“Excuse me?!”
The echo of Shining’s shocked protest sliced mercilessly through the air, reinforcing my wish that Sunburst had never made that suggestion. What were you thinking, Sunburst? You can’t really expect him to agree to that! He doesn’t let me even see Flurry Heart, and I’m supposed to watch her and keep her safe?
“You heard me, Shining,” he stated.
“I know you don’t like it,” Cadance said, “but Sunburst has a point. Flurry likes Thorax, and we are out of options.”
“You support him?!”
“Thorax wouldn’t be my first choice, I admit, but only because I don’t think he would have had a chance to develop much experience with foalsitting. But I don’t mind, either. Not to mention that he’s been looking for a job. This could be it!”
“If I may,” I interjected, “I should point out that I have exactly zero experience with foals! Not that I’m not flattered by your trust in me, Princess!”
“There you go, Cady! He admits himself that he isn’t cut out for this!”
“He never said that. Skill and experience are two different things! And he is resourceful. I’m sure he’ll figure it out!”
“And do what? Hiss at her like the last time we let him near her?”
“No, and by the way, that wasn’t the last time.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I took Thorax for a walk about a week after what you call the ‘last time’, and Flurry was with us.”
“Where was his guard?” he demanded.
I cast a nervous glance at Trusty Shield, who was standing at a respectful distance. He returned the glance, and Shining noticed.
“You?! Explain yourself! Why wasn’t I told about this?”
“Because I ordered him not to tell you,” Cadance answered for Trusty. “I was trying to protect Thorax.”
“What were you thinking, Cady? That thing could have hurt our daughter!”
“No, he wouldn’t have hurt her, and if you’d bothered to set your stubborn prejudice aside and to get to know him for who he really is, you would have realized it yourself a long time ago! Thorax and Flurry didn’t interact much with each other directly, mostly due to Thorax’s caution, but when they did, they got along really well! She wasn’t afraid of him at all, in fact, she even tried to hug him!”
“What do you mean, ‘tried to’ hug him?”
“He went into a fit of panic because he thought you were going to kill him.”
“Is it true?” Shining asked Trusty.
“Yes, Sir. Every word of it. Half the city saw it!”
“And I wasn’t to know?”
“I was following Princess Cadance’s orders. And… permission to speak freely, Sir?”
“Aren’t we past that by now?” he muttered. “Granted.”
“I believed you were right about him when you first assigned me to watch him, Sir. I tried to act as close to how I assumed you would in my place. I didn’t want to let the others’ permissive attitude deter me. But when I saw him curled up shivering in the middle of the road because of one hug… that made a dent in my conviction. He hadn’t nearly won me over yet, but I began to ask myself if I’d misjudged him after all, and the more time I spent around him, the more convinced I became that he really is a good guy like he claims to be, despite my attempts to explain it all as a first-class deception act. I’m sorry, but I just can’t see him as a dangerous enemy anymore!”
I caught an I-told-you-so smirk on Sunburst’s face as he glanced at me.
Shining groaned. “You trust him, do you?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Enough to let him foalsit your own son?”
“Absolutely!”
He went silent. His gaze wandered from Cadance, to Sunburst, to Trusty, to me, to a random spot on the floor. His aura of love was as jumbled as on the day I’d told him about Pharynx, if not more! We all stood there, waiting for him to come to a decision, and I had no idea whether I should be excited or concerned-bordering-on-panic.
“All of you think this is a good idea?” he asked eventually.
“Yes,” they said in unison.
“Uh, I’m undecided,” I added, for whatever it was worth. I was actually leaning toward a ‘no’, but it wasn’t my place to go against the Princess’ wishes.
“Fine,” he groaned. “You win this time. Thorax, I’ll give you one chance to prove yourself capable of foalsitting an alicorn filly. I repeat: one chance. Don’t squander it if you value your life!”
I gulped and forced out a nervous nod.
“And don’t think I’ll let you act as you please! By definition, you won’t be able to avoid contact with her today, but all of your other restrictions still stand!”
I nodded again. He turned to Sunburst, waving a threatening hoof at him.
“And if I find out that you blew yourself up on purpose to get me to agree to this-”
“Don’t you think that would have been a little extreme? Relax, Shining, it was an accident!”
At that moment, Flurry decided she’d gotten bored of sitting on her father’s back and flew over onto mine. Shining removed her immediately.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, young lady! He hasn’t proven himself to me yet!”
And I probably never would, I said to myself.
“...and the diapers and powder are in this cupboard,” Cadance finished giving me quick instructions on where things of necessity were in Flurry’s room. “There’s another cupboard with diapers in the bathroom across the hallway, too, if you prefer to change her there. Any questions?”
“Yes, kind of. I’ve never had to change diapers. How do I do it?”
