The cool weather of the Crystal Empire made the Crystal pegasus shiver, his teeth clattering as he tried to keep himself warm despite the metal-plated armor that he was equipped with. The cold breeze only made him shiver more. "I didn't know the Crystal Empire could get this cold!" he expressed in his deep voice.
Yet, he continued to stand in his post beneath the Crystal Castle.
A tap on the head.
"Who goes there?!" he shouted as he swiftly turned around and assumed an attack position—four hooves firmly planted on the ground, the pegasus poised to make the first move.
A green changeling waved his hoof at him. "Hi!"
The pegasus immediately relaxed and sighed. "It's just you. What are you doing here? Are you the guards that King Thorax said wouldn't come in advance?"
"That makes me the odd one out, eh?" the changeling said, sounding cool-headed and calm as he approached the pony guard with a slow yet calculated walk. "You could call me the scout of the guard, but I'm not in an official position to be saying those sorts of things." He rubbed his hoof.
"Right..." the pony said, coming off as unconvinced and wary, rolling his eyes as he did so. "Don't want to make Thorax arrive in a sloppy fashion, correct?"
"Correct!" the changeling answered quite cheerfully, nodding his head as he smiled.
The guard looked at one of the main roads with its super clean and reflective asphalt or what was supposed to be asphalt. It was bare save for a few Crystal ponies who were walking by.
"You are very early," the guard said, looking off upon the clear passageway. "That makes you look very suspicious."
"Aww, already doubting me?" the changeling asked as if he were pleading.
"Thorax didn't talk about changelings who are supposed to be coming here this early," the guard explained, still looking at the street. "And, I have a duty: to protect the Crystal Empire and its leaders, Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor along with their daughter, Princess Flurry Heart. We Crystal Empire guards take this duty seriously—the safety of our fellow ponies are in our hooves, and I'm not going to squander it all off just because you're the 'scout' or whatever."
"Trust me this one time!" the changeling begged, motioning with his hooves a gesture of a plea.
"I'm not compromising the Crystal Empire," the guard said, finally turning around to face the changeling. "And, besides, if I decide to trust you and let you do whatever you want here, what will the other guards think of me? That would give them credence to do that as well, and we may as well become lax and tardy about being guards."
"Alright!" the changeling said, stomping the flat and clean pavement with his hoof. "But, at least you're willing to not give up your good guard code." He smiled.
"Wait, was this a test all along?" the guard asked, slinking a little. "Did Thorax send you to test, what, my loyalty? Or, was it Princess Celestia herself? Or Princess Cadance?" He looked up, his eyes wide open as he placed a hoof on his face. "What?"
"Of course, you get minuses for getting disoriented all of a sudden!" The changeling laughed and flew off.
The guard looked on at the fleeing changeling. Then, he went back to shivering. "I forgot how freezing this cold is! What is this, a winter special?!"
"Little echoey," the hatted mare said, holding a camera with her hoof and a saddle bag with a picture of a pencil and a piece of paper on the bag. She looked around inside the spacious room. "Just like I remembered it last week. Hasn't changed." She placed a hoof on her orange, frizzy mane. The other ponies with their cameras looked at her. She looked back at them. "What?" Her black and blue hat glowed a gray blue as she levitated her hat and made a bowing gesture, smiling at them.
The other ponies looked at each other.
"When King Thorax arrives," the guard beside her said, "you may take pictures. Only then."
The ponies nodded.
They stood inside the crystal hallway. The reflections of light brightened it, making it look whiter than it actually was. The double doors were polygonal, having straight lines and clear edges as the frames for their dark purple doors with their yellow knobs. At each end of the hallways were even bigger double doors. The doors at one end were open, leading off towards a spacious and open room; the doors at the other end were closed. The floor itself was clean, even having clear reflections of the ponies who were standing there. One pony even smiled at his own reflection at the floor before another, older-looking pony nudged him with a hoof. The walls were also made of crystal and, at certain points of the wall, there were crystals in their rugged, unrefined form, though they still gave off that precious look.
Hoofsteps.
The guard merely smiled at the ponies as they readied their cameras, placing them at their eyes, facing the open doors.
