Fitting In Is Hard To Do

by origami

Part II, Chapter 1 - Settling In

The hours following Thorax being granted asylum went by in a flash for the changeling. As soon as the formalities were out of the way, he was once again escorted at spear point to the smithing forges so he could be fitted for a ring. Once he was fitted and the ring made, an enchanter enchanted the ring so that Thorax would only be able to use basic telekinesis, and also one to prevent him from using any magic in a hostile manner.

The sensation of the ring on his horn felt unusual for a couple reasons. Firstly, he had never had anything placed on his horn before. Second, the effects of the enchantment were like having one of his senses turned off. Thorax could no longer feel emotions from other ponies, and had to guess their emotional states based on their body language. "Just like a pony" Thorax thought to himself.

After the ring was placed, a leather strap with a buckle was placed around his barrel, preventing him from using his wings and keeping them pinned to his side. Then came a set of black horseshoes on his hooves that would prevent him from doing serious harm to ponies; The most he could do would be to give an unarmored pony some bruises. The shoes were then enchanted to be both very soft and would resist slipping on wet surfaces like a freshly washed floor. Lastly, he was given a muzzle so that he wouldn't be able to bite any creature with his fangs. The task now completed, Thorax was effectively rendered harmless.

After all of the restraints were in place, Thorax was led through the castle towards the servant's quarters. Instead of a large group of guards, he was only led by two unicorn guards with spears floating by their sides at the ready. Once they reached the servant's quarters, they led him to the back to a small room.

Inside the small room was a unicorn mare. She had white fur, a bluish-white mane which was pulled back into a bun, icy blue eyes, and had a cutie mark of a bottle. As Thorax entered the room, he could tell the mare was not pleased with him being there. She proceeded to address him in a rather curt manner.

"Listen, bug", she spat at him,"I don't know what kind of con job you pulled, but you got your little wish granted, so you best be grateful for that. But if you think for one second that you're just gonna do as you please here, then you're sadly mistaken!"

"You will be awake and ready to work by 8 am every day, and you will obey every single one of my orders, and if you slack off for even one second, I will make sure you regret ever asking to stay here in the empire. Am I understood?"

Thorax nodded his head, but was met with a sharp spell to his snout.

"YES MADAM AMMONIA!" she shouted at him.

"Y-YES MADAM AMMONIA!" he replied, flinching in reaction to her yelling.

"If this is what I have to look forward to, then I doubt you last the first week."

With that last comment, she simply pushed past Thorax and left the room.

The interaction did nothing to bolster Thorax's confidence whatsoever. If this was what he could expect of the ponies he'd be interacting with on a regular basis, then he had a much more uphill climb than he thought.

Then, he remembered all of the friends he'd made in just one day. Spike, Heartfelt, Starlight, and Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship herself.

"I can't be so easily discouraged!", he told himself,"I knew starting out that this wasn't going to be easy, but that doesn't mean that things won't get better! I just have to keep believing!"

A coughing brought his attention to a guard, who was glaring at him disapprovingly. "What Madam Ammonia forgot to tell you is that lights go out at ten",the guard told him,"and you're stuck here for the rest of the night, so no funny business, or else!" He punctuated the last remark by firmly thrusting his spear towards Thorax, but not nearly close enough to do actual damage.

Thorax flinched upon the guard making the stabbing gesture, but calmed after realizing he wasn't about to be skewered. Once calm enough, he gave a nod which seemed to placate, though annoy the guard who threatened him. He then took a seat on the bed in the room and examined his new home.

The room was an interior room that lacked any windows; likely a conscious choice to prevent any possible attempts for him to escape. A single door was the only access point, with the guard standing in front of it to keep Thorax inside. Besides the bed he was sitting on, Thorax took note of a writing desk with a stack of blank parchment and an inkwell with a quill sticking out of it. A few more quills were sticking out of a cubby hole on the desktop.

As Thorax examined the room, a knocking on the door caught his attention. The door then opened to reveal a familiar purple alicorn, along with a lilac colored unicorn and purple dragon. Thorax jumped up from the bed and proceeded to bow.

"Princess Twilight!", He exclaimed,"Starlight! Spike! What are you all doing here?"

"We wanted to see you before we went to bed for the night", answered Twilight,"and please don't bow Thorax. I would never make a friend bow to me."

