A Surging Progression

by citrusorange

Diplobug

Silence was the chambers that held the noble council, including the two Princesses themselves. Both held hidden amusement in their eyes, regarding the stoic Pharynx who had wordlessly stepped in with a very feral and very frightening manticore by his side.

They could see the non-converted changeling beaming with a predatory grin, practically seeing him munch and slurp up all the rippling layers of fear coursing through the air, being funneled appreciatively into his spiritual gullet. His posture seemed a bit taller with each passing moment, and with each breath the nobles around the Prince took, he sat a little higher and higher. He crossed his forelegs on the table, giving an intimidating glare to combo with his shining toothy grin.

He hated the taste of fear but loved the dominating rush it gave him.

"Prince Pharynx," Celestia regarded with a polite nod of her head. Unfazed, knowing what he was trying to do. "What brings you to Canterlot, and without your brother, no less?" The question caused many nobles to remember where they were, who was what, and what was happening. It was a collective light bulb that sounded off in their heads as their stiffened bodies and trembling nerves hit their peak.

It was true. Pharynx avoided Canterlot like the plague, and according to the many talks she had with the King of the Changelings, it seems Pharynx was still suck in the old ways of his peoples, and refused to change for the fear of losing what he perceived as what made the changelings who the changelings are.

He was purely a violent soul, raised to be a machine of death and destruction, cast into a land of peace and tranquility. Traditionalist at heart, he was still rebellious nonetheless. And as all with a rebellious nature do, they rebel against what changes, or holds them. A self destructive path is all she could see for the poor stallion of war, who licked his fangs next to the noble named Shiny Brass, who had the misfortune of sitting next to the infamous Prince.

Urine trickled and pooled at the floor around Shiny's seat, and it seemed even the slightest movement from the Prince struck him with another panic attack. The air was held with an iron grip of the Prince, and none escaped it. Celestia swallowed as Luna remained still as stone. Celestia could tell her younger sister was thinking, calculating, observing. Something was brewing in her head, and Celestia had an inkling of a clue.

Then, he spoke.

"I come as a replacement to Thorax," Pharynx's eyes narrowed as he caught the eye of a few disgusted nobles who had not yet committed to submitting. "King Thorax." They immediately stiffened at his villainous tone, seeing it appropriate to look everywhere but the changeling Prince.

It gave him his ego a boost like no other. The bitterness of the fear emotions' taste paled and was pushed dominantly in the backseat while this predatory feeling of euphoria took over. Dominance reveled in his smirk as he regarded Celestia with a piercing gaze. A gaze she returned, herself.

"Right," Celestia said. "Luna, if you will?"

The Princess of the Night popped her neck, blinking owlishly at her sister before regaining composure. Clearing her throat, and adjusting her hooves, Luna cast what she tried to perceive as a confident gaze around the room. "First, we shall begin with discussion of tariffs," Luna began with a slight yawn, shaking her head briefly. She hated these monthly events. "It has come to our attention that the tariffs in the Griffonian Lands are.."

"No. We'll talk about the Badlands, first," Pharynx grunted. The room halted again as the gaze of all fell on the blunt Prince. Celestia quirked an eyebrow while Luna's tired frown grew on her face. Her eyelid twitched as she cocked her head and cleared her throat.

"We may talk about the Badlands' tariffs once we are finished discussing the Griffonian Lands." Luna tried her hoof at compromise, but it seemed the unimpressed look on the Changeling Prince's face wasn't good enough. Trachea's wings twitched, and a couple of guards readied their spears quickly.

Trachea growled at the guards, causing them to take a step back, while Pharynx bared his fangs with a glare at Luna. "I said the Badlands first, your majesty."

Luna winced. Pharynx's harsh glare bore into her very soul, threatening the nimble serenity that was slowly building over the short amount of time she spent here, piercing the lessons of her older sister easily. Gone was Nightmare Moon, and it was evident with her unsure stuttering against Pharynx's stone wall resolve.

Thankfully, Celestia was there to save the day. "If it makes you feel better, yes, we may start with the Badlands' problems and we can work to possibly rectify them today."

Pharynx relaxed his glare significantly, his look now transfixed at Celestia. Were she any other lesser being, she would've felt the feeling of being a defenseless prey at the mercy of a monstrous predator. She only smiled, and boy did that smile make Pharynx's blood boil.

A smile of thinking she has something over him. A smile that he'll forever see as each and every last of his kind is purged, assimilated into pony culture. Ponies. He hated ponies.

"Tariffs. They're too much," Pharynx snarled. "You take too much of us for what little we get. Thorax is complacent, I am not."

Celestia nodded. "So I have noticed, Prince. Perhaps you'd like to renegotiate, then?"

"Yes," Pharynx leaned back in his seat. Trachea looked at his new master do this as Pharynx continued, "I want a ten percent decrease of tariffs on love shipments. A compromisable decrease of raw mineral resources' shipments by five percent to accommodate."

"Preposterous − Insanity − That will raise taxes to us, we can't allow that − You think just because you scare us you can propose this − How dare you − Too steep of a change!" A chorus of middleaged stallions and mares alike cried out in defiance, overtaking their fear in an instant. The council erupted in chaos, each vying for their word to be spoken over the other.

