Thorax sat at his throne and asked, "What can I do for you today, Master Rainbow Dash?"
"I want to eat magic from an adult changeling," Rainbow informed him. "The magic returns in seven days."
Thorax looked down thoughtfully for a moment, then back up at her. "May I ask why you need changeling magic?"
"In part, to help one of my clients. In another part, to add the Changeling Kingdom as part of my territory to protect as a master mev. We ponies will gladly help regardless, but that would let us tap into our reserve or mev specific powers more easily. That's links us to this specific bond and work," Rainbow explained.
"I understand," Thorax replied and then offered, "I can do it. The others know the nature of your power from your show, so they'll be understanding for the week I'm out. I don't want to ask any of them to do it. Do you have any other requests?"
"I do," Rainbow replied. "Starlight told me about some kind of remote communicator device that likely contains magic. It sounds like something quite useful to our pack."
Thorax looked at Chrysalis as he said to Rainbow Dash, "We needed several to link to each other, and they only reached out to something Queen Chrysalis had."
Chrysalis nodded in confirmation. "You at least had the sense to keep the devices I hope. I can show her how they work."
"I did," Thorax replied to her. "What else, Master Rainbow Dash?"
"Do you have any relics or magical objects that you use? Something like Chrysalis' throne but that does not drain magic?" Rainbow Dash inquired. "Something I can take back with me either as it is or as a small backup copy."
"I thought mevs were immune to magic drainage," Chrysalis noted.
"We are," Rainbow assured her. "My work extends beyond my pack," she added with a small smile.
To that, Chrysalis gave a slight tilt of her head in acknowledgment.
Thorax rubbed his chin in thought with a forelimb. "Princess Celestia has the Talisman of Mirage already in her care in Equestria."
"You gave it to her?" Chrysalis asked in subdued alarm.
"Yes. It's a way to represent our culture to the others. The ponies are friends with more creatures than each other and changelings," he reminded her.
"Something here today during my visit," Rainbow noted further.
"The Mirror of Insight," Chrysalis announced to them.
"Isn't that what the remote devices linked to?" Thorax asked her.
Chrysalis nodded.
"What does it do?" Rainbow asked.
"Aside from remotely linking to the communicator network, it can reveal a changeling's true form. It can also dispel illusions," Chrysalis explained. "It's the counterpart to the Talisman of Mirage."
Rainbow smiled at that. "Fascinating. King Thorax, will you be using it once we find it?"
Chrysalis looked at him, silently daring him to decline.
"Oh, yes, yes I will," he said with an uneasy smile. "Anything else?" he offered.
"May Chrysalis stay here at the hive with you all on Tuesday nights?" Rainbow requested.
Thorax blinked before saying, "Yes, of course."
Rainbow Dash looked at Chrysalis, who nodded at her. The former changeling queen found that acceptable as well.
"Anything else?" Thorax asked again.
"Not likely, but let's see these devices. I will wait to eat your magic until I am about to leave," Rainbow figured.
Thorax nodded. Those terms were fine with him.
With that, the three left the temporary building since Rainbow and Thorax would return to it later.
"Master," the Crusaders happily ran up to her, waiting for the latest news.
"What's next?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Queen Chrysalis is going to lead us to something that should be interesting," Rainbow told the group. "Apple Bloom, get Starlight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Penny to join us."
"Yes, Master," Apple Bloom said eagerly and left to do just that.
Thorax dug out several small oval shaped devices from underground in one section of the hive. Chrysalis herself found another place underground to find the Mirror of Insight. The mirror itself was an oval in a simple solid black wooden frame. Chrysalis also dug out the stand for it and used her magic to hinge the mirror onto the stand itself.
The interested parties for the task at work gathered in a wide open area just outside the hive. Curious changelings observed and began to watch as the Master Mev and her servants listened to the former and current ruler explain things.
"These are the transmitters," Thorax said and pointed to the four compact oval devices.
Each one was split almost all the way down the middle by a black line that then forked in two black lines fanning outward. He put four of them in four different points of an invisible square. Immediately, the last placed device opened up on its lower part, and green magical energy buzzed presently like the device itself was a glowing bug.
A green line of the magic met into another transmitter, then another, and another. The four objects raised into a grimy web-like substance, and a magic green whirlwind formed above it into something akin to a screen. The screen was in a frame of magic that looked like green fire inside black fire. Chrysalis' image appeared on it, given that the former changeling queen herself was already positioned properly.
"You need all four to make the link," Chrysalis informed Rainbow Dash, "and the mirror itself is the receiver."
"Do you use the transmitters yourself?" Rainbow asked Thorax.
He shook his head. "No, we don't. You can have them for your pack."
All the Awesomevs smiled at each other.
"What about the receiver?" Fluttershy asked Rainbow Dash.
"The way I'm hoping to use remote communication, the original receiver is not going to work. I think we can tweak a copy or even several copies." Her eyes wandered to Sweetie Belle. Rhezenda nodded and smiled at the prospect of using her ability specific to Rainbow's mastery. "I'll need Starlight and Discord's help on Tuesday, but we all know the gist of what we want to do. Since it's in service to the pack itself, it will be quite malleable."
Starlight Glimmer quietly nodded in affirmation.
