“There is so much that could go wrong here.” Thorax thought out loud walking with his brother to the waiting room. Beyond its door, was everything he had been fearing for a long time.
“Thorax, I’m pretty sure that you’ve done more with less,” Pharynx accompanied Thorax, acting as moral support.
“None of it was hosting an impromptu tour for surprise guests as a ploy for hiding one of the most wanted individuals in all of Equestria.”
“True, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t pull this off.” The brothers made it to the door. Pharynx turned to Thorax, whose brow had sweat being to form.
“Bro,” Pharynx wiped his brother’s forehead, “Chill out, okay?”
Thorax took a deep breath, his eyes filling with courage and determination, “Okay, We can do this. I can do this.”
He put his hoof in the knob in preparation to open it. ‘Fake it till you make it.’ He kept that phrase in his mind.
After one more deep breath, he opened the door to the waiting room.
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
“It’s taking him a long time to get here,” Rarity looked to the door with an expression of slight confusion.
“Ugh, we’ve been here for hours!” Rainbow Dash made her boredom very vocal as she floated about the room.
“Dash, we’ve only been here for a few minutes.” Twilight pointed out.
“Well it feels like longer,” The cyan pegasus pouted as she descend to the ground. “What’s the holdup?”
Celestia sat peacefully on one of the benches in the room. “I’m sure that they’re just making some final preparations.”
“Thorax always did get a bit antsy when it came to preparing for guests,” Cadence recalled.
Rainbow Dash looked around the room when her gaze was drawn by the pink, party pony, sitting almost perfectly still.
The sight amazed her. “Okay, I gotta know. How is Pinkie Pie among the calmest of us?”
“As a master of surprise parties, I have to be patient,” Pinkie Pie explained in her usual bubbly tone, “I once had to wait a whole day doing nothing but hiding and perfectly still and quiet before I could jump out and say ‘Surprise!’ So I’ve got this waiting thing down.”
Dash rolled her eyes, “Of course you do.” She gave a little huff. Another absurd, adventurous idea popped into her head. “Oh maybe they-!”
“No Dash,” Twilight said, not raising her eyes from the book she brought with her, “They were not eaten by a giant, mutant, spider monster.”
Rainbow Dash frowned a bit. “Lucky guess,” she pouted.
An awe filled gasp could be heard from Pinkie Pie’s seat. Next thing, Pinkie Pie was in Twilight’s face.
“Are you psychic?!” She asked excitedly.
Twilight had a nagging feeling that she should be used to this by now, seeing as how this wasn’t the first time Pinkie had asked her that question.
Twilight sighed, “No Pinkie, I’m not physic.”
“Oh, okay,” the party pony smiled and darted back to her seat.
A few more silent minutes passed.
The sound of a door opening got the room’s attention, as the distinct figures of two Changelings walked in. The sight brought a smile to everyone in the room.
“Hello everypony,” Thorax said, “Hope I didn’t keep you waiting to long.
>~~~~~~~~~~<
Chrysalis paused, looking up from the book she was reading. She looked around the room, expecting something or someone to be there. There was a presence in the room, it just couldn’t be seen.
That, or her nonexistent imagination was running wild.
‘By creation, this feels like a cell.’
She cautiously returned to reading her book.
‘I must be going crazy.’
>~~~~~~~~~~~<
“Thorax!!” The Mane Six happily exclaimed. They all ran over to greet him.
“Hey, everypony!” Thorax waved, smiling to everyone. He looked to the element bearers, and took the obvious joke opportunity. “Hey, did you guys get shorter, or is just me?”
“Oh, hush you,” Applejack playfully nudged Thorax.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Thorax chuckled, “Low hanging fruit.” He looked about the room, trying to keep things casual, “Say, where’s Starlight, Trixie, Spike, and Discord?”
“Oh, they said they couldn’t come,” Fluttershy said in their meek but audible voice, “They’re sorry.”
“Ah, It’s alright, Thorax assured, “Everyone has things they need to do at times.” He turned to face the two ponies that first gave him a proper home.
Cadence walked up the Changeling King that used to be her subject. “It’s great to see you, Thorax!” She smiled, expressing her genuine happiness.
“It’s been too long since we last spoke,” Shining Armor added on.
Thorax smiled in response. “Cadence! Shining! How are you two these days?”
Cadence gave her former subject a short, friendly hug “We’re doing well, thanks for asking.”
Thorax cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “Wait a second. Are you visiting, or are you trying to get me to watch Flurry Heart again.”
Cadence laughed as Her husband answered, “No, just wanted to visit, no ulterior motivate.”
Thorax chuckled, “Seriously, how is the little ankle biter?”
Cadence recovered from her laughter, “‘Little’ isn’t the word I’d use to describe her nowadays. She’s gotten pretty big.”
