Gallus sipped his beer, watching the scene unfolding before his eyes from a safe distance. The unofficial party to welcome new students—the official one involved Twilight Sparkle’s speech, friendship activities, and other things that made Counsellor Starlight Glimmer take more sips from her hip flask than usual—was in full swing. The new kirin students had brought beer. Gallus decided not to ask where it came from; the sight of dancing Yona wasn’t something he could watch while sober.
“I bet five bits she’ll break the table,” Smolder said, listening to the creaking of tortured boards.
“Deal,” Gallus replied.
Sandbar looked at the table in question and the splinters covering the floor around it. “Shouldn’t we stop her?”
“And lose my five bits?” Smolder chuckled. “No way.”
As Gallus and his friends had found out a bit too late, Yona, despite her size, was not exactly able to hold her liquor. Actually, neither did Ocellus, but her dancing on the table paled in comparison to Yona’s much more destructive dance moves. Silverstream, of course, danced with them, despite being completely sober. Everyone else, other yaks included, decided not to come anywhere close.
“That’s a pretty good table,” Gallus said. “Has to be fireproof because of all the kirins and dragons we have here, so I guess it may withstand a dancing–” His words drowned in the horrible sound of the table snapping in half under the weight of a completely smashed yak. Ocellus and Silverstream, who were now flying in the middle of the hall, looked down at a pile of wood broken into surprisingly tiny splinters.
“Okay, you know nothing about school tables.” Smolder chuckled. “My five bits.”
“Oh, shut up.” Gallus rolled his eyes. “Is she okay?”
Sandbar shook his head. “I told you to stop her.”
“How was I supposed to do that?” Gallus asked. “She’d knock me through the wall or something.”
Meanwhile, Yona tried to get up, only to collapse into a pile of debris. “Yona broke a leg,” she muttered. “Why is everything spinning?”
Silverstream and Ocellus helped her up. “Don’t worry,” Silverstream said. “We’ll get you to the hospital.”
A few hours later, all that was left of the party were some kirins and ponies cleaning up the hall. Silverstream and Ocellus came back in, from the hospital. Silverstream, despite having a few beers, looked more sober than Gallus felt, but Ocellus was way louder and more direct than she usually was.
“Nurse Redheart said that Yona will have to stay in the hospital for a few days,” Silverstream said.
“She has a concussion!” Ocellus staggered. “Nurse Redheart was afraid something happened to me.” She hiccuped. “She doesn’t like when something happens to me.”
“You should be happy she didn’t ask if we were drinking.” Silverstream groaned. “Also, remember what happened when you caught horsey hives?”
“The entomologist from Canterlot didn’t think it was possible,” Ocellus said. “And I could’ve died from that. The doctor said that compared to ponies, changelings are immuno– immunocorn–” She furrowed her eyebrows. “Their immune system is fucked up.”
Gallus gasped, nearly choking on his last beer. He’d seen many things in his life, but Ocellus swearing was a new one.
“Immunocompromised?” Sandbar asked.
“Yes, that.” Ocellus looked at Gallus, Smolder, and Sandbar. “Why are you looking at me like that? I’m completely sober,” she said in a slurry voice. “I can turn into any of you!”
Magic engulfed her, turning her into Queen Chrysalis. Several students who were still hanging around in the hall gasped; one of the kirins burst into flames while another changeling turned into a potted plant. “Okay, bad idea,” Ocellus said, her voice sounding more like Trixie than Chrysalis. She turned back into herself, smiling sheepishly.
Three changelings walked to them. Gallus recalled them from the party; they were new students, who spent most of the time turning into anyone other creatures requested.
“Are you crazy?” the large, purple changeling whose left foreleg was marked with several scars in the chitin approached Ocellus. “Why did you turn into her?”
“I didn’t mean to!” Ocellus exclaimed. “I don’t feel very well.”
“I see,” the purple changeling replied, looking at Gallus, Smolder, Silverstream, and Sandbar. “What swarm are you all from?”
“We’re not from any swarm, you overgrown bumblebee,” Smolder replied. “Ocellus is the only changeling among us.”
“Impossible,” another changeling, smaller and green, replied. “I thought we were supposed to make friends here?”
“Friends among different creatures,” Ocellus said. “I was the only changeling at first, so it kinda went naturally.”
“We are different creatures,” the green changeling replied, pointing at his purple companion. “Malleus is from the swarm of Black Venom Pass.” He turned towards the other changeling, dark yellow with red eyes. “Incus is from far away in the Badlands, from Maledictum swarm.”
