Lessons From Ponyville

by MattTOB

Lesson 11: Standing Up For Yourself

Lesson 11: Standing Up For Yourself

Written by MattTOB

---

King Thorax sat on his throne as he and General Pharynx listened with increasing concern to Lieutenant Colonel Peculya describe that morning's patrols.

"...and just when we thought we were safe, the manticores leapt out of the bushes and attacked! We were forced into a retreat, barely making it out alive."

"This is bad, Pharynx," Thorax began. "Those manticores are cutting us off from the Eastern Reservoir. If we can't get past them, that's a large chunk of our water that we can't access...."

"I say we send a large battalion of Changelings to drive them off," declared Pharynx.

Thorax tried to counter, "I, uh, don't think that's a good idea."

The General raised an eyebrow. "And what would you suggest instead?"

The King faltered at that. "Well, um, maybe if we lure them away, or if we get Fluttershy to tell them to leave, or—"

Pharynx sighed, shaking his head, then turned away. "We'll leave at dawn, and not return until they're off of our land."

With that, the General stalked off with the Lieutenant Colonel, leaving King Thorax to feel ashamed at his spinelessness.

---

"...and that's why I've come to you." Thorax mumbled some time later.

Mothra held his chin in his hoof as he went over what Thorax had told him. "You want me to teach you how to lead more forcefully?"

The King nodded. "I'm tired of being too scared to stand up to my brother; it feels like he's got more control over my own life than I do."

"Are you sure you can't just talk to him as is?"

"You know him; once he's got his mind set, it'll take either some forcefulness or a big fight to get through to him. And since I don't want to fight anyone, I'm only left with the former."

The former King thought for a moment. "Alright, I'll teach you. But I'll need some help from somepony you likely won't be comfortable around."

Thorax responded by giving his dad a big hug. "Thank you! Whoever it is, it'll be worth it if I can finally become the leader I need to be!"

---

As soon as Thorax learned who it was, however, he immediately began to rethink his decision.

"So," Princess Chrysalis began, "you've finally wizened up, huh? Come to admit you're not as powerful of a leader as I was?"

Mothra sighed. "You're doing it again."

Chrysalis held up a hoof. "Just let me have this, okay?"

He shook his head, "Oh, alright. Just don't let it get to your head."

Chrysalis continued to drill onward. "Well, guess what, Thorax? It's my job — no, it's my obligation to teach you how to lead effectively, like my mother taught me, and her father taught her, and his second cousin taught him.

"While you are under my tutelage, you are to do exactly what I say, when I say it. Any failure to comply will result in more work. Do I make myself clear?"

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

Chrysalis wheeled on him. "That was test, and you failed!"

Thorax blinked. "Wha—"

"Lesson #1," Chrysalis continued, "never take any shit from your subordinates! Now DROP AND GIVE ME FIFTY CHITIN CRUNCHES, LET'S MOVE!"

Thorax immediately laid on his back and started his punishment.

As Mothra and Chrysalis watched him struggle to even do ten crunches, the former sighed. "That was another test, wasn't it?"

"Yep."

"This is going to take a while."

---

"Alright, this next lesson will be simple," Chrysalis began. "Get past this orthrus and 'rescue' Mothra by any means — other than teleporting or going around."

Thorax gulped. Indeed, there was a orthrus chained to a large boulder in between him and his dad — who, for some reason beyond either of them, was wearing a standard 'princess' dress (complete with that weird cone-shaped hat). He was even tied up with some thick rope, although his horn had been left unbound in case something went wrong.

"Alright," Mothra began, "I can understand having the ropes for authenticity. But is the dress REALLY necessary?"

Chrysalis smirked. "Not at all."

He sighed, but made no motion to take it off. "And what about them?" He gestured with his horn to one side, where Princess Celestia and Luna were seated. Celestia had a nervous expression, while Luna....

"I'm just here for the entertainment," she stated nonchalantly between mouthfuls of popcorn.

"What she means," Celestia corrected, "is that we're here to make sure everyone remains safe."

"Yeah, that too," Luna shrugged, not relenting on the consumption of her popped kernels.

Chrysalis sighed. "I had to get the orthrus from somewhere, and the Canterlot Zoo seemed much more convenient than wrangling one out of the Everfree.

"Nonetheless! Thorax, are you ready?"