“You take the dirty one off and throw it in the bin, then you clean and powder Flurry’s rump, and dress her in a clean diaper the same way she was dressed in the one you threw away. I’m sorry I can’t demonstrate the process, but I’m running late for my duties as it is! It really isn’t complicated, just make sure to remember the way the used diaper is wrapped around her as you take it off.” She glanced at Shining, who was issuing orders to Trusty and one other guard. “I’d like to think that one of them will be willing to help you, but knowing Shining, I wouldn’t be surprised if he forbids it.”
“Either that, or it’ll be another point against me if I ask for assistance.”
“Don’t let that discourage you! I used to be a foalsitter, and it really isn’t a problem as long as you can establish some level of trust and allow her to play the way she wants without letting the fun turn into rampaging. I’m sure you already have her trust, and as for the rest… well, I think you’ll know how to set boundaries!”
“What if it doesn’t work? I’ve never been responsible for foals, or for nymphs or larvae, or any other offspring for that matter, and this is my only chance to prove myself!” I could feel a wave of panic approaching rapidly. Relax! You’ll blow it for sure if you succumb to worrying!
Cadance put a reassuring hoof on my shoulder.
“You can do this, Thorax! I wouldn’t have agreed to it if I had any doubts! Just do what you think is best and try to forget that you’re being evaluated!”
“That last part is going to be hard with two guards under orders to watch my every move,” I sighed.
“Still, try not to dwell on it. At least you’ll get a slight break at lunchtime when Shining and I will be there. Don’t lose track of time and forget to bring her to the dining room!”
“I will. Won’t. Ugh,” I rubbed my forehead,” you get the idea... I think?”
She nodded. Shining seemed to be done with the guards, too, as the three of them were watching us.
“I think that’s everything now,” she said, joining her husband as he started to leave.
“Um, Princess? What if… what if something comes up that I can’t handle?”
Shining opened his mouth, probably to say something along the lines of ‘then I hope you like pain’, but Cadance spoke first.
“I’ll be in the throne room if you need me,” she said.
Finally, I was left alone to my task. Well, not exactly alone in the strictest sense of the word; Trusty Shield and this other guard were there to keep me in check, and I was very aware of their eyes fixed on me. Trusty wasn’t as much of a problem anymore as he’d been in the first days, but the newly-appointed one gave me a sense of uneasiness. Nothing overly hostile about her, but nothing unconditionally friendly, either. Things could go either way with her. Was that it? And why did I have a feeling that I’d dealt with her before?
Of course! She’d been posted at Shining’s office on the day when he questioned me about the hive and led me into confessing about Pharynx! What was her name, again? Galea? She hadn’t done anything to me, but her presence alone, in connection with that awful day, must have been enough to leave me instinctively wary of her! But Brave Heart had been there too; why wasn’t I afraid of him as much? Was it because I’d come across him in passing on a couple of other occasions when nothing bad had happened? Was it because Galea had a horn she could potentially use against me and Brave Heart didn’t? Or had she simply been in a foul mood that day and I’d unknowingly registered her love aura and tied it into her presumed personality and into what was going on?
Enough with that, I told myself. I had a job to do and couldn’t allow myself to get distracted! Everything would be fine, I just had to make sure not to give Galea and Trusty any reason to think I was a threat to Flurry! They wouldn’t harm me if I did everything properly, would they?
Okay, Thorax, so far so good. One minute over and… several hours to go, probably. You can do this! Just calm down… act natural… Calm down… it’s just one foal…
For the moment, Flurry was playing with a plush snail, apparently oblivious to the world around her. I watched her in silence. She didn’t seem to need any interaction with me or anyone else at the moment, and I wondered how long it would last. I hoped for indefinitely, but Cadance had made it sound like I could be in over my head at any random moment! Was that an exaggeration born from my utter lack of experience with foals? Maybe. Hopefully. At least there were no bowls of hot oatmeal anywhere in sight this time…
Flurry suddenly snapped out of her plushy trance and fixed her eyes on me.
“Uh, hello, Flurry,” I said. “Remember me? I know I haven’t been around you very much, but… anyway… I’m supposed to watch you today, okay?”
She blinked a couple of times and tilted her head slightly.
“Do… do you understand what I’m saying? Are you supposed to understand at your age?”
Still no response.
“Okay, stupid question,” I muttered. A glance at Galea and Trusty revealed that they were staring at me blankly, too. What was I doing wrong? Back to Flurry. “Okay, this is going to sound silly but… am I supposed to talk to you? Ponies do talk to you, right?”
She flung the snail in my face.
“Ow! Okay, you’re right. I am stupid. Any suggestions?”
The guards snickered.
“Good luck taking advice from a foal,” Galea muttered.
“Okay then, what do you suggest?” Please say something useful!
