//------------------------------//
// A Capital Idea, Princess - Part 2 
// Story: The King of Love Bugs 
// by NavelColt 
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The castle doors closed, and the changelings were embraced by cool air and the trailing aroma of freshly baked bread. Like mice to the pied piper, the drones followed their lunar host through halls decorated with vibrant banners and stained glass. Colorful eyes and noses peered into passing chambers and side corridors for that beckoning smell of grain. Luna giggled at such a display.

"Midday is luncheon for the castle's staff," she explained to Thorax. "I'd love to compliment a changeling's sense of smell, but if I'm honest, the cooks even draw me from my lofty chambers come this time of day."

"Oh, that's alright. I don't need a good sense of smell to tell it smells great," Thorax said, his magenta eyes lighting up. "We don't tend to eat, nor have bread available that often, but I've had it before while staying in the Crystal Empire. Although, I don't think any of these guys can say the same thing."

"Thorax, what is that?" asked Cimex, rising to his hind legs to better sniff the air. He fell back on all fours as a greyhound, bringing his snout to the ground. A few changelings egged him on with cheers and hoof pumps.

"You all can eat physical food?" Luna inquired, stopping for a moment. "Is love not all that sustains you, now?"

"It's complicated," Thorax sighed, watching his sizable grey puppy travel further ahead. With a flare of magic, he wagged the dog's tail, seizing his attention. A stern look returned the drone to his normal form, and he put on a sheepish look before returning to the group with a few frantic trots. "We can eat physical food, and we gain some energy from it, but it's never been able to sustain us, not before or since we transformed."

"Ah, a recreational usage, then. For ceremonies and the like, I presume?"

"Uh-huh. We have weekly pot lunches and some other food events, sometimes. Everyling loves the chance to eat physical meals for the taste. The social part is way more important, though."

Luna chuckled. "Not so different from ponies in the least. Should any of you care to sample the kitchen staff's work, please feel free to. They are gracious enough to allow my sister and I to partake while on our strolls by the kitchen. I can't imagine they would take umbrage with honored guests doing the same."

Any chance for modest refusal on his drones’ part was squandered when Thorax looked about to see colorful tails leaping from his side in an instant and vanishing around a corner. He winced, and Luna laughed, to the resulting screech of surprise from some poor kitchen staff worker.

"Oh gosh," Thorax breathed. With every faint cry and crash, his wince grew more rigid. "Uh, I guess now might be a good time to say I appreciate you entertaining us, princess. I'd hoped most of our energy would be spent on a city tour by now, but we're all still a bit antsy. You're sure we're not interrupting anything?"

Luna watched him closely. His body language, his smile as fragile as a dying candle flame. She smiled back, and he fidgeted. She sought his eye, and he made contact with the floor tiles instead.

The princess fought her snicker valiantly. Twilight's assessments were spot on, as usual. The poor king's self-esteem was adorably lacking.

"Walk with me?"

Thorax blinked. "Walk with you?"

"Mhmm." Luna nodded her head towards the hall laid before them. "You're most certainly not interrupting anything. Quite the contrary. I've something I wish to show you before Twilight and my sister inevitably steal your attention away for the day."

Again, Thorax blinked. Braving his anxieties, he trotted before the kitchen's open doorway and chanced a look inside. His fabricated fears of destruction were laid to rest before the sight of an immaculate kitchen/dining room. Long oak tables set with brilliant china and silverware were seated with a dozen or so ponies, generously partaking in what was assumedly a hearty meal of their own creation. Just past the ponies, his multicolored flock had organized themselves into an efficient lunchroom line along a buffet table. One by one, they left with modest helpings of bread, lettuces, and fruits.

"Thorax, come look at this!" called Calor, far louder than Thorax's comfort was willing to tolerate. His onset grimace quickly became a frantic grin for the dozen eyes latching onto him.

"They have bread with butter, garlic, and herbs! When we get back home, I'm definitely going to start a ‘Friends Baking Committee’! I don't think I can live without this bread! Come try some!"

