Interviews With Equestrians

by Jmaster49

Subject 290: An Unexpected Royal Assist

When the dust finally settled, I could tell that it was--at long last--over. A new dawn was approaching us, and I could feel the warm sunrise grace my face with its honey-yellow aura. This meant that both of the sisters were alright in the end, but I could worry about them later.

I watched as the Tree of Harmony’s roots retracted and it lost all of its power that it had over my allies. Each of them had not only the color return, but their sense of self and autonomy as well.

“Gah! What the--?!” Corkscrew was the first to realize that he regained his freedom. “...Woah...that was trippy as shit, guys!”

Quick Draw was next in line. “Wh...huh?! We aren’t dead?!”

Guttersnipe, who had been mid-flight when she was shut down by the tree, had to quickly regain herself after she hit the floor. “Oof! Hey! Who...wait a minute, did you guys win?!”

“...Well I’ll be utterly damned,” Flash Drive muttered as he came back to life, “Things are comin’ up aces…”

Neon woke up last with a relieved glint in his eye once he found us all. “...It’s really you all. You’re all real? Thank goodness. I was in an eternal loop of false ideals that I couldn’t get out of.”

“Hey, me too,” Corkscrew supplemented, “We were all mentally shut down by the Tree weren’t we? What kind of magic was that?!”

“The Lotus Eater Spell, mates,” Flash Drive explained, “A power spell said to only be known by a small group of individuals that could potentially plunge the world into an untrue sense of self. Almighty, it can only be stopped by a sheer force of anti-magic. So...how did you guys manage?”

Cozy decided to cut the conversation short. “We’ll explain later. Right now, we have another problem…”

I looked up and saw that the kid’s body started to show cracks and scrapes in various places. Using Discord’s power took quite the toll on her despite the fact that she managed to comprehend using it.

I broke free of Cozy’s grip, and managed to stand up--albeit barely. “Ngh...we need to...gah…” I clutched my abdomen with one of my hooves, “We need to rescue Flutetrshy, Discord, and all of the others who were absorbed into the tree as soon as possible. If we wait too long, Cozy’s body will deteriorate and the Chaos magic will roam free. Then we’ll be right back at square one.”

My friends looked at each other to try and come up with an answer.

“Okay,” Flash Drive started to speak, “We need to get the Draconequus’ body out of there.”

“Easier said than done,” Quick commented, “There’s a whole lot that could go wrong if we don’t do this right.”

Corkscrew looked at Cozy. “...Can’tcha just teleport him outta there or something?”

“...I’m afraid to,” the pegasus said shakily, “I feel like I risk severely hurting myself if I use anymore of his power.”

“Dammit!” Guttersnipe lamented, “How are we gonna get this done?!”

Neon’s ear flicked. “Somebody’s approaching.”

We turned to the entrance to the throne room of the ruins. Sure enough, someone did actually end up entering the room. But it was honestly the last individual I would have expected.

A black, unreformed changeling poked his head through the door. “...Is this where--ah, Pale! And everypony else. Good. There’s not much time…”

“Wait a second, who are you?” Quick questioned the changeling, suspicious of its appearance.

“It’s me...Thorax,” he replied, “If you’re wondering why I’m here, it’s a long story involving Flurry Heart.”

Cozy flew up to him with a worried frown on her face. “Oh? Is she okay? And why have you reverted back to a non-reformed changeling?”

Thorax sighed, and submitted to the fact that he had to grant us more details. “Okaaay...guess I’ll have to make this explanation as brief as possible. You see, Flurry Heart used me as a failsafe…”

---

About 24 Hours Ago…

Flurry Heart had called for King Thorax to meet with her in Ponyville before the impending battle was set to take place. They met up within the confines of Sugarcube Corner thanks to Pound Cake having invited her over beforehand.

“I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen,” Flurry explained to the Changeling King, “Because of that, I need your help. Cozy’s emotional state is all over the place, and you’re the only other being on this planet who can contain the power of love...”

Thorax listened carefully, and offered his own perspective. “...It’s true. As the leader of this race for the past decades, I can confidently say that I’m ready to bear anything you send my way, Lady Heart. But even I can sense that we’re about to possibly walk into a death trap against Grogar.”

“I know, I know. Just hear me out...please?” she pleaded with beady eyes.

The king nodded his head with an incredulous glance. “Proceed.”

Flurry sighed with relief, and went on to explain the rest of her plan. “Basically, I want you to take this…” The young alicorn levitated what looked like a miniature version of the crystal heart into the air with her magic. “Store as much of your power in it as you can, and as soon as the fighting starts, tap into it. Once you do, you’ll be able to overcome anything--no matter the severity.”

Upon seeing the object, Thorax was taken aback with visible confusion as he recoiled. “...Are you serious? Isn’t this the Crystal Heart? What are you doing with it?”

“Relax, relax,” Flurry dissuaded his suspicions with a casual wave of her hoof, “It’s a smaller version of it that I created for situations just such as these. I thought I’d use it for my own power, but here, I figured it’d be more worthwhile if you took hold of it.”

Thorax raised a non-existent brow over his solid purple eye, and countered her stance. “...You want me to be your guinea pig.”

“Uh, well...that is to say…” the princess had no way of arguing this. That is essentially what she desired here.

With a sigh, Thorax rolled his eyes and shook his head before relenting. “...Fine. I’m fully aware of the power of the Crystal Heart. Even a small one such as this can house an untold amount of power. For the sake of our future, I’ll use it.”

Elated, Flurry Heart threw her hooves around Thorax in a hug. “Oh thank-you-thank-you-thank-you! But...do me a favor and keep this on the DL. At least until after the conflict is over...kay?”

Unamused by the hug, the king stared at the heart-shaped gemstone for a moment before he put it away. “Sure. I’ll be ready when the time comes.”

---

“...and that’s what happened,” Thorax finished his explanation. “A side-effect of this is that I’ve lost my more recent, colorful body--but that’s neither here nor there. Listen up. I’m about to tell you all what we need to do next.”

My friends and I all fell silent, and listened to the king’s words closely...

Comments

[Neo4K]

Huh. That really is unexpected. Thorax back to his old form thanks to a miniature crystal heart that Flurry created in a gamble that could help the heroes. Hope it'll be worth it. If you're ending this story with an epilogue on a third milestone that's ten chapters away, I'll be gratefully impressed. 😁