The Light Within Us

by theOwtcast

Lost Student

Several days passed. I’d written to Twilight immediately after calming Ocellus down a little, and as Carapace had closed the news stand by then until Monday, I added the letter to the pile of regular mail due to be taken away first thing in the morning. Letters to a Yona from Yakyakistan and a Smolder from the Dragon Lands were at the top of the pile before mine joined them, and though I hadn’t meant to snoop, I assumed that meant Ocellus had already finished the letters to her friends. She would have had time to; I’d taken my time to formulate a coherent letter that would be taken seriously and discarded several drafts until satisfied with how it had turned out. I’d since strolled by her burrow a couple of times, wondering if there was something more to be done, but though an aura emanating from the inside had still been tainted with the darkness of mourning, that darkness had been silenced from a scream to low but persistent rumble. I’d caught a glimpse of her reading a piece of paper during one of those strolls a couple of days later; it must have been a reply from one of her friends, as flickers of warmth pierced the darkness of her aura.

She was going to be fine, I figured, and decided not to disturb her.

Now I just had to receive a reply to my own letter to Twilight. Surely she had a plan of action or at least knew how to begin! Except several days had passed, and she hadn’t written back.

At first I thought she needed more time. After all; I hadn’t teleported the letter; it was possible that she hadn’t received it or that her reply was still on the way. But then, the mailmare from Ponyville arrived for the second time since my letter had been posted, and Twilight’s letter was still to be accounted for. Was she ignoring me? No, it didn’t seem like her to ignore letters. What, then? Was she too busy trying to save the school to pay attention to mail? Had I offended her somehow? Did she think I was just trying to be polite or to cheer her up without a real intention to do the work? Had the letter gotten lost somewhere on its way to her?

Would going or teleporting to Ponyville help resolve my dilemma?

I guessed it might, but then again, there was still a chance for a logical explanation, and I didn’t want to put additional pressure on her. Giving her a little more time wasn’t going to hurt, I decided.

But after her reply was missing from the incoming mail batch for the third time, just as I was contemplating a quick teleport to Ponyville, I sensed two frantic auras rapidly approaching the throne room, and a moment later, Banshee and Spiracle galloped in.

“Thorax, you wouldn’t have made any plans for Ocellus to go anywhere?” Banshee panted.

“And you wouldn’t have forgotten to tell us, by any chance?” Spiracle added.

“Well, I have been trying to see if we can get Ocellus back to school, but-”

“So is she there?”

“I’m still waiting for a reply from Twilight- hold on, are you telling me Ocellus went somewhere?”

“We don’t know! Her bed was empty this morning, and we can’t find her anywhere! She said nothing about leaving, didn’t even leave a message! We asked everyling we ran into and everyling she’s been around to since returning, and none of them knew anything, either!”

This was bad… Where could she have gone? And why? I had to find Pharynx; he’d know what to do!

“What are you freaking out about this time?” he barked, flying onto the plateau as if summoned. “And how did you get half the hive to follow suit?”

“What…?” He was right; though Banshee and Spiracle’s auras had masked it initially, upon paying closer attention, I realized there were similarly-flavored auras scattered throughout the hive! It had to be the drones they’d already alerted, and that had to be what had alerted Pharynx, except he must have assumed for some reason that I was the cause! “Right… but it’s not me, Pharynx; Ocellus is missing!”

“What?! Why am I only finding out about it now?”

“Because we didn't know until maybe ten minutes ago!” Banshee rushed to explain. “We thought maybe she had some plans with Thorax and somehow forgot to tell us, or didn’t think it mattered if she was to stay in the hive-”

“-but noling knows anything about it!” Spiracle interjected. “She hasn’t even told Cicada and Nettle anything!”

“Have you searched her belongings?”

“No, not yet…”

“Do it. There might be some clues, and you two know her better than anyling else; you’re more likely to dig up something useful than any of my soldiers. Thorax, I take it you have nothing useful to share?”

“No, I don’t think so…”

“Nevermind. You’re with me.” He glanced at Banshee and Spiracle. “What are you still waiting for? Get going and tell any soldiers you come across to join the search! Any non-soldiers, too, unless they’re incapacitated or busy with something that can’t wait!”

