The Odd One

by theOwtcast

Day Out

Days passed and the trend of happier times was continuing. Shining was still making an effort to be polite to me, and though there had been a few hiccups every now and then, it seemed to be getting easier for him as time went on. Like I’d told Luna, I truly believed we could become friends eventually!

I wasn’t the only one experiencing improvement. Ruby Rattle had recovered completely and returned to her foalsitting duty, which was a relief to me, both for her sake and mine: she had plenty of experience with foals, and though I liked Flurry, she did have a knack for giving me a hard time out of the blue! Cadance and Shining had decided to keep me as one of the foalsitters, but for now, my services were required only on some days to give Ruby a break, and I was eager to catch up on my painting that I’d neglected while busy watching over the little princess.

The inspiration for the painting I’d made in my dream still held, and I was itching to recreate the masterpiece in the real world. I set out to the hill, and before getting to work, I checked my flower just like I’d done in the dream. It was in good condition and the missing leaf was hardly noticeable, but it was going to take a while longer until I knew whether or not the cutting had sprouted roots.

Then I moved on to painting. The weather was sunny enough, but the rest of the scenery was different: there were fewer birds, the Crystal Heart wasn’t dispersing ripples of love and hope through the sky, and heavy clouds loomed in the distance. I ignored the differences from the version of the same scenery I’d seen the dream and decided to fill the missing pieces from memory. I took my time in a desire to make it perfect, and though technical quality turned out better than it had in the dream, the love imbued in the painting was much weaker, and heavy with sorrow when the original in the dream had been warm and bright with joy!

I sighed heavily. This was no masterpiece; it was barely a shadow of what I’d imagined!

And, this time, Pharynx hadn’t come to greet me. I’d known not to expect him, but his absence from the scenery as I diverted my gaze from the painting still sent a pang of nostalgia through my heart.

Where are you, Pharynx, and how has life treated you? Are you happy? Have you missed me at all?

And will I ever see you again?

I looked at the painting again. I’d wanted so badly to recreate the one from my dream in all its glory! But it wasn’t meant to be, just like I wasn’t meant to reunite with my brother. Not today, anyway. Pharynx might come here at a later time, or I might come to him one day, or we might run into each other when and where we least expect it, but whatever happened, it was beyond my control. The painting, at least, I could attempt to recreate again at a later time, hopefully with better results.

I collected my stuff and returned to the castle.

---

The next day, Sunburst showed up in the castle with a glint in his eyes and a wide grin.

“Guess what?” he announced. “The doctor says I’ve fully recovered!”

“Already?” Cadance asked. “That’s great news!”

“I’m afraid our own news isn't that great,” Shining added. “The architectural damage to your room is mostly repaired and the remaining work will probably be finished today, but your new furniture still hasn’t arrived. They said it’ll be here tomorrow, but there’s enough of it that I’m not sure if they’ll have had the time to make it. It’ll also need assembling upon arrival.”

“I see. No problem, I can spend another night or two in my own house.” He sounded disappointed.

“The neighbors still giving you trouble?”

He groaned. “You wouldn’t believe how many nights in a row they can party! How is a guy supposed to read with all that noise?”

Cadance chuckled. “You know, most ponies would complain about not being able to sleep at that hour!”

“I imagine that would be even worse,” I said.

“Hey,” Sunburst exclaimed, “why don’t you turn into some kind of oversized monster and give them a scare?”

“Isn’t there any other way to deal with them? Like asking them to tone it down or using magic to keep the noise from reaching you?”

“I tried asking and it’s no use, and sound spells are too hard for me to pull off correctly. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“And I tried sending a Royal Guard,” Shining added, “but it turned out the whole street except Sunburst gathers up on those parties and they’re hosted in the house in the middle of the street precisely with the idea of keeping the noise away from the other streets where ponies who aren’t attending live so nopony would complain to the authorities. They’re also happening only some nights of the year, and it’s just dumb luck that Sunburst blew up his room at the same time as their ‘party marathon’ as they call it.”

“Shining said I could sue them, but I don’t see the point if I’m hardly ever there anyway. And like you said, it’s not like I’m trying to sleep while they’re at it! I’ve just had to stick to the lighter reading and postpone the advanced-magic textbooks for later.”

“Okay, but why didn’t you say anything?” I asked. “I would have gladly shared my room with you!”

“So I can keep you awake all night?”

“I’m sure I would have thought of something if it became too much of a problem.”

“Well, it’s too late now. I’m moving back to the castle in a couple of days anyway unless furniture-assembling ends up taking forever.”