"Not reall—"

Before he could finish his thought, Chrysalis slammed her hoof loudly on the ground, making a noise like a starter pistol and causing Thorax to jump into action. He nervously moved forward, until he was just out of reach of the orthrus.

"Uh, h-hey there. N-Nice puppy...?"

The orthrus stared on, unamused.

Thorax gulped. "I, uh... I was wondering, could I maybe, I dunno, ask you to, um... m-move aside so I can get to my dad, please?"

The orthrus exhaled through its nose, but didn't move.

Thorax shrunk a little. "M-Maybe you didn't hear me? I s-said —"

The orthrus uttered a low growl, freezing Thorax mid-sentence.

After a moment, he composed himself as much as he could. "A-Alright then, you leave me n-no choice!"

He raised a hoof, causing the orthrus to tense up. Celestia nearly stood up to intervene, but Luna held out a hoof in front of her in a 'wait for it' gesture.

Thorax brought the hoof down...

And started petting the bridge of the orthrus's nose. It didn't know how to react at first, but was soon overtaken by the sensation, and started wagging its tail as it received a good petting.

"Fluttershy's right," Thorax remarked, "you guys really are just big puppies...."

Chrysalis balked. How the hay had that worked?!

Then she remembered: it was a zoo animal, so of course it wouldn't be as rough as a wild one. Thorax had obviously caught her mentioning that, and used it to bolster his confidence.

She smirked a little to herself as Thorax continued to pet the beast. 'Not bad,' she thought. 'Still a long way to go, but not bad....'

---

"Alright, the third lesson is—" Chrysalis paused when she realized that Mothra was standing right beside her, still wearing the dress.

He noticed the look she gave him. "What? It grew on me!"

She rolled her eyes in amusement, before continuing: "The third lesson will be a simple one: inspect the ranks, and weed out any dissention."

A random group of six changelings, some reformed and some not, stood at attention in front of Thorax. He internally squee'd a little, never having been on this side of an inspection, before straightening out. As he walked down the ranks, he inspected every one of them closely.

Then he came upon the fifth one, who was very obviously not taking anything seriously, and felt a little silly for looking so hard. Thorax cleared his throat, catching the unreformed changeling's attention. "State your name and rank."

"First Lieutenant Chafer, at your service."

The words he'd said were fine, but his tone of voice hardly carried any respect in it at all. "What is the meaning of all of this?" Thorax gestured at Chafer. "Why aren't you at attention?"

The changeling grinned toothily. "Relax, I'm still paying attention," he snarked.

Thorax knew it was all part of the lesson, but he couldn't help getting a little heated at this blatant disrespect. But, at the same time, he still couldn't bring himself to actually yell at anyone...

Then he glanced at his father, and suddenly, he had an idea. "If that's the case, then you must've heard me announce that promotion."

Chafer blinked. "Uh... O-Of course, sir," he lied.

Thorax smirked a little, channeling his mother's power. "Remind me again, who was I giving it to?"

Chafer thought for a moment, before deciding to take a shot. "...Me, sir?"

Thorax barked a laugh. "Why would I do that? You're not even properly at attention."

Chafer quickly straightened up.

Thorax pretended to do a double-take. "Oh, would you look at that? I must've been mistaken; silly me." With that, Thorax continued the inspection.

Chafer breathed a sigh of relief, then paused. "Wait, what just happened?"

Meanwhile, Chrysalis and Mothra stared on. That was actually pretty clever, playing up to the changeling's ego with the subtle touch of a veiled threat.

Chrysalis smiled, regarding her son with an iota of respect.

---

Several lessons later, the final test was upon Thorax:

He had to stand up against Chrysalis.

The two stood face-to-face to one another, eyes locked in a silent stare.

Finally, Thorax spoke: "Chrysalis."

'Good use of first name instead of title; establishes authority at the start,' Chrysalis noted, before replying simply, "Thorax."

"I'm going to pass this test," he stated.

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you so sure of that?"

Just a slight bit of hesitation. "Because I'm not leaving until I do."

Chrysalis chuckled, turning to walk away. "Ha! You're going to have to try harder than that to convince me."

"Yep."

She blinked, turning back to face him. "Did you not hear me?"

"Crystal clear. I'll have to work hard to get to your level, but I can do it."