Each plead their case against Pharynx's demands. Clothes creased and vocal chords echoed throughout the room, causing some guards to flinch at some mares' banshee wails. Hooves were stomped on the table, spit was unwittingly spat in angry monologues.

Yet, one thing remained constant through this sudden chaos. The 'mad' Prince himself, Pharynx. The Prince's body remained still as stone, his eyes staring down Celestia with a challenging glare.

Luna cleared her throat. The council immediately silenced as Celestia tapped her sister's hoof underneath the table. Luna's words immediately retreated down her throat as she conceded this one to her older sister. A case of watch and learn, kiddo from the elder Princess. "And what brings this sudden change on, Prince Pharynx?"

Pharynx stopped, thinking briefly. It had been a while since he'd seen a proper fed section within the Hive. Yes, yes, they were all 'fed' but none were truly happy. Many lived off of their love payments week-to-week and struggled to make ends meet for such a valuable payment.

For all the love they shared among themselves, they still needed an extra kick to help the new generations they were growing every year to be completely self sustainable.

He went with his gut and decided to tell a white lie. "We are comfortable, but not comfortable enough."

Celestia's lips pursed, her head lowering in thought. Well, such a stark change in those tariffs and trade negotiations weren't inherently bad for Equestria. Truth be told, she had originally thought Thorax's selfless deals weren't at all positive for his Kingdom, and rather enjoyed Pharynx's domineering stance on this ordeal.

However, with everything in place.. such a drastic decrease could put some economics in jeopardy for a moment. Luna looked over towards her elder sister, wondering what she was thinking.

A few days of nobles' whining was more than well enough for Celestia to tolerate for the sake of the Changeling people. Her head raised elegantly as eyes went to her. Even Pharynx's hoof tapped the table once in anticipation. The sun in the sky seemed to shine a little brighter with Celestia's serene gaze centering on Pharynx's scowling visage.

"Perhaps we could compromise, Prince Pharynx," the solar deity smiled. Jaws dropped as whispers hummed in the council chambers. Pharynx's lips curled in a subtle, smug grin. That was one issue addressed and clearly saved for another time, and that time will be soon. He will not miss such an opportunity like this.

"I have a couple more issues, Your Majesty," he smugly said. Celestia frowned at the tone.

"You have our undivided attention, Prince Pharynx," she replied.

"I want to cancel and completely erase the one-sided information exchange. You've studied us in-depth for far too long. I say we take and keep what's ours."

"I am afraid I cannot allow that to happen."

"Why? Because it's stopping you from assimilating us?"

"We must.. learn where and how your people came to existence."

Pharynx didn't like that answer. He pressed with as much diplomacy as an oak tree in a desert, "What? I don't understand. Are you trying to find some secret that we know? Possess our magics, or- or take my kind and erase us? Replace them with little ponies that look like them?" He swayed an accusatory hoof over the nobles, their forms flinching as the shadow of his hoof passed by them angrily.

"No. Our reasonings may be discussed behind private doors, as this is a project between your brother and I that we've sought to keep hidden from the world."

"Hidden? My brother conspires with you?! This- This is blasphemic! Treason!" Pharynx stomped his agitated hooves on the table, almost standing up as several guards lowered their spears. Trachea bristled, despite the guard's now unwillingness to back down. Nobles cowered in their seats or took to taking cover under the table, and Luna's horn ignited in her magics as Celestia remained still.

"Stand down, Prince Pharynx," Celestia ordered. Pharynx stiffened, jaw opening and closing only twice before realizing where he was. He glanced over the cowering populace, the threatening shimmer of Luna's horn, and the guards' readiness around him. Counting to ten in his head, he glared at Celestia before relenting. Sitting down, and thus adding a few extra minutes onto that ticking time bomb of tension.

"I understand your agitated state, Prince. Even your brother was not too keen on hiding this from you, but for the sake of the future, it had to have been done."

Pharynx's jaw tightened as he narrowed his eyes at her. How dare she? She manipulated Thorax into this. Another prime example of ponies being the true evil of this world. Another reason to hate. Yet she looks at him like he's an unruly child! He'll give her a reason to remove that perception of him in her mind. He will. This feeling of true betrayal was none he'd never experience before, even when Chrysalis had tried to return.

"Tell me, Celestia," he didn't bother with the title. Celestia's ear flicked. Pharynx tapped the table daintily, looking back at her with an unnervingly even gaze. "That future is now, isn't it?"

"..Indeed."

Pharynx's teeth ground against each other as Luna's horn ceased shimmering, and many nobles returned to their seats. The guards remained ready, only backing down to stick to the walls again when Celestia gave the order to. Pharynx didn't object anymore. He leaned back in his seat as Celestia caught his conceding attitude.

"Onwards with the rest of the council," Celestia said.