They didn’t need to be told again. Pharynx took to the air and steered towards the training grounds; I followed.

“Thorax, how are your aura-tracking skills these days?” he asked.

“Average, I think. Maybe. Maybe just passable. Why?”

He groaned to himself. “I knew I should have worked harder to get you to learn the stuff that was important in the old days… Now it’s coming back to bite us.”

“What do you mean?”

“Forget it. I’ll rely on the soldiers.”

We were just about arriving at the training grounds, anyway; I knew it’d be pointless to try to get an explanation out of him until he’d dealt with the soldiers, so I kept aside awkwardly. If he intended to send them to search for Ocellus, he’d have to tell them something, and maybe it’d answer some of my questions, too.

“Attention!” he barked, and everyling present dropped everything to assemble up and listen. “As of this morning, we have a missing nymph: Ocellus, female, pre-adolescent; her base form is light blue with red wings and elytra and a head fin. Some of you may know of her. Last seen by her parents last evening, no obvious clues on possible whereabouts or reasons for going AWOL for the time being. Search of the hive’s interior is already underway. You have one hour to search the outskirts and report any unusual findings, during which time I’ll oversee your progress and devise a strategy for extending the search beyond the Changeling Kingdom’s borders if she isn’t found! This is primarily a search assignment, but be prepared for any complications including combat! Any questions?”

Silence and headshakes suggested there weren’t.

“Then what are you still standing around for? Move it!”

They dispersed, and Pharynx took to the air again. Unsure of what else to do, I went after him.

“Uh, Pharynx? You don’t really think they’ll have to fight Ocellus, do you?”

“Not her, you idiot. I’m hoping she just went off frolicking somewhere without thinking, but until we find her alive and in one piece, I can’t rule out the possibility that she’s bait. Remember there’s still one unreformed changeling unaccounted for and she would stop at nothing to settle the grudge she has on you.”

“You think Chrysalis is attacking?!” I gasped.

“I don’t know. We haven’t seen a hint of her ever since she got ousted, and not for the lack of effort. She’s cunning enough to trick us all, not to mention that the hive isn’t so different from its former state that she couldn’t find her way around it. The only reason why I think this might not be her is that if she’d reached Ocellus, she could have just as easily gotten to you, and killing you would make more sense for her ultimate goal than messing with a random nymph. Unless she’s toying with us, or unless Ocellus knows something without realizing its importance, which could be relevant if Chrysalis isn’t yet ready to make her move- What’s that?”

“What did you see?”

“Something moved in those bushes.” He pointed to a grove of shrubs a little ahead. “Stay quiet.”

He adjusted his flight path to a low glide, steady and quiet, almost touching the ground, only to suddenly accelerate within reach of the suspicious bushes, tackling the creature inside and shoving it into the open.

They ended up concealed from me by the bushes, but I heard a disturbingly familiar yelp, and divebombed to them before Pharynx could do any more damage.

“Fluttershy, are you alright? What are you doing here?”

“I, um, uh…”

“Step aside, Thorax!” Pharynx commanded, then scowled at my friend. “How do we know you’re the real pony?”

She whimpered, curled up on the floor tighter, and hid behind her wing.

“Leave her alone, Pharynx! Can’t you see she’s scared out of her wits?”

“Hm. Fair enough.” To Fluttershy, “State your business!”

“Um… I… hope I’m not intruding…”

“You’re not,” I said hurriedly, before Pharynx could yell at her again. “I mean, we do have a bit of a situation right now, but you’re always welcome! How can we help you?”

“I… um…thanks.” She slowly got up. “I just came to tell you… that is, Twilight asked me to come tell you-”

“Hurry up, we don’t have all day,” Pharynx grumbled.

“Don’t pay attention to him; he’s… stressed.” I gave him a look that I hoped would convey a behave-yourself-in-front-of-guests warning and got an eye roll in reply. “You were saying?”

