Blood Thicker Than Venom

by theOwtcast

Keep up Appearances

“Incoming!” Phantom shouted as I flew into the supports’ cave, disguised as a Royal Guard, with the unconscious Sunburst in tow. He and Viscera bared their fangs immediately and reached for their spears.

I dropped Sunburst unceremoniously onto the ground and reverted to my own form.

“At ease, you two,” I commanded with the air of annoyance intended to hide the animosity and distrust that my discovery from a few minutes ago had stirred in me. “This one needs cocooning.”

“What happened?” asked Viscera.

“What do you think?” I snapped at her. “He saw us!”

“What?! How?”

“Does it matter? Now shut up and cocoon him, then decide which one of you is taking him to the hive! And hurry up - it’s almost dawn!”

I stormed out without waiting for a reply and returned to the castle. I’d cut it close; the first rays of the morning sun were showing on the horizon already by the time I’d gotten back into my office. I’d had to leave the window open for myself so some of the night chill had gotten in, which could be a problem if anypony was supposed to come and clean the office this early, but I was pretty sure I could come up with a plausible explanation if anypony asked. Worst case scenario, I’d have to tell them to mind their own business… not that I had a problem with it per se, but it wouldn’t be like Shining Armor, and I wanted to maintain as much credibility as I could.

Assuming, of course, that it still mattered.

I covered up the last of my tracks, restored the Shining Armor disguise, and went back to the royal bedroom. It was for the sake of appearances only; I had no illusion that I was going to get any sleep now, not after what I’d found in that bag!

I’d had neither time nor the presence of mind to investigate the bag’s contents beyond that one photo, not even a cursory glance. It had answered one question I’d been asking myself from time to time, sure, but it had raised a million others, a million disturbing questions that not even the immensely desirable answer it had produced could balance out!

Thorax was alive, after all. I didn’t know how he’d managed it, but he’d somehow found his way here, into the land he couldn’t have known anything about… and not only that, but he’d found a way to convince the leaders of this land, the very leaders who should have been the first to imprison or kill him after what our troops had done to them on their wedding day, that he was harmless and trustworthy enough that they didn’t have to fear him! And they’d believed him!

Had it been anyling else, I might have congratulated him for the ingenious strategy that had succeeded in letting him live safely in the enemy land while he collected all the love and information he could get hold of. For a moment, I wondered if that had been Thorax’s plan all along: to do something that Chrysalis would never approve of if it meant a more effective way to serve his hive and his Queen… but as wonderful as it would have been if my brother could claim such a victory, I knew him too well. If he’d gone to live with the ponies, it was because he genuinely wanted to! He had been droning about friendship all his life, after all; leaving the hive had simply been the final step! He probably wouldn’t even have the presence of mind to try to justify himself as attempting a controversial strategy if captured!

At least he seemed to have found what he’d been looking for. I hoped he’d enjoyed it, because I didn’t see how he was going to keep it for much longer.

If he even still had it.

Raptor stirred awake next to me.

“Morning,” he said, looking at me inquisitively.

“Yeah, yeah, rise and shine, sweetheart, whatever,” I replied flatly.

He rolled his eyes.

“Where have you been all night, Sir?”

“Why, you missed me?”

“The orders were to make sure each of us knows where the others are whenever we get separated, in case you’ve forgotten. Your orders, in case you’ve forgotten that too.”

“So what does it matter where I’ve been if I’m back already?”

He glared at me steadily. What was he expecting me to say, that I’d been hanging out with Thorax and filling him in on my mission and telling him how to best steer clear of us?

“I was scouting the castle, if you must know. Oh, by the way, did you know that a unicorn saw us undisguised because someling forgot to close the door?”

“Didn’t you check the hallway after that?”

“I did. He must have hidden somewhere or gotten away. Maybe even teleported away, though I expect I would have noticed the flash of his magic in the dark. But I caught him looking for spells he could use against us, and long story short, he’s probably halfway to the hive by now.”

Not quite a true recollection of the events, but it was plausible enough, and why would I bring up anything related to Thorax? Regardless of how much my team knew about him, I intended to play dumb for as long as possible, or at least until I figured out a better strategy! The less I knew about him being here, the easier it would be to pretend to be clueless - it would have been even easier if I’d never seen that photo, but it had been a necessary price to pay in order to prevent Sunburst from doing anything that would jeopardize our mission - but, despite all, part of me was glad to know he was alive and wanted to know more.

The first chance I got, I decided, I would look through the rest of Sunburst’s bag. Though it would make it harder to pretend I didn’t know anything about Thorax, it was too late already to sincerely deny any knowledge of his presence here, and it might help prepare me for any further surprises. Maybe I would find things in there unrelated to Thorax that could be useful against ponies in the future, too!

“Aren’t you guys going to breakfast?” Plague asked, walking into the room.

“Breakfast?” Raptor looked at her in surprise, then slumped back onto the pillow. “Ugh, I forgot about that…”

“I don’t like it either,” I prodded him, “but we have appearances to keep up. Move it, soldier!”

He groaned and rolled out of bed, sighed, and finally walked to the door and stepped into the hallway. I followed with Plague riding on my back. We’d been told Flurry Heart liked to do that, therefore I was going to have to grin and bear it no matter how much I didn’t like it.

A few minutes later, we were sitting in the dining room. Plates and decorations had already been placed on the table and the meal was said to be on its way. Plague gurgled and fidgeted in her chair, trying to reach for stuff in front of her every so often, and at some point, Raptor stroked my hoof gently.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I whispered to him through gritted teeth, careful not to be overheard even though the nearest pony was some distance away in the hallway that led to the dining room.

