Peace at Last Side Stories: the Trials and Tribulations of King Thorax

by Prince_Staghorn

Populaces

Three Months After Metamorphosis

Thorax smiled as he surveyed the grublings inside the nursery chamber. There were about 100 of the little piebald babies wriggling around, being fed by their nursemaids, and play fighting. In another chamber, their unhatched siblings were being carefully incubated and monitored, and a school was currently being constructed for when the grublings became old enough to need it.

Thorax and his subjects were fully aware that these were their own younger brothers and sisters, and it was possible the grublings likewise knew that the adults caring for them were their older siblings, but the interactions between the babies and their nursemaids were nonetheless like that of a mother and her foal.

In time, the grublings would make many successive molts, but only time would tell whether they would emerge from their last molt as what were now termed "false changelings" or as Aos Sí.

The more Thorax thought about it, the more one fact became apparent... even though he was the leader of a new race, said race actually had little idea of what it could do. The ability to store love, concentrate it, and exude it from their bodies was a well-known fact, as was the fact that they had gone through a grubling phase, followed by a phase that was similar in appearance to a normal changeling, and finally culminating in the "latent adult" phase that was the Aos Sí, a metamorphosis triggered by using their unique love magic for the first time.

However, all the Aos Sí in existence were descended directly from a mating between a Parasitic Beebra mare and a changeling mare, meaning literally every member of the Aos Sí population were siblings. This meant there was no way of knowing how their kind reproduced. Did Aos Sí lay eggs like Beebras, or did they give live birth like changelings? Would a mating between an Aos Sí and another equine produce a foal? Would the race even breed true if given the opportunity?

The problem was that changelings were scarce in Boardor, and Tulip was literally the only Beebra found outside that country, which was in far-off Stirrope, either an ocean or two continents away (depending on if you went by sea or crossed the northern continent of Mustikk), so the two species had little chance to interbreed, and if Tulip died and no other such hybrid mating occurred before or after then...

Extinction. That was all that would mean. The Aos Sí would be reduced to an interesting passage in history and biology.

It was terrifying to contemplate. The thought of the extinction of a sapient race was not something to be tossed aside, and Thorax knew he had to fix this... but he'd need a lot of help.

Of course, another alternative was that they would hybridize with ponies and changelings, eventually phasing themselves out of existence, save for the occasional throwback who was born an Aos Sí as opposed to their parents' races.

The third alternative was the least likely to happen, and it was, if possible, worse than extinction. There was a marginally small chance inbreeding would occur, and that... well, Thorax didn't want to think about that.

No, the best chance would be to somehow monitor across the globe, looking for any news of beings resembling the Aos Sí, and getting in touch with them.

He had spoken to Staghorn and Twilight both roughly a month ago about these concerns, and both had gotten excited, calling their collective efforts "Operation Lovebug". Twilight seemed to want to simply monitor the situation, eagerly looking over what news came in. Stag, however, seemed to want to take a more direct approach, talking about convincing beebra hives and changeling kingdoms to make alliances and seeing where things went from there.

Besides reproduction, there was also the fact Thorax looked so much different than the other Aos Sí, none of which had his stature or antlers. Twilight had posited the idea that it was a hormonal change. Thorax was in charge, so his body acted accordingly, resulting in a different physical appearance. If another Aos Sí challenged him and became leader, she theorized that he would lose his antlers and shrink, while the victor would literally grow into his station.

It hurt his brain to think about it all... but he was the king, so these problems were his to deal with.

Another problem was that the Aos Sí were not adapted to live in the Badlands. No deaths had yet occurred, but even with the precautions and the Skyreapers accompanying the exploration parties, injuries were still very common. They needed experts who knew the Badlands what to do if specific dangers arose and how to recognize them before they happened.

That was why Staghorn had suggested they get in touch with the Samsa.

The Samsa, Stag had explained, were a race of intelligent Blattodea native to the Badlands. They scuttled around in makeshift cities of collected refuse, and exhibited inconsistent levels of organization, with some tribes fashioning crude, nonsensical effigies or "tools" only to discard them almost immediately, as though only fleetingly possessed of a dim notion to create, while others formed actual societies and culture.