“And you are?” Ocellus asked.
“Stapes, from the Great Swarm of Baltimare.”
“Which consists of fifty drones at best,” Malleus said.
“I’m from Baltimare,” Ocellus said. “My name’s Ocellus.”
“Ocellus?” Stapes asked. “Huh, you could be my sister and we’d never know…”
“That’s why you shouldn’t ever turn into–” Malleus winced, clenching his scarred foreleg. “Look what she did to us.”
Ocellus ignored him, looking at the third changeling, Incus. She smiled, blushing. “Hello, handsome…”
“What?” Gallus asked. “Ocellus, we’ll never give you beer again…”
“It’s fine,” the yellow drone replied. He had an odd accent, as if he had learned Ponish from the books and never particularly bothered with pronunciation. “Nice to meet you, Ocellus.”
“Thanks,” Ocellus replied. “Maledictum Swarm? It’s by the Forbidden Jungle, right?”
“Yes,” Incus said, blushing just like Ocellus.
“Must be a nice place.” Ocellus turned to her friends. “Care if I leave you for the rest of the night? I don’t meet other changelings often. I feel we have a lot to talk about!”
“Sure, go ahead,” Sandbar said.
Ocellus walked away with Malleus, Stapes, and Incus, their conversation resembling buzzing more than anything else. For a while, Gallus, Sandbar, Silverstream, and Smolder just looked at each other in silence.
“Huh,” Smolder finally said. “Our girl is growing up.”
“That was kinda weird,” Sandbar said.
“That’s because you don’t have to work hard to find another pony to talk to,” Gallus replied. “If I want to talk to another griffon, I have to settle on Gabby.”
“I’d settle on her too…” Smolder smirked.
“Dragon and griffon?” Gallus chuckled. “Now that’d be weird.”
“I mean, this Malleus doesn’t seem pleasant,” Sandbar said. “Have you seen his scar?”
“I’d rather not ask where he got it,” Silverstream replied. “Also, as long as Ocellus has fun…” She winked at Sandbar.
“Well, I hope she does,” Sandbar said. “I mean… They aren’t up to no good, right?”
“Dude, you can’t just assume every changeling is up to no good.” Gallus chuckled, feeling that what he said was deeply profound or at least eloquent; however, some part of his mind felt that it was beer talking. “We’ll see her tomorrow and it’ll all be fine.” He got up from the couch. “I don’t know what about you, but I’m gonna hit the hay. We have lessons and stuff tomorrow.”
“Good luck with the lessons.” Smolder chuckled. “Unlike chicken-cats, dragons don’t get hungover.”
“Hangover? Please.” Gallus shook his head. “I never get hangovers.”
Gallus groaned, staring at his scrambled eggs. He actually felt pretty well given the beer he’d drank the night before, but he still found it rather hard to get his bearings, especially since Smolder and Silverstream were as cheerful as ever. Yona was still in the hospital and Ocellus didn’t show up for breakfast. Sandbar was staring at her seat from time to time, barely paying attention to his porridge.
Finally, Ocellus flew into the dining hall. Gallus and Sandbar looked at her; she usually preferred walking, but this time she landed in front of them gracefully like an oversized butterfly, her cheeks still slightly flushed and her eyes shinier than ever.
“Hello,” she said. “I’m late, aren’t I? Incus and I had a lot to talk about.”
“Do you want some porridge?” Sandbar asked.
“No, thanks,” Ocellus replied, her blush deepening. “I’m not hungry, if you know what I mean…”
Silverstream smiled. “Love at first sight!” she sing-songed.
Smolder furrowed her eyebrows, aiming her fork at Ocellus. “Wait, I always thought you weren’t into this sort of stuff.”
“Frankly, I thought she was into mares,” Silverstream muttered.
“Why would you think that?” Ocellus chuckled nervously. “I mean, well, I was always more into studying, but maybe it’s because I haven’t seen other changelings in ages, except for Thorax, but he doesn’t count. Incus told me a lot of interesting stories from his swarm. It’s very old, one of the first ones. And he’s so cute! He first started to learn the pony language from Daring Do novels. I promised him that I’d help him.”
Gallus made a gagging sound. Everyone glared at him.
“It’s not about you,” he said, smiling sheepishly. “I just don’t feel well.”
“Yeah, right,” Smolder replied. “Sappy stories and all that.” She turned to Ocellus. “Guess we’ll have to tell you about the birds and the bees after all.”
