Thorax couldn't help but smile.
In the light of Celestia's golden sun, the city of the Crystal Empire looked absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking to Thorax from the high balcony of the empire's own crowning majestic wonder, the Crystal Palace. The way every crystal structure shone and reflected light all over the place was just amazing in the Changeling's mind. So polished, so clean, so shiny. The shiniest thing he had ever seen back home within the dark damp caves of the Changeling Hive, were the carapaces of other Changelings and the smooth flat rocks strewn throughout the caverns of his former home.
Thorax gazed out upon the city that would become his home. He could see the citizen ponies down below going about their business. He thought it strange that in the short time he had spent within the borders of the Crystal Empire territory, he had not come across any of its residents with crystallized coats and manes as he had thought them to be known well for, but he quickly shrugged away the thought as it did not really matter.
Thorax turned away from the view to go back inside of the palace itself. The Crystal Palace itself was a marvel to witness from the outside. On the inside though, despite having set hoof within its halls already, the spectacular crystal architecture and grand decoration still managed to awe the Changeling. An understandable notion, considering for most of his life he saw only the cold stone of the walls that made up his kind's Hive.
A maid pony carrying out her duties approached Thorax carrying what looked to be laundry. She noticed the Changeling and gave Thorax a polite bow as they passed each other, to which Thorax returned the gesture with a toothy smile. To think that only a couple days ago, the whole of the empire were on high alert because of him, the guards extremely cautious and wary of any suspicious behavior and the civilians nervous if not worried that their friends or family might turn out to be a hungry bug looking to feed on their vitality.
A couple of days ago, that servant pony would have screamed and sprinted off to find the nearest guard at the sight of him. It felt good to wander around as himself without such a thing happening, though he hoped he'd be able to traverse the streets of the city with similar results soon enough.
This made Thorax smile a little as he thought of that. Before he met the dragon hero Spike, his desires to learn all he could about this pony thing called 'friendship' seemed impossible. Now he had a chance to earn the trust of the ponies and do exactly that.
Except...how, or where, would he begin to start gaining that trust? Really, it was only the ponies who resided within the Crystal Palace whom did not see him as a threat thanks to the help of Spike and the rulers of the empire, but all those ponies outside of the palace...they would still need convincing, proof that he meant them no harm. Where was Thorax meant to start accomplishing such an objective?
"Excuse me, Thorax?" A stallion's voice broke the Changeling's trail of thought, and he turned to meet one of the palace guards walking towards him.
"Y-Yes?" Thorax replied. Even though the guards no longer deemed him a threat, the sight of them still made the Changeling uneasy.
The guard nodded to the end of the hallway. "Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor would like to speak with you," he said.
Thorax backed away slightly out of nervousness. "Did...they say what about?" he asked.
The guard shook his head. "No. Please follow me." He began walking away. "They are waiting for you in the throne room."
Thorax was hesitant at first, worried about what the rulers of the Crystal Empire would want him for. But deciding that keeping them waiting for him would be worse he quickly hurried along, hoping that there wasn't a problem.
When they arrived at the doors leading into the throne room, the guard stopped and held out his foreleg in front of Thorax, prompting him to halt. "Wait here," the guard instructed. Thorax nodded and watched as he pushed open the doors and disappeared behind them. After a few moments had passed, he returned and gestured to Thorax.
"They will see you now, Thorax," the guard said as he stepped aside, holding the door open.
Thorax slowly nodded his head, and walked past the guard into the throne room, the door closing shut behind him as he entered. At the other end of the room, the pink alicorn and her husband sat on their crystal thrones, Sunburst at the side of them.
"Hello, Thorax," Cadence greeted kindly. "Thank you for joining us."
Thorax gave a small smile as he approached them, though concern was still present on his face. "I'm, uh...it is my, er, a pleasure, your highness," he stammered as he fell into a bow before them.
"Stand up, Thorax. You don't need to bow to us," Shining Armor said. "We've asked you here because we want to discuss something with you."
Thorax straightened himself quickly before looking up at the prince. "What is it you want to discuss?" he asked.
Shining Armor and Cadence exchanged looks with each other before Cadence spoke. "Well, Shining Armor and I have been discussing your wanting to learn about friendship and love, and..." She paused for a moment in consideration. "We have decided that the best place for you to start will be at our local orphanage."
Thorax stared at the both of them in surprise. "I...I beg your pardons?"