"That's okay, Calor. I'm not very hungry, right now," Thorax countered. "Guys, do me a favor and stay here for a few minutes while you have something to eat, okay? Princess Luna needs my help with something. We'll be right back. No running off, and no bothering anypony. We're guests here, and we need to behave ourselves."

The group nodded distractedly as they consumed their loaves with gusto. With a defeated shake of his head, Thorax gave the observing princess his best face. His cheeks reddened at her most zestful giggle yet, and together they made their way down the hall.

"You have such attentiveness towards them," Luna said softly. "Never did I doubt Twilight Sparkle's notes, but there is a sense of wonder to be felt, experiencing the things she described firsthoof. You really are like their surrogate parent now, aren't you?"

"I'm a guardian, a protector, and a leader," Thorax rattled off, deflating a sigh in the same breath. "I suppose a parent is the closest comparison, although there are differences. Sometimes I'm just a good friend, and that's all I have to be. I want them to develop friendships for themselves, just as I did, and to discover themselves. Anything I can do to encourage that is what I'm here for."

Luna beamed. "To hear such aspirations from a changeling. My goodness, such marvelous times we live in. Forgive my late input on the subject, but it's such a lovely thing to see. Quite the contrast to what we've come to expect from the she-demon."

Thorax snorted. "The ‘she-demon’?"

"I don't deign to refer to her by her former, self-proclaimed title," Luna remarked, offering a wink. "Celestia says it's foalish passive aggression, but I say a snake such as Chrysalis doesn't deserve the recognition."

Thorax fell into the folds of thought once more, lowering his head as he walked.

"Would you believe that some changelings missed the way things were with her, at first?"

He noted the sharp turn of Luna's head in his peripheral.

"Not a lot, mind you. Almost everyling was ready to try something new, to not always feel starved and desperate. But some resisted change, all the same. Some of them missed her assuredness after seeing how meek I was."

"Hm. We have a term for such things here in Equestria." Luna’s tone was stern, but she wore a smirk. "'Stockhoof Syndrome', I believe. Irrational feelings of alliance with a captor or abuser. Can't imagine how else the witch might obtain affection."

Thorax laughed, which pleased her.

"In more pleasant news, however, we've arrived," Luna continued, guiding the changeling to her side. Thorax watched her, expecting more, but only patient curiosity awaited him.

And so Thorax looked around, and audibly gasped. The narrow, decorated hallway had given way to a commanding chamber, lined with bouquets of vivid purple flowers and deep blue tapestries. Lean pillars of light beset the tile floor in sequences of stripes, cast there by the tallest windows the changeling had ever seen.

Above all else was a certain smell. It soothed yet enticed Thorax’s nose. With each breath, his grin grew decidedly larger.

"This flower is known as 'lavender'." Luna summoned a bouquet from its home on the wall sconce. It held itself aloft in her marine aura, bobbing in the air between the two of them. "It is among the most calming of scents, as well as a lovely shade of purple. Do you recognize it?"

The invitation was too good to resist. Thorax ventured a more direct sniff. With a shiver in both body and tone, he expressed his approval.

"No, I've never seen or smelled anything like it! Do you always decorate the castle with it?"

"On occasion," Luna answered, returning the delicate plant to its place. "For today, I did this in light of your visit. You see, through Twilight's notes, I learned of the role communal rest plays in your magic. As a caretaker of the night, restful sleep is my specialty. I wasn't sure if you had heard of lavender before, so I decided to show you and find out."

Before Thorax could respond, another object was offered to him: a modest purple pouch with a silver pull string. The changeling raised a hoof to receive it. Specks of dirt clung to the sack's soft fabric, having been stored in the same pitcher the bouquet came from.

"Lavender's scent is said to promote restorative sleep, and some say it even brings about pleasant dreams. There are enough seeds in that pouch to grow several flower beds. I thought you might plant them near where you all rest. If nothing else, I'm sure it will bring your home a bit more personality."

"Oh my gosh, that's...so nice of you," Thorax whimpered, teetering on the edge of waterworks. "But are you sure? Do you have enough? I wouldn't want to take all you have."