“Why would you tell me about bees?” Ocellus asked. “I know bees.”
Smolder rolled her eyes. “I mean–”
“We all know what you mean,” Sandbar muttered. “You have the emotional maturity of my sister, Smolder.”
“Isn’t Coral Currents like, five?” Gallus asked.
“Exactly.” Sandbar nodded. “Why didn’t you bring Incus here?”
“Oh, he’s not hungry either.” Ocellus shrugged. “Changeling thing. You wouldn’t understand.”
“So there was some buggery going on,” Smolder whispered to Silverstream, who chuckled.
“Right,” Sandbar replied, eyeing Malleus and Stapes sitting alone in the corner. “Maybe these two swing the other way.”
“We already established your gaydar is way off,” Sandbar deadpanned. “What’s our first lesson today?”
“Professor Pinkie,” Silverstream replied. "A nice, quiet pony for a hangover."
Gallus rubbed his temples. “Maybe I’ll pass…”
“You brought this upon yourself,” Smolder said.
Gallus got up. “Seriously, I think I’ll get some aspirin. And earplugs.”
He left the dining hall, ignoring Smolder asking if he had ears and Silverstream pointing out that the dragoness didn’t have visible outer ears herself. He wandered down the corridor and up the stairs, passing by a group of new zebra students checking out the school’s plan. Gallus then reached his room, found aspirin and his earplugs, and was about to rejoin his friends when he saw a yellow changeling standing in the corridor.
“Hi, Incus,” Gallus said. “Got lucky tonight, eh?”
The changeling smiled sheepishly, fluttering his wings. “Lucky? I’m not very lucky.”
“Me neither.” Gallus shrugged. “Right, Ocellus mentioned you don’t speak Ponish well. How do you like the school?” he asked, resorting to speaking slowly and clearly.
“Very nice.” Incus leaned closer to Gallus, who remembered that the concept of personal space was a bit alien to changelings, just like privacy, absurd humour, and the idea that the sole purpose of lamps was not to be circled around all the time. “You know what else is nice? You.”
“Thanks,” Gallus replied, furrowing his eyebrows. “You’re pretty nice too.”
“You smell nice,” Incus said.
Gallus stopped in his tracks and looked at the drone who stood in front of him with the earnest smile in the world. “Is it some greeting that sounds completely normal in your language? If so, you better drop it. It just sounds kinda creepy in Ponish.”
“No, I mean it,” Incus replied. Gallus tried to walk past him, but the changeling blocked his path again. “You’re pretty handsome and–”
Gallus lifted his front leg, waving his claws in front of Incus’ face, but the drone didn’t budge. “Listen up,” Gallus said. “I don’t swing that way, despite what Smolder says. I don’t know if someone pulled a prank on you or are you pulling a prank on me or maybe you think this place is an all-you-can-eat love buffet–”
“I can turn into a mare,” Incus said.
Gallus winced. “Get lost!” he exclaimed. “By the way, if you hurt Ocellus, I’ll make chapulines out of your ass, get it? I’m gonna kick your ass so hard Queen Chrysalis will feel it!” He pushed the drone away and ran down the corridor.
He only stopped in the middle of the stairs, when the effects of dehydration got to him and he started to feel dizzy. He turned back to see that the drone wasn’t chasing him and that two zebra students were watching him. One of them walked to him and sniffed the air.
“You okay?” he asked. His accent seemed rather unusual to Gallus, though not as much as Incus’ odd drawl.
“As long as you don’t tell me that I smell nice, I’m okay,” Gallus replied. “I just need to drink some water.”
The two zebras looked at each other and the taller one produced a bottle. “Have this. You enjoyed yourself too much yesterday, eh?”
“A bit.” Gallus looked at the bottle. “Is it some potion?”
“Nah, just an isotonic,” the zebra replied. He also sniffed the air and winced. “Were you eating some magic mushrooms?”
“No mushrooms, just beer,” Gallus replied. “Do you have isotonic drinks in Zebrica?”
“What Zebrica?” The zebra chuckled. “I’m from Vanhoover,eh? And it’s just a regular drink. We’re coming back from our morning workout at the gym.” He stretched his rather muscular legs. “Maybe you want to join us sometime?”
“Maybe next time,” Gallus replied. “I’m almost late for class.”
“Okay, see you around,” the smaller zebra said. “You sure about these mushrooms?”
“Totally sure.” Gallus sighed, taking off.
