Chapter 13: The Times They Are A Changeling
On the Friendship Express, Twilight, Dusk, Nyx, Daylight, Spike, Starlight and Silverstream were in a train car as the train was heading to the Crystal Empire. Dusk, Nyx and Daylight were working on their homework on the train ride.
"I hope Shining Armor and Princess Cadance don't think it's too soon for all of us to come back to the Crystal Empire for a visit," Twilight said. "But I just know Flurry Heart's grown so much already. I wonder if I'll even recognize her."
"She's the only baby they have, Twilight," Starlight said. "I think it'll be pretty easy to figure out who she is." Twilight responded with an annoyed grunt. "Sorry. I know you want to visit your niece as much as possible, and I'm excited to see Sunburst again. I just don't wanna fall behind on my friendship lessons back home."
"Starlight, your work in Ponyville isn't going anywhere," Twilight said. "Besides, I think we all know you can learn about friendship anywhere. Right, Spike?" They looked towards where Spike was sitting, which was across from them, and in the same sitting area as Dusk, Nyx and Daylight. Spike was wearing a trench coat, sunglasses and a fedora. He also had a newspaper in his hands.
"'Spike?' Who's 'Spike'?" Spike asked, making his voice deeper.
"Spike, what are you doing?" Daylight asked.
"Spike's still the hero to the eyes of the Crystal Ponies," Dusk said. "Ever since the Equestria Games."
"Which you weren't here in Equestria yet," Nyx said.
"And yet, even with Flurry Heart being born, I still got mobbed," Spike said, taking off the hat and sunglasses.
"I wouldn't say mobbed," Starlight said.
"And this is just a family visit," Spike said. " I wouldn't want the presence of Spike the Brave and Glorious to turn it into some kind of circus."
Silverstream squealed and said, "I've never been to an above sea circus!"
"We get it, Spike," Starlight said. "The Crystal Ponies adore you."
"He did save the Empire. Twice," Twilight said. "But still, I don't think your presence will turn our visit into a circus."
"Not if I find the right disguise, it won't," Spike said. They all looked at Spike, seeing not only did he have the hat and sunglasses back on, but he also had an orange afro wig under the hat.
Dusk, Nyx and Daylight laughed at Spike having the wig on under the hat.
When they arrived at the Crystal Empire Train Station, there wasn't even a single pony there. Nopony coming in, or anypony to be meeting with any arriving ponies.
"Uh, disguise or not, Spike, I don't think you need to worry about being mobbed," Starlight said. "Nopony's here."
They looked all over, seeing nothing but a tumbleweed rolling around. Dusk then said, "That's odd."
"You're telling me, Dusk," Spike said. "It's like a ghost town."
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Twilight said.
"Technically, I wasn't talking about nopony being around," Dusk said. "I was talking about that tumbleweed."
"Oh, yeah," Twilight said. "The Crystal Empire's in the frozen tundra. Why is there a tumbleweed up here?" Everypony, Spike and Silverstream shrugged their shoulders. Then they headed towards the main area of the Crystal Empire.
"Yeah, this is weird," Starlight said as they were all looking around, heading towards the castle.
"I guess I don't need the disguise after all," Spike said, taking off his hat, wig and sunglasses. But as soon as he did, they were all surrounded by Crystal Ponies, all excited to see him.
"It's Spike the Brave and Glorious!" a butter yellow crystal pony mare with a mane of blue and pink shouted.
"He's come to save us yet again!" a purple crystal pony mare with a mane that had two shades of yellow said. Then the ponies started tossing up and catching him, his disguise completely off. They were also chanting his name.
"Save you from what?" Spike asked.
Twilight, Starlight, Dusk, Nyx, Daylight and Silverstream looked at each other in confusion. Starlight then asked, "Yeah, what's going on?"
