Adapting To Shared Love

"They're staring..."

"Well of course they're staring. This is the first time they're seeing the real you out in public."

"I... I don't like it. Let me go into any of these buildings so I can become Chandelier."

Right as Queen Chrysalis turned for an open doorway, Thorax zipped towards it and barred it with his body.

"Nuh-uh, you promised!" Thorax exclaimed with a stern shake of his head.

"Well I un-promise!" she shouted in return. Chrysalis didn't like all the eyes focusing on her, eyes belonging to both ponies and changelings. She could feel them silently judging her, and she wanted nothing more than to hide from them.

Stunned by her response, Thorax blinked before speaking.

"Th-that's not how it works!" Before he could get further worked up, he stopped himself. He took a breath, composed himself, then removed himself from the doorway before speaking to her in a more confining manner. "Listen. I know you're a little nervous, and it's definitely not something you're used to, but you have to socialize. Not as Chandelier, but as your real self."

Chrysalis scoffed.

"Well that's easy for you to say. You didn't lead an invasion against Equestria."

"Eh, true," Thorax admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Still, that's old news. Us changelings have done such a great job building trust and relations here that everpony in the Empire's just about forgotten. I'm not asking you to make friends with all of the Crystal Empire, just one or two ponies."

"Well what if..." Realizing what she was about to say, Chyrsalis's queenly and imposing air faltered, her brows furrowing with uncertainty as she lowered her head. "What if nopony likes me?"

A pause had set in, and Chrysalis was quickly aware of that fact that she had shown weakness. Hoping to remedy that, she regained her regal posture before continuing with, "Ahem. That was a hypothetical question, of course. I mean, who wouldn't want to befriend such a great and sovereign ruler such as myself? They'd be crazy not to."

Like many times before, Thorax wasn't fooled by her display. After spending a considerable amount of time ruling at her side, he learned to read her like a book, and therefore knew that, underneath her hardy exterior, she was an insecurity larva fearful of rejection. Still, if he wanted to get her socializing while sparing her confident facade, then he'd have to appeal to her ego.

"See, you've got nothing to worry about," he said, giving her a reinforcing pat on the back. "You'll do fine. Just show them a little of that Chryssy charm and they'll be eating out of your hoof in no time."

Reacting to the abhorrent shortening of her name, Chrysalis huffed out in annoyance.

"Chryssy?" she repeated, her voice underlined with ire as she glared at him. "First you debase Chandelier's name, now my own?"

Unfazed by her glower (though if he was the target of it many months back it would have scared him stiff), Thorax casually inspected the back of his hoof as he gave his reply.

"What? It's a nice name. Easier to pronounce and cute, and I definitely like it."

Chrysalis growled, then turned away to hide her blush as she muttered, "I am not cute... I'm dignified."

Despite having a clear opportunity to poke her further (as he definitely heard what she said), Thorax decided against it and instead returned to the original task at hoof.

"Anyway," he started, "to get you out there and start meeting ponies, I've got a wonderful day planned for us."

"Oh, how lovely," Chrysalis replied sarcastically, obviously less than thrilled for what he had in mind.

Ignoring that, Thorax continued.

"Pay attention now, because I'm only going to say this once. First we're going to go to the park. There's a group of ponies there that always get together to play soccer this day of the week and we're going to be joining them."

Chrysalis blanched.

"Wh...what?"

"After that, we're going hiking--without the use of our wings. Lot of travelers like to share their stories when scaling the local mountains, and we'll be listening to any we come across."

"Hiking?! But--"

"Then after that, we'll be going for a nice relaxing picnic."

"Oh. Well that's not so bad," Chrysalis said in relief before putting a hoof over her stomach. "A little love later on does sound goo--"

"And we'll be eating solid food. Real food."

"Oh... goody..." said Chrysalis, her expression deflating.

"It's to help train you," Thorax explained matter-of-factly. "If you want to make friends, then you've got to at least learn to chew. If ponies see you sucking love in that scary way you do, then you'll lower you chances to befriend them."