"I have more of the plant than I could ever need," Luna dismissed. "For a previous birthday, I was gifted a greenhouse near the southern edge of the castle gardens; a joint gift from my sister and the castle's groundskeeper. In it, I grow a plethora of lavender, as well as some other personal favorites."

Thorax nodded before hanging the pouch on the lowest spike of his antler.

"I didn't know you were a gardener," he said. "W-well, I guess I technically don't know anything about you, asides from your role in Equestria."

Luna giggled. "I suppose it's surreal to see princesses engaging in simple things, no matter where you come from," she mused. "Raising the moon and defending dreams is a steep obligation, true, but I manage a few hobbies all the same."

The pair laughed as they went back the way they came.

"As for the gardening, I appreciate the compliment, but I merely dabble in the art. Compared to our groundskeeper, I'm just a novice. Though, I am thankful that the one flower I do care for may be of use to you."

"Oh, I can't wait to show everyling!" Thorax chirped. "I already know they'll love it. The hive has sprouted with plant life, but we don't have many scented flowers. Mostly a lot of vines and shrubbery. I'd love to see if I can use this to help calm little changelings down for cluster naps. I bet our feelings forum coordinator would love some, too."

"If I may tilt the topic, how do these 'cluster naps' usually work?" Luna asked. "In regards to you, I mean. Twilight's notes mentioned how large these periods of sleep can grow and how your magic, as the alpha, distributes among your subjects, but I'm left wondering how you manage to organize such gatherings."

"Organize them?" Thorax repeated.

"You saw the line of ponies outside the castle doors today, yes? Three days of the week, they line up to seek our counsel on personal matters of property distribution, financial deals, and the like. We do our best to aid them on a first-come-first-serve basis, hence the line and designated times. It would appear to me that 'cluster naps' might call for a similar approach. How do you handle whose turn it is to rest next to you, and whose turn it is to rest further away?"

Thorax's teeth glinted. "Well, I guess you could say there's a process. It depends on the group's size, but there is some overlap. Honestly, it'd be easier to show you than explain it. Would you like to see?"

Luna laughed. "Is my heart ready to witness such purity and love, up close? Well, suffice to say I'm ready to find out."



From atop a mound of compiled decorations, manifested paraphernalia featuring his own face, and a slew of benches, rocks, and walkways stacked haphazardly from the school's nearby courtyard, Discord sat upon a golden throne, crossing his scaled foot over his goat leg. With every wiggle of his clawed toes, he could practically see another puff of smoke escape the headmare's flared nostrils.

"What in Equestria is this, Discord!?"

Discord's eel-like neck swam in every direction but hers.

"Did somecreature hear something? I most certainly did. It almost sounded like...disapproval." His beady eyes lazily drifted down the mountain of table linens and forgotten 'Faculty Appreciation Day' banners. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is an appreciation event, Headmare Twilight. I'm here to be appreciated. If you have an issue with the ‘Lord of Vice Headmares’, I'm afraid you'll have to come back another day and go through the proper channels."

A series of desks materialized to Twilight's left. Here, five rows of Discords in proper suit and tie shuffled papers in perfect sequence.

"Substitute Vice Headmare, if we're going to get stingy about titles," Twilight grumbled.

"Don't pay him no mind, Twilight," said Applejack. Amidst playing cards with Rainbow Dash at a picnic table, the farmer pony leaned sideways on one hoof and shot Twilight a knowing look. "You haven' been here for most of his braggin' lately, but he's still tickled pink bout' how he set up all those new changeling students unassisted. Best leave him to it. He'll put everythin' back once he's done struttin' his ribbons. Ya know, hopefully."

"Besides, I've already tried doing something about it," said Starlight, offering beverages to seated staff and teachers. "It's not worth the headache. And anyway, shouldn't you be in Canterlot by now? Today is Thorax's big day over there, isn't it?"

"I can't in good conscience leave with things looking like this," Twilight pleaded, jabbing a hoof at a student-crafted statue for emphasis. Once a centerpiece to the courtyard, it now served as a cornerstone for Discord's pile of anarchy, pressed into the grass like an aged ruin.

