For the six students, it was one of those times when the entire world seems to be moving at lightspeed. Everything around them was happening so fast, and they were being left in the dust, all left reeling with their minds blown.
Thorax had said that there was so much that needed to be done and discussed. The new Princess' four close broodmates needed to brought over as well. Not wanting to either worry them or get their hopes up, Thorax hadn't told them about Ocellus' cocooning yet; but now that the ascension was complete, showing them what Ocellus had become was top priority.
In addition, Thorax wanted Twilight's help in giving the very first Changeling Princess an through examination. The biology of the Changeling race had already changed dramatically when it rather abruptly transitioned from selfishly stealing love to freely sharing it. There were still some question on why Thorax had become a much larger Changeling King, not to mention what made a Changeling King biologically different from the other Changelings. Naturally, there were just as many questions about Ocellus' new form. There was some question on the toughness of her chitin and carapace, her Wing Power levels, the significance of her hair in relation to Chrysalis' hair, and of course her magical power and capacity for love.
Therefore, Twilight instructed the other five students to go catch up on all the classes they missed via Starlight. The five of them were either dazed and confused in Sandbar, Yona, and Silverstream's case; or frowning in silent contemplation in Gallus and Smolder's case. Regardless, they were all led off by Spike under Twilight's instruction, leaving Ocellus looking like she lost a staring contest with a cockatrice.
The sense of the world moving far too fast to keep up with caused the make-up lessons and reviews to go by in a moment, even though it ended up being late evening by the time it was all done. The time they had spent huddled around the cocoon turned out to be longer than they had realized. They hadn't even noticed that they had skipped lunch, and for Yona, that was really saying something.
So, the five of them soon found themselves gathered in the cafeteria to eat a late dinner.
Everycreature was oddly quiet.
". . . So!" Silverstream said a bit loudly, "Ocellus is a Princess now. . ."
All she got in response were nods, which were either silent or delivered with a grunt. Sandbar and Yona had move from dazed to unsure, while Gallus and Smolder were still frowning.
Silverstream smiled nervously, her eyes betraying her trepidation, and said, "I mean, that's a good thing, right?"
Sandbar sat up a bit straighter and said quickly, "Oh yeah, sure! It is good! We should all be happy for her."
"Whatever," Smolder said with a shrug of her shoulders, "No big deal, right?" She then effortlessly tossed a ruby into her mouth and chewed it slowly.
Yona gazed at Smolder in shock. "No big deal?" she echoed as she slammed her forehooves on the table, causing some of the stew she was eating to splash up out of its bowl, "Very BIG deal! Ocellus is royal now! Ocellus is very important to Changelings!"
Gallus dropped the nut bread he was pecking at with a huff and said, "Yeah, no kidding. Ocellus is gonna be living the high life now. All the Changelings are gonna be looking up to her and stuff-."
Sandbar interrupted the griffon quickly, saying, "But she's still the same old Ocellus."
Yona frowned, "Ocellus doesn't look like same old Ocellus."
"Umm," Sandbar said nervously.
Smolder came to his rescue and said, "Changelings change they way they look all the time. So what?"
"Not like that," Gallus remarked as he folded his arms.
Silverstream couldn't keep her smile up any longer, and she said nervously, "I suppose this is a pretty big deal. . ."
"Aren't you royalty?" Sandbar asked the hippogriff.
Silverstream absentmindedly fiddled with her claws as she replied, "I'm just Queen Novo's niece. I don't have any royal powers or anything. But Ocellus. . . she's an actual Changeling Princess."
Sandbar looked down at his half eaten plate of alfalfa fritters and sighed. "Well, look. There's one thing we can agree on: things have changed."
And on that note, the five friends were silent again, stared at their food for a moment; with the exception of Smolder who just finished eating quickly; and got up to head to their rooms, where they each found themselves slipping into an uneasy and slightly uncomfortable slumber.
Yona eagerly walked with a spring in her step as she approached the entrance to the Changeling Kingdom. She was excited to meet up with her friend, who was now a Princess.
When she got to the entrance, two Changeling guards on either side stepped in her way, standing firm and barring her from entering.
"Who are you and-?" the one on the left said.
"-why are you here?" the one on the right concluded.
With a smile, Yona replied, "Yona is here to see friend Ocellus!"
The guards scowled contemptuously at Yona.
"Somecreature like you-."
"-could never see the Princess!"
Shocked by this, Yona asked, "Why can Yona not see friend Ocellus?"
The guards frowned with disgust and pointed right at Yona.
"The Changeling Princess is perfect and-."
"-everything about you is wrong!"
"A perfect Princess can't be around-."
"-somecreature that is all wrong!"
"How is Yona wrong?!" Yona asked desperately, almost sounding like she was pleading.
The Changeling guards both smirked at the poor yak.
"The Princess is pretty and shiny and smooth, and you-."