“Do I look like I’m here to teach you your own job?”
“I don’t even know how I got roped into this…”
“Tough luck, pal. Captain Shining said to not interfere unless you attack Flurry.”
Something else collided with my head. This time it was a plush fish. And a plush bear. And a plush frog as I turned my head back to Flurry. She babbled something and launched the plush phoenix I’d bought her in my face. A plush elephant was coming up next, but I dodged it by flattening myself against the floor behind the pile of already-thrown plushies.
When I looked up, she was frowning at me with her forelegs crossed, and no more projectiles were lined up for throwing. I scooped up the five plushies in front of me and gave them back to her, then went to collect the elephant that had landed a little further away, only to once again be rewarded with the frog in the head.
The guards laughed.
“What’s so fu-”
The flying snail nearly knocked me off my hooves this time.
“Okay, Flurry, how am I supposed to bring these back to you if you keep distracting me?”
She giggled and unleashed the fish. It narrowly missed me and hit the cupboard, then bounced off somewhere out of sight.
“Great. Now I have to go looking for that one!” I decided to cut the matter short by throwing the frog and snail back to her but without actually hitting her. She let out a squeal and threw the phoenix just as I’d located the fish and was about to pick it up.
“Hey-” I started to protest, and then it dawned on me what she was doing. “Wait, you want us to throw plushies at each other? Is that how fillies play?”
More squeals and giggles, and a warm surge in her love aura. I also caught a glimpse of Galea trying to conceal a grin and a slight eye-roll.
“Okay then,” I said, accepting the game. “Fish away!”
She caught it in her magic and retaliated with the elephant that narrowly missed the phoenix coming from my end. I couldn’t catch the toy in my magic, and the bear hit me in the snout as I was attempting to collect the elephant and throw it back. I realized soon that attempting to fetch either of the two plushies wouldn’t get me far, and opted instead to snatch the returning phoenix out of the air before it could collide with my face again, then sent it on an immediate return trajectory quickly enough to follow up with the bear before the next arrival.
This went on for some time, and the room echoed with Flurry’s laughter, and it was quickly filled with the sweet, mouth-watering love aura of glorious brightness that the little princess radiated so effortlessly! If I’d known a foal could be so easily satisfied, I wouldn’t have been so hesitant about agreeing to watch her! And she’d been right: this was fun! Silly, but fun nevertheless!
If only I could have had anything like that in my own nymphhood…
The stray thought dampened my elated mood slightly, and though the difference was negligible and shouldn’t have had any outward manifestation, Flurry seemed to have picked up on it somehow. It was far from giving me a reason to worry, but she wasn’t laughing so uncontrollably anymore. Could it be that she’d inherited her mother’s gift for sensing emotions? Or had she simply worn herself out around the same time as me getting momentarily wistful?
Whatever it was, she wasn’t letting it stop her. Though she’d lost interest in the plushies that were now strewn all over the room, there were still ideas in her young mind awaiting their turn to be explored. She opened one of the toy boxes and levitated dozens - hundreds, maybe - of colorful cubes from it. That box must have contained nothing but cubes! She dropped them on the floor in front of me; some rolled away in all directions, but she didn’t seem to care.
I took one of the cubes in my hooves and examined it. It was smooth and shiny, roughly the size of an apple, and each surface was colored differently. As far as I could tell, all the other cubes looked the same.
“What are these for, Flurry?” I asked. “Throwing? They don’t look very… safe… You could get hurt if they hit you…”
By then she was prodding some of the cubes from the pile, trying to make them tumble down. She looked at me and babbled something.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what that means…”
She levitated a few dozen cubes and lined them up around me, then levitated some more and stacked them on the first ones.
“Oh! We’re building something?”
Another row got stacked on the previous ones, and another, and then some more. The wall she’d built wasn’t perfect; there were gaps and irregularities as the cubes weren’t aligned with expert precision, but the structure held nevertheless. Mostly. I supported it by adding a blob of slime in a few questionable spots. A muffled scoff from the guards at the sight of the first blob made me wonder momentarily if I’d done something I shouldn’t have, but neither of them openly protested, so I assumed it was alright after all. I could always clean it up if I turned out to be wrong!
The wall was getting taller quickly and she was running out of cubes. I wondered what she’d do after using up the last one. It didn’t get there; when she realized she only had half a dozen of them left, she gathered them up in front of herself, let out a little whimper, and glanced at me.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “I don’t have any more. We used them all up!”
I expected her to start crying and was beginning to ask myself how to best comfort her, but instead, she squeezed her eyes shut and lit up her horn. The unused cubes glowed in her magic and sprouted more identical cubes, and more, and then some more! I’d had no idea such a spell existed! Had she just come up with it on the spot? Sunburst would be impressed!
