The Light Within Us

“Hi, Thorax…”

“Ocellus? Goodness, it’s great to see you! Come here, my little bookbug!”

“I’m sorry I missed Hearth’s Warming…”

“It’s alright; your parents told me what happened at the school. We still missed you, but knowing you were staying behind for a friend who doesn’t have a family to spend holidays with made it a little easier to bear. We’re so proud of you, you know that?”

She blushed. “Heh, thanks…”

“But Hearth’s Warming was only a few days ago. I thought you were staying in school for almost the entire break?”

“That was the original plan, yes, but then we came up with the idea of visiting everycreature’s homes for a few days until the next semester starts so the school staff can take a break too, and Headmare Twilight liked the friendship-building potential of the idea… so… this is our first stop.”

The other five students came out from hiding in a hallway.

“I hope we’re not intruding, Your Highness?” Sandbar asked. “We can send a letter to Counselor Starlight to teleport us back or send us further ahead if you don’t want us around-”

“Why wouldn’t we want you around? You’re Ocellus’ friends! Though I’m not sure we have enough solid food stocked up…”

“Food no problem,” Yona said. “Headmare sent cart with food when we say hive first stop! Yak left cart in meadow outside!”

“Oh, so that’s settled!” I made a mental note to thank Twilight and Starlight in my next letter to Ponyville. “Now, let’s find some chambers for you. Will you be alright in the hotel? You’ll have the honor of being its first guests! Some of the rooms are finished, but most are still being worked on, so I’m going to have to ask you to stick to the finished areas in order to avoid getting lost and to allow the drones to work. I’ll make sure someling is always available to you in case you need something, and of course, you’re free to drop in at the hive whenever you want. Ocellus, would you rather stay with your friends or with your parents?”

“Well, I do miss my family… Guys, do you mind if I stay with them and come hang out with you when I can?”

The matter was quickly settled with her friends’ reassuring words.

“But I still want to see the hotel! I still can’t believe we’ll be hosting the next Equestria Games! We heard our professors almost blew it when helping Princess Cadance impress the Inspector the last time! And you landed it despite our old reputation! How did you do it?”

I chuckled. “All in due time, Ocellus. Now, how about a tour?”

A few days later, Silverstream flew up to the throne room with a piece of paper in her claw.

“King Thorax? Am I interrupting?”

“No, not at all! How can I help you?”

“I just received a letter from mom! I’ve been telling her and dad and my brother and all of my cousins about how wonderful a time we’re having here, and I guess they told aunt Novo about it, and since we’re due to move on to Mount Aris tomorrow, mom said to tell you that aunt - that’s Queen Novo, I forgot to mention - invited you and whoever else you want to bring to travel with us and spend a few days in our kingdom! Isn’t this exciting? We haven’t had foreign dignitaries since, like, forever! Not counting that time when Headmare Twilight popped up unannounced, I mean! Does that even count if she spent a few hours there?”

I chuckled at her outburst of energy. “It counts if you want it to count, I guess. But are you sure we’re actually invited? She didn’t just say it to be polite?”

“Nope! See for yourself!”

She passed me the letter and pointed at a paragraph. It read:

Word of your and your friends’ exploits in the Changeling Kingdom even reached your aunt Novo! Skystar must have rambled about it all day because Novo dropped by and vented about it for a full hour yesterday! In the end, she admitted after some nice, relaxing kelp that in spite of wishing her daughter would calm down and act serious every once in a while, hearing so much about changelings in such a short amount of time piqued her interest and she’d like to meet them. Would their king be interested in visiting? We can make arrangements for him and any other changelings he chooses to bring as his entourage and your group’s chaperones. Can you find out if he’s available and willing, or should we plan for a different time?

The letter went on about matters that were none of my concern so I returned it to Silverstream. “I think we can work something out. You wouldn’t happen to know where Pharynx is?”

“Right here.” He flew up over the edge of the plateau. “Saw this one flying around with an aura of a maniac and came to see what’s up with her.”

“Ooh, I’m a maniac? Cool! I’ve never been a maniac before! Is it fun?”

I shrugged at Pharynx’s confused expression. “How do you feel about a trip to the hippogriff lands tomorrow?

“Banshee and Spiracle already agreed to chaperone the students.”

