New Family

by awesomesauce4

Chapter 15

Jeremy woke up to feel a blustery breeze whirling around over his head. The clouds overhead, though having grown in number, were quickly being pushed by the wind to be somewhere else, the usual sunny disposition of the field of flowers following hot on their heels. He sat up, looking around, and took a moment to think. What was this place, anyway? He’d returned here so many times that it couldn’t be a simple dream, not anymore. The gigantic green flower was in front of him as usual, and Jeremy gave it a few halfhearted pets as he contemplated the nature of this odd place. He looked up, and noticed that there was no actual sun in the sky, despite the light shining down. The clouds were the only defining feature in the place, and they were rapidly receding into the distance, though the wind remained. To his north, south, east and west, there was nothing but an endless plain of colorful flowers. Jeremy stood up, giving one last comforting rub to the giant green flower in front of him. “I’ll be back,” he whispered. He began walking, picking a random direction.

What seemed like hours passed. He wasn’t walking in circles, at least as far as he could tell – the field was simply incredibly long, continuing to stretch off into the distance no matter how far he walked. The clouds had long since disappeared, and the warm light of the not-sun shone down on his back as he continued his journey onward. Initially, Jeremy had been concerned he might step on a flower, but he had quickly found that they seemed to jump out of his way if he tried, jumping back into place as soon as he left that spot. He stopped to examine the flowers around him, finding only that they were as pretty and colorful as all the others.

A few more ‘hours’ of walking, and he spotted something in the distance. Excited, Jeremy began walking faster towards it, only to slow his pace as he thought it was just another, larger flower. Still, it was the only noticeable feature in this endless plain, and so he continued to approach it.

As he came within view, Jeremy realized it was not a flower, but a tree. A very familiar tree. The Tree of Harmony was there, the six jewels of the Elements set into its trunk just as they had been in the show. Sunlight glistened off of its crystalline, milky white boughs, strings of blue beads draped around them as though they were berries or vines. Jeremy curiously reached up to brush a speck of dust off of the Element of Loyalty.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Jeremy whirled around to behold a tall alicorn, standing in front of him. Her coat was snow white with a tinge of blue, not unlike Celestia’s pearly sheen but lacking the warmth of tone the solar princess’ coat possessed. This alicorn’s hair was powder-blue, and curly enough to give Sam a run for his money, draped around her neck in increasingly poofy curls that intersected and played with each other in a way that spoke not of tangles, but of loosely woven threads, working together to keep the overall manestyle despite their seemingly random directions. Her horn spiraled upward, having a curved taper much more akin to Sombra’s horn than any other pony Jeremy had met. Her wings were fluffy and large, larger even than Celestia’s, and her tail was much like her mane. Perhaps the most shocking feature of all was that she had no Cutie Mark on her flank. As soon as Jeremy noticed this, however, she winked at him, and the world went white.

He woke up again to find himself being snuggled by Chrysalis, the latter murmuring something inaudible as she nuzzled his face. Jeremy felt a brief flicker of annoyance at being woken up from what was probably some life-changing event, but decided to let it go in favor of returning his girlfriend’s cuddles.

“Morning honey… how was your rest?” she asked quietly, rubbing his belly with a soft hoof.

Jeremy hummed contentedly. “Good…” he drowsily answered. “I think… I met somebody… in my dreams,” he got out, yawning mightily.

“Princess Luna?” Chrysalis asked curiously.

Jeremy made a noise of disagreement.

“…Nightmare Moon?” she tried again.

Jeremy responded similarly. “I don’t think it was… anybody we’ve ever met before. She was… new,” he sleepily explained.

“Oh. Was she nice?” Chrysalis asked.

Jeremy made a noncommittal noise. “We didn’t talk much…” With not much else to say, they resumed cuddling.

A while later, Shining Armor peeked into their room, to find Jeremy drowsily surveying him as Chrysalis snoozed. “Looks like you’ve been laying there for a while,” Shining teased.

Jeremy snorted. “She’s like a cat. If you’ve ever owned a cat, you’ll know the rules about moving a sleeping one.”

Shining chuckled softly. “I’ve had enough friends who have, so I’m aware of the terrible fate that awaits those who try. Anyway, now that this whole fiasco is over, we’re heading back to Canterlot today. And, um… I wanted to talk with you two about something else.”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow, looking down at Chrysalis. She gently scuffed a hoof along the bedspread, tongue poking out to lick his shirt. “…I’ll pass it on to her when she awakes,” Jeremy decided. “What’s up?”