There were now plenty enough cubes for her to finish her little fort, or whatever the creation was supposed to be. It actually reminded me of the hive a little, with how it got narrower at the top and how it sported many holes in its structure; my blobs of slime completed the unintended effect. The main difference was that there were no side-spires and that she placed a potted plant at the top where Chrysalis’ castle would be in the real hive. Also, the masterpiece had a real live changeling completely enclosed within it. An urge to trap changelings that she’d inherited from her father, perhaps?
Well played, Flurry! I chuckled at my current position, and her giggles echoed from the outside.
But I was going to have to disappoint her. Glad as I may be that she was enjoying herself, my main function here was to keep an eye on her, and I couldn’t do that from within a pile of cubes. Luckily, I could get out at any moment; the holes were big enough for a small animal to pass through without disrupting the structure.
A burst of my magic transformed me into a mouse and I scurried out through one of the gaps at the side of the cube tower. Flurry looked at me with a puzzled frown. Hadn’t she ever seen a mouse? It didn’t matter; my disguise had served its purpose and I reverted to my own form.
Flurry obviously hadn’t expected a mouse to burst into blue flames and her foalsitter to emerge from the receding fire; she recoiled and whimpered, hiding herself behind her wings.
“Oops… I’m sorry, Flurry! I wasn’t thinking! Please, I’m not going to hurt you! Uh, what’s that smell?”
“She needs a diaper change,” Trusty Shield informed me. “It happens sometimes when foals get startled. Don’t worry, she’ll calm down pretty soon.”
She might calm down, but what about me? I was starting to panic; I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to do this! What if I did something wrong?
Well, no use in postponing the matter or pretending that nothing had happened.
I picked Flurry up and carried her into the bathroom, where I placed her on a changing table and removed the dirty diaper as instructed, careful to remember exactly the way it looked on her. Flurry kicked at the air as I worked, but it wasn’t getting in the way much. Also, I was relieved to find that the task at hoof wasn’t as repulsive as I’d expected; though far from enjoyable, it wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the messes other drones had deliberately created for me to clean up every now and then before my escape from the hive! And Flurry was kind of cooperating as I dressed her in a clean diaper! She even waited patiently while I washed my hooves! Why had everypony made it sound like this was an impossible ordeal?
“Back already?” Galea asked as I trotted into Flurry’s room with the little princess riding on my back. “Uh, do you need help?”
“With the diaper change? No, I figured it out.”
“You did?! This quickly? I’m impressed!” She prodded Trusty. “You think they’ll expect him to do it every time now that he’s proven himself?”
“Nah, it’ll still probably fall to whoever happens to be nearby.” He glanced at the clock. “It’s almost lunchtime. We should head for the dining room. It never hurts to have some time to spare when bringing foals to a meal. They sometimes think it’s a game and… well, I think you’ve seen what can happen, haven’t you?”
Yes, unfortunately. Boiling-hot oatmeal in the eyes and a furious father who still hadn’t forgiven me for a slight pain-induced rampage. I didn’t want a repeat!
Cadance and Shining weren’t yet in the dining room when we got there, and I wasn’t really surprised after Cadance had implied that she was to have a busy day today. It could therefore be assumed that Shining was just as busy, as I doubted he’d have let me foalsit his daughter if he could have excused himself from his duties. The question remained how soon they would arrive and whether or not I could keep Flurry from breaking anything in a fit of boredom. Luckily, there wasn’t much to break at the moment.
That changed quickly; Berry came into the dining room, pushing a trolley with empty plates and cups and other breakable things that ponies had a habit of using for meals.
“Oh… hello,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting you here!”
“Sunburst got injured,” I explained. “I’m filling in for him.”
“Yes, I heard the explosion… Is he alright?”
“He was when I visited him in the hospital, yes. More or less.”
“And you’re watching Flurry instead… How did you get Shining to agree to that?”
“Honestly, Berry, I’m not sure myself. But with Ruby sick and Hokey away, I was apparently the only option other than letting Flurry fend for herself.”
She glanced at Galea and Trusty. “But he had no trouble whatsoever in finding an extra guard to watch you?”
“Okay, it does sound absurd when you put it that way, but as long as I’m not getting blasted-”
The door opened and Cadance and Shining came in. Neither of them said anything or acknowledged our presence. They simply dragged themselves to their chairs and sat down. Cadance let out a heavy sigh and Shining rubbed his face.
“I’d better set the table,” Berry said under her breath.
“Need help?” I asked.
“...well, maybe. Yes. Thanks, I’d appreciate it.”
It was an easy task and we were done quickly, so she must have accepted my help mostly to get away from the royal couple’s sullen mood. I would have preferred to get away myself, but my place was probably here unless I got told otherwise.