“Yes. Um. Twilight was devastated by the closing of the school, but she and Starlight talked it over, and she came up with a plan to get the school reopened. I think the other princesses are involved to an extent, too, in case Chancellor Neighsay will need more… encouragement… Anyway, she’s rounding up the students. I know Neighsay wasn’t very nice and you might still be upset, but Twilight is really very sorry for the way he treated you all, and we’re wondering if you’d be so kind as to consider re-enrolling Ocellus? It would mean very much for us to have her back and-”

“Neighsay is the one who caused an international incident and Sparkle is the one who’s sorry?” Pharynx quipped. “And if she wants Ocellus back so badly, why didn’t she come here herself?”

“Sh-she’s reaching out to the p-p-pony students… she sent u-u-us t-to f-foreign k-k-kingdoms… quicker that way…”

Pharynx and I exchanged glances. “How soon is she expecting Ocellus back?” I asked before he could continue pressing her.

“Well, as soon as you’re willing to… it doesn’t have to be right away if it’s inconvenient for you, but it would mean a lot to Twilight and the rest of us if you could at least say when she might be coming…”

I sighed. “I wish I could, Fluttershy, and I’m sure she’d want to go right now, but… she went missing.”

“Oh no! What happened?”

“We don’t know yet. Her bed was empty this morning and noling has seen her or knows where she might have gone. We were just beginning a search when you arrived.”

“Oh dear… We have to tell Twilight! She might be able to help! Um, I think… I hope she will… um…”

“I can come to Ponyville,” I said. “I was trying to find out why she wasn’t answering my letter, anyway. I mean, it kind of got answered by what you came to tell me, but Ocellus’ disappearance complicates matters enough to get more involved regardless.”

“She didn’t mention any letters… maybe she forgot or hasn’t gotten around to reading them yet?”

“Or maybe it got intercepted,” Pharynx mused. “If Chrysalis is behind this, she could have learned about Ocellus’ importance through your letter, Thorax. Did the mail carriers report anything unusual?”

“You think Chrysalis took her?!” Fluttershy gasped.

“It’s one of Pharynx’s theories, and I wish I could reject it as impossible,” I said. “If it really is her, then we have to warn Twilight that something’s brewing! Pharynx, can you handle things here while I go to Ponyville?”

“Are you doubting me? Go!”

Considering how potentially urgent the situation was, I didn’t want to waste time flying all the way there. Fluttershy would have to put up with getting teleported alongside me, whether she liked it or not.

As it turned out, we weren’t the only ones with a problem. Most of the other leaders were already in front of Twilight’s castle, seething red-hot, and I could just about make out a flying dragon in the distance, probably Ember, carrying something. Twilight’s friends sat around awkwardly, souring up the aura.

“What’s going on here?” I asked nopony in particular.

“They lost them students,” Applejack said. “Ah ran into Seaspray in the Horseshoe Bay port before Ah could even get started sailin’ to their land, an’ he insisted on seein’ Twi. Pinkie an’ Rainbow got to Yakyakistan an’ Griffonstone before findin’ out an’ brought them leaders ‘ere. Ah reckon Rarity’s ‘bout to come back pretty soon too-”

“Ow!” Rarity moaned as Ember dropped her onto the ground. “I appreciate the favor, Ember dear, but do get a clawicure sometime, will you? My coat is all scratched up and messy!”

“I don’t have the nerve for that,” Ember retorted, then stomped towards the castle. “Hey, Princess! Or headmare or whatever! You have some explaining to do!”

The other leaders took it as their cue to storm the entrance, and I joined hesitantly, wondering if we’d get anywhere unless they calmed down. There was no way they’d be reasonable in this state! Maybe Ember would, since this wasn’t too far from her usual mood, but the others? Rutherford especially looked ready to level the city!

Too bad changelings couldn’t safely eat negative emotions. Gobbling up their rage could have made the situation more civil, but it would do Ocellus no good if I poisoned myself in the process.

The door opened and Twilight stepped out, followed by Spike. “Good morning, every- Is something wrong?”

“Where Yona?!” Rutherford roared. “If this pony’s fault…”

“I should have known not to get roped into this!” a griffon, probably Grandpa Gruff, yelled. “Ponies always have to complicate everything and I bet you won’t even pay for making me waste my time!”

“Queen Novo is very disappointed in you, Princess,” Seaspray stated. “Just what did you teach your students to allow this to happen?”

