"Are you absolutely sure you can handle this, Flurry? I wouldn't want you to think you can't handle this and end up not handling it," Shining Armor said.
"Dad, you're speaking gibberish," Flurry Heart said as she and her parents walked down the hallways of the Crystal Castle. Shining Armor frowned, turning to his wife. Cadance, who was smiling at her daughter, only sighed.
"She's right, you know," she said, winking at Flurry. Shining Armor groaned.
"Thanks for the support, Dear," he said with a playful smile beginning to form at the corners of his mouth.
"Anyways," Flurry said, "I've been through the checklist you left for me multiple times. I know exactly what topics to cover and what topics to stray away from. No worries."
Cadance grinned. "That's my girl."
"If he brings up anything to due with the abnormal "squid" coverage throughout the empire, change the subject immediately," Shining Armor said sternly. Flurry frowned.
"Squid coverage? What-"
"Actually yes, your father's right for once," Cadance said suddenly. "Don't bother with the squid coverage."
"I don't even know what that-"
"Your Majesty's, your carriage is here," one of the guards said, trotting up to the three of them and bowing. Cadance and Shining Armor nodded towards him, shooting their daughter one last smile.
"Good luck, Flurry!" Cadance said, walking besides her husband. Shining Armor gave her an uneasy look.
"Are you absolutely sure about this, Flurry? We can reschedule the meeting for another time if you'd feel more comfortable with that," he said. Flurry Heart rolled her eyes.
"I'm fine. Valentine's all in check too. She's having a sleepover tonight, right?" she asked. Cadance nodded.
"Yeah, one of the guards has already been assigned to them," she said.
"I feel really bad for that guard," Flurry mumbled to herself.
"What was that?"
"Nothing! You two have fun! Doing... whatever it is you're going to Canterlot for," Flurry said.
"Aunty Celestia requested a meeting with us," Cadance said with a sigh. "We shouldn't be gone the entire day, though."
"Got it... have fun!"
"You too!" Cadance said, dragging Shining Armor away from her before he could say anything more.
Once her parents were out of sight, Flurry turned to go into the royal courtroom, but was abruptly stopped by a certain young mare.
"What time are they coming?" a small bright pink filly asked with wide eyes. Flurry groaned, waking straight past her.
"Honestly, Valentine, I told you they'd be here at seven o'clock. Is it seven o'clock yet? Nope," Flurry said. Valentine pouted at her older sister; this had no effect on Flurry.
"But Fluryyyy," she whined, "they're bringing ice creammm!"
"Quit thinking on your stomach so much!" Flurry scolded, seating herself in the dining room in front of a large platter of strawberry shortcake. She licked her lips. "Hey can you pass me the blueberries?"
"Who puts blueberries on a strawberry-based cake?" Valentine asked, eyeing the treat, "and you told me not to eat so much."
"Hey, I have an excuse," Flurry said through a mouthful of blueberries, "I have to prepare for a very important meeting today."
"What time is that anyway?" Valentine asked, seating herself next to her sister.
"Six o'clock," Flurry said, licking her spoon. Valentine frowned.
"Isn't that in five minutes?" she asked, looking over at the large clock in the dining room.
"OH HORSEAPPLES!!"
"Presenting... Prince Thorax of the Changeling Hive!" a guard said as the trumpets blared throughout the large room in the Crystal Castle. Flurry's eyes widened as the familiar changeling stepped into view, taking a seat across from her.
"Princess Fooey Heart," Thorax said politely, not noticing the obvious mistake.
Flurry coughed. "Uh... it's Flurry, Your Highness," she corrected.
Thorax's eyes widened. "Oh... right. Sorry about that," he said with a slight blush on his bright green cheeks.
"It's alright," Flurry said as they settled into an uncomfortable silence.
Thorax shuffled through his notes, settling on a specific sheet and looking back at the young princess.
"As you know, I've been touring Equestria, looking for potential allies and sources of protection for the Changeling Hive. The Crystal Empire has always been like a second home to me, ever since I was accepted as who I am almost twenty years ago. Right in this very castle, actually. I've always looked at the Crystal Empire as a friend to me, and today I was hoping to make it official."
Flurry smiled. She knew that Thorax was nervous. She'd known him almost her entire life, but the professional act was always hard to put on.
"Yes, I understand. And I'd first and foremost like to apologize for my parents absence at this meeting. They have been called on important matters by Princess Celestia. I'm sure you understand why I have decided to fill in for them today," Flurry said in a calm, clear manner. Thorax gulped.
"Right. That is alright, Princess," he said. "I wanted to discuss mostly on the topic of allying with the Crystal Empire, therefore other matters must also be discussed before proceeding. Would you like to begin?"
"Yes. To start off, will you please list all the potential benefits the Crystal Empire will receive upon sending a few of our own guards to protect the borders of your kingdom?" Flurry asked, gulping as she tried recalling the conversation points her parents had told her about. Thorax nodded.
"Excellent." He suddenly took on a more confident voice. "Of course, sending guards isn't the problem. We'd just like to have a source of extra protection in case something were to arise. The Changeling Hive isn't officially part of Equestria, therefore we must have your approval before expecting anything from your kingdom."
