Blue Alarm sat on the ground as a few birds chirped in the air, flapping their wings and looking happy. He tracked them from where he was, their figures slowly disappearing into the horizon as they flew towards the sun.
Surrounding him was the overflowing shrubbery with its wild variety of plants, having tall and bushy trees, short and dainty flowers, small and bushy bushes.
"Friendship," he spoke. "Friendship."
Several changelings were buzzing by in flight above him.
"It hasn't even been a full year," Blue Alarm said, placing his front hooves on his face as he looked up and saw more of the greenery. "But, we've been through so much...change. Now, every changeling that's here—even Pharynx—is out and about sharing love with everyone they meet. The dragons, the griffons, and the yaks don't see us as enemies; the ponies surely see us as close friends in massive need of lessons about friendship."
He picked up a pebble, groaning a little. Then, he fiddled around with it, though his sight was still towards the trees and the rest of the plants in the distance.
"Freed. That we can choose between choices. No longer did force trap us—now, we have the freedom."
He placed the pebble back on the ground.
"Throax is a good king, the hive is in better condition than ever before, and my friends are..."
He placed a hoof on his head.
"Great."
He smiled.
"Despite our occasional disagreements, we're still together. And, we're together not just in a distance kind of way. We're really friends, and I could tell that it's much better than the mere 'being together' that we've had back with Chrysalis."
He kept on smiling.
Then, a few hoofsteps.
He looked behind him.
"Observing again, aren't you?" Neon Guard said, holding on to his hat.
A breeze, a gust, of wind arrived. The plants swayed, the wind cooled, and the changelings heard the sound.
"Not really," Blue Alarm said, standing up. "At least, not the observing that I usually do."
"It makes sense," Neon Guard went on. "I think you've observed a lot out of our home." He smiled.
"Yeah, I think I have."
"Come on!" He gestured to him with a hoof as he headed back to hive. "We're going to have breakfast!"
Blue Alarm followed Neon Guard back.
The unicorn with the black hat sat on the chair right in front of a long, wide wooden table. Other ponies—some with and some without hats but all with cameras and several pads of paper—were there, sitting on their respective chairs.
The room was quite cramped—there was little room to move around when a pony would move out of a chair; one would be close to touching the concrete walls. There was a water cooler at both sides of the place. Bundles of plastic cups were on top of each cooler. Several small lights emanated from the ceiling, giving the location a bright feel.
On the table were more pads of paper with ballpens and pencils. Cups of various drinks were there—there was a simple cup of water, a plastic cup of soda, a mug of hot chocolate, among others.
"We first deal with international stuff?" the unicorn with the black hat asked. "We're already running late as it is!"
"Maybe we should bump that Dragon Lands Vendor story?" a white pegasus stallion with blue mane and blue tail suggested, sounding hurried and panicked. "Bump it into the headlines!"
"Not important enough," the Earth pony with the yellow mane and the yellow tail answered, sounding a little more calm than the pegasus. "That story is only about that one vendor. He may be selling lots of faulty items, but it isn't enough to cause a ruckus in the Dragon Lands, much less in the world." She held out her pad of paper and showed it for all to see. "We should be having that story from Ponyville about yet another monster attack."
"That place always gets the top spot when it comes to the news these days!" another pegasus—slightly burlier, brown, and also having yellow mane and yellow tail like the Earth pony—replied. "I've always said it and I'll say it again—ponies will get bored of Ponyville this and Ponyville that if we stuff that into their faces everyday!"
"So, what are we left with?" the unicorn with the black hat said. She looked at the brown pegasus. "What are we left with, Big Shot? There's only two more stories besides what we've mentioned, the slow delivery of paper, the hold-up with the locks on the doors—we've got to do something!"
"Press Release," the Earth pony said, "what about the meeting with Throax and the leaders of the Crystal Empire?"
"The ponies already get it," Press Release said. "Besides, Long Shot, there's not much else Thorax can do that's news-worthy. Changing up the entire hive? That's OK. But, implementing weekly potluck lunch? Save that for the history books! Old news!"
"Then, what else do we have?" another Earth pony—gray coat and purple mane and purple tail—asked, raising a hoof. "The only other story left is Pinkie Pie visiting Yakyakistan again." She added a moan to it. "How many times did she visit that place, anyway?"