"I know you consider me a friend, and I am very grateful for that", Thorax acknowledged,"but you are still a princess, and I will always respect that title."

"I appreciate that Thorax, but it really isn't necessary", Twilight responded,"Anyways, we wanted to tell you that we unfortunately have to leave to return home tomorrow."

Thorax frowned. "I wasn't expecting you all to be leaving so soon."

"I wish we could stay for longer too", she replied,"but I have duties to attend to back in Ponyville, and I also want to tell my friends about you too. I might even be able to convince them to come back with me to meet you."

Thorax perked up upon hearing the word friends. "When you say friends, do you mean...?"

Twilight nodded. "Yep. The other five elements."

Thorax had a rather large smile on his face. Ever since Canterlot, he had been motivated to accomplish his goal of finding friends by the example they had unknowingly set for him. Getting the chance to meet them for real would be a dream come true.

Twilight's smile faltered slightly before she added,"Of course, I am gonna have to give them the heads up about you being a changeling. None of them are too fond of changelings after what happened in Canterlot.

Thorax's spirits were dampened a little by that remark. "I certainly hope they can at least give me the chance to show that I'm not like the rest of the hive."

Twilight put a hoof to his shoulder and gave him a smile. "I'm sure I can convince them to do that at least." she reassured him.

The sound of Starlight clearing her throat caught both Thorax and Twilight's attention. "I hate to interrupt the conversation, but it is getting late and we should get to bed before the lights go out."

Twilight looked towards a clock Thorax hadn't noticed before and her eyes widened slightly. "Wow", she said,"I didn't realize it was getting that late. We should be getting up to bed. We'll make sure to come down and see you before we leave."

"I'll be looking forward to it", replied Thorax.

Twilight smiled at Thorax and moved back. Spike, who had been standing off to one side, stepped forward towards his friend. He had a look of displeasure on his face.

"Can't say I'm a fan of all the gear you're wearing" he said with a slight displeasure in his voice.

"I'm not wild about it either", Thorax admitted,"but if it's what I have to do to demonstrate that I do want to live here peacefully among the crystal ponies, then that's what I have to do."

"Well, I still don't like it" Spike reiterated.

"Well, hopefully it won't be too long before he's proven how unnecessary they are and Cadance will agree to removing them", Twilight said reassuringly, then produced a scroll from a small set of saddle bags on her back,"Now, I believe you wanted to give this to Thorax?"

Spike took the scroll from Twilight and offered it to Thorax. "This is our mailing address in Ponyville", he explained,"Anytime you want to write us a letter, just write the address on the corner of the envelope and the mail ponies will make sure it gets delivered to us."

Thorax smiled upon hearing he would have a way to communicate with his friends, but frowned slightly when he realized something. "I've never written a letter before" he admitted.

"Oh", Spike said, but then smiled,"It's easy. Just write down what you want to tell me, put it in an envelope with our address on it, and then take it to the post office for them to deliver it to us."

"Okay", Thorax replied,"but I won't be able to send you any letters for six months at least, since I'm not allowed to leave the castle yet."

"Maybe Sunburst would be willing to mail the letters for you?" Starlight offered.

"Who's Sunburst?" asked Thorax.

"He's an old friend of mine", Starlight answered,"He was named the royal crystaller when he helped fix the Crystal Heart."

"The Crystal Heart?" Thorax questioned.

Twilight butted in and almost went full teacher mode. "The Crystal Heart is the large magic gem at the base of the palace. It has powerful magic that keeps the empire protected from the harsh weather that the frozen north provides. Last time we were here, Flurry actually broke it by accident."

Thorax blinked. "The newborn filly?" he questioned,"She broke the Crystal Heart?"

Starlight giggled. "She has a good set of lungs on her. I think she may get a special talent in singing when she gets older."

Thorax was confused for a moment, but then a random thought popped into his head: Traveling through Manehattan, he had seen advertisements for an opera singer whose voice was supposedly so powerful, it could shatter crystal glass. Apparently, little Flurry had that ability as well. "Oh, I get it", he said in understanding,"She has a strong voice."

Starlight nodded. "Anyways, Sunburst agreed to evaluate you on what stuff you know and what he needs to teach you to be able to live among ponies. I'm sure if you ask him, he'll agree to send the letters for you."