---

Many could say the meetings went off without a hitch since then, until this new point. A point of challenge between the Prince of the Changelings and the Diarchs of Equestria. A battle of wills. A battle of mental fortitude. A battle of mentality. A battle of.. mental things that only Shiny could think of at the time. The urine had dried on his leg, not from his usually obsessive efforts of keeping things clean or shiny, but from how long he let it sit there.

It was a strange, silent game that the three were playing, and it was strangely fascinating to watch.

Luna looked over at Celestia and quirked an eyebrow. Celestia had caught onto what Luna was thinking about forty minutes ago. She had waited patiently for this opportunity, just before the conclusion of the meeting. Celestia's mouth twitched for only a second before regarding the intimidating Prince. Nobles looked between themselves, while most of them still remained locked in place from just feeling Pharynx's presence.

Pharynx's lip curled, and Celestia's eyes fluttered. Luna blinked, and Pharynx moved his gaze to her while Celestia smiled serenely, satisfied with their engagement.

Pharynx shifted back in his seat, his face confused. Then, it morphed into an unamused frown as he had no idea what the target topic was about between them, but knew what they were doing. It was standard in his home hive's training of identifying other changelings through subtle physical language. You can't out-sneak a Changeling. At least, one who still retains Chrysalis' school of thought and training.

A school of thought doesn't submit to ponies who have to be bailed out by what Pharynx could only call divine intervention. No. Bad Pharynx, don't think about that here and now! Focus!

Celestia struck first, throwing the hook with practiced diplomacy. "So it would seem that we have one last request, Prince Pharynx," She leaned in, giving him a look of a sly dog. "Well, as we have mentioned before prior to your entry, we required King Thorax's presence for an offer to assist in what we perceive as a grave threat."

It was like a vacuum had sucked out all of the leering, sinister atoms that infected the room like a plague. A needle drop could echo at an ear-shattering level with how silent the room become. Trachea pawed at the floor, startling a few guards who were on standby a few paces away.

"Grave threat?" Pharynx's eyes widened, leaning in ever so slightly as his motivation for terrorizing the nobles around him vanished like a flicking switch. The room's sinking air replenished itself with a whiplash of neutrality once again from the step-in changeling.

Celestia nodded as Luna finished the bait that the two sisters concocted between themselves with their recent activity. "Yes. We've sent a patrol to investigate some happenings nearing the border of the Frozen North. They have yet to report of their findings, and we find ourselves short of ponies willing to venture up somewhere so.. dreaded. Perhaps you and your kingdom could have willing participants?"

Pharynx stared. His body was still, eyes glossy. His wings buzzed. His mind racked through the ever-active chambers for deception, and found many tell-tale signs, but his heart was drawn to the clear sincerity in what was perceived as said great threat. There was no Thorax to discuss it with, there was no previous discussion.

There was a mission, and they just decided between that battle of facial expressions (that he had just figured out) that they wanted something to do with him for him.

Something they considered dangerous.

Grave.

Dangerous.

That meant life or death.

His blood bubbled at the prospect. Trachea looked at his master, unsure of his intentions.

Pharynx tapped the table, causing many flinches of the nobles who were watching the mental battle with silent admiration of their Princesses. He clicked his teeth as his head cocked. "I'll play your game, pony. What's this threat?"

Celestia hummed a gentle laugh while Luna smiled, waggling an eyebrow in victory at her sister. It seemed her coat radiated an extra shine now. Her happiness spread through the room, giving the nobles a bit more ease as they had settled in a bit more comfortably into their seats.

It wasn't game-changing, but the notion was there, and it was greatly appreciated. Pharynx raised an invisible eyebrow and waited with a frown. If it was one thing, he could be very impatient with talk.

Actions spoke louder than words to him, anyhow.

"Remnants of the Storm King."

Maybe words spoke louder, here. His blood was rushing. Nope, actions still spoke to him.

"I'll do it." But he'll be damned if words weren't sufficient at supplying how he felt right then and there.

Author's Note:

Had to chop up some of the walls of text to make them a lot more easier to read. Trust me, as much as I enjoy writing big 'ole paragraphs that contain big boy words and big boy plot lines, I have a tendency of impatiently skimming over them and missing any cool character development or anything like that.

Kinda don't want that to happen, so I unlazed myself to do it. I really thought I was gonna pull out a big bad lengthy chapter but I don't think it'll align with what I'm going for, here. Boy, I really didn't want to release this with such a giant delay and have only an astounding small chapter to show for it.

After all, the mega delay for literally the same-size chapter as the first one that took me a couple days to pull out was the fact of me debating to myself whether or not to make a meaty chapter or make a comprehensible build-up one to the actual events. Guess I know what I picked.

You know what? Maybe a big bad chapter for something big! Not this build-up mushmush. Maybe. It shouldn't take too long if I commit to the idea. I don't know, the plan is in place but the execution is still improvised. Hope you enjoy this tangy chapter! 🍊

Comments

[Melody Song]

I like this chapter, good job. I can't wait to see what happens next.

[Skyblazer9]

I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[Dunkle Dank]

I can feel his anger. I can taste it. When is the next chapter!?

[Luckysweep]

Didn’t go as horribly as I feared his attitude would make it. Interesting.
Now I’m wondering how Temptest is met.