Shining kicked a hoof awkwardly. “Well, it’s just – I know we Elements of Harmony are supposed to be teaching you humans how to use your Elements, but… to be honest, Cadance and I have our hooves full already taking care of Flurry, and… could you manage on your own?” Shining asked, grimacing as he looked anywhere but at Jeremy.

Jeremy considered this for a moment, then shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, I get that. Looking after your kid’s important, and raising her… Well, the saying ‘it takes a village’ exists for a reason.”

Shining laughed in relief. “Hah! Yeah… thanks.” He turned pensive for a moment, huffing an unusually serious sigh. “I… Even if you’re okay with it, I still feel awful about abandoning my duty to you. You’re the next generation, after all. Just like the soldiers I used to train, I feel like it’s my responsibility to make sure you’re up to the task… And even if you’ve faced down Tartarus itself and come out unscathed, I promised myself I wouldn’t turn away from my duties as Captain of the Guard. That I’d be strong enough to raise my little Flurry and train my Guards. And… this feels like a betrayal of that promise, you know?” Seemingly shocked by how much he had said, Shining ruffled his mane and smiled guility. “Sorry… this is probably way too much to break to a guy early in the morning. I, uh-“

“Shining,” Jeremy began.

“What?” Shining answered, looking at him in surprise.

“I’m okay talking about this kind of stuff. It’s normal for you to feel uncertain if you made the right choice, I feel that all the time! And personally, I think your kid is a bit more important than me. She’s the next generation, too – the next alicorn, the next Princess. Sure, you’re not training her to be a big, strong Guard. But you’re doing something far more important: You’re training her to be a good person,” Jeremy explained.

“Heh. You make it sound so noble and brave. Meanwhile, I’m changing diapers and reading books. Not exactly glamorous,” Shining joked.

Jeremy grinned. “I’ve been trying to tell everyone that kind of thing for ages. Noble actions don’t always seem so great when you’re making them. You worry, you wonder what the other path might have been like.” And sometimes, you go back and choose that other path. Just to see, he added mentally.

“When do you figure out if you did the right thing? One of my biggest worries is that years down the line… I’ll realize I’ve made some awful mistake in raising my daughter,” Shining admitted, head drooping.

Jeremy smiled. “Then allow me to give you the most important advice I was ever told about parenting. Here it is: ‘Kids, like adults, make lots of mistakes.’”

Shining tilted his head. “Huh?” he asked.

“Kids, to put it bluntly, are kind of dumb. That’s by nature, and no fault of theirs – they simply haven’t learned how the world works yet. The brain’s a wonderful pattern-matcher, Shining, but it needs data. Experience. Growth. Kids need to make mistakes – paradoxically, it’s the only way to get them to learn how to stop making mistakes. So let Flurry make hers, within a few boundaries. Let her hurt herself, and become stronger for it. Let her be a child, not some miniature adult who’s told to be perfect all the time.”

Shining looked at him strangely. “Who told you that?” he wondered.

“…Well, to be honest, I don’t remember,” Jeremy admitted with a laugh.

“Well… it’s a lot better than all the parenting advice I’ve heard so far. Lots of stuff about making soft food and potty training… not a whole lot about personal growth,” Shining pondered.

“You know, I actually have a story about that particular lesson,” Jeremy began.

“Go on,” Shining urged eagerly.

“I was just six at the time, and my family was out camping for… well, it probably wasn’t the first time, but it was the earliest time I really remember, and that’s just because of this memory. See, my parents had told me not to touch a fire, or something burning. They said it would hurt, and I’d be sorry. But, me being six, and curious about just about everything in existence, I wanted to see if they were right. So, I took a stick from the woods, and lit the end on fire, and waited until it had turned white with ash,” Jeremy reminisced.

“You touched it, didn’t you!” Shining laughed, and Jeremy laughed right along with him.

“Oh, yeah. It stung. Even though my parents had already warned me a million times, that’s when I really learned: ‘Fire is hot.’”

Shining Armor mulled over this for a moment. “Huh. I guess that is a good example.”

