Fitting In Is Hard To Do

by origami

Part I, Chapter 3 - The Throne Room

Heartfelt, Spike and Thorax, disguised as Crystal Hoof, approached the threshold of the Crystal Empire. Two guards were standing resolute by the entrance and stopped the group. ,"HALT!", exclaimed the one guard,"You are not permitted entrance until you pass the verification test." Thorax became nervous, but Heartfelt and Spike simply approached the pair.

,"I'm Heartfelt", the stallion answered,"and this is Spike the Brave and Glorious, and the stallion back there is Crystal Hoof." The guard regarded the trio and became suspicious.

,"You still need to pass the test", he stated,"Peanut Butter?"

The trio looked to each other and nodded, and then in unison answered,"Marshmallow cupcake" The guard nodded and stepped aside to let the group in.

,"Welcome back to the Crystal Empire." he gave warmly as he turned and went back to his guard duties.

The group walked along the streets of the Empire. Thorax had only caught glimpses of it from afar, but seeing the buildings up close and shining in their gemstone luster was breathtaking. Nothing in the hive could compare to what pony ingenuity and magic could accomplish.

,"Admiring the scenery?" asked Heartfelt.

The changeling nodded. ,"I've never seen anything so beautiful before. All the crystal it took to build this place must've taken years to mine from that cave."

Heartfelt raised an eyebrow. ,"What do you mean 'that cave'?" he asked.

,"The cave I was hiding in had a mine tunnel in it", answered Thorax,"There was a pony named Onyx Jade who was mining materials inside it for something, but he had to give up when he ran out of money and nobody would help him."

Heartfelt gave a nod, but corrected him. ,"The original Crystal Empire was born from a spell cast on a mountain range a long time ago. The buildings themselves were shaped by the spell, so there wasn't any mining done to make the empire itself. Ponies, however, have went into the wastelands searching for gemstones to expand the territory further on account of expanding population."

Thorax looked blankly at the stallion. A whole city carved out of a mountain range by a single spell. ,"Who cast the spell?" he asked.

Heartfelt shook his head. ,"Nopony knows", he answered,"The exact origin of the empire is shrouded in mystery, but that's what happens when you have an entire civilization that disappeared for a whole millennium."

Thorax couldn't believe that last part. An empire disappearing for a thousand years? He'd never heard of such a thing. Heartfelt saw the confused look on his face and decided to elaborate.

,"There was a king named Sombra who ruled the empire with an iron hoof. But, he was banished by Princess Celestia and Luna for his evil ways. Before he was cast away, he laid a curse on the empire that stated that it would be lost, and would only return when he did. After a thousand years, the empire returned, and so did he. He tried to retake the empire, but the crystal ponies, along with Princess Cadence and the Crystal Heart, defeated him. Since then, the empire has been catching up on the history it's missed."

,"It sounds like this King Sombra and Chrysalis would be perfect for each other." commented Thorax, who earned a disapproving glare from Heartfelt. Clearly, while the stallion was giving him a genuine chance, he still didn't fully trust him.
The trio eventually made their way to the Crystal Castle itself. Thorax had seen the prominent spire from afar, but witnessing it up close was something else entirely. He couldn't tell what the tower was made out of, but thought quartz due to the bright white color. It sat up on foundations that perched it atop the pride and joy of the empire itself - The Crystal Heart.

Two guards noticed the group approaching and moved to stop them. ,"Halt!", one guard shouted to them,"State your business here."

Heartfelt stepped forward. ,"It's me, Heartfelt, the royal psychiatrist." he answered the guard.

The guard glared at him with scrutiny. ,"You do look like him, but how can I know for sure?"

Heartfelt gave a sigh. ,"Okay, you asked for it." he responded, looking to both guards. ,"You were seeing me for PTSD issues you were having from the changeling attack." he addressed the guard who had remained silent. The guard nodded in confirmation. He turned to the guard that spoke to him initially. ,"And you've been seeing me for the past week in regards to your desire to wear dre-"

The guard flushed red and waved his hoof emphatically. ,"OKAY!", he exclaimed nervously,"You can pass!" He then gestured for the group to enter the palace. As they walked away, the silent guard looked at the other and raised a brow.

,"Never figured you for a transvestite.", he commented. The other guard looked at him angrily. ,"Firstly, there's plenty of stallions who enjoy doing that and there's nothing wrong with it!", he snapped,"and secondly, THAT stays between us, you got it?!" The other guard just gave a smirk and nod, and then turned away. The first guard remained silent, but also beet red from both anger and embarrassment.

Once inside, Thorax marveled at the architecture and decor. The hive had nothing on this place. The walls were made of what appeared to be pure quartz, the floors of brilliant sapphire, and various types of ruby, garnet, and amethyst adorning the walls completed the look. They stayed silent for most of the trek, but Thorax had to know where they were going. ,"So, where are we heading?" he asked his two new acquaintances. Spike looked up at him and replied,"We're gonna go straight to the throne room."

