I enjoyed another great love-infused meal thanks to Spike. This time around, it was a souffle with sauteed vegetables on the side. Even without the love, it was still quite delicious.
Twilight had heeded my warning to her and had Spike omit the love from everypony else's meals. Surprisingly, Big Mac and Fluttershy still had rather obvious feelings towards one another, which made me think that it was possible the two had feelings that they'd been suppressing for fear of rejection by the other party.
Whatever the case, they still seemed to have quite an interest in one another. Fortunately, I finished my meal quickly and was permitted to go to bed earlier than most of the ponies. Vigilant unfortunately chose not to dine with us, but eventually conceded on the suggestion of Twilight bringing a serving of the meal to my room so he could eat while he performed his duties.
I went about preparing myself for bed, having a shower, brushing my teeth and fangs, and having a small glass of water to make sure I stayed properly hydrated. After bidding Vigilant a good night, my head hit the pillow and I was off to sleep.
A few hours later...
*TAP TAP TAP*
I slowly woke up and looked around, a bit groggy from the sudden noise. I look around the dark room and see nothing out of the ordinary. However, I take notice that Vigilant is propped up against a wall, lightly snoring.
*TAP TAP TAP*
I look around again but still can't find the source of the noise. Fearing it could be some kind of trap by either a changeling that had managed to locate me or a pony that was hoping to take revenge on me for Canterlot, I decide to go over and nudge Vigilant.
My gesture is rewarded by the stallion jumping on me and placing a spear to my throat.
"What are you doing?!" he whispers at me, his spear point just an inch or so from my neck.
"I-I heard a noise!" I cry out, my eyes closed and fear coursing through me.
Vigilant stands there for a few moments before he withdraws his spear and steps back, allowing me to rise up to my hooves.
"Sorry" he says to me. "When you woke me up it startled me."
"It's okay," I reply, "but I think there's somepony or something in the room with us."
*TAP TAP TAP*
I jump again as I hear the noise and Vigilant almost immediately picks up on it.
"It's one of the windows" he says as he moves to the side of the room where some windows are situated in the wall. Fortunately, they're stained glass, or maybe they're colored crystal; it was a castle made of crystal.
Vigilant opens the window and looks out. After a brief scan, he looks back at me. "There's nothing out there" he tells me.
I walk over to the window and look out, seeing nothing but a treeline, a few buildings off in the distance, and some bushes immediately outside the window.
"Up here, sillies!"
The voice surprises both of us and we look around for the source. After not seeing anything again, I process what the voice told me and look up. What I see catches me off guard almost completely.
Hanging upside down by their tail is a pony. It's a female, based on the overall body shape, but she had a few features that I had never seen in a pony before. Firstly, her eyes - they were bright yellow, and slitted like the queen's eyes. Next, she had fangs coming from her muzzle, gleaming white in some moonlight that happened to shine on them. After that was some tufted ears, and the last thing of note was a large pair of wings on her back that resembled bat wings.
The mare giggles at us as she releases her tails grip and opens her wings, silently gliding into the room and landing in an open space. After she touches down, she turns to face both of us.
Vigilant goes into guard mode and quickly takes up his spear and getting between the pony and I. "What do you think you're doing?!" he asks her in a sharp whisper.
The mare tousles her mane as she walks over towards me. Vigilant raises his spear in warning.
"Oh, just checking out the rumors I heard" she says as she steps around him and begins circling me. "So, there really is a changeling here in Ponyville, and without a disguise too."
She continues circling as she gets a gauge of me. After a few moments, she seems to be satisfied with her assessment.
"Well, the others are sure gonna get a kick out of this."
...Others?
Vigilant moves between the mare and I again. "You've had your fun now miss, so why don't you head on back to your roost?"
The mare looks incensed. "We sleep in normal beds just like you 'normal' ponies do," she retorts, "and we work all the night shift jobs so you colts don't have to!"
"I'm sure it's much appreciated," he counters, "and I'm sure lots of ponies would thank you, but right now, they're all asleep, and Thorax should be too!"
The mare stares down the guard and then starts giggling.
"I think that should be up to the bug here" she says as she gestures a hoof towards me, then turns to address me.
"So your name's Thorax?" she says. I give a simple nod in response.
"Well, I'm Amber Moonlight," she introduces herself with spread wings, "and on behalf of the thestral population, welcome to Ponyville!"
I stand there for a moment and process what she just said to me, and then it all clicks. The mare in front of me, Amber, is a thestral. They're a sub-race of ponies that most have almost been totally forgotten about until Princess Luna returned from banishment. Naturally nocturnal, they perform all manner of jobs that one expects to be done either at night or in very dark conditions.
Most went into hiding for the thousand years that Princess Luna had been banished, as a great many served in her night guard, and their nocturnal nature had earned them the moniker of "Luna's Faithful".
The thestrals were also known as lunar pegasi and bat ponies, as well as the rather offensive term "bug eaters" on account of their omnivorous diet, which insects were once a regular part of.
Wait a moment. Insects?
I suddenly get nervous.
"So, guard," Amber says as she walks up to us, "can the little bug come out and play for a minute?"
