//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: I am Not Your King! // by Black Butterfly //------------------------------// “‘Long live King Thorax!’ That’s what they shouted, Twilight. By now I bet the entire hive has started referring to me as their King and I don’t like that...”  A confused Twilight Sparkle stood in the entrance hall of her castle, watching the dubious king pace back and forth as he vented. “And I tried telling them that I don’t want to be a King, I don’t want to replace Queen Chrysalis. I mean… I’m nothing like her; I really shouldn’t use the same title,” he continued while Twilight listened with an occasional nod. “But they just ignore it or they say I’ll get used to it. And now they want to crown me the new King of the changelings.” When she finally got a chance to respond, Twilight hummed softly. “I think I can see the issue here, Thorax. I had the same feelings when I became a princess. But why don’t we go somewhere where we can sit down?” A smile came to Twilight then. “We could use the library, as it happens Ocellus is there, too. She’s helping me re-organize the books.” Twilight gestured at the door at the end of the hall as she spoke. “I honestly have no idea why ponies keep putting them in the wrong places, but Ocellus’ been a great help.”  That Ocellus was helping in the library did surprise Thorax. Back at the hive she hadn’t set a hoof into the new one they were building. Perhaps he should ask her about that later. “Uh… Ocellus is here, too? Twilight I don’t—”  Twilight was already heading for the library, with a cheerful bounce in her trot. “This sounds like a great friendship problem for us to solve!” she said eagerly. Thorax winced and slowly followed after her. While he trusted Twilight, he wasn’t so sure about involving Ocellus in all of this. She was one of the last younglings to remember their strict and merciless Queen. What if the idea of him becoming the next King terrified her? The smell of old books reminded Thorax of the little library the hive used to have before it had been buried underground. Queen Chrysalis had spent a lot of time down there and only on occasion other changelings were allowed to enter it, usually just to fetch a book for her when she hadn’t felt like getting it herself. Fortunately, a good amount of books could be recovered from the ruins but they were still boxed up for the time being, catching dust in the new hive library. “Are you coming?” Twilight called from the other side of one of the tall shelves. “Ah, yes of course!” Upon rounding a corner, Thorax spotted the little Ocellus hovering in front of another bookshelf, swapping out two books before she turned around with a shy smile.  “Hello, Thorax! What brings you here?” Ocellus asked as she landed next to Twilight.  “Hi, uhm… I wanted to talk to Twilight about something. You haven’t been home in a while so maybe you haven’t noticed it yet, but everyone wants me to become the new King all of the sudden! And I’m not sure if I like the idea, to be honest.” Thorax walked over to one of the reading tables, sat on a cushion and promptly dropped his face on the table. Ocellus blinked and turned to look at Twilight who simply gave her an encouraging nod towards Thorax. Ocellus pressed her lips together and resolutely walked over to Thorax and rested a hoof on his back. “What’s wrong with that idea?” Ocellus started, “I don’t know any other changeling who is more qualified to be our new King than you.  Thanks to you I was able to make so many amazing friends back at the hive and here in Ponyville! You’re a much better ruler than Queen Chrysalis ever was.” By now Thorax was used to the word ‘King’ and it didn’t make him cringe every time someone put it in a sentence with ‘you’ or his name, but it still made him feel uneasy. Once he had processed what Ocellus was actually suggesting he looked at her with wide eyes. “Wait, you aren’t worried I might end up just like our Queen?” Ocellus shook her head. “No, not at all. You’re way different, Thorax. She… she  was cruel and mean and she shouted at me when I made mistakes and…” Ocellus shuddered at the reminder and bit her lip. “If anything you’re the King we need. And the idea of you becoming our King has been on everyone’s mind for a while now, you shouldn’t be afraid of it.” “I’m not afraid. I mean, I was a little scared of your reaction to the idea, but the main reason I don’t want that title is…” Thorax struggled to find the right words. “I don’t want to replace Queen Chrysalis…” he explained carefully, “I am more like a… big brother watching over everyone.”  “Well, I don’t want to walk all over your wishes,” spoke up Twilight as she walked around the table and sat opposite of Thorax. “But waiting for Chrysalis to reform might take quite some time. You’ve heard her talk; she swore revenge on Starlight, she flew away when we offered our friendship to her and she hasn’t come back since. For all we know, she is planning her revenge on every pony—and ‘ling— involved right now. We might end up fighting her again… for the third time.” “I think Twilight is right. She’s wicked, cold-hearted and awful! She has made us steal love from ponies for ages, not caring about the consequences,” Ocellus reminded, sitting down by Thorax’s side.  