“I had the weirdest thing happening to me,” Gallus said, sneaking into the classroom. He was indeed late, but Pinkie didn’t quite pay attention. In fact, she was currently busy explaining to the class the secrets of a perfect mince pie.
“Weirder than getting caught in a fishing net?” Silverstream asked.
“Where’s Ocellus?” Gallus asked, looking around. “Her new coltfriend seems shady.”
“How so?” Silverstream seemed more focused on the mince pies than Gallus.
“He tried to flirt with me.” Gallus took a sip of the drink he’d got from the zebras.
“Yeah, that’s very weird.” Silverstream shrugged. “Skystar’s previous coltfriend was with her for three months before he tried to flirt with me.”
“Is this why he’s her previous coltfriend?” Gallus asked.
“No, Skystar felt omitted when all three of us ended up in Aunt Novo's Royal hot tub.”
Gallus choked on the drink, nearly spitting his drink on Sandbar’s perfect mince pies.
“Watch out!” Sandbar exclaimed. “Also, to answer your question, Ocellus finally got hungry. Pinkie found her raiding her stash of sugar. She managed to eat one sack and start another when she got nauseous.”
Gallus rubbed his temples. “What a strange day…”
“Also, how can you have a hot tub underwater?” Sandbar asked.
“Seriously, dude?” Gallus groaned. “That’s your question?”
“Inverted,” Silverstream replied, mixing batter and watching it with a stern look on her face. “Hot water tends to go up.”
“See?” Smolder smirked, poking Gallus. “It’s that simple. Hot water tends to go up.” She looked at her rather ramshackle batch of pies and breathed fire at them. They immediately caught fire; one of them exploded, sending bits of batter and fruits around.
“This is not how you do it!” Pinkie exclaimed when another of Smolder’s pies exploded. “What did you add?”
“What you said.” Smolder shrugged when the third pie blew up, covering her in slightly burned strawberries. “My favourite ingredients.”
“That is?” Gallus asked, ducking under the table when more and more pies decided to turn into grenades.
“Gunpowder,” Smolder replied.
“So, Smolder ended up with detention,” Gallus said. He was sitting in Ocellus’ room; Ocellus was lying in her bed, her face slightly pale. “I never knew Pinkie could force a dragon to clean the classroom.”
“Well, I may have made her angry with the sugar thing.” Ocellus smiled sheepishly. “I just suddenly got very hungry.”
“Are you sure you’re fine?” Gallus asked, looking at her and frowning. “You don’t look very good since you met those three guys.”
“I’m good,” Ocellus replied. “And they’re fine, I’m telling you. Incus, for example–”
Gallus lifted his claw. “By the way, I’d watch out for this guy. He tried to hit on me.”
“What?” Ocellus asked.
“He tried to flirt with me.” Gallus shrugged. “He said he’d turn into a mare if I wanted. Is this like, a normal bug thing?”
Ocellus nodded. “He’s from an old and isolated swarm. They may seem weird to other changelings, not to mention other creatures.”
“I see…” Gallus replied. “Maybe I treated him too harshly, then. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”
Incus didn’t show up for breakfast on the next day and, as a matter of fact, neither did Ocellus. Malleus and Stapes were alone again; Gallus kept looking at their table, mostly ignoring Smolder talking about her detention. He noticed that the new students were much more numerous and diverse than the first group that arrived at the Friendship School. He counted at least twenty changelings; unlike Malleus and Stapes, who preferred each other’s company, most of them had no problem eating with zebra, pony, or kirin students.
“I’m going to talk to them.” Gallus got up.
“Maybe Incus and Ocellus went for some date,” Sandbar said. “Are you sure you aren’t jealous?”
“She was sick yesterday and today she wasn’t in her bed,” Gallus replied. “I don’t think Ocellus would skip classes and meals just to go on a date.”
“Love makes you do silly things.” Silverstream smirked. “I once had a crush on Golden Wave and–”
“Who?” Smolder asked.
“Don’t you know him?” Silverstream exclaimed. “He’s Mount Aris' three-time barnacle surfing champion.”
Gallus sighed. “I’ll go and talk to them.”
“I’m going with you,” Sandbar said.
They trotted to Malleus and Stapes, who were having a hushed conversation over their breakfast. When Malleus saw them, he frowned, getting up from his seat and spreading his wings.
“Hello,” Gallus said. “Have you seen Ocellus?”
“No,” Malleus replied. “Why do you think she chose her own kind over yours?”