“Can I help?”

“I didn’t realize you knew how to assemble furniture!”

“Well, um… no, I’ve actually never done it. We don’t have any in the hive, and even if we did, I doubt the other drones would have cared to teach me how to assemble it. But it can’t be too hard, can it?”

“I have no idea! I’ve never done it eith- Wait, I’ve got it! The library might have some books on the subject! If we study those, I bet we can figure out how to assemble furniture in no time! Thorax, you’re a genius!”

I smiled sheepishly at the undeserved compliment.

“I’m glad that’s settled,” Shining said. “The carpenters sometimes do it themselves, but not always, and I forgot to ask whether or not it would be the case now. At the very least, it might go faster with the two of you helping them.”

“I hope so,” I said. “Uh, do you have any assignments for me this afternoon?”

“No,” Cadance said. “Have fun in the library!”

So we went there.

I’d passed by the library a couple of times, but I’d never been inside - not even with Spike when he took me on a tour of the city on my first day here - and now that I was finally in the building, the sight exceeded my wildest expectations! The building may not have looked that big on the outside, but the inside… so much space, so many bookshelves stacked full of books, and so much light everywhere! No wonder why Princess Twilight had released a surge of love at the mere thought of the library after Spike’s tour and why that surge had soured with disappointment upon realizing that he hadn’t taken me inside! And no wonder why Sunburst had a habit of coming here so often! And with all the love poured into the books, I could satisfy my physical hunger just as easily as Sunburst could quench his thirst for knowledge by reading the pages!

“Sunburst, this is wonderful! Why didn’t you bring me here sooner?”

“I didn’t realize you’d be interested,” he shrugged. “I got the impression that the books I’ve been bringing you were enough.”

“I thought so too, but this place… wow! And I thought the castle was stunningly beautiful!”

He chuckled. “Are you here for the books or the architecture?”

“Why not both?”

“Okay, I suppose you’re right. Let’s get started, shall we? The do-it-yourself section should be…” He pointed down the staircase and a little to the left. “This way. Would you rather that we read the same book together or pick a different one each?”

“Whatever you want. Which would be better?”

“That depends. Taking more books could help us cover more ground, but we’d have to discuss our findings anyway or there wouldn’t be much use of the approach. Going through the same book together would be slower, but it’ll also give us an opportunity to clarify things one of us understands and the other doesn’t, if it comes to that.”

“Okay, so there are benefits and drawbacks either way. Hmm. Let’s see what they have and then decide.”

We ended up choosing a book on the basics of woodwork in general that also contained a few sections about furniture, and proceeded to read it together. The text alone would have been very confusing for me even at what was considered ‘basic’, but thankfully, there were plenty of illustrations that made things much clearer.

“I never realized there are so many different screws and bolts and whatnot…” I muttered at some point, careful not to disturb the other readers.

“I knew there were various types, but some of these are completely new to me too,” Sunburst muttered back.

“Do you think we’ll need to be familiar with all of these in order to assemble your room?”

“I hope not! It’s good to know they exist, but they can’t all be required for everything! I’m guessing we’ll just have to use a few common screws and bolts and whatnot, as you called them, to deal with it, but if I’m wrong, we might have to return for this book.”

“Will those parts at least come with the wooden planks?”

“They might,” he said after a moment. “If they don’t, I’m going to ask the carpenter for advice on which parts to buy. Getting too nitpicky might not make a difference, but I’d rather not take chances with something I have zero experience in.”

“You never had to assemble a single piece of furniture yourself?” I asked. “Sorry, that sounded stupid. Of course you didn’t if you have to read a book on how to do it. I mean, is it common for ponies to not know how to assemble furniture?”

“Sort of. Some furniture is bought pre-assembled, even. I think it might have been the case with the room I had as a colt. At least I don’t remember mom and dad assembling anything themselves or hiring somepony to do it… unless it happened while I was out playing with Starlight... And my house here in the Empire was already fully furnished when I bought it, so… yeah.”

I nodded. “Something tells me we’ll be borrowing this book first thing tomorrow,” I sighed. “It looks easy enough now that I’m reading it and looking at pictures, but as soon as we get to work, I bet all of these screws and bolts and everything will start looking the same!”

Sunburst snickered at this. “And you’re a changeling. You of all people would be expected to notice the subtlest of differences! If you can’t tell the difference between two similar screws, then we might as well give up and hire a professional.”

“You want to give up?”

“Of course not! Let’s keep reading!”