“Keeping up appearances,” he whispered back. “I’m supposed to be your wife, remember?”

“Ugh, fine,” I said, trying to hide an eye roll. “But don’t try to kiss me or I swear I’ll rip your head off, witnesses or no witnesses!”

“As you wish, darling,” he said with a smirk as a servant entered the dining room, pushing a food trolley.

“Good morning, Your Highnesses!” she said cheerfully. “Such a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

“Yes, delightful,” Raptor said with a grin. I remained silent.

“Is something wrong, my Prince?”

“No, no, everything’s fine,” I assured her. “Just didn’t get much sleep.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry to hear that!”

She looked at the rest of the table as if expecting somepony to be there. I tensed up. Was somepony late for breakfast? The guards? Ridiculous; guards didn’t share a table with royalty, and even if today was supposed to be an exception, they would have known better than to keep their commanding officer waiting for them! Some dignitaries? Possible, but Phantom hadn’t mentioned anything… unless he’d forgotten or hadn’t known about it, which I found unlikely. Who, then? Surely not a certain insectoid fugitive trying to make himself at home in the land of the enemies of his kind… right?

I hoped my nervousness wasn’t showing as I cursed inwardly at the servant for having to be so chatty. Please don’t ask about Thorax please don’t ask about Thorax please don’t ask about Thorax please don’t ask about Thorax…

“Where’s Sunburst?” she finally asked.

Whew.

“He… had to leave for a few days,” I improvised. “He found out his friend was sick.”

“Oh dear! I hope it’s nothing serious?”

“He didn’t say, and I didn’t want to press for details.”

“My, my… I hope his friend gets well soon!” then, after an awkward pause: “Ahem. Here’s your breakfast, nice and warm!”

She moved the trays onto the table.

“Thank you,” Raptor said. “It smells lovely!”

“The chef will be pleased to hear it! Well, I won’t stall you any longer. Bon appetit!”

She left, and Raptor and I exchanged glances.

“Finally! Doesn’t she ever shut up?”

“Something tells me most of them are going to be like that. Come on, let’s get this over with.”

I uncovered the trays. There were pancakes, a few pots of various jams and jellies, some fruit, hot chocolate, tea, and a bowl of some kind of… green mush… stuff.

I frowned. We’re going to have to eat all of this, aren’t we?

“You have any idea what this is?” I asked Raptor, pointing at the green mush.

“Not the slightest,” he shrugged. “But judging by the amount of it, it could be foal food.”

“Glad that’s one thing I don’t have to put in my mouth!” I put the bowl in front of Plague, who didn’t look any happier about it than I’d been.

Raptor and I reluctantly helped ourselves to pancakes. They wouldn’t have any nutritional value for us, but with any luck, eating them would mask our process of feasting on the thing that would sate us.

We were barely halfway through the first pancake when a splat and a crash sounded in the room, followed by a miniature fake alicorn stomping all over the food trays and giggling loudly.

Attagirl, Plague! Destroy as much as you can so we don’t have to keep eating it!

The servant and one other pony galloped in.

“What in the name of Celestia… Flurry! Oh no, the breakfast is ruined! I’m so sorry, Your Highnesses! I’ll tell the chef to prepare more food right away!”

“Oh, you don’t have to… we were just about finishing anyway!”

“I appreciate your kindness, Princess, but you really shouldn’t starve for our sake!”

“No, it’s quite alright! We weren’t actually that hungry!”

“Well… if you insist…” She fumbled with her hoof.

“You might want to feed Flurry, though,” Raptor added. “She barely ate anything!”

“I will, Princess!”

“Thank you. Now, I have to be in the throne room, but do come if Flurry needs something!”

“And I’ll be in my office,” I added.

The servant bowed to us lightly as the two of us left the room; Plague sat on the disturbed stack of pancakes, dipping her hooves in the broken pots of jam and using the gooey substance to paint on the table’s surface. We heard the servant tell the other pony to help clean the mess. I hid behind the nearest sculpture in the hallway to listen in in case they said anything more.

“Does little Flurry always act like this?” one of the mares whispered.

“Sometimes, but I’m more curious about Cadance, really.”

“How so?”

“She doesn’t usually skip breakfast like that. Though… I do think she used to get an upturned stomach from time to time while pregnant…”

“You think she might be-”

“Hush! It’s just a wild guess and you didn’t hear anything, especially not from me! But it would explain why Shining is looking a little unlike himself this morning…”

The mares giggled and got back to cleaning.

I didn’t know whether to be concerned or amused. Raptor was going to love this!

Author's Note:

Unrelated to this story.

Today would have been the Pride Day in my city if the pandemic hadn’t messed everything up. I’ve been participating in Pride marches for over a decade and, as every year, have been looking forward to participating again, but the world had other ideas. On the bright side, it’s been merely postponed rather than cancelled, and should be held in September according to today’s announcement. Let’s hope nothing happens to wreck those plans too!

In the absence of actual Pride stuff, have a comic I drew last year:

(Click here if the image is too small to read)

Comments

[Melody Song]

Daw, that's a really sweet comic. And a great chapter, I must know what happens next!

[Black--Soul]

Damn... Blending in is a hard job. They already walking on thin ice...

Neat comic

Just wait until you see Thorax next time. Leader of the Hive, Queen usurper, guiding Hoof of the new Changeling way for the race... Hope Chrysalis creates a new hive. Perhaps : 'To Be a Changeling' ?