He was about to say something else, but was interrupted by a soft laugh from below Jeremy. Chrysalis was awake, watching the pair of them converse and stifling giggles of her own. “You really touched a burning branch, just to see if it would hurt?” she teased Jeremy.

“Hey, nobody said I was a very smart six-year-old,” Jeremy defended, laughing.

Chrysalis laughed with him a moment more, then turned her neck to look at Shining. “How much longer until we leave?” she asked.

“About five in the afternoon. Sombra’s gotten so many requests to copy his musical notes, even the royal scribe’s office has pitched in to help,” Shining explained, rolling his eyes.

Jeremy snorted. “Serves him right for being a famous musician,” he joked, and Shining burst out laughing.

“Alright, I’m heading to lunch. See you two later!” he called, exiting the room.

“Jeremy?” Chrysalis asked, as soon as he was gone.

“Yeah?” Jeremy replied, gazing down at her contentedly.

“Can you tell me about your family?” Chrysalis softly asked.

Jeremy froze, looking down at her suspiciously. “Why do you want to know about that?” he asked cautiously.

“I-It’s okay! You don’t have to, I just… I just now realized I know almost nothing about you. Your past, your… life growing up. When you said all that stuff about how a kid needs to learn things, it just… made me wonder, is all,” Chrysalis hurriedly explained.

Jeremy looked at her a moment longer, then huffed a sigh. “Alright. And since this is probably going to get out sometime or later, I’m not going to block this conversation from the drones.”

“My mom was… strict. She was the opposite of that advice I just gave Shining – always preventing me from making my own mistakes, from learning. From growing up. The way she raged sometimes, you’d think I was already an adult, making dumb mistakes that she would have to deal with. And that’s not even half of what my bro got.”

Chrysalis’ jaw dropped. “You have a brother?” she asked in shock.

Jeremy snorted. “Yeah. He’s… well, he’s alright, as far as brothers go. We had a lot of sibling rivalry, growing up, but we get along now. Heh. One of the major things that brought us together was trying to avoid Mom’s wrath. I was always the more obedient one… not that it did me much good.”

“I remember one time, maybe I was like… ten? Somewhere around that age. Anyway, I was ten, and my bro was eleven, and one day we were tasked with sorting all the quarters in Mom’s collector’s book. There’s a different one for every state in our country, and two different mints the coins could come from, so there were something like a hundred possible categories any given quarter could belong in. Looking back, it might have been some kind of learning exercise – something about sorting, maybe. At the time, neither me nor my bro could see the point in bothering to sort through the massive pile Mom had. They were just quarters, not even worth much. So we ignored that, and watched TV instead. Well… bro watched TV. I read a book,” Jeremy laughed. He stopped laughing quickly, though, a frown appearing. “Course, when Mom came home, she went ballistic. Started screaming about how we were lazy and selfish, and throwing quarters at us, then she sent us both to bed.” Chrysalis stared at him, and Jeremy looked away.

“That was a pretty common occurrence. We’d fail to do something trivial, not seeing the point, and Mom would flip out and tell us that it was critical we accomplish such-and-such task, that it would determine our entire lives. That was her favorite word: ‘Critical.’ I… I grew to hate that word,” Jeremy admitted. “It wasn’t like we were being lazy, at least, I don’t think so. Her ‘top priority’ was an endless series of tasks, building themselves upon themselves until the original goal had been obscured by countless, pointless mini-objectives. As soon as one task ended, another started, and it got to the point where I was doing seven things at once and it still wasn’t enough. Any time we slipped up, or didn’t perform to her impossible standards, she’d scream at us that we were ruining our lives, and that she’d worked so hard to get us where we were and we were throwing all that hard work away,” Jeremy remembered, scowling. He mused for a moment. “She was probably doing stuff behind the scenes. Scheduling stuff, paying for stuff, all the things we couldn’t possibly do as kids. Still… it was too much to handle, for me. For anyone.”

Chrysalis swallowed nervously. “But… there were good times, right? She did love you, in the end, right?” she asked.

Jeremy laughed coldly. “Hardly. To her, I was an object, not a person. I was a tool, made to accomplish a goal. Tools aren’t supposed to have sentience, Chrysalis. Or emotions. I quickly learned that no matter how much I cried or stressed, she was indifferent. She’d threaten me in a heartbeat if she thought it would bring her closer to whatever it was she wanted me to become.”

