"Hey! Thorax!"
Groggily, I woke up and looked around. Spike was standing by my bed, a claw out shaking me.
"Time to wake up, buddy!"
I let out a yawn as I look at him. "Did I sleep in?"
"No," he answers, "but Twi's finishing up breakfast now. We'd better get a move on if we wanna get some food while it's still hot."
I give him a nod as I push back the sheets and get up, stretching to the point of hearing a rather satisfying pop in my back.
"Oh, by the way," he adds, "one of your new friends from last night is here."
I go wide eyed for a second. "What?"
Spike let out a giggle. "Yeah. Twilight sorta figured that one of the ponies in town would've informed the thestral community and they would've wanted to meet you ASAP. She thought you'd get at least two days in before they set something up. Guess they moved a little quicker than she thought."
"Guess so" I respond. "Who's here?"
"Amber" he replied. "Apparently, she asked her father if she could stay with you until noon so she can get to know you a little better."
I blinked in surprise. "Really?"
"Yeah" he confirms. "Orion wants the thestrals to start being seen in a more positive light, and he thinks having Amber interacting more with 'day ponies' during the day will help with that."
"Day ponies?" I question.
"Yeah" Spike says while rubbing the back of his neck. "Thestrals and the other tribes kinda don't get along so good. Granted, it's better than it was before, but it can still be better. Both sides still have some rather interesting names for the other side, and thestrals refer to the other tribes as day ponies, since thestrals are more active at night."
"Yeah" I agree. "I was told once that thestrals were sometimes called bug eaters."
Spike flinched a little. "Yeah, sometimes they are. Also, you should probably watch saying that around Amber and the other thestrals. Might take quite the offense to it."
I blush a bit in embarrassment. "I'll make sure to watch what I say" I assure Spike.
"Not a problem" he says while waving a claw. "Now, we should definitely get a move on. Don't want to keep a visitor waiting."
I nodded in agreement as I did a quick morning routine of brushing my teeth and wiping down my carapace with a wet soapy rag. Once I was clean enough for the moment, I followed Spike to the dining room.
Inside, I saw Twilight and her friends, as well as Amber. The thestral mare herself had a cup of coffee in her hooves.
Upon entering, Twilight looked up and smiled. "Thorax!" she said enthusiastically as she used her magic to pull out a chair for him to sit. "Come join us!"
I give a nod as I take a seat beside her. As I sit down, Twilight resumes the previous conversation. "You said your dad decided to move your family here from Hollow Shades?"
Amber nodded. "Yeah. He was afraid we'd start getting some negative viewpoints about other ponies. You see, the day ponies, not every single one but a fair majority, don't exactly hold the thestrals in the highest regard."
"He says it's probably because many of the thestrals still supported Luna during her banishment, but I think ponies get weirded out by our looks."
Twilight looks aghast at Amber's insinuation, but after a second, she returns to something closer to a neutral expression. "Those ponies should be ashamed of themselves!" she says with conviction. "Equestria was founded on the principles of harmony, and accepting others for who they are plays a huge roll in that!"
"I agree," Amber tells Twilight, "but not everypony thinks that way. Honestly, that was the straw that broke the camel's back and made my father want to move from Hollow Shades. He was talking with one of my younger brother's teachers after school, and during the conversation, the teacher let slip what was, apparently, her and a great many teacher's opinions about the ponies in Canterlot, and he didn't much care for it. After all, he did serve in the guard."
"Yeah, I can understand that" Twilight agreed. "If my brother encountered something like that, he'd give that pony an earful."
Amber nodded at Twilight's statement. After a few moments of silence, Twilight asked Amber another question.
"So, your dad retired from the guard not too long ago. When did he enlist?"
"He was one of the first ones to enlist after Luna's return," Amber answered, "and he's actually one of the first three to pass."
Thorax looked wide eyed at her statement. Orion was one of the three thestrals to pass the original guard training?
"Wow" Twilight says in amazement. "I didn't know he was one of the first three. That must've been quite the honor for him."
"It was" Amber confirmed. "After he took a month long tour of duty, he was brought back to Canterlot and put on the committee to establish the thestral training program. Once it had been agreed on and put into place, he was given choice of assignment and chose to be one of Luna's personal guard."
"Remarkable" Twilight beams upon hearing of Orion's accomplishments. "Did anything interesting happen during his time as a guard?"
Amber's positive demeanor diminishes greatly and she becomes sheepish in a near full 180 from how she was before. As she does this, she shoots a glance at me, which is all the more information I need.
Twilight picks up on the body language and realizes her inadvertent mistake. "Oh, I'm sorry Amber."
Amber looked at Twilight. "Shouldn't that apology be for Thorax?"
The alicorn winced as she turned to me. "I'm sorry about that Thorax. As you can see, friendship is an ongoing lesson for everypony, even for me, and we sometimes have its lessons slip our minds."
"It's okay" I tell her. "I know nopony means any offense discussing that."
"We should still be more mindful though" Twilight counters, a frown on her muzzle. "I know you say that you understand, but I can tell it still bothers you. I might not be able to sense emotions, but I can read body language well enough."
I had to give it to her on that. As soon as the topic of the invasion became apparent, I'd slumped a bit. I should've known that Twilight would've picked up on that; Spike has told me before how incredible her attention to detail is.
"Well, since we're on that topic," Amber continued, "my father did find himself involved in the invasion."
Her remark piqued my interest. "Really?"
Amber nodded. "Every guard is required to serve both day and night shifts. They're usually rotated, but more recently, the guards have had to do so less and less on account of the increase in thestral recruits. However, at the time my father was serving, guards still had to do both fairly regularly, and during the invasion, he was stationed outside Princess Luna's room."
