Society as We Know It

by Comma Typer

Thorax and the Royal Sisters

The ponies of Canterlot stopped all that they were doing and took a long, respectful glance at the pony walking on the sidewalk.

Under the sunny sky, bright and cheerful, Princess Celestia walked. Her flowing, ethereal and color and bright mane and tail complemented her.

The ponies bowed down to her.

"You don't need to do that," Celestia said in her calm and soothing yet commanding voice.

And the ponies stood up.

Celestia kept walking, approaching the enormous and complex castle.

A few ponies followed her.

"I cannot believe that I'm actually meeting the Princess!" a pony yelled. He was wearing a hat and a formal suit. "It's such a great honor to be here, Princess Celestia! I and my family are happy with what you and your sister have done!" He walked towards the Princess who had stopped and had turned around to pay attention to him.

Beside him was a unicorn mare who was also wearing a hat. Beside them were several foals. They were all unicorns and were smiling, grinning at the Princess.

"We, uh, come from Rainbow Falls. We were there when you were the one attending the Traders Exchange. We did not actually get to meet you because we were so busy with all the trading and the interesting items that everypony had with them there. But, now, we're right in front of you!"

Celestia giggled. "You have lots of enthusiasm." She looked at his family. "I'm going to attend a royal meeting with King Thorax of the Changeling Kingdom. It must be a secret meeting, but you could enjoy the service you can find at the castle."

The entire family gasped together. "Really?!" the stallion shouted. "That's amazing, Princess Celestia!"

"Mm-hmm." Then, she walked towards the castle.

---

The room was spacious. The sunlight went through the tall windows, giving anypony inside a grand view of the outside. The view showed the wonderful and royal city of Canterlot with its fancy buildings and its fancy ponies.

The floor was clean and neat. The table at the middle was big, accompanied by several chairs with exuberant features such as finely trimmed wood.

The sound of hoofsteps echoed through the room as Princess Celestia and King Thorax walked towards the table.

A few guards were standing at the walls and at the table. Several of them were ponies wearing their armor, others were changelings wearing their armor.

On the table were plates of apples and apple pie.

"Don't you think that this is too much for a simple meeting?" Thorax asked nervously, looking at Celestia.

"I agree, Thorax," Celestia replied. "However, I have learned throughout the years that security is a priority never to be taken lightly. I myself wish that I don't need so many guards."

"What about the guards knowing our discussion?" Thorax said. "Isn't this supposed to be secret?"

"I trust that my guards and your guards will keep a secret," Celestia said. "Besides, we're going to announce it to all of Equestria and to the Changeling Kingdom soon."

"So, why keep it secret?" Thorax said.

"We are just here to discuss," Celestia said. "After the discussion, we then reveal to everypony and every changeling what we have talked about. It is not a really good system, but I am used to it."

"OK, Princess Celestia," Thorax said.

"You don't have to call me 'Princess Celestia.' You're a king, Thorax, so you can just call me 'Celestia.'"

Then, they were at the table.

They sat down on the chairs.

Thorax looked at his plate of apples and apple pie.

He grabbed an apple and ate it.

Celestia giggled, placing a hoof on her mouth. "So, let's talk about the status of the Changeling Kingdom." She placed her hoof down. "How is it so far? I've seen that the changelings are making great progress towards making friends, although they do need some help along the way."

"Yeah," Thorax said, scratching his head nervously. "We changelings are so used to our lives back when Chrysalis was in power that we ended up with some bad, well, instincts and things like it."

"Like being aggressive in settling simple issues?" Celestia asked.

"Ah, yes," Thorax said, now more nervous. His face was sweating. "I'm sorry, Celestia, but Chrysalis was our ruler for a long time. It's going to take us some time and effort to grow out of our old ways."

"Mm-hmm." Celestia kept quiet. "I've heard that you were making a massive overhaul of the Changeling Kingdom. You said yourself that you were doing this to place an emphasis on who changelings are."

"I just didn't want to see us changelings just consuming pony culture without actually a making culture of our own," Thorax said, now still nervous though not sweaty.

"I understand your sentiment, Thorax," Celestia said. "The changelings are quite happy with us ponies with what we have accomplished and the friendships that we do have, but you being caring about the changelings themselves and about them being in danger of losing their uniqueness—that's something. I do not want the changelings to be completely like us—that is something that can never be done nor should it be done. The changelings have their own identity, their own place to live in."

Thorax smiled.

Celestia raised an eyebrow, placing a hoof on the table. "Do you have something to tell me about the Changeling Kingdom? Don't worry about the time—it's a free day for me after this." She smiled.

Thorax looked at the guards.

They were all looking at him and Princess Celestia, on their faces a serious look.

Thorax looked back at the Princess. "Actually, not much."

Celestia nodded. "It's alright, Thorax. I am just so happy that you've helped the changelings on their way to learn friendship by sharing love. You yourself have good friends. You have Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Discord, Spike, and many more."

"Thank you!" Thorax said.

"Does this mean that you're done already?" one of the pony guards asked.

"Yes," Celestia said.

Then, the guards opened the double doors, revealing a large hallway.

"Why does every room have to be so big?" Thorax asked as they went out of their chairs and walked towards the hallway.

"It is tradition," Celestia said before she giggled. "A royal tradition to have big hallways to show how royal you are. This is an old castle, back when I was very approving of the idea. Now, the big hallways are only very useful if there's parties."

Thorax laughed.

