"Changelings," Twilight said, pacing the floor of the library, passing by tons and tons of books on their shelves. She levitated a notebook in front of her. It was open. "I've gathered lots of data about them, although, I'll admit, not as much data as I have gathered about the dragons or about the griffons."
"Then again," Starlight said, sitting on one of the chairs at the tables, "we dont' really have lots of information about any of them, anyway. That is, until you decided to place in the necessary effort to document everything."
Twilight giggled. "Aww, that's nice, Starlight. I'm not really that dedicated to it, though. There's still the time that I spend with my friends."
"Talking about what you have just learned?" Starlight said.
Twilight smiled. "It's something good! What's wrong with learning something new?" She turned towards the notebook in front of her. "Back to the changelings—they've progressed well. There's still lots to work on in terms of being kind to one another, being considerate of others, but, otherwise, the changelings are indeed better than they were!" She turned towards Starlight. "How about Thorax? How's your friendship with him? Is it going well? Is it stable?"
"Uh, did you learn anything about not trying to check on every detail of my friendship?" Starlight said, a little exasperated and tired, on her face a slight frown. "You know that I can handle this on my own, Twilight."
"Oh, right!" She smiled awkwardly at her. "Apologies!"
Starlight smiled.
"But, what about Thorax?" Twilight asked.
"We're fine," Starlight replied, gesturing nonchalantly with a hoof. "We chat sometimes. Casual chats. Chats about the day. How our friends are, what happened to us. I try my best to be with him whenever he visits since his schedule is quite chaotic at the moment. Thorax told me about having to bring the changelings to do something about their homes, their houses, where they live."
Twilight sighed, approaching Starlight. She levitated the notebook on to the table. "And, that is how being a leader can bring you down sometimes," Twilight said. She looked at Starlight.
"Are you getting worried about it?" Starlight said, her voice becoming concerned. "You're the Princess of Friendship."
"You've probably noticed my schedule. Every week, I have to go to a place in Equestria to settle some friendship problems, and that's alright. I go with at least one of my best friends. Last week, I went with Applejack and Rainbow Dash to deal with a friendship problem over at Appleloosa. Braeburn arguing about something that Applejack was able to resolve. And, the week before, I went with Rarity to Manehattan. The friendship problem there was about Plaid Stripes and the ponies she's working with at Rarity's boutique there. But, I'm OK with all of that."
"Then, what's wrong with being the Princess of Friendship?" Starlight said. "You get to be on the newspapers for being a good, kind leader. You can travel to other places in Equestria for free with your friends, and even when you're on your royal duties, your royal duties are still about friendship, and you can still be with your friends."
"That's one thing about it," Twilight answered. "The other thing is that it takes up your time. There are moments and times when I have to be with just the Princesses, like when I went to the Dragon Lands. I know that it has to do with being official and being a Princess, but what about my friends? Why can't they attend, too?"
"But, you're still proud of being the Princess of Friendship, right?" Starlight said.
"It was something I didn't expect."
Starlight looked at her. "Alright." She smiled. "But, you're still OK with it?"
"Of course!" Twilight replied, smiling. "Why wouldn't I? Spreading the magic of friendship to other ponies and other creatures makes me joyful!"
Starlight giggled. "Anything else about being the Princess of Friendship?"
"There's what happens when you are friends with creatures you are supposed to have meetings with," Twilight replied. She sat down on one of the chairs. "There's Thorax. He's your friend, and he's also my friend. When we're not meeting to discuss the situation of our respective kingdoms, we share stories, we laugh, we bond and just have fun. When we're on our official duties as the Princess of Friendship and as the King of the Changeling Kingdom, respectively, we act as if we don't really know much about each other, as if we're not really friends. I still have a nice attitude, and he still has a nice attitude, but there's this sense of not-knowing, if you understand what I'm trying to say here."
Starlight nodded. "I understand, Twilight."
"But, when the meeting's over, we're back to being great friends—laughing, talking, bonding." She sighed a happy sigh. "The changelings are happy, the ponies are happy, we're all happy. Speaking about the changelings, they're quite eager."
"Eager about what?" Starlight asked.
