//------------------------------// // Chapter 2- The Big Lesson // Story: Growing Confidence // by BottleH2O //------------------------------// BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! A confident smirk now on full display, Thorax trotted across the country, taking great pleasure in the fact the whole world was essentially trembling from him doing the simple act of walking. It didn’t make him feel meek and cowed as he normally would feel in new situations, or any instance were he was at the center of attention. Instead, Thorax now felt wonderful, powerful even. Like he could do anything. Anything he wanted and get away with it. Chuckling at the realization, Thorax continued to walk around the landscape, sending tremors across it with every step. He had noticed however that he was still getting bigger, the world getting smaller around him as his confidence continued to increase. And to be honest, he was definitely fine with that. As he walked, Thorax came across a cluster of cities scattered about in front of him, with a mischievous, but not malicious grin plastered on his face, Thorax stomped his green hoof down near them, watching them tremble from the step. Thorax put his hoof to his cheek in a playful manner and said “Goodness, I certainly didn’t see you little guys all the way down there. You guys gotta be more careful, or else I could have accidently squashed you underhoof,” Chortling, Thorax’s horns lit up, and there, a green glow surrounded one of the tiny cities. The inhabitants on the ground far below tumbled around a little as they felt themselves and their entire city rise up into the air, Thorax effortlessly plucking it out of the ground like it was a stone. The population of the city gasped in shock and slight fear as the sky above the city’s skyscrapers was replaced with the glowing purple eye of Thorax looking down at their diminutive forms, a kind twinkle filling the gargantuan eye. Thorax let out a small chuckle as he inspected the puny city inhabited by pony shaped specks. “Hey down there little fellas! Don’t mind the intrusion, just your friendly neighboring gigantic king spending some time out and about” Thorax laughed as he gave the city a very gentle nuzzle with his snout, the teeny ponies getting bombarded by the multi-mile tall warm green muzzle from the friendly giant. The ponies cheered on the colossal Changeling king, as Thorax lowered the entire city back down softly onto the ground by his hooves. The ponies looked up in amazement at the gargantuan pillars of lime green looming into the sky, well above the clouds. Thorax winked down at the little city with a grin on his face and stomped off, leaving behind a hoofprint bigger than the city itself to the mites as a souvenir, to remind them that he visited their little city. The ponies waved the departing changeling good-bye as Thorax walked off, all of them happy to have gotten a chance to see the titanic king. Thorax meanwhile walked with a skip in his step, sending extra tremors across the world’s surface as he went. “Princess Luna wasn’t lying,” Thorax though, euphoria flooding through him like a title wave as he passed by some mountains “This feels amazing! I really feel like I’m on top of the world!” But as we know, and as Thorax will be reminded of, for those in the world who feel like they’re unstoppable, there are still those in the world, left behind in their shadows, who are unnoticed by most. And those who are left unnoticed are usually taken advantage of. A little while later, while Thorax was busy gently prodding a town with his muzzle, trying to ease the fears of the townsponies, his powerful humongous ears picked up the faint squeaks of somepony talking, and not in a very friendly tone. Blinking, he turns his massive head towards the sound and listens in, not intervening yet, as he tries to assist what’s going on. In a nearby alleyway near a schoolhouse, out of view from Thorax’s eyes, a small Pegasus colt, with both wings wrapped in bandages, found himself being surrounded by some of his classmate. Classmates that don’t exactly treat him well. