The Rock Queen

by Kegworth

Rating: teen
Tags: Queen Chrysalis, Starlight Glimmer, Romance, Adventure, Maud Pie, Thorax, Alternate Universe, Drama, Changelings, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 11116

Maud Pie is brought to the Changeling Kingdom when Discord is unable to accompany Starlight and Trixie. However, nopony has any idea how this simple change in the visiting party will go down in history for both the Changeling Kingdom and Equestria.

First off, no, this is not about Rock & Roll Music. Second, this story takes place in an alternate universe/timeline of my own creation, a headcanon world if you will. There are both major and minor differences from the canon, certain aspects like changeling biology work differently than canon, and nopony knows how to perform teleportation magic, as for the timeline, major divergence occurs somewhere in season 7, along with certain key events in past seasons unfolding differently. This particular fanfic takes place after the events of “Rock Solid Friendship.” And it kind of blurs the line between Slice-of-Life, and Adventure. So don’t be surprised if it at doesn’t at first glance seem to fit with the adventure tag from time to time. Rated Teen for depictions/issues with what could be best described as, “war” in later chapters, but the depictions of violence will not ‘strong enough’ to warrant the violence tag.

Okay, onto synopsis,

Maud Pie is brought to the Changeling Kingdom when Discord is unable to accompany Starlight and Trixie. However, nopony has any idea how this simple change in the visiting party will go down in history for both the Changeling Kingdom and Equestria. Starting with the discovery of a strange, never before seen artifact. Such a find is bound to bring about great interest to the Changeling Kingdom, and the return of an old foe.

Published 2018-03-23 00:40:07 UTC
Last updated 2018-03-23 00:40:07 UTC

Open for business

The Rock Queen

Chapter 1: Open for Business

It all began with an ordinary social visit, one that Starlight Glimmer and Trixie Lulamoon set out to pay to the newly crowned King Thorax, just to check up on how he’s doing, for running a kingdom can never be easy. Unfortunately, Discord is unable to join them, due to having already made prior arrangements to spend some… ‘Quality Time’… with Fluttershy. Trixie recalled those exact words in Discord’s excuse as she and Starlight wandered through Ponyville. “Quality Time, eh? I wonder if that’s simply a nickname for a little… something else he has planned.” Trixie smirked a little.

“Careful Trixie, if you don’t get your mind out of the gutter on that, an unamused Discord might pop out of nowhere and lecture you.” Starlight joked.

Trixie rolled her eyes in disgust. “Ugh... never mind!” The last thing Trixie wanted was to be lectured by a walking mass of contradictions, so she didn’t bring it up again.

And so, with Discord out of the picture for this visit, Starlight suggests they bring Maud Pie instead. They coax her into it by telling her of the abundance of rare rocks and how the whole Changeling Kingdom is made up of almost nothing but stone mountains and caverns. Maud pointed out that the Dragon Kingdom sounds very similar to that, but it is also quite dangerous, what with the volcanic landscapes and labyrinthian cave systems, that and from what Pinkie told her, the dragon denizens weren’t exactly the friendliest creatures in the world. Trixie replied with an explanation of how much friendlier the changelings are than the dragons, and how none of the mountains are active volcanoes, which sounded more appealing to Maud.

Since she has also yet to acquire a job in Ponyville, the changelings might even be willing to offer her one, for somepony with Maud’s background in geology would be invaluable to such a place as the Changeling Kingdom. This is enough to convince Maud to accompany them. They left at dawn on the very next day.

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“Okay I must admit; this place does look nice. Nothing but rocks as far as I can see. I like it.” Despite the flat sound of her normal monotone emotionless voice, she is actually quite pleased with the scenery.

Starlight nods “I knew you would.” As Starlight leads the way, she looks at the Changelings that pass them by, minding their own business, and were often oblivious to their presence.

Trixie notices how the citizens are both hard at work on building structures, yet also seem happy to do it, despite the fact that most of them don’t seem to be very good at it. “Hmm... well… he’s obviously doing a better job than Chrysalis. Then again...that probably shouldn’t be too hard to do, considering how she ran things.” Trixie shudders at a bad memory.

Maud interjected in her usual monotone style, “I was not there to witness the invasion of Canterlot or the Queen’s downfall, but from what you told me, it sounds like they are better off without her.”

Starlight nods in agreement. “Pretty much.” It does not take them long to see the hive-palace, but it does take them a while to reach it. Although the terms Hive and Palace are used interchangeably to refer to this one particular structure, it essentially serves the purpose of both types of buildings, despite the fact that it is becoming increasingly common for some Changelings to desire living in a home outside of it.

When the trio finally reach the steps of the hive-palace, Starlight sees a Changeling that serves as a guard to the palace, he has a light blue body and orange eyes, he is wearing the distinctive navy-blue exoskeleton armor, and has his right foreleg wrapped around a spear. He greets Starlight and Trixie with a salute. Starlight waves a low hanging hoof to signal ‘at ease’ and asks, “Excuse me...do you know where we can find King Thorax?”

The Guard replied frankly, “He’s in the lower levels of the hive discussing economic strategies with his advisors and a pair of ambassadors Miss Glimmer.”

Starlight finds the news interesting but wonders if she should wait until later to see him given his busy schedule. “Ah. Thank you. Well, we did come to visit him, but maybe we should wait until he’s finished his meeting.”

The Guard rebuked in a friendly tone, “Nonsense Miss Glimmer, you and Miss Lulamoon were instrumental to liberating our kind. You…” he then notices Maud Pie, “… and whatever guests you bring are more than welcome to come inside. If anything, King Thorax could use your advice on these matters.”

Starlight smiles at this information, “Oh, why thank you.” She then looks over to the others, and waves them inside “Come on girls, let’s head down there.”

As Trixie and Maud trot inside after Starlight, Maud briefly glances back at the guard while catching up. Maud thought as she trotted; Hmm... the citizens here also look good. Almost as good as the landscape. To be frank, Maud was more fascinated by their insectoid appearance, rather than their vibrant colors. Although the subterranean cave home full of crystals that Pinkie gave her allowed her to become more accustomed to seeing such vibrant colors, she still somewhat preferred their absence rather than their presence. As the group made their way into the lower levels, they could hear the voices of Changelings discussing economic policies.

Trixie interjected, “Sounds like we’re almost there.”

When they near the main chamber, they can hear the changelings talking to a pair of ambassadors, the sound leaking through the walls. The discussion seems to be revolving around the prospect of imports and exports for the newly recognized Changeling Kingdom. The first voice clearly belongs to a stallion, “This kingdom is nothing but rocks so that might as well be your primary export.”

A second voice chimed in. judging by its accent it could only belong to an elderly male Gryphon, “Much like the Dragons, we Gryphons desire to restore our own kingdom to its former glory. As well as expand its borders around the great tree. Doing so requires the repair of existing structures and the building of new ones, that in turn requires masonry, and because Griffonstone is currently comprised of nothing but the great tree in Grover Peaks, we do not have as much free access to masonry as the Dragons do. Henceforth we are willing to trade with you for it.”