"Eager about how to live by being friends and sharing love," Twilight said. "They's responded quite well to our friendship events and my friendship speeches. Whenever I and my friends share friendship lessons, the changelings really do want to hear, to learn the magic of friendship. The changelings talk to each other about it and they almost immediately try to follow it, although, sometimes, they misunderstand what I said, sometimes they don't understand why being a friend means you have to do this instead of doing that. But, the changelings are, overall, eager to be friends."
"And, maybe too eager about ponies," Starlight said, her tone becoming less happy and more irritated.
"We've lived with that and we've taught them about it a few times," Twilight said. "The changelings are going to improve on that."
"Hopefully they'll improve soon," Starlight said.
"They are going to improve, Starlight. You just have to help them!" Twilight smiled.
Then, Twilight stood up. "What about we try taking a book about the changelings?"
"You mean the history book about them?" Starlight asked.
"The updated one," Twilight said. "The edition where changelings are finally seen as good creatures."
She levitated a book from the bookshelf. It was a heavy, big book.
She placed it on the table. On the book were the words, "The History of Changelings."
"The authors have finally decided to do a great overhaul of the entire book," Twilight explained, opening the book. On the pages of the book were paragraphs and paragraphs of explanations and descriptions and stories of the changelings along with illustrations and pictures of the changelings, these illustrations and pictures displaying the newer, kinder changelings. "It was an unexpected, revolutionary moment. A great moment in history.”
Starlight placed a hoof on one of the pages of the book. She looked at the words, reading them. Then, she glanced at the illustrations of the changelings, the new, reformed ones. There were also pictures of the changelings, with the changelings posing for the camera in happy, funny ways. They were all smiling—there was not a single changeling who frowned or even had any other expression on their faces.
Starlight turned some pages back. There were more illustrations and pictures of the changelings, but they were the older, evil ones. There was not a smile on their faces—only evil expressions.
“And, to think that I and my friends...managed to turn them good...” Starlight said.
Starlight turned back to the pages with the new, reformed changelings.
“It must be quite great, right?” Twilight said. “You were probably just planning to save us. Only us, not the changelings themselves. However, you saved the changelings, also. You and your friends, I mean.”
The two ponies smiled as they looked at one particular picture on the book. The picture showed several changelings posing for the camera, smiling. Some were laughing.
“Do you wanna borrow it?” Twilight said. She hoofed the book to Starlight. “It will make you appreciate the changelings more. It will also make you see how much you and your friends have done, how far you’ve gone.”
Starlight smiled at Twilight. She looked at the book. The pictures of the reformed, happy changelings were there on the pages. Then, she looked back at Twilight.
“Are you telling me to borrow this book because you contributed to it?” Starlight asked.
Twilight giggled. “Not really!”
Starlight laughed. “What about I check the list of writers for this book?”
“Really, I didn’t contribute anything to the book at all!” Twilight said.
Starlight levitated the book with her magic. “OK, Twilight. I trust you.”
Then, she walked away, levitating the book in front of her.
She left the library.
Twilight followed Starlight.
Starlight looked back. “Uh, Twilight? Does that mean that you don’t have anything else to do?” she asked, a little worried.
“Oh, it’s alright, Starlight!” Twilight said, gesturing with a hoof. “Do you wanna go join us?”
“Where?” Starlight asked, confused.
“Maybe a picnic here in Ponyville, or maybe a trip to Canterlot!”
“I think I’ll just rest here,” Starlight said, levitating the book towards Twilight, “reading this book. You’re the one who told me to read it, right?”
Twilight placed a hoof on her chin. “OK, Starlight.” She smiled. “But, you’re going to miss out on a lot of fun!” Then, she trotted away.
Starlight sighed, still levitating the book, bringing it in front of her.
Then, she walked. Starlight walked on the clean floor of the hallway.
Thorax stepped onto the wooden platform of the train station.
Ponies walked by past him. Most of them smiled at him, although a few were rushing towards wherever they were going to, not paying attention to the changeling. A few foals pointed at him, smiling.
Thorax walked away from the train station. As he approached the buildings of Ponyville, he took a glance at the glimmering castle. “There’s Twilight and her friends,” he said. “And, Starlight, also.” He smiled.