,"T-The throne room?" Thorax stuttered nervously. He began to lag behind Spike and Heartfelt as nightmare scenarios raced through his brain. He was in disguise now, sure, but finding out he'd come face to face with the stallion and mare whose wedding was almost ruined by his hivemates? His nerves were wearing thinner each second.

,"Y-You sure t-that's a g-good idea, Spike?" the changeling asked his dragon friend. Spike looked back and was about to give his friend a comforting smile when he saw how nervous Thorax had became. Then his plan went through his mind, and he realized now that it was probably not the best one.

,"Maybe introducing Thorax to everypony at once isn't the best idea.", he thought,"Perhaps we should start by introducing him to everypony one on one. Start with Twilight perhaps? No, she swore to protect Flurry from harm, so she might not be the most keen to listen right now. Starlight, maybe? She'd be a better option, but she might go and tell Twilight immediately, and then Twi would tell Cadence and Shining..."

Spike and Thorax had been absentmindedly following Heartfelt all the way to the throne room. Before either could react, a magenta mare with horn and wings called out to greet them.

,"Spike, Heartfelt!", called Twilight,"You're back! Where'd you go?"

,"Well", Spike began, rubbing his neck nervously,"I realized I dropped something in a cave I was exploring earlier and I asked Heartfelt to come with me so I could get it. While we were out, we ran into my friend Crystal Hoof here." He gestured to Thorax in his disguise, which caused Twilight to have a puzzled look.

,"You have a friend here in the Crystal Empire?" she asked him.

,"Is that so surprising?", he questioned her back. ,"Being 'Spike the Brave and Glorious' makes me a friend of every Crystal pony in the empire." he then boasted of himself.

Twilight smirked and rolled her eyes. ,"So", she continued with her questioning,"How long have you both known each other?"

,"Since the Equestria Games", he answered,"We've been keeping in touch as pen pals ever since."

,"Why didn't you tell me you had a pen pal?!", she exclaimed,"You could've used my special quill set!" Spike rubbed his neck in embarrassment and answered back,"I thought you should save that for your letters to the princesses and Shining." The mare beamed at him. ,"That's very thoughtful of you, but I wouldn't have minded letting you use it to write your friend."

Twilight walked past Spike and greeted Thorax as Crystal Hoof. ,"I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle", she introduced herself,"It's nice to meet you." Thorax looked at her hoof and took it nervously. ,"P-Pleasure's a-a-all m-mine, y-y-your h-h-highness." he returned. Twilight gave a chuckle and tried to ease his nerves. ,"You don't have to be nervous around me, and please just call me Twilight. I don't think I've really done anything to truly be deserving of the princess title yet."

,"Oh, I wholeheartedly disagree." came a voice from behind the group. Approaching them was Princess Cadence, flanked by her husband and a unicorn stallion wearing glasses and a cape. In his magic aura was the bassinet containing Flurry Heart. ,"You have completed the unfinished spell of the greatest sorcerer of all time", she continued,"And you did it to help your friends rediscover who they truly were. I would call that desire to help and do good the true mark of a princess."

Twilight blushed at the praise. Spike walked over to the royal couple and exchanged pleasantries. Heartfelt walked over to the unicorn stallion and started to discuss something with him. Thorax stood where he was, trembling nervously. He could feel all the love radiating from every pony in the room. It was torture to him considering how starved he was.

,"Oh, how rude of us", Cadence declared, turning her attention to the new pony,"Who is our new guest?" Shining looked at the newcomer with some suspicion, and made a subtle gesture for the guards to move to the door and prevent a possible escape. Spike interjected upon seeing this. ,"This is my friend Crystal Hoof. We met during the Equestria Games and have been writing each other ever since."

Shining then made a gesture for the guards to move away, satisfied with Spike's vouching for the new pony. Thorax rubbed his neck with his hoof and stepped forward. ,"H-H-Hello Everypony", he stuttered out,"I-It's nice to m-meet you all." Cadence approached and offered her hoof. ,"And it is a pleasure to meet you as well." she returned.

Thorax had a very difficult time controlling his urges upon touching her hoof. This was the princess of love, and she radiated the emotion with a greater strength than every stallion and mare in all of Equestria. He timidly took her hoof and offered a weak smile. Cadence noticed this and tried to assuage his fears. ,"There's nothing to be afraid of", she tried to reassure him,"Any friend of Spike's is welcome here in the castle."

,"R-Right", Thorax returned,"T-Thank you." He steeled his nerves as best he could as Shining introduced himself next, followed by the unicorn stallion who identified himself as Sunburst, the royal crystaller. After his introduction, Thorax was ready to bolt for the nearest bathroom, if just to drop his disguise and collect himself for a moment, but something happened that brought the house of cards crashing down.

Sunburst lifted the bassinet up to Thorax's face with a smile and said,"And this is our future sovereign, Miss Flurry Heart." The changeling's eyes met the adorable face of the baby alicorn. The violet and blue maned foal looked up at the new guest and reached for him, cooing happily. She radiated love, and every pony in the room let out an "aww" upon hearing the foal, letting out their own love.

