Starlight hummed as she went over some paperwork, tapping her pencil against her chin. Twilight had taken note, eventually, of Starlight’s frequent boredom as a guidance counselor, and so she’d given her a portion of the school’s paperwork to take care of during her spare time. And, sure, it was about as interesting as one of Maud’s rock lectures, but at least it made her feel like she was helping.
However, that didn’t stop her from feeling relieved as she heard a knock at her door.
“Please come in!” she called, shuffling the papers into a stack and shoving them into her desk.
The door creaked open, and Ocellus peeked out from behind the door. “Hey… is this a good time?”
“Of course!” Starlight said. “There’s no such thing as a bad time when it comes to helping students, after all! Take a seat.”
Ocellus shut the door behind her and timidly walked over to the chair in front of Starlight’s desk, sitting down.
“So, what’s up?” Starlight asked.
“Well, it’s just… I’ve really liked my time here at school and everything. I’ve learned so much, and met some great creatures…” she trailed off, rubbing a hoof against her foreleg.
“…But?” Starlight prompted.
“But I’ve been doing some thinking. About me and my friends. And so, I have a, um, question.”
“Go on.” Starlight took a sip of hot cocoa.
Ocellus looked away nervously. “Am… Am I a political pawn?”
Starlight spit out the cocoa.
“Sorry! I’m sorry I asked!” Ocellus quickly said, waving her hoofs out in front of her. “Coming to this school was one of the best things to ever happen to me and I shouldn’t be questioning that!”
“No, no, it’s okay,” Starlight said reassuringly, levitating a few paper towels onto her desk to absorb the hot chocolate. She was glad she’d put away that paperwork. “You just caught me off guard. Before I answer your question, though, I’m going to turn it back on you. Do you think you’re a political pawn?”
Ocellus shifted in her chair. “I, um. I read a book recently, where there was this kingdom that was on the brink of war. But there was also this powerful empire that was staying neutral, so the king decided to set up his heir with the empress’s daughter. That way, the empress would fight on the king’s side, and he could win the war. And then I thought of me and my friends, and coming to this school. This school is one of the best things that ever happened to me. I really don’t want to leave. And since I’m close to Thorax, and he wants me to be happy, he’ll try to make sure I can stay here. That means not going to war with Equestria, and possibly even helping you out with your problems. And considering that Equestria seems to have a lot of powerful enemies, and you can no longer wield the elements of harmony without risking the death of the tree of harmony, you would benefit greatly from having five strong nations, several with powerful militaries, invested in the wellbeing of your country. This school is a great tool to achieve that goal.”
“Holy shit,” Starlight said, then immediately slapped her hooves to her mouth. “Um, don’t tell Twilight I said that.”
Ocellus giggled. “I won’t.”
Starlight coughed, regaining her composure. “Well, Ocellus, I have to say, you’ve put a lot of thought into this. You brought up a lot of points I hadn’t even considered.”
Ocellus blushed. “Thorax says I tend to overthink things sometimes.”
Starlight laughed. “I think you and Twilight would get along really well. To answer your question, though, I think calling you and your friends ‘political pawns’ would be a big exaggeration.”
“…But not entirely false, then?” Ocellus asked tentatively.
Starlight sighed. “Twilight and all the other elements do truly want to spread friendship as widely as they can, because they honestly believe that it is a kind of magic that any creature can use and benefit from. They really do want to make the world a kinder place, and that’s why they made the school. I can say that with one hundred percent confidence.”
Ocellus pursed her lips. “…But?”
“But what I can’t say with one hundred percent confidence is that there weren’t any ulterior motives in reaching out to the other five kingdoms. I mean, Celestia was the one who contacted all the other leaders, and she’s scary good at diplomacy. But then again, I’m not really the pony to ask about all that. All I can tell you is that the ponies at this school want to help you learn friendship for friendship’s sake. If you really want to know all the political mumbo jumbo, you’d have to ask Twilight.”
“Can I?” Ocellus asked. “Ask Twilight, I mean. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad to hear that you guys are all genuine, but… I kinda want a better answer.”
“And you deserve a better answer,” Starlight said. “Frankly, I’m a bit curious myself. Tell you what; I’ll check in with Twilight, and we’ll set up a time for you two to talk. In the meantime, all I ask is that you don’t tell your friends about this until you discuss it with Twilight. I don’t want them needlessly worried. Is that cool with you?”
