Now, I'm sure you're curious about the home of the thestrals, the Starsea Forest. The first thing you need to understand is the sheer size of this forest. It is vast, covering the entire space between the two landmarks, Mt. Foal where my hive had lived and the Barrier Mountains, separating Equestria at large from the Northern Wastes. Though not large enough to be considered a nation unto themselves, it is most certainly large enough to be considered a micronation. They submit to the Equestrian laws, but maintain their own and, unlike other ponies, are solely nocturnal. The geography of the forest is varied, as the trees are quite a bit larger than one would assume. They rise to about a third of the height of the mountains, and sun and moonlight are able to enter the top half around the cities, but not the bottom. This is because of symbiotes called Brightblooms.
Brightbloom plants come in pairs, an upper layer which open during the day, and a lower layer which open at night. The villages and towns of the thestrals lay nestled between these two layers, which allow for farms to grow on top of the plant, and large marketplaces during the night. As they are nocturnal, this allows for very efficient home building, often using the smaller shoots of Brightbloom branches. The Brightbloom itself is a plant that attaches to the trees of the Starsea Forest, wrapping around their trunks and attaching to the trees themselves. Created through ancient changeling magic, the Brightbloom actually keeps the Starsea Forest alive, and allowed it to grow taller and farther than it normally would have, as the trees are revitalised by gathered solar and lunar magic, which increases the lifespan of the trees themselves in exchange for the nutrients and support needed to grow and stay in it's middling position. The only towns not sheltered by Brightblooms are in clearings, near rivers and lakes, or the single outsider-facing town of Hollow Shades, where the day ponies can interact with thestrals.
SE 1014
As most thestral villages, the small town of Eriazha was about the size of Ponyville. The buildings were grown out of the brightbloom leaves and branches. Compared to other towns, however, they used smaller and more flexible branches which were woven into amazingly complex works, and the older and more impressive buildings had changeling resin used to suspend the branches, and leaves, allowing for even more such structures. The citizens of the town began their night with little fanfare, nothing more than three or four leaving from small communities at a time. As the leaves began to spread, unfolding steadily and slowly, more and more of the small town woke up. Guard shifts were changed, foragers flew up to harvest from the plants that grew atop the Brightblooms, and various shops opened. The city was lit with phosphorescent vines and crystals, gathered from the forest floor.
It was in the midst of this that two ponies flew to town, landing on the closest leaf, one calm and the other out of breath. Both had the same signature features that all thestrals did, the older of the two was a stallion with brown hair, golden eyes, and a coat of dark brown with lighter spots. He had owl-like wings, which he rapidly folded, a practiced movement belying his skill at both flight and the remarkably quiet landing, even for those thestrals who looked more like Pegasi than their brethren. His cutie mark was a wing over several stars, and he wore light guard armor. Said armor was designed to look identical to the night guard armor, save instead of Princess Luna’s cutie mark, it bared the insignia of the Lunar Republic, a light blue moon surrounded by a banded halo. Though his mane was hidden under the helmet, his tail was visible in military regulation, a glossy brown so dark it was almost black. He marched his way to a building halfway into the town, up the stairs, and walked in, leaving his companion behind.
The building itself was one of the few that was made entirely from changeling resin, designed with far fewer of the flourishes of the others. He knew, of course, what it was... a garrison for the guard. He walked through the halls, turning left here and right there, the circular entry ways giving him little pause. The walls, he noted, were a deep, dark silver. In the recent Canterlot Invasion apparently the resin was green, he had seen photos but did not truly believe it until he had come here... it was true, the color of the resin did change depending on the Hive that made it. With trademark stoicism he walked his way up the stairs, regulation demanding the air be free during the night, lest an emergency message be delayed. Three flights he climbed, until at last he was on the highest level of the Barracks. Another twisting journey, and at last he knocked on the door.
He waited for thirty seconds before hearing his superior’s reply, “Enter.” One hoof moved to open the door, and he moved into the room. Said room had several crystals inside it, and opulent furniture to make it look a bit more inviting than before. Sitting in a chair behind a warm, mahogany desk imported from outside the forest was the captain of the Eriazha Guard, Night Watch. She was a mare with a silvery coat, green eyes, and blue mane and tail. Her horn, proudly positioned on her forehead, marked her as one of the few members of the other tribes who sought to stay with the Republic, and though he could not see her cutie mark, he knew it was a shield with a moon motif on it. “Silent Gaze, correct?”