Flurry, at least, had shown no desire to break stuff. She’d simply entertained herself by tugging at my wings and neck fin, and flew over to her mother by the time I was finished with setting the table. Unsure of how to proceed afterwards, I withdrew myself into a corner, close to where Galea and Trusty were standing at attention.
“Hi, sweetie,” Cadance said to Flurry and gave her a light kiss. “I’m sorry I didn’t come to you right away… I’m just tired. But don’t be sad, mommy’s here now and she loves you!”
They nuzzled and Flurry squealed delightedly.
“How was your day with Thorax? Oh, and Thorax, why are you standing in the corner there? Do join us!”
Hesitantly, I accepted the invitation. Shining didn’t protest, much to my surprise. Was he simply too tired to care? He glanced at my guards.
“At ease, you two,” he grumbled. “You might as well sit at the table.”
They looked at each other as if this was a highly unusual command. It probably was! They sat at the far end of the table.
“I hope Flurry didn’t give you too much trouble?” Cadance asked me.
“No, Princess, we’re having a great time! We played with plushies and built a fort of cubes, and I changed her diaper just before coming here, and it wasn’t as hard as I expected, and she behaved perfectly!”
“I’m so relieved to hear that! Flurry can get carried away sometimes - hardly surprising for a foal, though I have to admit I’ve known foals who were far more unpredictable than she is - and I was so worried that you wouldn’t know how to handle her! Uh, no offense.”
“None taken!”
Berry arrived with the meal. She wasn’t very talkative today; she simply served the food and left.
“Are you sure you’re not downplaying anything?” Shining asked. “Forgetting to mention something that could land you in trouble?”
“I’m not! Everything went fine so far!”
“Is he telling the truth?” he asked the guards.
“Yes, Sir. Everything was under control the whole time.”
“Hm.” He took a few bites. “Maybe we should have sent him to handle the yak delegation if he’s so capable of dealing with unpredictability.”
“Shining!” Cadance protested.
“What? It would have made our day a lot easier!”
“You can’t compare foalsitting to political negotiations! Besides, entertaining foreign diplomats is our royal duty!” She sighed again. “Don’t mind us, Thorax. Most yaks adhere to pony etiquette when visiting, and most delegates are reasonable, but every now and then, an exception to the rule shows up… today was the exception.”
“I hope it didn’t go too bad?”
“The outcome was satisfactory so we shouldn’t complain, all things considered. But we’ve dealt with Chancellor Yakob before, and he can get… overbearing, to say the least. It took us over an hour to convince him that we were late to the audience due to unforeseen circumstances and not as a gesture of disrespect, and what should have been a short discussion of a relatively minor issue quickly became a tirade that lasted until now. We had to postpone the upcoming meetings, and Yakob declined the invitation to lunch.”
“And it’s a good thing,” Shining added. “I was this close to snapping at him!”
“I had no idea,” I mused. “So if I’d turned out to be incapable of foalsitting Flurry, I might have blown the already-tricky negotiations by putting one of you in the position of having to take my place?”
“Actually, I was so exasperated within minutes that I seriously considered sending you there disguised as me!”
Cadance slapped him in the hoof lightly.
“Don’t concern yourself with it,” she told me. “These things are unavoidable sometimes, and the important thing is that we can trust you to take care of Flurry!”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Cady! He still has several hours to go in which a lot can happen!”
“We’ll see,” she said.
The rest of the meal passed mostly in silence. Flurry played with her food a little but without making too much of a mess, her parents fed her in between bites of their own meals, and the guards finished up their sandwiches quickly. I waited patiently for everypony to be done, and when they were, I took Flurry in my care again and promised to Cadance and Shining that they had nothing to worry about.
But once we were back in Flurry’s room, I realized I was getting inexplicably tired. Was the night I’d spent awake catching up to me? Possibly, but what should I do about it? I was supposed to remain awake and alert in order to fulfill my duty properly! And I couldn’t expect Cadance or Shining to relieve me and take over on such a hectic day!
Oh well, Thorax, looks like you’ll have to grin and bear it! It won’t be the first time!
At least I wouldn’t have to chase Flurry around. Her liveliness had subsided and given way to a lazy demeanour, almost as if she was sleepy herself. She levitated a picture-book from a shelf and sat on the floor to leaf through it.
Okay, that could work. This wasn’t going to be a problem. What could go wrong while looking at a picture-book?
I sat next to her and we looked at the pictures together. She cooed and babbled from time to time, but other than that, she was perfectly still and predictable.
So much that my eyes began to close on their own.
I snapped myself to attention, but nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Flurry was still babbling at her picture-book, Galea and Trusty were standing around idly, and Shining was presumably performing his royal duties somewhere. Yes, everything was fine.
Flurry was still immersed in her picture-book, and the guards weren’t as alert as usual.
And my eyes were still refusing to stay open.