Chrysalis slouched, and her mood already irritable as she gave her reply.

"I don't have much of a choice in this, do I?"

His expression bright and cheerful, Thorax hooked his foreleg with hers, then dragged her in the direction of the park.

"Ha ha, nope!"

The day had just barely started, and already Chrysalis wanted to go home...

One last thing. Just one last thing to do from Thorax's accursed list of activities, and Chrysalis could finally go home. She thought Thorax's aim was to help her be more social for pony society, not torture her.

They arrived at the park earlier and, true to Thorax's word, a group of ponies were playing soccer there. Naturally they were cautious of the changeling queen the moment they spotted her approaching them, but with a few words from Thorax (who unsurprisingly was already familiar with them), they allowed Chrysalis to join their game.

Chrysalis made it exceptionally clear that she had no intention of running around the field and getting sweaty (that and she was too embarrassed to ask what the exact rules of the game were), so they gave her the position of goalie, which was the easiest to understand. All she had to do was stand at the goal post and stop the ball from going past her; simple enough.

Things were going fine up until where the ball flew towards her, only for her to stop it with her magic. The ponies were furious, and Chrysalis didn't know why until Thorax explained to her that she wasn't allowed to use magic--only her body. After that, she tried again, but soon regretted that decision when the ball kept striking against her head again and again. She walked off that field feeling dizzy and seeing stars, and she might have gotten several concussions.

Next thing on the list was hiking, and Chrysalis didn't much enjoy that either. She didn't see the point of the scaling the local snow-topped mountain by hoof, especially when they had perfectly good wings. Thorax simply explained that flying would remove the fun out of it and left it at that. In fact, to remove the option of flying altogether, he had them both lug backpacks full of hiking gear, which forced their wings flat against their backs.

They started their hike and, sure enough, they encountered two stallions on the mountain trail. Thorax started talking with them, and they in return began recounting their many many treks up and down the mountain. Chrysalis, on the other hoof, found their tales boring and subsequently tuned them out. That proved to be a near fatal mistake, however, as she became less aware of her surroundings and nearly tumbled off a cliff as a result.

She was clinging onto a rocky edge, her rear legs kicking at air as she screamed fearfully for her life. Fortunately Thorax and the stallions heard her cries and managed to pull her back up in time. After that, Thorax understood if she wanted to leave the mountain, which they did.

Now they were on the third and final part of the activity list, and Chrysalis couldn't wait for it to be over.

"Come on, you can do it."

"I'd rather not..."

"Oh come now, what are you so afraid of?"

"Oh, I don't know, with how well this day has been going so far--choking?"

Sitting across from her on the laid out picnic blanket, Thorax tried once again to levitate a single crystal berry towards Chrysalis's mouth via his magic, only for her to sharply turning away from it in distaste.

Setting the berry back into the basket, Thorax relented, at least for the moment.

"You know, we won't get anywhere if you refuse to at least give it a try," he said. Crossing her hooves over her chest, she turned away from him and ignored him, prompting him to continue. "Really, you're being difficult. A small bite, that's all I'm asking."

"Oh, I'm being difficult?" she said incredulously, turning back to him. "You're the one trying to force feed me! I'm a queen, and I will bite into that berry when I'm good and ready."

The right side of Thorax's mouth formed into a scowl.

"Oh, and when's that? I'm only trying to 'force feed' you because you're taking forever! Seriously, you don't even acknowledge the berry; the only time you do is when you move your mouth away from it!"

Chrysalis remained silent, and Thorax soon realized that they were at an impasse. No amount of yelling would get her to eat, so he had to be more civil about it.

"Look," he started, speaking in a calm and more composed manner. "We have to come to some sort of compromise. Is there any reason, other than the supposed chewing, that you don't want to eat the berry?"

Chrysalis's expression momentarily reflected her contemplation, and then she spoke.

