Chapter 6 - Immigration
The cold wind whipped against my face, making me squint and causing my eyes to stream. It was bitterly cold, colder that anything I’d experienced in a long time. The temperature could only be a couple of degrees above freezing, maybe even below it. And even in all the cold winter wear I had on, I was still painfully aware of that.
I was currently riding in a chariot, pulled by two pegasi of the Royal Guard and I was heading as far north as most ponies dared to venture. I was heading up to the Crystal Empire; a protectorate of Equestria that, despite its name, was merely a city state. Sitting in almost of dead centre of the icy Frozen North, the Crystal Empire was home to the crystal ponies. However, while the frozen tundra we were flying over was almost devoid of life, the city itself was not all that different than what you’d expect to find in central Equestria. The climate was warm and temperate, with what weather there was maintained by the local weather patrols.
How was this possible you ask? It was all down to their Crystal Heart; a magical artifact which put out a vast shield that covered the city and the surrounding land, protecting it from both the harsh weather and the small nation’s enemies.
The only problem was that it was a relatively isolated place. There were only two ways to get there. On the one hand, you could take the train, but at this point in the year, the line was virtually impassable without a snowplough engine in front, and even then the crossing could be dicey. The other option was what I was doing; flying. The only problem there though, was that at altitude, you not only had to put up with snow and cold temperatures, but also the fantastically powerful and essentially uncontrollable snowstorms. These were powerful enough that even Celestia and Luna could only keep them at bay for a short time. A normal flight of weather pegasi would be frozen to death.
Now, I was alive due to the magic enchantment that had been placed on the chariot, protecting both me and the two pegasi guards pulling it through the sky. But it only helped marginally. I was still wrapped up like Captain Oats making for the South Pole. And if it got much colder I’d be going out for a walk too.
Anyway, why was I going this far north you ask? Well I’d been summoned by both Twilight and Princess Cadence. You see, they had something of a legal issue on their hooves. And what with the Crystal Empire, and consequently all their legal experts, being about one thousand years behind the times, they’d asked for me to come and help. And so, here I was, ten thousand feet up, barely able to feel my fingers.
Contrary to what people think I don’t just deal with serious cases of ponies breaking the law. The law covers a whole lot more than just 'don’t stab your neighbour in the face with a screwdriver'. I dealt with all sorts of issues, ranging from finance, to building projects, trade, and even international matters. Today though, I was dealing with that thorny issue; immigration. It’s not as common in this world as it was back on Earth. Given that there are fewer countries and even fewer ones in turmoil, creatures here only tend to emigrate somewhere by choice, and quite legally too. You certainly don’t see the problem of swarms of refugees from the third world’s latest attempt at trying to be civilised. More often that not, griffons, ponies, and other creatures move somewhere either for work, or purely because they would like to live somewhere new. You definitely don’t get the issue of the so-called ‘economic migrant’ either, who just wants to jump the queue and spin you some sob story about how hard it was for him to leave his stable job and country to come and live with twenty other idiots in a council house built for a family of three.
Sorry, guess I’m showing my bias there.
Anyway, yes, immigration. I’d been called in to help the crystal ponies because they had a rather unique immigration case on their hooves. They had a changeling, requesting political asylum. I’m sure you can imagine how surprised I was when I read that in Cadence’s letter.
You see, a few days before, Twilight and Spike had gone to visit the Crystal Empire, and found the place under lockdown. Apparently, there’d been a sighting of a changeling in the city. Apart from Strong Shield and my own Charlie, nopony had seen one of those bugs since they made an attempt at attacking Canterlot a few years before we even arrived. The fear was that this was a scout. After all ,the last time these buggers had shown up, they’d replaced Princess Cadence with an imposter. Shining in particular believed that this drone was trying to gather intelligence, and possibly look to replace someone in the imperial government. That could be just as catastrophic as actual massed attack.
So she and Spike (remember, Spike is a national hero up here) had offered to help the Crystal Guard track down the bug. Spike had bumped into him almost by accident.
And that was where things got a little weird.