The Pony ambassador interrupted, “Equestria is willing to do the same for similar reasons, if only to keep our cities presentable and not crumbling. The only question is; What will you get in return? You have yet to set up a proper banking system, so that forces you to barter directly for resources, yet your kind does not require food to survive, only Love and Water.” As rude as it was to interrupt he did raise a fair point.

Starlight’s ear twitches at this information; Hmmm... What exactly would the Changelings get in return? She listens closer, curious as to how Thorax is going to respond

Thorax spoke with a tone of authority he had grown somewhat accustomed to. The metamorphosis had considerably deepened his voice, making him sound quite awe-inspiring, the kind of voice that makes anyone pay attention and respect the speaker. “You just answered your own question. There is at least one thing we could get in return. Water. Our kingdom is quite arid, and we cannot literally make it rain whenever we want to like the Pegasi of Equestria. We’ve so far been relying on neglected underground springs that are slowly drying up and won’t last for much longer. My chief engineer tells me that if we don’t rebuild our infrastructure, the springs will dry up in less than 5 years.”

The Gryphon ambassador sounded interested in this fact, “So… clean drinking water will suffice for now? All right, we can work with that. 1 ton of water in exchange for every ton of masonry.”

The big numbers involved with that much rock is enough to pique Maud’s interest. She also finds Thorax’s voice to be fascinating. “Is that Thorax? He sounds… impressive.”

Starlight and Trixie raise their eyebrows in surprise at Maud’s choice of words, having never heard her use that exact wording to describe somepony or somebody before, but since they haven’t known her for as long as The Mane 6 have, they decide to dismiss it for the time being.

Meanwhile, they can hear various murmurs in agreement. Soon enough, the Pony ambassador departs from the room, he is a Pegasus whose appearance could be best described as a fusion between Ace Point and Filthy Rich, following behind him is the Gryphon ambassador who looks a lot like a snowy owl. Both are wearing black business suits with red neckties and carrying briefcases. They only briefly glance at the mare trio seemingly recognizing Trixie and Starlight as VIP’s before they leave the waiting room, taking the same path that the trio took to enter the palace, and presumably leave the palace to fly away. Another guard enters the waiting room. He calls out to the mare trio, “Okay the 3 of you can come in now.”

The trio trots inside, Starlight greets Thorax with a customary hoof shake, Trixie does the same, “Hi there, Thorax. I trust everything’s going well for you?” Starlight asked.

Thorax spoke while returning the hoof shakes, “Ah, Trixie and Starlight. While it is good to see you again things are not going as well as anticipated. Rebuilding a kingdom is no easy task as you no doubt just heard. The only comfort I can take is that my kingdom is not the only one with a restoration problem.”

Starlight’s expression shifted from happy, to slightly worried, “Oh dear... Well, just so you know we’re always available to help you out when you need it.” Her face lit up in realization, suddenly remembering Maud, “Oh, before I forget, we’d like to introduce you to another friend of ours.” She steps aside and presents Maud with a raised hoof, “This is Maud Pie, a new friend I made recently, and Pinkie Pie’s older sister.Maud’s the geologist I mentioned in the letter. There’s nothing about rocks that she doesn’t know.”

Thorax greeted Maud with a nod as she was standing too far away in the room from him for a hoof shake, “Ah, from the Pie Family Quarry huh? I think I remember Pinkie mentioning the place. Nice to have a masonry expert in the kingdom. As Starlight has probably informed you, we are in dire need of one. We do indeed have an abundance of those rare types of rock, but we lack the knowledge of their value or how to properly extract them. All Chrysalis ever cared to teach us was war, these new trade opportunities being presented to us are all very complex and confusing for most of my subjects, we...” He then notices something off with Maud, “uh... is she alright?”

Trixie and Starlight look at Maud Pie, they find that her eyes are now open wider than they have ever seen, at least from her. Now that is strange. “...uh...Maud? Are you okay?” Starlight asks as she waves a hoof in front of Maud’s face.

Maud seemingly snaps back into reality despite not changing her face, only her eyes. letting them relax back into their normal (at least for Maud) position. “Forgive me for staring. I am just taken aback by how much… rock… there is in this place. It’s beautiful to me.”

Thorax meekly smiled at Maud’s comment. “Well...thank you. It’s very rare that a Non-Changeling would refer to our kingdom as beautiful.”

“That’s a Shame...” Maud replied. “Most ponies seem to completely ignore the true beauty that rocks hold; that includes all forms, not simply those glitter-infused diamonds, crystals, and gemstones.”

“Oh, I assume our kingdom has plenty of gemstones hidden deep underground. Although as far as I know we never bothered to look for any. Chrysalis never really paid attention to that kind of stuff…” Thorax places his hoof to his chin. “Hmm… now that I think about it opening a gemstone mine might just pique the interest of the dragons and allow us to open up trade with them.”

Starlight interjected, “It’s not just dragons that are after gemstones, I’ve seen how Rarity obsesses over the jewels she can put into new clothing designs, so that means a gemstone deposit would give way to slightly better terms with Equestria as well. But you would have to find some first.”

Thorax nodded and glanced back at Maud Pie. “Well then it’s a good thing you brought over a geologist. Do tell me Miss Pie…”

Maud interrupted in her usual monotone voice. “Please, call me Maud. I’m not that big on fancy titles.”

Thorax nervously rubbed the back of his neck; it would be a long time before he would be able to fully grasp when it is appropriate to address somebody with a fancy title, and when it was not. “If you insist Miss… oh… sorry, Maud… So, uh… do you think you can help us find such a gemstone deposit?”

Maud nodded, “My area of expertise lies with rocks in general, but finding the igneous rock that conceals gemstones shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Thorax smiled at this. “Glad to hear it.”

“I was getting bored of Ponyville anyway.” Maud replied.

Trixie interjected, “Maud, is there ever a time when you are not bored?”

Maud looks over at Trixie, her usual blank expression unchanged. “For about as long as I’ve been here.” Trixie stared at Maud in confusion, she didn’t look happy or excited.

Maud Pie looks back to Starlight, “Besides, if it means going for at least a while without being exposed to Pinkie’s antics I’m all for it.” Upon mentioning Pinkie and the word antics in the same breath, for that was known to make her appear, Trixie, Starlight, and Thorax all covered their heads with their hooves in panic, anticipating the annoying pink terror to inexplicably pop out of nowhere from underneath a hat, or inside a saddle bag, or anywhere else just as strange. But after a minute or two of cowering Pinkie does not reveal herself.

As all three of them finally get back to their normal posture, Maud just rolls her eyes. “Don’t worry, she’s not here.”