"Well, now you're just insulting modern art," Discord muttered, filing his eagle claw with a potato.

"Discord, just because Fluttershy is on a wildlife safari in Zebrambwe does not mean you get free reign of the school. Yes, you are a valued member of our staff. Yes, we appreciate your input, services, and enthusiasm. And yes, we're very sorry if we ever shunned or ignored you in the past."

Starlight mumbled something about ripping off still-fresh band-aids.

"But this?" Another mulberry hoof dramatically motioned to the impromptu mountain. "This is too much, Discord. Can you please turn things back so that everyone can enjoy the faculty event?"

The potato sprouted wings and flew away, and Discord relished the handiwork done on his nails.

"Can I?" he repeated. "Why, of course. Shall I? Well, now, that's another question entirely, Twilight. You of all ponies should know the importance of proper phrasing."

Twilight's brow twitched dangerously.

"Come now, my dear, my allegiance is to chaos, to fun!" Discord flopped about in his throne like a beached fish and drew snickers from the attendees.

"It's not always about what you want, Discord," Twilight countered, hooves leaving the ground with the soft flapping of her wings. "You've long since learned that. You know what you ought to do here. If you're not being inclusive, then you're being selfish."

"Celestia's student to the bitter end," Discord droned, standing atop the crown of his chair. He tightened the belt holding together his form-fitting white robes. "Only a spoilsport deals in absolutes. If my one, isolated chance at frivolity this evening as a recognized faculty member is under scrutiny, then I shall do what I must to defend it."

Twilight's aura glowed, and a scroll soared into being. The scroll rotated with a twirl and revealed the butterfly cutie mark of its addressed recipient. Discord froze. Twilight smirked.

"You will try."



"Wait, we're cuddling now?"

Calor's jaw unhinged in a display of betrayal as Xenica rubbed up and under Thorax's chin.

"Sorry, Calor, she was swift," Thorax chuckled. "The left side is still open for you, though."

Calor raised a distraught hoof.

"But...there's no hooves there to hold me."

Calor gasped. Two hooves wrapped around his neck from behind and held him hostage. His grin bloomed in the same moment a familiar love enwrapped him tightly.

"I'll hold you, Calor," Apidae chirped. "And don't worry, you can be by Thorax. I'll be closer to the fire that way."

With the zest of lunch behind them, and the castle's staff long since departed, the small group of changelings huddled around the dining room's fireplace, a sole item against the eastern wall. The overhead lights had gone out, leaving the fire to solely illuminate the windowless room.

Luna breathed deeply, loafing herself a few feet away from the changeling pile. In the embrace of the flame's light, her ethereal mane sparkled, its contents revealed like a flashlight piercing murky water. She watched Calor and Apidae roll over each other in a moment of bliss, their giggles harmonizing with the crackling fire until Calor came to a jolted stop against green chitin.

"Can't go anywhere with you guys," Thorax mused, unrooting a hoof to assail Calor with a series of head pats. The blue drone thrummed incessantly.

"I've ventured sweet, candy-filled dreams of foals that are less adorable than this," said Luna, a giggle lacing her tone. "As soon as you mentioned resting, I knew just the atmosphere to set up. Few things in our world bring the kind of tranquility a fireplace does. As somepony who is largely nocturnal, excluding important dates like today, it has brought me comfort on more moons than I can count."

Thorax looked at the princess more closely. Her aura was eerie, spectral, but not scary in the slightest. He watched and waited, allowing the view of embraced changelings to sink in.

"Care to hazard a guess, yet?"

"Pardon?"

"How we decide who's turn it is to nap next to me," Thorax clarified. His pile turned their eyes towards him. "I guess it's not so easy to tell right now because there's enough of me to go around. Didn't think about that. Anyway, a lot of it has to do with relationships and how strong they are between myself and the changelings I'm resting with."

"Oh." Luna shifted in position to face her company better. Her gaze flowed from one pair of colored eyes to the next. "You mean to say that those changelings you have close relations with take priority? That this somehow affects the distribution of love magic?"