“I don’t follow,” she said. “Can you start from the beginning?”

“Silverstream was gone last morning,” Seaspray continued. “She left a note saying that she and her friends miss each other now that the school is closed, and that she was leaving so they could stay together.”

That explained why he’d already been on the way here when Applejack ran into him on her way to Mount Aris, and if the others had disappeared for the same reason, then Ocellus was likely alright and Pharynx had no upcoming invasions to repel, at least not in the immediate future, unless Chrysalis had been lurking close enough to notice something was up and decided to seize the opportunity while we were distracted. I didn’t think that was the case, though, and even if it was, she wouldn’t find many loyal servants anymore, and I was sure Pharynx’s troops would keep the hive safe from her.

“I can’t believe it!” Twilight exclaimed. “They did learn friendship!”

The others glared at her, and I couldn’t promise that I hadn’t reacted in the same way. The students were missing, and Twilight’s first response was to praise the friendship they’d forged, or maybe the lesson they’d mastered? Not unlike her to focus on such things, admittedly, but we had bigger concerns at the moment! And I could understand the young ones’ desire to stay together, but this wasn’t the way to do it! Ocellus at least had a family who missed her and was looking for her so frantically and imagining all kinds of horrible fates that may have befallen her, and her friends had to have someone in the same situation as well! At the very least, if Silverstream had had the presence of mind to leave a note, why couldn’t have Ocellus?

Twilight must have realized her blunder, as she immediately continued, “Sorry. Do any of you know where they might have gone?”

“You think we’d be here if we knew, missy?” Gruff screeched. “In fact, I think I can guess! This is the only place they have in common, so where better to go? I bet somepony helped them, too!”

“If you’re accusing Twilight of conspiring to hide students…” Rainbow threatened, flying over and getting in his face.

“I’m not conspiring, and I’m not hiding anyone!” Twilight stated.

“So you’re saying it’s one of us, huh?” Ember growled. “Cause I’m with… bird on this one-”

“It’s Gruff, you overgrown lizard!”

“You wanna get roasted, pigeon? Agreeing with one thing you said won’t stop me! And how are we supposed to know you’re not the one hiding them?”

“Whaaaaat?”

“You guys are so greedy you’d sell your own mothers for a big enough bag of coins! How much are dragon scales on the Klugetown black market?”

“Enough to be tempting,” Seaspray said.

“How bird pony know prices if not buying or selling? Yak think bird ponies sell Yona!”

“I know it because the black market borders our territory and we catch smugglers all the time! That doesn’t make us kidnappers!”

“Guys, we’re not getting anywhere like this!” I interjected. “Can we focus on finding the students and then decide if arguing and casting blame is necessary?”

“What are you up to, grub?” Gruff spat. “Been a long time since deception and trickery so you decided to pull one for old times’ sake?”

“No, I-”

“Or were you planning this all along? Lull us into a false sense of security, then grab some gullible youngsters and continue playing the victim while you secretly do who-knows-what with them?”

“What?” I gasped. “We’ve changed! You’ve- uh, most of you have seen the hive!”

“If I find out you’re lying,” Ember growled, poking a claw at me, “I swear I’ll break our alliance and burn the hive to a crisp and feast on the changelings’ corpses!”

“And if dragon lying, yaks fight dragons to death!”

“Your deaths, you flammable furballs!”

“Both of you can go extinct for all the griffons care!”

“Everycreature, stop!” Twilight bellowed, separating us all with force fields. When she spoke, the hoarseness of her voice and its exasperated tone mirrored her aura, which was a peculiar mixture of red-hot and a drained flavor of grey. “I understand you’re upset. I understand none of you wanted this. I understand you were caught off guard and don’t know where to begin. But succumbing to rage and throwing blind accusations at whoever happens to be nearest isn’t going to solve anything! I’m going to start looking for them, and you’re welcome to join me, but I won’t tolerate you being at each others’ throats and interfering with my progress. If you think you won’t be able to control yourselves, I would advise you to conduct your own search independently of others or to find something else to do until the students are found. I’m sorry if this doesn’t sound very friendly, but even if the students are safe at the moment, every minute we spend arguing is a minute in which something could happen to threaten their safety. Do you really want to be the ones to blame for delaying the moment they’re found?”

