Slowly, the door of the Golden Oak creaked open, and Twilight looked through the gap and out into Ponyville beyond. It was still early, and the streets were largely empty. Sure, there were a few ponies here and there, but for the most part it was still the early morning quietness she'd come to expect. So, taking a breath, she opened the door fully, stepping outside with Spike close behind her. After giving one further glance around the place, she turned to the still-open door. "Alright...come on out."
Only a moment passed before there was a response to her request, as a stallion of light blue fur and a dark blue mane emerged, mimicking Twilight's movement of looking around. "You are certain you want me to do this, my Queen?"
Twilight nodded. "I am. I can't just have you stuck in the library forever, Thorax. You need to get used to being out here in the rest of Ponyville, and I need to get used to going out with you." After taking a further step forward, she paused, thinking for a moment before again looking to her charge. "Out of interest, how long can you maintain that disguise?"
Thorax gestured to himself. "Changing form is like flexing a muscle for us. We can do it for a long time if we're experienced enough in the craft, which I can safely say I am."
Twilight sighed. "Good. Most of the ponies here don't know about you yet and I'd rather not start a panic." Then, realising what she'd just said to him, she turned to him and spoke again, this time in a more apologetic tone. "Um, no offense."
But Thorax, as ever, seemed unconcerned with what she'd said. "None taken, my Queen. It is a sound tactical move to keep me hidden. I am an unknown to them and my reveal will likely cause a stir."
Spike, folding his arms, looked up to Twilight. "So...are we ever gonna let Ponyville know he's here?"
Twilight considered that, looking over her shoulder to see more and more ponies starting to exit their respective homes. "In time. It just...needs to be the right time." Reflecting on her own words, she regarded Spike again. "For now, we should just focus on acclimating Thorax to his new environment."
Slowly, Spike's eyebrow raised. "So if somepony asks who he is, what do we tell them?"
Immediately, Twilight understood his meaning. "Ah, right. Thorax isn't an especially pony-ish name, is it?"
Tapping his chin, Spike looked to Thorax for a good, long while, before smiling and snapping his fingers. "How about Oak?"
Twilight looked to him with some incredulity. "As in...named after the Golden Oak?"
Spike shrugged as he looked to her. "What? It's as good a name as any, right?"
Twilight, with no real argument against the name, instead tuned her attention to Thorax himself. "You okay with the name?"
"I am comfortable with any designation you give me, my Queen."
Spike chuckled. "Well, given that he didn't even have Thorax until we met him I didn't think he'd be all that unhappy with it."
Twilight, rather than share in the joke, instead looked to Thorax with some concern. "You know...you don't have to always go along with what I tell you. You can make your own choices."
"I am a drone, my Queen," he replied flatly. "Making choices is...not what my kind is for. We do not decide, we obey."
"Except when the queen messes up, you mean?" Spike enquired.
Thorax, understanding his grim implication, nodded firmly. "I still obey in such circumstances. But my obedience is to Changeling law, not leadership when that happens." He looked to his chosen leader once more. "May you fare better than she, my Queen."
"Huh," Twilight mused. "Gonna have to work on that." She turned afterwards, taking in a lungful of the cold morning air before, at last, smiling. "Well then, let's get going, shall we?" she said, trying very hard to uplift the mood after the somewhat unhappy thoughts that the last few moments had yielded. Thorax dutifully followed, never straying more than a few steps from Twilight. The latter could see him looking all over, making mental notes of every new pony they saw in the streets. Keeping track of them in case any of them posed a threat to her? Twilight couldn't say, but given what she'd learned of Thorax in the brief time she'd known him it honestly wouldn't surprise her. Moving onto other matters, things seemed to be going alright. There was no instance as they passed pony after pony where Twilight felt that Thorax would suddenly go off and attack any of them, though if he did indeed have such intentions he was doing a masterful job of hiding them. Then, after a while, Twilight could heard the sounds of many more ponies off in the distance, and a smile returned to her. "Ah, the market's in town. I'd totally forgotten that was today."
Spike looked in the same direction, thinking on that himself. "Should we...go somewhere else?"
Twilight understood his concerns, and like him looked to Thorax shortly afterwards. After mulling it over, she exhaled. "No, I think we can deal with any issues if it comes to it." And so it was that she walked towards the increasing gathering of ponies, with her two companions close by. Turning another corner, all three bore witness to the early setup of the market, with stalls being erected and wares placed on display, with the natural consequence of additional ponies coming out to look. "They come in about once a month or so," Twilight explained. "Ponies from all over the local area tend to use Ponyville as the place to sell their stuff. Fruits, vegetables, woodworks, you name it."
Spike chortled. "You'd better believe AJ's never fond of the fruit ponies coming in and muscling in on her turf." Seeing Twilight look to him with confusion, he explained. "Well, that's how Rainbow describes it anyway."
Shaking her head slightly, Twilight quickly resumed her attention onto Thorax, who remained as stoicj as ever. "You holidng up okay?"
