A Time to Act

by The Sonic Mage

Chapter 5: This is no Time For Coffee

Author's Note:

I'm going to clarify what I said in a blog post and in a comment. My current plan (until I can create a proper writing schedule) is to get this story to a place where I can comfortably put it on the back burner. At which point I will take some time to rest up, plan out what will come next in the story, and work on some other projects I've been meaning to get to. This includes non-mlp stories, as well as the two other unfinished stories on this account (Probably gonna go with The King of Swing first).

Anyway, until we get to that point, enjoy this chapter and I'll see you in the next one!

Pharynx watched from a balcony as the pony trainees that had been assigned to him walked away towards the train station beyond the tree line. All those soldiers, so full of potential and promise, were now being returned to The Crystal Empire. To a Prince that did not have the time to personally teach them what they needed to defend their homeland. The Changeling General felt disappointed, both in Shining Armor and himself. His mind wandered, thinking about what he could have done better, what he could have said. There was no real use in focusing on “what if’s”, but sometimes it couldn’t be helped. Eventually, the trainees were beyond the tree line, and Phynrax turned back into The Hive.

“Of all the foolish things for him to do,” Pharynx muttered on his way to check on his brother, “This isn’t going to be good for those troops or Shining Armor.” He made it to Thorax’s quarters, taking a deep breath in preparation for the mess that no doubt awaited him on the other side.

“Thorax,” Pharynx called as he knocked on the door, “It’s your brother. Are you there?” Oddly, there was no reply. “Thorax?” Pharynx called again. There was no way that he wasn’t in his room with teary eyes after the argument that he definitely had with the Crystal Couple. The General’s hoof moved to the door handle, expecting the door to be locked. He felt a degree of surprise when he turned the knob and found it to be un-locked.

Pharynx took a step back as the door creaked open a bit, slightly surprised. The lights were on but there was hardly any sound coming from within.

“Thorax?” Pharynx’s ear twitched as he listened for anything. ‘Shuffling papers...Muttering?’ Then a scent reached his nose. ‘Wait...is that…?’ Pharynx took a sniff of the air, detecting the distinct smell of…

‘Caffeine?...Oh No.’ The realization hit Pharynx like a ton of bricks. He quickly stepped inside his brother’s room and saw the last thing he wanted to see.

All around the room, there were stacks of letters, documents, and government papers on every table surface. Opened envelopes covered the top of the bed with a few strays laying on the floor. Crumpled-up papers overflowed from a waste bin. Occasionally, papers would float across the room from one stack to the other. And at the center of the “organized” mess was his younger brother, Thorax, eyes glued to the papers he placed in front of himself, a pen held in his magic.

Thorax and Pharynx always tackled government paperwork and mail together to make it more manageable. So seeing his little brother trying to work on as many documents as there were on his own was definitely concerning.

The final piece that brought the whole unfortunate scene in front of Pharynx together was the steaming cup of coffee sitting on the desk next to his brother.

Thorax liked to drink many things. Coffee was most certainly not one of those things. No matter what was mixed into the stuff, he just couldn’t get past the grainy taste of the hot liquid. The only times that Pharynx had ever seen Thorax drink coffee was in times of crippling stress, where his little brother’s need for caffeine overrode his taste buds.

Combine that with his brother’s clear attempt to organize his work and the relentless muttering, writing, and reading that his brother was doing, and it was immediately clear that Thorax was not calm.

Pharynx carefully stepped over the stacks and scraps on the floor, trying to get closer to his brother, who seemed to be writing some kind of letter, muttering the words he printed.

“Thorax?”

“To whom...it may...concern…” Thorax muttered as he wrote.

“Thorax.”

“I...King Thorax...of the reformed Changeling Hive-”

“Thorax!” Pharynx shouted.

The young Changeling King came out of his stupor with a jolt, dropping his pen and causing the table to shake slightly.

The two brothers stared at each other for a moment in silence.

