Part II, Chapter 4 - Meeting Heroes
It has been one month since Thorax the changeling was permitted to stay in the Crystal Empire. In that time, many things happened to him. He'd agreed to be placed in a series of restraints that would prevent him from causing harm to those around him, though he had no intention of causing any creature he met harm. The palace guards had been treating him more like a prisoner than a guest, but their initial hostility towards him had diminished somewhat from the first day. In truth, most of the ponies he'd interacted with in the past month had become less aggressive in their treatment of Thorax with the exception of two - Feather Duster and Elbow Grease.
While there was plenty of negative things to say about Thorax's asylum, there were positives. He had managed to make two new friends in the form of Sunburst and Brass Polish, his teacher and work mate respectively. Sunburst was a scholar at heart, and had spent much of his life studying spells, incantations, and potions to further the current state of Equestrian magic. Brass Polish was working in the palace with hopes of one day being able to attend a university where she could study metal forging magic so she could pursue her dream of owning her own silver smithing business, making things from jewelry to various decorative items.
Currently, Thorax was changing linens in a guest bedroom. Normally, the linens would only need changed after a guest had stayed in the room, but there was supposedly an important pony coming and the palace staff were ordered to clean and prepare the palace so that it was in the best condition possible. So, the changeling set about removing the silken bedsheets and pillow covers and replacing them with a new, clean set.
He was also being supervised by Feather Duster currently, who didn't say or do anything but glare at Thorax as he worked. The mare, along with Elbow Grease, had seen to it that Thorax's work was made as difficult as possible. The most common offense was claiming that the original job performed was unsatisfactory and forcing the changeling to do it again, though occasionally making a "small mess" for him to clean up also occurred.
As he finished making up the bed, his thoughts drifted to his friends, specifically Spike. The small dragon had written him a letter a few weeks ago and offered him words of encouragement. Thorax hadn't yet written a reply, but he intended to.
"Get a move on!", an annoyed Feather Duster barked,"There's six more rooms after this one, and then we'll have to go dusting the tables in the hallway!"
"Yes, Ma'am" replied Thorax as he finished the last pillow and set it back onto the bed. The mare let out an a huff before exiting the room. Thorax followed her out and was stopped by a guard.
"This one finally going to the dungeon?" Feather asked the guard.
"No", the guard replied,"I'm to inform him that his lesson with Sunburst has been cancelled for today."
Thorax looked down at the floor dejectedly; Having his lessons with Sunburst was easily his favorite part of the day. Honestly, any part that didn't involve him being spoken harshly to or treated poorly was his favorite part.
"I'm also to tell him that he is to follow his guard to a designated location when the time for his daily lesson would normally occur", the guard then added.
That caught Thorax's attention. He'd be going to a designated location? Was he in trouble for something. He had to find out.
"Where am I being taken to?" he asked the guard.
"I don't know!", the guard answered curtly,"I wasn't told where you were going to, just to tell you you were going!"
Thorax didn't say anything else. He simply followed behind Feather into the next room to be prepared.
Inside another part of the Crystal Palace, Starlight Glimmer was walking alongside her friend and teacher Twilight Sparkle, the latter looking rather nervous about something.
"Don't worry", Starlight attempted to ease Twilight's nerves. "Everything will go smoothly. Just try and relax."
"I cant!", Twilight exclaimed a little more loudly than she'd intended,"There's just so many ways that today could go wrong!"
Twilight's nerves were the result of a plan she set into motion a month ago. Upon returning to Ponyville from the Crystal Empire, she was greeted at the train station by the other five ponies who along with her made up the elements of harmony. All of them had asked the two mares about their trip, but both Twilight and Starlight had been keeping details about the trip secret. When called out on this by Applejack, the farm pony and element of honesty, Twilight asked the girls if they could all set some time aside so they could travel to the Crystal Empire in the near future, promising the group that what she had to tell them was simply too big to try and explain on her own. While some of her friends were rather reluctant to plan for such a journey due to prior commitments, they all agreed to a trip at the end of month.
"Starlight, all my friends only know about changelings as the monstrous creatures they had to fight off in Canterlot", Twilight continued,"There's a very real chance that some of them may never consider the idea that a changeling could want to turn over a new leaf and be friends with us. I don't want this to go badly, but I'm just so afraid that it will!"
Starlight understood her friend's worry, but knew better than to doubt the five ponies in question. "Twilight, you're getting worked up over nothing", she said reassuringly,"Yeah, it's possible that some of our friends might not see Thorax as a friend, but that doesn't mean you can't convince them to give him a chance at least. I mean, that's all we can really ask of them is to give Thorax a chance to prove he wants to be friends with all of us."
Twilight considered Starlight's words and let out a sigh as she finally relaxed. "You're right", she agreed,"I might not be able to convince them that Thorax is good and wants to be friends, but I can at least convince them to hear him out."
"That's better", Starlight said,"Now, let's get back to the girls before Rainbow Dash jumps out a window and does a bazillion laps around the Crystal Palace out of boredom!"
"You know bazillion isn't a real number, right?" Twilight responded with a smirk.
"Well, it's sounds better than saying 'a butt load'" Starlight shot back jokingly, causing both mares to giggle as they made their way back to their friends.
"Come on, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she slumped down in the chair she was sitting in.
"Hold yer hooves steady, Rainbow", Applejack told the pegasus,"I'm sure Twilight will be back right soon."
"Yeah, Dashie!", Pinkie Pie chimed in,"You act like we've been sitting here all day."
"Pinkie", Rainbow Dash said looking at her friend,"We've been sitting here since that servant brought us to this dining room, and that was an hour ago! You guys know I can't sit still for long!"