"Won't he be afraid of me?" Thorax questioned.

"Actually", Starlight responded,"I think he's really eager to meet you. He told me that he was going to come down here in a bit to introduce himself properly."

Thorax smiled upon hearing that there was a pony that was actually looking forward to meeting him. It was a nice change from so many opting to run and hide at the sight of him. That thought made Thorax frown.

"What's wrong?" Starlight asked.

"I'm just thinking about the road ahead of me", Thorax replied,"I'm glad to hear that Sunburst seems so eager to meet me, but I know most ponies are going to take some time to warm up to me."

"That's the important part to remember, Thorax", Starlight told him reassuringly,"It might take some time, but ponies will warm up to you. Just have confidence in yourself. I mean, look how far you've come already."

She did have a point. The day before yesterday, he had nopony to call a friend. Now, he had four friends, and he was in the Crystal Empire with permission to stay, even if for just six months. It was more than he would've ever thought he'd have at all. The thought made him smile. At that moment, a thought popped into his mind.

"What happened to Heartfelt?", he asked.

Twilight and Starlight traded nervous glances before Twilight gave a response. "Cadance and Shining Armor punished him for not telling them where you were when he found out. I argued for him to have some leniency, but he still has to do about a month's worth of community service. At the very least, he won't be serving any time in a prison."

"Oh", Thorax replied, "Well, I suppose that's not as bad as it could've been."

"None of that is your fault, Thorax", Starlight said reassuringly,"Heartfelt made his own choice."

"I know", he responded,"I'm just afraid of what will happen afterwards. He could lose his job after this."

Twilight grimaced a little upon realizing that that could still happen, but offered reassurance. "That's true, but even if that did happen, I know there are plenty of places in Equestria where his services would be in demand. He wouldn't be hurting for a job if it came to that."

Thorax nodded, the words giving him hope that things would turn out better for his friend. Before he could say anything else, Spike let out a loud yawn.

"Well", Twilight began while smirking,"I believe it's time for some little dragon to go to bed." Spike was about to protest, but he realized that there wouldn't be any point, and he was getting pretty worn out from the day that all of them had.

"Well, thank you all for coming to see me", Thorax told them,"I hope I'll get to see you all before you leave."

"You will", Twilight told him,"We'll make sure of it." With that, the two mares and dragon each gave Thorax a hug and left to go back to the guest suite. Thorax sat back down on the bed and looked back up at the clock. He guessed it was about 9:30? He wasn't too good with reading pony clocks, or any clocks for that matter. The only time he ever needed to keep was his own internal clock.

Several knocks resonated off the door. It opened to reveal a unicorn stallion that Thorax was somewhat familiar with. He was colored auburn, with splotches of gray-white in different places, and was wearing a pair of spectacles and cape. It was the same pony that was keeping watch of Flurry Heart earlier in the throne room.

"H-Hello", the stallion greeted nervously,"I-I'm Sunburst." He then proceeded to offer his hoof to Thorax. The changeling sat there for a moment trying to decide what to do. He then decided to get up off the bed and bump his hoof against Sunburst's.

"It's nice to finally meet you properly this time", he began,"I'm Thorax."

"Y-yes", Sunburst responded,"W-Well, I'm going to be teaching you some things while you're here, and also testing you to see what kind of aptitudes you have. Honestly, I'm a little excited to be doing this."

"Really?", Thorax said while raising an eyebrow,"You seem rather nervous?"

Sunburst looked at him for a moment, and then let out a breath. "Yeah, I am", he admitted,"I wasn't in Canterlot when the invasion happened, but I heard it was rather awful, especially the stories from the ponies that were attacked and had love taken from them."

Thorax winced upon hearing this; That day in Canterlot was the biggest hurdle to overcome if he wanted the friends and acceptance he so desperately craved. If it was having this kind of effect on ponies that had no direct involvement in it, he could only imagine what those who were involved were going through. "Perhaps I can talk to somepony about trying to help those ponies somehow" Thorax thought to himself.

"W-Well", Sunburst continued while still sounding nervous,"I'm going to be heading to bed soon, so I figured I would stop by to introduce myself properly and ask you if you have any questions."