So we did. We kept reading all afternoon and, by the time the librarian came to warn us it was almost closing time, we’d covered a good part of the relevant sections of the book in great detail and skimmed through the rest so we could find anything we hadn’t covered more easily if necessary. By the end, we were almost confident we could find our way around the task at hoof tomorrow, or at the very least, that we wouldn’t need too much guidance. But then again, this was a book on the basics, so we could be completely wrong!

It was night already when we left the library, and Sunburst concluded with some regret that he’d probably missed dinner. I wasn’t feeling hungry at all, but his stomach was growling, so instead of heading for the castle, we went in the opposite direction, toward Aragonite Street, hoping the bakery was still open. It was, and Sunburst had brought a few bits along, just enough for a hay bagel. After that, he went further down Aragonite Street rather than doubling back.

“Aren’t you going to the castle?” I asked.

“No, where would I sleep?”

“You can use my bed!”

“What about you?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got some cushions. I’ll just turn into something small enough to fit on one if that makes you feel better.”

“Don’t you need a blanket?”

“I’ll be fine. I never used a blanket until coming here.”

“I don’t know, Thorax… The nights are warm, but I’m not sure if they’re warm enough to ditch the blanket…”

“We’ll think of something when we get there, okay?”

“Okay,” he sighed.

There was nothing in my room that I could use as a blanket, though, not even to appease Sunburst, but at least he reluctantly agreed to spend the night there regardless. I transformed into a nymph and curled up on one of the cushions, and was soon asleep. Little did I know that I’d wake up in the morning wrapped up snugly in Sunburst’s robes that he’d forgotten to take off before going to bed!

---

“Okay, I think that’s it,” I said a few days later as I tightened the last screw on Sunburst’s cupboard. “You can set it upright now.”

He did. The doors flew open and wouldn’t stay closed.

“Eggshells! Not again!”

“What is it with you and hinges?”

“I don’t know! Why does this type have to be so complicated? Why couldn’t we get one of those basic ones?”

“The book says this one is better for furniture because it allows for easy adjustment of sagging doors. You can’t do that with the basic one without taking the doors down entirely and screwing them back on!”

“I still like the basic ones better,” I muttered.

“At least you’ve got the other stuff mostly figured out.” He levitated me a screwdriver. “Wanna try again?”

I sighed, took it in my mouth, and went to adjust the offending hinges. When I thought I was done, we checked the results, and found the doors sagging even more.

“Great!” I moaned and plopped onto the floor. “Now it’s even worse!”

“Hey, no problem,” Sunburst said, patting me on the back. “All you have to do is turn the screw the other way.”

“I’m never gonna figure this out…”

“You will! Okay, how about this: when adjusting this type of hinges, whichever way of turning the screw you think is right, try the other way.”

“Didn’t you suggest that yesterday?”

“I don’t think so,” he shrugged.

“Then maybe I tried that approach on my own. It didn’t work any better than doing what I thought I should.”

“So stick with the trial-and-error approach and stop feeling bad about it! You’re not going to break the hinge by adjusting it twice!”

“I guess you’re right.” I got up and tried fixing the hinge again. This time it worked; the other hinge got fixed too after a few minutes and a couple of attempts, and the cupboard doors finally closed and remained that way.

“Okay, now it’s done,” Sunburst said and moved the cupboard to its intended position. “Great job, Thorax! I told you you could do it!”

“After a million attempts, yes.”

“That’s no big deal! A lot of things don’t turn out as intended on the first try, but that’s expected!”

“You did much better than me!”

He opened his mouth to say something, but a knock on the door interrupted him.

“Come in!” he said.

The castle messenger opened the door, carrying a bag.

“I brought your mail, Sunburst,” she said. “Oh, and Thorax, you have some mail too. I thought I’d find you here so I put it in the bag with Sunburst’s mail.”

“Thanks, Mercury!” Sunburst said, accepting the bag.

“That’s a lot of mail,” I said after she left.

“I don’t normally get this much,” Sunburst mused, taking letters out of the bag. “Okay, this one is from Starlight, this is from Moondancer, this is from the Institute of Magical Theory; ooh, the latest Wizard’s Journal… ugh, another from my mom-”

“You sound like that’s a bad thing,” I interjected.

“Don’t get me wrong. I love my mother, it’s just that she’s always coming up with one grandiose, super-ambitious plan after another for what I should do with my life, and it’s so annoying… Why can’t she be satisfied with me being the Royal Crystaller?”

“Have you tried talking to her about it?”

“A million times,” he snorted. “I’ve given up by now. It’s no use. She just won’t listen! But nevermind her. This letter is for you, oh, and so is this one!”