Chrysalis blinked, a lone tear running down her face. “What were you supposed to become?” she whispered.

Jeremy shrugged. “A functioning adult? A miniature copy of her? No idea. Whatever it was, I rejected it.”

“For a while, I… lost all emotion. I was in middle school around that time, and… it was some of my darkest days,” Jeremy remembered, shuddering slightly. “I was just… oh, hell, I was evil. I was careless, cruel, heartless even. I bullied, I stole, lied, betrayed, cheated, and… well, if I had continued down that trail, I would have ended up like the many sociopaths who came before me,” Jeremy sighed.

“And Sam saved you,” Chrysalis murmured.

“Yeah, he – wait. When did you hear about that?” Jeremy asked, surprised.

“You… mentioned a little of this to Celestia. Something about how you’d have gladly killed a lot of humans for reasons that didn’t really matter,” Chrysalis nervously explained. “Right… that. Yeah, that seems about right. And then… well, Sam was different. He was the first to treat me like… well, like a person. Not a machine, obligated to perform optimized routines and never to deviate from the path that had been picked out for it by higher powers. And… I realized just how far I had fallen down. It wasn’t immediate, I wasn’t always perfect, but… he didn’t stop. He listened, and he taught me how to be human again.” Jeremy wiped some tears away with his shirt sleeve. He sighed. “That’s the real reason I spare everyone I meet. Every time I see them being so thoughtlessly cruel, it’s like looking in a mirror and seeing myself, all those years before. And I’m terrified of that reflection, Chrysalis. I’m terrified of what might have become of me, had Sam not intervened.”

Chrysalis was restlessly shifting her hooves, looking nervous. “I… it’s not your fault, you’re not in trouble, but I have to go!” she declared, before getting up and flying out of the room as quickly as she could.

Jeremy, taken aback, stared at the doorway for a moment. “But… what?” he stuttered. Had he just ruined his relationship with her? Ruined everything? He brought out the LOAD SAVE button, frantically trying to decide if he should go back or not. Deciding to get more information, he hurriedly leaped out of bed, got dressed, and sprinted out the doorway, easily knocking aside a very confused Brayden as he bolted after his love.

Eight flights of stairs and several rammed doorways later, he was outside, and crystal ponies were staring in shock as the king of changelings ran as though Death itself were chasing him. Where was she? Where was she? He sent out a probe with his crown, only to find that she was at Thorax’s house. Why was she there? Regardless, he dashed off down the nearest street that led there. Jeremy had no idea what he’d done, but he was determined to fix it. He was not losing the one thing that kept him going, not without an explanation. If he’d made some kind of mistake, he had to learn what it was.

He found Thorax’s house with little effort, drawn to it like a magnet. He raised a hand to knock, and thought better of it, simply wrenching open the stone door and stepping into the hallway.

“Chrysalis?” he asked, before something large and green slammed into him from above.

“She’s not leaving you. It’s okay. Don’t be upset, you haven’t done anything wrong,” a voice whispered in his ear.

“T-Thorax?!” Jeremy queried, completely lost at this turn of events. Parsing what the larger changeling had said, Jeremy looked at him with a frown. “Then… what just…”

Thorax sighed. “Come see,” he answered, gesturing with a hoof for Jeremy to follow.

He found Chrysalis in the living room, giving what appeared to be the most frantic cuddle session in history to some very confused and somewhat terrified changelings. “-And I promise that I love you with all my heart, even if I’m terrible at showing it, even if I hurt you, I didn’t mean it for a second and I never will again-“ Chrysalis gibbered, tears streaming down her eyes as she held five grown changelings at once in an inescapable bear hug.

Something clicked in Jeremy’s head, and at last his shoulders slumped, the adrenaline leaving him as he understood. Gently, he reached over and pried Chrysalis’ hooves off of their iron embrace around her children.

“You are not her,” he declared.

Shocked, Chrysalis looked up at him. “I-I’m not? But we’re exactly the same! I’m a monster who drove her children to be emotionless slaves! I was little more than a taskmistress, a hateful queen that they couldn’t trust or love! I-“ Chrysalis began, but Jeremy leaned over and kissed her.

She immediately broke away. “But I was!” she persisted.

Jeremy nodded. “And there’s your keyword: was.”