"Rainbow", Rarity chimed in,"If you can stand still for a dress fitting session, then you can certainly stay seated while we wait for Twilight to come back."
Rainbow huffed as she crossed her forelegs and pouted.
"I wonder what kind of surprise Twilight has for us", Fluttershy pondered in a quiet voice, though not so quiet that nopony could hear her.
"I must admit that I am rather curious about why she brought us here as well", Rarity agreed,"I mean, for her to ask ALL of us to come here at the same time must mean that it's somethings REALLY important."
"It better be", Rainbow said sternly,"I gave up a practice with the Wonderbolts for this, and I only got off for this when I said this was doing this for a princess."
"And I appreciate the effort you all went through to be able to come here today."
Twilight's voice caught the group's attention as she walked in the room flanked by Starlight. "I'm sorry we're so late", she offered,"but what I needed to discuss with Cadance took a little longer than I expected."
"Yeah, Yeah, yeah", Rainbow said impatiently,"We get it. Now what did you drag us all the way up here for anyway?"
"RAINBOW!", Applejack shouted while bring her hooves down on the crystalline table,"If ya don't calm yerself down right this second, I'll see to it that you don't get one drop of next year's apple cider!"
The cyan pegasus immediately sat down quietly and stayed still, not wanting to chance making the apple farmer upset.
"Thank you, Applejack" Twilight said, which earned a nod from the orange pony. "Now, as Rainbow Dash so astutely pointed out, all of you are rather curious as to why I asked you to come here today. I will be glad to explain, but I ask for your patience as what I'm going to tell you will be both a bit difficult to explain, and possibly harder yet to believe."
Twilight levitated a glass and pitcher of water from the center of the table and poured herself a drink. Once her thirst was quenched, she continued.
"Now, you'll all remember that I decided to travel back to the Crystal Empire so that I could visit Shining, Cadance and little Flurry. While I was here, something really big had happened - A changeling was spotted in the outskirts of the empire."
The revelation brought gasps from all the ponies in the room save for Twilight and Starlight.
Rainbow got a scowl and smile on her face. "Aw yeah!", she exclaimed,"You were calling in the big guns so we can thoroughly woop some changeling flank!" The mare punctuated the last sentence with several kicks into the air.
Applejack shook her head with her own scowl. "Now what are them varmints up to?" she asked.
Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy had all different reactions: Rarity wanted to faint though she didn't, Pinkie had produced a manual for her party cannon and was looking up ways to convert it to fire actual munitions, and Fluttershy cowered under the table.
"Now, girls, calm down!", Twilight said in an effort to get the group's attention,"I want you to hear the full story before making any kind of decision."
"Make any kind of decision?", Rainbow asked incredulously,"It's changelings! The same monsters that ruined your brother and sister in law's wedding day?"
"Yes, Rainbow!", Twilight replied,"I'm well aware of that! Now please be quiet and listen to this whole story!" She cast a glance at all of her friends and added "Don't make me have to use spells on all of you."
The group looked at each other before Applejack answered on everypony's behalf. "Okay, sugarcube. We'll listen."
"Thank you" Twilight said before continuing the tale. "Now, as I was saying, a changeling was spotted on the outskirts. This obviously prompted safety measures to be put in place, including the avoiding of going outdoors alone and verifying everypony's identity. When we got here and were checked, Spike, being recognized as a hero by the Crystal Ponies, was asked to lead a search party for it. Long story short, during the search he fell in a cave and found the changeling."
"Now, this is where the story takes a turn for the unexpected. Upon Spike seeing the changeling, he attempted to flee, but knocked himself senseless on a rock in the cave. That would've been bad enough, but he then proceeded to slip and fall into a chasm in the cave."
All the ponies looked shocked upon hearing that, but Twilight continued her story.
"Spike came to as he was falling and thought that he was going to perish, but then the unthinkable happened: The changeling saved his life."
The looks of the mares in the room went from surprised to skeptical very quickly. "I know", Twilight continued,"I didn't believe it either, but another pony was nearby and watched the whole thing happen, and he wasn't under any kind of enchantment to make him say that either. The changeling genuinely exhibited a good conscience and saved Spike."
None of the mares in the room had an answer to what they had just learned. After several moments, Applejack finally asked,"Why'd they do it?"
"Because this changeling is different", Twilight explained,"All his life he believed that his hive's ways of deceiving ponies and stealing love were wrong, and when he saw what they were doing in Canterlot, he-"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait", Rainbow Dash interrupted,"He was in Canterlot?! We actually did battle with this thing?!"
"Yes, he was there, and no, we did not fight him" Twilight replied. "He was ordered to go against his will by Chrysalis, but he didn't harm anypony while he was there. He saw all of the things his kind were doing and knew that he couldn't do anything to stop them. But then he saw something that changed his life and gave him the goal of finding a better way for his kind."
"What did he see?" asked a curious Fluttershy, now seated in her chair once again.
"Us" answered Twilight.
"Us?", Applejack asked in confusion,"What do you mean he saw us?"
"He saw us as we tried to get the elements from the vault" Twilight explained,"Remember when the changelings tried to swarm us in that plaza?"
All five mares had nodded as they recalled the events from that day.
"Well, that's when he saw us as we fought that swarm", Twilight continued,"He saw how we all worked together to stop the changelings, and was so moved by it, he decided then and there that friendship was what his kind needed, and that trying to feed off of it was wrong. Once he left his hive, he came back to Equestria in an effort to make friends with the ponies there and put his plan into motion."
"I take it that this plan of his didn't exactly go off without a hitch?" Rarity inferred from her friend's explanation.
"No, it didn't", Twilight responded,"Every place he tried, the ponies would either not hear of it and chase him off, or just chase him off outright. After a while, he sensed all the love coming from the Crystalling and was drawn up here by his hunger. He came through a blizzard and managed to get here, but somepony spotted him and raised the alarm before he got the chance to even try."