Changelings, as a rule, don’t really chat much with ponies. They prefer to attack, capture and stuff you into a cocoon, and drain the love right out of you. This one though, didn’t seem up for that. If anything, he seemed just as afraid as Spike was, if not more so.
After the initial shock of bumping into each other, this changeling introduced himself as Thorax. He explained he was a runaway, a deserter, from Chrysalis’ hive. He’d left the Changeling Kingdom and done his utmost to get as far away as he could. Consequently, he’d found himself in the Crystal Empire. But with little food, he was close to starving, hence why he’d ventured near to the pony settlement.
Now that, on it’s own, wasn’t exactly unheard of. What was weird was Thorax’s personality. He wasn’t like other changelings. He was meek, timid, and seemed to have little interest in ‘hunting’ ponies for food. He didn’t seem like a normal changeling. This was why he’d left the hive. In the aftermath of the incursion, he’d tried to convince other changelings that stealing love was not the way to go about living. Consequently, he’d drawn Chrysalis’ ire and left the hive to save his chitin.
Spike had helped Thorax and, after a very rocky introduction with Shining, Cadence and Twilight, they’d agreed that his intentions were peaceful, and that he genuinely was fleeing the Changeling Kingdom. After a bit of a sing-song by Spike, Cadence had offered to grant him citizenship in the Crystal Empire.
That’s a nice idea, isn’t it? Well, it would be if the Crystal Empire’s laws weren’t still a good millennia out of date. There was no precedent to admit a changeling like that. A thousand years ago, there wasn’t such a thing as asylum. And guess who now needed to straighten the whole thing out.
The problem was, for all intents and purposes, Thorax was stateless. Exiled from his homeland, which didn’t exactly have the concept of passports and visas anyway, he needed a way to have some sort of documentation to allow him to make a claim for asylum. Normally, it wasn’t possible, at least not in most nations, for a person to become stateless, but it was the case for this unlucky bug.
Luckily, there was a precedent for this situation back in Equestria. You see, when me and my family arrived here, we didn’t exactly have all our papers in order for the border patrol. We’d been brought here by forces beyond our control and were unable to return. We’d been granted Equestrian citizenship by royal decree. Technically, Cadence could do the same.
However, there’d been a few murmurs when we all got our papers, on account of the fact that we were humans. How do you think ponies would react to a changeling, a creature that feeds on love, living in a place that needs it to survive?
So, Celestia and I had sat down to plan this all out. I would go to the Empire as her representative. One of the alicorn’s biggest goals at present was to secure a peace treaty with the changelings. With Chrysalis, this seemed fairly impossible. But with this notion of rogue changelings leaving the hive because they disagreed with her, that changed things quite a bit. If nothing else, as Strong Shield put it, the drone was an intelligence gold mine. We would still be taking precautions, one of my jobs here would be to debrief the changeling. After all, defectors can never be entirely trusted. If I was satisfied that he was on the up and up, then I could start the process of making him a citizen of Equestria. With that in hand, Thorax could apply for citizenship in the Crystal Empire. Celestia, you see, had the political clout to push such a notion through, and the nobles would hardly mind if the changeling was living far away from then. And on the flip side, the Imperial government’s objectors could then no longer refuse to allow Thorax to stay.
All in all, it was quite a clever little plan. If I’m honest, I was rather keen to meet this Thorax chap myself. I’d read Twilight’s reports, but I wanted to see for myself just what this changeling was like. Needless to say, he was not what I was expecting.
Eventually, after a long and bloody freezing cold flight through snow and hail, we broke through the clouds and I felt warm sunlight on my exposed skin. We had entered the borders of the empire. In the place of icy wastelands were beautiful rolling meadows and the glittering city itself. I quickly began to peel off my heavy winter clothing. I was quickly starting to get too hot for comfort now that we’d crossed into a warmer climate.
In short order, we began to descend towards the city, touching down in front of the Crystal Palace itself. Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire and captain of the Crystal Guard was waiting for me, along with a few official looking ponies in suits. I smiled as I hoped out of the carriage to greet my old friend.