Everyone sighed with relief. It wasn’t that they hated or even disliked Pinkie Pie; but her endless enthusiasm and eternal hyperactive attitude could get a bit frightening and exhausting at times. Then again, what else would one expect from a pony who most likely lived solely on a sugary diet?

Starlight and Trixie simultaneously uttered, “Oh thank Celestia.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4 hours later…

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Three of Thorax’s Changeling servants were preparing Maud’s living quarters, while she gazed at the structure of the room. Maud was satisfied with the quarters she was given, reasonably sized, a floor made from white granite, while the walls and the ceiling are made of andesite. However, as much as Maud loved rocks, sleeping on one was not good for the spine, and stone tablets were far too inefficient for communication. As a result, the only things in the room not made of rock was the bed, the desk carved from mahogany, the glass windows, and the paperwork inside the desk. When the changeling servants were finished with their work and left the room, Maud opened her saddlebag, and placed boulder inside a neat little nest on the desk, making him look like a paperweight.

After tucking boulder in for the night, Maud opened her saddlebag again and pulled out the contract she signed about 2 hours ago, taking another read. Quickly skimming over the parchment, Maud could see that the contract guaranteed her employment with the Changeling Kingdom for at least 6 months. Any and all metallic ores, rock deposits, or gemstones found would be property of the Changelings unless stated otherwise, and should there be any breach of contract, such as attempting to claim any deposits as her own, or endangering the life of a co-worker, her employment could be terminated at any time.

As Maud read over the finer details, she suddenly heard a knock at the door. She put the contract away inside the top drawer, and asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s us, Maud.” Starlight’s voice called from the other side of the door.

“Oh...come on in,” Maud told her friends, “the door’s unlocked.”

When the door opened, Starlight and Trixie walked in and had a look at Maud’s room.

“Wow...” Trixie observed. “I’m surprised at how nice this room is.”

Starlight cast the same awestruck glances around her. The cloth bed and wooden desk seemed to be very out of place in an all stone palace. “Such high-quality furnishings could only be imported from Equestria, perhaps they were a gift from Celestia?”

“They certainly do liven up the room,” Trixie added. “Thorax definitely wants his guests to be comfortable.”

If this is just the guess room, I wonder what Thorax’s own room is like. Maud thought to herself.

“Well, since we’re all here, perhaps we should have a little slumber party?” Trixie meekly asked.

Starlight and Trixie looked around apprehensively, just in case a certain pink terror popped up, due to the word ‘party’ being uttered. With no sign of her, they felt a lot more relaxed.

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Starlight agreed. “After all it did take us 7 hours to walk here from the nearest Equestrian train station, and it’s too dangerous at night for traveling. Maybe when morning comes. we can help you out with some of your duties?”

“Thank you...I’d appreciate that,” Maud replied with a small hint of a smile.

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The next day Maud Pie began her crash course lessons with the would-be workers, she taught the changelings the basic tricks of mining and stone cutting. At first, the Changelings struggled quite a bit, especially when it came to the heavy lifting. However, with Maud working closely alongside them, they were able to gradually adapt to her techniques. Trixie and Starlight leave on the second day of educating the changelings when it became apparent that the Changelings were beginning to get used to the manual labor. As a parting gift for Maud they left behind enough prepackaged food for a month.

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Two weeks had passed since Maud first arrived in the Changeling Kingdom, and took the job as the kingdom’s lead geologist, she is also the director of the mining and stone cutting operations; Thorax is now visiting her quarters, for the first time since she had received them. He knocks on her door.

“It’s unlocked.” Maud answered, in her usual monotone voice.

Thorax opened the door. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

Maud gently shook her head. “Not really. What do you need?”

“Actually, I want to congratulate you,” Thorax replied. “I was worried, at first, over how much trouble my subjects would have learning these techniques. Many of us still have aggression issues, but stone cutting has allowed them to vent those frustrations in a nonviolent manner. I’m very impressed by how well you were able to teach them.”

Maud Pie put down her current piece of paperwork to look up at Thorax. Her face might have been its normal blank expression, but the body language especially regarding the rapid pace she used to look up at Thorax indicated surprise. “Well,” Thorax went on, “while the workers have yet to find any gemstone deposits, our economy is quickly improving; many of the Pony and Gryphon merchants we have dealt with so far seem grateful at obtaining such high-quality masonry for such a low price. Several of my subjects tell me that they are not treated like monsters anymore just because of how they look, and for the first time in a long time... my people have hope again.”

Maud gave a small hint of a smile. “That’s fantastic.”

Suddenly, a sea foam green Changeling Worker with purple eyes rushed into the room. “Lady Maud!” He yelled in an excited, but breathless tone, hinting that he ran and or flew quite a distance. “My king!” He then bowed to King Thorax out of habit. Forgetting that Thorax was still not used to such treatment.

Thorax waved his hoof dismissively. “You clearly need to tell me something urgent. So please do.” The Changeling stood back up and formally introduced himself to Maud, as Kevin, before describing the situation.

“About 2 hours ago, we found a massive crystal and gemstone deposit directly beneath the site where we were going to build Water Tower number 36! But we found a very... strange crystal in the bunch that is… difficult to describe… so I think it would be better if you and Lady Maud were to come see it for yourself my king.”

“Strange crystal?” Maud asked. “What kind of crystal are we talking about?”

“That depends Lady Maud, when was the last time you saw a crystal shaped like a ring?”

Thorax and Maud looked at each other, then back to Kevin and they simultaneously asked him, “Wait… what?!”

Author's Note

I first began writing this story in, I think it was August 2017, I thought that it would be better to lay the groundwork with 2 chapters instead of 1, and you have no idea how many times I rewrote and revised them before posting the story.

If you have any (Spoiler free) questions or notice any embarrassing syntax errors (that are not caused by this website's built in Text-to-speech program), do let me know in the comments and I will do my best to answer them.

A Strange Discovery

The Rock Queen

Chapter 2: A Strange Discovery

“Surely you mean a ring with a crystal on it?” Maud asked, thinking the Changeling made a mistake in his flustered state.

“No, my lady. I mean an actual crystal shaped like a ring,” Kevin corrected. “Follow me, and I’ll show you." Kevin led Thorax and Maud out of the room they were in, taking them outside in the direction of the deposit. Thorax and Maud spent the next 90 minutes walking towards the deposit. As they did, they noticed that various Changeling workers close to the site had stopped working, some were murmuring to each other, others were heading in the same direction, just to see what all the fuss was about. Of course, all of them promptly paid their respects to King Thorax when they saw him. By the time they finally reached the opening to the newly discovered cavern, Kevin did his best to explain the situation further. “The ground suddenly caved in when we drove a stake for one of the water tower’s legs into it. Aldus fell in, his left wing is badly damaged, he hit the ground pretty hard…” Thorax and Maud look at Kevin, Thorax has a noticeable expression of concern. “Oh, he’s fine otherwise, but he didn’t have enough time to get ready for flight. We flew in to help him, and when we got him to his hooves, the sunlight glistening into the cavern revealed the gemstones, and… uh… well… that… thing.”