“I know, but Silverstream just came to tell me I’ve been invited to meet their queen and can bring whoever I want.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Well, yes… unless it’s a problem…”

“Ugh, fine. I’ll tell Grim to cover for me at the training grounds tomorrow.”

As per Pharynx’s advice, we were ready to head out by dawn, which I quickly became grateful for as the night chill made way for unexpectedly warm morning sun and then the scorching heat as the day progressed, even as we flew high up above the sand of the southern badlands. I believed I could still handle it, if only thanks to the slight breeze provided by the fluttering of my wings, and Smolder seemed to be enjoying herself - unsurprising, really, as she could walk through fire and swim in lava - but poor Yona was sweating profusely on the back of Banshee-turned-ladybug despite the buzzing of the monster-sized wings and the shade provided by Ocellus and Spiracle. The other students were faring only marginally better, just enough to put up brave faces that their auras didn’t match.

I moved closer to Pharynx. “I’m starting to think we should have headed out a little earlier…”

“Well I wanted to, but some creatures kept whining about it being too early!”

“Did you tell them it was going to be this hot out here?”

“I did. The dragon didn’t care and the others must have thought I was exaggerating for the sake of exaggerating.”

“Well, at least we got part of the way under better conditions… though maybe we should have packed more water…”

“Quit whining. We’re only about two hours away.”

Two hours?! “Wha- but-”

“That’s to Mount Aris,” he added. “We reach the ocean in an hour or so, and the heat should be less intense above the water.”

“Oh, good… though I still don’t get it why you refused to let me teleport everyone at least to the coast-”

“Because chances are you’d only end up in Klugetown.”

“C’mon, how bad can that place be?”

“Lemme think. A peace-loving king whose reforms cost those crooks a whole lot of customers, and a half-dozen naive, just as peace-loving kids. No, I really don’t see how anything could go wrong there…”

I groaned to myself and kept flying.

Eventually the horizon changed from the dull monotony of sand to clusters of derelict buildings, only marginally less beige and brown than the sand itself, some clusters spanning taller than they were wide, and upon closer inspection, bustling with activity, though we were still too far away to make out much detail. One thing that was noticeable from a distance, however, were patches of intense blue beyond the buildings.

“That’s Klugetown,” Pharynx announced to anyone who still hadn’t figured it out. “One thing you need to know about that place is that if something exists, it’ll be on sale there. That potentially includes students of friendship, preferably but not necessarily alive, so be wary if you ever end up there by yourselves. We won’t be landing for any lunch breaks. Luckily for you, most of these crooks can’t fly, and I’ll handle those that can if you catch their interest.”

“I’m not afraid of them!” Smolder and Gallus quipped simultaneously.

“I know, guys,” I said, “but let’s not test that assumption, okay? Just stick together.”

“Maybe we can befriend them!” Silverstream chirped. “Wouldn’t our professors be impressed!”

“Please don’t,” I squirmed. “At least not until you’re older. I don’t want anything to happen to you! If Pharynx says these guys are dangerous-”

“They are dangerous!” he interjected.

“-exactly. The head of a country’s defense forces would know, especially when that country used to wage wars with the rest of the world. I understand your wish, Silverstream, I really do, but… not today, please. It’s not safe.”

“Last I heard,” Smolder said, “you weren’t concerned about safety when confronting Chrysalis; what makes you think this is any different?”

“It is different! My friends were taken prisoner, I went to save them, and yes, I was aware of the danger every single moment and I was afraid!”

“And for a good reason,” Spiracle interjected. “Thorax almost died in that throne room. I was there, I saw it. Long story short, if he hadn’t blasted her with love, she would have either forced Pharynx to slice him open with her sword, or she would have done it herself.”

“...oh.” An awkward silence fell onto the group, until Sandbar asked, “How did you know blasting her with love would defeat her and reform everyling?”

“I didn’t. It just… happened. I actually wanted to show everyling how much love they could gain by sharing, and everything else was an unexpected side-effect. It could have easily failed, and who knows what the world would have turned into.”