“Shining!” I said, taking his offered hoof in hand. “Good to see you, mate. Good to see you. How have you been?”
“Well, I’m a lot better now that you’re here, Roger,” he said with just as much friendliness. “The city’s been on edge for days. Things are only just starting to relax. The sooner we get this all resolved, the better.” I nodded as I grabbed my briefcase full of files.
“Yeah, I’m right with you there. So where have you been keeping him?”
“Twiley had him put up in one of the castle suites. I've got a guard on him to keep up appearances, but other than that, he’s been left to his own devices.”
“Good,” I said with a nod as we started for the palace. The chariot quickly took off again to park up somewhere. “Have you told him I’m coming?”
“No, I got your letter about that. All he knows is that somepony from Canterlot is coming to speak with him. He doesn’t know anything about humans.”
“Perfect. When you bring me in, I want you to act a little uneasy, as if you’ve seen me kick off before. I want him just a little scared.” Shining barked a laugh.
“Well, that shouldn’t be too hard. Thorax seems more like a stallion version of Fluttershy than anything else.”
Walking into the palace, we started up one of several large staircases, a holdover from the castle’s previous owner. I could never understand how Shining could live in here. Everything was reflective and shining. The place must be a beggar to heat too.
“Why do you want to freak him out anyway?” Shining asked as we made our way through a corridor. “Twilight and Cadence have already agreed that Thorax means no harm.”
“You ever met a double agent, Shining?” I asked. He shook his head.
“That’s why I want to rattle him a bit.”
We soon arrived at the door. There were two guards outside, dressed in the ornate purple armour of the Crystal Guard. The pair saluted Shining as he approached, and stepped aside to let us both in.
In all honesty, I was fairly sure that this Thorax was on the level. Changelings, whilst great at disguise, are not particularly skilled actors. Fear is not a common emotion among their species. If he really was this scared, then his story made sense. Still, I was not about to let a current enemy claim citizenship without satisfying myself first.
Time for a few mind games.
Opening the doors, I found myself in a well furnished one bedroom suite, not all that different from the ones in Canterlot. In the centre of the room was a long crystal table. Evidently, this room was used for conferences and meetings. Thorax was currently sitting in one of the right hand side chairs down the far end.
He looked, for the most part, like an ordinary changeling; black chitin, blue eyes with no pupils and holed legs. However, his body language told a different story. When you’ve been in the job I have, you get a feel for reading people, seeing guilt or innocence. Right now, he looked like a frightened little foal.
That fear only increased when he looked up and saw me. While I'm not intimidating back home, at just under six feet, with decidedly un-equine features, I had the ability to scare a few ponies on first meeting them. Thorax even recoiled slightly as I walked in, with Shining following behind. As I’d asked, he put on the act of being slightly fearful, something that doesn’t come naturally to the gallant knight commander.
Stalking over to the opposite end of the table. I looked Thorax dead in the eye.
“You are Thorax?” I asked in a hard tone. The changeling nodded.
“Y-y-yes,” he stammered. “Who-who-who are you?”
“The legal advisor to the diarchy,” I replied. “I’m sorry to inform you that after careful consideration, your request for political asylum has been denied. You’ll be escorted from here and taken back to the Changeling Kingdom today.”
Both Shining and Thorax gasped in shock. I’d deliberately not told Shining to make his reaction more believable and cover up any tell on my part. What was I doing you ask? I was taking a leap out of old Sombra’s book, and showing Thorax his worst fear. He didn't hesitate, there was no thought behind his actions, just blind panic and terror. I could see the fear in his eyes. He was genuinely terrified of returning.
As Thorax started babbling, with even a few tears appearing, I coldly walked out of the room, a shocked Shining following me. I’d give him a minute to compose himself and then go back in. At least, that’s what I would have done.
I barely had a chance to turn around before Shining leapt at me. Jumping up onto his hind legs, he was about eye level with me. With his front hooves, he pinned me against the far wall, a look of absolute fury on his face. I might be taller than most ponies, but he was way stronger.