"Oh, hi! I didn't know that—"
Flashes of light and sounds of clicking.
"Agh! I'm still not used to ponies trying to lure me in with beautiful lights! I must resist!"
Then, Throax flew hurriedly off towards the doors at the end, ponies still taking their pictures of him.
He blasted through the doors and landed on the carpet leading to the crystal throne at the far end of the wide room.
The guards, Sunburst, Shining Armor, and Cadance looked shocked at the changeling's entrance.
"Please close the door!" Thorax said, pointing a hoof at the hallway. "I don't want them to give me any more attacks like that! Light attacks!—I'm still not used to—"
"Calm down, Thorax," Cadance said, walking off of her throne and towards the scared changeling who was moving his hooves around in anxiety. "You know they're just the press, taking pictures for newspapers and magazines throughout Equestria. I'm surprised that you haven't gotten even partially used to them yet, considering you're well..." She looked up and down at him. "You're a king."
"It doesn't mean that I can get, well, mobbed by ponies with their flashing lights!" Thorax said, trembling.
Shining Armor smiled as he walked towards him. "But, you're improving, right?"
"I can take one or two or even three ponies with their cameras at the same time, but those ponies"—he pointed again the hallway—"are probably at least in the tens!"
"Maybe we should issue a statement about that," Cadance said, adopting a serious tone, eyeing the hallway. Her horn glowed and a light blue; so did the double doors. Then, she made a nervous face and the glow on both her horn and the doors disappeared. "But, we could save that for later."
"Now, we have more important matters," Shining said. "Although, like last time, we don't want you to feel like you have to be talking in a certain way. Just relax and enjoy yourself here."
"Oh, OK," Thorax said, still nervous in his tone as he anxiously looked around. He saw Sunburst who was magically holding a carriage where Flurry Heart was sleeping in. The orange unicorn was smiling at him, not saying a word.
Then, the guard inside the hallway closed the doors.
Thorax looked at the doors and then looked at Cadance and Shining Armor.
Cadance's horn glowed that light blue glow again. A crystal table along with several crystal chairs came floating by, glowing that light blue glow, too, and settled right in front of Thorax.
Thorax took a seat and so did Cadance and Shining Armor.
"I'm still amazed at the abilities of an alicorn, Cadance," Thorax said, a touch of glee in his voice. "Like, I see how...useful it is when it comes to, uh, setting tables!"
Cadance giggled, covering her small laugh with her mouth. "It's still a bit weird to use, though," Cadance said. "You know, being born a pegasus and all—you know the story, Thorax!"
Thorax smiled while Sunburst approached the table, taking a seat of his own while still levitating the baby and her carriage.
"So," Shining began, "we've arranged this meeting to discuss how we could further help you and your kingdom. We've noticed the recent redesign of the hive—and I'm sure that your changelings are truly comfortable with how they live now."
Thorax nodded fast. "We're doing all sorts of activities now that we've finally decided on what the hive should look like! We've been doing those things before, but now we're at full swing!" He pushed a hoof across the air in front of him, smiling as he did so. Shining and Cadance looked at his gesture while Sunburst looked on at the baby, whispering a few words to her while magically rocking the carriage.
"There's theater, there's the arts and crafts time, there's the sorts of dancing that we're doing—I think swing-dancing is going to go well! We even had a swing-dancing competition! And, it's still going! It's even on the news!"
Cadance and Shining grinned as they nervously looked at each other while Thorax went on with his exciting story.
"I even brought a newspaper that covers everything!" Thorax dropped an old newspaper on the table. "'Changeling Kingdom's First Swing-dancing Competition Kicks Off to Great Start!'" He looked at the Princess and the Prince with shining eyes. "When the finals arrive—I could just imagine the audience!" He placed his two front hooves on his face as he looked up.
"I...didn't know you were happy about...swing-dancing," Cadance said with hesitation, a hoof on her chin. "It looks like the more we get to know and understand you..."
"The better," Shining completed. "Let's get straight to the point, though, Thorax: is there anything you need in particular? We have lots of resources at the ready. We're also willing to send several ponies who would love to volunteer to help you in whatever needs fixing."