Shining Armor carried on for Cadence. "The current carer running the orphanage recently had an accident which left her with a broken leg. As a result she is struggling to look after the children by herself and thus requires help doing so." Shining Armor gave Thorax a stern stare, though he spoke his next words with in a softer tone.
"Thorax, if you honestly do wish to earn the trust of the ponies of Equestria, then start by helping those who, like yourself, are in need of friendship and love. We believe that positioning you at the orphanage as an assistant carer will allow you to learn the meaning of compassion, and hopefully strengthen your desire to help others. By showing the ponies of the Crystal Empire that you can display kindness to those who require it the most within our community, they will open up more to you and allow you to make the friends you desire."
"This will not be an easy task, mind you," Princess Cadence chimed in. "You will be required to help the owner of the orphanage with daily routines, and see that the little ones are kept safe and happy. You will also need to be monitored by a guard for security reasons, as well as to put any doubt still present among the public at ease."
"But," Princess Cadence continued, "if you are willing to take on this task, Thorax, the owner of the orphanage is willing to teach you how to look after the children, as well as providing you with a room on the premises as well as payment for your work. And personally speaking, I believe this will be the first step towards realizing your goal to make friends."
Shining Armor extended a hoof out. "So, what do you say, Thorax?"
Thorax stared at the two of them in astonishment, their proposition repeating itself over and over in his head. This all sounded like it would be a really important task, maybe a task that somepony who was actually from the Crystal Empire itself would have been better suited for. But if the rulers of the Crystal Empire were willing to entrust him of all creatures with such a role, the same rulers who were the most affected by the actions of his Changelings brethren in the past and yet were willing to offer him friendship despite those crimes, then there was easily only one response to such an opportunity.
Thorax puffed out his chest and, with the happiest smile, he replied simply, "When do I start?"
And Princess Cadence and Shining Armor couldn't help but smile.
It was early in the morning when Thorax's slumber was disturbed by one of the Crystal Palace guards. The sight of a guard pony looming over him first thing after waking up gave the changeling quite a startle. Thorax silently vowed that one day he would learn to stop being so nervous of any royal guard unless it was for good reason.
"Apologies for the rude awakening, Thorax, but you are required to be at the Crystal Empire Orphanage as soon as possible," the guard had said to him, whose name Thorax would later learn was Silver Arrow. His coat was a light shade of gray in color with dark brown eyes, but that was all Thorax knew about his appearance since his royal armor covered the rest of his body, hiding any other distinguishable features of his character.
Back home in the Changeling Hive, Thorax rarely ever was permitted any more than ten minutes of rest, what with all the activity that went off within the caves such as expanding the tunnel network, or venturing out into the world to steal love from whatever poor creature his kind could come across. The beds of the Crystal Palace were so comfortable, a fantastic luxury that surpassed his old hard stone bed.
As much as Thorax wanted to spend just another few minutes in the warmth of the pillow and mattress, today was of more importance. Thorax hoped that the bed he was given at the orphanage would be just as nice as those of the Crystal Palace. Within a few minutes spent in the bathroom, Thorax had bathed, washed, and cleaned his fangs before heading off out to the courtyard, where Cadence and Shining Armor were waiting to see him off.
"Thank you both again for this opportunity, Your Majesties," Thorax said as he fell into a bow before the rulers.
"It's quite alright, Thorax," Cadence chuckled as she returned a small bow of her own. "Now you should probably get going so you can get settled in at your new workplace. Silver Arrow here shall take you to the orphanage."
Shining Armor stepped up to Thorax and lowered his head. He had a serious look on his face, though his words were kind in tone. "My wife and I, we're both placing a lot of trust in you here, Thorax," he said. He placed a hoof upon Thorax's shoulder and stared straight into the changeling's cold blue eyes. "Don't let us down today, okay?"
Thorax nodded. "I'll do my best, Princes Shining," he replied with sincerity.
Shining Armor stared at the changeling for a couple of moments, before nodding and moving aside to let Thorax pass. He and Cadence watched as Thorax skipped off toward the gates, where Silver Arrow was waiting to escort him. Changeling and royal couple exchange a final wave of goodbye with each other as Thorax disappeared from their view, and out into the streets of a steadily awakening city.
Don't let us down, Thorax, Shining Armor quietly repeated to himself.
The streets of the Crystal Empire were slowly filling up with its crystal-coated citizens. Amid the crowd of dazzling manes and bodies, a changeling and his designated bodyguard were making their way to their destination.
"I trust you have no quarrel with me escorting you, Thorax?" Silver Arrow asked while observing the pony citizens wandering around them, making sure none of them were up to any mischief.
