The Only Chapter That Remains
The tattered paintings felt like they were staring down at her, inspecting her very being.
"Are you alright?" Silverstream felt a hoof rest against her shoulder, jolting her out of her thoughts. Ears pinning back, she turned towards the voice who had spoken up, though she already knew by the words alone who it was.
Ocellus looked back at her, pink eyes full of worry. While Silverstream did appreciate it, a pinprick of guilt for making her girlfriend worry wormed through her.
“I am,” Silverstream whispered, putting on a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Leaning over, she brushed her coat gently against her partner’s, feeling the cold but familiar touch of Ocellus’s chitin. “Just… a bit overwhelmed.”
That was one way to put it at least. When Silverstream had come home, she had expected anyone to greet her. The current royal family, or just… any gryph. Instead, she had been faced with her home in shambles, looking like it had been raided and abandoned for who knows how long.
“Is there anything I can do?” Ocellus asked softly, before a slightly playful smile appeared on the changeling’s face, though the look in her pink eyes hadn’t yet changed. “Find everything I can on the history of this place and write a report? Send for our friends?” She hesitated for a moment, glancing behind the two of them. “Or… send her away?”
Silverstream could feel the stare of the young orange pegasus behind her nearly drilling in her head, similar to the piercing eyes of the portraits in front of her, but shook her head regardless.
“Just being here with me is enough.” There was nothing else Ocellus could do. And sending the one who had accompanied them here would both be rude, but also do nothing to help.
The young pegasus - Somnambula - was one of the students at the School of Friendship, specifically one of the six heirs currently chosen. One that had been sent specifically to travel with her to Mount Aeris. The next in line to being the bearer of hope - or what once, Silverstream would call laughter.
Maybe the princess had decided to send her with the pair in order to try to bring either to Silverstream, even if she was sure it hadn’t quite worked yet.
Turning away from the paintings, Silverstream started to walk down the hallway of the palace, opening her wing slightly in order to wave over the younger mare as she started down the hall.
Somnambula’s ears flick upwards for a second before she quickly hurried over, alert as she broke out into a trot to match the pace of Silverstream and Ocellus, with the latter being on the other side of the hippogriff. “Is there something I can do to help, Princess Silverstream?”
For a moment, Silverstream winced at the title, before shaking her head slightly. “First off, don’t call me that. Even though I was the niece of Queen Novo, it didn't mean I was a princess really.” She waved one of her talons slightly in the air as she walked. For a moment, a genuine grin broke out on her face, as she bumped Ocellus slightly with her body. “If you’re looking for a princess, try talking to Ocellus.”
“Silverstreaaaaam-” Ocellus said, dragging out her partner’s name slightly as she mock groaned, before looking over at Somnambula. “I was one of three princesses. And not one anymore, by my own choice. King Thorax and Prince Pharynx are the current rulers of the Badlands Hive, and I have no need - nor do I want - to challenge them for the throne.”
It was to Ocellus’s great horror - and then, relief - to learn that the changelings in her thousand year absence had both fallen to more wicked times, but had also once again reclaimed their true forms as the magic of friendship started to flow across each nation again. Silverstream was just glad that Ocellus got to see her kind in their new prime, instead of the state that they had apparently been in not all too long ago.
Somnambula’s gaze was wide, seemingly taking in the information like a sponge as she gave a brisk nod. “Of course. I won’t make that mistake again, Silverstream.” She paused, looking away, before her purple eyes met Silverstream’s once more. “But then what is it that you desire?”
“Well… your company simply enough!” As the mare’s eyes grew impossibly big in response, her mouth shaping into a small ‘o’ shape, Silverstream even let out a small laugh despite the situation. “The princess said you’d be a good asset to bring on this trip, and you’re going to be the bearer of l- hope, one day. But you’ve been quiet most of this whole trip. Sooo, I might as well show you some of the stuff that I remember about this dusty old palace. Or, stuff that we’ll discover together since it’s been so long!”
Somnambula looked away, looking just the slightest bit flustered. “Well… I know you were once the element of laughter. It’s an honor to be in your company.” Her wings shifted, before a small smile appeared on her face. “I may be hope instead, but I hope I can make up for it.” She tilted her head slightly. “But are you sure you want to show me around?”
Swallowing her hesitation, Silverstream gave a firm nod. “I’m sure! I want to find out more about how things have changed.”