Thirax looked to her with his typically blank expression. "I have no intention of endangering any pony unless ordered to do so."
"Well...I don't order you to do so," Twilight stated firmly.
"Then there will be no issue," Thorax replied.
"It's just..." Twilight began, hesitating a little. "All these ponies, all that love..."
"There are many emotions at play here, my Queen," Thorax explained, gesturing to several of the mares and stallions ahead of them. "Curiosity from the residents, most likely over what they'll find here today. Concern from the vendors, perhaps because of some money troubles they're having over a lack of sales." He looked to the side, towards what Twilight soon saw was Sugarcube Corner. "The only real abundance of love in the immediate vicinity is in there, both romantic and familial."
Twilight had been listening to him intently, as had Spike, but it was the former who actually said something. "You can...sense emotions?"
Thorax nodded. "Just as a wolf in the forest can smell an unsuspecting rabbit."
Spike rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Thorax, buddy, we've got to teach you how to talk about it in a less creepy way than that."
Twilight, who seemed far less concerned with Thorax's choice of words, looked to him excitedly. "Incredible! I mean, it would make sense, right? You can't go after your chosen sustenance unless you can identify it." She trotted giddily in one place like an eager school-filly. "Oh, I love learning new things like this!" But, before she could, inevitably, ask a plethora of questions, a cough from Spike brought her back down to terra firma, and she noticed the odd looks she was getting from a few passers-by. So, after properly composing herself, she instead spoke in a more reserved way. "So...um...shall we?" she asked, pointing to the market.
The other two nodded to her, and shortly afterwards they were right into the fray, with the air abuzz with ponies talking with one another or with the visiting vendors, the latter of which often calling out to draw attention to the freshness of their goods or the great deals they were offering. One in particular, an older stallion, caught sight of Twilight as she walked by and spoke out to her. "You there! You look like a mare with a good, discerning eye!" Stopping, Twilight, along with her two cohorts, glanced back to the vendor, who appeared to be a seller of rather interesting wood carvings. One in particular was now held up by the stallion as he smiled to Celestia's student. "How would you like this one-of-a-kind carving? First time here at my stall!"
Twilight looked to it, smiling slightly. The carving in question was a dragon, not dissimilar in appearance from the one she and her friends had to face off against atop the mountain adjacent to Ponyville some time ago. "This would look pretty good on my bookshelf."
"Heh, which one?" Spike commented.
Twilight looked to him, but nevertheless sighed and nodded to acknowledge his point, before looking again to the stallion. "So how much?"
Smirking slightly, the older pony gave his answer. "That'll be fifty bits, Miss."
Twilight seemed quite taken aback by that. "Oh...a bit more expensive than I was expecting."
The stallion shrugged. "Well, can't help you there. This was carved by a master craftsman in far-off lands. Over there these skills are revered, and it takes weeks, even months to get it just right."
"Well...I suppose that would justify that kind of cost," Twilight conceded.
Slowly, the vendor leaned forward, looking more than a little shifty. "And you know, not for nothing, but that mare over there had her eye on it earlier. So, you know, there's kind of a time limit here for you."
Twilight looked over to the mare he'd pointed to, which she recognised as local mail-mare Muffins, who promptly gave her a happy wave. Nervously, Twilight waved back before again looking to the stallion. "Well...I suppose I..."
But before she could finish saying anything, she found, to her surprise, that Thorax had placed his disguised hoof upon her shoulder, and as she looked to him he gestured with his head for them to turn around. Though unsure, Twilight did so, and when the drone was certain the vendor could not see their faces, he leaned closer, bringing his voice to a whisper. "He's lying."
Twilight blinked. "You sure?"
Thorax nodded. "Deception knows deception, my Queen. And dishonesty is as pungent as any other feeling. This stallion seeks to fool you."
Twilight had felt her own suspicions before, but to hear it from Thorax gave her all the motivation she needed to, after turning again, give her response. "Thank you for the offer, Sir. But I think we can do without."
Instantly, the guy's entire mood seemed to change, as his confident smirk was replaced by a look of concern and nervousness. "Er, you sure? Because I guarantee you'll not find another of higher quality than this! Once-in-a-lifetime!"
But, rather than be enamoured with the offer, Twilight instead started to walk off, with Spike and Thorax by her side. "Thank you, but I think we'll be fine."
In a clear effort to reel in his potential customer, the stallion unthinkingly lifted up the carving as if to give emphasis to it. But, rather unfortunately for him, this had the effect of revealing the shoddy workmanship it had, as one of the wings snapped off with the motion. The stallion, realising that many nearby sets of eyes were upon him, including a rather irate Muffins, chuckled nervously. "Um...special offer? Only twenty bits?"
Meanwhile, further along, Twilight smiled to her latest companion. "Thank you, Thorax. You saved me quite a bill."
Thorax nodded. "A drone's nature may be to deceive, but they will never tolerate deception towards their queen, my Queen."
Stopping, Twilight spared a look at Spike before again regarding the Changeling. "Well then, keep up the good work."