A Time to Think

by The Sonic Mage

Chapter 15: An Interaction

The afternoon rolled in as quietly as the morning and was equally uninteresting. Usually, sitting at the balcony was one of Thorax’s favorite pastimes. In all honesty, the view was wonderful. But it just seemed hollow. He felt like he had made a massive mistake.

‘What in Equestria made me think that I could do this by myself?’ Thorax lamented in his mind. ‘Maybe I should have told Twilight and her friends. At least they would have had some idea of what to do.’

All he could do was stare at the horizon and contemplate his self-disappointment.

>~~~~~~~~<

Chrysalis had lost track of how many hours she had spent lying there on the bed in the room she didn’t deserve. Sleep eluded her and the time to herself didn’t aid her in finding the answers to the questions floating around her head. It all just kept going round and round.

‘Why’ this, ‘Why’ that. Cascades of questions, without answers. It seemed like the unending enigma of the privileges bestowed upon her would kill her. ‘Who would have answers to my questions?’ She added that question to the growing pile in her brain.

However, that one did not remain unanswered. It came to her rather quickly, but she didn’t like it.

Thorax. Thorax would be able to answer at least some of her questions.

The problem was that she really didn’t want to talk to him. She didn’t hate him, but the thought of interacting with him after she had locked herself in her room, again, made her nervous. She weighed her options.

‘I could either get some clarity in my life, and then rot away in self imposed solitude. Or I could let the lack of answers consume me, as I rot away in self imposed solitude and slip slowly into madness…’

‘........’

‘Oh, Faust be damned!’ Chrysalis, albeit very begrudgingly, slowly rolled out of her bed and onto the floor. It took her a moment to find her footing, but she managed to do it. Walking towards the door, she braced herself for the amount of light that was about to flood her eyes. And it’s a good thing to. Even though the day wasn’t especially sunny, it was still a bit much. After letting her eyes adjust to the light, Chrysalis headed to the one place that she could think of to find Thorax.

The Throne Room.

>~~~~~~~~<

Thorax thoughtlessly stirred his drink. A million ways he could say “Sorry” were going through his mind. He didn’t know exactly what he would be apologizing for, but he still felt that it was necessary. He was about to take the cups he had used to the kitchen so that he could wash them, when a knock came at the Throne Room door.

The door slowly opened a crack, and in stepped the one who he had been having such a hard time getting through to.

“Uh...Hi,” Chrysalis nervously waved a hoof at Thorax.

“Hi.” Thorax responded, somewhat nervous himself.

“Am I…I mean…Is this a bad time?” Chrysalis pointed to the door, “If it is, I could come back later-”

“Oh, no! It’s okay. I wasn’t really doing anything.”

“Oh, okay…”

A moment of awkward silence fell upon the scene.

“So…”

“So…”

“Can I…get you something to drink?” Thorax offered.

“No, I’m good.” She was lying. Aside from occasionally taking sips from the bottle of Love Extract (Which she treated more like medication than sustenance), she hadn’t really ate or drank anything the past day or two. She knew doing so wasn’t good for her health or her magic but she didn’t care. And she would have stuck to that answer to if her stomach hasn't made a rather clear growl.

Chrysalis’ cheeks gained a reddish tint as she rubbed her front leg in light embarrassment. “Maybe just some Extract,” she said without making eye contact.

Thorax’s magic reached into some unseen void and pulled out an unopened bottle of the stuff.

“Here,” He said as he levitated the bottle over to her.

Chrysalis carefully opened the bottle and slowly drank a small portion of it, not wanting to throw her body into shock.

“Thank you,” She said.

Another wave of silence filled the room.

“Thorax, I…” Chrysalis struggled to call upon words to continue her sentence.

Thorax opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you want to say something?” Chrysalis surrendered her “turn to talk”.

“No,no!” Thorax responded hurriedly, “Please, you first.”

Chrysalis bit her lip. She didn’t want to speak first. She wanted to come up with any excuse not to speak first. Part of her even wanted to just leave the room without saying a word. But she had come too far to back out now.

‘Come on Chrysalis, you can do this! Deep breaths…’

“Thorax…can I-”

“YOUR MAJESTY!!!”

‘Faust be damned!’ The former Queen and current King thought at the same time.

One of Thorax’s messengers had come crashing through the doors, obviously in a panic.

Thorax looked to the messenger that just barged in. “Exodus, what is it?”, Thorax said, with annoyance in his tone.

“King Thorax, they’re coming!”

“Who is coming, Exodus?”

“The Princesses!”

Thorax and Chrysalis’ annoyance quickly turned to shock.

‘The Princesses are coming? Why? Wouldn’t they have sent a letter ahead of ti-’ Thorax’s thoughts stopped. He quickly remembered something. Something he wished he had remembered much, much sooner: He hadn’t gone through all the mail from that week. In all the hustle and bustle of working out Chrysalis’ stay, he must have forgotten to go through it all.

‘It’s okay,’ Thorax thought to himself, ‘It’s just the Princesses, nothing crazy. I can improvise this.’ Thorax mentality recited with confidence.

Only for that confidence to be shattered when Chrysalis asked a question that he should have thought of earlier. “Which Princesses are coming?”

Exodus’s response was not reassuring. “A-All of them…”

…

…

“What?” They both said at the same time.

“Also,” Exodus continued, Princess Twilight may have brought all of her friends, and Princess Cadence may have also brought her husband…” A few beads of sweat fell down his face.

Thorax and Chrysalis were about to scream, when they heard the drifting sounds of a far off conversation. The duo rushed to the balcony, looking over it, hoping against hope that their fears had not been realized.

They had no such luck.

Down on the ground were the distinct outlines of Princess Celesta, Luna, Twilight, and Cadence, along with two Royal Guards. That wasn’t all. There were a whole host of other ponies that just made the situation worse. Rainbow Dash could be seen zipping about the group. Pinkie Pie was taking a spring-loaded step every second. Fluttershy was clearly occupied by the blossoming plant life all around them. AppleJack was presumably making comparisons between something she was seeing and something involving farm life. And Thorax couldn’t even imagine all the aesthetic “improvements” that Rarity was coming up with.

However, there was one pony in the crowd that drew immediate attention (more attention than Pinkie Pie). Snuggled up against Cadence, was the one pony that Thorax, nor Chrysalis, nor Pharynx wanted to see at this point in time.

Prince Shining Armor.

In that singular moment of shock, and panic, Chrysalis and Thorax said the only thing that could adequately describe how they felt in that moment.

“Oh, pony feathers.”

Author's Note:

If you can't already tell: Everything is about to to go very, VERY South.

Have fun with that.

Comments

[Vertex]

Everything is about to to go very, VERY South.

Oh man, I don't know if I should feel excited or worried D:

[Macdaverin]

Two things...
One: You make me ship them so hard without even trying it's ridiculous...
Keep it up!!
Two: THE JIG IS UP!!!!!

[The Sonic Mage]

9262249
Pretty sure Pinkie would say “Nervocited”

[The Sonic Mage]

9262295
The jig is definitely up

[Loveless]

Panic a run! Panic and run!!!!
(Mmm...I wonder if we have Changeling version of "Pony Feathers" or not...mmm...)

[Fireheart 1945]

If you can't already tell: Everything is about to to go very, VERY South.

Hopefully, Thorax can talk his way out. Wonder how (or if) they found out.

[The Sonic Mage]

9265180
I see your VG soundtrack and raise you one marching band

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4EaF_8xWMu0

(I don’t know how to post whole videos so this will have to do)

[Macdaverin]

How's the next chapter going?

[The Sonic Mage]

9273198
It’s going well, thanks for asking.