There were only a few changelings at the rock table—a lot of them were going buzzing around, walking and talking and flying and hovering and, despite it not being crafts time, making some crafts anyway—though they were random, with the changelings producing crude sculptures made out of twigs, leaves, moss, rocks, pebbles, and other such natural materials that they could pick up from the ground or from the nearby forest.
At the table was only one pie—all the changelings there except one were occupied with talking to each other, the topic being about "these legendary ponies. What were they called again? Fillers of Old Equestria? Mailers of Old Equestria?"
"Pillars of Old Equestria!" another changeling shouted at him. "You think they got famous for, what, pouring water for others' glasses? Or for delivering mail?"
"Why do pony history books have a dedicated section about the history of mail, then?"
"They're completely unrelated, Matics! Unrelated!"
Matics shuddered, cowering behind—well, there was only open space between the attacker and the attacked.
While he was suffering the embarrassing moment of remembering that he misnamed the Pillars, the changeling who wasn't engaged in any conversation at all ate the only pie that was there—strawberry and blueberry pie. Beside the pie was a big book—"The Great History of Equestria" was on its cover.
After gobbling up yet another piece of his own pie, the changeling glanced at the bitter discussion taking place—the topic was still about the Pillars of Equestria; yet, a nearby changeling was approaching them, having a solemn look about him.
The pie-eating changeling turned back to his book and opened it. Ruffling through the pages, speedily flicking each page that was not the correct one, he then stopped.
In front of him was a painted illustration of one of those Pillars: Star Swirl the Bearded. Gray, thin, bearded. He seemed elderly due to the white beard. This renowned unicorn—this was his section in the book and paragraphs upon paragraphs, exposition upon exposition, details upon details, explanations upon explanations were heaped and cobbled up together in this section of the book. It was all fuzzy, however: there were always words like "probably," "most likely," "according to the most trustable sources." An uncertainty was then upon this noted pony—and, when the changeling went to the pages of the other Pillars, they had no dedicated sections of their own—they were all relegated to a part of the book known as "Other Myths and Legends (and Semi-Legendary Ponies)." Their individual sections were short, giving a brief summary of their life and their accomplishments—all in the span of seven or so paragraphs each, if not shorter, with appropriate painted illustration of the pony in question.
"Seen them before, but not familiar with them," the changeling muttered. "And now, they're saying in Canterlot that they're out and about—today, and not figuratively. They're literally here." A bit of awe could be found in his words.
The furious argument that had been going on was now calmed down—that solemn-looking changeling now had a smile on his face along with the former aggressor and the former aggressed. The topic still did not budge, though.
"Hey, everyone! Look who's just arrived!"
Most of the changelings present turned their heads toward where the voice was.
Then, they moved their way toward it, dropping whatever activity they were doing, all focused on what was over there.
Not a small crowd was gathered close to the visitor robed in a wizard robe and wearing a wizard hat—standing on the dirt road graced on both sides by rock formations and wild yet beautiful plants.
The visitor narrowed his eyes at the approaching swarm of colorful bug-like creatures, stroking his beard as he did so.
He also looked annoyed and irritated—and even more so as the swarm steadily got closer and closer.
Star Swirl sighed. "Even non-ponies are so excited and zealous about me."
Thorax's ears perked up.
His expression turned glum.
"That's not good," he said, opening his wings and taking to flight.
Pharynx stood there, watching his brother fly in the sky, looking confused.
Then, he took to flight, too, wearing serious face.
The bearded unicorn sighed again.
The crowd, though not mobbing him, was making a ruckus about him—requests (if not outright demands) to take pictures with him or to write his signature down on a piece of paper, shouts of facts about his life that he already knew, screams of pure surprise and shock and amazement which amazed the unicorn, too (not in the same way, though).
"Everybody, stop what you're doing!"
Everybody looked up, including Star Swirl.
Thorax landed on the ground with his brother beside him, standing between the near-reckless crowd and the legend.