It was more than he could take. Thorax let out a scream and took several steps back, startling everyone. The love energy around him was overwhelming his hunger and self control. A moment later, and his disguise fell. Almost immediately, the love in the room vanished, and was replaced with all manner of negativity, such as anger and hate. Shining didn't need to signal for his guards as they instinctively surrounded the changeling.

Spike moved in front of Thorax, intent on trying to defuse the situation. A magenta glow grabbed him and held him away. ,"Spike, don't go near that thing!" shouted Twilight as she levitated her assistant behind her and turned her gaze back on the changeling, a scowl on her face and her horn charged and ready to cast a spell if need be.

Shining stepped forward and commanded his troops. ,"Guards! Make sure that thing doesn't leave this throne room!" The guards complied and quickly surrounded Thorax, spears at the ready.

Spike continued his attempts to stop the arrest of his friend. ,"Stop it! You don't understand! He-"

,"WE UNDERSTAND PERFECTLY!", shouted Shining at the changeling, "You decided to ambush Spike's friend, disguise yourself as him, and then trick him into leading you to us so you could steal my daughter!" Shining charged a stunning spell and shot it at Thorax, who narrowly avoided it.

,"Please!", Spike pleaded with whoever would listen to him.

Sunburst put a hoof on Spike's shoulder. ,"It's okay.", he gave him a reassuring look,"We'll take him into custody and make him tell us where your friend really is."

,"No, you don't get it!", he shouted,"The changeling wants to be friends! Honest!"

Twilight shot spike a disapproving glare. ,"This is not the time for jokes, Spike!" she scolded him.

Sunburst chimed in as well. ,"Yeah, Spike. You were at Canterlot. You saw what those things did. How could anyone of those things ever want to be friends with us?"

Spike went to speak up again, but suddenly found the disapproving glares of Twilight, Sunburst, and Shining all directed at him. He looked past and saw Thorax looking at him with pleading eyes. ,"Please, Spike." he said silently to his friend. In that moment, Spike caved into the pressure, and gave everyone the answer they wanted to hear.

,"I don't know."

Thorax felt like one of the guards spears had went through his heart, and tears began streaming down his face. His only friend had just turned his back on him, and now he was alone and surrounded by guards who were going to do who knows what to him. He might buy a little time giving up what little info he knew, but he could tell Shining Armor would delight in torturing him, just as petty revenge for the Canterlot invasion. The tears streaming down his face, he suddenly bolted, knocking over a pair of guards, and vaulted out an open window in the direction of the wastelands.

Shining turned to two pegasus guards that had been standing in the circle around the changeling. ,"YOU TWO!", he shouted at them,"FOLLOW IT! DO NOT LET IT OUT OF YOUR SIGHT!" The guards saluted and vaulted out the window after Thorax. ,"All other guards are to follow me! We are going to search the empire house by house! Leave no stone un-turned!" The other guards saluted and followed him out of the throne room.

Twilight, Cadence, and Sunburst all surrounded Spike. Their moods had changed from scolding to comforting.

,"It's gonna be okay, Spike." Sunburst said to him.

,"Everything will work out." added Twilight.

,"We'll make sure of it!", declared Cadence,"Once we have the changeling in custody, we'll get Crystal Hoof back in no time!"

Spike looked at his friends, but his eyes were filled with tears, and he was on the verge of full blown sobbing. Twilight went to rub his back with her hoof, but he suddenly smacked it away. This startled Twilight and everyone else, causing them all to back away from the baby dragon.

Spike had a look as though he wanted to say something, but he didn't. The tears continued to pour from his eyes as he looked at all of his friends. ,"Friends", he thought to himself,"The one thing they all are, BUT I'M NOT!" He bolted from in the middle of the group and exited the throne room, leaving the ponies behind him in a shocked and confused state.

Author's Note:

I didn't expect to have this chapter out so soon, but I was actually able to leave about half of the chapter as is. As such, I can honestly say that there won't be another chapter for a little while, as I want to write more first drafts for chapters to add to this story, and work on some other ones I have as well.

Also, the events in this chapter signal where I am going to divert significantly from the original episode's flow of events. I will be working on revising the next chapter while I do this, but I'm going to overhaul that chapter in a similar sense to how I did the second chapter, but it won't be a total rewrite.

In the immortal words of Alastor, the radio demon, Stay Tuned, ha ha ha...

Comments

[Melody Song]

Ooh, great job on this chapter! Go ahead and take all the time you need for the next one, I understand

[origami]

10633181
Thank you very much

[Melody Song]

10633192
No problem!

[theOwtcast]

Nice chapter but please start a new paragraph when a new/different character speaks. It's hard to keep track of who says what if you squeeze the dialogue of several characters into the same paragraph.
Unrelated to that, may I ask why you put a comma in front of every opening quotation mark? You're the first person I've seen do it.

[origami]

10633279
Most of that stuff is bad habits from grade school writing class. I struggle with unlearning all that stuff.