Maud and Thorax laid their eyes upon the crystal that caused such a stir, it was quite unlike any kind of gemstone that Maud was familiar with... in fact, just by looking at it, Maud could tell that it wasn’t a gemstone or crystal or any kind of rock at all, but something else entirely. “This is... I’m not sure what this is. I know rocks, and this is definitely not a rock or a gem.”

“So, you’re not sure what it is either?” Kevin asked, surprised by Maud’s confusion.

“So, we don’t even know if this item is safe or not ?” Thorax asked as he looked over the ring, it was embedded directly into a pair of yellow-green crystals surrounding it, the artifact resembled a large ring, too big to be worn on any equine leg, yet it was also too small to be worn as a necklace. It was emerald green, and had a strange pattern upon it, consisting of numerous silver lines; some parallel from one another, others perpendicular, segmented by various circles. The pattern almost seemed like the map of a great labyrinth, yet there were no discernible entrances or exits to this supposed labyrinth. “It seems to be dormant. I can’t detect any magic emanating from it. But from what Twilight has told me, that doesn’t mean that it’s not imbued with great magic, the fact that we have never seen something like this before, means that it’s best not to touch it for now.” Thorax shifted his focus to Kevin. “I want this site cordoned off. Grab any gemstones and crystals that are not attached to...” Thorax points his hoof at the object, “That.” He then turns around and addresses Maud. “I think we’ll need the opinion of an expert in magical artifacts since this seems to clearly be one. Do you think you could send a letter to Twilight about this?”

“That would be best,” Maud agreed still staring at the ring. “I may be an expert on rocks...but if this is a magical artifact, then her knowledge would be much better suited for it.”

“Anyway,” Thorax looked off to the side. “Sorry to cut our conversation short, but it appears that I need to take care of all this.” With that, Maud began to return to the hive, but Thorax watched her as she did so. His eyes on her gradually retreating form, he sighed and turned back to survey the work being done at the site.

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As Maud walked back into the hive, and finally to her room, her thoughts revolved around the artifact. None of the Changelings recognize that thing...could it have been there before the hive was even formed? If so, who put it there? And why? Was it from a species still alive today, or one long forgotten by time? Either way, if anypony is an expert on both Magic and history, it would be Twilight.

Maud sat at her desk, dipping her writing quill into a bottle of ink as she wrote. It took her about 2 minutes to complete the letter. It reads as follows;

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I hope I’m not disturbing you, but as I am sure Starlight (and most likely Pinkie) has informed you of my new job here in the Changeling Kingdom. I’m writing you due to an unexpected discovery made only an hour before I wrote this, one of the construction teams stumbled upon an undiscovered cavern containing a large gemstone deposit, along with the purpose of this letter, a strange ring-shaped object; that is neither rock, nor gemstone, nor crystal, but appears to be something else entirely. I suspect a magical artifact. Although King Thorax couldn’t detect any magic emanating from it, the fact that nobody here has seen anything like it before, has made everyone afraid to interact with it. Since I am the furthest thing possible from an expert on Magic, we need you to come over and examine the object for yourself, and give us your opinion on what it is, what danger, if any, it might pose, and how best to deal with it. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated by both King Thorax, and myself.

Sincerely, Maud Pie.”

After signing it, Maud folded up the letter and sealed it inside an envelope. Unfortunately, because she does not have a dragon assistant like Spike, who has that pyro transmission power, she has no choice but to send a changeling courier to deliver the letter the old-fashioned way.

Maud leaves her room to search for a changeling to make such a delivery. Since the letter was extremely important, it would be best to have a royal guard deliver it, rather than a regular worker. After about 10 minutes of searching the palace, Maud encounters a familiar looking guard. Light blue body, orange eyes, holding a spear, and clad in the standard navy-blue armor, he’ll do.

“Excuse me.” Those words caught the guard’s attention, and he shifted his focus to Maud. “I hope you haven’t already made plans for what you’re going to do for the next 2 days, uh…” Maud fell silent realizing she didn’t know this familiar guard’s name.

“Dreyfus.” The guard finished her sentence, revealing his name in the process.

“Right…Anyway, Dreyfus, I need to ask a favor of you,” she held up the letter. “Could you deliver this letter to Princess Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville? Its contents are too sensitive to leave in the hooves of a regular courier.”

“A letter to the Princess of Friendship?” Dreyfus repeated. “Not a problem; I'll make sure she receives this letter immediately. But first, I’ll need to find another guard that will take over my post while I'm gone. So, if you’ll excuse me...” He bowed politely, taking the letter with him as he left.

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A few hours later, it was getting on into the early evening, and Maud was alone with her thoughts, and some half-finished paperwork, bored out of her mind. Obviously, it will take a couple of days for the letter to reach Twilight, and in the meantime, Maud would need something to do just to fend off her omnipresent boredom. Granted, it had been somewhat reduced since the moment she arrived in the Changeling Kingdom, but there was still a significant amount of boredom lingering in her mind. She had to think of something to do to pass the time, before she received a reply from Twilight, or until something new within the Changeling Kingdom came up. That’s when it struck her; aside from its architecture, and geological deposits, there was something equally important she could learn about this kingdom; the changelings themselves.And who could be a better source of information about them than their king? Maud rhetorically asked herself. A small smile graced her features, as she knew this would be a good opportunity to talk with King Thorax a little more.

Maud began to walk through the palace, looking for any sign of King Thorax, She trotted through various hallways, peeping into random rooms as she searched. She was starting to wonder if he was even inside the hive. As Maud moved over to the front balcony, she stopped to look down at the courtyard below for a moment.

“Were you looking for me?”

Maud looked off to her right, and found King Thorax sitting right beside her. “Oh, there you are,” Maud replied, having been slightly startled but didn’t show it. “Actually, Yes,” Maud explained. “I was just thinking, there’s one more thing I’d like to know, regarding the Changeling Kingdom.However, it’s not rock-related. What I’m curious about, regarding your kingdom is...the Changeling species itself.”

Thorax placed his hoof on his chin, thinking for a bit before nodding. “Perhaps we can discuss that over… uh…” He nervously rubs the back of his head, “What’s the word I’m looking for again? Diner?”

“Dinner.” Maud Corrected.

Thorax nodded, “Right, well that’s the first thing you’d learn then. Since Changelings can’t eat solid food, we never really adopted the whole… 3 meal a day system.”

“So those little fangs of yours are…”

“They’re mostly for combat and utility. Since our kingdom is almost completely barren of plants, let alone animals to feed off those plants, we evolved to not need nourishment from… conventional food sources. Because of this, Changelings cannot eat solid food like carrot dogs and Portobello Patties, but we still need liquid water to survive just like everything else.”

Maud stopped in her tracks to think, softly uttering a barely audible, “Hmm…”

“Uh… what’s wrong? Has your food supply been depleted already?”