“What the hay is wrong with you?!” he shouted. “You can’t threaten to send him back! We have no reason to. What, is it because he’s a bug? Huh?!”
“Easy, Shining!” I shot back. “I’m not doing anything of the sort. I needed to do something to get him to show his true colours. You saw in there, he was terrified.”
“Yeah! I wonder why? You could have at least told me what you were planning.”
At this point, Shining relaxed a little, and I used the moment to push him off me. We stared each other down.
“If I’d told you, your reaction wouldn’t have been so believable. I needed Thorax to believe we were sending him back.”
“But why?” Shining persisted.
“Because changelings can’t act for toffee. That little show in there proved beyond anything that Thorax is what he claims to be.”
Shining snorted and paced for a moment. While on the one hand, I could tell he was furious with me for pulling that little stunt, he could also see the merit in it. Eventually, he turned back to me.
“Are there any more surprises I should know about?” he asked. I shook my head.
“No. I’m happy,” I replied. “I’ll go back in in a minutes and introduce myself and explain what’s happening. Then we can meet with your immigration people and get this thing started.
And son, a few minutes later, I returned to the badly shaken Thorax. Any niggling doubts I’d had before were satisfied. Not that I was about to distrust the word of the Princess of Friendship, never mind the saviour of the Crystal Empire. This marked a game changer. Strong Shield might have switched sides, but he was still a changeling at heart; a predator. Thorax was different, more pony than changeling.
As I walked back into the room, I made sure to fully drop my earlier act. My gait was looser, my expression softened, and my body language far more relaxed and friendly. Still, Thorax recoiled as I walked in.
“I’m not going back!” he wailed desperately. “You’ll have to drag me kicking and screaming all the way.” I held both both hands in an effort to calm him.
“It’s alright, Thorax,” I said kindly. “You’re not going anywhere.” The confusion gave me enough time to sit down with him, although he still kept his distance from me. Time to be more honest.
“I’m...sorry about that just now,” I said, meaning it, and struggling to look him in the eye. “But I had to be sure of your intentions. We both know that your species are masters of deception. It was the quickest, if not the gentlest way to prove that what you’d told Twilight and Spike was true.”
Calling over a guard, I asked him to fetch up a pot of tea. Tea makes everything better.
“My name is Roger,” I said, introducing myself. “And as I said, I’m Princess Celestia’s legal advisor. She sent me here to help you with your request for political asylum. I’ll be guiding you through the process and helping you get set up as a citizen of the Crystal Empire.” Thorax now brightened up.
“You mean I get to stay here?” he asked, any fears now replaced with child-like glee. I nodded.
“Yes,” I replied. “You’d be in danger if you returned to your homeland. So Equestria and the Crystal Empire will take you in. For the time being, you’ll be living here in the palace under the supervision of Shining and Cadence. They’ll help you adjust to the way ponies live. It will be difficult, but I’m sure you’ll manage.”
“Wow, when do I start?” he asked. Ah, now the awkward part.
“Well, before we can get to that,” I said carefully. “There’s one small matter that must be attended to. You were a drone in Chrysalis’ army. As a soldier of a foreign, hostile power, that makes you a defector. Before we can let you go, I’ll need to debrief you.”
“Debrief me?” Thorax parroted.
“I need you to tell me everything you know about the state of the Changeling Kingdom; defences, government, size, anything you know about Chrysalis, and any potential plans they might be making. Just start by telling me what life was like in the hive,” Thorax thought for a moment.
“But why?” I sighed and looked the changeling in the eye.
“At the moment, your country and mine are bitter enemies. But the princesses wish to see a lasting peace between our peoples. In order to achieve that, we need to understand you, and also prepare for Chrysalis’ next move. Forewarned is forearmed as they say.”
“But, I was just a drone,” Thorax replied. “Most changelings avoided me anyway. I don’t know anything like that.”
“Then just tell me what you do know. Tell me about your life there. I’ll do the rest.”
And so, Thorax started talking.
