Seven changelings led by a blue-eyed young queen descended towards a small town on the edge of the Everfree forest. Contrary to most of the places in Equestria this settlement was surrounded on all sides by wooden fortifications and the two guards keeping watch by a wooden gate looked a bit more scarred than the usual sort. They tensed up when they spotted the visitors but there wasn't any attempt at closing the town gate or calling for reinforcements.
With thin layer of snow crunching under their hooves the changelings approached the guards carefully, ready to either take flight again or strike down an attacker. They could feel the guards' fear but they were nervous as well. When they got close enough the guards raised their spears resulting in the queen taking a step back and all other changelings creating a half-circle around the gate. The standoff under grey sky full of uncertainty began.
"F-f-f-friend or foe?" asked one of the guards.
The changelings exchanged glances. Some of them hadn't wanted to leave their respective homes after being called by their queen but nonetheless most of them were here right now and ready to wreak havoc on anypony deserving it. They had heard the story about what happened to their king but they also remembered his wish for them to join the society and be something other than just predators.
"Friend," said the queen after a moment of hesitation.
"What is the reason for your visit... friends?" said the more scarred and experienced guard.
"Does your town need somepony to do odd jobs around the place or help guarding it at night?"
The guard waved his hoof towards the wooden fortifications.
"This is the Everfree forest and we could always use strong lads to help out here and there. Follow me!"
Walking to the town hall, the queen felt the gazes full of suspicion from the townsfolk. One thing the Nightmares had advantage in over normal changelings was that inherent fear all around sustained them and after all they had survived they weren't keen on not using an offered opportunity.
"I must admit I wasn't expecting such a warm welcome," said the queen in complete honesty.
"Princess Celestia and queen Chrysalis signed a peace treaty last week and armed forces aren't supposed to attack changelings on sight anymore. Any changelings seeking their place are to be given a chance but kept under supervision."
"Would it be too much to ask to keep our presence here a secret from the royals?"
"We're going to the town hall to see the mayor. He will handle your situation. A smart guy like him will find a use for you and there are some free houses after some of our neighbours got drafted in the army and failed to return."
"Thank you for giving us a chance."
The guard just smiled and ushered them inside an official looking building where a clerk sat the changelings down and led the queen towards an office with another armed pony outside of it. As the door opened before her the young queen knew she'd have to make sacrifices to make this place a home but she wasn't going to let her chance go to waste.
She was going to guide her subjects towards a better future.
With a temporary wooden bridge protected by wards and spells now crossing the Ghastly Gorge it didn't take long even for somepony without wings to reach a messy clearing in the Everfree forest. Aside from broken trees and deep scars crossing the ground this place didn't look in any way special. A casual visitor, if there was any, would more likely visit an old castle nearby or the ancient city not so much further.
For the wingless batpony slowly plodding through the snow this place was far more significant than any of the others. Like many batponies or pegasi she wasn't used to traversing long stretches of land on hoof but she was slowly getting used to it, not that she had a choice in the matter. Choking Darkness knew she was being watched but she didn't care too much.
"Huh?" she mumbled to herself when she noticed a set of hoof tracks in the snow with the same direction as her in mind.
Then she smiled. There were only two ponies who would have a reason for coming here and one of them could teleport. Her destination was close so she decided to run through the chilly air to get the blood flowing. She wasn't surprised when she reached a flattened area filled with debris and charred scratches deep in the ground and saw a white earthpony with blue mane and blue patches of fur around his hooves.
The earthpony was just standing there in silence and looking at a statue of his size depicting an armored batpony holding a shield and a spear. At the statue's legs there was an ornately bound bouqet of flowers which contrasted strangely with a bunch of random weed held together by green blob in an attempt to imitate it.
"Heya, Heavy!" she waved at the earthpony, shining light into his well of memories.
"Hello, commander," Heavy Hoof smiled back and waved as well.
There was no reason for either of them to ask why the other one was here so Choking just pointed at the strange bunch of nettles and branches of small bushes. Heavy grinned.
"Queen Chrysalis was here when I came and she felt bad when she saw what I brought."
Then his smile faded replaced by a thoughtful expression and he looked back at the batpony statue.
"Do you think he's in a better place now?" Heavy asked slowly.
"No," Choking shook her head.
Heavy lowered his head.
"That's not what I needed to-"
"He can't be in a better place because I've never seen him happier than when he was with you. You're here and he isn't so..."
Heavy sighed and turned away.
"At least he's doing what he loved - protecting something important."
"The peace between changelings and ponies to be exact. I doubt Chrysalis would have been so willing to accept the offer if he hadn't saved her during the fight here."
"Let's go back," Heavy smiled again, "I don't think Sharp would have wanted to see us freeze here."
"Maybe he'd like two other frozen-solid ponies to keep him company."