I accepted the letters. One was from Spike, judging by the claw-writing; the other, I couldn’t tell.

I opened Spike’s letter first. It said:

Dear Thorax,

I’m so glad that Shining finally stopped acting like a first-class moron! I knew he could be stubborn at times, but this must have set his personal record, both in duration and the magnitude of his mistake! You don’t know how many times I got the urge to go there myself to give him a mouthful about it after Twilight and I consistently failed to make any progress on the matter via letters! We kind of wish we’d done that sooner, but now that we know it took Luna to get him to start using his brain, any such trips would have most likely been wasted anyway except that I would have gotten a chance to hang out with you again. We really gotta correct that sometime soon! Unfortunately, they say a storm is brewing up north around the Crystal Empire. It already delayed your last letter judging by the postal mark, and if it gets any worse… well, trains to and from the Crystal Empire had to be cancelled altogether a few times before due to weather conditions, and it looks like it might be the case again. But you already know that better than I do, don’t you? Anyway, don’t think I’ve forgotten you if this letter or the next one doesn’t reach you for a while. It will get there, it’s just that it might have been delayed.

As for not wanting Shining punished, I can only say one thing: why? This is probably the first time you can get some actual retribution for being mistreated, not just an apology and a pat on the back! I know it’s little consolation for a lifetime of pain, but since it’ll take a miracle to get Chrysalis and the entirety of the hive to pay for everything they did to you, it’s probably the best you’ll get in the foreseeable future, so I suggest you use this chance! Shining may be the closest thing I have to a brother, but he deserved it and I’m not ashamed to feel that way! Oh, in case that’s your issue, let me remind you that ponies don’t punish by pain. He’ll probably get some kind of reprimand or authority restrictions or something like that. Nothing gruesome!

I’m sorry to hear about Sunburst. Is he recovering well? Tell him I said hi and to ask Twilight’s help the next time he tries to cook fancy potions, will ya?

Your friend,

Spike

I opened the next letter.

Dear Thorax,

I know Spike wrote to you yesterday (at least, the day before I decided to write this letter), but I wanted to say that I understand your reluctance to have Shining punished for the way he treated you.

You may or may not know the details of my life, but before I became Twilight’s protege, I was what you might call a villain. I used to be a dictator leading an anti-cutie mark cult, and later I tried to alter history because Twilight put an end to the cult. I thought my reasons for starting the cult and wanting revenge against her were justified, and she helped me realize I was wrong, but that’s not the point now. The point is that I’m ashamed of that chapter of my life, and though it ended months ago, I still often find myself unable to make decisions of any importance and second-guessing the decisions I have made. On a rational level, I can see the benefits of a decision and the logic to making that decision, but overthinking kicks in pretty soon, and then I see at least half a dozen ways for that decision to backfire or take an undesirable turn the consequences of which may not be obvious until much later, and I keep asking myself if that (whatever ‘that’ is at any given moment) really was the best thing to do, and all this because I’m so afraid of becoming a villain again, even if unintentionally, that I can’t see the obvious benefits of my possible decisions over the very-unlikely drawbacks anymore! Now, I may be completely wrong here, but I’m guessing your desire to let Shining go unpunished stems from the same kind of perspective. You think that, if you allow yourself to want to punish him, you’ll become like Chrysalis or at least like the other drones, don’t you? If that’s the case, I can assure you that you’re wrong! You’ll never be anything like Chrysalis! But I still understand and don’t blame you for it. I won’t blame you if you decide that you want him punished after all, either! Do what your heart tells you is best! You’ve followed it so far and it hasn’t led you astray! Whatever you decide, you have my support!

How is Sunburst doing? I sent him a letter too, but I expect he’ll tell me that he only has a couple of scratches and not to worry. I want the truth, please!

Hoping to see you guys in person soon,

Your friend,

Starlight Glimmer

I hugged both letters. Starlight had figured out the best part of my reasons against wanting to punish Shining, and though Spike’s view on the matter clashed with mine, it meant a great deal that he wanted what he thought was best for me!

Sunburst had by then read or skimmed through his letters, set them aside, and moved on to the magazine. I started to get up in order to write back to Spike and Starlight, but then I noticed that Mercury’s bag wasn’t completely empty. Something pretty big was still inside!

“Uh, Sunburst?” I said hesitantly. “Did Mercury give us somepony else’s mail too?”

“What? Oh, you mean the parcel.” He took it out of the bag. “Let’s see… no, it’s addressed to you.”

“Me?!”