The two crystal pony mares looked back at Twilight, Dusk, Nyx, Daylight, Starlight and Silverstream. One mare was very light purple with a mane that was colored with two shades of orange. The other was yellow with a red and pink mane. Both of them looked at the group nervously.
"Oh, it sure looks like Princess Twilight, her family and her pupil," the purple mare said.
"But how can we be sure?" the yellow mare asked. Then an orange crystal pony stallion with a mane with two shades of green came up.
"We can't! Either one of them could be the..." He said before facing the two mares. "...you know!" He then zoomed off. Then Twilight, Starlight, Dusk, Nyx, Daylight and Silverstream looked at each other confused.
Then the purple crystal pony mare gasped and asked, "What if this..." She gasped again. "...isn't..." And gasped again. "...the real Spike?!"
The yellow mare looked towards the crowd, got on her hind legs, and cried out, "Everypony, run!" Then all the crystal ponies ran from that spot where Spike was looking around, while still in the air. He then fell to the ground with a painful grunt.
"Wow!" Silverstream said. "These Crystal Ponies sure like to move fast!"
"Okay. Something strange is definitely going on," Twilight said.
Spike groaned while sitting up and said, "Ya think?"
"We should go to the castle," Dusk said. "Maybe Shining and Cadance can tell us what's going on."
"Yeah, what is happening here?" Daylight asked as they all walked towards the castle. But then the Watcher appeared in the sky, making sure that no one saw them.
"Oh, Dusk Shine. You have no idea what's going on. Even something I never saw coming."
It then went back in time to the day that Thorax came to the Crystal Empire. He was flying towards the Crystal Empire, being drawn by the love from the Royal Crystalling.
"As you all know, Thorax came to the Crystal Empire being drawn in from the Royal Crystalling. All that love power attracted him there. In your universe, Thorax came to the Crystal Empire alone. But in this universe..."
Thorax arrived just outside the Crystal Empire, and looked around, making sure that nopony was looking. He then looked out at the open space.
"Okay, the coast is clear!" Thorax whispered loudly. Just then, over a hill, a younger changeling poked her head and looked towards Thorax.
She then walked towards Thorax quietly. She then asked, "Are you sure it's okay for us to be here?"
"We're only here to survive, since we can never go back to the hive again," Thorax said. "C'mon, Ocellus, we've got to find a place to camp out. Hopefully, we'll be able to survive."
"Are you really sure that befriending ponies would sustain us?" Ocellus asked. "You know what happens when we even think of doing kind things." She then started twitching. She then hissed. Thorax ran towards her, covered her mouth, and backed up to a wall, hoping that nopony would see them.
"What was that?" came the voice of a mare. Thorax and Ocellus looked towards the corner. Then they both shapeshifted into rocks, and stayed perfectly still. Then a pink Crystal Pony mare came around the corner, looking around. "Huh. Guess it was just the wind." She then headed back down the alley. Then the two changelings disguised as rocks opened up their eyes.
"Okay, maybe we should set up camp outside of the empire first, then check out the place first," Thorax said.
"That might be best," Ocellus said.
"And set up camp they did. But eventually, one of them got caught in their true forms, causing panic in the Crystal Empire. So they had to lay low for a while."
It then showed Shining and Cadance telling Twilight, Dusk, Nyx, Daylight, Starlight and Silverstream about what was going on.
"The Prince and Princess of the Empire, along with Sunburst, told the family, Starlight and Silverstream about what was going on. Of course, Daylight had no idea what a changeling is, and Dusk told her everything. He even told her how he came face to face with the queen of the changelings, Chrysalis. Eventually, the guards spread out to find the changeling before they thought it would be too late. Of course they think that the changelings there will attack. But we all know that they won't."
Outside of the Crystal Empire, Spike, Daylight and some of the Crystal Guards walked out through the snow, looking for any sign of changelings. There were six guards. Five of them were purple and one was yellow. Two of the purple guards and the yellow guard had green manes, two of the other guards had red manes, and the last guard had a gray mane.