"He heard the shield break and the commotion outside, so he and the other guard standing outside the princess's room went on the defensive. They locked the room and set up barricades to keep anything from breaking in. They had been there for a few minutes when one of the windows broke and a changeling landed in the hallway. It looked at the guards and hissed, ready to attack them. He said that specific changeling seemed to have some kind of scar under its eye."
"Was it under the right eye?" I ask, thinking I may know who it was.
"I'm not sure" Amber replies. "It might've been."
I give a nod. "If it was, then it was probably Lycosidae. After we were repelled and returned to the hive, the queen had every changeling give a report on their participation. Lycosidae said he attacked the castle and encountered a thestral guard, so maybe that was the one your father saw."
"I suppose that's possible" Amber conceded. "He did say that after the changeling hissed and dove to attack, that shield started back up and sent the changeling flying back out the window."
"And Lycosidae said he was sent flying before he could get a lick in," I finished, then sheepishly add, "or, at least, that's how he put it in his report. Anyway, it sounds like that was definitely him then."
"I'll be sure to tell my father later" Amber says as she picks up a glass of orange juice and takes a sip. "I'm sure he'll find it amusing to be able to put a name to that face."
"Well," Twilight chimes back in, "if we sit here flapping our jaws any longer, we won't get to enjoy any hot food. I think it's time we got breakfast on the table."
She asks Spike to help and the two enter the kitchen to grab the food. While they're in there, Rainbow Dash leans over and nudges me in the side.
"Do you remember any of the names of the changelings you saw us fight?" she asks me, a hopeful look in her eyes.
"Um, not really?" I reply in a rather non-committal way; I got the strange feeling that she wanted to know for some rather not-nice reasons.
"That sucks" she says with a pout as she sits back down. "I was hoping I could taunt them if we ever encountered any mean ones again."
...Yeah. Definitely for not-nice reasons.
The doors to the kitchen open as Twilight and Spike come out of the kitchen with the food and plates and silverware so everypony can eat. The dishes today are a large fruit salad and a bowl of eggs, which were mixed through with pieces of onions and peppers, and what looked to be cheese mixed in for good measure.
Spike walked over with a smile and set a dish in front of me. It had a sampling of the fruit salad and eggs, but I could smell the love wafting off of them. My stomach voiced its approval, much to the amusement of Amber and everyone else at the table.
We ate breakfast with vigor, everypony ready to eat hearty in preparation for a new day. Amber asked why my dish was served separate from everypony else, and when informed of the extra ingredients, asked for a sampling. I offered a small bit of the fruit salad and she became quite enamored with it, and then quite enamored with Vigilant.
Princess Twilight is definitely going to want to lock up that potion and recipe. Even without the changeling threat, the possibility of stallions or mares using it to dope an object of their affections into a night of passion against their natural instincts and wills was too great.
Once we had finished eating, the dishes were taken away by Spike and Twilight. While they were in the kitchen, the other element bearers looked at me, and all of them were radiating nervousness and excitement.
"So," Rarity began speaking, "the girls and I have an idea for you on how to spend some of your time here in Ponyville."
"You do?" I said, feeling a bit nervous myself now.
"Eeyup" Applejack chimed in. "Ya see, since we only got to meet y'all for a short spell back in the Crystal Empire, me an' the girls thought it'd be a swell idea to have ya spend some time with each of us a day this week so we can get ta know ya better."
"Mhm" Fluttershy now chimed in. "We only got to spend a few hours with you that day, and that's hardly enough time to really learn about anypony, so we thought you could spend some time each day with one of us so we can learn more about you and you about us."
"Yepper eppers!" Pinkie Pie shouted out, a cloud of confetti flying from her hooves.
I sat back and thought about the offer. Spending time each day getting to know these mares that changed my life in such a profound way?
"When would we meet?" I ask to the group.
"Well, we didn't really have a schedule planned out" Rainbow admits. "Well, Twilight would, but she's not a part of this. We figured that since you're staying here at her castle, you'd have all the time you'd want to get to know her."
"We all got it planned out as each day you're with a different one of us" Applejack tells Thorax. "As for time of day, I think it's just when it's best for everypony. Hay, if there's a day where it doesn't work out with our schedule, we can swap days with somepony else and pick another that will work."
Now having a better grasp of the plan the mares put into place, I give them all a big smile. "That's sounds wonderful! I can't wait. Who do I get to spend a day with first?"
My question is promptly answered by a wall of pink latching onto me.
"Why me, silly willy!" comes Pinkie Pie's voice, the mare sounding as eager as a foal getting a new toy. "You and Amber are gonna come make cupcakes with me!"
"...Amber?" I ask with uncertainty. "I'm not sure if-"
"CUPCAKES?!" Amber yells out in excitement. "I've never made cupcakes before! You gotta show me a good recipe!"
"Oh, I'll show you one of the best recipes around" Pinkie says as she grabs up the thestral mare in a hug. Locked together, they begin dancing around in circles and carrying on about making cupcakes.
I admire the spectacle and the love and joy radiating off of it. If I hadn't had the breakfast infused with love, I would've been tempted to feed off a little bit of it.
As I sit back, a sudden realization comes over me.
I'm going to be alone, in a kitchen, with Pinkie and Amber.
Two mares that, at the current moment, are all too excited to be spending time with me, and also seem to be an endless well of energy.
I'll possibly be spending the whole day with them, surrounded and tempted by all that positive energy.
Positive energy and love that I'll have to resist the urge to consume.
"Oh... crumbs."