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? Looks like the little Skywing is still grounded!” One of the ponies said mean spiritedly, poking Skywing on the side, tapping on a bandaged wing. Skywing let out a grunt of pain and backed away more, trying to put some ground between him and the bullies “L-leave me alone! It’s not so bad, soon I’ll be back up in the sky in no time!” he said defiantly, his back hitting the side of the house. “Heh, looks like you ain’t gonna be at the top of the class anymore buddy! Guess that makes you a looser huh? Oh wait, now you’re even more of a looser than before because you could barely fly even before you broke you wings!” Tears began to well up in Skywing’s eyes as the bullies began to taunt and call him names, his 0head slumping to the ground in shame as the recollection of all the past failures in flight school came back to him. Until: “THAT’S ENOUGH!” a thunderous voice yelled, the very ground and air shaking from its power The ponies on the ground yelped in fear as the shockwaves reverberated from the voice, the ground rumbling around them, just as an immense shadow covered everything around them. The bullies faces seemed to have gone pale as they slowly looked up and beheld the titanic form of Thorax, glowering down at them. “R-r-run!!” one the bullies cried out The bullies, leaving poor Skywing in a heap behind them, all dashed towards the alleyway’s exit. Only for a colossal green hoof to slam down in front of the entrance. The bullies all squealed in fear as the gigantic purple eye descended down from the sky to glare at them. “All of you should be ashamed of yourselves! Picking on this colt just because of his broken wings, have you no shame?” Thorax growled, his visible eye narrowing in the sky at them “W-well, we-uh,” the lead bully tried to stammer out but ultimately words failed him as he couldn’t think of a coherent response to give the massive king. Thorax snorted frustratingly, sending a massive gale down to buffer the tiny town, before lifting his huge hoof up, the ground rumbling as he did so, exposing the cracked and mangled ground below, before withdrawing a little back up into the air and gesturing with his snout forward, a stern expression still present “You lot better get back to your homes then, and don’t let me catch you causing trouble anymore. Is that understood?” The bullies silently nodded, a frightened faces still present, as they took one last look at the behemoth changeling looming high in the sky above them, before dashing off in separated directions to their houses. Thorax watched the little specks scurry off, a disapproving frown still laced across his face, before turning his attention back to the alleyway. There he was able to see one last small blue speck cowering down among the debris left behind the schoolhouse, shaking like a leaf. Thorax’s ears flattened back down against his head as he slowly backed up from the town, not wanting to frighten the foal. Once back at a sufficient distance he began to slowly lower himself, all four of his legs crouching down until his stomach made contact with the earth, causing it to shake with a small BOOM! Setting himself into a seating position, Thorax leaned his head back over the town and spotted the young colt, who was trying to walk out of the alleyway. But one glance up at Thorax’s looming face caused him to squeak out in fear and scamper back into his hiding place. “H-hey, it’s ok little guy, I won’t hurt you,” Thorax said reassuringly, a small, yet kind smile beginning to form on the colossal king’s face. Skywing slowly peaked his little head out from behind some boxes timidly, taking in Thorax’s gigantic form, and letting out another whimper. Thorax lit his horns, and a soft green glow surrounded the teeny colt and very gently lifted him up into the air and deposited him down on his massive green muzzle, Thorax going a little cross eyed to see the mite sized colt laying on his nose. “Hey down there little guy, I saw what was going on just now and thought I’d step in to help. Heh, literally. Are you ok?” Thorax asked softly, his snout vibrating slightly from the force of his powerful, echoing voice. The little colt blinked, and finally stood up straight, looking Thorax in the eye, a bit of apprehension still there but fading “Your-you’re not going to hurt me Mr. Giant?” he asked timidly Thorax grinned “Of course not little guy! I wouldn’t be much of a king if I went out and went looking for trouble now, would I?” Skywing cocked his head to the side “You’re a king Mr. Giant?” he asked, bafflement plastered on his tiny face as he took in Thorax’s seemingly alien appearance. “Yup! I’m Thorax, your friendly neighboring gigantic King of the Changelings and happily at your service!” said Thorax, with a little bit of a playful flourish at the end. “Um, I’m Skywing your highness. But why did you waste your time helping me? Don’t you have, you know, really important royal duties to attend to?” Sky asked curiously. Thorax fixed his stare on Skywing, keeping a level look on his face as he said “Because I very well couldn’t just leave you to get harassed like that little guy. And you shouldn’t have to put up with those guys either. Especially since you know that your better than that,” Skywing’s ears perk up as Thorax says this “I-I am?” he asked in bewilderment “But how do you know your highness? I can’t really fly all that well, and that’s all those guys seem to pick on me about. I can’t ever