Chrysalis glared at him. “That doesn’t help! I already did all this damage, who knows how badly I’ve messed some of them up-“

“We know,” Jeremy reminded her. “The hivemind couldn’t hide someone who was as far gone as I was – we’d know. We’d know immediately. Soulless people like that can only hide their emotions on the surface – anyone who looked any deeper would have found that something was terribly wrong. I don’t think any of our changelings are going down that path, Chrysalis,” Jeremy insisted. He paused for thought. “Well… except one. The old King. He’s going to need a lot of rehabilitation when he comes back.”

The changelings around him looked at eachother worriedly. “Do you think… he can be saved?” one hesitantly asked.

Jeremy looked at her, and she immediately looked as though she’d regretted speaking. Jeremy simply sighed. “If I was saved, anyone can be saved,” was his only response.

“Well… when we get home… I’m still going to let everyling know I’m going to be better. I… I won’t allow… wouldn’t want to give them the impression that I was… that I didn’t care about them,” Chrysalis admitted.

Jeremy took her hoof. “I’m proud of you, honey. You’ve come a long way already, and you’re still fighting to improve yourself at every step. Some might have given up at this point, you know?”

Chrysalis gave him a small smile. “Well, if there’s one thing you and I have always had, it’s perserverance,” she weakly joked.

Jeremy grinned. “Our greatest strength and weakness, all in one. For better or worse, we never give up.”

They returned to the castle, only to find Sam, Cadance and Celestia waiting for them, along with a gaggle of very awkward and apologetic changelings.

“Um. Jeremy? Every changeling in the city started crying around the same time a few minutes ago. We know you guys are all ‘telepathic’ and everything, so, um… what the heck happened?” Sam asked.

Jeremy sighed. “I told them about my tragic backstory,” he answered, rolling his eyes, and Sam winced.

“Ooh. That would indeed explain it,” he agreed.

“Tragic backstory?” Cadance asked, and Jeremy shook his head.

“Sorry, Cadance, but I… I don’t think I’m up to repeating myself. Once was enough for today. Sorry,” he repeated.

“Oh! That’s okay, I didn’t mean to pry,” Cadance apologized.

“So, apart from that, I’m about ready to head out. Where’s Sombra?” Jeremy asked.

“Still at the printing office. Last I heard, they’ve distributed eight thousand copies and counting,” Sam answered with a snort.

Jeremy smiled. “Well, at least he’s being productive.”

The other humans gathered without incident, and they boarded the train. Jeremy said almost nothing the whole time – he felt exhausted, both from running a while ago and from his recent emotional roller-coaster. Sombra arrived almost as the gates closed, handing out copies of his song the whole way and grinning like a lunatic.

“Hey, why aren’t Shining Armor and Princess Cadance getting on?” Avery noticed.

“They’re staying behind. They’ve got a kid to raise, and they seem to think I can handle myself out in the world,” Jeremy explained, speaking up for the first time since the other humans had arrived.

Shining Armor and Cadance waved at them as the train rolled out of the station, Sombra just barely jumping aboard in time. Flurry was ‘waving’ too, her hoof held up by Shining’s magic as she burbled at the leaving train. Jeremy smiled and waved back at the three of them until they were out of sight, and then gazed at the receding Crystal Kingdom.

“So, how long does this train take to get to Canterlot?” Jeremy asked Celestia, sitting in the main compartment.

“About a full day,” Celestia answered, addressing the rest of the group as well. “There are beds suitable for your size should you wish to rest, and meals will be brought to you at the regular times.”

“How come the beds are the right size for us?” Avery asked suspiciously.

“Well, to be more specific, they are the right size for me. This is the Royal section of the train, and it is designed so that my sister and I or Princess Cadance could have comfortable rest while traveling,” Celestia explained.

Avery hummed in thought at this, but said nothing more.

After a while, Jeremy had resorted to napping in one such bed. Chrysalis had gone off to do something else, and the other humans were either resting as well or playing a card game they had found. The ponies were all playing the card game, and those changelings that had accompanied them on the train were busy exploring the new, fast thing they were on – though Jeremy and Chrysalis had warned them not to exit through the windows or doors, lest they get badly hurt.

A knock sounded at his door, and he drowsily turned over. “Come on in,” he slurred, blinking owlishly at the light he’d been trying to ignore for the better part of four hours now. To his surprise, the changeling that came in was not one he recognized. They were like Thorax, but… darker. Darker green carapace, darker red antlers, and a purple shell instead of Thorax’s red. It took Jeremy a moment to remember who this was.