He nodded, and as nocreature was in the mood for conversations anymore, we continued our flight in silence. We were all but past Klugetown by now, and the ocean waves brought a welcome freshness that dispelled the exhaustion brought upon us by the desert heat. We just had to pass the final cluster of structures that made up the harbor and the airship port, and then the ocean spread wide before us, broken up only by a few islands on the horizon. One of those islands was much taller than all the others combined, centered in a small archipelago, and unusually symmetrical.

“Is that Mount Aris?” Ocellus asked, pointing at the tall island, to which Silverstream nodded enthusiastically. “Whoa… I can’t wait to see it up close!”

It was a sentiment I shared, and as we were approaching, the details of the majestic island became clearer, fueling the anticipation. There was a beach at the bottom, and a serpentine pathway leading uphill from it through a forest, ending at a glorious gateway discernible from afar, beyond which sprawled a vast, dreamlike settlement of treehouses, each shaped like the loveliest lily of the valley, and the paths between bustled with activity; further uphill from the village was a verdant plateau charming in its own way even from afar, and on the smaller islands surrounding the tallest one, more structures could be seen, similar to the ones in the main village. One island prided itself with a port, too, and a few held bridges and what might have been the foundations of a future railway.

“Hm. They’ve been busy,” Pharynx mused. “The last team sent here reported this was a ghost town. Then again, that was in the old days, and it makes sense the hippogriffs would return and restore the place to its old glory now that the Storm King is dead.”

“You never said anything about us having invaders in Seaquestria,” I said. “Neither did Psycho or Urtica, now that I think about it…”

“That’s because we didn’t have any. The last ones returned to the hive when the hippogriffs decided to hide underwater. It was deemed the safer option for us, and the seaponies weren’t going anywhere.”

“What was that team doing here, then?”

“Looking for you.”

“Hey,” Silverstream interjected, “can we land on the top of Mount Aris?”

“Not in the village?”

“It’ll be worth it, I promise!”

She was proven correct even before we touched down. The calming scenery of the plateau would have been a rewarding end to our journey all on its own, but I wouldn’t have expected it to sound so captivating! What was this music that complemented the visuals of our surroundings so perfectly?

“Welcome to Harmonizing Heights!” Silverstream sang. “Isn’t it great?”

Not even Pharynx thought to disagree, despite lacking the enthusiasm to agree like the rest of us.

“Fascinating,” Spiracle said. “Are the melodies caused by the resonance of the winds and the air currents on the shape of the plateau, by any chance?”

“I have no idea! Are they? Maybe aunt Novo would know? I always thought it was because of the legend of-”

“Silverstream! Oh, and King Thorax?” a hippogriff addressed us as a group of them flocked to us from downhill. “Our apologies, Your Highness; we were expecting you in the village! Though, it makes sense my daughter would bring you here first… much easier to wow people here than down there… Ahem. I’m Sky Beak, Silverstream’s father as I’ve said already, and honored to meet you. All of you! Silverstream has told us so much about you in her letters! If you’d care to come with us, we’ve prepared a festival in the honor of your arrival down there in the village.”

“We are honored, Mr Sky Beak, but you didn’t have to go through all the trouble of preparing the whole festival…”

“Nonsense! It isn’t every day we get a visit from foreign royalty and a group of creatures from all over the world all at once!”

“They also hold festivals, like, every weekend, so it’s not that big a deal,” Silverstream chuckled.

“Well, that too,” Sky Beak admitted. “Which isn’t to say that celebrating your arrival means any less to us! Now come along!”

A younger hippogriff poked Sky Beak. “Won’t aunt Novo be annoyed if she has to wait until after the festival?”

“Hmm, you’re right. Your Highness, would you mind terribly accompanying my son to Novo’s castle? She prefers to stay underwater but is just as excited to see you as the rest of us!”

“Yeah!” Silverstream agreed. “Maybe we can drag her ashore and get her to join the festival this time!”

“I suppose we could go to her first,” I said, turning to the students and Ocellus’ parents. “Will you guys be alright without us?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on them,” Banshee assured me, and the group headed for the gates leading to the village.

Meanwhile, the young hippogriff approached Pharynx and me. “It’s an honor to meet you, Your Highnesses. I’m Terramar, Silverstream’s brother.”