Maud quickly turns her attention back to Thorax, “No. I just thought that since solid food is out of the question, maybe we could have soup instead?”

“Uh… sure. I’ve had some soup before, it seems to be the only conventional food that Changelings are capable of digesting. Being mostly liquid and all.”

“Have you tried rock soup yet?”

Thorax blinked in surprise at this. “What?”

Maud responds to that by rolling her eyes. “Well then, I suppose I’ll have to show you.”

After a quick walk to Maud’s chamber, she introduces Thorax to Rock soup. Thorax watched as a bowl of light green broth that had a single rock floating in the middle of it placed before him. “Uh… this doesn’t seem right.” Thorax was understandably troubled by the concoction presented to him.

Maud only asked, “What’s wrong with it? The Rock?” Thorax merely nodded in response. “If I had a Bit for every time the rock was the problem…” Maud then trailed off into explaining some details about the rock soup that seemed to go over Thorax’s head, as he was already beginning to drink the soup. Not wanting to come across as rude by refusing to eat it, he hoped that the rock might be small enough for his physiology to handle. As Maud continued talking, she turned to face Thorax, just in time to see the rock go straight into his mouth, much to her horror. “The rock is just a flavoring agent! You’re not supposed to actually eat it!”

Thorax looked at Maud in surprise, before starting to choke on the rock. Oh, now she tells me! He thought. Quickly going behind Thorax and grabbing him, Maud began to perform the Heimlich maneuver, until eventually Thorax coughed out the rock. Thorax coughed a few times. “Boy...do I feel like a dope...”

Maud let go of Thorax, before giving him some water to ease his cough. Maud felt shaken inside, seeing Thorax almost choke to death like that, but she tried to keep her emotions in check as she gave him some water. “Are you alright?”

“I really need to pay attention more often.” Thorax coughed, before accepting the water and drinking some of it.

“Well, I doubt you’re the first to actually attempt to eat the rock in rock soup, so I wouldn’t worry too much.” Maud explained, trying to relieve Thorax of his embarrassment.

“That’s reassuring, at least,” Thorax replied with a sheepish smile. “But still...me choking to death on soup? That would’ve been an embarrassment for the kingdom.” He gave a weak laugh.

Feeling that things were starting to become awkward, Maud cleared her throat, before speaking again. “Sorry to cut this short, but since it’s starting to get late, maybe we should get some sleep.”

“That would probably be best,” Thorax meekly agreed, as he was about to leave. “Good night.” He turned to leave the room, but stopped briefly after two steps to turn and face Maud. “Oh um, before I forget, perhaps we can continue talking like this again tomorrow?”

A very small hint of a smile spread across Maud’s face. “Sure.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, after a long shift, half of it was taken up by removing the artifact from it’s resting place by shattering the crystals surrounding the artifact, putting it inside a bag, and bringing the artifact to the hive. Maud was wandering around the Changeling palace, looking for Thorax. Thankfully, Maud didn't have to search for long, as she saw Thorax leaving the throne room. “There you are.”

“Ah, Maud,” King Thorax walked over to the grey earth pony. “A pleasure to see you again. How may I help you?”

“The workers have been telling me bits and pieces about you, and how you became king, but there’s a lot of conflicting information, so I was hoping you could clear up some details.” Maud told the king.

“Where do you want me to start?” King Thorax asked, as the two of them walked back to the same balcony where they talked last night.

“Why did you leave the hive in the first place?”

“Uh…. I… don’t know… Ever since I was hatched, I always felt like an outcast. I was weary of my own peers, especially with how feral and hostile they acted towards one another. And when I first laid eyes on Chrysalis... While the other Changelings gravitated towards her...I felt nothing but fear. Then, when we all took part in the Canterlot invasion, I watched Twilight and the element bearers display the power of their friendship and teamwork, as they fought against my brethren. It was then I thought about sharing love with others, instead of stealing it like other Changelings.”

“I see…" Maud uttered, it was at this point they reached the balcony, and sat down. Maud then asked a question that allowed Thorax to continue his tale, "So what brought you to become friends with my sister and her friends?”

“It all started when I first met Spike in the Crystal Empire, in fact he was the one who gave me the name, Thorax.”

“Wait, you were never given a name before that?” There was an air of disbelief in Maud's words despite their monotone sound.

Thorax nodded before continuing, “Yes, as I explained earlier, the only thing Chrysalis ever taught us was war. She saw us as nothing more than soldiers, and because she believed that we would never amount to anything else, she didn’t even bother naming us.”

“That’s… awful.” Maud seemed to exude some sympathy, despite her lack of an expression.

Not wanting to dwell on such a sad aspect about his days as a nymph, Thorax resumed his tale. “Anyway, I fled to the Crystal Empire after deserting her army, because it generates a huge amount of love magic, and Chrysalis wouldn’t have been able to send anyone after me due to the Crystal Empire Guard’s prior experience with Changelings. Kind of a bad idea in hindsight, but at the time, I thought that a single changeling would be harder for them to detect than a squad. But, I made some mistakes that allowed rumors of my presence to spread. As for Spike, I first saw him when he was walking around the cavern that served as my hideout. Apparently he was helping the guards with their patrol, looking for me, when he suddenly fell down a crevice. It was a good thing I was there to save him, especially since, there was nobody else around to do it. Once he was safe, we introduced ourselves to one another, before I told him why I was hanging around the Crystal Empire, and how I wanted the same kind of Friendship he and his friends shared. The only problem was, I couldn’t exactly show my face… my real face, but Spike promised he’d try and smooth things over with the royals. So I just waited in the cave for a bit, while he headed back to the castle.”

“I see...what happened next?”

“Well, after Spike came back, he told me how Shining Armor refused to believe the possibility of a Changeling being good. But Spike was still willing to help me, he even snuck me into the Empire, after I disguised myself as a Crystal Pony. Unfortunately, the moment I got close to Flurry Heart, the love she was emitting made my instincts go out of control, causing my identity to be revealed. Despite Spike’s pleas and demanding a chance to explain, the guards had me locked in the dungeon.”

Maud kept silent, she felt sorry for him, but was unsure how to respond to that.

Thorax continued his explanation after Maud nods at him to keep going. “I thought it was all over for me, but Spike managed to sneak into the dungeon, he spent a little while telling me what he was going to do; how he was going to explain a theory as to how a Changeling could in fact understand friendship and actually change their ways. I asked him for clarification, but he just told me that, a normal changeling wouldn’t have done that. At the time, I didn’t know what he meant by that, and he left before I could ask him to elaborate further.”

“How long were you locked up?” Maud asked.