I fought the urge to doze off again. Nopony noticed. Flurry was still with her book, Galea muttered something and walked out of the room, and Trusty looked through the window. Still no trouble. Everything was peaceful…
So peaceful…
“Thorax, wake up! Wake up!” Galea’s urgent voice and insistent prodding pulled me back into reality. “C’mon, wake up, you-”
“Huh? What?” I yawned.
“Where’s Flurry?” she screamed at me.
“What?!” I was fully awake now.
“What is wrong with you two?! I go to the bathroom for one minute and one of you falls asleep and the other gets distracted by the window! You’re supposed to watch over a foal, darn it!”
Well, here’s my death warrant, delivered expressly.
“Correction. I was supposed to watch Flurry, and Trusty was supposed to watch me.” As if it mattered!
“Don’t argue semantics! We all messed up, big time!”
“So what should we do?”
“What do you think?! We gotta- There!” She pointed at the window; Flurry was soaring through the sky all alone.
“How did she get there? The window is closed!”
“She must have teleported! C’mon, we gotta catch her and bring her back before Shining sees us!”
I reached for the window handle and stopped myself.
“Is this changeling-proofed?” I asked.
Galea fired off a spell.
“Now it isn’t. Go!”
Trusty and I didn’t need to be told again. He was already out by the time Galea had finished her sentence, and I followed immediately after.
Flurry was doing spins and flips and all kinds of complex maneuvers in the sky, giggling blissfully, and was seemingly unaware of a pegasus and a changeling approaching her at their top speed. I glanced at the streets below. It was hard to tell if anypony had seen yet what was happening, but we had to finish this quickly or they most definitely would!
Flurry was still spiralling unpredictably through the air, but at least we were getting closer to her. Barring any surprises, the two of us could catch her and bring her back to the castle within seconds, and nopony else would know!
Almost there…
And Flurry noticed us and provided the dreaded surprise: she teleported again.
Where had she gone? Trusty and I looked around frantically. If we failed to find her soon…
“There!” Trusty pointed to the tip of the castle. Another mad rush followed, and another failure when she teleported again in a fit of giggles.
She was starting to love it, I could tell. Her aura was quickly getting brighter than the sun above us and heavenly delicious! Part of me wished I could let her enjoy that uninhibited freedom, but would she adore it so much if she knew the grave price her caretaker would have to pay for it?
At least such an aura was easier to locate than a speck in the distance. I dashed after her through every corner of the sky, relying on feeding instincts to direct me to her, only to fail to catch her every time at the last moment as she invariably teleported away.
And ponies were definitely starting to notice.
“What’s going on here?” Sentinel asked as she and Night Hawk rose through the air to me, though they must have figured out the gist of it.
“I’m foalsitting Flurry and she keeps teleporting away! Trusty’s been helping me catch her but I’ve lost him too!”
“He’s on the northern side of the castle,” Night Hawk said. “Come on, the more of us there are, the harder she’ll dodge us!”
Sentinel and I nodded readily. I didn’t bother to point out the sight flaw in his logic that had forgotten to factor in Flurry’s teleportation spells; I needed all the help I could get! If anything, I hoped we’d tire her out eventually, unless she tired us out first!
More guards were joining in the chase, and soon, the pegasi weren’t the only ones; the unicorns provided magical assistance from the ground when they could, and earth and crystal ponies acted as spotters to aid us in locating her. But even with all that team effort, she was still succeeding at dodging us! For a while, it seemed as we’d corralled her into the space between the buildings of Garnet Street with potential of distracting her with the playground equipment in Onyx Street where she would hopefully sit on a swing or a merry-go-round and end the wild chase herself, but she blasted a hole in the unicorn guards’ force field and teleported through another force field that Paladin and one other unicorn had patched up the hole with right away!
Okay, so much for distraction with playground stuff. Back to the raw chase!
When she was flying between the buildings again, the unicorns started creating force fields on a smaller scale around her immediate area, which I assumed was easier for them, or more adaptable at a moment’s notice, or had some other tactical advantage over collectively maintaining a magical tunnel over an entire street. Those of us with wings were doing our best to catch up with her and still failing! The best we’d done was to limit her to a lower altitude; she hadn’t gone much higher than the rooftops for a while now. I couldn’t figure out why. If she were an enemy getting blasted at, hiding behind structures would make more sense, as I’d done a couple of times on my journey away from the hive when my disguise had failed in a city! But she had a few advantages unlike me when I was the target: the guards couldn’t afford to blast her, and she could teleport wherever she wanted! My only advantage would have been the ability to adapt my form as needed, not that I’d gotten to use it much! Good thing she couldn’t do the same, or we’d probably never find her!
Then an idea hit me. I didn’t know if it would work, but since everything else had failed, it was worth a try!