Snapping to attention, he saluted her immediately. “Ma’am, yes ma’am!” A breath, “Lieutenant Silent Gaze, Special Forces. Reporting for duty, Ma’am!” She looked him over for a moment, before returning the salute.
“At ease.” He ended the salute, waiting for her to continue on. She took a few moments, organizing her work, adjusting the outfit of a few things, so on. A greenwing might have been impatient about it, but he was used to standing for hours at a time. He didn’t understand what she wanted from him, but wasn’t about to- “Lieutenant Gaze,” She paused, he nodded to her, “Do you know why a Night Corps soldier was transferred to town duty?”
“No ma’am.” He frowned slightly, but did not elaborate further.
“Do you remember guarding an egg, Lieutenant?” He nodded. That had been just before he was assigned to Night Corps, when he had still had a marefriend. “Are you aware that the egg has hatched?” Another nod. “This egg was apparently a royal changeling.” He still did not understand what that meant for him, but she didn’t give him time to voice a question. “A royal changeling which is currently in residence in this town. Your duties are not to guard the town, but to guard her.” Wrapped in her green magic, a sheaf of papers floated over to him, which he grabbed with his hoof and put away for later perusal. “Now, get going.”
“Yes ma’am.” He nodded, turning around to leave... and that was when he woke up. Like many ponies who have good dreams, he resisted opening his eyes. At least, until he heard the sound of hoofsteps on the branch, and a subtle dual-toned humming. Gold eyes opened to look upon his daughter, and with a grumble he sat up, running one hoof through his, now longer, mane before saying a tired “Good evening, Moonlight.” His daughter glanced to the side, before donning her disguise, a thestral with blue fur, a mane with two tones of blue, one lighter than the other, and blue slitted eyes. Sunset filtered through to them, as they were currently travelling over the upper branches of Brightblooms, a long winding road that was safer than travelling below. She gave him a bowl filled with various fruit and plants, which he gratefully began to eat. “Thank you, Moonlight.”
“Father, how much further until the next village?” She asked, after he had gotten about halfway through the meal. He paused, thought, and waved one wing slightly, bending it at about halfway before folding it in once more. “A half night... ok!” The two of them enjoyed their meal, before standing and beginning the long walk to the town. Their destination, the town in which young Moonlight had spent most of her life, was a place they hadn’t been to for years.
The trip itself was uneventful. Traveling on the top allowed them to see using moonlight, but it also made it a tad more dangerous. Or, would, if both lacked wings. However, as instead both possessed them and were at least somewhat able to fly, it was little more than a very minor inconvenience at worst. they did occasionally have to worry about flying magical creatures, but this close to Eriazha it was a nonissue. They continued in relative silence, the young foal enjoying herself by doing a myriad of things, such as flying ahead, flying back, gathering food, and so on. Eventually they reached the gap between two branches, and lept into flight, crossing carefully, Silent Gaze remaining below his daughter and keeping an eye out. Once they had flown over, they arrived at the folded leaves which held farms, it was the very furthest outskirts of the town.
Until he had taken her in, he had only ever flown over, or completely bypassed, the outskirts where most of the farms were located, and had had no interest in the smaller ones above the towns themselves. As such, he took the time to look them over. Each leaf was just wide enough to allow for a few small fruit and vegetable plants to grow. They couldn’t grow anything that needed a tree, like apples, for fear of them growing overlarge like the forest has. Instead, most farms were small and grew things like cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, and so on. The dirt and nutrients needed for the farms was gathered from the mountains to either side of the forest, and had been set up just before the rebellion. It was the main reason why towns remained small, they did not have the resources or space to make the larger farms needed to support large towns. He knew, though had never seen them, that usually the leaves directly over homes would be more like parks and recreational areas, some even having small pools of water when the leaf was rained on regularly. The two of them spent approximately thirty minutes in the area, stopping for a brief meal, before leaving for the town proper.
Eriazha, Silent Gaze noted, had not changed much in the last three years. There were still people flying about, more than before but it was early morning now, the buildings were much the same as they had been, and the almost sleepy mood remained the same. Having never stopped at an Inn here, the two of them did what they always did, head for the market to find someone to buy their things. It didn’t take long, a bat-winged mare with a silver mane and dark fur bought it for a modest sum, which they then used to rent a room at the inn she recommended to them. Another mare who appeared identical, save a different cutie mark, showed them to a room with a decent view of the fields. As it was pretty late the two of them asked for the meal that came with the room to be delivered to them, and stayed inside for the rest of the evening.
