The Light Within Us

by theOwtcast

Hall of Fame

Contrary to our concerns on what we’d find upon exiting the train, the hive and its surroundings were pretty much like we’d left them. The returning soldiers did a sweep of the area anyway and found no last-minute surprises, and when Psycho confirmed nothing of interest had happened in our absence, Pharynx finally allowed me to take off the armor, which I didn’t need to be told twice and couldn’t get done soon enough!

Finally able to move and breathe normally again, I took a moment to savor the feeling of freedom-at-last, and became aware of an unusual richness of the love aura as I did so.

“Do you feel that?” I asked Psycho, but he’d already left, so it fell to Pharynx to come up with an answer.

“Yeah. Weird,” he said. “It feels too concentrated into one spot to mean the drones are happy to have you back. It’s pretty close, too… hmmm.”

“Let’s go check it out,” I suggested. “It doesn’t seem dangerous!”

We didn’t need to look far; the aura turned out to be coming from Pharynx’s bedchamber, specifically from Grim, and-

“We’re gonna be parents?!” Pharynx exclaimed, looking over the three eggs she was cradling in her hooves. “Why didn’t anyling tell me?!”

“I wanted it to be a surprise, silly,” she cooed. “Besides, you were on duty. I didn’t want you to get distracted and killed.”

“...makes sense,” he agreed. “Well, might have known it was coming, heh… But seriously, when…?”

“Earlier today. Aren’t they adorable?”

“I guess so… Hey Thorax, I’m gonna be a father!”

“I can see that,” I said, hugging him and grinning my mouth off; for once, he didn’t resist. “Congratulations, both of you!” I switched to Grim, still grinning, and careful not to crack the eggshells; she returned with a one-hoofed hug and a matching grin.

“Alright, cut it out, you sap,” Pharynx nudged me, laughing. “You’re gonna spoil my nymphs and they’re not even hatched yet!”

“Isn’t that what uncles are for?”

“I don’t mind,” Grim said.

“I should leave you guys alone now,” I said eventually and returned to the throne room. Psycho would have handled any emergencies, but the non-urgent royal duties must have piled up in my absence, and I needed to tackle at least some of them by the end of the day!

Too bad I was too distracted about Grim’s revelation to stop grinning like a lunatic and actually pay attention to the pile of scrolls and letters in front of me. At least no changelings wanted an audience and no visitors were scheduled to arrive; no doubt would I end up ignoring them too!

Carapace snapped me out of it eventually.

“I received a letter from the Crystal Empire for you,” he said, offering a scroll.

“Oh? Oh, right! Sorry, I’m just…”

“I heard,” he winked. “Perfectly understandable! Though, I think they might want a reply.”

“Yeah… lemme just…” I opened the scroll.

Dear Thorax,

Aunt Celestia just informed me you found what looks to be Chrysalis’ hiding place. Are you alright? I don’t mean physically; I know nothing happened that would have left you injured, but I can’t imagine it would have been easy to learn that your old nemesis is actively plotting who-knows-what and could make a return at any moment, even if it doesn’t really come as a surprise. (Excuse my rambling; I’m worried about what she might do this time.) Sunburst has already joined Starswirl in deciphering the runes you found, but if you need anything more, you know the Crystal Empire is at your disposal.

On a lighter note, the museum has been planning a new exhibition and Fine Line came to ask if you’d be interested in showcasing your art, and if so, whether or not you would have enough time on your hooves to partake in a few presentations or workshops with the museum patrons. The art is meant to remain on exhibit for a few months and the presentations’ schedule can be arranged to not interfere with your other duties. I know you have bigger things to worry about at the moment, but I promised I’d ask anyway, and don’t feel bad about declining if you can’t make it. I’m sure she’ll understand and think of something, or maybe her offer can still stand for sometime in the future after Chrysalis is dealt with. On the other hoof, if you need to get away from all of that for a couple of days, Shining swears he’ll do his best to ensure your safety while you’re here.

Cadance

“You’re not thinking of going, are you?”

I yelped in apprehension and recoiled into almost falling off the throne and knocking Pharynx off from his vantage point on the edge of my seat just behind me in the process.

“Wha- Pharynx! When did you get here?! And how come haven’t I heard you?”

“I’ve been practicing my sneaking. Might need it if the witch comes back.”

“I know, but… how about a warning next time?”

“That defeats the whole point.” He pointed at the scroll I’d dropped onto the ground. “You didn’t answer my question.”

I pondered the matter for a moment. “Would it really be that bad if I did go?”