Ember, Rutherford, and Gruff each let out an annoyed huff before dispersing in all directions, and I could only assume they intended to search for their own students like Twilight had suggested, as neither of them picked the approximate direction of their homeland. Admiral Seaspray stated he would do so before departing as well, and soon I was left alone with the ponies.

“It’s alright, Thorax,” Twilight said despondently. “You can leave if you want. I won’t take offense.”

“But I want to help! Didn’t you get my letter a few days ago?”

“...what letter?”

“He wrote to offer help in reopening the school if you still wanted to,” Spike said, “but you were unreachable in that pillow-fort self-pitying spree, and I was going to write back myself, but then Starlight snapped you out of it, and the letter kind of slipped from my mind between everything you had me do for the school.”

She grinned sheepishly. “Oops… Sorry, Thorax…”

“It’s alright. The offer still stands, if you want it, and it looks like it includes finding the students now.”

“You know, I might as well,” she shrugged. “Why don’t we sit down and talk it over?”

“Ooh! I know!” Pinkie piped up. “Let’s go to Sugarcube Corner! My Pinkie Sense says there’s a lot of fresh cupcakes!”

“...Pinkie Sense?” I asked.

“It’s Pinkie, don’t question it,” Spike said.

“Eh, whatever, the sugar might get our brains running a little better,” Twilight agreed. “Celestia knows I could use it!”

The walk there was uneventful until, upon rounding enough corners, our destination came into view. A colt was just loading some trays of cookies into a cart.

“He seems familiar,” I mused. “Have I seen him before?”

“That’s Sandbar, darling,” Rarity explained. “He’s one of the students in our school! …was our student… but I’m sure he’ll come back as soon as we reopen the school! No worries!”

Glancing casually around while buckling the cart onto himself, he noticed us and did his best to pretend he hadn’t while starting to trot just a little too fast for a casual stroll he was trying to imitate, and I might have ignored it if not for the surge of unmistakable murky chill in his already-tense aura. What was he afraid of? It seemed completely out of proportion with just seeing his teachers trot down a street, even with seeing a foreign leader sort-of up close!

I pointed this out to the others.

“You think he might have stolen those cookies?” Rainbow asked, preparing to dash away after him, only to be caught in Twilight’s magic.

Meanwhile, Pinkie gasped loud enough to defy gravity, and a pink blur rushed to the pastry shop, screaming something about a cookie thief and a poor Mrs Cake. The others paid her hardly any attention. Must be another of Pinkie’s quirks, I assumed, remembering her seemingly break the laws of reality in a similar way shortly upon meeting me for the first time.

“Rainbow!” Twilight scolded, continuing the conversation. “You can’t accuse ponies of stealing without evidence!”

“Hello? Didn’t you hear what Thorax said? Why would he freak out like that if he’s not guilty?”

“There could be a number of reasons! For all we know, he could have seen something else, or he could have suddenly remembered something completely unrelated to anything he saw!”

“Could he have freaked out by seeing me?” I asked. “He might have had bad experiences with changelings in our old days. Maybe he still hasn’t gotten over it?”

“He didn’t seem to be afraid of Ocellus,” Fluttershy mused. “He was actually really nice to her during classes…”

“Come to think of it,” Applejack said, “he’s been thick as thieves with them five non-ponies, e’en more than with any ponies! Y’all ever seen ‘im sittin’ an’ studying’ with anypony else?”

The others exchanged glances and shrugged.

“No-siree!” Pinkie exclaimed, returning to us with a grin. “He always studies with Gallus, and Yona, and Silverstream, and Smolder, and Ocellus! And he paid for the cookies!”

“Pinkie,” Twilight said after a moment, “you know everypony in town and probably half the rest of Equestria. Does Sandbar have anypony in his family or circle of friends who might be celebrating something, such as a birthday or a cute-cenaera or something else that would explain his purchase?”