Press Release placed her head on the table and rubbed it with her hooves. She then removed her hat, revealing more of her frizzy mane. "Alright, let's try to do this as logically as we can in the fastest possible time. We'll have a decision at the end, the newspapers will finally get printed, and everypony can continue their day. No objections?"
"I say we go with it!" Big Shot yelled.
In Cloudsdale, Bow Hothoof stood in front of the door to the magnanimous house. Made up of bricks and clouds, its exterior was unconventional compared to the houses on the ground—though, most, if not all, of the houses in this city were unconventional, anyway: its walls weren't straight for they curved and bended here and there although not too radically; the windows were also not straight, curving and bending here and there as well; the house itself stood on clouds and had its own front yard cloud lawn. It was neat and well-trimmed today. The lawn mower was in front of one of the windows.
"Another day where it's all clean!" Bow Hothoof said. He entered the house.
He walked into the kitchen where it was loaded and decorated with many items: a cloud ceiling, some seats cushioned with clouds, several abstract paintings (a majority of them green), a few shelves filled with an array of things from books to bottles, a potted plant on a small wooden table, a bigger wooden table where the seats were, a big oven, several more shelves but under the sink, and a window with pink curtains—it was open, giving the ponies inside a grand view of Cloudsdale; the cloud streets having pegasi walking about, talking to each other on the clouds. All of these were all within the coverage of yellow, painted walls and purple, tiled floors.
"I guess the newspapers late, huh?" Bow Hothoof asked Windy Whistles who was eating a simple vegetable sandwich at the table.
"Yeah," she replied. "Some rumors are going around saying that it's just the normal hiccup. Hopefully, it will be OK within the hour."
"It still is unusual, though," he said as he sat down beside her. "Newspapers have never been this late before."
She took another bite of the sandwich and gulped it down. Then, she placed the half-eaten sandwich on her plate. "Who knows? Only the ponies inside those big buildings know."
He sighed. "I wonder about what's going to happen."
"To our Rainbow Dash?" she asked with her front hooves on her face, her subtle smile disappearing.
"Yes, that's very important," he said. "But, i was also thinking about other things as well."
She blinked, tilting her head a little. "What do you mean?"
He sighed. Then, he cracked a smile. "Like what they say, you don't know what you have until it's gone. And, there's the newspaper—it's only now that I see how valuable the news is." He relaxed his head on the table, a hoof being its support.
The mare rubbed the stallion's mane. "That means a little more time together. No newspaper to be a barrier between us for a simple conversation over the table."
The sunlight coming in through the window was still bright and ray-like. The chirping of birds could be heard.
The two smiled at each other.
"She's going to be OK," Windy said. "You don't have to worry about it—she's a talented flier. Do you think she'll get in trouble that easily?"
Bow Hothoof laughed a little. "I don't think so. Thanks for reassuring me of that."
He placed a hoof on her shoulder.
She placed a hoof on his shoulder.
They hugged.
"Applejack?" Rainbow Dash asked as she floated above the ground, hovering while the Earth pony walked. "Do you think it's weird to see a griffon, a dragon, a changeling, a pony, and a yak all in the same room?"
"No," she simply replied, passing by rows and rows of apple trees; the slight scent of apple permeated the rolling, arable hills. "What makes ya' say that?"
"Because it's been a weird few years," Rainbow said. "In just a few years, I discovered that I was the embodiment of the Element of Loyalty, realized that we've had a connection with each other even before we met because of my awesome sonic rainboom"—Applejack yawned, exaggerating the features on her face while she did so—"defeated Nightmare Moon and being witness to the beginning of a new era where Princess Luna would reign again with her sister, made Twilight Sparkle as a true, tried, and trusted friend along with Spike; defeated Discord who's the spirit of chaos himself, wrote several letters to Princess Celestia herself about friendship, found out my love for reading books and becoming a fan of the Daring Do books, defeated Queen Chrysalis and her evil changelings, helped protect the Crystal Empire from King Sombra, took Scootaloo in as a little sister to take care of, joined the Wonderbolts as a trainee, watched Fluttershy turn Discord into a good guy, saw Twilight Sparkle become a Princess, brought my element to the Tree of Harmony, realized that A.K. Yearling was Daring Do, became a Wonderbolt reservist, defeated Tirek, became one of the expert ponies on friendship, saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally get their cutie marks, seen an evil unicorn become Twilight's student, helped in protecting the Crystal Empire again, became a full-fledged Wonderbolt, went to a Daring Do fan convention, got kidnapped by changelings and woke up to see good changelings, got closer to my parents for the cool mom and dad they are, and witnessed the publishing of the Friendship Journal.