"Spike the Brave and Glorious, you've faced the evil changelings before," the yellow guard said. "What can you tell us?"
Spike turned to face the guards and said, "Oh, uh, well, they are changelings, so they can... change."
"You hear that?" the yellow guard asked, looking at his fellow guards. "These monsters can look like any of us, so be on guard, guards! Even more than normal."
Spike smiled confidently, liking the fact that he was the one in charge. He then said, "And they could be anywhere." The guards there nodded while Daylight facehoofed. "So we should cover as much ground as possible." He then pointed at three of the guards, the three purple guards having one of the red maned ones, one of the green maned ones, and the gray maned one. "You, search that way!" He was pointing west, as those three guards rushed in that direction. "And you, search that way!" He pointed east, which the remaining guards went in that direction. Spike and Daylight stayed where they were.
"Uh... Spike," Daylight said. "Did you seriously send our protectors off in separate directions, and not give us any supervision?"
"Yeah, I didn't really think that through," Spike said. "But, you didn't have to come along, Daylight. You didn't even know what a Changeling was before today."
"I still can't believe that Henry encountered the queen of those things," Daylight said, heading towards a rock. "If they're as dangerous as you say, I don't think we should be out here by our..." She then fell through a hole in the snow, crying out, "SEEEEEEEEEELVES!"
"Daylight!!" Spike called out, jumping down the hole, trying to catch Daylight. But as soon as they reached the bottom of the slope, they crashed into a stalagmite near a cliff, Spike being on Daylight's back.
"Okay, that hurt," Daylight said.
"Yeah, sorry," Spike said. He then recovered, grabbed Daylight's tail, and pulled her back away from the cliff. "I think it's time for the two of us to get out of here." He then saw something and screamed, making Daylight scream as well. But then they relaxed when they saw it was their reflections. "Oh, it's just a mirror. Just our reflections."
Daylight sighed and said, "Let's get out of here." Then they started walking towards the slope, but the reflections didn't do what they did. Daylight and Spike then looked back at their reflections, seeing that they were copying their actions. Spike and Daylight then looked at each other with smirks on their faces. Then they started spinning around, their reflections doing the same.
Spike and Daylight did one pose where they were leaning back, them holding each other's right hoof/hand, the reflection doing the same with their left. Then they spun around again, then they were standing back to back, their reflections doing the same. Then they spun around again. This time, Daylight was holding Spike over her head and standing on her hind legs. But that's when the reflections got busted, because in the reflection it was Spike holding up Daylight. Spike then saw the reflection.
"What the heck?!" Spike asked, seeing the reflections in the wrong position. The reflections got nervous looks, the reflective Spike putting the reflective Daylight down, and the two of them transforming, revealing that they were changelings. Spike and Daylight screamed. "Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changelings!" He then started running away from there as Daylight slowly stepped back.
"No, wait! Come back!" the older changeling, being Thorax, called out. But neither Daylight nor Spike were listening. Just then, Spike crashed into the stalagmite, making him dizzy, and falling off the cliff.
"Spike!" Daylight said. Just then, the two changelings flew over Daylight's head, flying down the cliff side, and catching Spike. Daylight was surprised at that. "Did... not see that coming."
"This is unexpected," Spike said as the two changelings were bringing him back up. He was then dropped onto Daylight's back.
"Sorry for scaring you two," the younger changeling, being Ocellus, said.
"The ice is pretty slippery," Thorax said. "We wouldn't want the two of you to get hurt because of us."
"You... saved me?" Spike asked, still a little confused about what happened.
"It's okay. I know you don't wanna be friends," Thorax said. Then Thorax and Ocellus started walking away.
"Hold up!" Daylight said, making the two changelings stop.
"Yeah, we don't understand," Spike said. "Changelings are supposed to be evil... right?"
"Evil?" Thorax asked. "Oh, not us. All I ever wanted was a friend. From the moment I first split my egg in the nursery hive."
