"SKETCHPAD!"
The sudden shout from Rarity snapped the ponies from their dazzled state, but before much else could be comprehended Rarity threw herself before Twilight and wrapped her forelegs around her fetlocks, looking up at her with pleading eyes.
"Please, darling," she pleaded, her hair going slightly deranged in her suddenly frazzled state, "I need a sketchpad."
"You... didn't bring one?" inquired Twilight, slightly surprised that her fashion forward friend (who usually overpacked for even a trip down to Ponyville's post office) had gone anywhere without bringing something. Then again, she hadn't brought anything to Apocrypha, and they had left Canterlot in such a hurry even Rarity hadn't had enough time to grab anything.
"There wasn't time," explained Rarity, her eye pupils becoming different sizes in her hysterical state. "And I never thought we would find anything so inspiring in the Badlands. Please don't let this opportunity slip me by... Ocellus has inspired so many ideas for me now!"
"Okay, okay. Calm down Rarity," obliged Twilight, scooping up a sizable mound of the barren soil of the Badlands that quickly became the requested sketchpad and coal stick after a swift but powerful transmutation spell.
With a hurried thank you, Rarity seized the supplies from Twilight’s mulberry magic with her sapphire magic and immediately began scratching away at its surface. Rainbow snickered above at the antics of her friend; not everything had changed in Apocrypha, it would seem.
"I don't get it," said Thorax as he looked at Ocellus, who now stood a head taller than Spike, said dragon still beside her. "Why... is she so different from the rest of us now?"
"Good question, pardner," said Applejack, also bringing her attention back to said changeling but not stunned silent anymore. "I understand you and the others, but why is Ocellus... so graceful looking. "
"It could be because she is a girl," said Fluttershy, everyone except Rarity (who was completely sunk into her task) giving her a look. "She is the only female changeling I have seen so far."
That was actually a pretty good theory, and one they could understand... except for Pinkie. "Or it could be that Hermaeus Mora was impressed with Spike's actions today and is grateful that he saved Thorax, the changeling with the most potential and has the will to follow him without question, so he is rewarding Spike by shipping him with a slightly modified background character, giving her a look that he will find appealing, but will leave Spike to develop feelings for her on his own, for his puppy love for Rarity is slightly blocking their signals, which in turn will require something drastic on Ocellus's part to make Spike realize he has a crush on her too, even though he doesn't know she had a crush on him in the first place."
Everyone dropped their mouths open at the end of Pinkie's rant, Rainbow throwing a nervous look at Rarity, sighing in relief to discover she was too engrossed in the dress steadily taking shape on her sketchpad to pay attention to anything around her.
"What?" asked Pinkie when everyone threw her an annoyed look. "It's just a hunch."
---
Spike was completely captivated by the glistening white creature before him. He never thought he could be as taken with a sight as when he first laid eyes on Rarity back at that Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville, all those years ago, but here it was. Little hearts floated in Spike's vision the longer he stared at the changeling before him, his heart thumping like the piston of a train...
'Whoa, whoa whoa,' Spike thought to himself, flapping his claws around to pop the hearts dancing around his head like bubbles. 'What am I doing?'
He knew exactly what he was doing, of course, but he still couldn't believe it. How could this happen, he only had eyes for one? A quick look at Rarity and the familiar sensations returned; the way she focused on that sketchpad made her look most appealing.
'I am a one mare dragon, I can't look at another,' thought Spike, though somehow the words felt empty and forced.
"Ugh!"
The moan of pain was enough to snap Spike out of his torn state, looking up just in time to see Ocellus toppling over. Acting fast, Spike caught her on his shoulder, her weight surprisingly bearable despite her new size. Her face became heated and her eyes half lidded, giving her a sickly appearance.
"The hunger... is still... there," she moaned out of her elegant, fangless mouth.
Spike knew what she needed, and as luck would have it, a book lay not far away (History of the Pegasi) knocked there when the other changelings plowed into the bookshelf Celestia had summoned. Unable to bend down while still supporting Ocellus, Spike flipped the book into the air with his foot and caught it in his free claw. It was an awkward process, but eventually Spike was able to open the book and hold it before Ocellus's muzzle.
"Read," he said reassuringly as she threw him a confused look. "That's all you have to do now."
Still slightly confused, but willing to take his word for it, Ocellus brought her attention to the page before her and scanned the first few words. It was instantaneous. Her weakened body began to feel alive again the moment she began comprehending the text.