"-are too big and hairy and fat!"
"The Princess is gentle and soft, and you-."
"-are big and loud and smash stuff!"
"The Princess has good manners and speaks well, and you-."
"-talk all wrong!"
Then, both Changelings turned into duplicates of Yona and began talking loudly in crude imitations of her voice.
"Yona big and like smash! Yona smash! Yona smash!"
"Yona big and hair and eat everything!"
Overcome by all of this, and struck by the fear that maybe she really didn't belong in the company of a Princess, Yona fell to the ground and tried to cover her ears. When it didn't stop her from hearing the Changelings, she shouted out loud, "No! Stop! Yona just wants to see friend Ocellus!"
"Yona no talk like other creatures!"
"Yona says names over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and. . ."
Silverstream climbed up a very tall staircase with a spring in her step. She was excited not just because of the stairs, but because of what lay at the top of them. She was so excited that it never even occurred o her to look down.
Soon enough, she had reached the top, and was standing before a massive silver door. On the door was a sign that said "ROYALTY ONLY". Silverstream knocked on the door, and it was answered by none other than Princess Ocellus herself.
Silverstream smiled eagerly as she looked inside. She could see Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, as well as Queen Novo and Princess Skystar. She even saw King Thorax and Lord Ember, who was romantically feeding the Changeling King some grapes.
"Silverstream, what are you doing here?" Princess Ocellus asked in a surprised tone of voice.
Silverstream was caught of guard by the question, and she answered, "I just wanted to visit you, so I-."
"Oh, I'm really, really sorry, Silverstream," Princess Ocellus said, the sorrow apparent in her voice, "But this room is for royalty only."
"But I'm related to Queen Novo!" Silverstream pleaded, her eyes big and shiny.
Princess Ocellus just hung her head and sighed, "Again, I am so sorry, Silverstream. But you need to be actual royalty, like a princess or a queen. I guess we can't hang out with each other anymore."
Silverstream's eyes widened with horror at the very notion. "WHAT! NO! But we're-."
Suddenly, Princess Ocellus transformed into the Storm King, who laughed manically as he shoved Silverstream backwards.
Silverstream stumbled back onto the staircase, which suddenly collapsed into a long steep ramp that sent her sliding down, causing her to scream as she slid towards her doom faster and faster and faster and faster and faster and. . .
Gallus stood in a massive crowd of Changelings, and before the crowd was a large stage occupied by only one figure: Princess Ocellus.
As the Changeling Princess waved to the crowd, everyone cheered as loud as they could in response, screaming their adoration for their new princess.
Gallus waved his talons in the air in an attempt to get the Princess' attention, but she never seemed to look his way. He tried shouting out loud, screeching, even roaring; but he found that he couldn't make a sound. It wasn't just that the crowd was so loud that it drowned his voice it; it was as if he literally could not make a sound.
Finally losing his patience, Gallus decided to fly up out of the crowd and go talk to his friend directly. However, right when he was about a yard away from her, Gallus was suddenly seized by a magical grip and pulled off to the side. He soon found himself face to face with King Thorax, who looked very stern at the moment.
"What do you think you're doing?" Thorax asked in a rather dark tone of voice.
Indignant about being grabbed in the midst of flight, Gallus replied, "I was trying to go talk to a friend of mine. Is that too much to ask?"
Thorax didn't seem to hear what Gallus had said, either that or he just didn't care. The Changeling King pointed back at the crowd and said, "Don't you see how important the Princess is? How adored she is? How lifted up she is? Do you really think someone as high and mighty as Princess Ocellus should be seen with a lonely orphan that has nothing to contribute and is a complete nobody in Griffonstone?"
Gallus' beak hung open, and he found himself unable to come up with a flippant response. All he could say was, "I. . . I am."
Thorax nodded gravely and said, "Yes. Yes you are."
Thorax then used his magic to toss Gallus off the stage and onto the ground. When Gallus raised his head, he could only watch in horror as the endless crowd of Changeling charged into to trample him down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down. . .
Smolder strode into Ocellus' room, where the ordinary looking Changeling was busy studying.
"Hey, Ocellus! I heard that Sugarcube Corner has some sapphire cupcakes! Pretty good excuse for all of us to head over there for some treats, am I right?" Smolder said with a smile.
Ocellus looked up from the book she was reading and smiled back. She nodded and said, "Okay. Lead the way, Smolder."
Smolder turned around towards the door, which had somehow closed behind her, not that Smolder noticed or cared. Anyway, she walked over and opened the door, only to find that instead of the hallway, she was staring into a duplicate of Ocellus' room. However, there were a few key differences in this second room. Firstly, Princess Ocellus was there. Secondly, nearly the entire room was filled with piles of scrolls and stacks of paper.
Smolder blinked her eyes, confused by what she was seeing, and she asked, "Ocellus?"