get better,” “Not with that attitude you can’t Sky,” Thorax said gently “I used to be treated the same way back at my hive when I was younger for being different. Instead of fighting all the time and getting into scuffles to see who was stronger, I was more content to play with action figures and shying away for fighting. Changelings used to tease me and pick on me all the time for being like that, and I only had my brother to stick up for me. But even then, I never let that deter me from staying true to myself. And now look at me! I’m the King of the entire hive now. If I can do it, surly you can too little buddy!” “Do you really think so sir?” Skywing asked, a glimmer of hope beginning to sparkle in his eyes. “I know so Skywing. All it takes is determination and a little help from your friends, and then you’ll soar to even greater heights. You just have to be willing to put in the work to get better,” Thorax answered as he lit his gargantuan horns again and plucked the puny pony off his muzzle and set him back down in the town. Thorax got back on his hooves, the world rumbling once again as he did so, towering over the tiny town by several dozen miles as he gazed down at it, spying the diminutive form of Skywing sitting on his rear in the middle of the town, waving his forelegs wildly above his head and a big smile on his face as his squeaky little voice called out “Thank you for your help, Mr. Giant King Thorax! After my wing is healed, I’ll get to training right away!” “Attaboy Sky! Good luck!” the titanic form of Thorax thundered as he winked down at the specks by his hooves before turning around and setting back off on his earthshattering walk. The town he left behind bouncing in the air comically as he walked, his powerful strides once again shaking the land as he walked away into the distance. Thorax let out a sigh of pleasure as he resumed his walk, happy to have successfully helped out little Skywing “That wasn’t so bad,” Thorax thought to himself, his confidence from the encounter giving him another growth spurt, entire mountains had now been reduced to the size of anthills as the colossal changeling king stormed across the land, mile wide footprints left behind by Thorax as he continued to march forward. But as he thundered across Equestria, the more doubtful part of his mind began to speak up “Well yeah, of course it was easy Thorax. This is a dream after all. It’s not like dreams are going to translate into real life and magically solve all your problems now, will it?” Thorax paused, frowning a bit as he thought that last bit over, before shaking his head and resuming his multi-mile saunter. And as he did, even from his massively elevated height, our favorite changeling king began to notice a few landmarks. Vary familiar landmarks Blinking, Thorax stopped walking again and looked down with bit of an amused expression There, laying innocently in his walking path was Ponyville, and a little further beyond was Canterlot. And by goodness they were absolutely miniscule! The town and capital were no bigger than tiny little pebbles. Thorax was sure that if he hadn’t noticed them in time, he was almost certain he would have squashed them both underhoof and kept walking without ever realizing what had just happened. They were that small. And they looked absolutely adorable down there. Chuckling to himself, Thorax thundered up to Ponyville and stopped, just outside of its boundaries. Lighting up his horns again, he watched as his light green magic engulfed the tiny town and he promptly pulled the entire thing out of the ground effortlessly. Raising Ponyville to his gargantuan eye, Thorax was able to make out the minute forms of Carousel Boutique, Twilight’s castle, Sugarcube corner, and even Sweet Apple Acres. Thorax smirked at how tiny everything was before opening his mouth, capable of devouring several mountains, to address everypony. “Hello down there Ponyville! Any familiar faces want to come out and say hi to me?” From high above, Thorax could hear several squeaks from the ponies far below, all of whom were shouting welcomes and greetings to the gigantic King. Several of them were gathered out in the town square, while others were clumped up on the roofs of various buildings and establishments. But amongst the various splotches of color that was the speck sized ponies standing on the miniature town Thorax held in his grasp, he was able to make out one particular color: a certain speckle of purple and the faintest hint of green mixed in all of the other colors. A gigantic smile graced Thorax’s features as he squinted down at the town square “Hey down there Spike! How’s it going my very little buddy!” “Hey Thorax!” squeaked up the baby dragon, cupping his stubby little hands over his mouth and hollering up the green