She suddenly leapt off of Spike and grabbed the book, landing on her hindquarters none too gracefully as she lit her horn seemingly involuntarily. The pages sped by, Ocellus's eyes opening wider as more literature was absorbed by her brain. The pages ended with a snap as Ocellus hit the other side of the cover... a tear that glistened like a diamond splashing on the final page.
Spike was suddenly scooped into a bone crushing embrace, tears of gratitude dripping over his spines as Ocellus rested her chin over his head. "Thank you... thank you..."
"It's okay... but it wasn't just me," said Spike, pointing to the side, where Twilight, her friends, the princesses, and Thorax made their way closer.
"Are you all right, Ocellus?" Thorax asked worriedly.
Ocellus nodded, setting Spike to the ground.
And not a moment after did a puddle of thin black liquid suddenly seep up from the ground not ten feet away. Once it was about twenty feet around a mighty gazebo rose up from its unknown depth, a book the size of a wagon resting on a pedestal housed within. After a moment, the book opened of its own accord...
...A huge sphere of darkness projected above the book, an eerie green aura surrounding it.
"What... is that?" whimpered Ocellus, crouching behind Thorax and trembling.
"There's no need to be afraid," said Twilight reassuringly, approaching the timid changeling with a reassuring smile. "Its the door to your new home."
"Heck of a way to invite someone," Luna whispered to her sister, "Dramatic much?"
Celestia could only nod with a slight chuckle.
"It's a gate," explained Twilight when Thorax did not understand. "A portal to Hermaeus Mora's realm, and I'm guessing that's where he wants you to go."
Thorax's eyes grew wide at the explanation and looked to the dark sphere with new clarity. "So... beyond that...?"
"Lies your new home," said Fluttershy, hovering right next to the portal and gesturing to it as to invite them inside. "Beyond this point, your new lives begin."
Thorax looked to the portal and took in its features and appearance. It was foreboding but he was undeterred from stepping through. If stepping through it meant finally leaving the horrible past of the changelings behind for good, he would gladly go through.
He didn't know how, but he knew he was the leader of the changelings legitimately now, not acting leader like when they had agreed to follow him, when Hermaeus Mora vanquished Chrysalis and Twilight had placed him in charge. Now he really was responsible for his people's well being... and this time a solution was in reach for their survival. And he needed to be the one to assure them all that everything was going to move forward to a positive future.
"This is it," he announced to the other changelings who were assembled behind him, having gathered there after finishing their books. "Our new lives start now. I know that a lot of you might find stepping through something that looks so scary unsettling... but if doing so means putting our suffering to an end, so be it."
"I get the feeling that this is the first time he has actually felt like the leader of the changelings," Applejack whispered to Pinkie, who nodded and passed the comment to Rarity, who had been snapped out of her sketching by the arrival of the gazebo.
All the changelings voiced their agreement for their leader's words with cheers of confirmation... all except for one.
Thorax spied Pharynx off a short distance from the group of assembled changelings, unmoved from the spot Hermaeus Mora had dropped him after force feeding him his elixir. He stood stock still; if he had a pin stuck through him he would resemble a specimen in an insectorium. Pity welled up inside Thorax. Stepping past the other changelings, the group split to allow him through.
"Pharynx," began Thorax, standing before the chaurus changeling, towering at least a head in a half taller than him now. "My brother."
The visiting party from Equestria gasped in shock at hearing this piece of news.
"Huh... brother?" gasped Spike. Applejack turned pale in revulsion next to him.
"Didn't see that one coming," she gasped.
"You said it," said Rainbow, actually landing in shock.
"Pharynx, I know this is not what you wanted," continued Thorax, kneeling down to put himself as level with the still changeling as possible. "I know you believe that the path Chrysalis had laid out for us was our only path... but now we have a new destiny... with a new leader, a strong powerful leader." Thorax seemed to be slightly pleading now. "And I want you to join us in this new life we have. Can't you see there is nothing left for us here now?"
For the first time ever a chaurus hunter looked up with emotions in its protruding eyes... submission... regret... sadness.
"You are right, for once," said Pharynx viciously, his voice echoing and originating from nowhere just like Thorax. "Nothing is left... nothing is left of our beloved queen... even me... her most loyal soldier... I can't even keep her legacy alive like this." His eyes glistened with slight tears, heartache blossoming in Thorax as his now proclaimed brother got emotional for the second time that day and in Thorax's life. "I would rather have died bearing our queen's visage... rather than become the warrior of that tentacled monstrosity that murdered our queen, but you had to pull me along with you in this madness. You couldn't even let me die the way I desired... you... have left me with nothing."