"And, even with all of that, the griffons and the dragons and the changelings and the yaks have all suddenly become friendlier with us ponies!"
Then, Rainbow took in deep breaths of air, inhaling and exhaling loudly.
"Boy, Ah' didn't 'spect you to be makin' a speech like that out o' the blue!"
"It's just something I thought about," Rainbow said, still flittering above the ground. "I've been alive for, of course, more than a few years, yet a lot has happened in those few years than all of my life before that!" She gestured wildy with her hooves, gesturing towards the air beside her as if the years were right there. "Sure, my sonic rainboom was historical and awesome, but that was one great moment, one change that was so dramatic!"
"And, the books have been gettin' to yer' vocab'lary, haven't they?" Then, Applejack snickered.
"So, what?" Rainbow shot back. "At least I enjoy what I do, and that includes reading!" Then, she casually brushed her off with a hoof. "Anyway, I figured out that we're living in a completely different Equestria from the one we know just years ago. And, it just makes me...I don't know what it makes me feel."
"Ya' do know we all have gone through those same changes in that short amount o' time," Applejack said, the two still walking. "But, some things stay the same. Ah' still run the farm with mah' fam'ly, Mayor Mare's still mayor o' Ponyville, an' Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie ar' still good friends."
Rainbow took to the ground and closed her wings. "So, what are you saying, Applejack?"
"Ah'm just sayin' that it's nice to see the changes," Applejack replied, closing her eyes and smiling. "It's not somethin' ya' miss, the ol' days. It's somethin' to remember, to learn from. But, here's today!" She opened her eyes and grinned.
"Why do I have the feeling you wrote that down in the Friendship Journal somewhere?" Rainbow asked, her eyes peering at her friend while she pointed a hoof at her.
"Ah' didn't," she said.
And, they continued walking down the fenced dirt path sided by many apple trees all teeming with growing red apples.
Ember sat on a seat as the scenery past the window moved by, its green fields, green hills, and green plants sped past. She looked out of the window, observing it all with a little scowl on her face. Then, she turned around to the sight of several ponies cowering from her.
Then, she sneezed. A blast of fire went out of her nostrils.
They screamed, several running out of the carriage both ways, while a few took cover and hid as they shook and shivered.
"I'm not used to your train smells!" Ember yelled. "Now, where's the—"
"We can't give you any newspaper!" a pony yelled from under one of the seats. "Even if we did have, you, being a dragon and all—"
"Just because I'm a fire-breathing dragon doesn't mean I'm not allowed to do something as simple as read a newspaper," Ember declared, walking towards the trembling pony in question. Then, she leaned forward, her face approaching his.
"Please!" the pony shouted. "I just work here!"
Ember kept her pose for a while.
Then, she straightened up and went back to her seat and sat down. She made a mean look at the stallion.
He screamed again.
Ember smiled a little. "Looks like Twilight is going to scold me for this one."
"We've got your order for canopies, Davenport," a muscled stallion said as he and another stallion held a long, welded canopy. It was somewhat disorganized.
"I didn't order any canopies!" Davenport said, nervously looking back inside his shop where a few ponies were; one of them noticed him and tried to see what was outside. "You must be mistaken! First, my newspaper, now this?"
"It was said that the canopy was for a pegasus pony named Davenport," the stallion said.
"Pegasus? I'm not a pegasus at all! Who told you that?"
"I heard you had a changeling representative," the stallion went on.
Davenport groaned. "Don't tell me." He held out his hoof as he closed his eyes. "Is it the green, irritating one?"
"He was green."
Davenport groaned again.