“Is there something wrong, Pharynx?” the young king asked innocently.

“I don’t know, Thorax,” Pharynx responded with some amount of sarcasm, “You’re held up here in your room, surrounded by piles of semi-organized documents, crumpled drafts, opened envelopes, and post-it notes, while you sit there writing letter upon letter, drinking coffee. You tell me…”

The brothers silently stared at each other for another moment, before Thorax looked around at the stacks that surrounded him.

“Could you pass me the three papers on the top of that stack by the vanity?” Thorax asked as if that was what his older brother was driving at.

Pharynx sighed, slowly making his way over to the stack his brother had pointed out. He could use his magic to do it, but honestly, he didn’t feel like it. He handed the three papers to Thorax who took them into his hooves.

“Thank you,” Thorax said, looking over the documents while using his magic to take a sip of his coffee.

Pharynx, unamused by this, turned his attention to the stack of letters and paper in what he guessed was Thorax’s “Done pile.” He took a few papers off the top and began to skim them, not expecting to find many answers. His expression shifted from unamused to scrutinizing as he read over the words in front of him.

“Thorax,” the General began, “Why are you writing trade appeal and stance defense letters directed to regional governors across Equestria?”

“I am writing these,” said the young King, “Because when the news of Chrysalis’s stay here gets out—and it will get out eventually—I’m gonna need to give the ponies we trade with good reasons to not cut all ties with us.”

Thorax finished another segment of the letter that was currently in front of him, punctuating the paragraph with a touch of flare. “Unless you don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said without looking up from his work.

“I wasn’t going to say that it was a bad idea, Thorax,” remarked the older Changeling, “But I would say that doing all this entirely on your own is not the wisest choice.”

“I’m perfectly capable of doing this.”

“I never said that you weren’t,” said Pharynx, “But just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.”

“So I shouldn’t be trying to make sure we don’t get dragged into isolation with no hope of escape?”

“I didn’t say that either.”

“Then what are you saying, Pharynx?”

I’m saying that this is a monumental task, and you don’t have to do it alone!”

“I told you, I’m perfectly capable of-”

“‘Heavy is the head that wears the crown,’ Thorax,” The Changeling General countered. “The task of running a kingdom is too much for anyone creature to take on by themselves. Which is why it’s my job, and the job of several others, to try and make the weight of that crown more manageable.”

“I didn’t ask for-”

“I don’t care if you didn’t ask!” snapped Pharynx. “This isn’t about what you want, this is about what you need! And I know for a fact that you don’t just need the help, you want it too!

“I know you want the help because I know that you’re stressed. I know that because I’m your brother and I’m always going to be able to tell, no matter how much you try to hide it. So will you please just get what’s bothering you off your chest so that I can help you?”

A tense silence formed between them.

Thorax set his pen down gently before speaking.

“I just…I feel like such a failure because of what happened with Chrysalis and Shining and Cadence. I feel like there was so much I could have done to prevent this. Some part of me even wishes I had turned her away or given her over to Celestia so that I wouldn’t have to deal with all this and I feel bad for even thinking that! I just…I just don’t want to feel like a screw-up anymore.”

Pharynx stepped over the papers to his brother, putting a hoof on his back.

“Thorax,” the older Changeling began, “You’re right. You did mess up. Pretty badly if I’m honest.”

“Wow, I feel so much better-”

“But there’s a few things that you need to realize. For starters: everyone makes mistakes, and the more power you have the bigger your mistakes are going to be. There is no way around it. Just get up, learn from it, smarten up and keep going. Second: not every bit of this is your fault.

“Third: there is no point in wondering what could have been, especially in situations like this. The past is the past, the present is here, and the future waits for no-creature. We’ve got enough to worry about now in the present, there’s no time for ‘what if’.

“And finally: overloading on work and burning yourself out is not going to make you feel better, and it’s not going to solve any problems. If anything, you’ll feel worse and it’ll create more problems. You’re not proving a point, you’re killing yourself! So for the love of all things under the sun and moon, could you please ask some-ling for help when this happens? It doesn’t even have to be me, just some-ling that’s at least qualified!”