"Aww", Pinkie reacted,"I feel so bad for him, trying to make friends with ponies and nopony wanting to be his friend."
"Well, he is from a race of creatures that resort to stealing love from others",Rainbow Dash pointed out,"You can't blame ponies for not wanting to be friends with any of those things."
"Which is why I'm asking all of you to give him a chance."
The request from Twilight caused all five mares in the room to look at her as though she had just sprouted a second head.
"You want us to become friends with that... him?" Rarity responded, choosing her last word carefully upon seeing her friend giving a very disapproving glare.
"Well, yes and no", Twilight explained,"What I want from all of you is to just give him a chance to prove that he isn't like his kind and that he truly wants to be friends with us."
"That's all?", asked Applejack,"Just give him a chance to prove he's nice? We don't have to be his friends if we don't feel comfortable with the idea?"
"Yes" Twilight replied hesitantly. "If you don't want to be his friend after you all meet him, then I won't force you to do so. I will say, however, that he's a rather big fan of ours and has been looking forward to meeting us. Let's at least be polite when we see him."
"But like I said, he does genuinely want to be friends with us, so the very least we can do is hear him out. So, can I count on all of you to at least give him a chance?"
The mares in the room all looked at each other with a great deal of uncertainty. After several minutes, Rarity gave her answer.
"Well, I suppose I can't call myself the element of generosity if I wasn't generous enough to give him at least one chance."
Surprisingly, Fluttershy was next to speak.
"Um, if he really isn't mean, then I guess I can give him a chance too."
Pinkie gave a comically long "Hmm" before eventually agreeing with a loud "Okay!"
Applejack and Rainbow Dash were the last two ponies at the table who hadn't yet answered. They both looked at each other and the other three of their friends who agreed. Eventually, Applejack let out a sigh of defeat.
"C'mon Rainbow", she said to her friend,"We might as well get this over with."
Rainbow looked at her friend with a small amount of shock before she let out a huff.
"Okay", she relented,"since everypony here is gonna give him a chance, I might as well too. But if he tries to hurt a hair on anypony's head, I'll sock him so hard that his eyes will be spinning!"
"Trust me", a smiling Twilight said,"He won't do anything of the sort." Twilight then turned to Starlight and asked her,"Would you please go wait for him out in the hallway and let me know when he gets here?"
"Certainly, Twilight" she replied, and then got up and walked out the door to wait for Thorax.
It was approaching noon and Thorax was being led by a pair of guards down a hallway he recognized as having a special dining hall for important guests of the empire. This hallway also held their guestrooms, as he remembered his brief stay with Princess Twilight in her suite. A part of him hoped that he would see the mare again in the future, along with Spike, his first real friend.
Rounding a corner, Thorax wondered what his three friends were doing now. He had ran into Heartfelt a week or so ago, and had found out that he wasn't going to be left go for what he did, which relieved the changeling to no end. The pony told him that he was simply to do the community service assigned and then write a formal apology to both Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor for his failure to report Thorax's whereabouts when he learned of them.
"There you are!"
The voice had caught Thorax off guard, but as soon as he recognized it, he looked up. Standing outside the set of double doors leading to the dining hall was a lilac coated mare with a purple and teal mane and tail.
"Starlight!" he exclaimed.
"Thorax!" Starlight said as she ran up to meet him, embracing the changeling in a hug. They stood there for a moment before she released Thorax. "How have you been?" she asked him.
"Well, it wasn't so great at the start", Thorax admitted,"but things have gotten better since the last time. I've even-"
Starlight put a hoof to Thorax's muzzle covered muzzle to pause him. "I really do want to hear about all the things that have happened to you so far", she said,"but I think there's somepony else that would like to hear about it as well."
Thorax looked at her confused for a moment before his eyes went wide in realization. "Spike and Twilight?!" he exclaimed.
Starlight's enthusiastic looked changed to a regretful looking one. "Well, just Twilight unfortunately", Starlight admitted,"Spike got called away to the dragon lands."
"Aww!", Thorax said in disappointment,"I was really hoping to get to see my first real friend again!"
"I know, it's terrible", Starlight admitted,"but he did give me this to give you." Starlight then produced a scroll and handed it to Thorax. Opening it, he saw it was a letter addressed to him:
Thorax,
I'm sorry I couldn't come to the Crystal Empire with Twilight and Starlight to visit you, but I was called away by Dragon Lord Ember for something important. When the dragon lord summons you, you have to go. I promise I'll come and visit you at the soonest opportunity I can get.
Your friend,
Spike
Thorax smiled as he read the note. "I hope he gets another chance to see me soon" he said.
"I'm sure he will", Starlight told him reassuringly,"Now, on to the next order of business."
"What's that?" Thorax asked with a curious look.
"You don't remember?", Starlight asked,"Something Princess Twilight said she was going to attempt to do?"
Thorax took a few moments to think, and realization hit him head on. "They're here?!", he asked excitedly,"Twilight convinced them?!"
Starlight nodded. "Admittedly, some of them were pretty reluctant, but they did all agree to meet you."
Thorax was a little disappointed that the five mares seemed a bit apprehensive about meeting him, but he couldn't blame them after their last encounter with changelings. He just hoped he could win them over and become friends with them all.
"Now, here's what we're gonna do", Starlight started explaining,"I'm gonna give Twilight a heads up that you're out here, then she'll let me know when it's okay for you to come in, and then we'll get everypony introduced."
"Sounds like a plan" Thorax agreed, though a bit nervous.
Starlight gave him a nod as she walked over to the door and knocked on it gently.