Vigilant frowns. "I understand this is probably like mid day for you," he chastises, "but it's the middle of the night for us, and I'm sure 'little bug' would like to catch some shut eye too."
"Maybe let him decide?" Amber countered as she looked at me. I looked back and I could feel the excitement coming off of her like she was a campfire in the winter. I look over at Vigilant with a guilty expression. The stallion lets out a breath and curses something under his breath.
"For how long?" he eventually asks the mare.
"Just an hour or so," she replies, "but we'll have to go to town square. That's where the rest are gathered."
Again, Vigilant lets out a sigh. "Can you give us some time to get there?"
Amber smiles. "Certainly. Just don't be squares you slowpokes!"
With that, she jumped through the window, spread her wings and flapped them hard to get her airborne into the night sky. I watch her go as I hear Vigilant mutter something about finding a cup of coffee.
Amber had left my room and flown around to the front of the castle to wait for us; she at least understood that Vigilant couldn't fly and needed to come with me. The stallion had made his way to the castle kitchens and prepared himself a cup of coffee to take with him. We both headed out the front doors and met up with Amber, who giggled as she stood up from her seat on the steps.
"You ponies sure are slow" she teased Vigilant and I.
"Hey!" Vigilant said in offense. "Thorax has to be under my watch twenty-four-seven, so wherever he goes, I have to go with him."
"Really?" Amber says with a quirked eyebrow. "Well, I guess that explains why he isn't flying."
The thestral then opens her wings and takes to the air, making a wide circle before passing over top of us.
"Just head to the center of town" she calls out as she passes over us. "All of the thestrals are gathered there. Don't be late, slowpokes!"
Vigilant and I watch as she flies off towards our destination. Vigilant lets out a breath as he takes a sip of his coffee. "Well, let's get going" he says after he's had a drink.
I nod and fall into step beside him. Everything is quiet for several minutes, and I quickly become uncomfortable.
"So," I begin awkwardly, "have you dealt with thestral ponies before?"
Vigilant just looked at me and gave a short nod. "Yeah. I got put on night shift a few days after Princess Luna returned. You see, when the princess came back, the guard was inundated with applications from thestrals to join. They held Luna in high reverence and consider her their patron, so for them to be able to serve under her as guards is a very high honor."
"Wow" is all that I can really say to that.
Vigilant nods. "Yeah, it is admirable. However, things weren't easy. A lot of guard ponies looked very skeptically at the first batch of thestral recruits. They had it a bit rougher than normal recruits because of having to change their sleep schedule."
I looked at Vigilant with confusion. "Sleep schedule?"
"When the thestral guards first joined," Vigilant elaborates, "we only had day guard protocols to go by, so the basic guard training all took place during the day, so they had to go against their natural instincts and sleep during the night and be awake during the day."
I wilt a little bit hearing that. "That kinda sucks."
"It does," he agrees, "but take that sudden change to sleep schedule and dump the thestrals natural aversion to bright lights and intensity of guard training on top, and you have a guard class that only graduated about three thestral guards out of sixty recruits."
Upon hearing that number, I look at Vigilant dumbstruck. "Th-Three out of sixty?!"
Vigilant nods, then continues.
"Of course, this was considered unacceptable, and Princess Celestia ordered an investigation into what happened. When it concluded, she appointed the three thestral graduates to a committee to help establish a guard training regimen specifically designed for thestrals so that they could complete the guard training within acceptable parameters."
"As an apology, she struck the first groups failures from the record and permitted the ones that wished to apply again to do so with the new course that was more favorable to thestral recruits. All the failed thestrals applied and each one passed."
"Since then, each new class of recruits is trained with the new protocols."
"What kind of new protocols?" I ask, then add, "i-if you don't mind my asking."
Vigilant shakes his head. "I don't mind. Really, the only differences are it takes place at night and is modeled more after the training regimen for pegasi than other ponies. The three graduates were given abbreviated tours of duty and brought back to Canterlot as instructors. They helped with some fine tuning to take advantage of several thestral traits, like improved night vision and more sensitive hearing."
"In the here and now, the night guard is almost entirely thestral, with the exception of some rare nocturnal unicorns."
"Nocturnal unicorns?" I ask, slightly confused by the subject.
"They're extremely rare," Vigilant tells me, "almost as rare as alicorns. They have eyes like thestrals but are unicorns mostly. In truth, they come about if their lineage has any trace of thestrals in it."
"Wow," I respond, "I didn't know the tribes intermingled as much as they did after the unification."
"Love is love," Vigilant replies with a chuckle, "and your kind are only concerned with feeding off it like a hot lunch."
I could tell Vigilant meant that as a joke, but what he said hurt me a little inside. Even with ponies that I'd gotten so much closer to, I still had an image to overcome.
Vigilant, upon seeing my reaction, becomes very apologetic. "I am SO sorry, Thorax. I didn't mean that as a jab at you. You're way different than the other changelings, and maybe you are right and there's some that see more eye to eye with your way of thinking."
I wave him off with a hoof. "It's okay. I know that you didn't mean it. It's just that that reminded me of how much further I have to go for true acceptance, and how far I've come seems so little by comparison."