Pity swelled inside Thorax.
Never had he seen Pharynx express loss to such a degree. Even while the changelings were struggling, Pharynx had remained strong in his own way. He may have been against them abandoning the way of Chrysalis from the start, but he had not expressed the fear of death that he and the others had, and despite it all, Thorax respected that resolve.
And it brought forth a question to the forefront of Thorax's mind, something he had wondered about since he and Pharynx had been tiny changeling nymphs.
"Pharynx... why have you always been so dedicated to Chrysalis?" he asked, "She has always been cruel to us as much as she was any other creature. You were her best warrior, and head of border patrol, but she didn't treat you any better than the rest of us... in fact, she was even more cruel to you. Why do you still dedicate yourself to her and her cause, both are dead?"
"I don't have to tell you anything," said Pharynx, his lidless eyes somehow narrowing.
"What point is there to keep it in?" Thorax countered. "Please brother, just tell me what made you so loyal to her. She did nothing to earn it."
"You wanna know why?" growled Pharynx, his gossamer wings twitching in aggravation. "Her cause was just... our queen was so powerful and strong, it was her right to conquer her enemy... AAAAAAGGHH!"
Thorax spread his wings and took to the air, flapping as hard as a terrified monarch butterfly fleeing from a filly with a net.
He watched from above with horror as gelatinous black tendrils erupted from every portion of Pharynx's body, whipping through the air as they protruded from his chitin. The chaurus thrashed for a few seconds before falling to the ground, the pain too intense for movement, green changeling blood seeping from the wounds, coloring the colorless ground with glistening emerald. If Thorax still had a mouth, he would have been sick.
"What is happening?" Celestia's voice brought Thorax's attention to the ground below him to see her, Twilight, Spike, and the rest assembling before his agonizing brother... the movement on the non-alicorns' flanks giving him a suspicion.
"I would like to know as well," he said, fluttering down to stand among the ponies and throwing Twilight a glare. "I thought Hermaeus Mora wants to liberate us from our pain, why is he torturing my brother?"
"What makes you think we would know?" inquired Rainbow, slightly insulted by the accusation.
Thorax pointed to her wiggling cutie mark.
"I am never going to get used to that," commented Applejack, tilting her hindquarters up so as to get a better look at the weaving tendrils on her flank.
"It is truly revolting," said Rarity as she covered her flank with her tail.
Princess Celestia was the first one to have something serious to say about the situation. "Do you feel anything from Hermaeus Mora? Is there a reason why he is doing this?"
Twilight and the others focused on the sensations in their bodies, but nothing foreign was felt immediately. It was like this time, Hermaeus Mora wasn't feeling as irritated or as intense of an emotion as before. But after focusing some more, a slight irritation was felt.
And since Applejack had an affinity for honestly, she was the first to decipher it.
"Pharynx!" she suddenly blurted, bolting over to the thrashing changeling and crouching before him. "Partner, you need to tell Thorax the truth."
"What do you mean?" asked Thorax worriedly, Twilight and the others paying rapt attention to the orange earth pony's actions.
"What Pharynx told you about Chrysalis just now wasn't true," answered Applejack, her eyes still focused on Pharynx as he writhed in agony. "That isn't the reason he was loyal to your late queen."
"Of course," said Twilight, adopting the grin she wore when she was educating somepony. "Hermaeus Mora is the Daedra of truth. He won't tolerate lies, least of all from his own subordinates."
Celestia, Luna, and Cadance looked to each other in slight shock before turning their attention to Pharynx's gruesome predicament. Now that was a whole new level of strict.
"Pharynx!" shouted Thorax, kneeling next to Applejack before his brother. "You need to tell me the real reason why you were so dedicated to Chrysalis!"
Pharynx looked up, a look of defiance on his new features.
"I did..." he was cut off when the tendrils extending out of him grew outward in length, their thickness increasing.
"Please Pharynx. Can't you see how dangerous Hermaeus is now? Defiance won't..."
"SHE WAS OUR MOTHER!"
As soon as those words, heavy with emotion, left Pharynx, the tendrils receded into his body, his chitin sealing up as if never ruptured. He was left panting in his own blood, Thorax standing over him. Thorax himself was stunned silent by what his brother had said.
"You said you don't understand my loyalty," continued Pharynx, looking up at his taller brother. "Well I don't understand your disloyalty. Chrysalis was our mother, all changelings' mother. We would not exist without her. Yes, she was strict with us, but it only made us stronger... into a power force that had no rival... until Equestria took her from us."