“Pleased to meet you, Terramar! And just ‘Thorax’ is fine! I’ve never been a fan of high titles.” I hoped Pharynx would get the hint and introduce himself, but he didn’t. Hadn’t I told him to make an effort prior to leaving? Then again, maybe his idea of ‘effort’ was to restrain himself from ripping apart anyone who dared approach me… “And this is my brother Pharynx, also the leader of the hive’s defenses. He’s… not very social, so please excuse him…”

“It’s alright. Contrary to what you’ve just witnessed, there are hippogriffs and seaponies who aren’t especially social too, so I understand. Now, may I take you underwater?”

We took to the air and flew all the way down to the beach, only catching a glimpse of the village and the festival along the way. It looked to be interesting and I looked forward to coming back later, but royal duties had to come first.

Terramar stepped into the water, then halted and turned to us. “Uh, this is awkward, but I don’t know if the pearl of transformation works on changelings… Can you breathe underwater?”

“We can store around one hour’s worth of air,” Pharynx said.

“Okay, that should be enough to at least get through the introduction…” He touched his necklace and was engulfed in a flurry of swirling lights, from which he emerged with fins and fishtail in place of claws and hooves, and disappeared under the surface. Pharynx and I matched his form and followed as he led us into the ocean’s depths.

The enveloping blue got gradually darker, and just as I was starting to worry we’d get lost in the pitch black at the bottom, a slight glow broke through from below us, growing lighter and larger as we approached, until the underwater city became clear in all its glory.

“Whoa…” I whispered wide-eyed. The seaponies hadn’t sat idly in exile! They’d made the most of it to turn their refuge into a home!

“I know, right?” Terramar said. “We took to decorating the place as a distraction from worrying what the Storm King could be doing to our homes on Mount Aris and whether or not he’d figure out where we’d gone and how to get to us. It didn’t help much, but no one wanted to tear anything down, and now that we’re free, those who grew to like the underwater life were so happy to finally have a choice that we kept decorating some more!”

“How does it work?” Pharynx asked. “Did you separate yourselves by where you wanted to live or do you go back and forth as needed?”

“I go back and forth because I couldn’t decide. Everyone else did decide, so it felt awkward for me until mom and dad reassured me I didn’t have to choose between them - mom’s a seapony, by the way - and everyone else mostly sticks to what they opted for.”

“Is it hard for you that your parents are separated?”

“Not really. They’re on good terms and we meet up on the beach every so often, and most families have members on both ends, so I’m not the exception in that regard. We’ve learned how to make it work. Oh, we’re at the castle already! I think aunt Novo will understand if you want to spend a little more time touring Seaquestria-”

“We’re burning air here and I don’t want to waste time surfacing for breath more times than I have to,” Pharynx spat.

“...right. Of course. Sorry.” Deflated, Terramar led us below the dome of the castle, to where the entrance was apparently located. “Aunt Novo is waiting.”

“If we have time later, a tour would be nice,” I said to Terramar just before he left us alone to meet the queen, and though he nodded politely, it had done little to brighten up his aura. I decided to catch him later and see what could be done about it; also, another lesson on tact with Pharynx was in order.

The castle, or the throne room at least, was simple in layout, and all we had to do was swim up to the large shell that turned out to be the throne. A purple fin hung lazily from the edge, only to move abruptly when we were about halfway to reaching it.

“Are you the changelings?” a deep, monotonous voice mumbled. Had she been asleep or was she simply bored out of her mind? “I didn’t expect you so soon.”

“Yes, um, I’m Thorax and this is my brother Pharynx. Pleased to meet you, Your Highness!”

“Indeed.” She eyes us for a moment. “Are you always this colorful or did the pearl of transformation have an unusual effect on you?”

“We’re always like this,” I said. “Also, we transformed through our own magic, so-”

“Queen Novo,” Pharynx interjected, “you have twenty minutes to say what you want before our air supply runs out and we have to surface. You would have had longer if that guy didn’t waste time on rambling and-”

“Pharynx,” I growled, and he took the hint. For now, at least; I’d have a word with him later. “Please excuse him, Your Highness; we’ve had a long journey and he’s had to ensure the students’ safety…”

“I’m not a nymph anymore, Thorax,” he grumbled.

“I see your brother’s attitude hasn’t strayed very far from that of the changelings we used to know,” Novo stated.