Thorax thought for a moment and then remembered what Spike and Starlight had told him. He presented a scroll to Sunburst. "Spike told me I could send letters to that address to communicate with him, but I don't have a way to send them to him. Starlight said you might be willing to send my letters along with your own letters to her. Can you do that?"

"O-Of course!", Sunburst replied,"That's no problem at all! I'd be happy to send letters for you."

"Thank you", Thorax said to him,"It means a lot to be able to communicate with my first ever friend. Perhaps as time goes on, maybe we could become friends?"

"M-Maybe", Sunburst replied,"b-but we'll have to see. I'll be in the library tomorrow when we have our first lesson. I'll make sure to give you an old pair of saddlebags so you can carry the books I'll be giving you with you."

"You're giving me books?" Thorax asked.

"Well, not so much give as loan", Sunburst clarified,"I figure that the time you're not using for the community service can be used to study. There's also some good novels I can loan you so you don't get bored."

"That sounds like a lot" Thorax said.

"It won't be so bad", Sunburst said reassuringly,"Take as much time as you need with them, and return them when you're finished. In truth, they're the library's property, but I'm taking them out on my account. I have an agreement with the librarian so that I may keep the books longer than would normally be allowed."

"Okay?" Thorax replied, not sounding too confident. Sunburst then let out a yawn and looked at the clock.

"Wow, it's almost ten", Sunburst observed,"I really need to be going. Get a good night's sleep and I'll see you tomorrow." With that, the stallion gave a rather quick trot out of the room.

Thorax walked back over to the bed and saw the clock was now reading 9:55. Soon, the lights would go out and he would have to try and get some sleep. At the moment, he felt rather tired, but also so full of energy. He had some interesting past two days: Meeting every current princess in Equestria, having his nightmare thwarted by Princess Luna herself, making his very first ever friends, and being given an asylum, even if only temporarily.

A final knocking that evening caught his attention as the door opened to reveal what Thorax assumed was another guard, but looked very different. They had slitted eyes like a cat and fangs similar to his own. The new guard made a salute to the other already in the room, who returned it and face Thorax.

"This is one of the Lunar Guard that Princess Luna has loaned us to keep watch of you. He's been given orders not to speak to you unless you attempt to provoke him or do something that isn't behaving like the good little bug you're pretending to be. Got it?"

Thorax gulped and nodded.

"Good" the guard replied, then turned to face the Lunar Guard. "You'll be relieved of duty when it's time for this thing to start his community service. Keep your spear at the ready in case he tries something. Stay alert and good night." The guard left the room and closed the door behind him. True to what he said, the new guard said nothing, but glared at Thorax with almost hungry looking eyes.
Thorax did his best to ignore this and looked at the clock, now reading 9:58. He elected to try and sleep, so he laid down in the bed and looked up at the clock. True to what he was told, when the clock struck ten, the lights all fizzled out and left the room in darkness.

Though, it wasn't totally dark for Thorax. His changeling eyes could pick up ambient light better than a pony's could, so he had a limited amount of night vision. He looked over at the guard and was startled to see the guard eyes had went from slits to wide pupils. "They must be like cat's eyes" Thorax thought to himself.

A yawn then escaped Thorax's muzzle. The day had finally caught up with him, so with a brief shifting to nestle more comfortably into bed, Thorax relaxed his body and allowed himself to fall asleep.

---

"You... WHAT?!"

Cadance flinched slightly as her husband raised his voice to her. "Please calm down!", she tried to reason with him,"You're going to wake Flurry up!"

Shining responded by casting a privacy spell on the two of them. "Calm down?!", he responded incredulously,"I've just been told by my own wife that she has permitted one of the parasitic love monsters that almost completely sabotaged our wedding to stay in our empire, and I'm expected to be calm about this?!"

"Shining, please", she tried again,"Yelling at the top of your lungs isn't going to magically solve the problem. Even actual magic isn't going to solve it."

"So what?!", he asked her sharply,"I'm just supposed to be okay with this?! How can I possibly be okay with this?!"

Cadance was beginning to get irritated with Shining's treatment, so she elected to approach the problem as intelligently as she could.

"Honestly, you should", she replied,"After all, you're the one who insisted on this being made official."

Shining was going to give an immediate retort, but his wife's comment caught him completely off guard. "What are you talking about?" he asked her.