---
"Mo... mother of the changelings?" Inquired Fluttershy in horror, Twilight letting her lean on her.
"What does he mean?" asked Pinkie, Spike and the others looked just as confused with the situation, Applejack having rejoined her friends to give Thorax some alone time with his brother. "Doesn't he know that all changelings were ponies at one point until that meanie monster Chrysalis abducted them and converted them into her own personal slaves?"
"It doesn't appear so," said Celestia, her voice carrying nowhere near as much surprise as the others felt. "I was afraid of this."
"Sister, how could you have known?" Asked Luna.
"In my long life I have seen and learned much that magic has to offer," explained Celestia, everyone paying attention, not just Luna. "It can create, it can destroy, and it can alter, but in the latter category there are limitations when it comes to a being's soul."
"What do you mean, your majesty?" asked Twilight, who despite the seriousness of what was happening couldn't help but feel like a magic student in this moment, before her teacher.
"After you told me the truth regarding Chrysalis and her minions, I knew something had to be at play," continued the solar princess. "You can alter a pony's body, you can erase all their memories, but what is truly impossible to completely change is a pony's nature. And just as we are appalled by Chrysalis's actions, the same would apply to her minions, who were ponies at one time. It was improbable that they all would be loyal to her if they all knew the truth, for surely some would have retained the nature they possessed as ponies and would have either retaliated or deserted her altogether."
"So what, she told them that she was the mother of all of them?" inquired Rainbow with a scowl. "Who would fall for that? If Chrysalis got her army by abducting ponies and mutating them, wouldn't they notice that new adult changelings were coming out of nowhere?"
"Maybe we should just ask them," suggested Shining Armour. "Chrysalis had to have told them somethin–"
"Hey Thorax... where do baby changelings come from?"
Everyone facehoofed when they heard that.
Only one pony would ask that question with all the subtlety of a flying mallet.
---
Thorax was startled when the bubbly earth pony appeared beside him, and was even more surprised at her question.
"Pinkie Pie, right?" asked Thorax, said pony nodding. "Why ask me such a question now? What could it possibly have to do with this?"
"More than you realize," said Cadance, as she and the rest of their group assembled behind Pinkie. "Just indulge her, it may help us to understand, and help Pharynx move on."
Thorax had his doubts, especially at Pharynx's hiss. But so far the ponies hadn't led him astray, and Spike had pulled him from the brink of death. If telling them how changelings were born would help, then it was worth a try.
"Chrysalis was more than just our queen in the ruling sense, she laid eggs."
They all visibly cringed.
"And you saw her do this?" asked Celestia doubtfully.
"No... no changelings did," explained Thorax, "every once in a while, Chrysalis would announce she was ready to lay eggs. When she did, she would go out into the wastes to give birth, telling us that she didn't want us to see her so vulnerable like she was when she gave birth. When she would return she would be accompanied by whole new changelings of all ages, letting the first few broods mature so they can protect the queen and escort her back to the hive."
"And you bought that load of horseapples?" inquired Rainbow aggressively. "I've read more believable bedtime stories."
"Rainbow, don't be rude," said Fluttershy strictly. "Remember how much dark magic is involved here. Chrysalis probably made them more gullible on purpose."
Rainbow rubbed her neck in embarrassment.
"Made us gullible?" inquired Thorax, Pharynx behind him still recovering from his ordeal.
Celestia and Luna exchanged one last look before motioning to the other changelings to gather around them.
"It is well past time you all knew the truth," said Luna, sitting next to her sister and giving her a supportive look. "Go ahead, Celly."
Celestia blushed.
Luna had taken to calling her that after Twilight and her friends departed. She had long abandoned the practice even before the Nightmare incident, but Celestia could not help but find solace in hearing her sister call her by her childhood nickname. Especially during this unpleasant revelation.
Taking a deep breath, Celestia began to tell the changelings the truth of their origin.
The entomologist Pheromone Signal, who was spurned by her lover and beloved younger sister, and retaliated with murder. How she could not live with the betrayal and loss, so used her magic to remove her own love, and that the action had destabilized her cutie mark and caused her to mutate into the monster known as Queen Chrysalis. How ever since then Chrysalis had hunted ponies and fed on their love, eventually learning how to duplicate the process...
And how they had all been ponies at one point, until Chrysalis abducted them from their homes and turned them into her puppets.