Once the door closed, the two of them sat down, looking outside for a moment, before Silent closed the curtains, moonlight fading from sight as crystals lit up. The two of them looked at one another, before with a flash of redish pink fire, Moonlight returned to her natural appearance. her mane was the same, save for holes where the hair naturally parted, but like all changelings she had black chitin instead of fur, fangs, and holes in her legs, though only one. She was small, her head still baby-like, and her slitted eyes were the same blue as before. Her wings were yet reddish-pink, as was the splash of color on her abdomen and back, though a tiny spattering of blue was present. She stretched her wings and limbs, “I know I have to... but it’s hard to keep my disguise up all night.”
“You can’t be found.” He nuzzled her slightly, before stretching himself, and beginning his exercises. Nothing too strenuous, mostly just stretches so he could keep limber.
“I know.” She sighed, “It’s still hard... I don’t have the magic for it.” Yet. She knew she was still growing, but she wasn’t sure how long she would, or what she would look like. She’d never seen another changeling before, after all. “Why is everypony so afraid of us?”
“it’s a long, complicated story...” Which meant he wasn’t going to tell her. The two lapsed into silence, until a knock rang on the door, which caused the two to jump into action. Moonlight, with another flash of flames, returned to her disguise. The door was opened, and in walked a thestral with their two meals balanced on her leathery wings. Silent Gaze thanked her, and she left. The door was locked, they ate their meal, and Silent Gaze took their food downstairs. Another hour passed for the two of them when he returned, spent playing a game where she tried to catch his tail, without using magic. Much like a kitten following their mother’s tail, she wasn’t particularly good at it, but it was very fun. Eventually she tired herself out, and fell asleep on top of him. Silent Gaze set her down on the bed next to him, before falling asleep himself. The two of them sent the rest of the day in their beloved Princess’ realm of dreams.
Nightfall came, Silent Gaze waking before his extremely clingy daughter. He stood, separated himself from her, and took a shower, stepping out a few minutes later to see his daughter still asleep. Without comment he took out a letter, reading it once more. He had to have the exact directions to the sender’s home. After reading and rereading the section a few times he returned the paper to his saddlebags, putting them on and waiting for his daughter to wake. She did so a few minutes later, unlike Silent Gaze’s slower waking she just sat up, looked for him, and then flashed into her disguise, jumping off of the bed with an energetic “Good evening Father!”
“Good evening, Moonlight.” The two of them stepped out of the room, making their way down to eat breakfast with the other patrons, and then stepped out into the town once more. They walked past the market, and the school, took a roundabout path around the barracks, and found their way to a quiet section of the town, with only a few buildings. They walked up to one particular door, the building much more plain and bereft of the usual decorations, and then knocked. The door opened to reveal a leather-winged mare with a dark coat and forest green hair with grey streaks in it and a pair of open books for a cutie mark.
“Yes, who is it?”
“Silent Gaze, ma’am.” Her demeanor, despite not being a military pony, was sufficient that he had to consciously keep his hoof extended in a hoof-shake, as opposed to saluting her. “This is my daughter, Moonlight. Are you Lost Script?” She sniffed, but nodded. “We received your letter.” He lowered his hoof, which she hadn’t taken, and pulled out said paper. “It said you had something to give to my daughter?”
“Yes.” She looked to Moonlight, demeanor softening just a bit. She stepped in, turning around when the two waited, “What are you waiting for, get in here. I can’t very well talk about it in the open, can I?” The pair looked to one another, but before Silent could tell her anything Moonlight walked into the home with the bravado only young foals could show.
“Moonlight!”
“What? She said we could come in.” With a tongue stuck out at him, she proceeded to follow the mare down a few halls. As soon as he joined the door closed, and he started to calculate his best choices. The interior of the home was filled with bookshelves, empty ink bottles, and scattered papers. Some of them had one language or other, and the rest had something he couldn’t even begin to understand. It was like random glyphs, and completely beyond his understanding.
“It was odd, I’ve never seen a book written in that language before.” Lost Script began to speak, having settled Moonlight into a seat by the side, Silent Gaze stepped into the room and stopped. More than the halls, this living room, if it could be called such, was covered floor to ceiling with books, bookshelves, and scrapped or mid-work papers. He twitched slightly at the unorganized chaos of it, “My daughter was Polaris’ nurse, you know.” A book, two, she was almost throwing them, though of course they always landed perfectly safely on this or that pile. “Right Wing, she was. It was a shame those hunters killed her. Luckily for you,” This was her first pause, where she turned to Moonlight, “She managed to give me the manuscript before they found it. It probably would have been burnt.”