“Nope! Unless he met Coco Pommel since I last checked, but he’d have no reason to host her birthday parties, unless he’s working for somepony, and why would they order food from Ponyville when it could spoil before it gets to Manehattan-”

Rainbow shoved a hoof in Pinkie’s mouth, but she continued mumbling over it. “Pinkie, we don’t have time for this! Get to the point!”

“Y’all thinkin’ Sandbar knows where the rest of them students are hidin’? An’ bringin’ ‘em food?”

“That’s awfully likely, darling… But wherever would they go?”

“We could still follow him,” I offered. “I can still sense his aura, at least its rough direction. If we follow that-”

“-he could lead us to the missing students!” Twilight exclaimed. “Thorax, you’re a genius!”

I grinned sheepishly.

“But what if he calms down and you lose track of him?” Fluttershy asked.

“He’s still worked up enough that I don’t think he will. Even if he does, I think I can manage.”

“And if you do lose him,” Spike said, “we might by then be able to figure out where he’s going. I say we give it a try, huh? Nopony’s offered anything else and it doesn’t sound like we’ll lose too much time if this turns out to be a false lead!”

The ponies agreed, and I led them after Sandbar’s aura into the southern part of the city… and then further south.

“The Everfree Forest?!” Fluttershy gasped as we passed the last houses and the trees came into view.

“Now I know something’s up!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Let’s go!”

“That’s what we’ve been doing all along,” Rarity stated, “but not everypony is as fast as you!”

“Aw yeah, I’m awesome!”

Applejack facehoofed. “Aw, in the name of zap apples… this ain’t about y’all! Cantcha tone it down fer one stinkin’ minute ‘til we find them students?”

“Well it’s taking much longer than one minute!”

“An’ it’ll be even longer if ya keep complainin’!”

“Guys, the fear aura just spiked again!”

That killed all the arguing. “Well what are we waiting for?” Rainbow urged.

She had a point, and I rushed after the aura to its source, with the ponies and Spike right behind me. Before long, I wound up at the ruins of what could have been a fort or a castle.

“What is this place?” I muttered to myself.

“The Castle of the Two Sisters,” Twilight said. “It’s where Celestia and Luna used to live a thousand years ago, until Luna turned on Celestia and got banished to the moon. The castle was heavily damaged in their battle, and living in it after the fact was too painful for Celestia, so she gave up trying to rebuild it and moved to Canterlot instead. The castle’s been pretty much forgotten ever since, until Nightmare Moon returned and we followed her and found the Elements of Harmony. Why?”

“I think I spent a night here once, while fleeing the hive. It was dark when I got there so I’m not sure, and I left in the morning without paying much attention to details. The ruins puzzled me a little but I never thought-”

“There they are!”

We were by then in one of the castle’s hallways, and the ground ahead of us was a mess, wrought by age and decay and made worse by half-torn-up cushions and crumbled cookies strewn everywhere, and pierced with countless thorns. On the far end of the hallway, where Twilight’s hoof was pointing, lay an overturned cart, its sides riddled with more thorns, and our missing students were attempting to squeeze behind it. Some of them, at least; I couldn’t see Ocellus and Sandbar, but the cart was big enough to conceal them, especially if Ocellus had resorted to a downsized disguise for an easier fit behind cover. The cover was important, as dozens of thorny creatures were surrounding the cart, growling and propelling more thorns from their backs at the cornered group.

Before we could decide on a strategy, I heard a whiz behind me, and turned around to see a rainbow blur trailing through a hole in the ceiling, and heard many yelps from close to where the students were hiding. In the span of time it had taken Twilight to raise a shield bubble around the students, Rainbow had found a way to close in on the creatures and tackle them all away!

The relief was short-lived, as more of their peers popped up from everywhere.

“Fluttershy, darling, do something!” Rarity moaned as we became an additional target.

“I can’t! Puckwudgies are stubborn! If they decide they don’t like you, that’s it!”

“Then we’ll have to distract them!” Twilight said, swatting puckwudgies away from herself. “Thorax, can you get the students out?”

“I can try…”

“Go! We’ll cover you!”

