“One hundred and ninety-eight... One hundred and ninety-nine... Two hundred... Two hundred and—”
Suncloak looked up from the book he was writing in and dropped his quill. “Whoa. Two hundred.”
About six months had passed since he became ambassador, and completely against his expectations, many changelings came to Equestria. Turns out there’s a lot of changelings who wanted to try their luck. Changelings who already thought living among ponies was possible, changelings who didn’t trust Queen Chrysalis that much anymore after the failed invasion, or changelings who were bad at gathering love or plain down on their luck.
Even #21 had returned after a few months, claiming he missed his friends after all. Kind of like homesickness, except in reverse. Or something.
Over time, Ponyville got a bit crowded, so a few other towns and cities started accepting changelings as well. Since that meant Suncloak had to travel around Equestria a lot, to help out other changelings, it started getting difficult keeping up both his duties as an ambassador and learning about laws and politics.
That’s why he’d just recently gotten a spiffy new office in Canterlot! It was located in the castle, because apparently, an ambassador needed to have an office in the castle. It was close to the princesses, which was pretty scary, but on the other hoof, it had a really nice view of the city. The white and gold colour scheme was a little less nice, though. Then again, almost the entirety of Canterlot was white and gold, so Suncloak would just need to get used to it.
On top of that, the room was really big. Really high, too, for some odd reason. Almost as if it was a spruced-up gym room. At least it gave Suncloak enough space to store all of his ambassador-related stuff, even though the only things reaching to the ceiling were the windows. Currently, there was one bookshelf filled with books on laws, politics and everything in between, and one bookshelf that held all of his administration. Which wasn’t all that much.
It also had a really nice, but messy wooden desk that Suncloak worked at. It was almost always filled with several papers, books and other things. Around the desk were a few chairs, which Suncloak was pretty fond of. Sure beats doing all your work while standing. There was also a coat rack next to the big, golden double doors leading outside, but noling ever used that anyway. Suncloak always kept his cloak on during work.
Wearing his cloak reminded him not only of his friends in Ponyville, but also of what he had accomplished. It was kind of a shame that he couldn’t visit his friends as often as he liked, but they often came to visit Suncloak instead. He had a bunch of other reminders, too, like a preserved Poison Joke and the very first bit he earned, among others. Those were currently on display on his shelves, so he could look at them anytime he wanted.
He even took Emerald with him everywhere. Mostly because she wouldn’t leave Suncloak alone, but also because he did like her a little bit. She was currently sitting in a roomy glass cage behind him. Guests often found it appalling to have a moth flying around the room, for some strange reason.
Suncloak leaned back into his chair, staring at the book in front of him. “Sheesh. Two hundred Equestrian changelings. That’s... Wow.”
“A beautiful milestone, Your Excellency,” the mare sitting next to him said. Merry Weather, his personal assistant, a blue pegasus with a yellow mane and tail and matching eyes. Her cutie mark was one of a book and an abacus. She was incredibly well-versed in everything surrounding politics, and served not only as Suncloak’s assistant, but also as his teacher.
Suncloak groaned and rolled his eyes. “Seriously, you can stop it with the ‘Your Excellency’ stuff. ‘Suncloak’ is good enough.”
“Sorry, Yo— I mean, Suncloak.” Merry Weather raised an eyebrow. “You know, I thought you’d be happier about this.”
“I’m equal parts happy and surprised,” Suncloak said. He leaned forward and continued his count. Two hundred and three changelings in total. “I’m just a bit anxious. Someling at the hive has to have noticed all these vanishing changelings.”
“Undoubtedly,” Merry Weather said. “Especially considering multiple changelings decided to go back to their hives.”
Oh, right. A few changelings weren’t fans of living among ponies, so after trying it out for a few weeks, they decided to return home. No big deal, considering it was their choice to make, but still disappointing. They were only a hoofful, though.
Suncloak closed the book and picked it up, walking over to the bookshelf with all of his administration and putting it away. “Well, we’ll see about that when we get there. Anything left on the agenda for today?”
“Aside from your studies, absolutely nothing,” Merry Weather said. “Slow day today.”
