In an instant, a tsunami of panic swept over the hive. The senior guards rushed towards the edge of the beach, polearms at the ready, while the queen and civilians fled for cover. All except Sol, who stayed where she was.
Phalanx ripped his costume off and shouted, “What are you waiting for? RUN!” at her before rushing to join the guards.
But Sol didn’t want to run. Curious to see this nirik, she perched on top of one of the hive’s sandstone spires to watch from a distance. The highest-ranking guards formed a wall around the edge with their bodies, with the lower-ranking ones standing behind them as backup. She saw a red smudge — almost certainly Viceroy — try to shove himself into the front row, only to be pushed back.
When the nirik came close, the guards closest to it pointed their polearms horizontally. It didn’t seem afraid in the slightest, though, because it leaped over them with the grace of a pebble skimming on water, then galloped towards the beach. There was a lot of commotion from the guards, but even on a windless day like this, Sol was too far away to hear what they were saying.
“HI NEW FRIENDS!” the nirik yelled at the top of its — no, her lungs. Sol’s ears pricked up, and she flew towards the ground, staying in the hive’s shadow so the guards wouldn't notice her. In the distance, she heard the captain order the others to split up.
The nirik pranced around an unoccupied part of the beach with her head held high, looking around. “Why’s it so quiet?” she asked the air. "Ooh, is this a surprise party?"
Sol resisted the urge to slam her hoof against her face. She checked to see if there were any guards within earshot, and breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed most of them were gathered around the front of the hive. She took one cautious step out of the shadows and beckoned the nirik closer. "No, silly, they're scared of you!" she shout-whispered.
"Well I don't think I'm scary…" the nirik complained.
"They think you'll—" Sol looked from side to side and noticed a few guards getting closer. She shepherded the nirik into a nearby crevice in the side of the hive. “They think you’ll burn this place down! Not that I think you would, since changelings and niriks and all other creatures used to—”
In response, the nirik giggled. “Nirik? Those haven’t existed since our grandparents’ time!” Sol tilted her head, unsure of how to respond. “We’re called kirin. Niriks are what we turn into when we get angry. Well, we used to, anyway.”
Sol heard two sets of hoofbeats heading towards them. “Run!” she told the kirin, leading her to a spot further behind the hive. The kirin’s hooves didn’t make a sound, as if she was skipping on the surface of a calm river. After she caught her breath, Sol asked, “So what happened?”
“One day, all the magic… poof! Disappeared!” the kirin exclaimed rather loudly.
Sol paused for a moment as a realisation struck her. So THAT’S why changelings lost the ability to shapeshift! “Do you know why?” she asked. “Oh, and keep quiet.”
“Nope!” said the kirin cheerfully. “No-one does. Oh! I almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is Moonbow Shine, but you can call me Moony.” She bowed her head towards Sol.
“And I’m Solifuge — Sol for short,” Sol replied. She kept her voice low, but her legs were trembling with excitement. “Do you kirin always greet each other by bowing, or is it only when you introduce yourselves?”
Moony nodded. “Always.”
“Good to know. Ooh, I’ve got so many questions I want to ask!” Sol had to resist the urge to squee. “How long does it take to brush your mane? Where do you live? What do you have for breakfast?”
“Whoa — slow down,” said Moony, raising a hoof. “One question at a time. It takes a few minutes every morning to brush my mane, maybe more if there’s a lot of twigs caught in it—”
She was interrupted by two changelings marching towards them. One of them was Phalanx, who had a bucket of water dangling from his T-shaped horn. “Just what do you think you’re doing, Solifuge?” he demanded.
The other was Viceroy. “Yeah, don’t make me use this!” He jabbed a polearm towards Moony, who jumped slightly.
Sol hovered up. "She's not here to hurt us." Moony grinned and waved at the guards. "The niriks are really called kirin, and they can't set themselves on fire anymore—"
“That’s what they want you to think!” Viceroy snapped. He snatched the bucket of water and dumped it over Moony. Sol gasped, but Moony just shook herself dry.
Phalanx shook his head and sighed. "Calm down, Viceroy. Jumping to conclusions will only make the situation worse."
“Yes!” Sol gasped. “That’s why you have to listen to me! As I was saying, we’re not the only creatures who lost our magic. And if this really was an attack, Moonbow Shine wouldn’t have come alone.” She gestured at Moony, who grinned and waved.
“Are you sure?” Phalanx narrowed his eyes. “Other… kirin could be hiding in wait for all we know. Sorry, but I’ll have to take her to Queen Rostrum for questioning.” He beckoned Moony to follow him.
“No,” said Sol, standing her ground in front of Phalanx. She made eye contact with Moony, flicked an elytra sideways, and winked. Then, she leaped forward, grabbed Viceroy’s polearm, and took off into the skies.
“Get back here!” Viceroy shouted. Neither he nor Phalanx had wings, so all they could do was watch as Sol spiralled around the hive’s highest spires. While the tiny red speck ran away — probably to get backup — Phalanx chased after Moony, who was making a beeline for the outskirts. Phalanx had plenty of stamina in his burly physique, but he could barely keep up with the lithe and agile kirin, who skipped as if this were a game.