As he walked past the buildings, he saw the ponies there. Some were just talking to each other—he saw three ponies talking to each other, sometimes laughing. Others were conducting business—a pony with a hat was trying to sell some paintings. There were pegasi arranging the clouds in the sky, coordinating with the other pegasi there. Meanwhile, there were Rarity and other unicorns using their magic to decorate the town hall. Earth ponies were carrying wagons of food towards the marketplace.
Thorax walked on the streets, beholding all the activity that was going on around him.
A knock on the big double doors of the castle.
Starlight looked away from the book she was reading.
“Uh, hi? Thorax here!”
“Thorax?!” Starlight shouted.
She opened the doors with her magic.
Thorax was hovering above the steps.
“Starlight!”
“Thorax!”
And the two hugged each other.
Then, they stopped hugging each other.
“So, what are you doing?” Thorax asked as he landed on the floor.
Starlight closed the doors with her magic. She brought her book towards Thorax. “Well, just reading about the history of changelings.” She smiled. “Twilight said that I’ll be able to appreciate you and your fellow changelings more if I read this book!”
“Heh-heh-heh-heh.” Thorax looked at the book nervously, eyeing it with suspicion. “Are you sure that’s the book with no more evil, misunderstood words against us?”
“Oh, I didn’t mean to do anything bad at all, Thorax!” Starlight said nervously, glancing here and there. “Uh, this book is updated and has a new attitude towards you, so you don’t have to worry about anything at all, Thorax!” She made a wide smile. “See, I’m smiling! That means that you should definitely trust me! I mean no harm nor ill intent towards you nor your kingdom at all, Thorax!”
Thorax smiled. “Looks like we have more in common than we thought.”
And, the two laughed.
Then, they walked the grand, wide hallways of the castle with their tall green windows.
“Spike should’ve been here,” Thorax said. “He would’ve said that you were as awkward as I was back when I was just a changeling in the Crystal Empire!”
“Maybe you still are!”
“An awkward king? Nah, I don’t think that’s me.”
And, they laughed again.
“So, how’s the whole kingdom thing going for you?” Starlight said. “Any progress on your efforts to restructure the Changeling Kingdom?”
“We’re going for a natural look,” Thorax replied. “A lot of my friends are OK with it. They’ve been used to the rooms we’ve had in the hive for so long that it turns out that living in houses was a bit strange to get used to.”
“What’s wrong with houses?” Starlight said.
“They’re big,” Thorax answered.
“Then, why not make small houses?”
“It’s not just that we can make small houses,” Thorax replied. “Houses themselves are big, no matter how small we try to build them. If you want to have a proper house, it must have this room and that room, there must be a dining room and a kitchen and a bedroom and other kinds of rooms. Also, we’re used to having our walls change over time—remember when we entered the hive? We’re so used to an ever-changing place that living in houses where the walls don’t move is jarring. We tried to make houses with changing walls, but that doesn’t seem right.”
“So, you’re just reverting back to the old look?”
“I don’t want to really change it back,” Thorax said. “It can bring bad memories about us trying to steal love.”
“What do you want, then?” Starlight said.
“I want the Changeling Kingdom to fit us,” Thorax replied. “I don’t want us to have to force ourselves to pony standards of living. I want the Changeling Kingdom to be a place where changelings can thrive with the magic of friendship while also trying to make it unique. That’s what I want to do, Starlight.”
“OK, Thorax,” Starlight said. “How hard is it?”
“Hard. It’s hard. It’s really hard, Starlight, to lead the changelings in this effort.”
“Don’t worry, Thorax,” Starlight said, patting the changeling. “I know that, with the magic of friendship, the changelings are all going to help each other!”
“Thanks, Starlight,” Thorax said. “But, the changelings need to be more friendly. And, I’m not just talking about liking the idea of friendship. There’s a reason why I’m OK with Twilight going to our kingdom to give us friendship speeches, friendship lessons. I’m not just OK with the idea, I like it! A lot of us are quite eager to learn about friendship and to become friendly towards others, but we might get too eager and end up not learning anything.”
Starlight groaned, frowning and scowling.
Thorax looked at her, concerned and anxious. “What’s wrong, Starlight?”
“Oh, uh, sorry!” Starlight said, attempting to make a smile. “I was just, uh, having a reaction about something I just thought of while you said what you, uh, just said. Heh-heh-heh-heh!” She kept on smiling at him awkwardly.