titan “How’s the weather up there?!” Thorax burst out laughing at the question, the mere act of him doing so causing the entire town of Ponyville to tremble in his grasp. “Pretty good Spike! So, what do you think of the new and improved me? Pretty big and powerful right?” Spike simply grinned and held up two thumbs up, stretching out his teensy little arms as far as they could and held them up into the sky “Looking pretty good bro! Love the confidence!” Thorax chucked softly at his little friend’s antics as he gently set the entire town back neatly inside of the creator he pulled it out of “Thanks lil’ buddy,” Thorax boomed as he repaired the cracks around Ponyville from where he tore it out of the ground, before standing back up to his full, magnificent, height. His towering green bulk blotting out the sun and parting the clouds “Give my best to Twilight and Starlight ok?” “You got it Thorax!” squealed Spike as he watched his massive friend raise a city sized hoof and take a step forward, walking away. As Thorax continued his globetrotting walk he soon found himself looking down upon the little mountain of Canterlot, home of the rich, powerful, and snobby. But in spite of all this, it was also home to the two kindest and most wonderful mares he had the pleasure of meeting: Celestia and Luna. Leaning down again, Thorax brought his head close to the mountain, no bigger than a small mound of dirt, with the mighty capitol of the ponies protruding off the side of the mountain, which was now no bigger than a pebble. Holding back a smile Thorax leaned in and spotted the mini castle. And even better, he was able to see two small white and blue flecks of color standing on the balcony. “Hi Princess Celestia! Hi Princess Luna!” Thorax rumbled happily Down below, the two princesses waved back, happy to see their newest friend enjoying himself and seemingly having the time of his life. Luna in particular, because for the first time in weeks Thorax actually looked happy. “So what do you think Princess Luna? Do you think I got that confidence boost like you wanted,” Thorax said teasingly as he winked down at the infinitesimal forms of the princesses. Luna giggled into her hoof at Thorax’s playfulness before calling up to him “I believe you have made some wonderful progress dear Thorax! You have definitely grown significantly! But I have to ask, are you ready to put it to the test now that you think you have acquired your confidence?” Luna asked “You got it!” Thorax said, leaning back up and grinned down a little boastfully at the mountain “with my newfound size there’s nothing that will be a problem for me!” “We shall see my young friend,” Luna thought as she prepared her dream magic again and casted a spell “While I admire your tenacity to overcome and grow as fast as you did in the Crystal Empire you are beginning to reach that stage my dear Tia did when she got a little too comfortable being a giant. I have full confidence in you Thorax but I still do hope you don’t fall to pieces when I ‘test’ you,” Clearing her throat and shouting up with the royal canterlot voice, Luna said “I have casted a spell that will allow the dreamscape to manifest a thought or feeling that has been troubling you Thorax. Your test now is to overcome it and prove to me, and more importantly, to yourself, that you can overcome the obstacle that has been weighing you down!” “Ha! Easy-peasy little Luna,” Thorax thundered with a confident smirk as he continued to eye up the tiny mountain and it’s residents “I can handle anything you throw at me!” But as Thorax finished saying that, the landscape around him began to change. The sky grew dark, the sun seemed to vanish behind the clouds, and the dreamscape seemed to have become unnervingly quiet. “Heh…ok, what’s the deal princess?” Thorax said, the confident edge slowly beginning to slip away as he took in the changes. But there was no reply from anypony. Thorax looked back down at Canterlot and saw to his shock that Luna and Celestia were completely gone. In fact, the whole population of Canterlot had seemingly vanished. Thorax gulped and stole a glance down at Ponyville, which was a few paces away only to yield the same results. “Princess Luna?! What happened? Where did you go?” Thorax called out, his titanic form turning around to look behind him, in some foolish hope that Luna would magically be there “Don’t leave me here alone!!” But as he said that, Thorax began to feel the ground shake, somehow impossibly, considering his great height but to make matters worse, he heard a silky and smooth voice behind him. One that positively dripped with malice. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing, to watch my failure of a son driven to this? Groveling and crying to his sworn enemies for help? Absolutely pathetic,” said voice. Thorax’s body seemed to lock up, inklings of fear began to flood his stomach and overturned it as he, very slowly, turned around and beheld the speaker. There, standing a good five heads taller than him, was the gargantuan form of his mother, the former leader of the hive, Queen Chrysalis. Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at Thorax as she stomped her way over to him, entire cities vanishing underhoof as she walked forth. Tiny shrieks of panic rang out from the ground as ponies tried in vain to get out of the way of the monolithic hoof but to no avail, as Chrysalis uncaringly stepped down, leaving behind a crater of miles of upturned dirt and cracked earth. Thorax’s ears flattened against his skull as he backed up, terror beginning to grip his heart as he recalled the hate and spite that fueled his mother’s voice when he last spoke to her. She swearing revenge on him and all of his new friends, and now it seemed like that time was now. Thorax winced and flinched back as he witnessed Ponyville disappear under Chrysalis’ hoof. The ponies down below couldn’t even run out of the way of the titanic queen’s path, she was simply too massive, all they could do was scream in fear as they watched their impending doom fall from the sky, the cause of it not even noticing they were there as she casually walked. And from Chrysalis’ perspective, ponies were now no bigger than microbes, pests at most, something to wave her hoof at, swipe away, and pay little mind to because of how insignificant and powerless they were to her. Chrysalis finally reached Thorax, looming above him as she glared down at his shaking form, anger radiating from her person in droves. It was almost enough to make Thorax sick. “I am extremely disappointed in you son,” Chrysalis said, almost softly. Her eyes narrowed as she continued on “I remember what happened like it was yesterday. You and your pathetic purple friend barged into my throne room and began to spiel off some garble about how you had seemingly found a better way at living life. That it was better to give love instead of taking it,” Chrysalis closed her eyes with a humorless chuckle as she shook her head, tiny clouds on either side of her getting swiped away as she did so. When she finished she eyed up Thorax before continuing. “How incredibly naive child. Did you really believe that because you put on a smile, changed your carapace color, and acted all cute like those ponies that the world would accept our hive? How wrong you are, we changelings are a fierce race, once that was feared by many for centuries. Long before you decided to undergo this sickening transformation! It’s a mockery to everything the Changelings stand for! Everything I have built! And because of your foolish blunders the hive is now in a worse position than before! The hive’s love reserves are now dangerously low, even lower than they were when I was queen, and you actually thought you could just hide in your room and wish for it all to go away?! Have you no shame?! Changelings protesting your rule are right! You really have no idea what you are doing, the hive was better off when I was ruler. Because at least I could get the job done and take love whenever I wanted. And now look at where you’ve ended up, you’ve relied on these ponies so much you can’t even sneeze without asking for their permission. Much less take love from them. You might as well sign over the hive to them and go live with them!” Chrysalis tore her eyes away from Thorax and looked down at the ground with a glare, Thorax blinked in confusion and looked down too. Only to get another jolt of panic as he realized, standing helplessly between himself and Chrysalis was Canterlot mountain. “It looks like to me, all these ponies have done is distract you,” Chrysalis snarled as she raised her hoof and leveled it with the side of the mountain “Might as well take care of these pests too,” “Wait no!” Thorax cried out, but it was too late. Chrysalis swung her hoof to the side and completely tore the mountain out of the ground as she kicked it aside, sending it spinning through the air as chunks of earth and mountain flew off in all directions. The capitol completely disintegrating as it sailed through the air from the force of the kick. “Hmph. Serves those insects right,” Chrysalis said, looking out at the horizon where the city had been flying through moments before. She turned back to Thorax with another glare, her horn now beginning to light up, its sickly green magic swirling around her horn as Chrysalis charged up a spell “And now to deal with you and regain control of the hive. I will reinstate it as the most powerful nation on Equis!” Thorax closed his eyes in fear and fell back on his rump, terror beginning to consume him again “What do I