"I... I don't trust it. Perhaps I'm still set in my old paranoid ways, but I'm a queen and this is still a foreign land to me. As crazy as it'll sound, I look at the berry and all I can think is that it'll seek to harm me by becoming as sharp as glass the second it's in my mouth..."

Sitting on his haunches, Thorax rubbed his fetlocks under his chin quizzically.

"Hmm... I think I know where you're coming from, and I also think I have the answer. Question, Chryssy: do you trust me?"

"What?" asked Chrysalis, furrowing her brow as she turned back to him.

"Do you trust me?" he repeated before reaching his muzzle into the basket. When he then pulled it out, a single berry was held clenched in his teeth by its leaf. "Chryssy" he muttered through his teeth, "if you trust me, then take the berry from my mouth. I promise you that it and I won't hurt you in anyway."

Chrysalis pulled her head back, stunned by his actions. This... this stunt he was trying to pull in order to get her to eat, it made him look silly. She was embarrassed, not for herself, but for him!

Still, what he said did bring up one question to her mind. Did she trust him? She made him leader of the trial hive, later a co-ruler of the changelings, and now he was with her, trying to get her to eat for her own benefit. She asked herself deep down, and was surprised by what the answer was.

Without saying anything, she leaned towards him, her eyes locked on his as she slowly opened her mouth. She gently clamped her teeth onto the berry's end, and before she could bite down onto it, she paused. She noticed that he was looking directly into her eyes, and hers into his.

At that moment, Chrysalis felt... strange. She had never been this physically close to another before; well, at least not without them cowering, that is. He didn't seem to be frightened in the slightest, and she didn't quite know what to make of it.

Soon realizing that they were ogling at each other too long to be declared normal, Chrysalis sliced off her end of the berry and immediately pulled away to chew it. She'd only taken a small portion of the berry, but it was a start.

After plopping the rest of the berry into his own mouth and eating it, Thorax spoke, albeit a bit nervously.

"Eh... so... How are... How's the berry treating you? Good, right?"

After facing away from him to hide her brightly blushing face, Chrysalis took a moment to thoroughly chew before giving him her response.

"It was... adequate. Though I think I still prefer it in smoothie form..."

"And she remembered to smile. Oh you should have seen it; they didn't run off, and she was able to hold down a normal conversation with them. Then after that, we went to the park and encountered this couple feeding the ducks."

"Thorax..."

"Chryssy said that that looked like fun, so she politely asked them if they had any extra bread."

"Thorax, could you..."

"They did, so the four of us sat there, just talking and feeding the ducks toge--"

"Thorax!"

Frightened by the sudden shout of his name, Thorax jolted straighter in his seat. He gave his head a quick shake as he recomposed himself, then faced forward steadily over the table located in one of the Crystal Palace's many tea rooms. There, sitting across from him with an embarrassed look on her face, was his friend Princess Cadance. They were having one of their weekly tea sessions, and this was the first instance where Cadance had to stop Thorax from talking.

"Sorry," she quickly apologized. "It's just... when I brought up the topic of Chrysalis, I didn't think you'd go on and on about her. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to hear that she's making good progress, but I didn't think you'd go on a one-sided tangent there..."

"Oh, um..." Completely abashed by what she said, as he didn't mean to drone on like he did, Thorax turned his head and coughed dryly into his hoof before responding with, "Eh, yeah... I probably should have just said that she was doing fine and left it at that, huh?"

Cadance gave a warm, lopsided smile.

"Would have spared me that half an hour of trying to keep up, but yeah, that would have been appreciated." Just then, she redirected the subject to one Thorax didn't expect. "Um, listen, Thorax. I don't mean to pry, and this is a completely shot in the dark, but... you seem to have some rather, well, let's just say strong feelings for Chrysalis. Is there something more going on there than just teaching her to be more social?"

That question made Thorax feel warm, uncomfortably so. He readjusted himself awkwardly on his seat before giving his reply.