Thorax sighed. “I know, Starlight,” Thorax said, adopting a sad tone. “I’ve heard ponies complaining whenever I visit. Not everypony was giving me complaints, but there were enough. Maybe more than enough, I don’t know. Even I get a bit too excited—ponies never had so much, well, things and items before! Even when I was an obedient but reluctant changeling to Chrysalis, I noticed something about the ponies—they were so rich in whatever they had, even the poorest ones! They had traditions, they had stories, they had epic adventures, they had studies of the world—the ponies looked quite cultured to me, to all of us!” He looked at the tall green windows that were on the walls. “Just look at those windows!” He pointed a hoof at one of them. “You’re a pony, so maybe it’s just a nice window. To me, though, it’s more than just a window. It’s the result of progress, the result of, well, ponies working together with all their tradition and their culture building up over the years and the decades to form something beautiful, to form something wonderful to look at while still being a window!”
“I didn’t expect that from you, to be honest, Thorax,” Starlight commented as they went on walking in the hallway, approaching the double doors at the end. “You were so...verbose and wordy.”
Thorax nervously scratched his head, smiling awkwardly at the pony. “That’s me just being fascinated by all that ponies have done! However, I know we cannot just copy them—they are the ones spreading the magic of friendship and they are the ones who are helping the most, but I just want us changelings to, well, be different! I’ve been talking about this for almost as long as I’ve been ruling over the Changeling Kingdom—and, I don’t want to see being a king as a position to desire. I just want to help my fellow changelings the best way I can, that’s all.”
Then, Starlight opened the double doors.
Inside the room, a crystal table with the crystal thrones were there.
Starlight levitated the book towards the table. Then, she placed it there.
“I understand, Thorax,” Starlight said as they walked towards the chairs.
Starlight and Thorax then sat on the chairs. They were beside each other.
“I hope that wasn’t too much,” Thorax said.
“I’ve read lots of books,” Starlight said. “I don’t think you’ve said enough words to rival a book.”
The two laughed.
Thorax placed a hoof on the book. He opened it. “This book—is it OK?”
“Yeah,” Starlight said. “From what I’ve read, it’s pretty OK. Accurate.”
Thorax turned the pages, seeing many paragraphs of words of history. He also saw the illustrations and the pictures of the changelings, of his own kind.
He stopped at a page.
There were pictures of happy, reformed changelings. They were smiling at the camera.
Thorax smiled. “There’s something nice.”
Starlight leaned towards the book.
“Mm-hmm.” Starlight smiled. She looked at Thorax. “Anything else?”
“I want to, well, to build on what you’ve taught me, Starlight,” Thorax said. “But, you weren’t the only one. There was Twilight and her friends—I think that’s when it all started, when they showed how powerful and how great friendship is. And, it just went on from there, Starlight.”
“And, I’m happy to see what changelings spreading the magic of friendship would lead to,” Starlight said. “But, let’s talk about something else for now. Like, I don’t know, what’s your plan for this afternoon? You didn’t just visit Ponyville just to talk with me for a few minutes, right?”
“I was wondering where Trixie and Discord are,” Thorax said.
“Trixie’s busy with practicing for her next magic show. Discord—well, nopony really knows where he is, usually. He could be anywhere—maybe even back in his home dimension.”
“I heard that his home dimension is not a sensible dimension.”
“I’m sure that nopony could understand how to get there without Discord’s help,” Starlight said. “Anyway, what else can we do in Ponyville? We could go to the Carousel Boutique, but what would we really do there? Help Rarity make dresses?”
“But, there are so many things to do in Ponyville, right?”
“Not a limitless amount of things, Thorax,” Starlight said. “We could fly kites together!” She smiled at him.
“Uh, kite-flying is not my thing.” He scratched his head.
“Oh.” She frowned. Then, she smiled again. “Don’t worry. There must be other things to do in Ponyville! Like, going to Sweet Apple Acres!”
“And, what would we there?”
“We could help?”
“Help them with the apples?”
Starlight placed a hoof on her chin, thinking. “We should just go somewhere else, Thorax.”
Thorax smiled. “Like where?”