“Y-you knew my mom?”
“My daughter knew your mom.” She stopped, moved a few papers away, and pulled out a professionally bound book with a stylised version of the Queen on it, “Here we are! I took the privilege of not only translating it, but having the original and translated versions printed properly.” She began the process of leaving the circle she had formed, moving slowly so as to not knock anything over. “I had the pleasure of getting to know what kind of person she was through it. I don’t know the proper language, but just in case I have a translation guide for you. It should work for most things you want to write, given how deceptively long the book was... I had to have it sent to be enchanted by the unicorns in Meria, you know. It’s much longer than it looks.” She finally was free enough she could fly, and did so, landing next to his daughter.
“W-why does it need to be translated?”
“Whatever language this is, it isn’t meant for ponies. Each glyph was a full sentence, it’s much more complicated than any language I know of. It took ten years to get this baby,” She patted it, “Ready for anypony to read. The unicorns said that it was a magic language, designed for some purpose, but they couldn’t piece anything more together about it. Either way, once they saw the author they destroyed the notes. Or, should have anyway.” She hoofed the book over to the changeling, who picked it up and held it tightly, reverently. “I call it, for lack of a better name, Katian.”
“Wait,” Silent, finally having navigated the room, stopped, and stared at the mare. His ears pinned to the sides of his head, but all he did was ask, “You said you translated this. Why?” Why would she have ever bothered opening a book if it was in trust for somepony else? It wasn’t like she was asked to do so. Moonlight began to trace the stylized art on the cover.
“I was curious, honestly. My daughter just wanted me to hold it until I could give it to you, Moonlight, but my special talent is for translation.” She smiled slightly, “I also figured I couldn’t give it to anypony without knowing who it was for. So, I tried my hoof at translating it. If the owner came before I finished, so much the better.” She gave him a considering look, before, “I wouldn’t worry. Those hunters killed my daughter looking for young Moonlight. I was never going to hoof it over to them. Nor you two.” She clapped her hooves together, “Ah, yes. I have the manuscript upstairs. Please, make yourselves at home while I get it. I’m sure you’ll want it for sentimental reasons, yes?”
With that she flew off, heading up to the second floor. Silent sat next to his daughter, looking over the book critically. He wasn’t a unicorn, so he couldn’t perform the myriad of magical scans that this required... and before the study could grow worrying, the young changeling had opened the book already. She wasn’t reading, he could tell, she was just running her hoof over the pages, feeling them. He bent down to nuzzle her, but before he could say anything their host returned.
“Now then, I kept this one locked away, safe from harm.” The thestral glided down to the two of them, pausing once she noticed the mood, her tone lowering to a more respectful one. “Here, Princess.” The book was laid down on the table in front of Moonlight. “I couldn’t read it at first, and I might have made a few mistakes, but... well, one look at the book is enough to tell.” Said book was a simple journal, it was worn, the pages clearly having been spelled multiple times to remove wet ink where mistakes were made, worn beyond it’s age. Moonlight gently lifted the cover, only for an envelop to fall out and float down. The three of them watched it before sharing a confused look. The first to speak was Silent Gaze.
“Was it...?” He looked to their host.
“No. No I did not.” Moonlight dived for the letter. Silent Gaze reached for her, only to narrowly miss as she launched into the air and opened it.
“MOONLIGHT!” The two of them engaged in a chase scene straight out of a 90's cartoon, with Moonlight flying this way and that, sometimes faking out her father, and other times almost being caught. Lost Script, utterly bewildered, watched the impromptu performance silently from her spot on the couch. What?
The show continued for several minutes, during which one could almost hear accompanying music. Laughter from Moonlight and the occasional exasperated shout from Silent rang through the home. Eventually Silent had harmlessly pinned his daughter, but It was too late. Having read at least some of the letter in between her father's dives and tackles, her laughter had slowly subsided and at last she spoke in the openly curious, innocent tone that all foals are known to use.
“Do you know any changelings? "
Introduction- The opening section of a piece of music or movement.
Eri- referring to the constellation in which the star Azha is found, the Eriandus constellation. Also known as the river constellation.
Azha- the hatching place. A star in the Eriandus constellation.