Thorax let out a sigh. He had expected that at least Twilight would understand him but it seemed that everypony shared the same opinion on not only him becoming the new King but also on the former Queen. “But don’t you agree that it would be better for us if Chrysalis was reformed and returned to be our Queen again? I mean… she is not just our Queen, she is our mother, too.” “She’s not my mother!” Ocellus exclaimed with a sudden, unusually firm tone. She crossed her forelegs resolutely. “Even if she didn’t raise you, she still laid your egg. I’m sure deep down she still cares about all of us. She just… forgot.” Thorax offered with a weak smile.  Twilight gently placed a hoof on Thorax’s shoulder. “You don’t have to accept the title but you should consider how much it would mean to your fellow changelings.” She glanced between him and Ocellus. “They look up to you as a hope for a better future.” Thorax looked at Twilight with a frown, and fiddled with his hooves on the table. Finally he looked over to Ocellus who was still blushing in embarrassment for raising her voice before. “Maybe you’re right. Not much would change.Even if everyone would refer to me as King  I would still be the same changeling.” “You’d get to wear a crown!” Ocellus chirped. The mental image of wearing a crown had Thorax’s ears drooping again. “But you wouldn’t have to wear it all the time. I don’t wear my own crown most of the time. I think it’s been weeks actually…” Twilight said quickly, trying to reduce the damage Ocellus’ suggestion had done. “Err, y-yeah, you can just stay the same, Thorax. And at some point you won’t even notice the title anymore.” Ocellus added sheepishly. Thorax realized that they both just wanted to help him feel better about accepting the crown, but it was beginning to feel like refusing it wasn’t even an option. Maybe he was just being stubborn? It wasn’t like becoming a King would actually mean he was replacing Chrysalis. He would be a King, not a Queen. That was a difference, right? Chrysalis wasn’t coming back. She would have ended his life if she had had the chance the last time he had seen her… right? He broke the silence with a sigh, releasing all of his worries through that one, big breath—for now—and stood. With a decent attempt at a smile he reached a hoof around Ocellus and pulled her into a soft embrace. Well, as soft as a chitinous embrace could be.  “Thank you. I think maybe, you two are right.” He said, looking back at Twilight. “I will accept. Maybe we have lost a Queen for good, maybe we do need a King and maybe I’m the right changeling for the position. I mean, how can I refuse if everyone and even my pony friends see me as King of the changelings?” Surprised by the sudden hug, Ocellus buzzed her little wings and smiled as she wrapped both her forelegs around the taller changeling’s neck. “It’s just a title,” she reminded and looked up to Thorax.  Twilight chuckled at the sight of the two hugging. “You’re a hero, Thorax. You shouldn’t be so modest all the time.” “Yeah, I guess. Thank you, Twilight! I hope you and the others will attend my coronation whenever we decide to have it.” “Of course we will!” chirped Twilight in response. Thorax let go of Ocellus and stepped away from the table, peering over to the door. “So,” He paused. “You two will be re-shelving the entire library?” Twilight shook her head, “Nah. We’re re-organizing it. Re-shelving means we pull them all out of the shelves and put them up in a new order. Re-organizing means we take the ones ponies have put in the wrong places and place them back to where they belong! Big difference!” She explained with the typical, nerdy excitement in her voice. “Ah so… yeah, I get it.” Thorax replied, feeling like he didn’t. “You can help us if you like! It really clears your head, maybe just what you need!” Ocellus suggested, buzzing over to Twilight and looking just as excited. While he wasn’t as much of a fan of books as these two, Thorax thought Ocellus might be onto something; he could use the distraction.  “Sure, why not. I got two hours before I have to attend the choir so I can stay for another hour. We’re working on a new interpretation of an old changeling lullaby!” Thorax said proudly as he walked over to the nearest shelf to see if there were any books out of order.  “Ooo! I didn’t know you had your own changeling songs!” Twilight exclaimed. “Can you sing one now?” “I’ll try, Twilight, but , I’m really not the best singer.” Thorax warned before he cleared his throat and tried to recall the lyrics. With the three of them working on the task they were done well within the hour Thorax had to spare. Just when the current leader and soon-to-be King of the changelings stepped outside into the afternoon sun he heard another pair of hoof-steps echoing from behind, followed by a quiet voice that called his name. “Thorax,” said Ocellus as she trotted up behind him. “Wait! I wanted to tell you something.”  