Chrysalis stared him down. "The path to excellence is long and treacherous."

"I've been meaning to go for a hike."

"You will not come out the other side as the changeling you once were."

"That's okay; didn't really like him anyway."

Chrysalis winced, causing Thorax to blink. "Too far?"

The former queen frowned. "You just doubted yourself."

The realization hit Thorax, and he mentally hit himself. "Shoot."

Chrysalis chuckled. "That's alright; we weren't going to get you 100% in only a few hours."

Thorax blinked, looking up. "Does that mean...?"

She nodded. "While it's true that you don't have a lot of backbone, you do have one thing: you get others. If you keep your wits about you and play to them, you can get them to do practically anything. But I know you'll use it for good, because that's who you are.

"You're ready."

---

Pharynx made one last inspection over his armor. It was almost dawn; his plan was about to go into motion.

That was when Thorax entered. Pharynx noticed, and turned to face his brother. "Hello, Thorax."

"Hello, Pharynx."

"I assume that you came here to say something?"

Thorax nodded. "I forbid you from going on with your plan. We're going to go to Fluttershy for help, and that's that!"

A moment of silence passed between the two brothers.

Then Pharynx smirked. "That's what I was waiting to hear."

Thorax blinked. "Wait, what?"

"I figured you wouldn't be able to make a decision without doubting yourself, so I had to push you into one," Pharynx explained, turning around to put his armor away again.

Thorax frowned. "Really, Pharynx? You planned this?"

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?"

"It wouldn't have, if Mom and Dad weren't here!" the King shouted. He then realized what he was doing, and took a deep breath to calm himself. "Besides, this isn't how we're doing things now."

Pharynx sighed as he finished stowing his armor in its little nook. "Alright, I'll admit it was a bit underhanded. But look on the bright side: you've become much more assertive now!"

Thorax huffed, then had an idea. "You know what? You're right!" He smiled. "And now, I'm asserting that you're going to have to stay with Fluttershy over the weekend to make up for this!"

The older brother balked. "W-wait, you can't be serious!"

But Thorax was already walking away.

Pharynx blinked, realizing that this was karma for his meddling. "Alright, I get it! Lesson learned; now I don't need to spend the weekend with that pony, right?" Still no response. "Right?!" And with that, he desperately made to catch up to his brother.

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long; I wasn't happy with the direction it went for the longest time.

Initially, I had Thorax choose to manipulate Pharynx into a different choice, but that felt too toxic and out of character. Even a redraft with Thorax realizing how toxic it was still felt too toxic, so I've been spending the past few months figuring out how to rewrite it.

And I wasn't going to scrap this chapter, either; it's too significant in terms of Chrysalis's development, and I'd already scrapped a chapter involving Deagus and his past trauma.

Comments

[Yoshifan30]

Thorax gulped. Indeed, there was a orthrus chained to a large boulder in between him and his dad — who, for some reason beyond either of them, was wearing a standard 'princess' dress (complete with that weird cone-shaped hat). He was even tied up with some thick rope, although his horn had been left unbound in case something went wrong.

Lol oh wow 🤣

[Yoshifan30]

And started petting the bridge of the orthrus's nose. It didn't know how to react at first, but was soon overtaken by the sensation, and started wagging its tail as it received a good petting.

"Fluttershy's right," Thorax remarked, "you guys really are just big puppies...."

Wow thorax again your full of surprise

[Yoshifan30]

Hey it's really nice to see the story again so it looks like thorax is having problem to be more assertive but he just doesn't know how to so he asked his father what to do but his father has another changeling who can actually help him and yup Chrysalis is going to help him even as a drill sergeant yes it was a hard work for him but yet he could be himself and can be more assertive he just needs to find a way which Chrysalis brought it out although I do like the payback in the end on pharynx lol so I wonder what's going to happen next I guess we'll find out next time

[Melody Song]

Well, I think you did a really good job! It doesn't seem toxic, and it's funny too! Poor Phar, but at least he might have Discord for company if he's staying with Flutters...

[Starlight Glimmer1]

Dead.

[MattTOB]

11713998
It's not dead; I've just been focusing on a lot of other things, with this getting pushed into the background due to lack of inspiration. So, it's more like 'comatose'.

Sorry to keep you all waiting so long.

[Dragon Verse]

Please sir, may I have some more?