"Okay, ew," Daylight said. "I knew bugs came from eggs, but seeing how big you changelings can be, it just sounds very disgusting."
"Just wait until you find out where babies come from," Spike said. Thorax and Ocellus nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, I was part of the attack on Canterlot during the royal wedding, but I'd never seen true friendship like that!" Thorax continued. "And I couldn't just steal it and feed on its love. I wanted to share it! After that, I knew I couldn't live with my kind anymore. I set off looking for love to share, but..."
"But... what?" Spike asked.
"We're starving," Ocellus said. "He talked me into his idea, and when I suggested it to the queen, she banished me from the hive. He took full responsibility and took me to a different area of Equestria."
"I had to make it up for her being banished, so I ran away from the hive to take care of her," Thorax said. "It was my idea in the first place, so I had to be the one responsible. Since there's so much love in the Crystal Empire right now. It's what drew us here! But it's drivin' us crazy!" Both of the changelings were jittering.
"Maybe the Royal Crystalling drew the two of you here," Daylight said.
"She's right," Spike said. "It's pretty much a giant outpouring of light and love for a new baby." Just then, Thorax and Ocellus both hissed at the two. But then they stopped when they were realizing what they were doing.
"Oh, sorry! We're just so hungry!" Thorax apologized. "If we had some friends, maybe the love we shared could sustain us, but I don't think the Crystal Ponies want to be friends with us."
Spike was thinking of what to do. He then got an idea and asked, "What if I told you there was somepony they respect and admire so much, he could convince them to give it a try?"
"Like that's gonna happen," Ocellus said.
"Actually, Spike may be onto something," Daylight said. "He's basically a hero to the Crystal Ponies here."
"You're kidding!" Thorax said.
"No, she's not," Spike said. "It is I, Spike the Brave and Glorious! I'm sure that you two have heard of me." Thorax and Ocellus shook their heads.
"Nope," Thorax said. "But we were raised by an evil queen. I'm Thorax, and this is Ocellus."
"I still can't believe you two are willing to help us," Ocellus said.
"Why? Hasn't anypony ever just been nice to you two?" Spike asked.
Thorax and Ocellus gave genuine smiles, but they quickly faded away when they hissed at the two. They then stopped and Thorax said, "Uh! S-Sorry! Kindness like that kind of brings it out."
"Are you two still wanting to be our friends?" Ocellus asked.
"Of course! And I am one hundred percent sure we can get the whole Crystal Empire to be your friends too," Spike said. Just then, Thorax and Ocellus hissed at Spike, but then they covered their mouths. "But... maybe we should just, uh, talk to them first." Thorax and Ocellus nodded, giving muffled grunts as well.
"Maybe I should keep an eye on them until you get back," Daylight said. "If things don't go as well as you hoped and they ask where I am, just say I'm in a public restroom."
"Good call," Spike said. He then headed out of there. The Watcher then appeared over them, not being seen by any of them.
"Things did not go as well as they hoped. Spike tried convincing the Crystal Guards that they could try making friends with the Changelings, but all they did was laugh in his face. But Spike was not gonna give up, and neither was Daylight Savings. So they hatched a plan to get the ponies to be friends with Thorax and Ocellus without even realizing they were changelings."
Spike and Daylight walked into the castle, Thorax and Ocellus following. But they were disguised now.
Daylight looked at both Thorax and Ocellus and said, "Okay, we're gonna have to come up with a cover story for you two before anypony..."
"Spike! Daylight!" came Twilight's voice. They all looked towards the voice and they saw Twilight, Dusk and Nyx walking up to them. "If you two are done searching for the changeling, Starlight and I could use your help. We're working on a protection spell for Flurry Heart. And nopony takes notes like you, Spike."