“I don’t know, but it was probably days. As time went on, the guards started to become more freaked out as they saw me. I think I even heard one of them whisper, Something’s not right. He should’ve starved to death by now.Obviously hearing that was enough to make me become quite worried, I was starting to wonder if they were going to keep me in that dungeon forever.... After what felt like a week, I heard footsteps rather than trotting hooves come to my cell. When I looked, I saw two pony guards approaching me, and Spike was with them. My worry turned to hope as I saw Spike with a big smile on his face. The moment they stopped near my cell, before the guard could even reach his key, Spike announced that he finally convinced Shining Armor to give me a chance.”

Thorax sighed a bit before continuing. “They let me leave the dungeon, but I had to keep the shackles on. They bound my legs from moving well enough to run, made my wings unable to fly, and fastened a cover on my horn to prevent me from using magic. I was escorted to a large chamber in the palace, the moment I stepped inside, I saw numerous ponies within a jury box, along with a stern looking Shining Armor behind a podium. It was at that moment I learned, that I was being put on trial.”

Maud felt somewhat troubled by this and asked, “For what? Being a Changeling?”

Thorax nodded and clarified. “Mostly, but its purpose was to determine whether or not I posed any kind of threat to the Crystal Empire if I were to remain inside it.”

He quickly drank some water before continuing his story, “I saw a massive chart displayed on a wall in the far side of the room, it had 4 pictures on it, 2 changelings, and 2 ponies. Arranged in a box formation, Changelings were on the left, and the ponies on the right.”

Thorax took a moment to reflect on those memories before resuming the tale, “Spike spoke with zeal as he began my defense. Here is how normal Changelings feed. He then instructed Twilight to draw a pink arrow on the chart to point from the top most pony, to the Changeling parallel to him. Spike called it a, 'one way street'… He spoke again, And this is how Thorax feeds. This time, he had Twilight draw 2 curved arrows on the bottom set subjects, one arrow pointed to the changeling, and the other pointed back to the pony. This display captivated everypony involved, one of them even called it a feedback loop, and another said it was an ‘infinite harmonic reflux,’ and others used other scientific terms that are still beyond me.”

“I’m guessing somepony objected to this explanation immediately?” Maud asked.

“Well… yes but it wasn’t Prince Shining Armor,he witnessed my encounter with Flurry Heart, so he had no grounds to object. It was actually one of the crystal pony guards, one who had been one of my detainees, who objected.” Thorax explained. “Gleaming Amethyst, I think his name was, shouted that Spike’s theory of a feedback loop was a ridiculous notion, and that my continued survival must be due to trace amounts of love magic trickling out of the Crystal Heart. However, Spike managed to counter by asking, If it’s so ridiculous, then how is it that Flurry Heart’s love was fed upon by Thorax, and yet she is perfectly fine? After the predictably loud gasps this revelation caused, Princess Cadence had Flurry Heart brought in. Spike actually had her placed right next to me. To be frank, I was just as shocked as they were, I didn’t even notice that I fed off her love at the time.”

“Let me guess...Gleaming Amethyst protested that Spike was potentially putting the royal couple’s child in danger?”

“He did, and even demanded that Spike’s words be disregarded. But thankfully, one stern look from Shining Armor was enough to silence him. and Flurry Heart wasn’t even the least bit afraid. In fact, she looked happy to see me. It took every fiber of my being not to lash out again, I stood there for what felt like hours. At one point I even shut my eyes and breathed out of my mouth just to ease the tension resonating throughout my body, only to hear an uncomfortable silence. When I opened my eyes again, I found that Flurry Heart was radiating a love aura, an aura that I was automatically absorbing without thinking about it, the aura was fortifying my strength and magical prowess, making my wings glow. Fearing that such a display would spell my doom, I tried to deactivate the Love Aura but it quickly started up again, and again, no matter how hard I tried to dispel it. I thought that I was officially done for until I heard Princess Flurry Heart laugh, the way that an infant filly would. Spike walked up to me and offered his congratulations to me… and then the guards removed the shackles.”

“So that was enough information to convince them that you weren’t a threat to them?” Maud asked.

“Yeah, it was enough to make most of them understand. The theory had been proven, the feedback loop phenomenon that started with me, and is now shared by all Changelings under my rule, allows us to feed off of someone’s love energy without harming them, the love obtained by it also lasts a lot longer than the old one way street model.” Thorax confirmed. “It was an almost surreal feeling to actually have them accept me into their community.”

Thorax took another quick drink of water before continuing. “Cadence even made me an ambassador, Shining Armor was less convinced, but obeyed the wishes of his wife. They also had me wear a red scarf to signal that it was me, and not a regular changeling. Of course at the time, a regular changeling was still considered dangerous. Even still, they kept me isolated from the general populace, I would get a few visitors, but all of them had to be arranged by appointment, most of them were curious onlookers. Some were even newspaper reporters.”

“Well, no doubt a benevolent changeling would attract a lot of attention.” Maud reasoned with a small hint of a smile.

Thorax gave off a single chuckle. “Heh, you flatter me.”

“What about your eventual transformation and status as leader of the Changelings?” Maud asked.

“Well,” Thorax began again, “That all started about 7 months ago, when Chrysalis had somehow managed to abduct not only the Royal Sisters, but also Twilight and her friends, Spike, Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and even Princess Flurry Heart. The only ones who knew about Chrysalis’ deception were, Starlight, Trixie, Discord and myself.”

Maud’s eyes widened. “Even Pinkie got captured?” A faint tone of emotion could be heard in her voice.

“Yes, everyone. And no, I’m still not sure exactly how she did it.” Thorax clarified. “But the four of us ended up mounting a rescue mission, going straight to this very Hive. The changelings were on high alert, for obvious reasons. It also didn’t help that the layout of the hive had a constantly shifting geography, with doorways opening and closing in random locations. The whole hive was basically one big mechanical labyrinth that only a Changeling could navigate properly. Eventually Trixie became fed up with the maze, so she asked Discord why he couldn’t just use his chaos magic to turn the hive into ice cream or something.”

“How did he respond?” Maud asked.

“Well, the problem was, as he put it, such a spell from him would be too powerful. And while it would’ve turned the entire hive into ice cream, it would've also done the same with everything, and everyone inside the hive. including the hostages. Henceforth, Discord couldn’t risk using his magic until after everyone had been freed.”

Thorax finished his cup of water in one final swig before continuing. “Well, to make a long story short, it was soon down to just Starlight, and me, with Chrysalis trying to drain the love out of me. However, Starlight instructed me not to hold in the love I had... but share it with the other Changelings willingly. So I did, and as a result... I stand before you in my current form, while one by one the other Changelings started to follow suit. Just like that, her reign was over, and a kingdom-wide crisis was averted.”

It was at this point, that Thorax remembered something that gave him pause, and decided to change topics, he picked something that he’d been curious about ever since Maud first interacted with the Changelings. “Maud... Would you mind if I were to ask you a question of my own?” Maud gently shook her head, and Thorax began his question, “Why aren’t you repulsed by the insectoid appearance of myself, and my subjects? Even when we met, that never seemed to bother you.”