Unfortunately for me, while Thorax did have a lot to say, not much of it was particularly useful. As I’d said to him, we knew a fair bit about changeling society from Strong Shield. He was able to give me a bit of information on what it was currently like in the hive, but his more pony like nature seemed to be an anomaly unique to him. All other changelings seemed to be driven by the need to feed and fight and little else. He was like a nerdy kid in a world full of sports fans.
I was able to dig out one interesting piece of information, and that related to his brother. While Thorax was way down the bottom of the ladder, his older brother, Pharynx I believe, was actually the head of their military forces, at least in terms of patrolling their kingdom. He was even supposedly involved in planning the attack on Canterlot. Maybe SMILE could do something with that; use Thorax to draw him out; he wasn’t the ace of spades in our deck of important players, but as a senior figure in their military, his...removal, would have quite the impact. I considered pitching the idea to Shining. After all, I’d done jobs like that before with higher ups in the IRA or Sinn Fein. With the right ponies, it could be done.
Aside from that though, all I learned was that Thorax had serious mommy issues and had an incredible skill to talk without saying anything. He droned, if you’ll excuse the pun, on for hours until he finally came to an end. Asset or not, I was coming close to wringing his neck just to shut him up.
With his debriefing over, we moved on to other matters, namely his acceptance as a citizen. There wasn’t too much in the way of paperwork for me to do. While my job involves plenty, ponies aren’t nearly as bureaucratic as humans. However, he would have to go before a board to plead his case. In reality, it was just a formality. Celestia had granted Thorax asylum in Equestria by royal decree. You’d have to be mad or catastrophically stupid to object. Celestia may be a kind, loving mother figure, but she’s still the highest authority in the land; master under God as the old world would have put it. Still, Thorax wasn’t exactly coping well with the idea. Among other things, he’s terrified of meeting new ponies. Honestly, he reminded me partly of Sunburst, and partly of my own son when he was younger.
“Come on, Thorax,” I pleaded earnestly. “It’s just five or ten minutes explaining to them just what you told me; nothing more.”
“But what if they refuse and want to send me back?” Thorax asked, again verging on tears.
“They won’t,” I said, trying to reassure him. “It’s all just a formality. You spin them your yarn, they accept, you take the loyalty oath, sign the paperwork, and bob’s your uncle.”
“It’s all just so adversarial though,” he whined. Oh for the love of Celestia!
“You’ll be fine,” I said. “I’ll be right there beside you to help you out if needed.” I was starting to run out of patience. “Now please, stop trying to disguise yourself as a vase.”
In an effort to avoid going before the board, he’d vanished in a flash of magic and turned himself into an innocuous object in the room. Luckily, he was easy to find.
“How did you know I was the vase?” Thorax asked awkwardly as green fire washed over him, returning him to his normal form.
“Vases don’t quiver with fear, Thorax,” I answered.
With that, I took him by the foreleg and led him out into the corridor. Just to be safe, he changed his appearance into that of one Crystal Hoof, the foal persona he and Spike had, as you might have guessed by the name, made up on the spot to fool Twilight. This would take ten minutes, tops.
In the end, it actually took about twenty minutes for the immigration review board to come to a unanimous decision. Evidently, one of the crystal ponies sitting on it had something of a death wish and actually tried to block Thorax’s perfectly legitimate claim. I actually had to butt in a couple of times to quote law at him to show just how far off the mark he was. In the end though, it only took a withering glare from Cadence, which actually did look quite intimidating, despite her appearance as the pink love pony.
The whole thing was signed off and all that remained was for Thorax to take the loyalty oath. It’s not like the Americans’ weird pledge of allegiance that you recite as a child every day, pledging loyalty to fatherland and fuhrer; just a one time oath that promises you’ll abide by Equestria’s laws and not try and stab us all in the back. As Celestia’s legal advisor, I was the one to take Thorax through it.
Getting up from the desk we’d been standing at, I led him over to a smaller desk. On the wall was the banner of the empire and the imperial coat of arms. I turned to the meek little changeling.
“Raise your right hoof for me, Thorax,” I said. He did as he was bidden. “Okay, repeat after me. I Thorax.”
“I Thorax,” he repeated.