The king faced his subjects. "Haven't I already told you more than a couple of times? If and when Star Swirl or any of the other Pillars come by, you should, uh, give them respect! They have their own things going on and we don't want to overwhelm them, alright?"
The changelings shuddered.
"Do you understand?"
And everyone nodded and slinked away back to the hive.
Thorax and Pharynx turned around to look at Star Swirl.
"So, uh, hi." Thorax waved at the legend, having a sheepish smile—before Pharnyx slapped him on his torso. "Ow!"
Star Swirl smiled a little, stroking his beard as he looked around. "This is what used to be the Badlands of the Mysterious South. Last time I was here, there was nothing but dreary stretches of dry, broken ground." He faced the two changelings in front of him "Now, apparently with your presence, you have changed this land for the better."
Thorax nodded, smiling. Pharnyx just stood still with a bored expression—half-open eyes and neutral mouth.
"If you do not mind," Star Swirl went on, "may we have a little talk right out here? I think I have had my complete share of ponies announcing my name on the streets—their enthusiasm has proved to be too much." After a short pause, he said, "I should have believed Twilight to the fullest extent when she said that you changelings have an unparalleled excitement about life and what it entails." Then, he looked off to the side. "Hm. Changelings."
"What's wrong, Star Swirl?" Thorax asked.
"That is the very thing that I wish to talk to you about first—it is something that I should not hide from at least the two of you. It is up to you to tell it to your populace or not after I am done with my story."
The two looked at each other. "I don't like the sound of this."
"Just go along with it," Pharynx said, pushing his brother forward as Star Swirl walked away from the hive.
Under the shade of a tree, at the edge of the forest near the hive, the unicorn and the two changelings were standing on the grass. A few rabbits hopped along, paying them no mind. The morning sunlight pierced through the thick foiliage of the trees, creating individual rays of light constantly shifting, constantly changing the atmosphere of the forest even if it was ever so slightly.
Star Swirl sighed. Looking upon the two—who had worried faces themselves—he began:
"Do you know of magic ponds?"
Thorax and Pharynx looked at each other. Then, they looked at Star Swirl. "Uh, we know that they exist and there's one near Ponyville."
"Ah, yes, the Mirror Pool," Star Swirl said. "Although that is not relevant to what is at hoof here.
"Before I and the Pillars sent the Pony of Shadows and ourselves into limbo, I travelled to another magic pond. Though I did not see anything particularly dangerous about it, I knew that this was not the safest location to find oneself in. In order to protect anypony who wished to visit the surrounding area, I posted a sign on a strange plant in the hopes that, having discovered danger, I would not let other ponies fall into that danger I knew.
"That pond did not come to my mind that often after that. I thought that the sign was enough. I am sure that I have prevented numerous ponies from coming into harm—for a while.
"I did hear of reports of certain villages being raided by 'changelings' before we went to limbo, but there was something peculiar about the timing of events that I only realized years later: It was only a few weeks after I posted that sign that somepony ran to me and told me about this odd new group of creatures who call themselves 'changelings.' It was there and then that I got a full description of what they did—steal love. It was something that I knew was possible, but never have I heard actually being done by non-ponies.
"I came by the town and had my first encounter with them—among them was Queen Chrysalis who was the leader of the changelings then. I do not need to tell you everything about that—what you may know is that I defeated them though not with some struggle for they were a new enemy.
"After that, before Stygian assembled us Pillars to defend Equestria, I've had more encounters and fights with her changelings. She had an unexpected skill in military strategy—she did not strike whenever she pleased, for she used her shape-shifting abilities to good—or, shall I say, bad—use, and encouraged her underlings to do the same. While outright sieges are common, they were almost always prefaced by infiltration—if a town proved to be too strong physically to take down, then she and several others will disguise themselves as the inhabitants of that town and drain the love—and, therefore, the mental energy—of key ponies. With that, the usual case for towns that called for my help was that they were on the brink of destruction—it was astonishing to remember how many towns were saved for but just a second before complete devastation.