Curiously, Thorax tilted his head and waited for Ocellus to catch up. He took a few steps back so they wouldn’t block the castle’s entrance. “Hey Ocellus. Are you going back to school now? How long until classes start again?” “Oh. We’re still off until next week but yes, I was about to head to my room.” Ocellus stopped right in front of Thorax and craned her neck to meet his gaze. “I know you said you will give it a try… but I have been thinking: most of us only have bad memories of our former Queen, but not all of us?” “That’s right,” Thorax answered, trying to figure out what Ocellus was on about. “Even I have a few good memories, I suppose. What are you suggesting? Oh, let me walk you back.” It wouldn’t be much of a walk, perhaps a minute or so but he felt uncomfortable standing around. “Well, I’ll probably regret suggesting it, but you should maybe talk to Pharynx about this. It might be a good idea to hear different opinions,” Ocellus suggested with an apologetic smile as she trotted past Thorax.  “Pharynx, uh… I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t want me to be a King, yeah,” he rubbed his neck and then hurried after Ocellus. “Why would you regret suggesting that, though?” “Oh.” Ocellus blushed a little. “Well... I really want you to be our King and he might convince you otherwise, I dunno… but I want you to want it, too. So in a way he’d be the perfect test to see if you feel becoming our new King would be the right choice for you.” ‘Hard to believe that she could ever be related to Chrysalis. They are so different.’ Thorax marveled.  Then again, all changelings were children to the Queen and Ocellus had spent more time under Thorax’s lead than the rule of the Queen at this point.  Before Thorax could voice his opinion, a pink hippogryph charged in and picked up Ocellus, squeezing the changeling affectionately whilst flapping her wings. It happened so fast he hadn’t even seen where she’d come from. “Oooocellus! Where have you been all day!?” Silverstream interrogated with a sudden shift from cheerful to serious. Ocellus pulled her face out of the feathery chest and tried freeing herself from the embrace with a weak push of her hooves. “Eee! I… I was with Princess Twilight, remember? I told you guys I’d help her re-organize the library!”  “Oh!” With utmost care Silverstream placed her friend back onto her hooves, and folded her wings. “When’d you tell us? I don’t remember you saying anything about re-booking with Princess Twi,” she asked rubbing her chinbeak, with a brow raised. At this point Thorax began to feel out of place. Maybe he should just leave the younger generation be and head back home, and talk to Pharynx as suggested. “I told you guys yesterday but you never listen when I— ” “Hey Thorax! I almost didn’t see you!” Silverstream cried and immediately rushed to glomp Thorax like she had Ocellus. He awkwardly reached a hoof around her and let out a nervous chuckle.  “Hi,” he answered, taking a step back when he was released. “Actually, I was about to leave. You two seem to have something fun planned and I don’t want to keep Ocellus from it.”  At the mention of fun Silverstream beamed and turned her attention back to Ocellus.  “Right! I was looking for you because we wanted to play a game of hoofball! And you need to be on my team.” Silverstream asked while leaning forward enough to touch foreheads and squish her beak against Ocellus' muzzle. Ocellus made a gentle attempt to escape the grasp, when it failed she replied with a quiet, “But I am bad at hoofball…”  “Not when you shape-shift!” Silverstream sing-songed with a beaky grin.  “I am allowed to do that?” “Yeah, we all agreed that it’s fine.” Silverstream let go of Ocellus and glanced over to Thorax with a smirk. “Hey you could join us, too. I bet with two changelings the others have no chance!” “Don’t you think that’d be a little unfair?” Thorax asked and offered a little smile. “Besides, I really need to get going. You two have fun, okay?” He waved his hoof. “I guess a little?” Silverstream shrugged and then waved back at Thorax, only to dash off a moment later.  Another moment later Silverstream came back and snatched up Ocellus who was in the middle of waving to her leader when she was taken away.  Thorax had no doubts that Ocellus was in good hooves—or claws—with her friends but sometimes he wondered if they weren’t a little too… intense for the timid nymph. On the other hoof, back under the Queen’s rule she had to endure much worse, so what was there to worry about?  Back to more pressing matters. The view of Pharynx on the whole King of the changelings thing was certainly one that interested Thorax.