Even if there was no hippogryph around to tell her.
It had been easier than she had thought it would be, pointing out both mundane things that were different - tapestries on the walls that had long been replaced. New paintings done of relatives that she could not name, but gave some silly suggestions for what their names could be.
For the most part, Ocellus had been quiet, letting Silverstream lead them from room to room, not commenting much on the things she saw. While it wasn’t like her not to ask questions and investigate, for now, Ocellus seemed content just being here in steady support for Silver.
Somnambula, on the other hand, seemed fascinated. Not in the way where a million questions seemed to burst from her at once, but in a more quiet way, simply drinking in everything she saw and heard from Silverstream. When Silverstream glanced at the pegasus from time-to-time, to make sure a fact wasn’t boring the pegasus, she didn’t see the bored look she was scared of the young mare having upon her face. Instead, Somnambula’s violet eyes were always focused, and Silver had to wonder what must have been going on within her head at times.
It was when they got to the royal wing that things really started to hit Silverstream though. While the throne room was bare, Silverstream could pretend that the court was just not in session, and her family was hidden away in their rooms, doing all of their own things. But now that she was here, Silver felt like her heart was splintering.. This was where her family stayed. Terramar should be right down the hall, painting. Skystar should be talking to her aunt, perhaps nagging her about making their next festival even bigger and brighter than the last.
Her mother should be in her study, reading a romance novel and asking Silverstream when she and Ocellus was going to settle down. Her father should be out and about, flying and putting on a race with the other guards.
But none of them were doing those things. None of them were anyway.
All of them were gone. And she had never truly gotten to say a proper goodbye to any of them.
Silverstream felt her talons digging into the floor, before she took a deep breath, willing herself not to tear up - at least not yet. “This… is where my family resided. That was my room over there.” She pointed a talon at the doorway. “And that over there? That was my aunt’s room.” She stared at the biggest suite in the hall.
“Queen Novo, right…?” Somnambula asked.
“Yes,” Silverstream breathed in through her beak before turning to the both of them, heading towards the door. “I’m… going to need you guys to stay here for a second.”
“What? Why?” It wasn’t surprising to Silverstream that Ocellus was the first to protest, buzzing her wings slightly as she looked at Silverstream. “Shouldn’t we come with you…?”
“No - I’ll be fine. This is just… something I need to do by myself. Trust me.” Silverstream gave a quick wing hug to her partner.
“Just… be careful.” Ocellus said, her voice softening and dropping as she leaned into Silverstream before
“I will - I promise you.” Silverstream said, pressing the top of her beak gently to Ocellus’s cheek, in a gesture of affection, before turning to Somnambula. “I’ll be back soon. I just need to check on something in there.”
After a nod of confirmation from Somnambula, Silverstream took a deep breath before opening the door to the queen’s chambers and slipping inside.
Surprisingly, it was not too different than it had been a thousand years ago. The curtains for the windows had changed, alongside the bed - but the colors on the wall were still the same mahogany brown that they once were.
That gave some mild comfort as Silverstream drifted over towards the back of the room, where a small statue lay upon a bookshelf, displaying the first queen of the hippogryphs, Queen Scirocco, alongside the Pearl of Transformation.
When Silverstream found the pearl missing from the throne room, she had tried not to think the worst. Perhaps the fleeing hippogryphs - if they had gotten out at all - had taken the pearl with them. Silverstream could only hope that was the case, but there was only one way to confirm it.
Very carefully, Silverstream twisted the base of the statue, before standing up on her hind legs in order to reach the top shelf of the book case, pulling off a single book, too high for a creature that wasn’t as tall as a fully grown hippogryph to reach unless they could fly.
For a moment afterward, nothing occurred, and Silverstream felt a piece of dread, hoping that the bookcase’s mechanism hadn’t been broken during the fleeing. While the queen’s room seemed to be mostly undisturbed, if this room had been discovered by someone other than who the royal family trusted…
Silver stream did not wish to think about that possibility further.
Thankfully, she was saved the notion of such by the door giving a dull groan, before it slid open, revealing stairs downward. Sending a silent prayer to the heavens, Silverstream began her descent into the darkness, letting herself be led further and further downward.
The room at the bottom would have been a sight for anyone to see. While the Pearl of Transformation was known by almost all of the kingdom, there were other secrets that the royal family had.