"Uh. I.... I don't think I follow. She's the queen and I'm the king, and I like to think that we've at least become good friends by now. Is that what you mean?"

To his apprehension, Cadance shook her head.

"No, Thorax," she said. "What I'm trying to allude to is more than just simple friendship between you two, and I have a sneaking suspicion you know exactly what that is."

"You can't be serious, Cadance," Thorax replied, shrinking in his seat. "You're saying that I... with her?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, Cadance's response was "Hey, I know it when I see it. I am the princess of that, after all."

In response, Thorax chuckled dryly as he waved that comment away.

"I mean, sure she's very pretty, and cute at times, and actually kind of nice when you get to know her, and puts on this adorable face when she gets a brain freeze, and she--"

Thorax paused, as he noticed that Cadance's brows were raised knowingly as she grinned at him. Her expression said it all to him.

"Oh great," Thorax muttered in defeat, holding a hoof to his chest.

He supposed that that proved it, then. He couldn't fool himself anymore, especially now that Cadance knew. He liked Chrysalis, possibly even loved her. He didn't want to acknowledge it, but for some time now his chest has been feeling... different whenever he thought of Chrysalis. It was a good different, but at the same time, scary, and for what he believed to be good reason too.

"But what if..." he started, only for his ears to lower as his words died in his throat. His attempt still garnered the attention of Cadance, however.

"But what if, what, Thorax?" she asked, holding her hoof over the table should he need to hold it for emotional support.

Thorax took her offer, made a steady breath, then spoke.

"But what if she doesn't like me back? I'm sure there are plenty of other ponies or changelings more deserving of her who catch her eye, and I'm just a..." It hurt him to say it, but, "I'm just a lowly drone who got lucky to end up where I am now..."

"Oh Thorax," said Cadance, taking his hoof with both of hers before giving him a warm and reassuring smile. "You're plenty deserving. At least I think so. You ventured out to the Crystal Empire on your own and made a friend here. You were the first ever changeling to accomplish that, and because of you, you were able to give your people a new lease on life. Besides, have you seen Chrysalis show interest in anypony else?"

"Well no, but--"

"Well then you have a window of opportunity," Cadance cut him off with. "Just... tell her how you feel. If she likes you back, then that's great! If she doesn't, well... well at least you'll feel better getting that off your chest."

"Tell her how I feel, huh? Heh, well that's easy for you to say," Thorax replied, huffing in amusement. "Love between changelings is unheard of, much less for a queen and a drone. We were always kept busy collecting love for the benefit of the hive as a whole, so romance isn't something we're experienced with. The idea of keeping love solely between two beings seemed a little selfish to us at the time."

"At the time, Thorax," Cadance point out. "The changelings aren't hungry anymore, so it's perfectly acceptable if you want to pursue romantic interests."

Thorax titled his head, his eyes skimming over the table listlessly.

"I suppose," he then said. "Still, I can't just up and tell her! Um, what is it that you ponies say that a situation like this needs? Eh, timing?"

Releasing his hoof, Cadance leaned back in her chair and rubbed at her chin as in thought.

"Timing could be good," she said. "Is there some big changeling holiday coming up that'd be perfect?"

To her displeasure, Thorax shook his head.

"We were always working. No time for holidays, remember?"

"Right," Cadance acknowledged, her hoof returning to stroking her chin. Soon enough, a suggestion came to her. "Hearth's Warming is just around the corner, with a bit celebration the empire if planning for the occasion, what about that?"

Again, Thorax tilted his head, as he wasn't familiar with the term.

"Hearth's Warming, what's that?" he asked.

Cadance was nearly shocked to hear that come out of his mouth, but then she remembered him stating that changelings didn't really care for holidays. Seeing as she was the one who first introduced him to the holiday, she figured it was up to her to explain its significance to him.

"Wow... Thorax. Uh, better get cozy in that chair, because you're going to be in it for a while longer. So long ago, before the two sisters, before Equestria even existed, there were the three tribes that didn't exactly see eye to eye..."