do?!” he thought desperately “Luna said to have confidence when I was at the empire but it’s not like I’m facing down a bunch of angry farmers again! This is so much worse! There’s nothing I can do!” But as Thorax thought this, his mind began to wander back to his conversation with Luna, and her talk with him about having confidence. While she had said he should feel like he was on top of the world, Thorax was beginning to suspect that there might have been more too it. Something he had to figure out himself. He thought back to when he first grown and how terrified he had been, so his first thought had been to go to Shining and Cadance’s castle for help. They were always there for him, even going as far as adopting him when his stay in the empire became permanent. But then he also thought about Spike, his first friend and how much he helped him. As well as all the others he had met over the past few months. While he had tried to be brave during these scenarios, his friends had always been there to back him up if he ever needed help. Maybe, being confident wasn’t just assurance and becoming self-reliant. But also knowing when to rely on those you trust. Like your friends and family when things get though so they can help you out. Gulping, Thorax opened his eyes and stared back up at Chrysalis “Ready to vanish?” she asked, her horn beginning to glow even brighter “Y-you-you’re wrong mom…” Thorax stammered out “What was that welp?” Chrysalis snarled, her horn’s glow beginning to dim as Thorax began to talk “It’s true that things in the hive may look bad now, but I can say for a fact that things are miles better than how they were when you were ruler!” Thorax said, raising his voice a little, becoming more defiant as he looked into Chrysalis’ eyes with a confident look. “Converting to an entirely new lifestyle won’t be easy but it’s not impossible, and I know that with the help of my friends I can do just that! I know I can help the hive and restore the love storages in no time at all! All I need is just some confidence in both my own abilities and in my friends! We can work together and self the problem, I know we can!” Thorax finished his speech with a surge of pride as he met his mother’s cold gaze. It was here Chrysalis decided to speak. “And how do you know this will even work Thorax? How do you know that because of your efforts the hive will not be doomed to perish?” she asked “Well, I just got to have some faith and confidence that it’ll all work. Trying something is better than trying nothing after all.” Thorax replied Chrysalis snarled again and re-lit her horn to charge up another spell, but as she did so, cracks began to form all around her, exposing a glowing white light inside. With a shriek of anger Chrysalis tried to lunge at Thorax but fell short as she completely disintegrated into dust. The dark particles wafting off into the warm afternoon air as light began to return to the kingdom around him. Thorax let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding “I did it,” he thought, an almost dreamy expression coming over his face “I actually stood up to Chrysalis!” Thorax raised his hoof and pumped the air in jubilation “WOO-HOO! I ACTUALLY DID IT! TAKE THAT MOM!” he yelled joyfully. “Yes, well done dear Thorax,” said a very familiar voice Thorax turned around, and there, standing at the same size as he was, was Princess Luna smiling warmly at him. “You’ve done extremely well Thorax, not only have you gained a significant boost in your confidence, but you also managed to put a major fear that’s been clouding your mind for some time to rest. And for that, I am so proud of you,” Luna said as she walked up to him and embraced him in a hug. “Thank you, Princess Luna,” Thorax said as he gladly hugged her back “I couldn’t have done this without your help. Truly.” “I’m happy you allowed me to do so,” Luna giggled, recalling how the encounter had originally started. Thorax chortled, remembering his initial reluctance to grow, but now that he had, he couldn’t have been happier that it had happened. “And I trust you will take what you have learned here and apply it to the waking world?” Luna asked Thorax nodded “Definitely I will princess. In fact, ever since I had that talk with Chrysalis, I actually managed to come up with a way to restore the hive’s supply of love,” Luna raised an eyebrow “Oh?” “Yeah! I think I finally figured it out. But I’ll need the help of all my friends to pull this off. When I wake up, can I write to you and Princess Celestia?” Luna simply giggled “Of course you may silly, it’s not like we’re strangers. Ever since my niece and nephew adopted you, I view you as family too Thorax. Don’t be afraid to reach out to us,” Thorax nodded as all around him, his surroundings began to vanish, indicating that