“Really? Well then, I guess I’ll have to visit some time,” Thorax said.
A waving, multi-colored mane caught Thorax’s eye. He turned his head to find himself looking at the Royal Sisters. On impulse, he made his whole body face them, and bowed.
“Your Majesties,” He said, lowering his head and closing his eyes.
Celestia chuckled a little at the sight. “Thorax, there’s no need to be so formal.”
“Still, we appreciate the show of respect,” Luna added on.
“O-Of course, sorry,” Thorax rose to his feet, “It’s kind of a reflex.”
“Well then,” Rarity said, fixing her mane, “You are our host. Lead the way.”
“Actually,” the young king responded, “I’ve organized for some of you to meet with some important members of our community. So-”
Thorax was then swiftly tackled by a pink projectile.
Pinkie Pie proceeded to tightly hug his neck. “We get to see your Hive and all the crazy stuff in it! This is so exciting!!”
“P-Pinkie…Need air.”
“Whoops, sorry.” Pinkie released Thorax from her vice grip.Thorax was more than happy to breathe again.
Regaining his composure, he started to go down the list.
“Uh, okay, Twilight, you’ll be meeting with Dr. Cloverfield in the medical wing. Rarity, you’re going to meet Thimble. She’s a sweet kid, I think you’ll like her. Fluttershy, you’ll be escorted to meet our garden society. Rainbow Dash, I think you’ll like our athletics group. Finally Pinkie, Applejack, I’ve set up a meeting with our farmers and Tibia.” Thorax looked directly at the two, “When you meet Tibia, please, please, don’t make a mess of her kitchen.”
“Okie-Dokie-Loki!” Pinkie Pie assured.
“I assume you have some kind of similar plan for us?” Luna asked.
“Well, for Shining, I figured that he could meet with Pharynx, since his recruits are under my brother’s care at the moment,” Thorax suggested as his brother stepped forward to face the Prince of The Crystal Empire.
“As for the rest of you,” Thorax continued, “Maybe we can go to my study and talk?”
“That sounds wonderful,” Celestia said happily, “It would be nice to catch up.”
“Great!” Thorax smiled, “These guards will escort you to where you need to be. Shining, your with Pharynx. And the rest of you, follow me.”
“Lead the way,” Cadence said.
The ponies began to leave the room, heading of to see all the new and strange things throughout the Hive.
Shining Armor and Pharynx, however, stayed behind.
Pharynx stepped forward to face the Prince of The Crystal Empire.
Shining’s expression flattened, neutral. The two military leaders stared at each other with perfect posture in silence.
They then saluted each other, Pharynx speaking first.
“Captain,” He said.
“General,” Shining responded.
They soon broke their salutes and started laughing.
“Good to see ya, Pharynx.”
“And you, Shining.”
They both took a moment to recover from their laughter.
“So, how have the recruits been treating you?”
“You’re asking how they’ve been treating me?”
“Should I worry about how you’re treating them?”
“I’m sure the troops would appreciate your concern.”
The two of them laughed a little more.
“Well then Captain, how about we check up on the recruits?”
“Lead the way, General,” Shining Armor did an exaggerated bow.
The two military leaders then left the room for the courtyard.
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
“Oh, curses,” Chrysalis quietly swore as she ripped yet another piece of paper from the sketch-pad. She was trying to replicate what seemed like a simple picture from one of the books she had.
It turned out to be a rather taxing effort.
Lines would be in the wrong places, some parts would be too big or too small, and a host of other problems.
She took a small bite out of one of the snacks in her bag, glaring at the image that was giving her so much trouble.
‘Stupid lack of artistic talent,’ she mentally cursed, throwing the pencil to the ground.
Her frustration passed, carrying as much emotional weight as a forgettable childhood experience. Chrysalis sighed. She knew this sort of thing took years of practice. What she expecting to happen, that she would become a professional overnight?
‘No,’ she privately admitted to herself, ‘No, that’s not going to happen…just like a lot of things.’
Chrysalis moved to pick up the pencil, when she felt a twinge. Another feeling of disturbance in the space around her.
She suddenly felt closed in, claustrophobic, imprisoned. The room was pretty big, yet it felt like it had the dimensions of a dungeon cell. The thought began to make her shudder.
Out of nowhere that pesky voice spoke up again, still unable to spit out a full word.
‘Ru…Ru…Ru…’
‘Oh for love of- Why can’t you just say a whole word?’ Chrysalis angrily questioned in her mind.
There was no response.
Chrysalis groaned, rubbing her forehead. The new voice in her head, had gone from unsettling to the early stages of being annoying.
Returning her gaze to the pencil, she picked it up and returned it to the drawing-pad, opting to read another book instead.
Though, it was harder to keep her thoughts off the voice and the light sense of imprisonment at the same time.