Maud took a bit longer than normal to reply, “Well… for one thing, I’ve never had any quarrel with bugs, but also, there were occasionally armored beetles within my family’s quarry.”

Thorax blinked a few times. “I’m...afraid I don’t follow.”

“Well, they tended to have exoskeletons that were rather thick; thick enough that they resemble walking rocks. Because of my love of rocks, I found those armored beetles quite fascinating. And to a certain extent the changelings remind me of them.”

“Wow... uh… that’s quite flattering…” Thorax gave a meek smile. Before feeling the need to ask another question, it was one that his curiosity wouldn’t let him delay any longer. “...hey, Maud?”

“Yes?” Maud looked at him.

“Mind if I ask you another more... personal question?”

“About what?”

“It’s about your...demeanor,” Thorax admitted. “I’m not trying to offend you but, you always seem to have the same monotone tone of voice whenever you speak or describe something, not to mention you tend to have a permanently neutral facial expression; basically, the exact opposite of Pinkie, heh, I even find it quite perplexing that the two of you are sisters. Anyway, I know you must get asked this a lot, but I just want to know why that is.”

Maud looked away from him for a brief moment, staring at the landscape below them, before she shifted her eyes back to him and simply answered, “I... have no idea. I’ve always been like this… I’m just bored. Pretty much constantly. No matter where I am or what’s happening around me”

Thorax, was somewhat taken aback by this. But he tried to lift Maud’s mood as she did for him. “Well, if there’s anything I can do to make this place less boring for you, just let me know, and I'll do my best to make it happen.”

Maud just blankly stared at him at first, but then she gave him that barely detectable smirk that only she can perform. “Having more talks like this would be a nice start.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Next morning, Twilight Sparkle approached the courtyard of the Changeling Hive, as she searched for any sign of Maud Pie or King Thorax.

“There you are, Princess Twilight; I assume you received my message?” A female voice caught the purple Alicorn by surprise.

When Twilight turned around, she saw Maud Pie trotting her way. “Oh, it’s you Maud. Yes, I did,” she replied, holding up the letter she received. “Where is this artifact now?”

“It’s in a little side room of the hive-palace, I doubt you could call it a lab though,” Maud explained. “Follow me and I’ll show you.”

Twilight followed Maud through the palace, while on route to the room, Twilight decided to engage in some small talk with her. “So uh… What’s it like being here in the Changeling Kingdom, surveying the ore deposits, and interacting with the locals?”

“Honestly, it’s been pretty fulfilling for me.” Maud explained to the best of her ability, despite her usual disposition. “I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in geology and a minor in microeconomics, so this really is the perfect job for me.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that.” Twilight replied. “It’s nice to have something positive to talk about after the recent attack.”

This caught Maud off guard, and she stopped in her tracks as a result. “Wait a minute... what attack?”

“I… I thought you knew.” Twilight stopped as well, her expression looking back at Maud, was one that conveyed, concern.

“Knew what?” Maud asked incredulously.

Twilight then turned the rest of her body around and explained. “There was an attack on a Gryphon airship called, The Axiom last night. From what I hear, the attackers were changelings, but they didn’t even try to disguise themselves. When asked, they just told the crew that. We are the True Changelings. Before stealing their shipment of water, and crippling the airship forcing it to land in a canyon.”

Maud raised an eyebrow, “How do you know that?”

“I met the captain on my way here.”

“But how could the attackers be Changelings? The ones I’ve been dealing with here haven’t been the least bit antagonistic or shifty.”

Twilight seems visibly uncomfortable by something. Refusing to answer that question, so she merely passes the bit. “I think you’d be better off asking King Thorax himself about it. All I can tell you is that those changelings who attacked The Axiom and the ones you see here… are not cut from the same cloth.” Not long after the two resumed walking, they finally reached the side room that Maud mentioned.

Maud kept quiet the whole time, knowing that Twilight had nothing more to say on the subject. She decided to take Twilight's advice and save it for Thorax.

Noticing that Maud dropped the subject, Twilight relaxed a bit, and checked behind her to see if Spike had caught up to them yet. Thankfully, it seemed that he had. “Sorry Twilight. The fact that this place doesn’t have a hotel yet made finding a place to store our luggage quite difficult.” Spike explained through somewhat ragged breaths.

“The artifact is right here.” Maud announced while opening the door, and then pointing to the table in the middle of the room.

Twilight’s eyes widened a little as she looked at the artifact before her, going in for a closer look. “And where exactly was the site of the supposed water tower the changelings were about to build when they found it?”

“On the outskirts of the north western side of the kingdom, about half a day’s trip from the Yakistan border, and about a 2 hour’s walk from the hive.” Thorax replied. Stepping into the limelight.

“Well, not to worry,” Twilight assured Thorax, while greeting him with the usual hoofshake. “I’ll have a look at this and see if I can determine it’s origin.” Twilight Sparkle examines the artifact to the best of her ability, or rather as best she could in the confines of her makeshift laboratory.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

25 minutes later… after examining the artifact with various chemicals and scanning spells…

“So, Twilight?” Spike spoke up. “What do you make of this… thing, so far?”

“Hmm…” Twilight pondered over the object “This artifact is certainly a strange one. It’s definitely not pony made, and yet Equestria is the only known extant civilization advanced enough to be capable of creating… whatever this is.” Spike, and Thorax looked at each other with confusion, before Spike asked, “So then, what is it?”

Twilight didn’t even bother to lift her gaze from the artifact when she answered him. “I don’t know.” She told her assistant as she continued to study the object in front of her. “But the thing that’s even more remarkable about it is its age.”

Maud stepped forward to ask a question of her own. “So how old are we talking here? Centuries? Millennia?”

Twilight simply shook her head in response, “No Maud. You’ve got it all wrong. This thing isn’t old. It’s young. All my tests indicate that the artifact is of recent manufacture! Only about a decade or two old at the most!”

Maud’s eyes widened to the same width they were at when she first met Thorax, and even her jaw dropped open slightly. “But that’s impossible, we found it fused directly into the crystals surrounding it. Such a process takes thousands of years at the very least.”

Twilight gave the object another look as she explained further. “It’s clearly not pony made, the centaurs would probably be capable of creating it, but while they were at first a promising lead, the artifact is far too young to have been made by them, aside from Lord Tirek, who was killed somewhat recently… in battle… by me… The Centaurs have been extinct for centuries. Besides we can rule out Tirek as this thing’s maker for other reasons, as far as anypony or anyone knows, he never came to this part of the world, and given the magic that would’ve been required to make this thing, he would’ve been more interested in absorbing the magic instead of crafting an artifact of seemingly negligible power.”

“So we can’t even determine what species made this...” Spike sounded disappointed.

“And since it’s so young, it can’t possibly be from a civilization that is long forgotten.” King Thorax’s brow furrowed in confusion as he struggled to come up with any possibilities.