Thorax shook his head. "No, it's fine. I understand why Shining requested this." Thorax's eyes surveyed the scene around him. Some ponies who he recognized from his time masquerading as Crystal Hoof waved at him, though with unsure looks on their faces. Thorax remembered them, they were nice ponies whom he enjoyed talking with. They treated him as one of their own, but now that he had revealed himself as a changeling, they were all uncertain how to feel towards him. Considering the lie that was his Crystal Hoof persona at the time, Thorax couldn't blame them for being hesitant to trust him or not just yet.
Silver Arrow turned his head to the changeling wondering why he wasn't answering, and noticed the look on his face. "Is there something the matter, Thorax?" he asked.
Thorax blinked and directed his attention to his companion. "Oh. N-nothing. It's nothing at all," he replied with a fake smile.
Silver Arrow wasn't convinced, but decided not to pursue the matter further. "If you say so, Thorax. Once we arrive at the orphanage I've been instructed to let you go in on your own and talk to Jet Shine - she's the mare who manages the place."
Thorax nodded his head as Silver Arrow continued, whilst keeping an eye on things as they walked. "For the first two weeks I'll be stationed outside the orphanage premises in case anything happens, or if for whatever reason you need to leave the area. After that, if everything goes smoothly and Jet Shine agrees you are trustworthy, the guards will allow you to move freely on your own."
"It would be nice to be able to walk around the place without guards having to watch me all the time," Thorax sighed.
"Then stay true to your promise and you'll become a fully fledged citizen of the Crystal Empire in no time, Thorax," Silver Arrow replied with an assuring smile.
The Crystal Empire orphanage sat a little way north of the palace, roughly about a ten minute walk from the main gates. Had it not been for the large sign above the outer gates, along with the orphanage being situated within a small clearing of non-crystallized grass and the presence of outdoor playing equipment designed for the foals, it would have been easy to mistake for somepony's home or for any other kind of facility. For as beautiful as the buildings in the Crystal Empire were, it was hard to distinguish which were homes and which were services because they all looked nearly the same.
Thorax and Silver Arrow stopped before the little pathway that led towards the orphanage's front doors. "This is as far as I go, Thorax," said Silver Arrow, looking down at the changeling. "You'll have to go inside on your own and meet your new boss, now." He gave Thorax a quick salute. "I'll wish you the best of luck with your day." Silver Arrow turned around and then began to walk away, leaving the changeling on his own.
Thorax looked up at the orphanage before him. As he eyed the building he began to feel a somewhat overwhelming feeling come over him. He found himself unable to move himself forward along the pathway, as though frozen in place. Yesterday, he had been excited at the idea of coming here to begin his learning of friendship, and now that he was, he was feeling like having second thoughts.
But he couldn't let himself be nervous at a time like this, not now. If this could give him his first step to becoming an example of what the rest of his kind could become; changelings who could learn to co-exist with ponies rather than treating them as a means of food and nourishment, then he just had to go for it and give it his best. Thorax would show the ponies of Equestria that not all changelings were bad, and it would start here at this orphanage.
Taking a deep breath and casting aside his troubled thoughts, Thorax managed to will his hooves to start moving, and he began walking along the pathway. He skipped up a few steps, and there he stood at the front door. Raising his holed hoof, he knocked upon the crystal door, his black reflection in mimicking his action. A few seconds later, he heard mumbling from inside the building, and the sound of something squeaking as the occupant came to answer the door. Thorax straightened himself and put on his best smile, hoping to make a good first impression.
Thorax heard the door unlocked, and it opened to reveal a cobalt-coated earth pony in a wheelchair. She had a black mane with white streaks which fell down to her chest with small curls, and her eyes glimmered a lovely emerald green.
Upon seeing Thorax and his toothy smile, the mare's eyes widened and she jumped a little in her seat, probably because of the fanged smile the changeling on her doorstep was giving her, but the mare quickly composed herself and spoke. "I'm going to guess you're the new assistant Shining and Cadence talked to me about, yes?" she said with an eyebrow raised.
Thorax slowly nodded. "Yes. I'm, um, Thorax. I suppose you must be Jet Shine, right?"
"That's me," she replied. She reversed her wheelchair back and opened the door wide. She raised a hoof and motioned to the changeling. "So are you going to stand there or are you going to come on in, Thorax?" Jet Shine asked. "There's no time to waste when when there's children to look after."
And Thorax stepped inside, ready to start his first day as an assistant inside of the Crystal Empire orphanage.