The Changeling Princess didn't look up from what she was doing. She merely kept speaking to herself in a tense sounding mantra as she levitated scrolls and pages around her, occasionally stopping to stamp something or sign something with a quill, "Gotta approve this. Gotta sign that. Gotta check this. Gotta send that. Gotta take a letter. . ."
"Ocellus?" Smolder repeated a little louder as she stepped a little closer.
"Meeting with Ember in Dragonlands. Meeting with Rutherford in Yakyakistan. Meeting with Novo in Mount Aris. . ."
"Ocellus?"
"Crystal Berries from the Crystal Empire. Gems from the Dragonlands. Apples from Equestria. What do we trade? What do we trade!?"
"OCELLUS!" Smolder cried out, now standing face to face with the Princess.
While still levitating the papers and scrolls around her, Princess Ocellus reached out and grabbed Smolder's shoulder with her forehooves. She pulled the dragon in close and shouted in her face, "THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS TO TAKE AWAY, AND THINGS TO BRING BACK! SO MANY DECISIONS TO MAKE! SO MANY DECREES TO DECREE! SO MANY ROYAL THINGS LEFT TO DO!"
Then, the entire room went dark, and the sound of a creaking door could be heard right behind Smolder. Already creeped out by Princess Ocellus' behavior, Smolder turned around fast to see King Thorax and Princess Twilight standing in the hallway.
The two of them spoke as one, and said, "You have so much to do. You have so many responsibilities. You don't have time for fun."
Smolder was paralyzed as she watched Princess Ocellus walk out the door, which slammed shut behind her. At that point, she could move again, and she raced towards the door and tried to open it, but it was locked tight. She tried clawing through it, but it felt like it was made of iron. So, all Smolder could do was grab the doorknob and pull and pull and pull and pull and pull and pull and pull and pull and pull. . .
Sandbar and Princess Ocellus were laughing together as they relaxed on the banks of the lake.
Sandbar turned to look at the Princess, and he said, "Things may change, but you will always be you, Ocellus."
The Changeling Princess blushed a bit and smiled.
Sandbar then nodded with determination and said, "That's why, I've gotta tell you something, Ocellus." He took a deep breath, then said, "Ocellus, I kinda. . . I really. . . I honestly feel that I-."
"My Princess!" an elegant voice cried out from above.
Sandbar looked up to see a Changeling with a color scheme similar to his own fly down and land right next to Princess Ocellus.
The Princess smiled warmly at the newcomer, then she turned to Sandbar and said, "Sandbar, I'd like you to meet my Royal Consort."
Then the two Changelings kissed.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sandbar shouted as he awoke and sat up in bed.
He sat there, breathing heavily as his heart pounded as the cracks in it quickly healed at the realization that it was just a dream. However, the fear in Sandbar's heart and mind was very real. So, he made up his mind and jumped out of bed. He quickly opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, and was surprised to see that four other creatures had the same idea.
The five friends stood halfway in their rooms and halfway out into the hall, staring at each other with a mixture of surprise and worry.
"Well," Gallus said, finally breaking the silence, "I think we all know what the problem is."
Yona had tears in her eyes as she whimpered out, "If Ocellus is Princess, then friends never see her again!"
Smolder scowled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah. She'll be too busy doing Princess stuff."
Gallus stared at the ground and said, "Busy or not, we're just not the right crowd for a Princess."
Silverstream's tears were flowing freely as she wailed, "We'll never measure up!"
"I'm just a commoner," Sandbar muttered under his breath. Then he held his head up high and said, "Alright! We're not loosing our friend without a fight! There's gotta be something we can do to save our friendship with Ocellus!"
Smolder smacked her right fist into her left palm and said, "I say we put our foot. . . hoof. . . claw. . . paw. . . whatever! I say we put it down and tell Thorax and Twilight. . . something!"
Silverstream sniffed as she got her sobs under control, and she said, "But Ocellus is already a Princess. Even if we could take it way form her, how could we take it away from her? It's an incredible gift."
Smolder threw her arms up into the air and said, "I don't know! Look, maybe if we tell them what the problem is now, maybe they can work something out. Find someway for us all to keep in touch with her, or something."
"Oh gosh, I just thought of something," Gallus said as his eyes widened slightly.
"What?" Yona asked nervously, "Tell Yona!"
"Ocellus becoming the first Changeling Princess is such a big deal, she might have to go back to the Changeling Kingdom tomorrow, or maybe even tonight," Gallus said slowly.
"So soon!?" Silverstream whimpered.
Sandbar suddenly took off at full speed, calling back behind him, "Then we've got to talk to them now, even if it's just to say goodbye! Come on!"
And so, the five friends raced to Princess Twilight's office, where they hopped Twilight, Thorax, the Changeling Princess' four broodmates, and the new Princess herself would still be.