“Pharynx, right? Thorax’s brother?” he asked, and Pharynx nodded.

“Do I have a soul?” he asked bluntly.

“What?” Jeremy asked, now sitting up to face him fully.

“I don’t… I think I’m like… I think I’m soulless,” Pharynx admitted. “I was the only changeling not to change after Thorax did his thing, and I still don’t feel as in touch with my feelings as others, and I just want to hurt things to protect the Hive because that’s all I know how to do, and… am I a monster?” he repeated quietly, beginning to tear up. Jeremy sighed – he got the feeling this was going to be a recurring theme. He picked Pharynx up with little effort, depositing him on his lap.

“Pharynx, you’re not a monster. And I’m not just saying that to make you feel better – you’re not. Know how I can tell?” he asked quietly.

Pharynx shook his head, either unable or unwilling to look at him. “How?” he asked, sniffling.

“Because you’re crying,” Jeremy answered, and Pharynx finally looked up at him in shock.

“W-what?”

Jeremy smiled. “The difference between you and a real monster is that real monsters don’t cry. They can’t cry – at least, not really. If you can feel sadness, you’ve still got as much of a soul as anyone else. It’s okay, Pharynx. You’re okay.”

Pharynx sniffled for a moment more, then looked at him. “T-tell nobody of this,” he demanded.

Jeremy nodded, smiling. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he promised. Pharynx, looking at him strangely, huffed a sigh after a moment and scuffled off of his lap, sitting up next to him.

“I… Is this a ‘feelings forum’? Thorax used to hold those, and I never attended long enough to get it, but they always looked something like this,” Pharynx asked.

Jeremy shrugged. “Same general idea, sure. Why?”

Pharynx looked away. “I… well, I called everyling who attended those things ‘losers,’ and now here I am… doing the same. Hypocrisy at its finest,” he muttered.

Jeremy laughed. “That’s not hypocrisy, Pharynx!” he chuckled.

“No? Then what is it?” Pharynx asked, looking at him skeptically.

“That’s learning,” Jeremy answered, still laughing.

Pharynx didn’t answer, instead looking at the foot of the bed. “So, you spare everyone you meet because they remind you of how you used to be?” he asked.

Jeremy immediately stopped laughing, a sobering frown replacing his mirth. “Yeah…” he admitted.

Pharynx grinned. “Gotta admit, that’s pretty dark. Not what I expected from the so-called ‘Element of Love.’”

Jeremy snorted. “If you’d seen half of what I’ve seen, you’d know that that kind of stuff is too edgy to discuss in public. Hence why I keep it under wraps most of the time.”

Pharynx raised an eyebrow at him. “What’s ‘edgy’?” he asked curiously.

“Stuff that’s dark just to be dark. Shock-value stuff, that’s thrown in there for no better reason than to make you reel backward, just for a moment,” Jeremy scoffed.

Pharynx laughed. “So stuff I’d probably find pretty entertaining. Send me some ‘edgy’ stuff from Earth when you visit, will you?” he asked, and Jeremy chuckled again despite himself.

“Okay… but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he replied ominously.

They sat there for a moment in silence, Jeremy watching the train go by as Pharynx watched him.

“Is sparing others hard?” Pharynx asked, and Jeremy instantly nodded.

“Hardest thing I’ve ever done. Thing is, almost nobody wants to be spared, not at first. The first, and arguably the hardest half of the battle is getting them to figure that part out on their own.”

Pharynx nodded glumly. “Thorax tried to do that with me. He tried for years, and only just a year ago he succeeded.”

Jeremy hummed in agreement. “Sometimes it takes a while. ‘Course, the end result is always worth it, so it’s always a worthwhile investment of time,” he agreed. He frowned as he suddenly thought of something. “Pharynx, does Thorax know you’re on the train? I’d hate for you two to get separated just because you needed some reassurance, it’s a long way back to the Crystal Kingdom,” he asked.

“Separated? He’s on the train, too,” Pharynx answered, looking at him strangely.

“What do you mean, he’s on the train? Isn’t he looking after his hive?” Jeremy asked, beginning to worry.

“No, they’re on the train as well. Every changeling that was in the Crystal Empire is now on this train,” Pharynx answered semi-patiently.