"When I and the other Pillars came together, we've encountered her changelings still. She did not attack towns every week—however, she proved to be a continual villain, never truly taking a rest—for, to her, 'rest' was only recovering from the last offensive in order to gain strength for the next one. She became one of the recurring evils by which Old Equestria was regularly damaged. She no longer was the focal point of our lands' pain—there were many others to defend our homes from.
"However, after so many fights with them, both alone and with the Pillars, I found a fact hidden beneath, admittedly, a small number of layers. But, it might as well have been shrouded in unsolvable mystery—if it were not for me being the cause of that fact."
He drew in breath.
Thorax and Pharynx took on sad looks.
"I...if I am not mistaken, I was the one who made you. All of you changelings.
"It does not matter if you knew about this already or not—I expected Chrysalis herself to relate to you the story. But, what matters is that I claim the responsibility right in front of you, personally.
"In all honesty, I do not know what to say to you. I cannot only say 'Sorry' for I cannot regret giving creatures a chance at life—life so precious, beyond the value of even the most precious of diamonds and gems. I cannot only say 'You are welcome' for I brought to your life a wicked ruler who has tyrannized you, trampled you down for her own gain—and I had even better thoughts for her than you do now, for I thought she was evil for her whole hive, not for herself. If only I knew that it was only her that was truly evil—you would have had more than a thousand years of peace and prosperity, of love and friendship—but, that opportunity has long gone and those thousand years have passed. Not even time travel is an option, for I know, too, the perils of that.
"It is more than rude to just leave you without a parting word, however."
A look on the side.
"Just remember—I apologize for the pains I have caused you over such a tremendous time, and I am glad that you have survived to a happy present where you can wholly say that you are living a good life—a life, Twilight taught me, not only enriched but filled with friendship.
"I am sorry for having to cut this short, but I wanted to let my so-called secret out to you before I forget anything.
"Anyway, thank you for taking the time to hear my monologue." He smiled a little. "I have to let you permit me that—I exhaust even myself at times with my own speeches, but I justify myself in saying they are necessary. Well, I may have said more than enough, so farewell."
Then, a moment's hesitation—a darting of the eyes.
"Apology accepted, Star Swirl," Thorax uttered—somber, quiet, firm.
The unicorn nodded, smiling even more though only a little. "Thanks."
A poof.
He was gone—not a trace of him was there.
Thorax looked upon where the unicorn had been.
He looke down.
No words.
Pharynx stretched out a hoof, opening his mouth to say something.
No words.
A few rabbits were going about, hopping and jumping along. The chirping of the birds continued, bringing about a melody to that part of the forest. A group of ducks were walking about; two deer were running through between the trees. Several beavers were collecting broken branches and twigs—whatever timber they could find on the ground.
In the distance, the hive—partially covered in overgrown moss and vines and other plants. If one could strain their ears, they could hear the changelings' buzzing that kept on going and faint semblances of words mashed together with others so that they formed something that could not be understood—at least from this distance.
The sky was bright and blue—the sun was shining and a few pegasi were up there, arranging the clouds above the Changeling Hive. Directions were shouted overhead, though they could not be heard so clearly from this far.
There were mountains over there, past the hive proper and in the wastelands beyond.
And that was all the two changelings saw when they looked around.
There were no words said—nothing said. Just an exchange of glances—Thorax's were sober, Pharynx's were contemplative.
Without saying a word, the two flew out of the forest.
"Aww! He's gone already?" one of the changelings yelled at the table.
"He didn't plan an extended stay, really," Thorax said, sitting at the table as well. "He wanted to see the sights and us. He had to go on to other places—he said that he wanted to go here before he forgot. Star Swirl must be very busy—but who could blame him? They've been gone for about a thousand years—they want to know what's happened through that time and they want to do it by going around Equestria."
The changeling calmed down. "Oh, OK! That's nice! Don't you worry, Thorax!"
Thorax smiled.