he was beginning to wake up “Thank you Auntie Luna! I’ll be sure to write to you as soon as possible!” All around him, there was another blinding flash of light as the dream magic faded away and Thorax awoke with a gasp, now back to his regular size and sitting at his desk in his room. Groaning, he rolled to the side and fell on the ground in a heap. Just in time too as there was a few quick knocks on his door and his brother Pharynx stuck his head in. “There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you! What do you think you’re doing slacking at a time like this?” Pharynx asked sternly as he made his way into Thorax’s room and helped him up. Thorax coughed a few times as he got his bearing, then it all came flooding back to him, the nightmare, Luna, the dream, and his solution. With his eyes sparkling up, Thorax whirled around and grabbed Pharynx by the shoulders “Pharynx I got it! I just came up with a great idea on how to get the other races to willingly share their love with us!” Thorax said happily Pharynx blinked in his younger brother’s grasp before reaching his hooves up and slowly removing Thorax’s legs from his shoulder. “Ok…? And what is this grand plan of yours?” “I’ll explain in a bit! But right now I need you to get me as much paper as possible! I need to send a bunch of letters out right away!” A few days had passed since Thorax had the dream with the aid of Luna, and now the hive was positively buzzing with activity. All of the Changelings had gathered in the throne room because their King had said that he had an announcement to make. But what really had them all in a frenzy was the fact that Thorax had said he had found a way to solve their love problem. All of those present were chatting away, theorizing what this supposed mystery plan was, until Thorax stepped into the room with his brother Pharynx. Thorax took his place at the throne, sitting down while Pharynx stood off to the side as the ever-vigilant guard and older brother he was. Thorax raised his hoof into the air, and gradually the chatter amongst the other ceased and the room became silent as Thorax spoke “Greetings everyling, I’m sure you all know by this point why we have gathered here today, the rumors of what my announcement had not apparently gone unnoticed among the hive. But I am happy to announce to you all that I have found a way to restore the love supply that has been plaguing our hive for the last few weeks. As we all know, many of the other races among the world now knows of our existence, this was revealed to them when Queen Chrysalis had attacked Canterlot. And from that point on, their perspective of the Changelings had gone from myths to battle hungry savages. I cannot stress enough that we were not entirely to blame for this, only that at the time we were following the orders of a disillusioned madmare who had corrupted herself by seeking petty revenge for a conflict she started in the first place. After Chrysalis had been removed from power the only ones who stand by us as close allies are the ponies, while the rest of the world remains fearful of us and therefor treat us with the same unease and untrust as before. This will have to change, because as of know they still think that we are the same as before, as corrupted and misguided as before. Which is why I think that, in order for the other kingdoms around the world to truly learn and understand who we are, I will open up the hive to the world and reestablish connections with every kingdom, not just our pony friends. Which is why I will be inviting the leaders of every nation on a special trip to the Changeling hive so they can see for themselves our wonderous new lives and beautiful culture. After they see who we are now, how we have changed and given up our vengeful ways, our relationships between other species will improve drastically!” All of the changelings burst into applause as they stomped their hooves at the announcement. Thorax gave a slight bow at the crowd as he stood up, waiting to answer any questions that they may have. After the question-and-answer segment was over, Thorax and Pharynx made their way back to their chambers, Pharynx pulling his younger brother aside for a second outside of Thorax’s quarters. “I think you made the right choice there Thorax, I really do. But I can’t help but express some concern for you. Will you be ok leading and being around some many different creatures from so many Kingdoms?” To Pharynx’s great surprise, Thorax playfully slugged him on the shoulder and looked at him with a huge grin on his face. “Don’t worry Pharynx, have some confidence in your little bro! I know what with your help along with our friends help and my leadership with the meeting, this will all work out perfectly!” Thorax said happily, winking at Pharynx.