Twilight had heard the knocking on the door and excused herself to answer it.
"He's here, Twilight" Starlight informed her.
"Okay", she replied,"Just give us a minute and I'll tell you when it's okay to come in."
Twilight closed the door and faced her five friends. "Now, remember what we agreed to", she reminded them,"You're all going to give him a chance, so no trying to lasso and hogtie him Applejack, or bowling him over and trying to knock the daylights out of him Rainbow!"
"My words are my bond, Twilight" Applejack replied.
"Fine, I won't!", answered Rainbow Dash tersely.
Twilight nodded and opened the door.
"Okay, you can both come in now."
Twilight stepped away and went back to her seat. Starlight came through the door a moment later, flanked by a palace guard. A few moments passed as Starlight, who had taken her seat, looked back with confusion.
Another second later, and Thorax sheepishly walked in. The mares at the table looked at him with surprise. It wasn't so much that Twilight had been telling the truth and an actual changeling had walked into the room, but all of the restraints on him. The muzzle on his face, the magic-prohibiting ring on his horn, and the large belt wrapped around his barrel pinning his wings down. Instantly, the quintet became very suspicious of what Twilight had told them about the changeling being friendly.
Thorax looked at the group eyeing him with skeptical looks, and decided that he should attempt to break the ice. "Um, h-hello" he greeted them as he waved his hoof.
The gesture was met with a continuation of the stares. Twilight elected to find a way to break the tension.
"Why don't you come over and sit with us?", Twilight offered,"You can take this seat between Starlight and I."
"Thank you" he replied as he slowly walked over to the table and took a seat with the mares. The looks continued, and made Thorax want to turn into a fly and make a quick escape. Twilight pressed on with trying to relieve the tension.
"So, why don't you introduce yourself to everypony?" she offered.
"Oh! Uh, yeah", Thorax agreed,"That's a good idea. Uh, my name is Thorax. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."
The stares kept going for a few more seconds before the orange earth pony decided to speak. "Howdy", she said in a muted voice,"I'm Applejack."
"Rainbow Dash" the cyan pegasus then spat out.
"Hiya! I'm Pinkie!" came the enthusiastic greeting of the pink pony.
"I'm Fluttershy" said the yellow pegasus, who Thorax didn't hear and looked at Twilight.
"Her name's Fluttershy", she told him,"She's not so good with introductions"
"Heh, neither am I" Thorax said, hoping the admission would perhaps ease some of the tense air in the room.
"And I'm Rarity" came the voice of the last pony to introduce themselves, the white unicorn. Upon hearing her name, Thorax remembered something from his journey.
"Rarity?", he asked,"As in 'Rarity for You' Rarity?"
The mare's eyes went wide. "You know of my boutique?" she asked Thorax in response.
"Yeah", he answered,"I passed by it when I was traveling through Manehattan. You make very beautiful clothing. In fact, I'd considered trying to throw on a disguise so I could come in and try something on."
"Really?" she asked him in disbelief.
"Yes, really!", he replied,"You have a lot of talent to be able to make all of those things."
The tension was effectively broken, at least when it came to Rarity. "Well, I must say", she began,"This is a rather pleasant surprise. Who would've thought that I would be receiving praise for my dresswork from a changeling?"
"Pretty sure nopony here would've" answered Applejack, who Thorax noticed had also seemed to ease up on her mistrust of him.
"Yeah, yeah", came the voice of Rainbow Dash,"What's with the get up?"
"Rainbow!", Twilight scolded,"That's really rude to ask something like that!"
"It's okay, Twilight", Thorax told the mare,"I'm sure it's the... sixty-four thousand bit question? Is that right?"
Twilight nodded.
"It's part of the agreement I signed to stay here", Thorax explained,"I have to stay in the castle and do community service for six months, or at least that's what I think it's supposed to be. Besides that, I have to be in these restraints so I don't hurt anypony, not that I would if these weren't on anyway."
"No offense", Rainbow interjected,"but that's really making you sound like a criminal."
"Rainbow!" Twilight scolded again.
"I said no offense!" Rainbow responded.
"Yeah, I know how it makes it look", Thorax admitted,"but if it's what I have to do to earn the trust of the ponies here, then it's what I have to do."
"Well, I can't speak for everypony here, but I look forward to the day that they take those off and you can be here without any restriction" Starlight offered to try and inject a positive mood into the conversation.
"I do too", Thorax replied,"I just hope that the princess and the captain will trust me by then."
"Princess Cadance and Captain Shining don't trust you?" came the soft voice of Fluttershy, now loud enough that Thorax could just hear her clearly.
"I'm afraid they don't, and I don't blame them", Thorax answered,"After what happened at their wedding, I wouldn't blame them if they never trusted changelings again."
"Speaking of the wedding", Rarity interjected,"Twilight told us that you were there and saw all of us, and that we apparently gave you some motivation?"
"You most certainly did!", Thorax told her with a smile,"I'd always been different from the other changelings. I realized it when I was just a grub freshly hatched from my egg. I spent most of my life being tormented and bullied because of it. Even my broodmates, especially my older brother Pharynx were in on it."
"That's terrible" Fluttershy said in reaction to the revelation.
"It got worse as I got older", Thorax continued,"Every changeling has to learn to be able to infiltrate whatever society we're assigned to go to, but I was so bad at it by the hive's standards, that I was deemed unfit and made to be a janitor for the hive. In fact, if the attempt to take over Equestria at the wedding hadn't happened, I'd probably still be there now."
"But y'all saw us there?" Applejack asked, prodding the changeling to continue his story.
"I did, but who else are you speaking to?" he asked with confusion.
"What do ya mean?" replied Applejack.
"Y'all", Thorax said,"As in You All?"