"Thorax constantly gives off love energy," Apidae revealed. "It affects all changelings nearby, regardless of his relationships with them. Of course, he benefits from being close to changelings, on top of that. This is different from the rest of us because we can only give love energy to one or two other changelings at a time, and it's only effective when they're nearby and our relationships are strong. Sometimes a strong feeling of empathy towards them works, too."

"So I see," said Luna. "And what of cluster naps? How does their size fit into all this?"

"When changelings share love through cluster naps, we create a kind of circuit." Apidae pressed a cheek against Calor's. "One changeling shares love with two neighbors, they share with four more, and so on. If any of those changelings are good friends or mates, the magic is amplified."

"Add Thorax's love signal to the mix, and it's quite powerful," Xenica added. "The more changelings in the chain who have strong personal connections, the more everyling in the chain benefits as a whole. That applies to Thorax, too."

"So love energy is amplified by relationships as it's distributed," Luna summarized happily. "So by resting with changelings that he knows well, Thorax can better serve the group as a whole."

"Sort of indirect favoritism, I admit," Thorax chuckled.

"Oh, I don't think so. Such changelings have surely earned their place by growing close to you as a friend. It's...a shockingly fair and effective form of magic. I'm beginning to understand how Twilight managed to write multiple volumes on the subject."

Voices fell to the fire’s warmth. The occasional carapace buzzed with emoting wings as drones curled and pressed into Thorax with deeper commitment. The more he found himself squished by them, the wider his etched grin grew.

"Speaking of Twilight, I feel it necessary to apologize."

Thorax blinked. In that short frame of time, Cimex wrapped his hooves around his neck like a necktie. "Apologize? For what?"

"I believe at this point your city tour may need to be postponed to a future date," Luna remarked. "With Twilight still absent, you're without a guide. I'd take you myself, but we're approaching the museum's opening. Knowing my luck, Celestia will appear to whisk you all away before we've even visited my favorite snack cart on the corner."

"Oh, okay." Surprise, amusement, sorrow. An array of emotions came to him, though they were not his own. They were fragile, fleeting glimpses of thought that quickly faded away again. His body warmed to them, and he curiously looked around to spot them.

But not a single face reflected them. A more powerful force had masked them, triumphed over them. It was an unwavering sense of contentment, and it bloomed forth from every changeling. In the firelight's shroud, their focus had depth. In Thorax's embrace, they had grown calm. In attendance of the moon princess, they had the patience to spare.

Thorax breathed, and the bodies all around him readjusted quietly. For the first time in a while, his anxieties had been silenced entirely.

"Maybe we won't have time to go on a tour of the whole city today," said Thorax. "But a city tour was Twilight's idea in the first place, so if she's not here, I don't think it'd feel right having one, anyway. We can always come back and have one some other time. I also think we're all just really enjoying this, right now. We don't usually get to enjoy firelight at the hive, and I certainly never have during the day."

"Fire means half-hour evacuation procedures led by Pharynx," Xenica mumbled. "Standing in long rows, waiting for him to call your name. Except all his calls are yells, and you have a headache by the end. This is better."

"I think learning more about you would be just as interesting as a city tour, Your Majesty," Apidae offered.

"Me?" Luna squawked. "Oh, no, what's to tell? Should I not be asking the questions? This visit is all about yourselves."

Luna floundered before the changelings, unable to dampen their self-fueled excitement. Thorax gave her a sheepish look as his charge drowned her in questions.

"How does your mane do that wavy thing? Is it enchanted? Do you have energetic shampoo?"

"Is your cutie mark just the moon and the black part is a coincidental beauty mark, or is the whole thing your cutie mark?"

"What does a moon princess do? Do you know why the moon looked weird for a long time? I noticed that when I was a scout changeling. Was that some kind of pony holiday? It looked like a unicorn, so I know it has to do with ponies."

"Did you really try to starve out the sun? Were you evil once, princess?"

