Hitch slept soundlessly in bed while Sparky slept peacefully in the smaller bed next to his.

"its today! we're going to changeling hive today!" CC yelled as she appeared in the air, instantly waking up Hitch and Sparky.

Sparky began crying, sniffling orange fire.

Hitch instantly rushed to comfort him.

"sorry" CC muttered before teleporting away.

"ugh, its too early for this. even for me" Zipp groaned as she slowly followed Sunny, Izzy, Pipp and Misty outside. Izzy, Zipp and Sunny had their manes down while Pipp had hers in a ponytail and wasn't wearing her earrings.

"I didn't sign up for this!" Pipp cried out, the sun's light making her eyes look like they were glowing.

"I got excited, okay?" CC groaned in response, appearing in front of them standing on her back hooves while crossing her front ones.

"at six in the morning?" Izzy managed to mumble between yawns.

"I get up at five-fifty am every morning to raise the sun. even without an alarm. which is impressive because when I was your age. oh Celestia I'm old. I would sleep in until eight without an alarm" CC replied.

"when are we leaving exactly?" Misty interrupted.

"I was thinking eight. again, I got excited" CC shrugged.

"I'm here" Hitch sighed as he walked up the path to the brighthouse, Sparky sleeping on his back.

Pipp instantly burst out laughing at the sight of his messy and slightly tangled mane.

"oh shush. my manes always like this before I brush it" Hitch groaned.

"we're leaving in about two hours. I'm going to go see if Diano is watching the sunrise" Zipp said as she flew upwards.

"is it just me, or is the amount of time those two spend together is weird?" Pipp asked before yawning as Zipp left.

"its not" Izzy cut herself off with another yawn.

"just you" she finished before yawning again.

"you need more sleep. the yawning is getting annoying" Misty grumbled.

"agreed" Izzy groaned alongside another yawn.

"okay, in you go" Pipp said as she began pushing Izzy inside.

"I'm gonna make pancakes. anypony want to help?" Sunny asked as she began following Izzy inside.

"sure" Hitch shrugged before he began following her.

"off down the road! down to the hive! down to the changeling hive!" Pipp sang as the six ponies followed CC down a faint path next to some old train tracks.

"are we there yet? we've been walking for three hours" Izzy asked.

"no, but its probably a good time to stop for a snack" CC replied, stopping in her tracks.

"oh look! an abandoned train! lets raid it!" Zipp exclaimed.

"Zipp wait!" Pipp cried out as the white pegasus disappeared inside.

somepony then screamed inside before Zipp ran out in a panic.

"some ponies are in there!" she yelled.

CC then sighed heavily before she walked inside the train cart.

"the lady of diligence!?" a voice yelled before the sound of screaming and running could be heard.

"no ya don't!" CC cried out.

"why is Sparky with you?" Sunny asked, seeing the sleeping baby dragon clinging tightly to Hitch's back.

"turns out Diano went on vacation yesterday and won't be back for a few days" Hitch replied.

CC then came outside, dragging an odd creature behind her by the neck.

"what are they?" Misty asked, gesturing to the odd creature.

"everypony, meet Rosebud thorax. the princess of the changelings" CC announced, letting go of the back of the changelings neck.

the changeling sighed as she sat up. she had green skin that turned a greenish yellow on her chest and her stomach area was dark green. both her eyes, tail and wings were a dark purple while the small horns sitting right above her ears were a bright orange.

"you didn't need to tell them that. I prefer that non-changelings don't know that. the information is basically useless to them anyways" Rosebud groaned.

"not when you might be representing your species at a official meeting" CC replied, pulling out an unopened scroll from under her wing and handing it to her.

"oh?" Rosebud's ears visibly perked up at the words.

"also I think you forgot there are ponies here" CC grinned.

Rosebud then looked at the six ponies, before turning into a blue pegasus and flying off.

"don't mind her. I did a lot of research about this place in the past week so I know who the royal family is in the changeling hive. at some point in the first couple hundred years of me living in my castle alone I got really good at memorizing. I can recite the first chapter or two of like, several of my books. I also memorized Hitch's little story about getting stuck in a well almost perfectly" CC smirked as she hid the scroll back under her wing.

"why would you need to memorize that!?" Hitch cried out.

"I dunno. blackmail? I'll use it when I need it" CC shrugged before she hopped back inside the train cart.

the six ponies waited for a few moments as Pipp readjusted one of her earrings.

"jackpot! canned corn!" CC suddenly yelled from farther down the train.

Hitch hit his hoof against his forehead.

the next time they stopped, the six ponies were awestruck at the sight.

"what is this place?" Pipp asked. they were standing at the top of a large hill overlooking a huge field of grass, flowers and crops that stretched for miles, with what looked to be a flora covered hollowed out mountain in the center of the sight. to top it off, there were changelings scattered about, either farming, flying or just playing in the field.

"this, is the changeling hive. its been their home for...I believe around the same amount of time that equestria has existed" CC casually replied.

"how many changelings live here?" Zipp cautiously questioned.

"well when they first reformed, don't ask, there was around about...I dunno, I think about seven hundred to eight hundred changelings? now there's about a fifth of how many ponies there are, crystal and bat ponies included" CC explained.