"Oh", Applejack realized,"I say that whether I'm talkin' to a group a ponies or just one. Anyways, you were there and saw us, right?"
"I was, and I'm glad that I did", Thorax told them,"I was so moved by seeing all of you work together against my kind that I knew then and there that the answer to the problems that have been plaguing me all my life was friendship. More than that, I also realized just how wrong it was to steal the love associated with that, so I swore never to take any more love unless the pony it came from allowed me to do so."
"Then how do you get love here?" Rainbow asked, her hard edge diminishing if only slightly.
"Well, there's so much love being fed into the Crystal Heart that it's practically overflowing, so Princess Cadance agreed to let me siphon off what love I need from that. I guess she figures that's a way to keep the ponies safe from me." Thorax hung his head low at the last sentence.
Twilight brought her hoof under his muzzle and brought it up so he was looking at her. "Don't be so down about it", she said reassuringly,"I believe that ponies will come to trust you. You just have to work at it and show them you are deserving of their trust."
Thorax nodded, but also added,"It gets pretty difficult sometimes."
"As a wise pony once said", Twilight began to quote a quote she had heard before,"No worthwhile deed is one that can be accomplished easily."
Thorax digested the words and thought about his life up to this point and realized that Twilight was right. In the months that it had taken him to travel here to the empire, he'd had to endure many different hardships such as starvation and harsh treatment from ponies that had discovered what he was. In the time since he'd arrived here, he accomplished the first and most important of his goals - he had made friends. A changeling had managed to make actual friends with ponies.
"You're right, Twilight", Thorax responded,"My trip here wasn't easy, but the fruits it bore have made it worth everything I've endured to this point."
"Please, darling", Rarity piped in,"tell us of this grand journey you undertook."
Thorax agreed and began to recount his journey to the Crystal Empire. As he spoke, he also learned about the other five mares. For instance, he discovered that a large apple orchard that he'd passed through just after leaving the hive had belonged to a cousin of Applejack's named Braeburn.
"Wow", Thorax responded to the revelation,"That was quite an orchard, but why was there a big road through the middle of it?"
"Oh" Applejack reacted, but then gave the explanation. "When my cousin and the ponies in Appleoosa settled the place, there was a dispute with the buffalo that lived there as well. The orchard my cousin planted was on the buffalo's stampeding grounds, and after nearly coming to a war between both sides, a deal was made. My brother left that path for the buffalo to stampede through the orchard, and the buffalo leave the trees in the orchard alone."
"I'm glad to hear that it was resolved peacefully", Thorax remarked,"I don't like the idea of war."
"Yeah", Applejack admitted,"Ya don't seem the fightin' type."
Next, as he told of his trip through Manehattan, Thorax learned of Rarity and her desire to have one of her stores in every city in Equestria, as well as having her designs recognized as some of the best in the world.
"Well, I think your designs are beautiful", he told her,"I believe you'll be the most talked about fashion designer in Equestria in no time."
"Well, I must say thank you for the vote of confidence" she replied to the comment, then gave a small chuckle. "I do believe this might be the first time a pony has received a compliment from a changeling."
After talking about Manehattan, Thorax also discussed the cuteceñera he witnessed, and Pinkie was all the more eager to fill him in on parties.
"Oh, they're super SUPER FUN!", she exclaimed,"There's cake and cookies and chips and drinks and games and presents and just nothing but fun!"
"They do sound pretty cool" Thorax admitted.
Suddenly, realization crossed Pinkie's face. "IT'S YOU!"
Thorax suddenly cowered in his chair. "W-What?"
"You're the pony that ran off before I could throw them a party!" she said pointing an accusing hoof at him.
"Yeah", Thorax admitted,"I was so afraid of being overwhelmed and losing my disguise that I ran off as quick as I could."
"Well, we're gonna fix that!" Pinkie exclaimed loudly before rocketing out of the room faster than Thorax could blink.
"Uh, where did she go?" Thorax asked the mares remaining in the room.
"Well", Twilight replied,"if I know Pinkie like I do, then you're about to get your first party."
"Really?", Thorax asked as he looked up at the clock,"She made parties sound like they went on for a really long time, and I don't have a whole lot of time left with you all."
"I'm sure she knows", Twilight said reassuringly,"She's probably just going to be grabbing some cake and party hats for everypony, and maybe some streamers and balloons too."
A moment later, and a whirlwind of pink shot back into the room. After Thorax reopened his eyes upon closing them from being startled, he was greeted to a room covered in party streamers and balloons, as well as a banner that said "Congratulations on making friends, Thorax!".
"How did you do all this so fast?" he asked the pink mare in bewilderment.
"Best not to ask that question, sugarcube", Applejack told him,"Twi here found that out the hard way."
He looked at Twilight, who nodded. "Never question Pinkie."
The mares and changeling decided to each take a piece of cake. While it would do nothing for his body, he didn't wish to be rude to the pink mare that went to the trouble of bringing it here for him; The least he could do was partake of the refreshments and enjoy their company. After a minute, he continued his story, mentioning his witnessing of some small yet strange pony-like creatures flying in a wind current.
"Oh, you saw the breezies" Fluttershy informed him.
"What are they?" he asked her.
"They're a race of creatures that have migrations every year to gather pollen for their kind. They're so small and delicate, even a slight change in wind can cause them great distress."
"No wonder some of the ponies were getting mad at me for talking", Thorax said, then explained,"I'd disguised myself to get a better look, and ponies kept shushing me when I asked questions."
"It's really important to stay quiet around them" Fluttershy told him,"otherwise you could cause them harm without knowing."
"You seem to know quite a bit about animals" Thorax remarked.