"Uh, actually, Twilight, I, uh, wanted to introduce you to my friend, uh..." Spike said, trying to come up with a cover name for Thorax. "Uh, Crystal, uh... Hoof! Crystal Hoof!" He then chuckled. "My good friend, Crystal Hoof."
"Nice to meet you," Thorax said, raising a hoof.
"Oh. Well, it's, uh, nice to meet you, too," Twilight said, shaking Thorax's hoof. "How do you know Spike?"
"Oh, uh, Spike and I go way back," Thorax said, coming up with a cover story.
"To the Equestria Games!" Spike said, quickly. He was trying to hide the fact that Thorax and Ocellus didn't know that the Crystal Empire wasn't around for that long. "That's when we met. We've been pen pals ever since."
"Pen pals?" Twilight asked, getting into Spike's face. "Spike! You could have been using my pen pal quill set! Why didn't you tell me?"
"I like to brag to all my friends about my letters from Spike the Brave and Glorious," Thorax said.
"Hang on," Dusk said, inspecting Thorax's pony form. "You... look familiar."
"Hey, yeah, you're right," Nyx said. "I swear I've seen your face before."
"Oh, maybe you caught a glimpse at him during the Equestria Games," Spike said, smiling nervously and sweating.
"Yeah," Thorax said. "Maybe you've seen me around then. Surely you'll recognize this blue face."
"Yeah, and his bloodline is pretty..." Daylight said, trying to come up with something, but was cut off.
"Wait a minute, now I recognize you," Dusk said. "You were that pony that helped us out when Blueblood gathered a mob of angry ponies to try and hurt Nyx for crimes she hasn't done."
"Oh, yeah, that was him!" Nyx said.
"Uh..." Spike said before Thorax cut him off.
"Oh, yeah," Thorax said, remembering that event. "That's right, you two young alicorns were on a zeppelin cruise with your grandparents, and then that cruel-minded prince tried attacking you for crimes you didn't do."
"That was you?" Twilight asked. "Oh, I am so grateful for what you've done that day. Thank you for protecting my foals."
"No problem," Thorax said. He then saw Ocellus's pony form and said, "Oh, this is... uh..." He couldn't come up with a cover name for Ocellus.
"I'm Gentle Bug," Ocellus said, coming up with her cover name. "I, uh, ended up here by mistake. I got on the train here, and I was about to get on a train back to Manehattan, but then the Empire went under complete isolation due to the Changeling sighting."
"Oh, I'm sorry about that," Twilight said.
"Y-yeah," Thorax said. "I... I'm watching over her until the Changeling threat is over."
"That's very nice of you, Crystal Hoof," Twilight said. "Well, I'm sure Starlight and I can manage without you, Spike, if you want to spend time with your friend."
"Great!" Spike said. "Crystal Hoof promised to take me around the city." Twilight, Dusk and Nyx walked away from the group as Spike, Daylight, Thorax and Ocellus started walking down the hall.
"Oh, that was amazing!" Thorax said.
"I told ya," Spike said. "Also, nice job going along with what Dusk and Nyx said."
"Yeah, you almost had us convinced that you actually did expose that pompous prince before I got here," Daylight said. "Nyx told me about that day."
Thorax giggled and said, "That's because I actually did do that!"
"You what?!" Spike and Daylight asked.
"I've heard of Blueblood, and there's no way anypony, or any creature, would actually listen to him after exposing him for the psycho he truly is," Thorax said.
"Good call," Ocellus said. "Now, let's see the Crystal Empire."
Time has passed since then. Outside of the Empire, in the frozen tundra, Spike and Daylight were heading for the tunnel that led to where Thorax and Ocellus were hiding.
"It all went really well for all of them. But then came the chance that Thorax and Ocellus met Flurry Heart. But, that was too much love for them to even take. They eventually exposed themselves as the Changelings. Spike and Daylight tried to get them to stand down, but nopony was really listening. And so, Thorax and Ocellus were chased out of the castle, feeling betrayed that Spike didn't defend them at the end. But, there is still time for the ponies to get to know Thorax and Ocellus."