“Do solemnly swear.”
“Do solemnly swear.”
“That on becoming an Equestrian citizen.”
“That on becoming an Equestrian citizen.”
“I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to their Most Celestial Majesties Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”
“I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to their Most Celestial Majesties Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”
“And their heirs and successors, according to the law.”
“And their heirs and successors, according to the law.”
“I will give my full loyalty to the Realm of Equestria and respect it’s rights and freedoms.”
“I will give my full loyalty to the Realm of Equestria and respect it’s rights and freedoms.”
“I will uphold harmony.”
“I will uphold harmony.”
“I will observe it’s laws faithfully.”
“I will observe it’s laws faithfully.”
“And fulfill my duties and obligations as a citizen of the Realm of Equestria.”
“And fulfill my duties and obligations as a citizen of the Realm of Equestria.”
And with that, it was done. It was all smiles, hoof shakes and even the odd photograph for the evening papers. Thorax was now officially a citizen of Equestria, and the first that was openly a changeling.
My mind couldn’t help but drift back to the old days, back in Belfast, when I, as a young man, had taken a similar oath.
I had sworn before almighty God, with a gun in one hand and scripture in the other, that I would bear true allegiance to Queen Elizabeth the Second, rightful Queen of Northern Ireland, and serve the Ulster Volunteer Force faithfully as an officer, suppressing Republican dissent and resisting the Catholic church, commit myself to the destruction of the IRA and all those who supported it, and that I would not lay down my arms until the rebellion was defeated.
I’d broken with that oath a long time ago. In many ways, it still bothered me. If a man’s word is no good, then what is left of him? On the other, what man would ask a friend to take such an oath as that? In any case, I’d been more than happy to take this oath. I didn’t look on it as empty words. I had meant every bit of it when I’d recited it myself before Celestia.
And so, with that, Thorax became a citizen. He would be staying in the castle for the time being. While he was in no real danger, it would take time for him to get used to living in pony society. And if nothing else, in Flurry Heart he had a near limitless source of food that he could take safely and without force. The little foal even seemed to like him.
In any case, my work was done, and it was time to head back through the biting cold back to Canterlot. With a good tailwind, we’d be just in time for me to catch the train home for the evening.
I left Thorax in the company of Shining Armor and prepared to head on my way. However, as I walked out into the corridor, I was joined by Princess Cadence. I’m good friends with the Princess of Love. The two of us even conspired a while back to finally help my apparently blind and dead inside son realise that Applejack liked him as more than just a friend.
“Ah, Roger. I was hoping I could catch you before you left.”
“Hello to you too, Cadence,” I said, offering a brief bow out of courtesy. “I’ve just finished up with the citizenship ceremony. So Thorax is a citizen now. I think you’ll have two kids running around the castle.” Cadence chuckled at that.
“So, what can I do for you?” I asked, leaning against the one wall.
“I just wanted to pick your brains a little,” she replied. “I was thinking about Aunt Celestia’s dream of reconciliation between ponies and changelings.” My smile fell a little.
“Well, I hate to break it to you, my dear,” I said. “But I’m not too hopeful. Thorax seems to be some sort of genetic anomaly. As far as he knows, there’s no other changelings like him. It’s why he left the hive.” The two of us now started to walk down the corridor.
“So you don’t think it will ever be possible?” she asked. I shook my head.
“No,” I replied. “Although it gives me no pleasure to say it. I’d love for the day to come when ponies aren’t looking under the beds for the love stealing bug monsters. They’re not evil, they’re just doing what they need to survive.”
“Celestia said that it might be possible for ponies and changelings to live together, in symbiosis.”
Ah yes, Celestia had talked about this with me many a time. As I said, changelings aren’t evil. Every creature needs food to survive. They live in a perpetual state of hunger too.
“The problem is Chrysalis,” I replied. “As long as she’s in charge, there’ll be no peace. She’s too proud, too arrogant to even consider the idea that ponies are something more than a food source. If she’s ever is overthrown, dies, or is killed, sure, there may be a chance. But for now any attempt at negotiation will fail before it begins. We have nothing she wants that she can’t take by force. And from what I learned from Thorax, the other changelings follow her without question.”