I waited for Flurry to teleport to my general area. It took a few minutes, but eventually it happened when she needed to get herself out of Galea’s magical grip. As expected, the dodgy little princess dashed away in a random direction, but I followed, and when I estimated to be close enough, I unleashed a burst of my magic mid-flight and transformed into an oversized insect with very long legs, long enough to bridge the gap between us. I pushed some more speed into my wings for good measure.
“Gotcha!” I exclaimed as my long appendages finally made contact with Flurry and pulled her close. I realized at the last moment that I was about to crash into one of the castle’s supporting pillars. I banked hard to a side and skidded to a halt close to the base of another supporting pillar.
And Flurry teleported out of my clutch.
The nearby unicorns had already lit up their horns, presumably to erect more force fields around the base of the castle or to attempt some other spell that would corner the runaway filly. And I was getting off the ground to make another go at grabbing her when-
“THORAX!”
The sound of my name reverberated with murderous menace and a promise of a lifetime of excruciating pain condensed into however long it would take for my battered body to decide to put an end to itself as the only remaining way out of the unimaginable horror the impending arrival of which was now a long-dreaded certainty.
Utterly defeated, I turned to the source of the sound. Shining Armor was marching down a staircase onto the clearing beneath the castle, and the ice-hot fury simmered in his eyes. Behind him, Cadance trotted out of the castle and spread her wings to fly to little Flurry, who allowed herself at last to be snatched from the air and hugged tightly.
As Shining Armor approached me, I collapsed my disguise and dropped into the most humble, apologetic, begging-for-mercy bow I could muster, which was a feat in itself that I’d mastered through many encounters with Chrysalis, but I doubted it would be of any help now. It had never saved me from punishment, except maybe by convincing the Queen against punishing me worse than what I’d gotten in the end, but it still felt like the only right thing to do!
“What do you think you’re doing?!” The venom in his voice was palpable.
“Shining, I promise you with all I’ve got, I never meant to hurt her!” My voice was feeble and shaky and I wished I could shrink into the ground. “I did my best, I really did, but… You put your trust in me and I failed you. I promised I’d do things right and I failed! I’m so deeply, unbearably sorry! I know you can’t forgive me, and I know I deserve the worst of punishments, but for whatever it’s worth, please try to understand that I had the best intentions!”
The ice-hot daggers in his eyes dulled down a bit.
“What are you talking about?”
“...don’t you know?”
“All I know is that the whole city is involved in a chase and that you seem to be the ringleader in the form of an oversized… whatever that was. What I don’t know is why!”
“It’s my fault,” I sighed. “I allowed a moment of weakness to overtake me and failed at my duty as a foalsitter.”
Shining tilted his head. “I don’t follow,” he said.
“After lunch, when I took Flurry back to her room, I realized I was tired but thought I could keep it under control. I couldn’t. I dozed off for a minute while Flurry was looking at a picture-book, and the next thing I knew, Galea was shaking me awake because Flurry was missing.”
“It’s my fault too,” Trusty interjected. “I was looking through the window when my attention should have been at them.”
“I should take my share of the blame as well,” Galea added. “I saw Thorax was struggling to stay awake but did nothing except go to the bathroom assuming nothing would go wrong in that one minute.”
“Did you leave the door open?” Cadance asked.
“No, Princess.”
“And the window was closed too?”
“Yes.”
“Then she must have teleported away.”
“That was our theory,” I said. “Then we saw her flying around outside and tried to catch her and bring her back inside, but she kept teleporting away, and soon the whole city joined in trying to help us. You know the rest.”
“And the building-sized insect? What was that about?”
“It was taking forever and I was running out of ideas. All I wanted was to get Flurry and take her back to her room before you saw how miserably I’d failed at what I’d promised I’d do properly! And I’m sorry, I really am! I should have known I’d fail you just like I failed at everything else! So yes, I know I deserve to be punished, but please… if you’d be so kind to grant me one little request… can you at least take in consideration that I didn’t do it on purpose and make it quick?” Flurry had flown out of her mother’s grasp and was now standing next to me, stroking my foreleg and looking at me like she was on the verge of tears. “I’m so sorry, Flurry,” I whispered to her. “Looks like I won’t get to be your foalsitter after all!”
Cadance and Shining stared at me blankly.
“What did you mean by ‘make it quick’?” Shining asked. I realized I wasn’t sensing any signs of hatred in his love aura anymore. Could it have vanished now that he finally had the excuse to exact the revenge he’d yearned for all this time?
“I meant to skip the torture and just kill me, if I’m not asking for too much.”
“What are you talking about, Thorax?!” Cadance exclaimed. “You aren’t about to get tortured and killed! I told you on the first day that ponies don’t do that!”
“But I failed at my duty! I-”
She put a hoof over my mouth.