“For just being together? Canterlot has lots of fancy restaurants and fancy places, and they require strict behavior, and I really don’t know if I would want that. Appleloosa is a bit far away, most of what they have there is fun! Although, there aren’t that many establishments there. Manehattan is exciting, but the pace is too fast if you just want to enjoy Manehattan at your own pace.”
“We have the Cutie Map right here,” Thorax said, placing a hoof on the table.
“I don’t think we should use a magical map just to see where we want to go,” Starlight said. “There are other, better ways that don’t use too much magic to choose on where to go!”
“What about the Crystal Empire?” Thorax suggested. “It would be great to meet Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor again! I’ve heard that several changelings visit that place often now!”
“And the Crystal Ponies are OK with it?”
“They’re not just OK with it! They’re cool with it!”
Starlight giggled. “Alright. So, you wanna go there?”
“But, what about somewhere else?” Thorax asked. “There are more places in Equestria than just the ones you’ve said. There’s Cloudsdale, there’s Dodge Junction, there’s the Dragon Lands, there’s lots of other places to visit!”
“OK, if there are a lot of places to visit in Equestria,” Starlight said, “where would you wanna go the most right now?”
“The Crystal Empire!” Thorax said quickly.
“Alright, then, let’s get to the train station!”
The landscape outside was cold. It was snowy.
Inside the train, ponies were seated on their seats. Some looked at the landscape outside, others talked with each other, still others were just readings newspapers or books.
Starlight and Thorax sat beside each other.
“What do you plan to do in the Crystal Empire, Thorax?” Starlight asked. “You’re not acting as the king of the Changeling Kingdom, you’re just arriving as a friend, right? So, what do you wanna do?”
“It depends,” Thorax said. “It’s a big place to be in. There are so many things that the Crystal Ponies have that I’m not sure if we’ll even be halfway done with a full trip or tour of the place before the end of the week!”
“You can begin with meeting Sunburst again,” Starlight said. “He’s quite OK with spending time with you!”
“And, what will we talk about? I’m not sure I can talk about magic since, well, I can’t use unicorn magic.”
“Sunburst doesn’t just study magic, although that’s what he studies most of the time,” Starlight said. “I’m sure you can talk about other things!”
Thorax smiled. “What about I talk with Cadance and Shining Armor? And then, we could go to some place together, like, I’m not sure, a store or whatever else the Crystal Empire has to offer! There’s still some things that I still haven’t tried or visited at all!”
A few ponies walked down the middle of the carriage, wearing fancy uniforms.
Starlight and Thorax looked at them.
The ponies had neutral expressions on their faces, neither smiling nor frowning, only looking focused on the task at hoof, whatever the task was.
“Who are they?” Thorax asked, nudging Starlight. “I’ve never seen them before.”
“Oh, they’re just the Method Mares,” Starlight casually said. “Some popular acting group of ponies. They’re probably trying to get to the doors first. We’re close to the train station.”
Thorax looked outside.
Gone was the snow and the cold weather. Now, there was grass and trees. The Crystal Empire was there, shining. The crystal train station was also there.
And, the train approached the train station.
And, it stopped.
The doors opened.
Thorax and Starlight joined the group of ponies attempting to get out of the doors quickly and effortlessly, although most of them struggled to exit the train. There were ponies with cameras, trying to get out of the train in their journey to take many pictures of the Crystal Empire. There were the Crystal Ponies themselves inside the train, also trying to get out of the train. The Method Mares themselves showed no irritation on their faces—they were just neutral, calm and collected as they waited for the rest of the ponies to leave the train.
Then, Starlight and Thorax finally went out of the train and on to the platform of the Crystal Empire’s train station.
“There are snacks,” Starlight said. “Do you wanna buy some inside?”
“It depends,” Thorax replied.
Ponies were going here and there around them, all of them trying to get inside the train station. Some of them were carrying bags, others were carrying cameras, still others were carrying no items at all.
“So, let’s go to Sunburst’s house first?” Starlight asked.
“What about Cadance and Shining Armor?” Thorax said.
“We could go to Sunburst first, then we could to Cadance and Shining Armor,” Starlight told.
“But, we could try inviting all three of them to our trip!”
“Good idea,” Starlight said. “But, where can we all enjoy the time together?”
“We could stay inside Sunburst’s house!”
“It’s very tight and small for four ponies and one changeling, Thorax.”