His laugh echoed throughout the room.

"What about Princess Luna?" Thorax asked. "Is she awake?"

"Do you want to meet her?" Celestia replied.

"I'm OK with meeting her," Thorax said, somewhat nervous. "We've already met in a dream."

Celestia laughed. "It was a great first impression of my sister, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, meeting the Princess of the Night in a dream is quite OK."

---

At the cafeteria, most of the tables were occupied with ponies and their food which were of a great variety—along with apples and apple pies, there were also oranges, hay burgers, cakes, salads, and so on. All of their combined culinary aromas mixed together to create a delicious smell that permeated the room, adding to the clean and pleasant feel of the cafeteria as the ponies enjoyed the food and the drinks on their tables.

A few foals were inside the cafeteria. They were enjoying the sweets such as candies and cakes and pies.

The sound of chefs preparing the meals also filled the room as they placed the food on plates.

Among the ponies eating there, there was the blue alicorn Princess, seated at one of the tables beside the tall windows, giving her a great view of Canterlot.

"Princess Luna!" Thorax said as he walked towards her.

Luna was surprised. She faced the changeling. "Why, I did not expect you to be here, Thorax! Is your meeting with my sister already over?"

Thorax nodded. She looked at Celestia who was beside him. "This is not something formal or anything, Princess Luna. I just want to...uh, eat with you? Maybe share some stories?"

Luna smiled. She glanced at a plate of apple pie in front of her. "I guess that chatting with you casually is a good way to spend the time." She looked at Celestia. "Will you join the chat, sister?"

"I'd be happy to." Celestia smiled.

Celestia brought down, with her magic, several plates. There were apple pies, there were orange pies, there were salads. After the plates, Celestia also brought down glasses of water.

Thorax looked out the tall, clear window.

"Wow!" Thorax expressed, grinning at the sight. "It's just like last time I was here! The beautiful architecture and the ponies on the ground and the greenery and the waterfall!"

"Equestria is indeed a rich land," Luna commented, looking, too, out the window. "It is not right to hoard it for ourselves but to share the bountiful produce with others for them to enjoy and to use. I am pleased that the changelings are also taking part in enjoying this plentiful land of ours."

"And, it's amazing," Thorax said, placing a hoof on the surface of the window.

"The changelings are free to do whatever they want here," Luna went on, "as long as it's not bad or evil. From what I've seen, both changelings and ponies are happy with each other." She faced Thorax. "Cooperation is a topic that, recently, many ponies have been talking about. I am sure that we can accomplish magnificent things together. But, now, there is a matter I must attend to." Luna picked up an apple and took a bite out of it.

Thorax smiled, almost laughing.

Luna chewed on the apple and swallowed the bite. "The Apple family does provide Equestria with lots and lots of its high-quality apples."

"Yeah. The apples are tasty."

"Applejack herself said it herself. The Apple family values quality above all, and it is evident when you eat an apple from them."

Celestia nodded, picking an apple, too, with a hoof. "Do your changelings like the apples?"

"They don't just like them. They love them!"

"Applejack must be aware already of the changelings who want apples," Luna said. "That means more creatures to give apples to."

Thorax grabbed an apple with his hoof. He inspected it, turning it around and looking at it. Then, he took a bite of it.

The Princesses laughed.

The changeling chewed, then he swallowed. He looked at the two Princesses. "Thank you for letting me be here! I didn't plan to have snacks with you, but I have the chance to do that and I'm now eating snacks with you and I didn't imagine that I could actually be doing that!"

Luna eyed the changeling with an assuring look. "Just remember that we seek no harm to you nor the rest of the changelings."

"We know the struggles that you and your fellow changelings face," Celestia said, her voice becoming concerned. "You need more bits for the reconstruction of the Changeling Kingdom. However, what I think is more important is that the changelings are quite eager to learn more about the magic of friendship. That Twilight Sparkle and her friends occasionally hosting friendship meetings with the changelings is good." She sighed. "There are also the changelings that want to go to various places in Equestria and in those places, friendly ponies show them the magic of friendship in many things."

"That's wonderful, right?" Thorax asked, somewhat nervous.

"It is," Celestia said. She picked up another apple. "What about you try a salad?"

Thorax smiled as he grabbed a bowl of salad. He took a hoofful of salad and ate it. Then, he gulped. "I...I never tried salad that's as tasty as that!"

Celestia giggled.

"How many ponies usually go here?" Thorax asked.

"Not many," Celestia replied. "It's exciting when there are lots of ponies here. Ponies from this city and beyond all eating in the same cafeteria with so many opportunities to know each other more. It is a lively display of friendship."

"And, the ponies have a great time here," Luna said.

"What if I bring some changelings here?" Thorax suggested. "They're going to enjoy the food and the friendship they'll have with the ponies they'll meet here! They could also have the opportunity to meet you! Of course, I'm going to make sure that they're not going to annoy you."

The Princesses nodded.

"Amazing! Well, do you have anything to do, Princess Luna?"

Luna pondered with a hoof on her chin. "There is not much that I have planned out for the day. I suppose that spending some hours with you would be quite pleasant and wonderful, but I wonder what exactly you plan to do."

"We could, I don't know, go to the library or go to the museum or go attend a play at the opera! I know that there's so many things here to do in Canterlot! Maybe I'll meet more friends there, too! Maybe even Spike or Starlight or Trixie or Discord might be visiting now!"

"You are very excited, Thorax," Luna said. She smiled.