Both friends laughed and left the silent guardian of peace alone. Neither of them was aware of a third pair of eyes watching them walk away. When they left her sight the one true changeling queen hiding in the shadows turned away as well. She didn't feel anything towards the bat guard personally but his act had allowed her to accept Celestia's proposal without seeming weak. That in itself had given her the chance to save what little remained of her swarm or at least decrease the threats to it. A little offering of flowers and a safe passage to anypony deciding to visit his memorial was the least she could do to pay him back.
Choking and Heavy were heading towards the Ponyville train station to catch a ride back to Canterlot when something grabbed Choking's attention. She let Heavy go on by himself while watching a blue pony with grey mane run out of a large building and begin barking happily at everypony around and rolling in snow. Unconsciously her hoof touched the necklace she was wearing.
Sombra's army had disappeared without a trace two diplomacy and action filled weeks ago. Both princesses were still in recovery and right now it was Twilight Sparkle who had been observing the rift during the invasion who was responsible for important decisions in governing Equestria. None of that mattered to Choking right now because she was standing still and curiously watching the building with large letters above the main entrance reading Ponyville Mental Institution.
She didn't know what she was looking for. She didn't know if there actually was anything to look for but when she turned her head she caught a glimpse of something in one of the reinforced windows. By the looks of it the building was partially a mental asylum and partially a recovery resort for those suffering temporary breakdowns which meant that aside from the prison-esque building there was a huge open space around it filled with greenery and other things pleasing the eye. The interest in being outside was slightly dampened by the weather but there still were few nurses pushing wheelchairs and talking to their occupants.
The window which caught Choking's attention was one of the heavily secured ones but nopony was trying to stop her when she approached the side of the building and looked up to the second floor. A shadow passed the window when she was trying to focus and disappeared. She shook her head but she was on vacation by order of Luna herself so she had enough time to walk inside the building.
"Visiting somepony?" asked a pleasant male voice when she stopped by the reception counter.
"Hm?"
"Visiting a friend? There were some guards admitted here after recent events," a doctor-looking brown unicorn asked and pointed to the Nightguard badge Choking was used to wearing no matter the situation.
"I... just thought I saw somepony familiar around here."
"Do you want a tour? During this time of the year there are mostly just long-term patients here so while a lot of our nurses got sent out to hospitals to help with PTSD patients there still isn't too much to do and I could use a break from all the paperwork."
"No patients and too much paperwork?" Choking raised an eyebrow.
"You have no idea about bureaucracy, young lady. It has no connection with actual reality," the doctor smiled.
"Alright, thanks for the offer."
She didn't notice the doctor observing her carefully as she led the way upstairs and examined all the doors. The doctor stopped in front of one indistinguishable from the others.
"This is our newest inmate. A bit of a mystery if you ask me. Guards found him wandering on the edge of Everfree forest few days ago, starving. They said he wasn't agressive or anything and just began following them so they led him here."
He unlocked the door and Choking stepped into a small room where she froze and her eyes went wide at the sight of a unicorn with broken horn cowering in the corner.
"Do-do you know what happened to him?" she asked carefully.
"When he got here I diagnosed him with a severe case of... a lot of things. I don't want to bother you with medical mumbo-jumbo so I'll just say his symptoms resembled somepony suffering from serious lack of sleep - paranoia, hallucinations and so forth. When that happens the brain just sort of begins eating itself."
"He doesn't seem that bad."
"Well, when he came here we gave him something to eat and he spent about two days straight sleeping and he doesn't have a problem with it right now so whatever bothered him must be gone."
"So... are you saying he's okay?"
"Did I say that? No. If I was right in my diagnosis then the damage he's suffered is permanent or at least very long-lasting."
He looked at the shaking bronze unicorn in the corner.
"I gave him a complete physical and outside of his head he seemed fine and in great shape... well, almost starved to death of course."
"Hmmm," Choking said carefully and took few steps towards the obviously terrified figure.
The doctor stepped out of the door to the hall and watched the duo, careful for the patient not to see him.
It didn't take long for the unicorn to stand up, walk up to the batpony visitor and lick the stumps of her wings. It didn't seem a sexual thing to the doctor, more like an animal seeing one of its kind in pain and trying to help. The last thing the doctor needed to see was that the batpony guard just stood there and let that happen. He walked back in and the unicorn patient just sat down and cast his blank stare at the floor again.
"Do you know him?"
"No," Choking answered immediately.
"I am a trained psychologist, miss."
Choking smiled to herself. What would happen if Luna, Twilight or Heavy found out? What would happen if she kept coming here to visit from time to time? What was waiting for her in the guard?
"A life for a life," she muttered to herself.
"Miss?" asked the doctor.
"Nothing. On a completely unrelated note - you said you were understaffed. Do you need a nurse... or a bouncer?"
The doctor smiled.
"I think I could think of something. After some training you might even get a patient into personal care."
"Is there a chance, you know, he'll recognize me one day?"
"You said you didn't know him."
"You said you were a trained psychologist."
"Touche, miss. Truth be told, I don't know."
"There's always hope, right?"
"One in a million."
"Yea... he is."