Morning came too soon for Thistleroot’s liking. He kept his eyes closed for a long time even after he’d come to consciousness, stubbornly refusing to get up or think.
He’d found his way back to Camp Canterlot, as he’d decided to refer to the gathering of temporary structures. It sounded fun that way, more like a summer retreat than the remnants of a nation's capital. He’d found a place to sleep among the other newly homeless ponies, and finally passed out just before sunset.
Eventually his stomach rumbled, forcing him to get moving. He procured breakfast and sat down outside to eat, back against a tree at an intersection of two dirt roads. The celery soup was thin, too much soup and not enough celery, but it was warm and filled his stomach, at least.
He leaned back, staring up at the clear morning sky, and wondered, what now?
He still had the fragment of harmony. It could still be used to free Princess Twilight from stone. But if anything Mimic had said had been true, it was that going after the Element Bearers again would get them killed. They didn’t have the other princesses, he didn’t know if Starswirl had escaped after acting as a distraction, and they didn’t have the numbers.
It would be six of... five of them against changelings, a changeling queen, and a creature powerful enough to create an entire species. And that was assuming he could even find Scootaloo again.
Thistleroot was looking out across the busy intersection. Something had caught his eye, though he wasn’t sure what. Something he’d only half noticed.
He spotted it a moment later, crossing the intersection at a lazy pace. A splash of lime green with a heavy roll of canvas strapped to its back. A unicorn stallion.
Thistleroot hopped to his hooves and started following, breaking into a brisk trot after a moment. He closed to a comfortable hailing distance and called out, “Pal! Hey, Pal!”
The green unicorn came to a stop, turning toward him in confusion. A moment later his face split into a broad smile. “Thistleroot?”
“Ha, Pal!” Thistleroot came to a stop and reached out a hoof, which Pal bumped with his own. “Oh man, I haven’t seen you since the evacuation. How’ve you been?”
“Oh, not too bad. Uh, but I wasn’t at the evacuation. The last time I saw you was at the gala.”
“Oh, right. That was a changeling,” Thistleroot said. An awkward silence fell between them. “So, uh, yeah...”
“Oh, I’ve got to get these supplies over to the mess hall,” Pal said, pointing a hoof at the canvas bundle on his back. “Walk with me?”
“Sure. So, uh, what happened after the gala, if you don’t mind me asking.”
Pal shrugged. “Got a message from a royal guard, told me that Princess Celestia wanted me to go to Ponyville for a few days, since I was part of that crusader fiasco. She thought it might be safer for me. Though considering everything else, i’d say fifty-fifty that the guard was a changeling.”
“Oh, good. I was worried you’d been like, taken back to the hive and trapped in a cocoon to waste away over months or years.”
Pal grimaced. “Uh, no. Thanks for that image though. I’ve been sleeping a bit too well, so that should help.”
Thistleroot grinned. “Although, I guess you could still be a changeling. Could you lift something with your magic real quick? Just to be sure?”
“Lift something with my magic?”
“Yeah. Changeling magic is green, so it’s an easy test. Unless you’re a changeling queen with way too much time on your hooves.”
“Changeling magic is green. And you don’t see any problem with this test?” Pal asked.
“Should I?” Pal stared at him for a long moment before it clicked. “Oh, your magic is green anyway, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, Thistleroot. It’s always been green.”
“Hmm. Or, you’ve always been a changeling! Quick, tell me something only the real Pal would know?”
“But... if I’ve been a changeling since you met me, I would know anything you do about me.”
“Oh yeah. Huh.”
“So,” Pal asked, a little hesitantly. “Did you ever find Scootaloo?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. She’s fine. At least she was when I saw her a few days ago.”
“Oh,” Pal blinked, then smiled. “That’s good to hear. We’re here.” They’d arrived at a large cluster of tents with several dozen younger ponies working between them.
“Where is here, anyway?” Thistleroot asked.
“The new home base of the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Pal said, puffing his chest out with pride.
“Oh,” Thistleroot said, giving a nervous smile and taking a very small step back.
“Okay, I know you and Scootaloo probably don’t have the highest opinion of the crusaders, and I know Star Shine was into some majorly bad stuff, but most of us never knew about it. The crusader meetings was just something we could do for fun and help out sometimes, and that’s what we’re doing now. We have plenty of experience with volunteering, and Celestia knows the ponies of Canterlot need all the help they can get right now.”
“True,” Thistleroot said.
“Anyway, I should get back to work. Drop by again if you need a hot meal or want to volunteer. We’ve got some gardens just outside of camp you’d probably be good with.”