Spike and Daylight ran into the cave and were looking around.
"Thorax! Ocellus!" Spike called out. "We just want to apologize!" Daylight then smacked the back of Spike's head. Spike turned to face her, but she was giving him a death glare. Spike then said, "I just want to apologize! I should have stood up for you..." He then looked around, looking for Thorax and Ocellus. He then checked under a rock to see if he transformed into something small. "Aw, come on, Thorax! I know you and Ocellus are here!"
"Spike," Daylight said. "Neither of them trust you anymore. You called them evil in front of their faces. They could probably be moving far away from the Crystal Empire by now."
Spike sighed, sat down, leaned on the rock and said, "You're right." He then hugged his knees. "I should've stood up for them. Even if it means giving up everypony's faith in me."
"That would get them to listen," Daylight said, getting up on another rock. "If you want the ponies to actually listen to you about Thorax and Ocellus, we'll have to stick up for them. In front of the faces of Mom, Aunt Cadance, Uncle Shining, and all the guards in the throne room. And we're gonna need Thorax and Ocellus with us to do it."
"You're right," Spike said. "And I'm sure that they'll listen. Especially since Thorax actually was the pony that helped Dusk and Nyx that day."
"That was actually him?!" came Dusk's voice. Spike and Daylight looked towards the tunnel, seeing Dusk and Nyx coming into the cave. "So this is where you found the changelings? Huh."
"Yeah," Daylight said. "They weren't really here to attack. They just... wanted to make some friends."
"Make friends?" Nyx asked. She then started thinking. "Wait a minute. Changelings feed on love to sustain themselves. And Chrysalis thinks the only way for changelings to survive is to disguise themselves as a pony's loved one. But if changelings could actually make friends in their true forms..."
"They could feed off their own love, and wouldn't have to steal from other creatures," Dusk said. "And Chrysalis must not know that."
"No, she doesn't," came Ocellus's voice. The three ponies and Spike looked around, looking for Ocellus.
"Ocellus?" Daylight asked. "Where are you?" Just then, the rock that Daylight was sitting on transformed, revealing that it was Ocellus. "Whoa! Okay, that was freaky."
"Sorry," Ocellus said.
"Ocellus, I'm sorry for what I said," Spike said, standing on the rock he was standing by. "I didn't mean what I said about you or Thorax. Speaking of whom, do you know where he is?"
"You're... standing on him," Ocellus said.
"What?!" Spike asked. He then looked down. Just then, a pair of angry changeling eyes came from the rock, looking up at Spike.
"You turned your back on us, Spike!" Thorax said.
"I know, and I'm sorry," Spike apologized. He then sighed, got an angry look and started heading to the tunnel
"And where are you going?" Thorax asked.
"To the castle throne room," Spike said. "To do something I should've done. And I need both you and Ocellus to come." Thorax transformed back into his true form with a confused look. He and Ocellus looked at each other, not knowing what Spike was going with.
Spike, Dusk, Nyx, Daylight, Thorax and Ocellus were walking towards the Throne Room, Spike in the lead. They heard voices they all recognize coming from the throne room.
"I know it's bad that there's a changeling around, but is all this really necessary?" Starlight's voice asked.
"If there are two changelings, there may well be a whole army on the way," Princess Cadance replied.
"True. But Starlight has a point," Twilight said. "This is getting a little out of hand."
Cadance sighed and said, "I understand, but I don't know what else we can do." The group then entered the throne room.
"I do!" Spike said, getting the attention of all the ponies in the throne room. All the ponies gasped seeing Thorax and Ocellus in the room.
"Spike, Dusk, Nyx, Daylight! What are you doing?!" Shining Armor asked. "Get away from those things!"
"No!" Spike snapped. "They aren't 'things'! Their names are Thorax and Ocellus, and they're our friends!" Most of the ponies in the room gasped. Twilight was unsure of it.