"Well, there are a few things, actually," Thorax said. "Now that the vegetation is growing back around the hive, would it be alright if you send some Earth ponies to help, uh, speed the process up? We just want to make it look beautiful sooner."
"We would be more than happy to give you that assistance," Cadance said. She levitated a scroll and a quill and jotted down a line or two. "What else?"
"I was about to ask for ponies who are good at acting to help in training," Thorax answered, "but I don't think it wouldn't make sense. Sorry to bring the past up, but we've had lots of experience in acting—well, the bad kind of acting where we had to disguise ourselves and, well, eh..."
Cadance and Shining kept smiling and looked at each other again nervously. Cadance was still levitating the scroll and the quill.
"Basically put, we're naturally good actors!" Thorax proclaimed. "So, uh—what else is there to talk about?" Throax placed a hoof on the table and tapped it as he looked up. Then, he noticed the ponies in front of him—even Sunburst was now watching him with a look of interest. "Oh, I didn't prepare for this kind of meeting, did I?"
"It's alright," Cadnace assured. "We know how you're trying to cope being the changeling ruler, Thorax. We're not going to be overly-strict on you—just take your time, recall all that your changelings need."
Thorax groaned and slumped on the table. "Looks like I'm going to need help of my own!"
A few carriages zoomed by, leaving sounds of hoofsteps and of turnings. The pots of flowers and other nice-looking plants adorned the sidewalks as Thorax walked by, Sunburst—with his large robe and glasses—beside him.
The clean, trimmed grass that spread out for miles and miles on end gave the Crystal Empire a vast, grand atmosphere and feel. As pony and changeling passed by the clean crystal buildings that were so tidy that the reflections were clear, they passed by several Crystal ponies, some of them waving at Thorax and Sunburst. They waved back.
"There's still some things I don't get about ponies," Thorax said.
"Like what?" Sunburst asked.
"Like, singing with no warning," Thorax said. "I've been to Ponyville a few times already and I've heard half a dozen songs that weren't scheduled at all—at least I think they weren't scheduled."
"Go on," Sunburst said, nodding.
"Is there an urge to sing that's innate to ponies and to ponies only? Are the majority of ponies, if not most of them, good at singing? Because, I didn't expect ponies to just burst into singing at the drop of a hat."
"Well, Equestria was founded by ponies who kept the Fire of Friendship alive through both chat and singing the songs that would become the Hearth's Warming Eve carols that we all know and love today. So, that's the standard answer I'd give you."
"There's a non-standard answer that you wouldn't give me?" Thorax asked, confused.
"There are a number of alternative theories about why singing is so deep seated into our culture and how we live," Sunburst said. "Some say that singing is actually a form of magic. Others purport that it began with a few ponies who were good at singing and then, somehow, they spread that talent of singing to lots of ponies throughout Equestria. Then, you have the ponies who claim that it's just how ponies are—just like how unicorns have unicorn magic and just like how pegasi have pegasi magic and just like how Earth ponies have Earth pony magic and just like how alicorns have...alicorn magic, then most ponies have that flair of singing."
"I'll just stick to the standard answer," Thorax playfully noted, smiling.
"Well, I first thought that you shouldn't be asking me," Sunburst said.
Thorax stopped. "Why?"
Sunburst stopped as well. "Because I'm a pony. We ponies are so used to, well, being ponies that there are some things that we do that we don't see because we've done it so many times throughout lives and it's become routine. It's just like the sky. Do you look up at the sky everyday and say, 'Wow! The sky is so big!'?"
"No?" Thorax shook his head, then tilted his head in perplexion.
"Exactly," Sunburst said. "A lot of us have grown so used to living with a sky and with a day and night that cycles everyday that we just stop noticing it until somepony tells us to stop to notice it."
Thorax pondered with a hoof on his chin, his eyes half-open as he narrowed them. Then, he smiled. "That's something good to know, Sunburst!"
"That's what you get when you keep asking," Sunburst said. "Just sitting around sometimes and watching the world go by as your neighbors go about their daily life. They don't notice it, but I notice it."
Thorax kept smiling.
Then, the two kept on walking on the sidewalk. They passed by a few more flower pots and a few more Crystal ponies. Some Crystal ponies waved at them and the two waved back.