“Well, she was sick yesterday,” Sandbar said. “And today she disappeared.”
“Speaking of disappearing, where’s your friend?” Gallus looked at Stapes.
Malleus opened his mouth to say something, but Stapes spoke first. “Actually, we don’t know. We haven’t seen him since yesterday morning.”
“So he wasn’t with Ocellus,” Sandbar said. “She was at Professor Pinkie’s class with us.”
“I saw him in our dorms, remember?” Gallus looked at the two changelings. “He seemed weird.”
“We all seem weird to you,” Malleus said.
“With that attitude, it’s understandable,” Gallus replied. “By the way, is he, like, gay? He tried to hit on me.”
Malleus made a face that’d be raising his eyebrows if he had them. “What do you mean by ‘gay’?”
Stapes smiled sheepishly. “We can be whatever we want, wherever we want. Your labels don’t really mean much to us.”
“I noticed,” Gallus deadpanned. “Still, is wandering around the dorms and hitting on random griffons something he used to do?”
“Not really,” Stapes replied. “What did you do to him?”
Gallus blushed. “I may have told him that I’d punch him so hard Queen Chrysalis would feel it.”
Malleus sighed. “She can’t really feel anything since your princess turned her into a lawn ornament.”
“My princess?” Gallus shrugged. “Better a pony princess than a changeling queen.”
“Gallus, stop,” Sandbar said. “Do you think they could’ve, uhh… gone to town together?”
“Literally or metaphorically?” Gallus asked.
“Frankly, the metaphor part escapes me,” Stapes said. “Is this some pony saying?”
Malleus exhaled loudly, clenching his hooves. “Who gives a damn?” He turned to Gallus and Sandbar. “What do you want?”
“I may have been the last one to see Incus.” Gallus shrugged. “Since then, he and Ocellus disappeared. Is that a normal changeling thing to do? Or will they come back in Spring with a brood of thousands of–”
“Gallus!” Sandbar exclaimed. “I’m pretty sure this is not something you can just say.”
Gallus rolled his eyes. “So he can be a dickhead but I can’t?”
Stapes cleared his throat. “Well, it’s all very weird. They shouldn’t disappear just like that. Maybe we should tell one of the teachers.”
“I’d rather find them myself,” Malleus replied. “Ponies can’t help here.”
He took off and flew out of the hall through one of the windows. Stapes shook his head. “Stubborn idiot,” he muttered. “He’ll get lost himself.”
“So, where do we look for them?” Sandbar asked.
“The school,” Stapes replied. “Then we’ll check the town. You know it better than me, so I’ll need you there.”
“Sure,” Gallus said. “Let’s get going!”
Unlike Gallus and Sandbar, Silverstream and Smolder decided to be good students and attend the classes. Then, since Gallus and Sandbar were still nowhere to be found during the lunch break, they decided to visit Yona at the hospital. It wasn’t a long walk from the school; Ponyville was still rather small, despite the growing number of students and ponies who wanted to see Princess Twilight Sparkle.
“Hey, isn’t that Ocellus?” SIlverstream asked when they were walking past the spa.
“Where?” Smolder asked.
“Over there.” Silverstream ran towards Ocellus. “Where have you been? We were worried about you and you just went to the spa?”
Ocellus stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “I had to do something,” she replied. “Nothing important, really.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Silverstream asked. “We’d help you with that. Princess Twilight was very surprised when you didn’t show up at her class.”
“Somehow, she wasn’t so surprised about Gallus and Sandbar,” Smolder said.
“Oh, just bug things.” Ocellus smiled sheepishly. “Did anyone tell you that you look stunning today, Silverstream?”
“Aww, thank you,” Silverstream replied.
“And you, Smolder… Wow, I never noticed that before, but you look great as well,” Ocellus said, her eyes lighting up.
Smolder furrowed her eyebrows. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, totally okay,” Ocellus replied. “I gotta go back to school.”
“We’re going to visit Yona,” Silverstream said. “Maybe you’ll come with us?”
“Nah, I really have to go,” Ocellus replied. “I need to talk with Princess Twilight about something.” She rushed down the street, nearly knocking some ponies over.
“Really strange.” Smolder looked at Ocellus disappearing in the distance.
“Maybe she’s in love,” Silverstream replied.
“This didn’t look like love.” Smolder shrugged. “More like the trots.”
“Both tend to strike suddenly,” Silverstream said. “Let’s get to the hospital.”
When they reached the building, the first thing they saw was some commotion going on in the waiting room. Several guards and nurses were escorting out a changeling.