Pharynx took a moment to gather his breath, before looking back to his little brother to try and gauge what he was thinking.

Thorax’s gaze held on the unfinished letter in front of him. He lifted his head looking around the room filled with high stacks of papers and filled waste bins as if he was seeing it all for the first time. Then his eyes went to the half-empty coffee mug sitting off to the side on his desk. He looked down into it, scrutinizing his reflection as if it was the key to some grand realization.

When Thorax looked back up at his brother, he looked like he was about to cry. In fact, that’s exactly what he started doing. He wrapped his front hooves around Pharynx, crying into his chest and knocking over a stack of papers in the process.

Pharynx just patted his brother’s head. “There we go. Let it all out.”

“I just-*sniffle*-keep messing up…”

“Yes, you do. Not as often as you think, but you do mess up sometimes,” said Pharynx, “But you also keep getting back up. You sometimes need help, but you do keep getting up and keep trying to do the right thing. That’s all anyone can do really.”

Thorax managed to pull himself together after a bit more time. He stopped squeezing his brother’s torso and cleaned his face up, drying his eyes and blowing his nose.

“Feel better?” asked the Changeling General.

“Y-Yeah,” said the young King.

“Feel really to ask for some help?” Pharynx posited.

“Yeah,” said Thorax.

An odd silence formed between them as Pharynx’s eyes held on his brother with an expectant look.

“…What?” asked Thorax.

“Well?” Pharynx said, “I’m waiting…”

Thorax sighed, knowing exactly what his brother was driving at.

“Pharynx,” he said, sounding somewhat exhausted, “Will you help me take care of all this?” gesturing towards the many stacks of papers around the room.

Pharynx gave a dragged-out “Hmmmm” and paused dramatically.

Thorax couldn’t help but sigh again in slight agitation at the sight of his brother milking the moment for everything it was worth. ‘I suppose I somewhat deserve it.’

“Why I’d be more than happy to help you,” said Phynrax with much exaggeration,“Dear brother.”

Pharynx laughed as Thorax rolled his eyes.

“In all seriousness, yes, I’ll help you. And I’ll call on a few other capable Changelings as well,” the Changeling General said after he’d had his fun.

Thorax smiled, and gave his brother another hug, simply saying: “Thank you, Pharynx.”

“You’re welcome, Thorax.”

Pharynx let his little brother hug him for a little longer, before gently pushing Thorax off him.

“Right,” the General said, “Enough fluff. Time to get to work.”

Thorax nodded and moved to gather up the fallen papers, while Pharynx got rid of the crumpled scraps.

The young King’s happy expression fell slightly as a question crossed his mind.

“Hey, Pharynx?”

“Yeah?”

“Do…Do you think…Chrysalis will be okay?” Thorax inquired.

Pharynx took a moment to consider the question and the best way to answer it.

“Broadly speaking, I don’t think Chrysalis has ever really been ‘okay’, so-to-speak,” Pharynx said, being honest with his brother. “That said, considering what she’s capable of…I think she’ll be alright.

Comments

[Melody Song]

Awww, this was a good chapter, Pharynx is such a good brother. Great job!

[The Sonic Mage]

10960345
Thank you

[Melody Song]

10960365
No problem, good luck with the next chapter

[Starlight Glimmer1]

Eventually Shining and Cadance are going to have to accept that everything Thorax said about them is true whether they like it or not. The question is, what’s it going to take to make them realize that?

[The Sonic Mage]

10960410
I've got a few ideas...

[Starlight Glimmer1]

10960485
I’m sure you do.

[Batpony46]

I'm happy to see your doing ok mage and I'm happy that I get to see another chapter you are doing wonderful hope your day is well and peaceful

[Great White Prime]

Welcome back! I look forward to rest👍🏻