“…Oh. Well, as long as we’re all together,” Jeremy muttered.

“He was pretty torn up about moving – got a lot of love for it, though. Promised to write each and every crystal pony he knew once a month,” Pharynx snorted.

“Huh. Well, he won’t be far, at least for a while. The Hive’s temporarily relocated to Canterlot to stay close to Chrysalis and I,” Jeremy mused.

“The whole hive’s in Canterlot?” Pharynx asked in surprise.

Jeremy nodded.

“And nopony’s freaking out about it?” Pharynx continued, the skepticism in his voice having returned with reinforcements.

Jeremy shrugged. “Celestia made a few announcements, and everypony seems fairly cool with it now.”

Pharynx snorted incredulously. “Maybe Thorax is on to something after all. Last I checked, a changeling couldn’t even cross the border without getting spotted and deported.”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “Speaking of which. You wouldn’t happen to know about any old, abandoned changeling cities or hives, would you? We’re gonna get started on that whole archaeological dig as soon as we can, after all.”

Pharynx thought. “Well, the only other location that every changeling knows is the Pool, and that’s off-limits to all but royalty and the hatchery nurses. Um… there is the old location of the Hive, during Avicularia’s reign, but it was burnt to the ground. That’s about when we started using magic stone rather than our own products for our hives,” Pharynx explained, rolling his compound eyes.

“Well, we’re supposed to be looking back a bit farther than the known nine queens, so…” Jeremy trailed off.

“Right, right. This ‘Queen Diligita.’ I’m pretty sure every changeling in Thorax’s little gaggle has read that dumb book by now,” Pharynx scoffed.

“What do you think about its story?” Jeremy asked.

Pharynx sighed. “I agree with you that the windigo started the war on purpose. That just makes sense in too many ways to ignore. But personally, I think that Diligita was a moron. Working with a species that fed on hatred, and another that fed on distrust? That’s just asking to get betrayed, it’s how they live,” Pharynx snorted.

Jeremy pondered this, frowning. “Sombra’s a member of one of those species, and he’s become as good as any of us,” he pointed out.

Pharynx grinned. “Oh? Did I insult one of your friends? What’cha gonna do about it, King?”

Jeremy gazed at him for a moment, then grinned right back. “Oh, nothing,” he nonchalantly replied.

“That’s what I thought. You’re all so soft-“

“Yet.”

“W-what?” Pharynx stammered, scooting away as Jeremy continued to grin at him evilly. Then, he burst out laughing.

“I can tell you’re trying to test me, Pharynx. Give me a little credit.”

Pharynx appeared taken aback for a moment, surveying him in a new light. “You’re not the sap I took you for,” he noted quietly.

“I never stopped being intelligent once I started being good,” Jeremy scoffed.

“Hmph. Well, yeah, I was. Trying to see what you’d do if you actually got mad,” Pharynx reluctantly explained.

Jeremy shrugged. “Give it some time, I’m sure we can find something that makes me angry. Like unreasonably violent sports. Or the judicial process. Or SAM!” he called out, as Sam was walking by that very moment.

“What?” Sam asked, poking his head through the door.

“You’re makin’ me very cross!” Jeremy warned in a distinct Scottish accent.

Sam stared at him for a moment, then kept walking, his laughter fading as he entered his own compartment.

Pharynx, meanwhile, was laughing as well, boisterously slamming a large hoof against the thankfully well-padded bedspread. “You can be funny, too! I might actually enjoy working under you,” he joked once he had calmed down.

“I’d hope so – if I’m going to teach Celestia how not to be a boring politician, I’d better not start being one myself. That would be hypocrisy,” Jeremy laughed.

“So… speaking of which. Thorax is now Sort-Of-But-Not-Really-King. Where does that leave me?” Pharynx asked seriously.

Jeremy shrugged. “Well, as it stands now, our military is kind of… nonexistent. We’ve had to drive off a few maulwurfs since I arrived – much less than normal, according to my Guards – but that’s about it. You know, on account of the whole ‘pacifist’ thing I make a point of shoving down everyone’s throats,” Jeremy sarcastically reminded him.

“Right, right. That. You ever fought a maulwurf?” Pharynx asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Not yet, but with how things seem to work here, give it a week or so,” Jeremy answered.

“My advice to you is to confuse their sense of smell somehow. Dirt in the nose works pretty well. They also don’t like bright light too much,” Pharynx lectured.