“You don’t understand!” the changeling exclaimed, trying to free himself from the guards’ grasp. “I need antibiotics!”
“Wait, isn’t that this dickhead with a scar?” Smolder asked, looking at the changeling just as he was unceremoniously thrown out of the building. She turned to an old pony who was sitting on the bench. “What did he do?”
“Oh, he turned into Nurse Sweetheart to break into the hospital,” the old pony replied. “Unfortunately, he met the actual Nurse Sweetheart who did the same thing as usual.”
“That is?” Silverstream asked.
“Excessive violence.” The old stallion chuckled. “Just like her great-grandmother. I once–”
“You won’t impress anyone with the half of the story you still remember.” Nurse Sweetheart walked to them, pushing a wheelchair. “Especially not those creatures.” She rolled her eyes. “One smashes the table in the cafeteria and another one tries to steal meds. Come on, old lech, we’re going to the doctor.”
“Why did he need antibiotics, I wonder,” Smolder said when the nurse left with the old stallion. “Maybe he caught something? I wouldn’t want it to spread.”
“You’re resistant to pretty much everything,” Silverstream replied.
“Yes, but bugs and their diseases are weird.” Smolder stood up. “Also, if he needed antibiotics, he could just go to the doctor. Something seems fishy.” She looked at Silverstream. “No offence.”
“None taken.” Silverstream chuckled. “Let’s go and ask him.”
They walked out of the hospital. The changeling was still there, eyeing the open window on the second floor.
“Hey, you!” Smolder exclaimed. “Malleus, right?”
“Don’t come any closer!” the changeling exclaimed. “You’ve met her, right?”
“Who, Ocellus?” Silvestream asked.
“Don’t move!” Malleus shouted, backpedalling away from her. “You’ve been close to her… Incus…”
“What about him?” Smolder asked.
Malleus’s eyes widened, his breath ragged. “He brought this here. His swarm… Forget about your friend. She’s already too far gone.”
“Dude.” Smolder walked closer to Malleus. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t come any closer!” Malleus lifted his front leg, stopping Smolder. “You may be covered in it. It’s not dangerous to you, but it will kill me, get it?” He took off. “Burn her, as soon as you see her!”
“What?” Smolder asked.
“It will be better that way.” Malleus flapped his wings and flew away. Silverstream and Smolder followed him, but it was futile; he’d disappeared in the crowd of ponies, perhaps turning into one of them.
“What is wrong with him?” Smolder rolled her eyes. “Why does he want us to kill Ocellus?”
“He thinks Incus brought something here?” Silverstream shrugged. “What exactly?”
“We need to find Ocellus,” Smolder replied. “She’ll tell us.”
Sandbar looked around. He found himself in a rather unfamiliar part of the school; somewhere between the kitchen and the laundry room, where students usually didn’t go. So far, he didn’t find anything interesting, except for “Cozy Glow was right” written in large letters on one of the walls. Gallus had disappeared in one of the corridors earlier and still didn’t come back. Thus, Sandbar walked deeper into the underground part of the building, through the cobwebs and dust.
Dust. Sandbar coughed, causing a cloud of specks to swirl around him. He frowned, looking at them; while most looked like normal dust, he also saw some lighter particles, clinging to his fur and pooling on the floor like some kind of a greasy ash. Sandbar coughed again and turned around to face a small silhouette barely visible in the light of a few almost burned-out candles.
“Ocellus?” he asked, seeing the light-blue changeling in front of him. She was also covered in the strange dust, but this didn’t seem to faze her. She waved at Sandbar cheerfully.
“Hello,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Sandbar replied. “Aren’t you afraid of the giant spiders?”
“Nah, they don’t live here,” Ocellus replied. “I was gonna meet Incus here, but apparently he’s no longer into me.” She rolled her eyes and sighed.
“Sorry to hear that.” When Sandbar came closer to Ocellus, he noticed that her eyes had lost a bit of their shine and that she looked a bit thinner. “That’s not a great place for a date, I think.”
“Looks nice to me,” Ocellus replied. “Perfect for two bugs who want to be alone.”
Sandbar shrugged. “I mean, it probably has its merits and–” He paused when he saw Ocellus’ face right next to his.
“Well, since we’re both here…” Ocellus smirked. “Wanna do it in the janitor’s closet?”
