June 12th, 1248 R.C.
Morning came early again for me, as I awoke to the sound of somepony knocking loudly on the door.
"Starlight Glimmer," a yellow servant pony addressed me when I answered, "you are summoned to the throne room, immediately."
"Tell them I'll be there shortly." I replied. The servant nodded, and shut the door again. I walked back to the bed and gently nudged the blue mare who slept next to me.
"Trixie," I whispered, "wake up." The blue mare simply groaned in response. I shook her a little harder the second time. "It's time to get up, show pony!"
"Trixie requires her beauty sleep" She mumbled into her pillow.
"We don't have time for this!" I complained. No response. Fine, if she wants to play that game, I'll play. Just like I had with Pinkie, I levitated some water onto her face.
She coughed, spat the water out, and finally got her lazy flank out of bed. I gave her a few minutes to use the filly's room and clean up before I said, "Come on, we need to get going. I need you to guard that hallway, remember?"
"Yes, yes." Trixie nodded. "Trixie remembers. She just wishes this wasn't so early in the morning."
*******
Trixie and I ate a quick breakfast in the dining hall, then I went to the Throne room, while she went to her post as the guard to a hallway. I felt bad for making her do something so potentially boring, but I knew that lives were at risk, so there was nothing I could do about a small detail like that. I couldn't let myself worry about every little thing if I was going to make a difference.
As soon as I entered the throne room, everypony went silent for a moment and just looked at me.
"Ah, Starlight Glimmer," Princess Celestia said grinning. "You are the last to join us. We wondered if you would show up at all."
" 'Twould not be the first time, either I hear." Princess Luna added with a giggle.
"I already apologized for that!" I struggled not to shout. Was this some kind of test?
"Please, do not mind our teasing, Starlight Glimmer," Princess Celestia said in a gentler voice, "and take a seat so we may get
started." She pointed to the empty chair at the large table in the center of the throne room. I took a seat next to Twilight and Cadence. I very awkwardly and silently did so. "Wonderful, I am so glad that every pony, griffin, and changeling is in attendance today. Now, we may get down to business."
"We are aware of the issues that were brought up this week with the original draft of the treaty, and we hope to resolve these issues quickly and peacefully." Luna said, approaching her spot on the table. She sat down right next to me, but paid me no attention as she spoke in her regal tone. "Twilight, do you have the revised treaty ready?"
"Yes, Luna." She nodded and produced a rather large scroll from her bag. "It's right here."
"Excellent. Please read the changed text for us all to hear, so that we may discuss it."
"Ahem." Twilight cleared her throat and opened the scroll so she could read it. "Starting with item 2a. Equestria shall promise to defend its neighbors from threats both domestic and foreign. Equestria will not, however, support the expansion of griffin or changing borders. Griffins and changelings will, in return, defend Equestria from threats domestic and foreign as well. These threats include, but are not limited to, foreign invaders, civil war, large scale monster attacks, and natural or magical disasters."
She paused to take a breath before continuing. "2b. The three nations also pledge to give aid in form of food, medicine, and labor in a time of crisis. 3a. Effective immediately, the griffins and changelings will receive the ability to cross Equestria's borders, and build trade routes through them. Identification may be required to cross, but no fees will be charged. 3b. Contraband will not be tolerated at the borders. Smugglers who are caught by Equestrian guards will be..."
I zoned out listening to her. It was great that this treaty was being made and signed, but the details were quite boring to me. I nearly fell asleep again, but thankfully Princess Luna nudged me awake when Twilight was nearly finished reading.
"..and that covers all the changes from yesterday. Do the changelings or griffins have any questions?"
"I have a question." One of the griffins practically growled. I later learned his name was Raven Claw. He was the youngest of the three griffin diplomats. "If the changelings were to declare war on the griffins, who would Equestria defend?"
"That won't happen." I heard myself say, before I had time to think. Every pony, griffin, and changling stared right at me like I had grown a second head. Princess Celestia was smiling though.
"Please, Starlight." She said with amusement in her voice. "Why don't you tell us why you think so highly of our changeling neighbors. You have personal experience with them, don't you?"
This was it. This was why I was sitting at this table today. "Yes, Princess, I do. It all started when I noticed something strange was going on with Twilight and her friends..." I struggled to find the words to tell the story of how Trixie, Discord, Thorax and I did our part to save Equestria from Queen Chrysalis, but I managed. I finished with one, simple statement that I believed whole heartedly.
"I have complete faith in King Thorax and his abilities to lead the new changeling hive. I also have every reason to trust he will not violate this treaty in any way."
The representatives all looked at least somewhat impressed by my speech. There was some whispering among the changelings and griffins before they reconvened at the table. One of the griffins finally spoke up.
"We had not heard such a personal account of that particular event before." Raven Claw explained. "This certainly changes our perspective a little. Perhaps we can extend a claw to the Changelings, after all."
"I am so happy to hear that." Celestia replied with a positively radiant smile.