“It’s amazing,” Cadence commented. “We both have four legs, two eyes, two ears, and yet we can’t find a single piece of common ground.”
As we walked down the hallway, I picked out the sound of a child crying. Cadence looked up too and quickly changed her course.
“Oh, that’s Flurry Heart,” she said. “Do you mind if we keep talking while I settle her?” I shook my head.
“No, not at all. I’d love to see her anyway.”
And so we both ducked into Flurry’s nursery. She was quite the loud crier, I’ll give her that. Luckily, Cadence is a natural mother, and soon had the little filly calmed. That gave her an opportunity to notice me.
She certainly seemed to remembered me. Babbling in that odd baby language of hers, she levitated herself over to me. Just like before, she booped me on the nose, making me scrunch up my face for a moment. That just made her giggle and do it again. Eventually though, she got bored and let me cradle her for a moment. She was actually pretty adorable now that she was no longer classed as a serious magical hazard.
“Well,” I said. “Here’s hoping that when this little one grows up, your two species will be friends, rather than enemies.”
“You are right though,” Cadence said. “About Chrysalis I mean.” I made a fuss of Flurry.
“There’s an old saying, Cadence,” I replied. “Fairy tales don’t tell children that dragons exist. Children already know dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be slain. It doesn’t exactly work in Equestria, but you get what I’m saying. There’s always a way. Thirty years ago, I’d have never said that there’d be peace in Ireland. A decade ago, ponies would never have believed that the two sisters could reconcile. Anything is possible, given time.”
I looked down at Flurry again.
“When you’re all grown up, little lady,” I said. “The world will be a very different place. Hopefully, it will be better.” I then carefully passed her back to Cadence.
“Anyway,” I said. “I’d best be off. Drop me a line sometime to tell me how things are going with Thorax, and give me a shout if you have any problems.”
Cadence smiled and nodded as Flurry began to drop off to sleep in her arms, letting out an adorable little yawn as her eyes closed. I tiptoed out of the room, gently shutting the door behind me so as not to wake her again.
I got back to Canterlot in the early evening. Day Court had closed, and it would be a few hours yet before Luna opened up her own Night Court. For the time being, I had some free time. There was nothing Luna needed from me this evening, and Celestia had also had a relatively stress free day. I spent some time out on one of the castle’s balconies, looking out over the beautiful landscape.
My thoughts dwelled on the future, and what it held for both ponies and changelings. Could there ever be a peace? Thorax was proof that Celestia’s dream of symbiosis was possible. But he was only one little bug, with little influence over his fellow.
As I was busy pondering, I heard the signature pop sound of a teleport spell. Celestia, while competent in its use, seldom uses it to travel from room to room. There was only one draconequus I knew who preferred it as a way to enter a room.
“Hey, Discord,” I said calmly, leaning slightly on the balcony. The draconequus moved to join me in my pondering.
“You seem troubled, my friend,” he commented. “Did things not go well with the love bug?” I shook my head.
“No, they went great,” I replied. “He’s a citizen. He’s given up living his old life, stealing love. Now he’s going to share it.”
“Then what’s bothering you?” I shrugged.
“It’s a fool's errand,” I answered. “He doesn’t think like other changelings. Hell, he isn’t like other changelings at all. If this was one of their regular drones crossing the lines, I might be a bit more optimistic. But trying to reform their species, and Chrysalis in particular, it’s like banging your head against a brick wall.”
“And what’s wrong with that?” Discord asked. Snapping his talons, he summoned up a brick and mortar wall in front of him. “I do it all the time.” Thrash metal began to play as he banged his head against the mortar with a resounding thud each time.
“Well, for normal ponies, it hurts, Discord,” I replied with a laugh at his antics. “And it doesn’t accomplish much.”
At that, Discord snapped his talons, removing his little show, if not for one final bash. At that, a single brick in the centre shot out of its place, causing the whole structure to fracture and a moment later, collapse. Discord turned to me with a knowing smile.