When Silverstream and Smolder came back to the common room, they saw Gallus sitting in his usual spot on the couch, trying to get cobwebs out of his feathers. They sat next to him and for a moment they didn’t say anything as he was completely focused on reaching a particular spot on his wing with his beak. Silverstream shook her head and removed the cobweb, smiling at Gallus.
“We found Ocellus in town,” she said. “But then we lost her again.”
“Great, I thought I spent half of the day in some dungeon for nothing,” Gallus replied. “And then a cook threw a frying pan at me. But I also found Ocellus.”
“Where was she?” Smolder asked.
Gallus shrugged. “Near the kitchen. It was really weird. I don’t know, but she looked kinda sick, but on the other claw, she was so happy. She said she was waiting for her boyfriend there, but he was getting late so she started to, uhh… compliment me.” He flexed his muscles slightly. “This was a bit weird. Not like her at all.”
Smolder nodded. “She actually tried to pick us up, didn’t she? And then she quickly ran away.”
“Same,” Gallus said. “I told her I wasn’t interested, so she decided to go and look for Incus. Also, Sandbar was looking for her, but he didn’t come back yet.”
Smolder rolled her eyes. “Typical Sandbar. He’s looking for someone, then gets lost and then claims he found himself on the way or some vague stuff like that.”
“Speaking of vagueness,” Silverstream said. “What was Malleus talking about? Something about Incus and Ocellus and that we may be covered in something.”
“What?” Gallus asked. “I’m only covered in cobwebs.”
“I don’t know, but he tried to steal antibiotics from the hospital,” Smolder said. "He also wanted us to kill Ocellus and burn her body."
"This is official," Gallus replied, "this guy is nuts."
Smolder nodded "He seemed to think she was turning into something. But at the same time he seemed scared of everyone, including us. He nearly flipped when he learned we met Ocellus."
"Yeah." Gallus looked around. "Where the hell is Sandbar? I don't feel like looking for him."
“Where did he even go?” Silvestream asked.
“We decided to split in the dungeons,” Gallus replied. “I haven’t seen him since.”
“Maybe something found him…” Smolder smirked.
“What?” Gallus asked. “Malleus, maybe. Unless there’s something scarier than him beneath the school.”
Smolder shrugged. “At this point, would you be surprised?”
Before Gallus could reply, the door of the common room opened and Sandbar walked in. He passed by a group of changeling students who turned their heads to look at him. Other students either didn’t pay much attention to him or tried to avoid him as he was completely covered in thick dust, dirt, and cobwebs.
“Good news,” Sandbar said, stopping in front of his friends. “I found Ocellus.”
Smolder rolled her eyes. “LIterally everyone saw Ocellus today. And some of them have decency not to look like something that crawled out of the swamp in my mother’s favourite cave.”
“You’ve met her?” Sandbar asked. “Did she seem… weird?”
“Yes,” Silverstream replied. “Why are all the changelings here looking at you?”
“It’s simple.” The zebra student from Vanhoover Gallus had met earlier appeared seemingly out of nowhere and pointed at Sandbar. “He smells of bug pheromones and some fungus. Were you doing magic mushrooms with the griffon?”
“No, of course not,” Sandbar replied.
“I don’t do magic mushrooms either,” Gallus muttered.
“Bug pheromones, eh?” Smolder smirked. “Wait… Wait! Ocellus tried to pick us all up, didn’t she? And you said that she was also weird…” She looked at Sandbar. “You two fucked, didn’t you?”
Sandbar blushed. “No, I just met her, like you all.”
“Somehow, we all don’t reek of bug pheromones,” Gallus said. “Come on, dude, you can tell me.”
“Maybe Ocellus is in heat?” SIlverstream asked. “That’d explain many things.”
“In… heat?” Sandbar shuddered.
“Congratulations, you’re gonna become the father of the swarm,” Gallus said.
Sandbar backpedalled. “I think I’m gonna take a shower.” He turned back and ran away from the common room.
“I don’t think that’s biologically possible.” Smolder chuckled. “But he doesn’t have to know that.”
“In fact, you all smell like this, but not as much,” the zebra student said. “Maybe your friend is actually in heat. But what about the fungi?”
“No idea.” Silverstream turned to the zebra student. “How can you tell anyway?”
“I was a potionmaker’s apprentice in Vanhoover,” the zebra replied. “Smell is very important there. Unfortunately, my mother blew up her lab while working on a new formula, so I came here on an orphan's scholarship.”
“You need to visit Zecora,” Silverstream said. “She makes all sorts of potions.”
“I already did that, yes.” The zebra student nodded.