“Someling has to keep a level head while my brother holds hive-wide hugging sessions,” he quipped, and Queen Novo burst into laughter.

“Oh, you’re a delight, General,” she said, composing herself.

“First Commander.”

“Oh?”

“Chrysalis had her own military hierarchy and I saw no reason to reinvent it now that Thorax is in charge.”

“Well, First Commander, like I said, you’re a delight. A refreshing mix of the familiar old and the intriguing new… I have to admit, you’ve jostled my expectations.”

“Which were…?”

“No matter. A queen needs not reveal everything, hm?” She chuckled to herself. “What I can reveal is that I have a proposition for you.” This time, she was looking intently at me.

“Yes?” I said.

She reached into her throne and presented a scroll; I recognized it as one of the copies of the declarations of peace I’d sent out a while back. “This says you wanted to forge an alliance even though I doubt you could have known much about us, though I may be wrong on that account since your courier knew where to look for us. Am I right in assuming you sent these everywhere and hoped someone would take you seriously?”

“Well… yes, kind of… but we were still enemies with the whole world back then and I couldn’t really afford to be picky about where potential friends were coming from regardless of what they were like… For what it’s worth, I’ve since learned more about the hippogriffs and would be interested in an alliance even if I hadn’t already offered it…”

“Good save,” she said with a smirk. “After Storm King, I’m cautious about who we choose to ally with, lest we get betrayed. I’m sure you understand that, despite your change for the better, your past doesn’t bode well for you.”

I hung my head. Was this why she’d requested us here? “Of course,” I said.

“However, because of your change for the better, as witnessed by my niece during her time around your Ocellus and in your hive, I’m becoming confident that an alliance with the Changeling Kingdom is worth considering, especially now that I’ve met you in person. Not right away, I mean, but I think establishing diplomatic relations would be a good first step.”

“Oh, right! Yes, of course! Where do you suggest we begin?”

“By arranging a communication line between our lands. Does the hive have any form of postal service or do you send couriers as and when needed?”

“Kind of both, actually. We only need them for communication with other lands, and so far, Equestria and the Crystal Empire are the only ones we get regular mail from on an everyday basis. Their mailponies have been bringing the mail most of the time and I imagine things will be easier once the railroad between them and us is finished.”

“Ah, yes, Silverstream mentioned this railroad. Is the construction coming along well?”

“Yes, there haven’t been any delays! We expect it to be finished about a month from now.”

“We’ve been rebuilding our own railways that were destroyed in the early battles against the Storm King. We meant for them to reconnect Mount Aris with our historic territories on the mainland and to rebuild those communities over time, but now that my people are renewing their ties to Equestria, a railway going all the way there would be useful.”

“And the Changeling Kingdom is right in the middle… We could connect the railways across the badlands! I’m sure the ponies will agree to modify the construction plans! I can probably find changelings with a relevant skill set to join in the effort!”

“What’s next?” Pharynx muttered. “You’re gonna decide to build a port on our eastern coast and a branch of the railway leading to it?”

Novo and I looked at him, then at each other.

“...did Pharynx just give us an idea?” I asked.

“Like I said, he is a delight, isn’t he?”

The delight groaned and facefinned.

“The railroad and the port will make it easier for our peoples to forge and maintain friendships,” I mused.

“In the meantime,” she agreed, “we can send couriers back and forth to exchange letters.”

“And the hive will welcome the hippogriffs whenever they decide to visit! Seaponies too, though I’m afraid we only have one river and a couple of small lakes.”

She waved me off. “They can be hippogriffs temporarily. The pearl of transformation has no limit on how many times it can be used.”

“In any case, we’ll be honored to have them over!”

“The changelings are welcome here too, as long as they don’t revert to their old habits.”

“They won’t-”

“Thorax, we need to surface,” Pharynx interjected.

“Why?”

“Our air supply will run out while we’re still underwater if we stay here much longer.”

“I don’t think we’ve been down here that long-”

“Do you want to drown?”

“...fine,” I relented. “Queen Novo, would you mind excusing us for about half an hour? We’ll try to be back sooner than that-”

“Actually, it won’t hurt to go up there myself,” she said. “It’s been a while since I last participated in a hippogriff festival, anyway. Would you care to join me?”