Sol did a loop-de-loop, then tucked in her wings and dived towards Viceroy, now accompanied by a few older, taller guards. The air resistance’s howl blocked out every sound except the rapid pulse of her blood beneath her ears, but it felt so exhilarating. She had to land to catch her breath for a moment, but started flying again as soon as Viceroy lunged at her.
“Catch me if you can!” she taunted as she darted towards the shoreline. He growled and chased after her as fast as his skinny red legs could carry him, but he barely had time to react before she threw his polearm into the ocean.
Sol barely heard Viceroy roar “NO!” followed by a splash as several older guards dived into the ocean to retrieve his polearm. She flew towards the sand dunes on the outskirts, where Moony was hiding in wait.
“Is it even possible to burn down a beach?” Moony muttered.
Sol scrunched up her face, unsure of how to answer that. “They'll still be looking for you. We've got to go.”
Phalanx arrived in Queen Rostrum’s throne room almost a minute before Viceroy, who was panting as he climbed the spiral staircase. He looked up at the vast ceiling; there were silk garlands hanging in front of the windows, and the room was so high up that he could only see the sky through them.
The queen’s pink chitin stood out against her grey basalt throne, flanked by a pair of high-ranking guards. Phalanx bowed his head as he approached her, the air thick with silence.
“Your Majesty,” he said, followed by a deep breath. “Viceroy and I cornered the kirin — nirik — but it evaded capture.”
Queen Rostrum stood up, the sound of her golden shoes echoing with the intensity of an earthquake. “I see… According to eyewitness reports, you were the closest to capturing this nirik. It seems awfully unlikely that you’d let it get away… unless you did it on purpose.”
“Hey, it wasn’t our fault!” Viceroy blurted out. “It was Solifuge’s! Um, Your Highestness.”
“What he says is true, Your Majesty,” Phalanx added. “Solifuge was helping the kirin to hide. When we found them, she stole Viceroy’s polearm as a distraction.”
There was a pregnant pause as Queen Rostrum stopped to think. Phalanx’s pulse raced as he imagined what his punishment would be — she could send him to the dungeons, or to bootcamp, or to clean the eatery — and breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she peered down through her glasses and said, “Phalanx. Viceroy. If you wish to redeem yourselves, track down Solifuge and the nirik and bring them to me.”
Sol zipped through the fields beyond the Seafey Coast while Moony chased close behind her. She didn’t have a destination in mind; she just wanted to get so far away that any guards pursuing them would get tired and go home. They crossed hills, forests, and moors, until the towering hive was completely out of sight. As the sun set, they decided to rest beneath a lonely tree atop a cliff.
“Whoa,” Moony gasped, looking over the edge.
Sol, who was perched on a low branch, turned her head to see what she was looking at; below them was a dark forest that sprawled all the way to the horizon. It was an amazing sight, she had to admit. “What’s that?” she asked.
“It’s the Mysticwood!” Moony exclaimed. “I’ve lived there my whole life, but I’ve never seen it from above before! I think I can see my village there…” She narrowed her eyes and pointed in the general direction of a barely visible clearing, a hole in the sea of trees. “Or maybe it’s there… Ooh, it might be that one!”
“What’s your village like?” Sol asked, fluttering off the branch and landing next to Moony.
“It’s pretty quiet,” replied Moony, lying down on the grass. “But there’s plenty to do! Like chasing bugs, gardening, learning about Twilight’s Equest—”
“Who?”
“Princess Twilight Sparkle! You know, the pony you’re dressed as?” Moony gestured towards the fake mane that was still hanging by a thread from Sol’s horn.
Sol tilted her head. “I thought she was called Starlight Glimmer.”
Moony giggled. “Starlight was Twilight’s student! What books have you been reading?”
Sol stomped for emphasis. “Records from King Thorax the Great’s time!” She paused and placed a hoof under her chin. “Though come to think of it, Queen Damselfly couldn’t bring an entire library with her when she founded our hive… and there was that flood a few years ago that destroyed some of the oldest scrolls…”
“If you want more detailed records, the hippogriffs are your best bet.” She pointed towards a mountain in the east. “Their nearest city is on top of Mt. Zephyr.”
“It’s amazing that you know all this!” exclaimed Sol, leaning towards Moony. “Is there any more you could tell me?”
Moony nodded rapidly. “Uh-huh. We kirin deliver messages between the other species, since we’re the only creatures who know how to navigate the Mysticwood. It’s so big that you can’t even fly across it in one go. I’ve never been to Mt. Zephyr before, but our village is in the middle of one of their trade routes, so I’ve guided a lot of hippogriffs through our neck of the woods.”
Sol was about to ask what they were trading, but then she noticed that the sky was almost completely black, and her wings still ached from all that flying. “Let’s head there tomorrow.” She curled up in a comfortable position underneath the tree and yawned, but shivered when a cold breeze blew past her. “Do you know how to start a fire?”
“Nope!” exclaimed Moony. “But I can do this.” She lay down next to Sol, who huddled closer. Her tangled mane and tail felt as warm and soft as silk, so much cosier than her sandy living quarters in the hive, and she soon fell asleep.