"It is a lot, Thorax" Vigilant says with determination in his voice. "You're walking around in a pony town without having to wear a disguise and you haven't been attacked or lynched or anything negative of that sort, nor has anypony bolted from the town in a panic. You're the only changeling that holds that claim."
I smile at Vigilant's encouragement. He is right; I'm the only changeling in Equestria that can walk around without wearing a disguise and not be afraid of the consequences. No other members of my hive can make that claim, even if they tried to disguise as me. More than that, I had actual friends now, and they would make sure I didn't come to harm from somepony or a member of my hive sent to recapture or kill me.
"Aw, I think his smiles are just as cute as yours, Honeydew."
The voice catches us both off guard as we look around. We'd made it to the center of town, and upon looking up, we find ourselves surrounded by thestral ponies, all of them perched on rooftops, their slitted eyes fixed on us.
To be perfectly honest, it was a good bit unnerving.
Before either Vigilant or I could respond, a thestral stallion took to the air and glided down to us. From what I could tell, he was an older male, and he had some scars from what appeared to have been a rather intense fight. Once he landed, he walked over to us and looked us over.
"Vigilant, right?" the stallion asked the guard next to me. Vigilant gave a nod in reply. The thestral looked at him more sternly.
"I know I'm retired," he begins, "but I was under the impression that subordinates still saluted their superior officers, whether they're active duty or retired."
Vigilant looked at the stallion for a few seconds before his face went flush and his hoof went to his brow in a sharp gesture. "M-My apologies, sir!" he spits out.
"At ease" the thestral says, which causes Vigilant's hoof to return to the ground. The stallion turns to face me.
"My name is Orion," he introduces himself, "and I am the acting representative of the thestral population of Ponyville."
He then gestures to a rooftop behind him, where a familiar thestral is sitting and waving to us. "I believe you've already met my daughter Amber earlier tonight."
"We have" I respond.
"Good" he says with a small smile on his muzzle. Turning to face the group, he makes a gesture with his ears, and the other thestrals perk up theirs.
"Friends," he says at a volume just above private conversation but quiet enough it wouldn't disturb sleeping ponies, "we are gathered here during the princess's glorious night because the pony world, or more specifically Ponyville, have just met a former enemy who has chosen to embrace friendship and harmony as we do. In the interest of promoting a lasting peace, I believe we should all give a warm welcome to our newest friend, Thorax."
The thestrals all let out a series of quiet chirping sounds after Orion said this, which I assume was their way of saying hello or welcome. It was barely audible to me, but then I shifted my ear canal into one more sensitive to noise and I could hear what sounded like some strange language I'd never heard before.
Its structure seemed to be in squeaking and chirping noises, and with varying pitches. They spoke it so fast, it was hard to discern exactly what was being said. Unfortunately, I would have to learn the language if I wanted to ever understand it at the very least; something told me I'd have to change my voice box if I ever wanted to speak it.
Orion raised a hoof and the sounds stopped. He began to address the audience again.
"Now, we all remember the time before Princess Luna's return to us. It was not a good time for thestrals in the first hundred or so years after her banishment had begun, but things did improve. Princess Celestia, keeper of the sun, saw fit to eject the nobility that sought to hunt our kind and force us out of the kingdom, fearing that we would rebel because of what happened to the princess of the night."
There were murmurs among the thestrals, but Orion chose to ignore them.
"That fear was unfounded, and born from the same place many fears are born - ignorance. It is through this willful stupidity that we have seen the worst of Equestria, and it is only through the elimination of this ignorance that we can move forward and make a much better world for ourselves."
"In that spirit," Orion then faces me, "I would like to ask Thorax to answer the questions that we have for him. Thorax, will you help quell our ignorance?"
I looked at the stallion for a moment before nodding. He was wise, as one would expect from age, and quite correct in his assessment; many fears were born from ignorance. I stepped forward and looked around at the thestral gathering. In total, it appeared to be somewhere just less than one hundred ponies.
"H-Hello" I say to the crowd. "Um, I'm sorry if any of you have trouble hearing me."
"You're good" Orion said to me. "Most thestrals have exceptionally good hearing. The level you're speaking at is just right for this kind of thing."
I look at him and then take a breath to calm myself. "Thank you" I say to him. "I was afraid of not being loud enough."
Orion smiles and nods, then takes a step back as he watches the crowd's reactions.
"Your, uh, representative?" I say as I look back at Orion, who nods. "He's asked me to answer your questions. I'll be glad to, but my hearing isn't quite as good as you all, so if I call on you to ask a question, please come forward more so I can hear you a bit better."
Surprisingly, all the thestrals took off from the roofs and glided down the ground, quickly gathering around the fountain. Quickly, the air filled with excitement, and Orion had to step in.
"Please, everypony!" he admonished the gathered group. "We are going to become too loud for the others in their sleep."
Orion then faced me and Vigilant. "Would either of you be objectionable to relocating this gathering to the schoolhouse?" he asked.
I was uncertain, but then I heard the sound of liquid sloshing around in a cup, which caused me to turn around and see Vigilant gesturing with the mug he'd brought for himself.
"Only if I can get another cup of coffee."