"Rhezenda, get started. Make ten rounded rectangular drawings like the device we saw on Tuesday night and with this material in mind. Seven on one page, three on another," Rainbow Dash instructed her. "Starlight, show her to refresh her memory."
Starlight nodded and used her unicorn magic to create the designated size for a pony usable cell phone.
Sweetie Belle set to work. Rounded rectangles were easy enough. She colored in some streaks to indicate the material was reflective. The others did not have to wait long.
"Do you have any mirror glass we can use?" Rainbow Dash asked Thorax. "If it has even a trace of what's used in the actual receiver, that helps. We are taking the actual glass." She made sure that was clear.
Other changelings nearby were already setting to work to find what Rainbow Dash wanted and returned with ten mirrors, all larger than what was necessary for a given playing card. Thorax explained that they did, in fact, have traces of such magic. The traces were too small to be of any use to the changelings themselves. Fluttershy helped remove the frames for the mirrors since she was the mev initially chosen for this mission. She bunched the larger ones on one end of a pile and the smaller ones on another.
The canary-colored bat pony stood ready for what she knew was next.
"Once you take the magic, it is gone," Chrysalis informed Rainbow. "For these objects, it does not return, not even the original."
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes to stare Chrysalis down.
"The transmitting magic," Chrysalis clarified, "because of how you plan to manipulate it with the other devices. The other parts will return within the week. That is how you want the magic to work to your favor, is it not?"
"It is, that just seems too easy," Rainbow noted.
"She's right," Thorax assured Rainbow. "They are linked with the transmitters. You'll be taking those completely, so the magic is going to cut off with how you plan to use all of these things together."
"So be it," the sky blue mev conceded. "No complaints. Everyone else, stand back and give us some space," she commanded.
The observing changelings backed away, as did all of Rainbow's companions and Thorax. Chrysalis walked away from the mirror.
Sweetie Belle brought out Rainbow's crown from a saddlebag and set it near the pile of mirrors.
"Segunda, eat the magic from the Mirror of Insight," Rainbow instructed her fledgling.
Fluttershy opened her already fanged mouth and began to eat the magic that streamed into her body. "Done," she told Rainbow Dash when finished.
Rainbow flapped her wings to lift herself above the ground between Fluttershy and her crown. "Send it to me," the master mev instructed further.
Fluttershy nodded and blew out the stream like a distant airy kiss. Rainbow sucked it in and let it sit in her to mix with the other magic in the reserve. Once she felt ready, she channeled it toward her crown.
Sweetie's adult form was already activated, so Rainbow Dash had to only activate the magical shimmer for Sweetie to cast her special magic. The Rhezenda readied the two different sheets of drawings with magical levitation. With Sweetie Belle ready, Rainbow Dash put on her crown, and a stream from that shot toward the pile of mirrors. Sweetie's magic shot from her horn to her drawings toward the same pile.
With a flash of green light, ten rounded rectangular cell phone screens appeared spaced out on the ground next to a couple of excess larger mirrors that turned out to be unnecessary for the job.
Rainbow Dash landed softly on the ground. She and Sweetie Belle stepped forward to inspect the screens together. "They are the proper size," Rainbow determined as she held one with her wing. "You all let them be," she told her fledglings. "Starlight, Discord, and I will explain this more fully on Tuesday."
They nodded in acknowledgment.
Rainbow Dash flashed her eyes to red and yellow to secure the screens to be indestructible. Once done, Sweetie Belle tucked them all into her saddlebag.
"Starlight, you be the one to eat from the transmitters. Fluttershy got an extra turn through one of our other trips," Rainbow instructed her first fledgling.
Starlight nodded and ate from the transmitters in a separate nearby pile.
Sweetie took the dormant transmitters into the saddlebag with the screens.
With one of the remaining mirrors, Sweetie Belle and Rainbow Dash quickly made a small copy of the Mirror of Insight with a proper case.
"Wow," Thorax uttered with an impressed smile.
"We tend to have leaders name them, so, do have any ideas?" Rainbow asked him.
"Oh, ummm...Ida," he decided.
Ida gleamed for a moment in approval.
"All set for that," Rainbow Dash told him. "Thanks, King Thorax."
"A pleasure," he replied.
"Ready for the rest?" she asked.
He nodded. "As ready as I can be, yeah."
The two returned to the small building she created surrounding his throne. She explained the eye enchantment. Thorax noted he understood and soon succumbed to her bite.
The party from Equestria stayed an extra hour to ensure Thorax woke up in good health aside from his lack of changeling magic.
The changelings asked Rainbow Dash for a small performance given what her friends told them about her flying ability and her enjoyment of performing. Rainbow Dash was more than happy to oblige, especially with how accommodating the changelings themselves had been from the start. A Sonic Rainboom soon lit the sky to several cheers of a delighted audience.
Soon thereafter, the party from Equestria departed. Although the trip lacked the intensity of the trip to the Dragonlands, Team Awesome Plus left the Changeling Kingdom satisfied. They spent time with friends that could freely know who and what they were. Even Chrysalis found enjoyment at having been useful and treated with the respect expected of a friend to the Master Mev.
Rainbow herself still found immense excitement. She was one step closer to making cell phones for her pack.