“There’s a Ponyville stamp on it. Were you expecting anything?”

“Other than the usual letters? No, why should I?”

“It’s not unheard of. Go ahead, open it!”

I bit through the binding rope and the wrapping paper. An envelope was stuck to the lid of the box. I took a piece of paper out of it.

Thorax, darling,

Sincerest apologies for taking this long to fashion you a stunning ensemble like I promised! It took me forever to get the patterns right, and I’d just finished designing a fabulous tuxedo for you when Spikey-Wikey paid me a visit and we struck up a conversation about changeling couture, and he suggested that it would be simply marvellous if I could design a whole new fashion line for you personally! I must say, I absolutely love any opportunity that lets me expand my creative horizons and improve my dressmaking skills, and it’s such a thrill to do it for a kind and gentle creature such as yourself! Now, since you’re living so far north with that dreadful weather looming over you all the time, Spikey and I agreed that it would make the most sense that I begin with something to help you endure the cold, and here it is! I regret not being able to invite you for a fitting, but if the size isn’t quite right, do tell me so I can make the necessary adjustments, will you? I absolutely refuse to force you to shapeshift in order to fit into my creations! Oh, and I had to make a guess about what kind of design you’d like; so sorry if I made a mistake! If you’d prefer something different, that’s no problem at all! I want you to love what you’re wearing, so don’t shy away from telling me exactly what you’d like!

I’ve only had time to finish this one piece before we heard about the upcoming storm around the Crystal Empire, and I’m hoping it’ll reach you in time. But rest assured, I have not forgotten about the tuxedo I’d promised you! I expect it’ll be finished by the time the storm calms down, and it’ll be simply divine! I just know it’ll sweep you off your hooves, and all the mares are sure to be lining up to bask in your presence! Or all the stallions, if that’s what you prefer. But do forgive me; a lady shouldn’t be so indiscreet!

Au revoir, my friend!

Love, Rarity

“Wow,” I muttered. “Is she always this… uh, I’m not sure if ‘dramatic’ is the right word…”

“It’s an understatement, and yes, she is from what I’ve seen of her, not that I’ve known her for much longer than you. But now I’m interested to see what she sent you!”

To tell the truth, so was I. I opened the box.

Inside was a winter coat made of blue fabric, similar in shade to my carapace, and soft to the touch but sturdy-feeling, and I got the impression it might be waterproof, too. The design was simple but attractive; it had a high collar to protect my whole neck against the cold, there were plenty of buttons to keep the coat closed tightly, and a hood to cover my head, and a few pockets on the flanks. I tried it on and found that the sleeves covered my leg holes and that the wing holes on the coat’s back were at exactly the perfect spots; the coat was warm as promised, and she’d not only gotten the size right, but also somehow made the thing look like it could easily be part of my own body!

“I love this!” I squealed. “Now I almost want the storm to come so I can test the coat in its intended environment!”

“I think I can help you with that,” Sunburst replied.

“How so?”

“Wait here,” he said and left the room.

He was back a few minutes later with Cadance and Shining in tow.

“You look wonderful, Thorax,” she said, looking at me all dressed up. “Rarity’s outdone herself again! I almost want to borrow that coat!”

“Oh… of course, you can have it...” I started to take it off, but she stopped me.

“Do keep it, silly! That was just an expression!”

“Uh, okay.”

“Sunburst came to us with an idea,” Shining continued, “and we like it. How do you feel about joining us on a little trip to the city outskirts tomorrow afternoon? The storm is starting and some snow should break through the Crystal Heart’s protective barrier by then and create a nice playground for Flurry. I expect there’ll be more ponies there too, and you might end up making a few friends!”

“You’d actually let me join you? Won’t I be intruding?”

“You won’t be! Don’t you see, Thorax? We’re doing this for you, so you can start having fun, Crystal Empire style!”

“What about working on Sunburst’s room?”

“We only have one more piece of furniture to assemble,” Sunburst interjected, “and it’s a simple one. I expect we’ll be done by then.”

“If you say so... Okay, I’ll be honored to join you!”

---

The snowy outskirts were already bustling with ponies when the five of us arrived there the next day, but there weren’t so many of them that we’d struggle to find a patch of show just to ourselves. The scenery was nice even with so much of the snow disturbed by ponies playing in it, and I imagined it had to look unforgettably beautiful when still untouched! The Crystal Heart wasn’t keeping the intense blizzard entirely out of its protective bubble, though, and snowflakes were drifting through even now. Maybe they would create a fresh layer of untouched snow during the night? It would be nice to come back at dawn to see it!