“Huh. Good to know,” Jeremy answered.

When Chrysalis stepped into the car a full two hours later, Jeremy and Pharynx were still trading combat tips. “-And she does know how to do homing attacks. Combined with the fireballs, lava and lasers, it generally wasn’t something I’d advise getting into,” Jeremy pretended to warn Pharynx, who chuckled.

“How’s it going, you two?” Chrysalis asked, flopping into the bed across from them.

“Pretty good! Just getting to know our new captain of the Changeling Guard,” Jeremy answered.

Pharynx raised an eyebrow at Chrysalis. “That okay with you, Queenie? It’s not like I was ever fired, so…” the olive-colored changeling trailed off intentionally.

Chrysalis surveyed him seriously. “Avoid the pet nicknames, and I might consider it,” she retorted.

“If you say so… Queenie,” Pharynx snorted.

Queen Chrysalis looked at him for a moment, unamused.

Pharynx looked back, maintaining his smug demeanor.

“Jeremy?” Chrysalis asked after a moment of locked eyes.

“Yes?” Jeremy sighed.

“How fast is this train moving?”

Jeremy looked out the window and did a rough calculation. “Maybe… a hundred miles an hour? Hard to say,” he finally answered.

“And knowing that high-velocity impacts do little damage to us changelings, how inconvenient would you say getting tossed off said train would be?” Chrysalis asked, grinning deviously at Pharynx.

Pharynx paled, which roughly meant his face had become the color of Thorax’s.

“Well, he’d have to either catch up with the train or fly after it all the way to Canterlot… both of which would be incredibly exhausting and a good lesson in discipline,” Jeremy mused, smiling at Pharynx as well.

“Now, now…” Pharynx nervously spoke up. “Let’s not get too hasty, Queen Chrysalis…”

Chrysalis grinned at him, showing all thirty-one of her sharp fangs. “If you’re going to banter, Pharynx, you had better be prepared for the consequences. My King might have let you down easy, but I don’t see why I should.”

Pharynx hesitantly chuckled. “Fair enough, my Queen. Er, if you’ll excuse me, I think Thorax is being entirely too playful and he’s just begging for my immediate intervention bye!” the burly changeling concluded, hastily exiting.

Chrysalis, watching him go, burst into a fit of giggling. “You were surprisingly aggressive towards him,” she commented.

Jeremy shrugged. “Part of making friends is learning to speak their language. Pharynx is a naturally aggressive changeling, I’m not gonna force him to be anything else.”

Chrysalis snorted. “He was one of the few changelings I found amusing to talk to, before all this,” she agreed.

“Can’t imagine why,” Jeremy snarked, and she giggled louder. “Anyway, Thorax and his hive will be rejoining ours fully as soon as we all arrive.”

She crossed the room, hopping onto his bed and laying across his lap like a cat. “How have you been, honey? This whole thing must have been exhausting on you,” she murmured.

Jeremy sighed, laying down, and she obediently adjusted her position so that they were cuddling properly. “It’s… well, it’s been about the usual for my life lately. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” he dismissed, rubbing her head.

“Hopefully things will settle down soon…” Chrysalis fretted, nipping at a stray lock of hair on his head and setting it back in place.

“Yeah…” Jeremy mumbled, closing his eyes in comfort.

“…Honey?” Chrysalis asked nervously after a moment.

“Mm?” Jeremy hummed back.

“When I ran off, I know you were scared of losing me, and I just want to say I won’t ever leave you for who you were,” Chrysalis murmured. “But… if you were scared that you’d done something wrong… why didn’t you just go back and undo it?” she asked falteringly.

Jeremy didn’t respond for a moment, but he did open his eyes to look at her. “I thought… that would be rude,” he finally answered. “To just go back and undo the whole exchange, like I had some kind of right to a relationship with you that supersedes your own opinions… that would just be… well, it’s not the kind of person I want to be,” he confessed.

Chrysalis appeared surprised at this, but then nuzzled happily into the nape of his neck. “You’re too good to me,” she muttered. “I wouldn’t even have known!”

Jeremy smiled sadly. “I would have.”

Comments

[Razzy]

Don't mess with the Queen.

... I can just picture all the confused changelings being turbo hugged by Chryssie.

Also, Jeremy's mother sucked.