“Thorax, this is a time of crisis! You can’t just go frolicking about as you please!”

“It’s a crisis because Chrysalis got noticed in Equestria and we found her hideout there? Or at least one of her hideouts?”

“Yes!”

“But she’s been missing for over a year and a half now and she could have gotten noticed somewhere at any point in that timeframe! Wasn’t that a crisis? All that time when we had no idea where she was or what she was doing, unlike now that we have at least a vague idea, and you never tried to keep me from traveling around?”

“I never said you traveling around was a smart thing, either,” he retorted.

“But you didn’t protest it, and instead, you ensured that someling was always there to keep me safe, whether or not I’d agreed to it. How is this any different?”

“...it wouldn’t look good,” he shrugged.

“Why?”

“Because this isn’t the kind of thing that should take priority under the circumstances. Your subjects might think you’re abandoning them to indulge some silly entertainment.”

“The circumstances are hardly different from how they’ve been over the past year and a half, during which time I’ve gone to ‘indulge silly entertainment’ on multiple occasions, so why hasn’t anyling ever complained about it except you?”

“I just don’t want anything to happen to you, okay?” he snapped. “I’d leave Psycho in charge again and go with you, except… now I have a wife and eggs to watch over, too… How do I choose between one family member and another?”

“You care about the hive, right?”

“Yes, what’s that got to do with it?”

“How do you normally handle situations when I’m going somewhere and you have to ensure both mine and the hive’s safety?”

“I keep soldiers trained to handle any threat imaginable and trust them to make the best of that training if something happens.”

“Exactly. So why can’t you trust them now?”

“I… uh…”

I chuckled. “You don’t even know yourself. Tell you what; since I’m not the only one here with artistic tendencies, I can ask Fine Line if she’d be interested in displaying other drones’ art along with mine, and they can all come with me for the presentations, which I’ll try to arrange in such a way that I’m not absent from the hive for more than a few days. Feel free to send a few soldiers with us if you don’t trust the Royal Guards to do their job properly, and stay here with Grim and the eggs. Right now, she probably needs you more than I do… not that I don’t need you, I mean, it’s just-”

He stifled me. “Fine, I can work with that, under one condition.”

“Yes?”

“You’re bringing a communicator with you and hailing me at the first sign of trouble, even if it’s just a bad feeling.”

---

A week later, I sat on a train surrounded by a half-dozen drones whose paintings and pottery was to be displayed in the Crystal Empire museum and at least five times as many guards under threat of every torture spell if they allowed Chrysalis or any other troublemaker anywhere within a hundred miles from me. I still wasn’t sure whether Pharynx had meant to say ‘a thousand miles’ instead of a hundred or resigned to a much smaller safety radius given that the size of my security detail couldn’t realistically manage the preferred safety radius, but either way, he was probably overdoing it. He would claim otherwise, of course, especially since our sentries in Tartarus were reporting that Chrysalis hadn’t once shown up in the area and could thus be anywhere again, but preliminary reports from Starswirl suggested that the runes we’d seen were unfinished spells, so assuming the spells were meant for revenge against me, I doubted she’d strike before she managed to finish and perfect the spells, which would in theory still give us time before we could expect her.

Unless, of course, she’d found a different hideout and finished the spells there. We had come there a month too late to catch her in the act, or alternatively, she’d noticed the sentries and decided against confronting them for whatever reason, opting instead to uproot herself yet again.

I pushed those thoughts aside as the shimmering city appeared on the horizon. Then again, I couldn’t put them entirely aside, as the entire Crystal Empire was enclosed in a dome of magenta-colored magic.

Cadance and Shining met us at the train station, on the other side of the force field, which reached just about to the train station building.

“Sorry about this,” Shining said, “but given the news about Chrysalis, we didn’t want to risk her getting in for you. Nothing gets through unless I allow it, and I doubt Chrysalis can break the shield all by herself.”

“Is this the same one as that time in Canterlot?”

“A variation, yes. I had to put it up before you arrived, or else it would have likely expelled you as it was being cast. I used elements of both spells you know from there for this.”

He opened a spot for us to pass through.

“You came just at the right time,” Cadance said. “The exhibition opens in a little over an hour, which Fine Line said should be enough for you to look over the exhibits and see if anything needs fixing.”

“I’m pretty sure the thing that’ll need the most fixing is whatever I’m supposed to say to the ponies,” I said.

“Aw come on, don’t be so hard on yourself!”