The guards still gave off angry expressions towards the group that came through the door. Especially Shining Armor. But then, Twilight passed between Shining and the guard on his left with a stern look towards Spike. But it then faded when she spoke.
"Spike, I'm so proud of you," Twilight said.
"Of course!" Twilight said, nuzzling Spike's cheek. "You're a celebrity here in the Crystal Empire, and you just risked all of it for a friend! I can't imagine anything more brave than that." She then faced towards the guards, Shining Armor, Cadance, Starlight, Sunburst and Flurry Heart. "As the Princess of Friendship, I try to set an example for all of Equestria. But today, it was Spike who taught me that a new friend can come from anywhere. I guess everypony still has things to learn about friendship. Even me! And if Spike says Thorax and Ocellus are his, Dusk's, Nyx's and Daylight's friends, then they're my friends too." She turned to face Thorax and Ocellus, raising a hoof.
Thorax had tears coming from his eyes. He extended his hoof, shook Twilight's hoof and said, "Thank you." He then wiped the tears coming from his eye.
Cadance, Shining Armor, Starlight, Sunburst and Flurry Heart came up to Thorax and Ocellus. Cadance then said, "On behalf of the Crystal Empire, I would like to extend my hoof in friendship, and I'm sure all of my subjects are eager to do the same." Then all the guards cheered as Thorax and Ocellus looked up at Cadance, shedding tears of joy. Just then, Cadance held up Flurry Heart in her magic. Thorax and Ocellus were surprised at that. Flurry cooed and reached out for the two of them, making the two changelings smile.
"Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Thorax and Ocellus," Shining Armor said. "I'm sorry we didn't take the time to get to know you two. Maybe we can change that now."
"That'd be so amazing!" Thorax said. "Ocellus and I want to know all about friendship, and maybe one day we can take that knowledge back to the Changeling Kingdom! If our kind learned how to create love for one another, maybe they wouldn't have to take it from others!"
"To Spike the Brave and Glorious!" the yellow Crystal Guard said. Then the guards came in and lifted Spike, Dusk, Nyx, Daylight, Thorax and Ocellus up. Spike and Thorax looked at each other, and Spike gave Thorax a thumbs up.
Twilight smiled at her kids proudly as Starlight walked up to her and said, "Looks like you were right after all."
"Right about what?" Twilight asked.
"Friendship lessons can happen anywhere," Starlight responded. Then the two of them looked back at the foals, Spike, Thorax and Ocellus.
The Watcher was watching without anyone seeing him.
"Starlight Glimmer is right about that. Friendship lessons can happen anywhere. Even in other universes. The Magic of Friendship has no limits, and cannot stop at one species alone. Whether its a pony, human, changeling, hippogriff..." He then realized something. "Hold on, where is Silverstream?"
"Hey, guys!" Silverstream called out. "What's going on in...?! Are those changelings?!" She then screamed and ran back down the hall.
"Huh. Guess it'll take time for all creatures to accept them."
A couple days have passed. Twilight, Dusk, Nyx, Daylight, Spike, Starlight, Silverstream, Thorax, Ocellus, Cadance, Shining Armor, Sunburst and Flurry Heart were at the train station.
"Eventually, they had to head home. Thorax thought it would be a good idea for Ocellus to go with Princess Twilight and the others. Ocellus wasn't too sure, but Daylight talked her into it."
Thorax and Ocellus transformed into their pony forms just as the train whistle blew, indicating that the train was coming. Twilight, Dusk, Nyx, Daylight, Spike, Starlight, Silverstream and Ocellus then got onto the train.
"Ocellus will be happy with a change of scenery. And hopefully, things will be..." Just then, Flurry Heart teleported to where the Watcher was. "Gah! Flurry Heart! How do you keep doing that?! This is the twentieth time you've done this since the Crystalling!"