“Hey, hey,” Thistleroot said, dropping a level look on Pal. “Should you really be stereotyping me just for my cutie mark?”
“Oh. Heh, sorry,” Pal said with a chagrined look.
Thistleroot grinned. “Nah, it’s fine. I’ll check them out in a bit. See ya.”
“Bye.” Pal waved and turned back toward the crusader tents. Thistleroot watched him go, the grin still in place. At least some ponies were taking things in stride.
Well, he couldn’t sit around moping all day then. He didn’t know where Scootaloo and the others were, but there were only a few places they all knew about. If they cared to meet up, they’d check those places. If he left notes, they’d eventually find each other.
The closest place was Starswirl’s tent. He turned and started walking.
As he neared, he turned into one of the nearby tents on a whim. It had been guarded before, but not any more. He poked his head in and found it empty. The makeshift cell that closed off half of it stood open.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Really, it was just one more changeling. A drop in the bucket, and a relatively harmless one at that, without its horn.
Mimic had been there. Starswirl’s orders had been to guard the changeling until she came to release him. Had the guards obeyed, or had they seen Mimic as an enemy? Had they attacked her?
Thistleroot shook his head and kept walking. “Had she attacked them?” might be a better question.
There hadn’t been any signs of a fight. They’d probably followed their orders. Mimic and her brother had flown off together, and he’d never see either of them again.
He entered Starswirl’s tent, mood falling again. It was empty of any ponies. He’d expected dust, but it had only been empty for a few days. Still, it looked the same as when they left for Night’s End. It was unlikely that any pony had been in there yet.
He’d leave a note, then. If Scootaloo or the others came back, he’d tell them he was going to Ponyville, where he’d leave more notes at Rainbow Dash’s place, and maybe try to find Apple Bloom’s and Sweetie Belle’s families. He just needed some paper.
“Oh, what’s this?” He lifted a scroll from the table. It was tied with red yarn and had his name written on it in an untidy scrawl. He grinned. Somepony had beaten him to the punch.
“A letter left where I would find it, in Scootaloo’s hoof writing? Well, there’s only one thing this can be. A declaration of love she was too shy to make in person!” He pulled the string off and unfurled it. “Or a message telling me where to meet her. I guess it could go either way.”
He scanned the page, the smile fading from his face. He read it a second time.
“Or neither of those things. Uh...”
He read the letter a third time.
He sighed. “Scootaloo, you are in so much trouble when I find you.”
*****
Scootaloo scanned the crowd of ponies that they’d managed to gather. Most of them were Royal Guards that had answered when they’d heard Shining Armor was back. The guards had already moved to the side, and were talking amongst themselves. The other onlookers, those who stood in the center, listening to Shining Armor, were younger ponies that had seemed receptive to their message.
“And now, windigos are rising in the North, and the creatures of the Everfree Forest are stirring, already forcing ponies to flee their homes,” Shining Armor was saying.
“This isn’t a fight other ponies can win for you. It falls to you to protect your homes now. Some of you are Royal Guards. You swore to do just that.” A few of the Royal Guard ponies nodded. “But if we want to beat back the changelings long enough to defeat their queens, we’re going to need more. We need every pony willing to volunteer.”
“Scootaloo,” Spike said from behind her. She turned.
“Yeah?”
“The place was empty. The scroll we sent was missing though.”
“So he was there?” Scootaloo asked, ears perking up.
“That or somepony else took it,” Spike said, shrugging. “How are things going here?”
“About as well as can be expected.” Scootaloo stepped aside to give Spike a view of the crowd. The Royal Guards were pretty much a given, but none of the other ponies from the crowd had said anything.
“I told you, you should have let me do the speech,” Spike said. Scootaloo rolled her eyes.
A pony stepped forward. A younger pegasus stallion with a white coat, a blue mane, and a blue lightning bolt for a cutie mark. “I’ll volunteer!”
There was a muttering from the crowd, and the pegasus looked back at them. “What? He’s right! This is our home. Nopony’s going to protect it for us.”
Shining Armor stepped forward, offering a hoof, which the pegasus shook. “What’s your name?”
“Wind Rider.”
“Well, Wind Rider, welcome to the Canterlot Royal Militia.”
After a few more seconds of muttering, a young unicorn moved to stand behind Wind Rider. A female earth pony fell in line behind him. Emboldened by the first supporters, others begin to move forward.
Scootaloo grinned. “It looks like Shining Armor did just fine.”