“But I don’t know nearly enough about art to explain all the details-”

Shining snickered. “Are you Twilight in disguise?”

“Huh?”

“Nopony expects you to hold a lecture on the technical aspects of your art, Thorax. That’s what Fine Line is there for! You need to tell them what inspired you to paint and what you want your art to convey, that kind of stuff!”

“Oh… right… That sounds much easier!”

Soon we were at the museum, and Fine Line greeted me with a warm hug.

“You’ve grown,” she said, looking me over. “I mean, I saw you like this already, but I’m still amazed! I never thought that shy little drone I taught how to hold a pencil would soon become a proud king!” She wiped a tear from her eye. “Ah, they grow up so fast…”

I chuckled. “What can I say? I had a good teacher!”

“You seem to have become a teacher yourself. Are all these changelings presenting their art? I don’t think you sent us that many pieces… Did we lose a few?”

“You probably didn’t,” one of the soldiers said. “Most of us are on guard duty.”

“But most of you still doodle from time to time,” Mystique interjected. “Don’t be disappointed, Ms Fine Line. Arts and crafts are among the most popular hobbies in the hive and most drones drop by at least once a week for their dose of creative expression, it’s just that a lot of them were reluctant to push themselves into this. It’s Thorax’s show, after all! Good thing our star artist is too shy to display his work alone so I managed to convince a few of the more talented drones to add their contribution.”

Fine Line nodded. “Shall we start going over the exhibits?”

Though not as ample in number as in one other exhibition I’d seen here, my artwork was organized in a similar way: starting from the earliest sketches, some of which I hadn’t realized still existed but were undoubtedly the originals, judging by the mistakes and imperfections and how I’d glossed over them with not-as-drastic imperfections, then moving on to the first paintings, then the later sketches and paintings that were a bit more presentable and shown in tandem, a collection of miniature pieces I’d made for sale at the Crystal Faire, and finally, the paintings of my dream of unity between ponies and changelings. The final hall consisted of a combination of my own post-ascension art and the pieces made by the drones accompanying me. Here, Fine Line asked about the authorship of each painting, sculpture, and pottery piece that wasn’t already known as mine, as Mystique had neglected to mark the pieces by creator before sending them here, and the drones were in awe, not having realized they should have gotten credited by name rather than as ‘King Thorax’s subject’ or something along those lines.

“So, how do you like it?” Fine Line asked when we were finished.

“I love it!” I said. “I can’t believe you managed to get all those paintings I sold! How did you know where to look for them?”

“We advertised a request. Ponies like you, so they jumped at the chance to help us! Almost everything was brought in on the same day as the advertisement got published, and the rest on the day after!”

“I don’t get it,” one of the artists asked. “If they like Thorax as much as you claim, why did they sell his stuff to you so readily?”

“They didn’t sell it; they just loaned it to us and will get it back after the exhibition concludes. We’ve got a list of who bought what, and the ponies were given cards that state their paintings are currently on display here, which serves as a sort of backup proof of ownership in case the museum loses its own records for whatever reason, or alternatively, in case a pony inherits a piece from its previous owner while it was on display, though other paperwork is required in that case too.”

“Ooooh… that makes much more sense!”

“I wouldn’t mind having a few of these on permanent display, though,” Fine Line added. “Maybe after the exhibition is over, we can arrange something?”

“Ooh! I know which one you should keep!” another artist exclaimed, pointing at the painting in question.

“I like that one the most, too,” File Line told him, “but I’m afraid it isn’t up to us, as that particular piece was a gift to Princess Luna.”

Several artists moaned at that.

“Maybe I can paint a similar one for the museum?” I offered.

“I appreciate it, Thorax, but it wouldn’t be right. You painted a vision of a benevolent hive as it appeared to you in a dream, and after nearly two years and everything that’s happened, you’d more likely paint the hive as it is now than how you remember it from the dream, and the museum couldn’t in good conscience pretend the new painting predates your rise to the throne.”

“But it looks so similar to the real thing if we ignore the pony settlements and the crop fields,” Mystique mused. “Which there’s still time for, I guess, and it’s uncanny how close to the real thing it is, especially given how Antenna went ahead with the planting even though she never saw this or even knew that you dreamt it… and we dug out a river, too, also unaware of the painting or the dream… feels almost like a premonition of what would become… Is that why you included a photo of the real hive on the other wall, Ms Fine Line? For comparison?”

Fine Line smiled sheepishly. “Like you said, it’s uncanny… that’s why I like it so much…”

A guard chuckled. “So, Thorax, are we to start building pony houses and inviting them to come live with us, since everything else in the painting has come true?”