*******
The negotiations went much smoother after that. It was not much longer before an official agreement was made, and the last minor changes to the treaty were finalized. Celestia sent a message to the rest of the castle via a servant, and the signing ceremony was put together at a speed I didn't know was possible.
I had to fight against nausea once again through the entirety of the signing ceremony. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and I knew I had seen everything that happened once before. Or was it more times than that? I wasn't sure. I was trying my best to be alert of any pony, griffin, or changeling acting suspiciously, but that was proving difficult. At any rate, the treaty was signed and soon after the food and drinks were brought out.
"Starlight? Are you okay?" a familiar voice asked.
I took a deep breath and my nausea subsided a little. "Yeah, I'm just feeling a little sick to my stomach is all." I said, turning to see who had spoken. It was Pinkie Pie, of course. "Never mind that, though. Shouldn't you be watching the hallways?"
"Yeah, I was doing that, but then this super duper nice servant mentioned you were looking down." Pinkie sing-songed. "And I couldn't let you be down on a day like today!"
My nausea returned with a vengeance. I felt like I was underwater. I tore my gaze back towards the Princesses. Princess Celestia was still drinking her tea that I had carefully inspected for poison, while talking to Raven Claw. I took a sigh of relief, before asking the one question I still had. "Which servant told you that?"
"Uh, I don't see them anymore, that's odd." Pinkie said, scanning the room before her ear twitched. "Oh! There she is" She pointed at a cream colored servant mare, carrying a piece of cake towards the Princess. Not trusting it one bit, I tried to scan it with my magic, but she broke my line of sight. I followed her, carefully making my way through the small crowd of ponies. When I saw her again, she was already handing the cake to Princess Celestia. Before the Princess could take a bite, I quickly scanned and determined that it was indeed poisonous.
"NO!" I screamed as the princess lifted a bite to her mouth.
She lowered it in confusion as she asked. "What is the matter, Starlight?"
"Do not eat that cake! It's poisoned!" I declared. There was a collective gasp from the room. The servant pony tried to back away slowly into the crowd, but I would not let her escape. I used my magic to bind her hooves to the floor. Meanwhile Celestia was staring at her cake, wide eyed as she presumably detected the poison with her own magic as well.
After a few moments, the Sun Princess immolated her cake, and scowled at the immobilized servant pony. Without a single word, she simply shot a beam of her magic right at the pony. There was a blinding light, and when it cleared, there was no pony standing there.
No pony indeed, for it was none other than the former queen of the Changelings, Queen Chrysalis herself.
"So I have failed again." She hissed. "No matter, I always have contingency plans."
I gulped. What did she mean by that? I didn't have much time to ponder this, before the room was engulfed by darkness. Well, most of the room anyway. Celestia had apparently managed to produce enough light from her horn to light a small area around her. Every pony, griffin, and changling tried to huddle as close to the Princess as they could, and I was no different. It felt safer than the pure abyss of black that surrounded us. There were a few moments of pure terror, and I saw other ponies whispering and crying around me, but I heard none of it. This darkness was magical in nature, and it was blocking sound as well as light.
Despite that, I heard laughter, and not the kind I wanted to hear at the moment. At first I thought it was just Chrysalis, but there was more than just one voice. Soon there was an entire chorus of creepy laughter. Then, just as suddenly as the darkness had come, it started to recede. Over the course of about a minute the room slowly lit back up with the light from Celestia's horn. It revealed a sight far more horrible than I could have ever imagined.
There were bodies. Many bodies, of changelings, griffins, and ponies alike. It seemed that anypony that was unable to reach Celestia's light was not allowed to survive.
"Pinkie! Trixie!" I cried out, hoping dearly for an answer. I got one.
"Over here." A sullen voice replied. It was Pinkie Pie's voice, but I had never heard it so sad before. I walked around the corner to the nearby hallway. There I saw yet another sight that would haunt me in my dreams.
Pinkie was standing next to two corpses. Both of them were ponies I knew. One was Trixie, her face scrunched up, and her fur still wet with blood and tears. She was the better off of the two, however. Huddled over her, probably in an attempt to shield her, was none other than Princess Luna, or what was left of her, anyway. She was almost hard to recognize at first, but the horn on her marred face, the deep blue feathers scattered on the floor, and even her cutie mark which was surprisingly intact compared to the rest of her, made it impossible not to identify the alicorn.
Pinkie was standing over the two bodies, openly weeping. I walked over to hug the mare, if more for myself than for her, but I stopped when I saw movement in the darkness behind her.
"Pinkie, get behind me." I said, my voice wavering. Unfortunately the pink mare did not seem to hear me, and the darkness approached her quickly. I charged forwards and tackled the mare, trying to get her out of the way, but I was too slow. The darkness engulfed us.
I experienced pain like I had never before in my life, and I hope to never again. I felt my fur and skin being ripped from my flesh in every direction. I was stabbed several times in the chest and I coughed blood all over Pinkie. The last thing I remember was crying into her soft, fluffy mane.