Flurry, on the other hoof, was unburdened by such aesthetic considerations. As soon as she saw the snow and the ponies, she started babbling and squealing excitedly and prodding Cadance as if to tell her to hurry up. Cadance simply chuckled to this display of eager anticipation.

“Alright, Flurry, we’ll be there in a couple of minutes!” she told her daughter. “Be patient just a little longer!”

But it was to no avail; Flurry was getting increasingly restless with every next step.

“I could fly there with her if you want,” I offered.

“I know, Thorax, and I could have flown with her too, or even teleported us all there! But she needs to learn to be patient and humble. She may be a princess by birth, but that doesn’t make her any more deserving of things than the regular ponies, and allowing her to have everything she wants right away and every time she wants it would only make her think she’s entitled to more than her fair share, and that never turns out right, even at a young age, and is hard to set right later. It’s even more important to teach her that because she’s a princess.”

“How so?”

“If we don’t,” Shining continued, “she’ll grow up thinking everything has to be exactly the way she wants it and not caring how the others feel about it or whether or not she’s causing harm by having her way at all cost. And she’s expected to ascend to the throne one day! You know first-hoof what it’s like to live under such a leader!”

“You mean she could become like Chrysalis?!” I looked at the little filly. I couldn’t imagine her growing up into a monster!

“Maybe not inherently and irreparably evil, but that wouldn’t make much difference if she can’t put her kingdom’s well-being before her personal whims and wishes.”

“And you can prevent such an outcome with simple things such as making her walk a few minutes to the playing field rather than teleporting there?”

“Nothing can absolutely guarantee it, but yes, consistently following such rules and principles is how it’s done. But it has to start at the youngest age and without making exceptions, or if you do make an exception, the foal needs to understand that it is indeed an exception and the reason why you’re making it.”

“Within their ability to understand things at their age, that is,” Sunburst added.

“Yes. You won’t get anywhere trying to explain to her today that this is actually an investment in her future, but in a few years, it’ll be different.”

“Parenthood is complicated,” I mused.

Sunburst chuckled. “What did you expect? That you just create offspring and yell at them to behave or you’ll take away their favorite toy?”

“That’s pretty much how it’s done in the hive,” I shrugged. “Except that we never met our actual parents, and our caretakers threatened to have us beaten to a pulp if we got too undisciplined. And we didn’t have toys. I secretly made myself some dolls a few times, but the other drones smashed them within a day or two, so eventually I gave up trying to make new ones.”

An awkward silence followed.

“Well then,” Cadance said eventually, releasing Flurry from her harness. “Here we are. Go on and play now! But don’t stray too far away from us!”

She brightened up instantly and went away prancing through the snow, kicking it up, burrowing through it, giggling and squealing all the way, radiating the warm love that I half expected to thaw the snow around us… it was a delight to watch! Sunburst took a camera and snapped a few photos of her as she played.

Eventually her initial excitement faded and she returned to us, babbling something while looking at me.

“What is it, Flurry?” I asked.

She babbled some more.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

More babbling followed, this time with a hint of frustration in her voice, and with her gesturing at a nearby group of ponies.

“You want to play with them?” I guessed.

Now she waved her hooves around furiously while babbling some more. Cadance and Sunburst chuckled.

“I think she wants to build a snowpony,” Shining said. “Why don’t you help her?”

I looked at the group of ponies she’d been gesturing at again. They were just standing around chatting, but another group a little further away in roughly the same direction was sculpting a pony out of a pile of snow. In fact, I could see a few other groups doing the same with their own snow piles!

I got to it. Shining and Sunburst helped me pile up some snow and then stepped aside to let Flurry and me continue on our own. This meant mostly me; Flurry simply hovered around, examining my progress, attempting to make suggestions on what to improve, and still failing to get me to understand without referring to her parents for help. Sunburst snapped some more photos of us.

“Okay, I think that’s close enough,” I said eventually, and Flurry sat on the snowpony’s back, grinning blissfully.

“And it’s a masterpiece!” Cadance said. “You even managed to make the tail out of snow!”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“No reason, except that ponies rarely bother with it because getting the snow to stay like that can be tricky.”

“Then how do they-” I looked around me. Some of the other snowponies were finished too, and they looked nothing like mine! They had black marbles in place of their eyes while I’d carved out actual eyes on mine, none of the others had bothered to make the snowponies’ legs, and theirs had brooms sticking out of their rear ends where the tails were supposed to be. “Oh.”

“Whoa,” a colt’s voice spoke behind me. “That snowpony is perfect!”

