Thorax was leaning forward in the plush magenta chair. His lime green front hooves rotated a cup of tea, sitting on a saucer resting on the wooden table in front of him. Solid rose colored eyes that were full of concern reflected back at him as he peered into the surface of the steaming clear brown liquid. The orange mandible like horns on his head glowed a faint turquoise as he levitated a polished silver spoon that bore a mound of sugar which he dropped into the tea.
Sitting across from him in a similar chair was a tired looking Twilight Sparkle, who just finished retelling the events of the previous day. Her mane was a mess, with rebellious strands of hair going any which way, and her violet eyes were bloodshot from a lack of sleep.
“So what do you think?” the mulberry furred alicorn asked as her gaze went from the open scroll in the center of the table to him.
The spoon dipped into the sugar bowl, lifted out a pile of the white granulated crystals, then poured them into the tea cup again.
“Thorax?” asked Twilight.
“Sorry Twilight,” the neophyte changeling king said with ears folded back against his head as he finally looked up at the alicorn. “I’m not sure what to tell you. I don’t know if this is just some kind of twisted revenge plot she came up with or something else entirely.”
“You didn’t see the pain in her eyes,” Twilight said with sympathy as her ears folded back.
“Twilight, she’s the changeling queen,” Thorax stated. “She’s had over a thousand years to perfect her acting skills.”
“But would she really use her own child like that?” asked Twilight. “I mean, leaving her cocoon out where any creature could find it?”
Again the spoon gathered another helping of sugar out of the bowl and added it into the tea.
“I don’t know…” he said, looking down at the scroll and sighing. “The last time she had a brood of her own was hundreds of years ago so I’m not sure how she would have used them. I’m descended from that brood and she never treated me any differently than any other changeling.”
A fourth scoop of sugar left the bowl and went into the cup.
“But when it came to the larva and nymphs,” Thorax continued, “Chrysalis always made sure they were being properly looked after. I can recall her visiting the nursery often and I even remember her being present when I hatched...”
The spoon slipped back into the sugar bowl.
“And I also can’t recall her ever doing something that could seriously endanger any changeling,” he continued. “I mean, we would have to go out and infiltrate to gather love, and there is always the chance you could be caught, but that was just part of being a changeling.”
“What about the invasion of Canterlot?” Twilight reminded him.
“We were starving,” the changeling king said, looking out the window in the direction of the mentioned city, “and at the time we didn’t have a lot of other options to quickly get enough love to feed the hive or know of any other way to collect it. Chrysalis herself was also the one who was in the most danger, replacing Princess Cadence and all alone in doing it...”
Thorax noticed Twilight’s frown at the mention of Chrysalis impersonating her sister-in-law out of the corner of his vision. His horn lit up again and another spoonful of sugar went into his tea.
“I’m not denying what Chrysalis did was wrong,” Thorax quickly put in, “or that she wasn’t enjoying herself and didn’t relish the idea of taking over Equestria.”
“No, I know,” Twilight said with a sigh, “sorry, that was just a really bad couple of days for my family; and I’m the one who brought it up in the first place. But, boiling down everything your saying, it doesn’t sound like Chrysalis would purposely hurt a nymph.”
“No… I don’t think she would,” Thorax eventually agreed. “Especially if it’s her own.”
The room went quiet again as Twilight rubbed her chin with the side of her front hoof. Thorax lifted his cup of tea to his lips but stopped before taking a sip and returned it to its saucer when the alicorn started to speak again.
“So let’s go under the assumption that this,” Twilight motioned to the scroll on the table, “really isn’t part of some scheme Chrysalis came up with. Who would want her daughter foal-napped, and why would they try to make it look like I wanted to use the nymph as leverage to surrender her hive to you?”
“Wasn’t it one of her own hives changelings that did it?” Thorax asked as more sugar went into his tea. “You said the scroll was found in with their stuff.”
“That’s what she told me,” the alicorn confirmed. “Is it possible that changeling did it to try and make it look like we are out to get her?”
“Why would they do that?” Thorax asked. “To try and cause a conflict?”
“I thought of that,” Twilight said. “But again, why? Maybe they don’t like being under Chrysalis’s rule anymore?”
“They could have just joined our hive,” the changeling king said. “We welcome anyling who wants to reform with open hooves. We tell that to any rogue changeling that we’ve come across. We even have a multi-step program.”
“What if they don’t want to reform and also don’t want to be a part of Chrysalis hive any longer?” put in Twilight.
“They could just leave, be a maverick,” Thorax answered. “There have been changelings in the past that have done it, but it’s rare.”
“Well, whatever the reason,” said Twilight as she used her magic to roll the scroll back up, “I think we need to work together and try to figure this out before something else happens.”
“Our hive will help you in any way we can,” Thorax said with a smile.
“Are your changelings able to sense other changelings?” questioned Twilight.
“Well… before we reformed we could, but I don’t think we can any longer,” admitted Thorax while putting a little more sugar into his tea.
“What do you mean?” the alicorn asked, tilting her head at him.
“All changelings put off a pheromone so we can locate each other,” Thorax explained, “Chrysalis more so than any other, being the queen; but when you showed me Fluttershy’s classroom, I couldn’t sense any changeling pheromones other than Ocellus and the other changelings I brought with me.”
“So tracking down rogue changelings or Chrysalis won’t be easy,” groaned Twilight.
“I’m afraid not,” concurred Thorax.
“I guess I could put up a big sign that said ‘Hey Chrysalis, I’d really like to talk to you about your daughters’ foal napping; and if it’s not too much trouble, please return Sandbar because whatever’s going on, I can’t let it involve my students safety’,” Twilight said in jest.
“It would probably be easier,” Thorax agreed, the joke sailing right over his head, “but I don’t think she would go for it…”
Twilight sighed, closed her eyes and started using her front hooves to massage her temples.
“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have deployed a platoon of royal guards to Ponyville to help search for Sandbar. Do you think any changelings from your hive would be willing to stay around Ponyville for a little while?” Twilight asked. “Maybe they might have a better chance of spotting one of Chrysalis’s rogues.”
“I’m sure quite a few would volunteer,” Thorax said “In fact, Cricket, one of the mares that flew in with me might jump at the chance of finding rogue changelings.”
“Thank you for helping me out Thorax,” the tired eyed alicorn said with a smile. “I really appreciate it.”
“That’s what friends do, right? By the way, this is really good,” he said, licking his lips after finally taking a sip of his tea. “Do you have any I can take back to the hive?”
“Huh? Yeah, sure,” the alicorn said, looking from Thorax to the empty bowl of sugar. “I’ll ask Spike to get a few boxes of it for you.”