"Well, I've been taking care of them all since I was a filly. In fact, I got my cutie mark when I was able to calm all the animals around me after Rainbow Dash did her sonic rainboom."
"I remember Twilight telling me about that", Thorax recalled,"A big rainbow explosion in the sky, right?"
"A shockwave", Twilight corrected,"but it does come with a loud bang."
"Anyway", Fluttershy continued her story,"I help all the animals in Ponyville, including waking up all the hibernating ones during the winter wrap up."
"Winter Wrap Up?" Thorax questioned.
"It's when Ponyville gets ready for spring by clearing away winter" Twilight explained.
Rainbow Dash began laughing. "Yeah. Remember your first one Twilight?" she asked.
"Oh, don't remind me" Twilight replied, looking away and blushing.
"What did happen?" Thorax asked.
"It was a disaster", Twilight explained,"It's a tradition for winter to be cleared away without magic, and that's what I grew up my whole life using, so I wasn't any good at any of the tasks."
"Honestly, the worst might have been when I was trying to help Fluttershy wake the hibernating animals. The first ones I did were snakes, and I don't like snakes."
"Why did you wake the snakes up if you don't like them?" Thorax asked.
"They were down in their burrow and I didn't see them", Twilight continued,"After I did, I was scared and backed into a cave of bats. They chased me into a tree where a beehive fell on my head and started stinging my face. And to top it all off, I blindly stumbled into a den of skunks that sprayed me. I spent the next couple of hours afterwards picking stingers out of my face and getting bathed in tomato juice."
"Tomato juice?" Thorax asked, not sure why Twilight would need to do that.
"It's because of the skunks", Fluttershy explained,"Their spray is really, really stinky, and the only way anypony knows to get rid of the smell is to take a bath in tomato juice. Otherwise it takes weeks or sometimes even months to go away on its own. Even our friend Zecora hasn't found a better remedy, and she's been making potions and elixirs all her life."
"Zecora?", Thorax parroted,"Is she a zebra?"
"She is", Twilight confirmed,"How did you know?"
"It sounded like a zebra name", Thorax explained,"I remember being taught about different cultures in the hive as part of infiltration training. They are really talented at brewing things like potions and such."
"Well, she's definitely talented", Twilight admitted,"In fact, there was a time when all of us got into some poison joke flowers and we all were afflicted with strange maladies because of it. Zecora told us the remedy for it and got us all back to normal."
"I'm glad she was able to help all of you", Thorax remarked,"I hope I never run into any of that poison joke."
The conversation continued, and Thorax then got to learn about the Wonderbolts from Rainbow Dash.
"They're the coolest ponies around!" she spoke with excitement. "They go all over Equestria doing air shows! They even have a magic stadium so unicorns and pegasus can watch them from up in the sky!"
"I'm actually in their reserves, so I get to practice with them all the time. I'm hoping one day I'll get on the main team and I can perform in front of all the ponies in Equestria."
"That sounds really cool" Thorax told her, then looked thoughtfully. "Do they wear blue uniforms with yellow thunderbolts on them?"
"Yeah", Rainbow Dash confirmed,"Wait, have you seen them? Where?"
"A couple of weeks back, I remember working in one of the rooms that had a window in it, and I looked out and saw the stadium in town. There was a group of pegasus in those uniforms doing all kinds of crazy things in the air. That must've been them."
"Well, you gotta get in to a show to see them up close, even if you gotta put some disguise on to do it" the cyan pegasus told him.
Thorax frowned a bit. "Honestly, I'm hoping someday I can go and not have to wear a disguise."
"I thought your guy's whole thing was wearing disguises and tricking ponies?" Rainbow Dash questioned without thinking, earning a glare from Twilight.
"Maybe the other changelings", Thorax admitted,"but not me. I want to be able to live among ponies as myself and have friends like you all do. When I saw all of you that day, it showed me how much better things can be, and despite how far I've already come, I still have a long way to go."
"Well, I certainly hope you get there" Twilight assured him. She was about to say something else when her sentence was interrupted by a guard rapping against the door and then entering the dining room.
"Apologies, your highness", the guard said,"but I'm afraid I need to escort the ch-Thorax back to his duties." The guard caught themselves just as Twilight was going to give them a disapproving stare. Thorax looked up at a clock on a nearby wall.
"Aww", he lamented,"Those two hours went way too fast." He stood up from his chair and faced the ponies before him.
"Thank you all so much for sitting and talking with me", he said to them,"I'm really glad that I got to meet you all, and I hope that maybe we can do this again sometime in the future." He then faced Twilight and thanked her for making the past two hours possible.
"It's not a problem at all", she told him,"I just hope that next time we come up here, Spike will be able to come with us."
"Yeah", Thorax agreed,"I hope so too." He then turned to Starlight and thanked her before following the guard out of the room.
Once Thorax had left, Twilight turned back to her friends with a smile on her face. "So", she began,"What did you all think?"
"Well", Applejack began,"He seemed like a nice enough feller."
"Yes", Rarity agreed,"He did behave himself like a gentlecolt and treated all of us kindly."
"He definitely wasn't nearly as scary as the other changelings we've met were" Fluttershy added.
"He didn't seem to keen on the mini party I threw for him", Pinkie observed,"but maybe he was just really, really nervous about it."
"He's okay, I guess" Rainbow told Twilight.
The purple alicorn looked at her friends, expecting a little more from them. "That's it?" she asked, trying to mask her disappointment. "All you have to say is he's nice?"
"I'm sorry dear", Rarity responded,"but I don't know what else to say besides that. He's a nice colt, or whatever changelings call themselves, but that's about it."
"What about his journey here?", Twilight asked with a slight hint of panic in her voice,"or when he showed interest in all the things you guys did?"
