon."
"Yak proud to be yak again!" Rutherford declared. He stomped in delight, causing the ground to shake a bit. He could see that the other creatures weren't really enjoying this. "Sorry."
"We got what we can for," Ember said. "Let's get out of here before we change again."
They all left the cave going back into the cold snow. It was a bit easier heading back, though the weather proved to be putting up a fight, especially while carrying Rutherford back over the gorge.
On the way back to the station, Novo could see Gilda was still upset. "Are you not wanting to go home?" the queen asked.
"...Not really," the griffon sighed.
"Listen," Ember said, "We're here if you want to blow off any steam. I mean, the students we sent to the School of Friendship managed to find a shortcut to the Dragon Land and Changeling Hive."
"If you're ever having a tough time, you can come and visit us," Thorax said. "Or maybe we could visit you."
Gilda chuckled nervously.
"Thanks, guys," she said. "I should warn you, it's not a lot to look at."
Eventually, the five made it back to the station and waited a short while for their train to arrive. "So, what was it like when you took charge of your kingdoms?"
"It was a little hectic," Ember admitted. "Dragons are used to looking out for themselves. Learning about friendship wasn't something they were going for."
"Changelings were a little difficult too," Thorax added. "A couple of them before were not wanting to change, especially my eldest brother Pharynx."
"Wait, what did you say about changelings tasting love?" Novo asked.
"...It's complicated."
"Friend can explain on train," Rutherford said.
Their ride had arrived and the five got on board. On their way home, they each exchanged information about their homes now that another bit of friendship had developed.