"It's really quite simple", Cadance began,"I suggested presenting the offer in private, with just the changeling and myself, but you wouldn't hear of it. You insisted that I have a full compliment of guards present to prevent any possible attacks from the changeling."

"Of course I insisted on guards!", Shining answered back,"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Shining", she continued, getting to her point, "you gave the changeling an entire group of witnesses that can testify that I made an offer to him and he accepted. If something happens and the guards are questioned about his presence and have a truth spell placed on them, they'll come clean and say we gave the changeling the offer."

Shining listen to what his wife had just told him and realized his mistake. By wanting to keep his wife safe, he opened a door that allowed the changeling to get into the empire. He smacked a hoof against his head and let out a scream of anguish.

"It's too late for that now Shining", Cadance continued,"We've made this bed, and now we must lie in it." The princess made her way over to her bed, and then remembered back to the conclusion of the meeting. "You know the funniest thing about all of this", she commented,"is that the changeling actually thanked me for letting him stay here."

Shining let out a chuckle, but not from amusement. "Of course he would", he retorted,"He eats love, and there's more love here than anywhere else in Equestria. It's like letting a fat colt into a candy store and telling him he can eat whatever he likes."

"Well, he won't just get to pig out whenever he feels like it", Cadance responded,"Those restraints you suggested are real, which worries me. I was almost certain that those would've dissuaded him from wanting to stay here."

"Clearly he must know of some way to circumvent the wards", Shining deduced,"Otherwise, he would never have agreed to putting them on in the first place."

"Perhaps", Cadance admitted,"but all of the guards we have assigned to him have been checked and none of them are changelings, and none of the staff are either."

"How can we be sure?", Shining countered,"Even checking all current staff, there's still ones that have been either on sick leave or vacation. They'll need to be checked as soon as they come back."

"And they will be", Cadance reassured,"but all current staff have checked out."

"Again, Cadance", Shining replied,"How can we be sure?"

Cadance gave an annoyed huff before responding,"Because I checked them myself! Do you seriously doubt my magical abilities? I know I wasn't a life long unicorn like you, but that doesn't mean I'm a total novice to spellcraft or that my magic is particularly weak!"

Shining considered her words, then let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Cadance", he apologized,"This whole changeling situation has gotten me rather worked up. I'm sure you've done everything to ensure everypony's safety. I just want to make sure we haven't left any weaknesses exposed that the changelings can exploit."

"I understand, dear", Cadance reassured her husband,"Now, let's get some rest."

Shining nodded, and the two ponies went to bed. Shining went to sleep almost immediately, having gotten used to a strict sleeping schedule from years of guard duty. Cadance, however, was still awake. Lingering in her mind was the last words the changeling had said to her:

"I know that wasn't an easy choice for you to make, but before I leave, I just wanted to say... Thank you."

He knew how hard the decision was? Cadance had a hard time believing that, but what if it was true? Did he truly want to live in peace with the ponies, no strings attached? More importantly, would she be willing to grant him the chance? Fatigue was beginning to set in on the princess, so for the moment, she pushed the thoughts aside and went to sleep.

Author's Note:

Thus begins the journey of Thorax's journey to making peace with ponies. I don't plan on this part of the story being particularly long in terms of number of chapters, but a lot will happen in it. Some good things and some bad, but I won't spoil anything here.

Comments

[Scyphi]

"I knew starting out that this wasn't going to be easy, but that doesn't mean that things won't get better! I just have to keep believing!"

Shining responded by casting a privacy spell on the two of them. "Calm down?!", he responded incredulously,"I've just been told by my own wife that she has permitted one of the parasitic love monsters that almost completely sabotaged our wedding to stay in our empire, and I'm expected to be calm about this?!"

Uh...yeah? I mean, it's not like Cadance didn't run you through the plan for this in advance, because you clearly had signed off on it as well as made some additions of your own, so clearly you were absolutely opening yourself up to this possibility actually coming to pass.

I mean, it's like a supervillain giving their prisoner the option to choose to either stay and endure imprisonment or to be allowed the chance to escape scott-free, and expecting the prisoner to still only ever choose imprisonment regardless. I mean, seriously, Shining--I know you're not using your brain much here, but you're not that much of a idiot! What did you think would happen when you gave your okay for the chance to be offered?