Cast too deep and now beyond retrieval, the questions came to a ceasefire. All heads pivoted towards a tangerine changeling, the last of Thorax's flock, peeking out from behind the alpha's flank.

"Labrum, you can't just ask the princess pony if she was evil," said Xenica, matter-of-factly. "You have to let her possible evil backstory come up naturally in conversation-"

"Xenny!" Thorax hissed, knocking changelings from their comfort in a sudden jerk of motion. "Really, guys, not every nation has leaders as casual as I am. You need to be more polite!"

"Do not worry, Thorax. I do not mind. It is a loaded question, but not one I'm uncomfortable delving into." Luna crossed her hooves and looked skyward. Her chin glowed with a hellish light. "You've told me of your legacy. Allow me to tell you a bit of mine. You must understand that my time as a princess, though now pleasant, is marked by suffering. Suffering in the form of jealousy, remorse, and nightmares."



"Your Majesty! Oh, what timing. Your Highness, over here!"

A lone pegasus circled the sky overhead. Though he tried, his calls could not reach the sun monarch's ears. Hers had long been filled by ceaseless queries, a roar of voices as loud as any manticore.

Perfectly centered in a mob of rabid reporters, Celestia stood calm before a storm of noise and lights. The paparazzi pushed and shoved, clamoring to gain even an inch, while their microphones held aloft in unique spectrums of colored magic.

"Your Highness, is it true the new city museum will feature potentially controversial exhibits concerning the changeling horde and other defeated threats?"

"Princess, was the recent relapse of magic in Equestria truly the doing of a foal? Will this be confirmed by museum exhibits? Just how up-to-date will the museum's exhibits be?"

"Princess, is it true you've invited a group of changelings to attend the museum opening today?"

Frantic murmurs spread like wildfire. Celestia stepped forward and cleared her throat.

"I am pleased to announce that the museum will be opening very shortly," Celestia declared, her voice a contained boom within the city square. "I have just finished a personal tour with the museum's curator, Mild Menagerie, who remains inside, seeing to final preparations before the doors open this afternoon."

As the alicorn spoke, the crowd's tumult died down. All voices fell before hers, while microphones and cameras hung upon every word.

"I can confirm that our grand opening today will play host to honored guests, guests who I have personally invited. But I am afraid I’m not available for further comment; I have duties elsewhere. For those who plan to stay in line, I look forward to opening this chapter in Canterlot's grand history with you all very soon. All your questions and more will be revealed soon enough. That, I promise you."

As if waiting on the precipice of her final word, queries assaulted the princess yet again, but were in vain. Celestia's milky wings spread, and she took off from the street below, leaving a sea of flashing lights in her wake. She then finally approached the flying guard.

"My apologies," she said. "Preparations have been a bit of a nightmare this morning, but we're finally finished. I do hope you haven't been waiting too long for my attention."

"Your Highness," he groaned, clearly haggard and short of breath. "Not at all. I spotted you exiting the museum by chance on my way by. Princess Luna has dispatched me to locate the visiting changeling party, and I hoped they might’ve congregated at the museum with you."

Celestia's face grew hard. "I'm afraid they did not. Was Thorax not greeted and escorted from the city gates?"

"No ma'am," the stallion said weakly. "I regret to say that I relayed unclear orders to my squads this morning. They were under the impression that Princess Twilight would be meeting with and escorting the changeling envoy, not our squads. They greeted Thorax at the gate but did not escort him. We've since lost track of him."

A sigh as sharp as a spear's tip ruptured the guard pony's heart. Luna's wrath was nothing compared to Celestia's unspoken disappointment.

"Has anypony been in contact with Twilight? You're certain they're not simply off on tour within the city?"

"I suppose they could be, Your Majesty, but Princess Twilight is also presumably missing. None have seen her today, and she did not check in with any of our units as she typically does."

Celestia pressed a golden hoof against her temple. Beads of sweat slid between the stallion's cheek and inner helmet.

"Start from the beginning, lieutenant," Celestia ordered, lowering her hoof. Her motherly tone was gone, as was her patience. "How exactly did this impressive feat of miscommunication get started?"