I turned around. A group of fillies and colts stood there, staring wide-eyed at my creation.

“And I thought my mommy made a great-looking one,” whined one of the filles.

“Did you make this?” asked another.

“Um, yes,” I said. “Why?”

“Can you make one for us?”

“Well…”

“Pleeeeeeeeease?”

“You know what?” Sunburst interjected. “I think Thorax can do better than that!”

“Really?”

“Yes, indeed!”

“But this one almost looks alive!”

“Exactly! Thorax, if you could do your magic for these foals?”

“My magic? Oh, right!”

I burst into a spiral of blue flames that turned me into a snowpony version of Crystal Hoof. The fillies and colts responded with awed murmurs.

“Is this good enough?” I asked.

“Good enough?! You’re perfect!” one of them said.

“Come play with us!” another invited me.

I looked at Cadance and Shining. They smiled and nodded.

“Sure,” I said to the little ones.

One of them trotted up to me, touched my foreleg, and said, “Tag! You’re it!” before running away.

“Uh…”

“They want you to chase them,” Sunburst explained. “When you catch one, he or she becomes the next chaser.”

“Oh. Okay. I’m not supposed to hurt them, am I?”

“Of course not! What gave you that idea?”

Some of the drills I remembered from basic training. “Nothing,” I said hurriedly.

“Well go on then! They’re waiting on you!”

Sure enough, the group was gathering around me again after having dispersed in all directions in anticipation of me knowing the rules of the game and following them accordingly. I’d disappointed them and now I hurried to correct that mistake! They were dodgy, but I managed to catch a colt before long.

“Hey!” he protested. “You’re not supposed to grab me in your mouth!”

I put him down. “Sorry! Did I hurt you?”

“No, I’m fine. But for the next time, touching counts as catching, okay?”

“Okay. Sorry again!”

At that moment, before the game could continue, something hit me in the back of the head.

“Ow! What gives?”

A salvo of giggles clued me in on the source of the projectile even before I turned to face it completely. But what had she thrown at me this time? I couldn’t see anything lying around in the snow!

“Hey, a snowball fight!” one of the nearby fillies exclaimed. “Great idea, Princess Flurry!”

Before long, the group formed a rough circle and was throwing snowballs at one another. Flurry joined too. I got down on my belly and covered my head, but not before getting hit by a few snowballs myself.

“C’mon Thorax, don’t be such a spoilsport!” Shining yelled. “Throw some snowballs of your own!”

I tried to obey, but the only thing it did was get me more snowballs in the face that knocked the disguise out of me.

“I can’t! There’s too many!”

But the salvo of snowballs had stopped.

“Are you okay?” one of the fillies asked me.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” a colt said. “I didn’t think I could throw that hard!”

“You’re not hurt, are you?” the first filly persisted. “Please tell me you’re not hurt!”

“No, I’m fine, it’s just that I’ve never done this before and you startled me.”

“Sorry again, I-”

“Amber! Granite!” a mare shouted somewhere. “Where are you? We’re going home!”

“Oops, that’s auntie,” the filly I took to be Amber said. “Gotta go! See you tomorrow!”

The rest of the group got called away similarly pretty soon: some to go home, the others to rejoin their families. I was once again alone with the four friends who had brought me here.

“Well that was anticlimactic,” Sunburst muttered. “Though understandable; it’s starting to get dark. But I have an idea!”

“What kind of idea?”

He lit up his horn and another snowball hit me.

“Standing your ground against a dozen ponies may have been too much for you, but I bet you can handle one!”

Uh-oh. Another snowball fight?!

I flinched as more snowballs travelled in my direction. I managed to dodge a few, but most of them still hit me.

“Come on!” Sunburst taunted. “Are you even trying?”

I tried to grab some snow and form it into a ball, but couldn’t under the salvo of incoming ones! Frustrated, I kicked some of the snow up instead in a pathetic attempt to do something, but all it did was create a cloud of snowflakes until the sleeve of my coat went up and some of the snow passed through my leg hole as I kicked, forming something that could marginally pass for a rough snowball.

That gave me an idea. I created more marginally-passable snowballs by dragging my hole-riddled foreleg through the snow on the ground, then flung the resulting balls at Sunburst. One grazed him, and the others went all over the place, but that was the best I’d done yet!

“Keep going!” Cadance shouted from her vantage point a little away from the battle zone. “You can do it!”