One such society, the Glasswalker Tribe, actually lived fairly close to the kingdom of Sídhe, and as with most Samsa, they were habitually friendly. Provided that Thorax's subjects didn't attack them, they would be good allies.

Thorax had been organizing a diplomatic mission for the past month to meet the Glasswalkers, and now he was ready to set out.

***

The Glasswalker's "city" was a large series of caves and burrows, as well as several short, squat buildings built from abandoned pieces of glass, metal, and wood. It bore only a passing resemblance to a pony town, with buildings scattered in no particular order, and nothing that could truly be called a street.

And moving through it all, either scuttling or walking, were the Samsa.

They were alicorn-sized cockroaches, brown in color, with shiny black eyes. four of their limbs ended in three-fingered hands, while their hind limbs ended in a pair of claws. They alternated between crawling on all six limbs and standing on two legs, and a few were even flying.

A smell also permeated the air. It wasn't unpleasant, but it was noticeable.

When Thorax and the guards he had brought landed, the nearby Samsa stopped and scurried over to inspect them, speaking as they felt and smelled the newcomers with their antennae. They were clearly speaking Equestrian, but the syntax was skewed so as to be difficult to understand.

"A new! A new is a friend to a be? How is a new to a friend? A new is a Talk Father to a be?"

This line of questioning went on before suddenly they all stopped, antennae quivering, then spinning in opposite spirals.

"Be flat!" one suddenly shouted. "Get flat and BE flat in a while!"

They all threw themselves flat on the ground. A few broke ranks, rushing at the confused king and his guards, headbutting them and knocking them down.

That was when the earthquake happened.

It was short-lived, thankfully, but Thorax realized that the insects had sensed the tremor coming and had known the best thing to do. The Samsa were now carefully feeling their guests with their antennae.

"A flat time is you get flat," stated one, helping the king up. "Stand and also it is okay."

Thorax made a small smile. This might turn out to be a good idea.

***

As a few days passed, Thorax came to better understand the Glasswalkers.

The smell he had noticed was a balm the insects made and coated on themselves with to mask their scent with that of a Ladytank^- one of the only two arthropod species a Skyreaper would never attack^^. This made things easier for Thorax, since one of the main worries he had about this endeavor had been the Skyreapers' taste for other large arthropods.

Through careful wording and seemingly infinite patience, he had explained to the Samsa what he wanted. The Samsa had agreed to help the Aos Sí, and had even given the diplomatic party a place to stay for the night, and had even offered to feed them, though Thorax politely declined the egg-shaped green thing covered in red and black lines that they had presented (probably a type of fungus).

Today they were leaving, but the Samsa wanted to honor their new friends before they departed, and so Thorax allowed himself to be led to a large central space within the "city".

It had been kept meticulously clean, and all the Glasswalkers were now gathered there. Thorax was motioned to sit on a badly-made "throne", and once he did, the insects began their performance.

The cockroaches moved madly, angular legs sweeping and antenna fluttering. They circled and spun and moved in strange lines, but they never bumped into each other, and indeed, they never even touched.

"You see?" asked the one who had led Thorax to the performance. "A very good design. A very smart."

Thorax had to agree.

The performance continued for several minutes, and then they slowed and stopped, looking expectantly at the king.

Thorax was quiet. He wasn't sure what to say, so he simply clapped his hooves together. The Samsa seemed pleased, making excited chittering noises and touching antennae with each other.

Thorax smiled. Diplomatic bridges had been crossed, and new friends had been made.

Author's Note:

^ A Ladytank, obviously, is a giant relative of the ladybug. Bright red, with black speckles and a large horn between their antennae, these belligerent creatures are fierce and seemingly sadistic carnivores, playing cruel cat-and-mouse games with doomed prey. When not content with simply goring, biting, or trampling prey, they can spew searing-hot stomach acid from their throats with the force of a firehose.

^^The second is a beast known as the Phlegmipede