Ocellus nodded. “Thanks, Ms. Glimmer.”
“Any time. And, don’t call me ‘Ms. Glimmer.’ Starlight is fine.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Here,” Starlight said, handing Ocellus a hall pass. “You should go on to class. I’ll get back to you soon.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking the pass in her magic and walking out of the room.
Once the door was again closed, Starlight exhaled heavily, leaning back in her chair and staring up at the ceiling.
Welp. Better talk to Twilight.
Twilight sighed. “I was afraid this would happen.”
Starlight watched as her mentor got out of her chair and paced around the headmare’s office. Pacing wasn’t ever good.
“Really? Because it totally blindsided me.”
“Well, I’ll admit that this is much earlier than I thought it would come up. Ocellus, you said?”
Starlight nodded.
“That makes sense. She’s very intelligent, and I’m sure growing up under Queen Chrysalis’s rule would make a child more sensitive to these kinds of things. And you told her I would meet with her?”
“Well, yeah,” Starlight said. “You will, won’t you?”
“Of course. I just wish I knew what to tell her.”
“I mean, you could start with the truth.”
Twilight shook her head. “It isn’t that simple. Yes, we’re teaching these kids friendship, just like all of our pony students. But we’re also training them to be diplomats. Ambassadors.”
Starlight cocked her head. “We are?”
“Not directly, obviously, but think about it: each kingdom choosing one of their kind to represent their race at the new friendship school in Equestria, one of the largest and most magically advanced nations on the planet? When they grow up, these children would be perfect candidates for acting as foreign ambassadors to Equestria.”
“But… that’s just a byproduct of this process, right? They don’t have to go down that path if they don’t want to. It isn’t as though that was your intention inviting them to the school.”
“It wasn’t my intention, but I knew it would happen. I don’t think it’s a particularly big deal; the only issue is that the students weren’t exactly… told of the diplomatic ramifications. They didn’t know what they were getting into, so to speak.”
“Oh.” Starlight paused for a moment, looking at the curtains. “I guess that is a bit complicated.”
“Yeah.”
“I think you could tell her all that, though. I mean, she was worried you were using the school as a way to gain access to other nations’ military forces, and this is much less upsetting than that, I’d imagine.”
“Is it though?” Twilight asked, a worried expression on her face. “Sure, overall, using the students as hooks to gain alliances with the other nations might seem more scummy to a third party, but it’s a lot more personal to go, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re actually kind of an ambassador for entire country, have fun with that.’”
“So… what are you gonna do?”
“I don’t know yet,” Twilight said solemnly. “But set up the appointment for Thursday. I think better under pressure.”
Thursday during free period, Ocellus found herself in Headmare Twilight’s office, a cup of tea in front of her.
“Do you like tea?” the mare asked. “Do changelings even drink tea? Ugh, I didn’t think this through. This isn’t a meeting with Celestia, why did I bring tea?” Twilight huffed at herself.
“Um… tea is fine,” Ocellus said. Apparently, she wasn’t the only nervous one. She didn’t know if that made her feel more comfortable or more apprehensive.
“So, Starlight told me what she told you, and I just want to start by saying that she was right about everything she said. The goal of inviting foreign students into the school was simple: I wanted to share my knowledge of friendship with not just ponies, but all the creatures of Equus. I didn’t do it for political reasons at all.”
Ocellus nodded. “Yeah, I think I always kind of knew that. I don’t know, it just felt weird that there was, like, one creature from each kingdom invited to come, and just one.”
Twilight sighed. “Well, the whole ‘only one’ thing wasn’t my choice. Celestia talked with the other leaders, and it took a lot of convincing to get, for example, even one griffon student. We probably could’ve taken in more changelings and hippogriffs, since we’re in solid alliances with both of those nations, but the griffons and yaks were less trusting. And dragons are dragons. So we decided that rather than having, say, ten changelings and only one griffon, we would just take one of each.”
“That makes sense,” Ocellus said, looking down at her tea. “An imbalance like that would probably make the griffon feel even more alone than he already would, huh?”
“Exactly,” Twilight said.
“Though, it would be nice to have some other changelings around. I feel like I’m responsible for my entire species, if it’s just me… And changelings have a lot of history to make up for, you know?” She let out a short laugh. “I guess I started questioning it so much partly because I was hoping that feeling was… justified. Even if I didn’t like feeling that way.”