Memory pearls. Very far and few between, but enough that they could be used in order to store a message. The queen of each generation would record one message, meant to be heard by the next queen and future generations down the line.
It wasn’t meant to be heard by Silverstream’s ears - unless both her aunt and her cousin had ever got into a serious accident, there had been no chance that Silverstream would have become queen.
But if there was any answer to what happened to the hippogryphs, then it would be here. She was sure of it. “But where issss it….” There would have been no time for an official plaque to be made for a fleeing queen, if Silverstream’s guess was on point. She could only hope that there was an orb waiting for her down the rows of names.
Taking a deep breath, Silver began to walk down the room, passing the first few queens of the hippogryphs in recorded history. There was one moment she tensed - passing by both Queen Novo’s, and Pri- Queen Skystar’s pedestals, before quickly making her way to the end, seeing many names she didn’t recognize before she got to the end, hoping that by some miracle her theory was correct.
As she looked from section to section, Silverstream felt her breath caught as her blue gaze locked onto the last glowing thing in the room. A tiny purple pearl. For a moment, she stopped, staring. As her brain caught up to what she was seeing though, she quickly scrambled over, grasping the pearl with both of her sets of talons, and gasping slightly. If this was really it…
Quickly, Silverstream closed her eyes, reaching into the pearl’s magic. For a moment, it refused to emerge and Silver felt a spark of fear that maybe it had never been activated at all - before she felt the pulse of life from it.
“If you’re hearing this, then we’ve left Mount Aris.”
Silverstream opened her eyes, to see a purple hippogryph in front of her - translucent, light filtering from her., with a serious expression on their face. The memory of the one who had left it… Silverstream leaned in close, feeling her heart beat fast.
“I’m Princess Dusk of the Hippogryphs and… I believe my mother has been killed.” Despite the talk of her own mother dying, the hippogryph’s face stayed stoic as she talked.
“And so, I am the last royal. And I intend to take my people into the sea. Far away from here, if we can manage it. I don’t know how long for. I don’t know where. But just… away from here. Up north if we can, and away from the Storm King’s territory.”
Storm King? Silverstream stared into the hippogryph’s face, wanting to ask more, but what could she ask but a memory?
“If you’ve found this, you must be one of us. Or an ally we trusted. Or at least I hope so. In case this has been compromised, I can’t tell you exactly where we are going. But… I do hope you’ll find us.”
For a moment, the hippogryph’s stoic face broke. “Please.” She whispered, before shaking her head. And with that, the memory from the pearl faded.
With that, Silverstream was left alone in her room, with no one but a bunch of pearls.
Her people had fled… her people were safe. Hope blossomed in her chest, though dread also. Who was the Storm King? What exactly had happened? She’d have to ask the Equestrian princesses for more answers when she got the chance for sure.
Taking a deep breath, Silverstream started to move towards the front of the room, clutching the pearl tightly to her chest, finding it far too precious to drop.
And yet... Silverstream paused halfway out of the room, turning to one of the displays. Skystar’s display. Those would be some of Skystar’s last words.
She had never been able to say goodbye to her cousin. Did Skystar guess what had happened to Silverstream and her friends? Did she guess that they had to stay trapped in limbo all this time?
Did she leave a message behind for her, just in case?
It was a longshot… but Silver reached out towards the yellow pearl on the display, tightly grasping it alongside the purple now.
Silverstream felt the magic stirring in the pearl below, waiting to be called out. It was there, waiting for her. With a stir of her heart, she closed her eyes, tugging the magic and doing the same process she had done before.
“Greetings. I’m Princess Skystar.”
Silverstream opened her eyes to see her cousin for the first time in over a thousand years.
Step after step - Silverstream was grasping the lilac and yellow pearl close to her chest, walking out of the room to where Somnambula and Ocellus waited for her, the tso having already gotten up at the sound of the swinging doors.
“Did you find something, Silver?” Ocellus pressed, quickly heading over to her partner, before pausing next to her and holding a hoof out to gently touch her, seeing drips of water flowing down Silverstream’s face.
“Yes.” Despite her blurry vision because of the sheen of tears, a smile was on Silver Stream’s face. “And I’m going to be alright.” That’s what was going to happen. Maybe she wasn’t okay now, but… even if she couldn’t find them, she would give it her best.
She would learn what happened to her people, while learning to live again.