“Great!” Suncloak said, walking over to his other bookshelf. “So, what’re we doing today? Legislation? Ta—”
A sudden, very loud knocking on the door interrupted him. He gave Merry Weather a curious glance, but the mare only shrugged in response. Confused, Suncloak went over to the double doors and opened. “Good afternoon, but I’m currently not—”
Once again he was interrupted, this time by a pink unicorn mare with an incredibly pompously styled purple mane and matching tail, who shoved him out of the way with her magic. She was wearing a pretty ugly, frilly red dress. In fact, Suncloak knew who this was. “I demand to speak to the changeling ambassador!” she shouted, standing in the middle of the room.
Suncloak went over to his desk and sat down. The mare who had just entered was known as High Mighty, and was the chairpony of the Anti-Changeling Society, or ACS for short. The ACS was a small group of ponies who weren’t fond of the idea of living together with changelings, and regularly tried to oppose Suncloak’s every move. They could actually give some meaningful insights every now and then, though.
“That’d be me,” Suncloak said. “You should know that by now. Why are you here again? We talked yesterday, and we didn’t make a new appointment or anything.”
The two pony guards who stood watch in front of the room entered, but Suncloak casually motioned for them to leave and close the door. Something wasn’t right here, and he wanted to find out.
High Mighty’s face became unreadable for a few seconds. “I am merely here to voice a concern. If you changelings stay here, who knows what you might attract from the changeling queen?”
Suncloak hopped out of his chair, walking to Emerald’s cage. “You already brought that up a few weeks ago. I assure you, we can handle it.” He opened the cage, letting Emerald out.
Emerald fluttered around, first perching on Suncloak’s horn, then taking off again. She avoided Merry Weather, only to go straight for High Mighty and sit on her horn.
High Mighty scowled, batting at Emerald, causing the moth to retreat to her cage. “What is this? A dirty, ugly bug, in the castle? How unsanitary!”
“Hey, Emerald is not dirty,” Suncloak said, closing Emerald’s cage and returning to his chair. “And besides, she has a reason for doing that. You see, she doesn’t like ponies. She won’t even touch them. The only thing she’s fond of is changelings.” He smirked. “So you can drop the disguise, whoever you are.”
High Mighty grumbled, her voice turning deeper and more sultry. “Caught by a stupid bug. And I’m not talking about the moth.” With a large whirl of green flames, she transformed.
A changeling stood in her place a second later. A very tall changeling, about twice Suncloak’s height. Slender and feminine, too. Her carapace was a toxic green, and her wings had a similar tinge. She had green, serpentine eyes, a dark blue, very long mane and tail, and a thin crown on her head.
As Merry Weather recoiled out of fright, Suncloak propped himself up on the desk. “Queen Chrysalis? What in the hive are you doing here?!” he shouted furiously.
“I could ask you the same thing, drone!” Queen Chrysalis said, stepping forward and leaning towards him. “My changelings have been disappearing, and then I find out they’re collaborating with ponies?!”
“We’re not ‘collaborating’.” Suncloak growled, showing his teeth. “We’re living together. In peace. A lot better than you ever managed.”
“You’ve got some nerve!” Queen Chrysalis shouted, grabbing Suncloak with her magic and lifting him up in the air, squeezing him tightly. “And you know what I do with changelings who have the nerve to talk back to me.”
Merry Weather cleared her throat. “I would advise against that. His Excellency, Ambassador Suncloak of Equestria, is not only an Equestrian citizen, but also a government official. Any act of aggression towards him counts as an act of aggression toward Equestria itself. Considering the information of changeling hives we now possess, you would be at a clear disadvantage.”
Suncloak gave an awkward grin. “You know, she knows a lot about laws and stuff like that. I’d listen to her,” he wheezed.
Queen Chrysalis mulled this over for a second before pushing Suncloak back into his chair and letting go. “If you were still part of the hive, I’d have banished you for that.”
“Well, you did that to me once already,” Suncloak said in between heavy breaths. “And look where that got me.” He gestured at all of his new stuff, and the room in general. Not bad for a banished changeling.
“I did that before?” Queen Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “I think I would’ve... Oh! You must’ve been that incompetent guard I threw out of the hive after the invasion, when I really needed to vent. At least it did the trick.”