“I wouldn’t mind, but let’s leave it until the ponies decide they want to live in the Badlands. If everything else was done spontaneously, this should too. Speaking of ponies, shouldn’t they be arriving any moment now?”

“They should be gathering up in front of the museum,” Fine Line said. “It’s customary to let the whole group in at once on the opening night of an exhibition, rather than to have a bunch of individuals wander around randomly like on the other days. Though, depending on how many ponies show up, we might have to break them up into several groups for viewing the exhibits so everypony can get a proper look.”

“Are we expecting that large a crowd?”

“We extended an invitation to the school to bring students before the end of the school year, and the headmare decided to schedule the visit for today, since you all are here, as she thought it would be a good educational moment if the fillies and colts can ask questions to the creators themselves, with the added bonus of getting them excited to meet a king. So, basically, it depends on how many adults decide they can’t wait for a less crowded day or any future presentations by creators.”

“Ms Fine Line?” the ticket pony poked his head into the hall. “It’s time.”

“Already?” she said. “How time flies… We’ll be right there!”

My guards took their positions, some in their own form, some disguised as ponies or random objects one might find in a museum such as spare seats or torch holders as per Pharynx’s demand, and the rest of us followed Fine Line to the museum’s main entrance, where quite a crowd had gathered. There was no way they could all fit into the museum at once! Would we even have time to present for multiple groups today? I’d forgotten to ask Fine Line how long a single presentation was expected to take!

Calm down, Thorax, I told myself. Fine Line does this for a living! She had to have anticipated this possibility and planned accordingly! Just leave everything to her and things’ll turn out alright!

Except that her aura was a bit murkier than usual. Had she underestimated the turnout? What if she couldn’t handle a crowd of this size?

But the murkiness dissipated quickly, and she stepped forward.

“Citizens of the Crystal Empire and visitors from Equestria proper,” she began, “it isn’t every day that this museum displays exhibits of the ponykind’s enemies or former enemies, and it’s an even rarer occasion to have the very creators of such exhibits graciously accept an invitation to honor us with an opportunity to hear them talk about their creations and what inspired those creations in person. To have such an unusual creator be known already to the viewers on a sort of a personal level is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I am thrilled and humbled to see so many of you have recognized that opportunity! Let’s welcome King Thorax and his changelings to the Crystal Empire again, and let us welcome you to the exhibition of their art!”

The crowd stomped and cheered.

“Now, as I’m sure some of you must have noticed, the museum unfortunately isn’t big enough for all of you to fit inside simultaneously, so we’re going to have to break you up into groups, probably three or four if my estimate of your numbers is any good. I suggest the excursion of the schoolponies be the first group. Those of you waiting for your turn can help yourselves to the refreshments in the ice cream shop at the corner of Quartz and Diamond Streets if so inclined, and I’ll see the next group in about an hour and a half. Don’t worry, every group will see the same things and hear the same presentation! If any of you have other arrangements and can’t make it into the later groups but would still like to hear the presentation rather than to just view the exhibits, we’re hoping to do at least one or two repeats at a later date depending on King Thorax’s schedule, so if those would work better for you, please refer to the ticket booth to get a voucher for free tickets for one of those occasions. Thank you for understanding!”

The schoolponies had in the meantime lined up in front of the entrance and we led them inside. The first hall was quickly filled to the brim, so much that some of the winged students opted to hover above their peers in order to create more space, and those of my guards who had kept their wings followed suit, though I suspected their goal was better overview of the crowd rather than allowing more ponies to join us. The foals’ murmuring echoed throughout the room, amplifying its own noise until Fine Line decided the hall was probably as full as it was going to get, and her voice silenced all the others.

“I believe all of you have at least heard of Thorax while he lived with us in the Crystal Empire,” she began, “and some of you might have met him. Either way, the Empire shared a great deal of expectations of what he was like when he first appeared, most of which were false. Instead of a ferocious beast we’d imagined, one who would hurt us without mercy or remorse, we got a kind neighbor with a heart purer than the finest crystal, one who wanted nothing from us but friendship and acceptance. Finding that friendship was his biggest wish, and achieving that acceptance his lifetime goal, his destiny if you will. Against all odds, he achieved it. But we wouldn’t be here if this were a tale of one changeling simply finding a few friends. You see, although finding friends was rewarding enough to him on its own, he realized along the way that more could be done, and he was in a unique position to do it: why stop at friendship for one changeling if there could be friendship for more; why let his kind endure tyranny and starvation if friendship could sate their hunger and give them freedom? Thorax was - and still is - a visionary; his wishing of friendship grew into wanting peace between our kinds, and though he often reasoned it was a difficult and unlikely-to-be-accomplished task, he knew in his heart it was possible and never stopped working towards it. One of the ways he did it is by expressing his vision of a better future through painting.”