Applejack clued in on what Twilight was getting at. "Y'all wanna know if we think we could be friends with him, dont'cha?"
Twilight didn't have a verbal response, so she simply nodded her head.
The five mares sitting at the table took some time to gather their words before replying. Amazingly, Fluttershy was the first to offer a response.
"I guess I could see myself becoming friends with him after a while" she admitted.
Rarity gave her response next. "I suppose I too could become friends with him in time."
"Ah guess I could see myself at least being on agreeable terms with this changeling, if not becomin' actual friends" came Applejack's response.
"He owes me a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!", Pinkie exclaimed,"Then we can become the bestest of friends!"
"I don't know about friends", Rainbow began,"but I guess as long as he isn't trying to hurt anypony, I could deal with being around him."
Twilight looked at all of her friends with disbelief. "Even after everything we talked about with him? His journey here, his interests in everything that all of you do? All the stuff that a real friend would do for any of you, and you still are on the fence about it?"
None of the mares spoke for a moment, then Rarity looked at Twilight. Her expression was the same kind as if a colt or filly brought home a bad report card to their parents: one that was neutral, but had a wall of disappointment behind it.
"Twilight, dear", she began,"I know that you've put a lot of trust into this changeling, but friendship takes more than a couple of hours of talking. Even our own friendship took more than just a simple conversation to get on its hooves."
"Rarity's right Twi", Applejack chimed in,"That night we all became friends and the elements, we had met each other only the day before, and were thrown into the fryin' pan that next sunless mornin'. We had all sorts of obstacles to overcome, and we had to trust and work together with one another, and our friendship came about when we realized we could trust each other."
"Which gets right to my point", Rarity continued,"Friendships are built on trust, as you should know all too well, my dear. While I can say that Thorax has made a good first impression with all of us, or at least most of us, I don't feel as though I can give him enough trust that I could call him a friend. Not to say I never would, just not right now."
Twilight looked at all of her friends and tried to come up with a response to make them all reconsider, but she knew that was fruitless. "You're right", she admitted in defeat,"Our friendship was something special, perhaps even fated. I can't expect all of you to take to Thorax like we all took to each other. But, if he wanted to meet with us all again sometime, would you be willing to do that?"
The five mares all looked at each other and thought for a moment, before each answered in turn.
Rarity gave a sigh and replied "I suppose I could do this again sometime."
"Ah suppose I could to" replied Applejack.
"Um, O-Okay" came Fluttershy's response.
"I am SO going to meet him again!" Pinkie said with a good bit of enthusiasm.
"Fine", Rainbow Dash said in a huff,"If you all want to come talk to him again, I'll come too."
Twilight smiled and nodded, but for her, their agreement to willingly see Thorax was more of a defeat than a victory. The changeling was working to overcome the poor perception that ponies had of his kind, and as the princess of friendship, she wanted so much to help him accomplish that goal. She just had to remind herself that some ponies, even her own friends, would need time to adjust to the idea.
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i do hope one of the mane 6 outright sees the abuse those specific guards are giving him And actually defended him from it.
Awww... I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't get all the way to befriending him, but they do have a point about friendship needing more than one encounter to develop. They could have protested his restraints at least, though
Aww, yay! Thorax made hopefully-future friends!
10902712
i think in a way i feel like Dash didn't approve even though she needed to rely it with more tact. But i feel like when she commented on it i could imagine her saying it with a frown like she hated it but can't say it out loud
Well at least this meeting between Thorax & the Mane 5 went better than the treatment he's gotten from those jackasses cleaning ponies (still hoping karma bites them both on their sorry flanks!
)
We can only hope they'll end up fired before this is all over, then.
Hmm....
I know! They could either reject Thorax entirely and proceed to dropkick him out of the building...or they could accept Thorax entirely and proceed to dropkick everyone trying to demonize him out of the building instead.
You can probably guess which outcome I wouldn't mind seeing.
Wait, wait, wait...she hasn't actually brought them all here to meet Thorax without first at least giving them a heads up on who they're going to meet with, has she? I mean, no wonder she's on edge, because that's just a recipe for disaster! There's really no reason at all she, Starlight, and certainly Spike couldn't have explained the situation in full well in advance before now. Why would you even not want to, anyway? It would literally only help this meeting to go smoothly and give the others at least some context to what's going on and why, even give them a cause to want to give Thorax a benefit of a doubt when they finally do meet him.
If this was all done just for forced drama's sake, it's really not a good idea, writing-wise, because you have no in-universe justification for it. Heck, I'd go as far as needlessly risky, to the point I could even say you're jeopardizing Thorax's well-being should it all go awry, all just for the sake of going "surprise! We befriended a changeling and didn't tell you!" I mean, how do you think anyone would react to that in that situation?
It is in Rainbow's mind!
A very poorly thought out one, but never mind that now, I suppose.
Pfft! Then why didn't you do all that before you dragged them all here? Or better still, just told them flat out when you first came back from the Crystal Empire in the first place?
Look, I'm sorry Author, I'm probably sounding very harsh at the moment. This is still a good story, and I'm still enjoying it, rest assured.
But your justifications for this set up is just...non-existent, and it's effectively shot this whole scene in the foot as a result. I get what you were going for, building up the suspense and all that, but the payoff's not worth the many holes it leaves in it's overall logic--again, there was no reason at all Twilight couldn't have told them all of this already, right from the moment she got back from Ponyville, and then spent the following month getting her friends acclimated to the idea and braced as best as she can for this meeting.
Not put it off to the literal last second and then drop them into it all but stone-cold.
...also, how the literal heck did Twilight keep Spike from just blabbing the whole story himself the second he got back too? This doesn't seem like the sort of thing he'd want to hold off on telling.