Gallus yawned. “It’s all nice and great, but I think I’ll go to sleep. I’m tired of looking for everyone while others get laid.”
Despite his declarations, Gallus didn’t sleep for too long. He barely managed to close his eyes, when he felt someone’s presence in the room. It wasn’t Sandbar; the pony was snoring in his bed, not minding anything, but Gallus felt there was someone else there.
“What the–” Gallus opened his eyes and saw a kirin standing next to his bed. “Who the hell are you?”
“It’s me, Stapes,” the kirin replied. “Given what your friend did today, I’d rather stay in this disguise for a while.”
“What? Who?” Gallus asked, sitting on the bed. “And why a kirin?”
“Being able to raise the body temperature at will does wonders against pathogens,” Stapes replied. “Remember Mzimu?”
“Who?”
“The zebra who said Sandbar smelled of fungi. After you went to sleep, he decided to go to Zecora and uhh…” Stapes lowered his head.
“What happened?”
“I found this other changeling, Malleus,” Mzimu replied, appearing seemingly out of nowhere behind Gallus. “He killed himself. Then I found him and we added two and two together.”
Gallus furrowed his eyebrows. “What exactly?”
“Bug pheromones and fungi,” Stapes replied. “It was considered to be a changeling legend, but I’m afraid that no one in the Maledicta Swarm was left alive. Same with Incus… and Ocellus.”
“What?!” Gallus exclaimed. “How so?”
Sandbar turned on his bed and opened one eye. “What’s going on?”
“You walked near a group of changelings covered in spores,” Mzimu replied. “Stapes already told them to get some disguise and try to wash them off, but this means they may end up in water. Not to mention that someone may already be infected. The bugs will start dying.”
“What spores?” Sandbar asked.
Stapes stood up. “We’ll show you.”
Gallus sighed and stood up, followed by Sandbar, who kept groaning and muttering something under his breath as they walked out of their room. Soon, Stapes and Mzimu led them down into the school’s basement.
“I think Malleus decided to put Incus out of his misery when he saw him like that,” said Stapes when they wandered down the dusty corridors. Gallus recognised this place; he’d been looking for Ocellus there, though he wasn’t sure if he’d ever reached this far. “Still, he was afraid he also got the fungus on him, so…”
“What exactly is this fungus?” Sandbar asked. “I keep hearing about it.”
“For most creatures it’s harmless,” Stapes replied. “The spores don’t survive against their immune system. At worst, you could get a mild fever. But once it finds a host in a changeling… It starts growing on organs, slowly turning them into more spores. It floods the brain with pheromones, so you don’t scream in pain, but even as your carapace falls apart, it still makes you crawl, trying to infect as many other changelings as possible. Apparently it attacks best when… you know. Once Incus and Ocellus–”
“Enough!” Gallus winced. “So, she got attracted by those pheromones and… So this is why she was so weird?”
“She was as good as dead by then,” Mzimu said. “From what Stapes told me, she’s like a puppet to this fungus by now.”
Sandbar retched, his legs quivering. “And I–”
“Exactly,” Gallus said. “You fucked her, getting more of this stuff on you.”
“Who knows how many others did,” Stapes replied. “To changelings, the pheromones are almost irresistible.” He stopped by the end of the corridor. “Well, this is the end result.”
In front of them, there was a lifeless husk of a changeling. The previously yellow carapace was now almost colourless and falling apart, white, flour-like substance pouring out of the wounds. He was missing a wing and both hind legs and his head was smashed to pieces, a puddle of greenish, stale blood mixed with the spores.
“The fungus keeps the nerves intact,” Stapes said; even in his kirin form, he stood as far away from the body as possible. “Even when dying of starvation and falling apart due to the fungus devouring you, you keep on crawling.”
Sandbar took a deep breath and threw up on the floor. Gallus turned away, shuddering.
“How long?” he asked, his voice trembling. “How long does she have left?”
Stapes lifted his hoof. “Too long.”
Gallus raised his head and winced. Ocellus was walking towards him, her carapace in a sickeningly pale colour; her hind leg snapped in half, but she didn’t seem to notice, walking towards him and dragging her lifeless wings behind her. Cracks in her side opened, spores pouring out of them like moist flour. Her eyes lost their shine, but her lips still moved in a twisted parody of a smile when she saw Gallus.
“Hello,” she said, one of her wings cracking and falling apart. “You look great today, Gallus!”
Author's Note
Sweet dreams.