Suncloak’s jaw fell open. “I... You... Vent?! You threw me out because you needed to vent?!” He slammed his hooves on the desk, shaking it and spilling various papers all over the floor. “You didn’t even have a good reason?!” Suncloak shouted. “I’m not even surprised so many changelings are leaving you anymore!”
The double doors opened slightly, but Queen Chrysalis forced them shut with her magic and blocked it by sliding the coat rack through the door’s handles. Whatever guards had heard the ruckus, they’d have a tough time getting in now. “Well, I didn’t expect this to happen. I thought you’d just starve.”
Suncloak snorted and grit his teeth. “Starve? No. I found something better.” He leaned over his desk, looking at the scattered papers. “Uh, Merry? Could you help me out with this?”
Merry Weather nodded, picking up the various papers and organizing them in a neat stack, depositing it on the desk.
“Thank you, Merry,” Suncloak said, settling back into his seat. “When you banished me, you threw me in the direction of a town called Ponyville. You might not know that name, but it’s the village where the Elements of Harmony live.”
Queen Chrysalis chuckled. “Ah, those six ponies from the wedding. How appropriate for them to be your punishment.”
Suncloak raised an eyebrow. “Punishment? Maybe only for the first few days. They taught me about the love of friendship, and I started living in that town. Not much later, I’m approached by changelings who wanted to learn how to live like me.” He leaned back in his chair, smirking. “Long story short, I’m the highest representative of Equestrian changelings now, and other changelings are really eager to join me in living here.”
“What a horribly sweet story. Thank you for keeping it short,” Queen Chrysalis snarked. “I’ll need you to return those changelings to me, though.”
Suncloak rolled his eyes. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Your Highness. They came here of their own free will and stayed here of their own free will. They’re protected by Equestrian laws, no longer forced to obey your idea of ‘fair rules’.” He even made the air quotes with his hooves to drive the point home.
Queen Chrysalis snorted. “Ridiculous. I am the queen of changelings! You answer to me, and noling else!”
“Not anymore, we don’t,” Suncloak said. “Living among ponies gave us friendship. Identities. Freedom to do whatever we please, and we never have to worry about food ever again. We are not anyling’s property. We answer to ourselves.”
A loud, smashing sound resonated throughout the room. Ponies on the other side of the door were trying to get in, and it didn’t sound like they were all that concerned with any potential property damage.
Queen Chrysalis ignored it. “Bah. You think like a pony. I have no further business with you.” A green circle of flame appeared on the ground, surrounding her. “I will get my changelings back. They will return, whether they want to or not.” A green dome surrounded her, pulling her into the ground. “And there’s nothing you can do to stop that.” A few seconds later, she disappeared, along with the flames.
Not even a second after that, the doors burst open, reducing Suncloak’s coat rack to splinters. Two guards, both white pegasi wearing golden armour, ran into the room. “Cha— I mean, Your Excellency!” one of them said. “We heard shouting. Are you alright?”
Merry Weather stared at the spot Chrysalis had been standing on just a few seconds ago before looking at Suncloak. “W-We’re alright. We just had a... an odd run-in with somepony. You can leave us.”
“Very well,” the other guard said. “We’ll, uh... we’ll get somepony to clean up this mess,” he said, looking at the scattered remains of the late coat rack. The two guards quickly left, politely closing the door behind them.
Suncloak stared straight ahead for a few seconds. He got up from his chair, walking over to the bookshelf filled with study material, and scanned the titles. He grabbed one of the books and put it on his desk.
Merry Weather leaned in to check the title. “‘A History of Canterlot’? Why would you grab this book all of a sudden?”
“The queen made me remember something,” Suncloak said as he sat down and opened the book. “Something I said quite some time ago.” He browsed through the book, occasionally taking a moment to look at a depiction of an old map of Canterlot. “I said I’d do something if I ever started thinking like a pony.”
Eventually, he stopped at a recent map. One that illustrated not the streets of Canterlot, but the winding and labyrinthine tunnels of the gem mines located underneath the city.
Suncloak grinned and put his hoof on the map. “I think it’s time we started building our own hive.”