“I don’t see what’s so special about these doodles,” a colt muttered, earning a shush from the teacher.

“Yeah, they look like something my sister would draw!” another added.

“Hey!” the presumed sister protested.

“You’re right that the sketches and drawings in this hall don’t look impressive,” I said, “but they’re the first things I ever drew!”

“Precisely,” Fine Line interjected. “No matter how talented one might be, it’s unrealistic to expect masterpieces at the first attempt. All the famous artists had modest beginnings! We just don’t put their very first artwork on display in museums because it rarely exists anymore by the time the artist has reached enough skill to earn their place in a museum, and even if we did have access to their earliest work, they usually have enough of the more advanced art completed that it can’t all fit in most museums. Thorax hasn’t painted enough pieces that we’d be forced to filter something out, but his learning curve is especially steep, as you’ll see in the upcoming halls.”

“Didn’t Miss Blackboard say the exhibition includes art made by other changelings too?” a filly asked.

“It does. Why?”

“So couldn’t you put more of those instead of these that nopony is really impressed with?”

The teacher facehoofed. “Jade, you have an essay on good manners to write by Monday! Sorry, Your Highness… she forgets herself sometimes…”

“It’s alright,” I assured her. “I wasn’t really expecting to see these on display, either, and can understand your students’ confusion.”

“Aaanyway,” Fine Line said. “To answer Jade’s question, there are two reasons. One, we first approached Thorax with the idea to only display his art, and the decision to include the art by other changelings came later, and his subjects didn’t want to steal their king’s show, so they only sent a hoofful of pieces. The other reason is that the museum decided to roll with it and, instead of resigning ourselves to a smaller-than-usual exhibition, to show everything, thus conveying the message that anyone, no matter how small and insignificant they may consider themselves, can pull themselves out of the gutter and achieve wonderful things, if only given a chance.”

“I didn’t think the evil hive would care to keep this kind of thing!” a colt exclaimed.

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

“Mommy and daddy said changelings used to be evil and violent. They said they only cared about fighting and eating ponies! And you made drawings when you were a colt and managed to keep them all this time?”

“Young changelings are called nymphs, not fillies and colts, and your mommy and daddy are right, I’m afraid. None of us were allowed to do anything other than obeying Chrysalis’ commands, none of which included artistic pursuits.” Except maybe if an infiltrator had needed to pose as an artist, but the art itself would have been an afterthought in that case. “I actually didn’t start drawing until I was already living here for about a month.”

“Really?” another colt. “What made you start?”

“I was having a hard time fitting in and finding friends, so Sunburst decided to take me around the city and do various activities with me in order to get me to unwind and hopefully find a hobby. One of the stops was this museum, specifically the Pablo Pegaso exhibition that was in progress.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that!” a filly piped up. “Wait, didn’t Princess Cadance take you to the museum?”

“No, but she did take a walk through the city with me one afternoon, and I remember there being a crowd in front of the museum. Maybe you saw me then and figured I was there for the same thing as you?”

“Probably,” she agreed.

As the schoolponies didn’t seem to have any more questions for the moment, Fine Line took the opportunity to begin with the actual lesson she’d prepared, pointing out the technical details of individual pieces and the shared traits and common themes of groups of paintings as she led our audience through the halls and the timeline of my artistic work. I hadn’t realized so much could be said about them! As I’d thought, good thing I wasn’t expected to share any such information myself, or else it would have been a disaster; I wouldn’t have had the slightest idea what to say! As it was, my contribution consisted of sharing what inspired which piece, and it turned out to be more than enough, as the schoolponies were getting increasingly interested the further we went, and impressed too if their auras were anything to go by, and questions were popping up again. By the time we reached the last hall, even the least-interested ones had found a few paintings they wouldn’t mind having at home, and were disappointed to learn that most of them were already somepony else’s property!

The other drones were just about finishing talking about their own art when one of the fillies took a closer look at the large panorama photo of the hive, then whooshed to its dream-painting counterpart, rubbing her chin as she hovered in front of it, then proceeded to fly back and forth between the two, until finally asking, “Ms Fine Line? Why is there a painting and a photo of the same thing here?”