“Then I’m not sure if you’ll like or hate this next part,” Twilight said with a sigh. “As you already know, you’re not actually responsible for all of changeling kind. You’re here to learn, not to be a diplomat. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of the whole ‘one student from each kingdom’ thing is that it looks on the surface a lot like you’re all political envoys. You’re not ambassadors, but lots of ponies are going to see you that way. You’re not diplomats, but in the future, your countries might want you to be, due to your experience here. And…”
Twilight trailed off, looking to the side.
“…And?” Ocellus asked. Her mind was spinning right now, but she wanted to hear what Twilight had to say. All of it.
“And, well. I didn’t invite you to my school to use you as leverage in international politics, but that doesn’t mean the potential isn’t inherently there.”
“What… do you mean?”
“Let me put it like this,” Twilight said, turning back to face her. “Let’s say I really like foalsitting. I just love spending time with foals, right? And so I end up foalsitting for my friend, because I want to help her out, and it’s something I enjoy doing anyway. I have a great time, and the kid does, too, and now both my friend and her child want me to keep faolsitting for them, since I did a good job. Now, let’s say a couple months later, I need something from my friend, but she doesn’t want to give it to me. What if I say, ‘but remember how I foalsat for you? You can at least do this for me.’ Even though I had no intention to use the foalsitting as leverage, I can.”
Ocellus tried to speak, but she couldn’t find the words. This was a lot to take in. Eventually, she settled for a simple, “Oh. I get it.”
“Are you okay?” Twilight asked. “I know this is kind of a lot.”
“You wouldn’t… do that though, right? Use me to get Thorax to do what you want?”
“I can’t see a situation in which I would, no, but that’s largely because the changelings have been such close allies of ours ever since Thorax took the throne, and I don’t see that changing. I… wouldn’t be able to make that same assurance to, say, Yona, however. While I would feel terrible for doing it, if it was truly necessary, I—well, most likely Celestia, actually—would be willing to play that card.”
“This… Why is all of this so complicated? I just wanted to learn, and make some friends, not…”
“Hey, hey, it’s okay, really,” Twilight said, reaching over the desk to lay a hoof on Ocellus’s shoulder. “Politics suck, and it sucks that you have to deal with them so young, and I’m sorry that you weren’t told up front about the significance of your enrollment in an Equestrian school. It’s good you’re asking questions, and wondering what your part is in all this. It shows how mature you are, and it’s a sign that you’re equipped to handle any messy political stuff that life throws at you. But believe me when I say you don’t need to worry about it, at least not right now.”
“Why don’t I, though? I don’t want to regret coming here someday because it was used against me!”
“Look, Ocellus, Thorax and all the other leaders knew exactly what they were getting into when they agreed to send you to the school. If there ever comes a time when you need to worry about juggling politics—and that is an if, not a when—then you’ll have people to help you through it. And it certainly won’t be for a long, long while, trust me. If you continue to learn, continue to have fun, and continue to make friends, you’ll do so much more for both your country and mine than any dumb political move could accomplish.”
Ocellus looked into the eyes of the pony before her. Twilight was scared; she could taste it. Fear was cold and bitter and metallic. She didn’t like fear very much. There were worse emotions; she’d tasted Chrysalis’s spite and jealousy once, when she was little, and it had been an awful blend. Twilight wasn’t at all like Chrysalis—that much was obvious. Chrysalis wouldn’t be so afraid of accidentally unloading too much onto a child.
Ocellus smiled. “Thank you for being honest.”
Twilight laughed, relieved, and her fear abated. “I almost wasn’t, you know. I thought it might be too much pressure on you. I wouldn’t have been able to live with knowing I was responsible for causing you so much distress, but I realized that any self-respecting teacher would practice what they preach. I’m glad I was right.”
“Yeah. It is stressful, knowing that I could be so… important. It’s a lot of responsibility. But I’m glad to know.”
“Are you going to tell the others?” Twilight asked. “I wouldn’t suggest it, but I won’t try to stop you if you want to.”
“Maybe,” Ocellus said. “I think Silverstream already knows, to some capacity. She’s the only one of us who’s actually royalty, after all, and she’s a lot sharper than most people give her credit for. But I don’t think the others have really thought about it. I guess if it comes up I might, but otherwise probably not.”
Twilight smiled. “Well, whatever happens, I’ll always be here. Starlight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie—all of us are here for you, for whatever you need.”
“Thanks. See you in class, I guess?”
Twilight laughed. “See you in class.”