"And that is the sole reason I have come out here myself," said Celestia, deep emotional pain in her eyes as she looked at the circle of changelings around her. "As princess of Equestria... it was my duty to protect you all. But I was blind... blind to a threat that should have been obvious. I failed you... and it's my hope that Hermaeus Mora won't. I have lost the right to look after you, which is why I willingly pass your well being to another."
The rest of the party from Equestria felt their hearts clench at the pain and regret in Celestia's voice. They could never imagine how ashamed she must feel, as well as the pain of having to share this story with the remaining numbers of Chrysalis's tragic victims. Those of which could not believe their own ears at hearing just how evil Chrysalis was.
The entire changeling hord was frozen stiff with horror, revulsion, and other such emotion.
"By the sun and moon," moaned Ocellus, her knees shaking as she fought down a sob. "She... really was a monster."
The poor changeling maiden was soon to lose her balance and topple over in her despair... until a small scaly shoulder caught her, Spike trying his best to console her with a supportive smile. Though he was slightly bewildered that he had arrived at her side so quickly.
Thorax had plopped down on his belly and stared at the dirt beneath him since Celestia had concluded her explanations, unmoving.
"Are you alright, Thorax?" asked Twilight, placing a supportive hoof on his shoulder. "I know this news comes as a surprise..."
"I am not surprised," stated Thorax, much to the ponies' surprise. "I have dealt with Chrysalis's cruelty all my life, nothing was beneath her. But I never imagined that I... that all changelings had a life as ponies. If it wasn't for Chrysalis, we would not have had to suffer in the way we have."
The pain in Thorax's voice was beyond even tears, and it tugged at Twilight’s heart. There was nothing anyone could say to better the situation, so she and her friends just surrounded the tall changeling and embraced him on all sides. It seemed to calm him a little.
"You always were gullible, Thorax."
The growling voice brought them back to Pharynx.
"Are you so quick to believe such slanderous lies?" snapped the bulking changeling. "These ponies were our queen's mortal enemies from the start. They would say anything to paint her in a villainous light... to turn us against her."
"Oh, come on!" shouted Rainbow, gritting her teeth. "What do we have to do to get through to this guy?"
---
Spike's cheeks suddenly puffed out and he made a retching noise.
"Spike, are you okay?" asked Ocellus, climbing off Spike to release him from his burden.
It was a good thing too, for soon Spike let out a huge dragonish belch, expelling a pillar of green flames. The flames swirled in on each other until they were focused on one small spot, then popped in a cloud of black smoke into a huge folder filled with papers. A folder that was soon caught in a yellow aura of magic.
"Do you do that often?" asked Ocellus, watching the paper float towards Celestia with slight puzzlement.
"More than you would expect," answered the purple hatchling with a blush.
---
"What is this, Princess?" asked Twilight, eyeing the envelope with intrigue.
"Exactly what Miss Dash asked for," replied Celestia, Rainbow snickering at the praise but also looking annoyed by the 'Miss' part. "I had my doubts that every single one of the changelings would be willing to accept the truth about Chrysalis, so before we left Canterlot, I put Raven to work on a backup plan."
"Oh oh, I know," chirped Pinkie. "You were gonna force the defiant changelings to read this file, which would be so boring that even the changelings' new affinity for books would be overridden, making them fall asleep, and then all we have to do is drag their unconscious bodies through the portal."
Celestia threw Twilight a confused look, which she responded to with a sheepish grin. It would appear that Apocrypha had not altered her friend's persona in the slightest.
"These are the missing pony files over the last fifty years."
All present gasped and looked at the papers Celestia held with new clarity.
"All the ponies who were abducted!" gasped Rarity.
"Correct," said Celestia.
"Old Pharynx didn't believe us the first time," stated Applejack, eyeing the bulging document doubtfully. "I don't think showing him these will do any good."
"My idea isn't just to show him this," said Celestia, her voice carrying a somewhat regretful tone.
"Sister, I don't like the look about you when you said that," said Luna worriedly. "What do you have in mind?"
Celestia sighed in what could only be submission.
"I had hoped not to use this method, but I should be glad it will only be one," said Celestia sadly. "I know a spell that can restore lost memories. Even memories forcefully erased."
It didn't take a Starswirl to figure out what Princess Celestia had in mind.
"But that doesn't explain the file, your majesty," stated Rarity, who then let out a delicate gasp as she remembered who she was talking to. "If you don't mind me saying."
"Your confusion is understandable, Rarity," replied Celestia with a motherly smile. "My spell requires a physical representation to work, that being evidence of the memory I wish to revive."
That made sense.
If you needed to magically restore memories (especially memories of a lost pony) there was little better than a file on said pony.
