"Nnnngh..." Eagle Eye wandered into the ship's kitchen, his hooves taking him on a loose, zig-zagged path. He blinked blearily, wincing from the bright light sources in front of him.
As the room came into focus, the ex-mercenary caught sight of a familiar burgundy shape. "Well, good morning, sleepy head," Ebon remarked with a smile, all the while stirring a pot full of a dense soup mixture. "You certainly kerplunked for a long, long time."
"Mmmf... I-I was up late last night, practicing sword and shield maneuvers on the top deck."
"Pffft." Ebon smirked. "Didn't Stratopolis give you enough practice?"
"Funny you should say that." Eagle leaned against the doorframe and rubbed his muzzle, eyes blinking. "In truth, I'm super behind. Guess I wore myself out..." A few more blinks, and he squinted at the cook. "I thought we were scrimping meals for the time being."
"Mmmm... We are. But today, we've got reason to celebrate. So I'm making extra broth for everyone."
"Oh?" Eagle Eye stifled a yawn. "What's the occasion?"
"You mean you don't know?"
Eagle dizzily shook his head.
Ebon glanced over. "That's what you get for sleeping through half the day." He grinned. "Turns out Rainbow's sword that she found in Stratopolis is closely tied to Celestia."
"Celestia?" Eagle Eye's muzzle fell agape. "You mean as in Princess Celestia?"
Ebon nodded. "The one and only! That's why it's so empty below deck, in case you may have noticed. Almost everypony is up top, listening to what the ruler of Equestria has to say."
"Even Floydien?"
"Even Floydien."
"But... y-you came down here...?"
"Well, somepony's gotta feed the rest." Ebon smirked. "Besides, at this point, Rainbow and Celestia are probably just catching up. I already got a good earful, listening in on the Princess talk about Commander Hurricane, Chrysalis, and a bunch of freed changelings in Equestria..."
"Wait..." Eagle Eye suddenly stood up straight, his fuzzy ears perking. "Freed changelings? Chrysalis?"
"Hmmm?" Ebon glanced over while he continued to stir. "Why, yes. Seems like the Equestrians sequestered them from the rest of the populace until they could understand why there were suddenly shape-shifters in the kingdom." He smiled. "Turns out the changelings are mostly harmless. Heh... almost makes you wish we ran into them instead of the ones who brought us to Stratopolis in the first place, huh?"
Eagle Eye stared into the far corner of the kitchen. "Did... did they even know that they were changelings?"
"I... don't think so." Ebon shrugged, glancing into his pot. "From the sound of it, they've been posing as normal Equestrians for a long time. Then, out of nowhere, they showed their true colors. And it happened around the same time Rainbow Dash confronted Chrysalis face to face... well, maybe it wasn't her real face, but you get what I mean, Eagle—" Ebon looked up, and he dropped the ladle in his grasp. "Eagle?" He blinked.
The unicorn was gone.
"...and that's just the thing, there were literally thousands of pegasi who were mutated by the purple slime," Rainbow Dash said, her mane blown by the high winds. The ocean stretched around the Noble Jury in every direction as she paced a circle about the glowing sword lying atop the deck. "I mean, I didn't exactly count them, as I was too busy kicking their ugly flanks... but you get the picture."
"And that's quite distressing, considering that less than one hundred and fifty pegasi accompanied Commander Hurricane on her heroic trip."
"So you see where I'm getting at, Your Highness?"
"Indeed. It's only logical to conclude that the majority of corrupted pegasi you encountered belonged to something other than the Pegasopolitan Officer's brigade."
"Pilate and I think it's more of... y'know..." Rainbow Dash swiveled and faced the sword. "...the ancient pegasi I keep hearing about."
"The ones to whom the 'Herald' were supposedly faithful to?"
"All I've ever learned about them, Princess Celestia, leads me to believe that they were supremely bad dudes." Rainbow's brow furrowed. "What if they were responsible for all the nasty crud that happened in Stratopolis?"
"Do you mean to suggest that they were the ones who steered the city into Equestrian airspace thousands of years ago?"
"Erm... no. Actually, I think they were wasted long before then."
"Interesting..."
"I know, right?" Rainbow squatted by the sword, staring into its golden surfaces. "Here's what I'm thinking. The old world—Urohringr—was once whole, a solid ring of sorts. But then it split up. And these giant floaty city thingies—the Sentinels—were lost in all the chaos. But—like—the pegasi found one of the Sentinels and took it over. Now, based on what Belle has experienced in her past sequencing with the likes of Nightshade and Nightshade's foals, it's a firm guess that these pegasi were also responsible for splitting Urohringr up to begin with. Now, wouldn't that make sense? If they wanted to separate the pieces of the ring, then it makes sense that they'd want to—y'know—dominate the newer and smaller piece of real estate. So they took over Stratopolis with the hope of flying it around and acting like they owned the place. And, for all we know, maybe they did. But... like... at some point they bit off a little more than they could chew..."
"And they infested themselves with this infernal, viscous material which you described..."
"I know, right?" Rainbow nodded. "Princess Celestia..." She gulped. "What if there aren't any of these pegasi left? What if they ultimately killed themselves off by doing this crap?"
"I detect a great deal of distress in your voice. Why does this possiblity worry you, Rainbow Dash?"
"Well..." Rainbow fidgeted, then ran a hoof through her mane. "If all the pegasi are gone, then who do we have left who'll have a clue to undo the damage that's been done?"
"From what you've told me, it sounds like that part of the world has more and more hints for you to uncover. Even with all of the resources and historical archives of Canterlot at my subjects' disposal, you still stand to learn for more than we can about this."
"Yeah, but... I feel like there's a lot that I'm supposed to learn in so little time." Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She flung a weak gaze towards Pilate, Bellesmith, and the others. "And we both know it's very... very little time..."
Silence. Then, at last, Celestia spoke in a calm tone. "Rainbow Dash, I cannot pretend to know what truly happened to these ancient pegasi—nefarious or not. However, there is one curious observation that I must point out."
"Hrmmm... yeah? What's that, Your Highness?"
"The inner workings of Stratopolis—including those adorned with the symbols of 'Urohringr'—responded to you and only you. That said, it stands to reason that they responded in a like manner to Commander Hurricane as well."
"Right. And just what are you getting at?"
"Simply that I do not think that all of the pegasi of whom we speak about actually died out," Celestia's voice said. "And, if that is the case, then I refuse to believe that they are all innately evil."
Rainbow Dash blinked. She plopped back on her haunches, her ears twitching to the rattle of her pendant. She turned her head with a dazed expression and glanced nervously at Pilate and Bellesmith. The couple stared back, their expressions no less dumbfounded than Rainbow's.
Far away, across the deck, past where Josho, Zaid, and Roarke stood, Eagle Eye lingered in the shadows of the ship's rear stairwell. He listened in on the conversation, and his hooves trembled slightly. Over and over again, he fought the urge to gallop out onto the deck, for something anchored him in place.
"Princess Celestia," he murmured to himself in the faintest of voices. "Have you seen the changelings? Have you talked to them?" For a moment, it looked like he had gained the strength to charge forth, but he held himself in place, wincing. "Nnnngh... I can't. I just... can't..."
His ears drooped and his eyes grew misty. Slowly, his gaze panned across the deck... until his sight fell upon Elma's timid figure. From afar, the changeling looked as nervous and melancholic as he did.
Eagle heard his heartbeat pounding in his skull. Taking a deep breath, he slowly backed up and trotted down the stairwell, though his eyes remained locked on Elma as long as they could...