All the obvious alternate routes were blocked with the annoyed creatures, and the short trek through the castle’s hallways hadn’t been enough to familiarize me with the layout enough to trust myself not to get lost attempting Rainbow’s approach, so after a moment to brace myself, I galloped through the hallway while doing my best to dodge the incoming thorns, but still ended up catching a few in my flank. Turning into a puckwudgie before making the run probably wouldn’t have helped me much, even if I’d had an opportunity to disguise myself out of the real ones’ sight; it may or may not have fooled them, but I couldn’t be sure one of my friends wouldn’t hit me by mistake. They were outdoing themselves, each in their own way and with varying success: aside from Twilight and Spike blasting them with magic and dragon fire, and Rainbow conjuring up a tornado to suck in the little beasts, Rarity was tangling them up in lace, Applejack combined lasso skills and the brute force of her hooves, Pinkie had pulled her party cannon from somewhere, and Fluttershy was attempting a peaceful approach despite just having claimed it pointless and somehow marginally succeeding. Their efforts were admirable, but the battle was nowhere near finished, and Twilight’s shield had already collapsed by the time I managed to get to the students.

One good thing about them being packed so close together was that it simplified engulfing them all in the spell I was about to cast. Now if only I could keep my focus in this madness around me…

With a pop, I materialized just outside Twilight’s castle, a bit dizzy but no worse for wear, and relief washed over me when I saw all six students there as well.

“Are you alright?” I asked, getting confused but soon enthusiastic nods and murmurs in reply.

“What happened?” a voice called from a little away.

“Starlight? I was- wait, what are all these ponies doing here?”

Before she could answer, another pop brought my friends after me.

“What going on?” Rutherford pushed through the crowd, followed by the other foreign leaders and representatives. “If changeling hold Yona prisoner-”

“Yona not prisoner!” the yak in question countered. “Big changeling save Yona and friends from puckwudgies!”

“So this Seasplash guy-” Ember said.

“Seaspray,” he corrected her.

“Whatever. What he said about you guys running off on your own, that was true?”

“What did you think?” Smolder piped up. “That we’d allow ourselves to be taken by force and dragged away? You know I’d burn whoever tried that to a crisp!”

“It would appear our warmongering has been premature,” Seaspray mused. “In the name of the hippogriffs and seaponies, I would like to apologize to you all for jumping to conclusions.”

“Wait, war?!” Sandbar gasped.

“Sounds like we all need to bring each other up to speed,” Starlight said.

That we did. It took a while to get all the stories straight, especially with all the interjections and requests for clarification of one thing after another, but we got there eventually. The only big thing I’d personally had yet to find out was that Starlight had been tasked with rounding up the pony students to return to the school, which explained her absence up until now and the crowd she’d brought, but the others had bigger holes to fill in the whole story.

Once everything had been said, Twilight suggested it was about time she reopened the school, and the entire crowd of students and companions agreed, except for one grumpy griffon, who reluctantly gave in after some persuading.

The chains across the school’s main entrance had barely crumbled under her magic when Neighsay teleported onto the scene.

“Who dares remove the EEA seal?” he demanded.

“I do!” Twilight stated. “Now if you’ll kindly step aside; the classes have been delayed long enough as it is!”

“The classes have been cancelled altogether! Nopony can be allowed to run a school this disorganized and hazardous, let alone allow dangerous creatures into the students’ vicinity!”

“I’ll show you dangerous,” Ember growled, cracking her knuckles.

“First of all,” Twilight continued, “what gave you the impression if disorganization and hazard was an isolated incident similar to those that happen on a daily basis even in pony-exclusive EEA-accredited schools, including, for example, Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, which I know first-hoof since I was a student there! How many schools did the EEA close down because of a spell gone awry or a flight course collision, for example?”

“That’s beside the point-”

“I’ll tell you: zero over the course of the last thirty years! I know; I checked! Second, your claim that non-pony students from Equestria’s allied countries are a threat to pony students is nothing but blatant racism and is as such in violation of Equestrian Constitution, section one, subsection four, the EEA Statute, section three, subsection seven, and all the core values that the Equestrian tradition is based on! If the EEA cannot see fit to uphold these rules and values and is set to deny accreditation to any school that aims to support them, then this school will be better off unaccredited.”

“The rules are there for a reason, Princess; you can’t just disregard them when they don’t suit you!”