"It may take a while," said Pinkie, measuring the thickness of the file with a hoof and letting out an exasperated whistle. "This is a lot of documentation to sift through if we are looking for a sole pony."
"Not necessarily," said Celestia, looking to Thorax, who had been observing them quietly. "Could you please come here, Thorax?"
Thorax obliged without hesitation, and Celestia handed him the folder which he held in his hooves with slight confusion. Celestia's horn glowed a bright light that then engulfed Thorax and the papers, rings of runes circling both of them. And a second later, a small photograph phased through the top of the folder.
"Kinship locator spell," explained Celestia to her flabbergasted audience. "Since Thorax believes Pharynx is his brother, it's possible they were brothers as ponies too. That spell hopefully found something linked to both of them."
Gathering behind the princesses' shoulders, they all looked to the photo hovering in Celestia's magic.
It was in black and white so things like coat and mane color were indecipherable, but the unmistakable pony family stood in the photo, smiling at the camera. They appeared to be on a boat dock of some kind, a huge body of water stretching out behind the stallion and mare with two tiny colts under their hooves, one having pinned the other and giving his obvious brother a noogie. It was a classic family moment... until they looked up at Thorax and realized what all this meant, what had befallen the family in the photo.
"Is this really the only way?" mumbled Fluttershy sadly, looking over to the prone form of Pharynx, who was still recuperating from Hermaeus Mora's discipline. "After all that has happened, is it really right to make him remember a life that was ripped from him?"
"I can think of no other way," said Celestia sadly. "Pharynx is being too stubborn to be persuaded gently. The only true way to get him to join the other changelings is to show him how much of a fraud Chrysalis was."
"I agree with Fluttershy," said Rarity, looking at Pharynx and shaking her head with pity. "To put him through this is so cruel. Especially since he will be going through it alone. The other changelings were more than willing to put Chrysalis behind them, we do not need to do this with the rest of them."
"For that I am kinda glad," said Applejack, looking at the picture again and shivering as she imagined what it would be like if this had happened to her. Some things were better left forgotten.
"He won't be alone," said Thorax, his voice and stature full of resolve. "I will remember with him."
Twilight gasped. "Thorax, you don't have to. You already embraced your new role, you don't have to carry this burden."
"Yes, I do," replied Thorax, his posture growing stronger as he willed his resolve more. "If I am to be a leader, especially one more worthy than Chrysalis ever could be, I must share in my people's burdens. My family's burdens." He looked to Pharynx and his view softened somewhat. "Besides, I can't leave him behind. He's my brother."
"A brother who sunk his fangs into your throat, then rallied the changelings against you and us," said Spike, crossing his claws and wearing a scowl that made Ocellus back away a little.
"I don't blame him for that," said Thorax, much to the ponies' surprise. "This situation was making all of us more desperate than we ever had been. In fact, I was willing to kill him just moments before you all arrived, and I will regret that forever."
"I still don't understand why you are so lenient with him," said Rainbow.
"You wouldn't understand, Rainbow, you don't have a brother," said Applejack, giving Thorax a supportive smile. "It's a complicated thing."
Twilight and Shining Armour exchanged a look, understanding where Applejack was coming from.
"And I do owe him," continued Thorax. "When we were little, the other changelings wanted to pick on me, but Pharynx was always there to dissuade them. So I can't just let him carry this heavy burden alone."
Twilight and her friends looked at each other then to Celestia, who nodded and gave Thorax a small smile that was both admiring and apologetic. If Thorax wanted to share in the burden that Pharynx was about to be dealt, they had no right to stop him. With a nod in Pharynx's direction, the regal creatures, new and old, approached the chaurus lying in his own blood.
"Nothing you two can say will make me believe your lies," said Pharynx angrily, apparently having not been aware of what they had been talking about next to him. "Our queen was..."
He was interrupted when a brilliant yellow aura seized both him and Thorax in its strong grip, levitating them both into the air with the photograph hovering before them.
"What is this?" he hissed, revulsion crossing his features as he stared at the emotional family moment recorded in ink. "Is this supposed to..."
He was cut off again.
This time when a long undulating rope of yellow light sprang from the photo and into his and Thorax's foreheads. They both locked up, their eyes widening. Nothing could have prepared them for what was flowing into their minds and awakening things that had been buried, like a long forgotten dream.
The smell of a lake in the summer... the taste of a crisp seaweed salad, something that their village was famous for... the voices and touch of two ponies, promising love and affection...
...If fate hadn't been so cruel.