“Never forget,” he said, pointing at the pile of chaotic rubble. “That in headbutting the wall, you may be loosening a brick.”
With that, he snapped his talons and again disappeared, leaving behind only that single dislodged brick. To my surprise, it now bore a striking resemblance to Thorax.
Proofread by Sweetolebob18.
So, here's a bit of what happened next with Thorax. I may or may not have put some of my views on immigration in there. But I will say this; building walls don't help. To solve that problem, you need to address the root cause. As to oaths, I'll go with the good book and say, let your yea be yea. But, seriously, as a Brit, nothing creeps me out more than the Yanks pledge of alliegence. Gets me whistling this:
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Nicely done!
As for our Pledge of allegiance, yeah I can understand why it would creep you out.
As an American, (or in your case, a Yank) it's... caused quite a bit of trouble on our end of things. Probably needs a bit of a tune up in my opinion.
9719337
I have to agree, I’m a teacher in Texas and each day it’s both the pledge of allegiance and the Texas pledge. I’m all for patriotism (I served a decade in the Navy) but it’s not something you force or beat someone over the head with.
9719337 9719871 I've always had the belief that if you have to ask a man if you have his loyalty, you should know you don't. Loyalty is a selfless trust that can't be bought or bartered for. Don't get me wrong, you have pledges here in the UK; when you become a citizen, joining the police or armed forces, etc. It just creeps me out watching kids do it, and the screwed up social repercussions that follow if they don't. Why is it a nation that believes in personal freedoms also compels undying loyalty to the state?
9720512
Honestly? I don't know. Maybe somewhere along the line our morals became so warped that we thought that pledging our loyalty to the state was better than just pledging our loyalty to the country.
I actually hate what the U.S.A. is starting to become. If the founding fathers saw what the country they fought to make independent as it is now, they'd be spinning in their graves. On the one hand, they would be proud that we have come so far, but for the most part they would be shocked at how bad things have gotten.
Good thing Roger doesnt have the latest newspapers. He could put up a whole bunch of headlines, arrange them, and effectively come up with the Declaration Of Independance.
Life Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness?
Sounds like the life of a pampered pet, looked after by a kind and knowledgable Superior.
Why do people hate children? Because they dont want to be second class obsoletes. Which is why robots are so abused.
They are our evolutionary children.
They get to choose our nursing home.
9720512
Beats the hell out of me
You’re LATE again!
Wait, this updates every Sunday, not every Friday...
Damnit! That’s a neck!
9728577 Yeah, I'm working Friday's now. I try to post around the same time though; about 8pm GMT on Sunday.
Going to be a bit of a sperg since I caught that bit in the author's note. (Been binge listening to both sets of stories for the past week.) Not an attack on the author, but to clarify.
No, walls and tough immigration enforcement actually does work and is beneficial towards both sides. What I want as well is also identifying and solving the root problem like say cartels, human traffickers, and corrupt governments. To solve that would mean an expansionist military campaign across the border into all the other sovereign states these people are coming from and... disrupting the cycle that allows and encourages people to jump ship. Sort of like how dethroning Chrysalis solved everything for all Changelings. Also ending things like massive government welfare schemes since giving free homes\money has an opposite effect because of human nature, and enforcing citizen identification and immigration enforcement laws protects locals and foreigners. (But hey, what do I know. I'm just some racist sexist homo\transphobic Alt-Right Neo-Nazi White Supremacist Trump supporter for the capitalist patriarical empire of America. Or that's what some rhetoric says.
)
At least for the Pledge of Allegiance, it's an old patriotic\nationalist thing from post-WW2. Kinda drills into kids heads that you belong to the country and identify as said people. Not many kids take it seriously at all though since it became routine.
As an American, the pledge doesn't bother me and when someone doesn't want to that's okay with me. Also, wow the MC is kinda racist in his views towards immigrants and refugees. It's the west's fault that they are leaving their countries anyways thanks to colonialism and the backing of dictators during the Cold War.
9819435
couldn't have said it better myself, good show.