“You didn’t fail,” she reassured me. “You could have been wide awake and Flurry would have still teleported away from you if she wanted! You couldn’t have prevented it - I couldn’t have with all my magic if I’d been there - but you did everything in your power to deal with the situation, and that’s all the proof anypony should need that punishment isn’t in order, especially not the kind you expect!”
“But I fell asleep on duty-”
“Yes, that,” Shining interjected. “I’d like an explanation.”
“I think it’s because I spent the whole night cleaning up Sunburst’s room.”
“Didn’t Cady tell you to go to bed?”
“Yes, and I should have listened.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because I thought you’d punish me if the room wasn’t spotless by morning. I didn’t expect to be trusted with the responsibility of caring for Flurry today.”
He exchanged glances with his wife.
“Okay, show’s over,” he announced to the crowd. “Galea, Trusty Shield, I’ll see you in my office. The rest of you, back to your duties or whatever you were doing before this happened! Thorax, castle.”
He put Flurry on his back, and he and Cadance escorted me to my room, told me to wait, and excused themselves into the hallway for a minute.
“Cadance and I have finished with our royal duties for today and we’ll take Flurry now,” he said when they returned. “You finish up whatever you have and go to bed. We’ll expect you to be in Flurry’s room tomorrow about half an hour before breakfast. Make sure to be fresh and rested or you’ll probably end up with a repeat of today and I won’t be happy!”
I blinked at him. Had I heard that right?
“Excuse me… you want me to keep foalsitting? Even after I made an epic mess of things?”
“Well, we are out of options, aren’t we? And Flurry likes you and everypony trusts you, so why shouldn’t I give you a chance?”
“It seems kind of sudden, especially after today… What changed? Uh, if it isn’t too much to ask…”
“Luna visited me in my sleep tonight after Sunburst’s accident,” he said after a moment. “She told me about the conversation you two had, and about your nightmares, and about your fears and the goodness she saw in you… I didn’t want to believe her, but I can’t deny that she’s in a better position to judge one’s character than any of us… so when Sunburst suggested that you take over foalsitting duty temporarily, I still didn’t like it but I guess I eventually decided to trust Luna that you’d at least have good intentions. Okay, I also didn’t want to argue with the rest of you in the hospital, especially with what you revealed had happened. I assigned Galea and Trusty to be with you there just in case I was wrong, and when I saw you chasing Flurry around town, I thought for a moment that I’d made a mistake by deciding to trust you and that the rest of them were actually chasing you and not her… until Trusty and Galea spoke in your defense. Don’t get me wrong, it would have still been easier to blame you, and I think I still don’t trust you entirely and maybe never will, but if everypony is on your side including the only one who can truly see into the mind of another… How likely is it that I am right and all of them are wrong?”
I didn’t know what to say. Was this really happening? I wasn’t dreaming, was I?
“So, what I’m trying to say is, I’ll try to get over myself from now on and stop mistreating you. And… I guess I’m sorry for not seeing it sooner. From now on, don’t be afraid to speak up if you think the way I’m treating you is unfair, okay?”
“Okay,” I said hesitantly, hoping it wouldn’t break whatever spell was at work here.
“And to make it perfectly clear, I’m not going to torture or kill you. If I try anyway, fight back, understand?”
“I’m not much of a fighter…”
“It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you’ll have to snap me out of it if I try to hurt you.”
“Okay…”
“Good. See you in the morning, then!”
He turned to leave.
“Uh, Shining? What’s going to happen to Galea and Trusty?”
“I’ll give them a mouthful for slacking off and that’ll be it. They pulled through in the end, even if it was messy and complicated. They should get a reprimand, but they helped snap me out of my lust for revenge and I owe them. I hope they’ll appreciate it.” He snickered. “That was actually a pretty impressive chase, you know. You could have been a good soldier if you had a different attitude.”
“I’ll... take that as a compliment, I guess?”
“Sure. But let’s try not to need it again, shall we?”
I nodded.
“Oh, almost forgot!” He approached my window and hit it with a spell. “I don’t think there’s a reason to restrict your movement anymore.”
I reached out carefully. My hoof touched the glass and nothing happened! Shining had lifted the changeling-proofing spell!
“The nights are warm this time of year,” he added. “Maybe a bit of fresh air will help you sleep peacefully, if you’d like to try.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Well, then. Good night!”
He closed the door behind himself and I stared at it for a while, half expecting to be shaken out of a reverie or open my eyes after a dream, but it didn’t happen, nor did he come back shouting ‘Got ya, fool!’ or anything like that. I still couldn’t believe it! He’d decided to start trusting me after all! It had taken what I hadn’t thought possible until a couple of nights ago, but I’d dared to keep hoping and it had become true…
Yes, I decided, I would do well to keep all my hopes alive.