“The painting shows the reformed hive as I saw it in a dream once,” I said.

“I don’t get it,” she said. “You already knew what it looked like, and obviously there’s a photo, so why put up both? And why make them look so important?”

“I painted that one before returning to the hive and triggering the mass-reformation,” I explained. “I didn’t know the hive would end up looking like that. I hoped it would, eventually, but I never imagined I’d live long enough to see it, let alone cause it! And the exact changes aren’t even my doing other than giving permission for them to be done; the drones themselves came up with the idea! I didn’t even realize how close we came to recreating the dream version until I saw the comparison photo right next to the painting!”

“Not that similar, on second thought,” she said, eyeing the painting more closely. “There are pony villages in the valley here but not in the photo. Not as much vegetation, either.”

“We’re still a work in progress. The plants will grow, and though I’m not forcing any ponies to move into the hive or to build homes on its outskirts, if any decide they’d like to, we’ll welcome them with open hooves! Not just because I happen to have painted the houses, of course.”

“I’d like to live there!” Jade piped up, and another crystal filly yelled from across the hall, “Me too!”

I chuckled. “Maybe you will one day. In the meantime, maybe you’d like to visit us if your parents allow or would be interested in joining you?”

“I will! My uncle is competing in the Equestria Games!”

“I’ll reserve you a seat, then,” I winked, getting a squeal and a hug in return.

“Can we get seats, too?” several fillies and colts exclaimed.

“Calm down, my little ponies!” the teacher interjected. “I warned you not to pester King Thorax for favors!”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” I said. “Anyone who wants to is welcome! Though it might be a good idea to know the approximate number of visitors so we can enlarge the stadium in advance if needed…”

“...I’ll get back to you on that,” the teacher said. “I believe our time here is up, though.”

“Awwwww…” the ponies protested.

“I’m sorry, but the other groups are waiting for their turn too,” Fine Line said. “However, you’re welcome to return at any time until the exhibition closes. You’ll be able to take a better look at the art when the halls are less crowded and to do it at your own pace, and it’s free access for ponies your age anyway!”

“But Thorax won’t be here!” a colt moaned.

“Who knows?” I said. “I might be.”

Comments

[Screw]

I love this new arc it is going through! I'd never thought that they would ever get nymphs. Plus, the museum is an awesome idea!

Great work! I am eager to see more of these lovable creatures!

---

I would like to throw in some of my thoughts regarding Thorax's chicken scratches...

"So couldn’t you put more of those instead of these that nopony is really impressed with?"

"Because it really is the most impressive piece of art. The most important!"

"Huh?"

"What you see here is an ordinary piece of art, one that anycreature could make. Even your sister's," Line chuckled. "At the end of the exhibition, I hope some of you might come to understand why this piece is the first and foremost that all will see; why it's the most important art that has ever graced this museum!"

---

At the final exhibit.

"We've come to the end of the exhibit and I'm glad you've all enjoyed yourselves!"

"But miss Line! What's so special about the sketch? I still don't get it."

"Jade...?" The filly nodded. "Art is subjective, and I would like to tell you what I see. Is it okay?" Another nod.

"King Thorax was just like any filly and colt when they first picked up their brush. Inexperienced, full of wonder. How long ago did your sister start drawing?"

"Last year! She'll never be as good as King Thorax!"

"What if I told you... that our dear King also drew last year?"

"W-what?"

"Well, more sepcifically, the first sketch and the final painting here. King Thorax made this in about a year."

"B-but! How? He must be talented!"

"No."

My heart must have skipped a beat! I know I am not talented, b-but! The silence is really deafening!

"It is determination. It is his dream. These are what makes the artist, and he has an abundance of them! Talent can only go so far if the artist isn't inspired or willing to improve."

Line waved the whole exhibit, "what my exhibit is showcasing is a story. A story of the most prolific creature that graced our Empire, a story of an artist that dared to dream!"

"The first sketch shows King Thorax's humble beginnings. He has made friends and because of that, they taught him how to draw. And draw he did. Just like your sister! From what I've understood? It means anycreature can make it here!"

"King Thorax's later paintings were more impressive, but they also painted an even larger picture. The picture I took of the Hive next to the painting? It tells a story of a dreamer who dared to step up and make it a reality! The humble beginnings of a King."

I can't help but tear up.

"Your highness...?"

"It's... I love your exhibit."

[theOwtcast]

12127556
I love this!

[Akira Dragonborne]

12127556
Well, written out and well said.