"that's a lot. when did they reform?" Sunny asked.

"most of them reformed about a little more than seven years before I was born" CC replied as she began sliding down.

"well there goes my next question" Zipp whispered.

"come on!" CC cried out when she was halfway down.

the six ponies looked at each other before Misty hopped down to follow the hybrid.

Zipp, Pipp and Sunny then flew down and Izzy slid down, dragging Hitch with her by the tail.

the six ponies and one hybrid awkwardly walked through the entrance to the hollowed out mountain, Izzy visibly nervous.

they walked into the center of the area as surrounding changelings began whispering to each other.

"why are they looking at us like that?t?" Zipp asked as the group stopped.

"they haven't had many non-changeling visitors for…a while" CC replied.

"I heard we have visitors" a soft voice echoed from somewhere ahead.

a changeling wearing gold lining across the tips of her ears and wings turned the corner. she had light greenish teal skin that turned a greenish orange on her chest and her stomach area was dark teal. both her tail and wings were dark purple while her eyes were bright orange.

"who may you ponies be?" the changeling asked as she approached them.

"I am CC. but you may know me as the lady of diligence. these are the elements of harmony. I would like to speak with you and your husband, your highness" CC replied, bowing at the end.

the changeling smiled before speaking.

"I am queen Fawna rose-thorax. Wife of king Rain thorax and mother of princess Rosebud thorax. it is an honor to meet you" she said, bowing for a moment.

"hey CC, what do we do while you talk to the king and queen?" Sunny questioned.

"just walk around and stuff. Don't mind if changelings look at you. changelings rarely are disguised when in the changeling hive so it's especially weird to see ponies around" CC shrugged in reply.

"I don't like being stared at" Izzy whispered under her breath.

"it'll be fine. I'll walk with you" Hitch told the purple unicorn.

Izzy smiled with a small nod.

"follow me ma'am" queen Fawna said, gesturing for CC to follow her.

"meet you back here in three hours" CC announced to the group.

"sounds good!" Pipp spoke as she waved to the pair as they walked out of sight.

"I'm gonna go wander around. have fun" Zipp said as she began walking away.

"I'm gonna go find the public library!" Sunny exclaimed before running off.

"wait for me!" Misty squeaked as she quickly followed the orange alicorn.

"wheres the theater!?" Pipp cried out before flying off.

"you wanna check out if they have crafts or something?" Hitch asked.

Izzy happily nodded before they trotted off.

"as you join in the legend of everfree!" Zipp sang with a green changeling.

"hey! hey! hey!" they continued, a small crowd forming nearby.

"who's queen chrysalis?" Sunny asked herself as she flipped another page in the book she was holding.

"I think she was the last queen before they reformed" Misty replied, squinting at a page of the book in her hooves.

"and now our time has finally arrived!" Pipp sang while standing on a stage.

"cuz we believe in the magic of friendship!" she continued, her cutie mark beginning to glow.

"look at these!" Izzy squealed as she waved a pack of buttons in Hitch's face.

"yes, very nice" Hitch nodded, pushing the buttons away.

"mm-hm. mm-hm. how do they exactly work?" queen Fawna asked.

"that's a whole other can of pinkie clones that I wrote a whole journal about. I'll send you a copy later" CC quickly replied.

"how'd it go?" CC asked as she hopped over to the six ponies waiting at the main entrance to the changeling hive.

"good. I befriended a changeling named Tiana. they're really nice and a great singer" Zipp replied.

"I found the theater" Pipp stated, bending her legs up and down repeatedly.

"I got buttons!" Izzy squeaked, holding up a pack of buttons.

"Sparky almost set a market stand on fire" Hitch said.

"we read about history!" Sunny and Misty cheered in unison.

"oh my Celestia, its aunt Twilight all over again" CC muttered under her breath, looking directly at Sunny.

"what?" she questioned.

"nothing" CC shrugged.

"wanna explore the train now?" Zipp asked to the group.

they all nodded before CC teleported them away.

the sound of ponies walking around echoed through the train cars, a faint humming following.

"I think. I know, a way that we can grow. time to try something new, something better" a preteen light pink pegasus quietly sang as she leaned back in the drivers seat of the train.

she froze when her hoof hit something, causing the train to begin moving.

she quickly flew off, leaving the train without a driver.

the six ponies froze when they felt the train begin moving.

"what was that?" Pipp wondered aloud.

"does anypony here know how to drive a train!?" CC yelled.

"no! why would we know that!? everypony in maretime bay and I assume bridlewood and zephyr heights too travel on hoof!" Hitch cried out with panic.

when both Pipp and Izzy began clearly panicking Hitch quickly composed himself and began trying to calm them down.

"where even is the drivers seat!?" Zipp yelled out.

"I'm gonna try!" Sunny cried out with determination as she took off down the train cars.

"and I'm going to try to make sure we don't crash" Misty spoke as she began following the orange alicorn.

two minutes later the train came to a screeching halt.

"I did it!" Sunny loudly exclaimed from the direction she had run off in.

"lets go home now" Hitch announced.

"off we go!" CC replied before she teleported everypony in the train away.

credits

writing: hanhanlovesbananas

inspiration: my little pony make your mark, my little pony a new generation, my little pony friendship is magic