And where is Spike, for that matter? I'm suddenly noticing that he seems conspicuously absent here at the moment...
Well, that explains that.
Not going to lie, I'm a bit disappointed by this--it sort of feels like the sort of stunt the show itself would pull: go to all the trouble of making Spike and Thorax friends, then going out of their way to ensure they almost never get the chance to interact one-on-one like the friends they are pretty much ever again.
But, from a writing standpoint, I guess the point here is for Thorax to meet the rest of the Mane 6, and I suppose Spike doesn't have to be in the room for that.
...though at the same time there's not really any reason why he can't either...
Well, she more like misled them into coming here by not actually telling them why and letting them think up their own explanations and has only just now filled them in on why she brought them here, but...apples and oranges, I guess.
Now, now, Thorax. If it was grammatically correct, it wouldn't be a southern accent.
Twilight, this isn't the show. You don't actually need to wrap this all up within thirty minutes or so.
These things take time in reality, and quite honestly, all of their responses are very heartening, all things considering. They're all far more willing to give Thorax the benefit of the doubt and a chance to make a friend of himself than...pretty much everybody else in the Crystal Empire thus far.
In other words...don't look a gift horse in the mouth. This is much better progress than you're giving it credit for.
10903091
You do make a case for the way Twilight approached the situation with her friends and Thorax, but the simplest explanation I can give as to why the story progressed the way I let it progress is that Twilight wanted Thorax to have the best possible chance at making friends with the other five elements. She was afraid that if she had came out and told them about Thorax from the start, either most or all of them would refuse to go meet him. It's kind of like one of those "better to ask for forgiveness than permission" scenarios.
Besides that, I did want to create some dramatic tension, but moreover my main goal was to set up future chapters where Thorax spends one on one time with each of the girls and he actually becomes friends with all of them.
In short, Twilight was not willing to chance her friends refusing to meet Thorax from the get go so she kept that info for the last possible second. A tad manipulative, but maybe that means the bug is rubbing off on her
10903140
I'm going to have to flatly disagree with that, because consider it from the rest of the Mane 6's perspective: Twilight and company come back from a prolonged trip at the Crystal Empire, but despite it being clear that something was up, refuse to say anything about what went down for over a month, instead asking her friends to agree to accompany her to the Crystal Empire at a future date for reasons she will not explain or elaborate in advance, effectively making them agree on blind faith, and it's only once they're already there at the empire, literal moments before they are going to meet said changeling, does she then decide to reveal "oh, by the way, we befriended a changeling a month ago but didn't tell you sooner because reasons and now I want you all to meet him."
I mean, giving the changeling perchance for deception, that would all make Twilight appear mightily suspicious. So in the end, what you've done here is the exact opposite of what you intended, because none of this would've helped improve Thorax's chances of getting their acceptance--if anything, it more likely hurt it.
And besides, it's effectively Twilight showing so little trust in her own friends too, having so little faith that they could be reasoned with on this matter or be willing to be convinced to let Thorax have his say that she basically has to trick them into coming and more or less force them into meeting with Thorax.
And as this very chapter pointed out...you can't force friendship, you have to let it evolve on its own time. Which means you have to have faith it will indeed eventually bloom if properly nurtured.
So no, there's still no good reason for Twilight to have waited until the last minute to tell her friends about all of this, as she stood to gain nothing more from it than telling them right off the bat would've. Honestly, she'd stood to gain more from just being upfront about it in the first place, as that'd give her more time to try and sway her friends to more naturally want to agree to hear Thorax out on their own time and why wouldn't she want that? And so what if that ended up taking longer than a month to achieve? It's not like they've got a time limit here or anything (and besides, that would just mean it would've been more likely for Spike to have gotten to tag along too, and him being there to back up Thorax too would've only helped).
Honestly, Twilight should be glad this all didn't blow up in her face, because that was a very real possibility for this.
But the very fact it didn't just proves that the fear the Mane 6 would've refused to have any part of it otherwise is VERY MUCH an unfounded one.
Besides, there's no precedent for Twilight doing this--in the show, if there was something she needed to tell her friends or ask them to do, she usually didn't beat about doing it, regardless of what she thought her friends might think. I mean, she certainly didn't wait a month or so to tell them about her plans with Starlight in The Cutie Re-Mark.
In short, you want your friends to come to trust a former enemy? Then manipulating them into it or keeping secrets about it is NOT the way to go about doing it.
10902673
If any of them do it’ll probably be Fluttershy.
so 1,000 hours community service. And he works at 8 AM, goes to bed at 10 PM. I'm going to just high ball and say Thorax worked 10 hours a day, with an hour or so with Sunburst and dinner.
And from 'meeting heroes' Thorax worked a month/30 days so 300 hours. He has around 70 days/700 hours left. Give or take.
10911165
It's 8 hour day. 8 to noon, then noon to 2 with Sunburst, then 2-6. He gets two thirty minute periods to absorb love from the Crystal Heart. 6-10 he's in his room doing whatever. I never decided what but it would be down to reading, writing letters, or simply being lost in thought. Don't worry too much; Things will be changing soon enough
10911197
shoot, 125 days? Give or take. Also i hope so, the mane 6 better catch the abuse and give them hell and also Shining for letting it happen.
10911250
Hence the six month asylum
10911250
The main 6 won't appear again in this part of the story. They'll show up individually in future chapters noted by their elements. I am toying with the notion of Twilight showing up in some small role in the next part, but on the fence yet about it
Why didn’t Twilight tell the others about Thorax when she got back to ponyville?
11466989
She was afraid of what their reactions would be. If she had told the others, one of them could've told another pony and...
Well, you know how Ponyville is
Also Twilight bring worried about what her friends would think sorta fits with her neurotic tendencies imho