"Perfect. And I assume you'd do the same for the Crystal Empire?" Flurry asked.
"Of course. The Changeling Hive would be more than willing to-"
"FLURRYYYY!!!" somepony yelled, bursting through the doors of the room. Flurry's face lost all of the color it had. She slowly turned around to see her sister walking up to her.
Valentine suddenly stopped.
"Oh... am I interrupting something?" she asked. Flurry mentally facehoofed.
"Prince Thorax, please excuse my little sister. Princess Valentine, you've met Prince Thorax, correct?" she asked through gritted teeth. Valentine laughed nervously.
"Oh... yeah... Thorax, I-"
"Prince Thorax," Flurry corrected, glaring at the filly.
Thorax suddenly burst into laughter. "Oh, if it isn't little Shrimp!" he exclaimed, earning a few weird looks from the guards standing on post. One of them suddenly cleared their throat, bowing low to the ground.
"Terribly sorry, Princess Flurry Heart. Your sister doesn't seem to take 'no' for an answer," he explained. Flurry sighed, turning back to Thorax.
"Please take her away," she said, waving her hoof at the guard. The guard saluted once, before gently taking Valentine's hoof and leading her outside.
Thorax could only laugh as Flurry sighed and returned back to him. "She really is quite cute," he stated. Flurry rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile at that.
"Maybe so, but she can be quite a handful sometimes," she said, shrugging her shoulders in a relaxed manner. She quickly returned back to her notes. "Now, where were we?"
"You weren't too bad," Flurry Heart said as she and Thorax made their way into the balcony area of the Crystal Castle. The meeting had come to a close mere minutes ago, and the two friends didn't waste time letting go of their professional act.
Thorax groaned. "Are you kidding? I was totally horrible," he said, "I made such a fool of myself, I can't believe it."
Flurry playfully punched him on his shoulder. "Hey, relax. You're still new to this whole thing."
"No I'm not."
"I know you're not. I was just trying to make you feel better." Flurry deadpanned him a look. Thorax grinned, but nodded happily as her words met him.
"Thanks for trying, but it's no use," he said, "I'm pathetic. You were so good during the meeting... I don't know how you do it, Flurry."
"Don't worry. I've had plenty of bad meetings in my own time," Flurry teased. Thorax gasped.
"So you admit I did a bad job!" he exclaimed.
"No! Of course not! Where'd you get that from, Weirdo?" Flurry asked.
"Are you callin' me a weirdo?"
"Yeah, I guess I am!"
"Well we all know who the real weirdo here is!"
"Oh yeah? Who? Because I certainly don't-"
"I missed you."
Flurry's head shot up as she looked at him with a surprised expression. Thorax said it without a blink of an eye, his voice was so casual she almost had to ask twice.
"What?" she settled on saying. Thorax sighed; his shoulders slumped.
"I missed you a lot, Flurry. It's been weird not seeing you almost every day like how it was when we were younger... I mean, when you were younger. You know... because I don't age and stuff." He leaned on the balcony railing. She copied his motion.
"Well, I missed you too, Thorax. You were my best childhood friend," Flurry said, letting the night's breeze ruffle her long mane slightly. Thorax smiled.
"It's been cool though, handling my own kingdom and all. I admit, it was a little weird when I accepted the honor all those years ago... but I've gotten used to it," he said. Flurry nodded.
"I can't say I understand how you feel," she said, "I've never had that problem, since I'm not really a true ruler of the Crystal Empire. I have my parents to see over most of the Kingdom's issues, so you could say I was quite flattered when they told me I would be taking over today's meeting specifically."
"Well you did wonderfully, that's for sure," Thorax said.
Flurry smiled, a small blush painting her cheeks. "Thank you," she said softly.
They smiled at each other, eyes boring into one another's. They had always had a special bond that never broke, even when they started falling apart.
"Flurry! How did the meeting go- oh. Oh! Am I... uh... interrupting something here?" a new voice chimed. Flurry Heart and Thorax instantly looked away from each other. They glanced over in the direction of the newcomer, and looked directly into the eyes of Princess Cadance. Flurry groaned.
"This is the second time this has happened today," she mumbled only for Thorax to here. Thorax laughed under his breath, before the two reverted their gaze to the Princess of Love.
Thorax shook his head. "No, Princess," he said, bowing low, "I was just leaving, actually."
Flurry's demeanor dropped. "Oh... okay," she said softly, "it was nice talking to you again."
"Likewise, Princess Flurry," Thorax said with a wink. He turned back to Cadance, who had an amused smile on her face. He lowered his head once again before walking right past her.
Cadance looked at her blushing daughter. "... What happened while I was away?" she drawled. Flurry shook her head with a small giggle.
"Oh, nothing you'd be interested in," she said, before following Thorax back into the Crystal Castle.
Flurry quickly caught up to Thorax just as he was leaving through the front doors.
"Wait! Thorax!" she yelled for him. Thorax smiled, turning to face her again.
"Yes, Flurry?" he asked with a hopeful glint in his eyes. Flurry bit her lip.
"Will I see you again?" she asked.
Thorax grinned. "You can count on it."
Author's Note
Oh man how I love this ship.