I made some more sort-of-snowballs and threw them, still with little success, and Sunburst was still doing much better. If only I could use magic like him! I was trying to come up with a strategy to compensate for my disadvantage when something cold and white came out of nowhere and hit me hard enough to kick all air out of my lungs, and then I was buried in a freezing pile.

I was sure I had to have fainted from the ordeal, but how long had I been out? I couldn’t tell; the only thing I knew was that everything around me was dark and unbearably cold and I couldn’t move! Did I still have my coat? What was this heavy thing sitting on me? And why was the world spinning and my head threatening to explode?

I tried to move again, but it was no use. I tried to scream, but couldn’t open my mouth! I tried gasping for air, but there was no air to gasp for!

Was I having another nightmare?

Princess Luna, I begged silently, if this is a dream, please help me!

But Luna didn’t come.

Was I dying? No, please no, I didn’t want to die! Not now that I finally had friends!

Was I dead already?

But something stirred then; the weight crushing me lessened, a bit of light seeped in, and I heard muffled voices, growing louder and clearer.

“Oh, thank Celestia we found you!” Sunburst exclaimed, peering into the hole in the snow pile with Shining. “I thought we’d never get to you!”

Shining lit up his horn and some of the snow I was buried in melted. I tried to get up and the world started spinning painfully again.

“Ow…” I moaned, clutching my head.

“Easy there!”

“What happened?”

“Flurry must have thought I was trying to bury you in snow and decided to help me. I’m sorry! I should have guessed she’d get such an idea!”

“It’s alright,” I said. “She’s unpredictable.”

“That doesn’t make it right!”

I looked at her, sitting dejectedly at her mother’s hooves, kicking at the snow.

“Maybe not, but she might have thought it’d be funny.” I chuckled, imagining what the incident must have looked like to a casual observer. “I guess it was funny, in a way.”

“You’re right,” he agreed. “It was funny! It scared the heck out of me, but it was funny!”

“You know what’d be funnier?” I asked, kicking some snow in his face. “If she’d thrown it at you!”

He snorted and pushed me out of balance. I grabbed his cloak to keep myself upright, and we fell together. He kicked some snow at me and I kicked back. I didn’t realize we were both laughing until my belly started to hurt, and then I laughed some more!

Cadance and Shining were staring at us. Then we all burst out laughing, Flurry included.

“Whoa, that felt good,” I said, catching my breath.

“In that case,” Sunburst replied, “I’ll tell Flurry to avalanche you again!”

“Uh-oh..”

“Hey, you asked for it!”

Whether or not it was true, it had been a good day, and a little laughter made all of my buried-in-snow aches disappear! And if she buried me in snow again, at least I was going to be ready!

Comments

[BezierBallad]

Where are you, Pharynx, and how has life treated you? Are you happy? Have you missed me at all?

And will I ever see you again?

I’m sure your brother is probably wondering the same thing right now, Thorax.

Dear Thorax,

I’m so glad that Shining finally stopped acting like a first-class moron!

Spike is a huge mood.

[Melody Song]

Awwwwwww! That was such a sweet ending! And that coat sounds do pretty!

[Martydi]

I looked at the painting again. I’d wanted so badly to recreate the one from my dream in all its glory! But it wasn’t meant to be, just like I wasn’t meant to reunite with my brother. Not today, anyway.

I want to give this buggo a huggo.

[origami]

That was a fun chapter. Nice to see Thorax having fun like a regular pony.

[harts fire]

awesome chapter.

[Daemon Wolf 22]

CUTENESS!

Double yay for Cinnabug fluff!

[CitreneSkys]

This was a nice and fun chapter to come home too 🤗.

[Teraunce]

dawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..................

[Yoshifan30]

He groaned. “You wouldn’t believe how many nights in a row they can party! How is a guy supposed to read with all that noise?”

Kind of reminds me of my brother always talks about how noisy the neighbors are

[Yoshifan30]

Well this was a cute chapter so it looks like thorax been doing good throughout the days and he's been doing a lot of painting so he still misses pharynx some day he'll see him again but sunburst finally made a full recovery after the explosion bottom fortunately his room is still kind of a mess and the furniture won't be here another day but it looks like him and thorax wants to build one even though it was hard and trust me it was hard and it looks like thorax got a mails from Spike and starlight and surprisingly Rarity the other two letters I basically has he been doing and they were pretty upset what Shining Armor did to him but it looks like the other one was a clothing from Rarity she made and it turned out pretty well and perfect timing because they going to go out to play Snow it was pretty sweet to see Thorax is playing with other ponies and Sunburst I really like their friendship here and it was really truly the best day for him I wonder what's going to happen next guess we'll find out next time