“I’m not the one disregarding the rules here.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine, proposing to change the rules just so this one school can benefit; whichever phrasing suits you better.”

“No rule is set in stone, Chancellor, and they’re meant to be changed when they no longer serve their purpose. Need I remind you that the unification of Equestria centuries ago led to many alterations of rules and laws, including an education reform so all three pony tribes could study together in shared schools? The last time I checked, which was only a few days ago, that history lesson was still part of the curriculum of EEA-accredited schools as well as the EEA officials’ training program. I’m sure some individuals of that era found the idea to be as controversial as you’re finding mixed-species education to be, but since that has worked out fine over the centuries, I see no reason why this wouldn’t, and I see no reason why schools like this one couldn’t one day exist in every corner of Equestria and beyond.”

A round of cheers broke through the crowd, and Neighsay just stood there gritting his teeth.

“So I say again, Chancellor: kindly step aside so the students can resume their classes!”

“This isn’t over yet,” he grumbled before teleporting away.

“What a grump,” Pinkie muttered.

“I’m sorry that you had to be inconvenienced by him, everypony, everycreature,” Twilight now said to us, “and I’m sorry that I failed to address the issue right away. But I promise you, I will not let this happen again! Friendship isn’t just for ponies, but for all creatures, and these doors will always be open to anyone who seeks it, no matter who they are or where they come from! Now, students, I believe your classrooms and dormitories are waiting for you. The teachers certainly are, and now that we’re no longer bound by the EEA rules that were a condition of being accredited, the curriculum will be tailored to our own standards and much more enjoyable than the stressful ordeal that none of us was comfortable with!”

As the stream of ponies headed inside, I sought one other, and found her standing awkwardly among the non-pony students saying goodbye to their leaders, or in the griffon’s case, still pleading to be allowed to stay.

“Ocellus,” I spoke to her.

“I’m sorry, Thorax! I just wanted to see my friends again! I thought if I could… maybe…”

“The whole hive has been worried about you, your parents especially! I’ve been worried!”

“I, uh… I figured they might… eventually… but it was too late to turn back…”

“It’s never too late, Ocellus.”

“I… I get it… I’m sorry… I disappointed you, didn’t I? You put your trust in me and I disappointed you! And I couldn’t face you because of it!”

“Is that why you’ve been hiding behind Yona this whole time now?”

She mumbled something, bit her lip, and looked away.

I lifted her chin. “Ocellus, I… I can’t say I’m not disappointed, but it’s by how you handled the situation, not by what you wanted. All you had to do was ask to invite your friends over and we would have welcomed them with open hooves for as long as they wanted to stay, or if you wanted to visit them, all you had to do was tell someling and we would have made the arrangements.”

She sniffed. “Okay…”

“Can you remember to do that next time?”

She nodded.

“Alright then, I believe your friends are waiting for you, and the school library isn’t going to read itself!”

“Really?! I can stay?!”

“Of course you can stay! We never wanted to pull you out of the school in the first place, and now that we know where you are, your parents can stop worrying and Pharynx can call off the search parties.”

She winced. “Oops… I really messed up, didn’t I?”

“I’m not going to lecture you. Something tells me Pharynx will do it for both of us, but you don’t even need lectures to know what you did.”

“Yeah, um…” She glanced at the school entrance, where her friends were waiting. “I can’t believe this is happening! Thank you so much, Thorax! I’ll make you proud!”

I gave her a quick hug. “I know you will. Now go on and have fun!”

She pranced away to join her friends, and I spread my wings and took to the sky. The other leaders had left already, and the pony students were probably settling in by now, so I was alone. I would soon teleport back to the hive and bring Pharynx and Ocellus’ parents up to speed, but before I did that, I wanted to bask in the warm, bright aura coming from the school a moment longer. After what had happened today, I needed it to calm down and restore my faith that everything was going to be alright.

Comments

[Screw]

Well, at least Ember wasn't the one that jump the chance to target Thorax first. Though, her reaction seems to be just as expected of a dragon.

If I remembered right, Thorax made a puppy-like sound of betrayal upon accusal from his supposed friend. Even his sadness is adorable!

Pharynx seems to have found his groove