Twilight gives off a frustrated sigh, “For every question that gets answered about this thing, another 10 pop up to replace it… progress report, it’s as fascinating as it is frustrating.” Twilight Concluded.

Spike walked over to Twilight’s side, “Um Twilight? Perhaps we should move on to finding out what it can do instead of what it is. We’re clearly making no progress on that front.”

Twilight nods, “Good idea Spike. I’ll begin applying some basic spells to it and see what happens. Best to start off with weaker magic.”

“Alright then, we’ll leave you to your research,” King Thorax told Twilight. “Maud and I have some...other matters we need to attend to. Don't hesitate to notify the guards if you need anything.” With that, he and Maud left Twilight to her own devices.

After they left the room, Twilight focused on the artifact in front of her, before her horn started to glow and she attempted to lift the object up with a telekinesis spell. She watched as her magical aura surrounded the object, before lifting it. She seemed to be perplexed by something as she lifted it, but Spike didn’t notice anything odd, other than Twilight seemed to lift the object at a slightly faster rate than he expected. She stood by the table with a raised eyebrow, somewhat dumbfounded at what appeared to Spike as an ordinary use of the telekinesis spell. When she finally put it back down he felt compelled to ask her, “Is something wrong Twilight?”

Twilight didn’t even look away from the artifact when she responded to Spike, “It’s odd, when I lift the artifact with my magic, it somehow feels like it’s lighter than it’s supposed to be…”

“Lighter?” Spike repeated. “You make it sound like your magic suddenly became stronger.”

Twilight’s eyes suddenly widened a little as a thought hit her. Using her telekinesis spell again, she positioned the ring on a shelf at eye level, before bowing her head a bit, she then charged her magic slightly, before letting lose a small, weak bolt of magic at the ring in front of her. However, when the weak bolt of magic passed through the ring, it came out the other side as a very strong bolt of magic; strong enough to accidentally blast a hole in the wall!

Spike just stood there with his jaw dropped, not taking his eyes off the hole that was large enough for him to fit his head through it, and deep enough to reveal the courtyard just outside. Spike looked back at Twilight to gauge her reaction.

“By Luna’s grace…” Twilight spoke with a dropped jaw in amazement at the results of the test. “The artifact is a magic amplifier! I thought they were purely theoretical!”

“Wait...you mean, nopony’s ever seen one of these in real life until now?” Spike asked. “Nopony's even been able to create one?”

“Correct; some ponies even thought that these devices were just fairy tales.” Twilight confirmed. “And yet...we have one right here, staring at us in the face. Spike...do you have any idea what an effect on the world it would have, knowing that it’s possible for these things to actually be created?! If we could reverse engineer such an object...!” Twilight’s mind was gleefully racing at the possibilities of new magical knowledge that this discovery could possibly entail.

“Hold on, amplifying magical prowess…” Spike sounded confused as he often is by Twilight’s ideas. “I thought the Elements of Harmony could already do that.”

Twilight felt the need to issue a correction. “No Spike. The Elements of Harmony harness and project the magic that’s already inside us. Plus they work best if all 6 of them are present. What makes this thing so special is that… anypony… anyone can use it. And you would only need one of them not 6.”

“So, if anypony or anyone can use this, and instead of projecting existing magic, it can make magic stronger... does that mean this thing could surpass the Elements of Harmony?”

“Yes it could,” Twilight confirmed, her facial expression suddenly turns from elation, to gloom. “And that’s what worries me… We need to keep this artifact safe. Who knows what would happen if this fell into the wrong hooves.”

As Twilight continued with her studies however, a Changeling Guard seemed to be discreetly spying on Twilight from the shadows, with a sinister smirk on his face. But he was mostly keeping an eye on the artifact, with eyes that changed color from purple, to red.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay, take 2.” Maud commented on trying to introduce Thorax to Rock soup for a second time.

“I still find the rock to be kind of, off-putting especially after what happened last time.”

“Can’t say I blame you. But you have no reason to be nervous this time.” She gives Thorax a spoon. “That should help you avoid accidentally consuming the rock.”

Thorax gave a slight smile to this, it helped knowing Maud was being so thoughtful. “Thank you.” He then hesitatingly ate a spoonful of the green soup. Much to his surprise, it ended up tasting pretty good. “Hmm not bad. Not bad at all.” He ate a second spoonful. “Does it get its green color from spinach?”

Maud smiled slightly at how Thorax was able to correctly guess the soup’s coloring agent so quickly. “Actually, yes it does.”

“Well that explains the familiar taste. I’ve had Spinach before in other soups. That little plant is quite popular in the Crystal Empire. But the ones I’ve seen were almost always strictly spinach, while the ones that weren’t involved spinach mixed with other vegetables or certain types of cream. But out of all of those soups I’ve had, I’d say this is the absolute best of them.”

Maud couldn’t help but feel a sense of flattery. “Thank you.”

Suddenly, Maud remembered her conversation with Twilight from earlier. “Thorax...”

“Yes?” Thorax looked away from the soup and in her direction.

“Twilight told me about the attack on that Gryphon airship.”

Thorax sighed. “What about it?”

“She mentioned that some Changelings were behind the attack, and that they referred to themselves as The True Changelings. Any idea what that’s about?”

Thorax’s expression turned grim. “I know all too well what that’s about.”

“So, let me get this straight, after your transformation, the rest of the Changelings became exposed to the love energy that you shared, taking on their new forms, and eventually adapting to the kingdom’s new way of life under your rule, correct?” Maud prodded for clarification on an inconsistency that was now blatantly obvious.

“All of them?” Thorax seemed saddened by an unpleasant memory. “No… not quite… only those who were inside the hive at the time… and even then…”

Maud noticed his hesitation and gently pressed the matter. “Is that why there are still occasional changeling attacks?”

Thorax answered as matter-of-factly as he could, “Yes… well…It’s no secret that Queen…” Thorax quickly checked himself, “No… she’s not a queen anymore… Chrysalis is still on the loose out there. And unfortunately, she’s not alone. Some of my peers refused to join my kingdom. They were too heavily indoctrinated by her ideology. They still don’t trust Ponies or anything else. We call them Exiles, although I guess every other race would call them Changeling Exiles, and they still make the rest of us look bad.”

Noticing Thorax’s lament at the bad reputation of his species, Maud decides to comfort him, as best she could. “There’s no such thing as a perfectly good species, even ponies have had several high profile individuals who were… well… there really is no better word for it than, evil… throughout the ages, one of the worst examples has to be King Sombra.”

Thorax nodded in agreement. “Yes, Twilight told me about King Sombra and how much he was a source of fear and misery for the Crystal Empire,” Thorax acknowledged, starting to feel better about his own species.

Alas, the uplifting moment did not last long for Maud and Thorax, for their second dinner together was cut short by a messenger, bearing news most horrible.

“King Thorax! Lady Maud! We have an emergency!” A Changeling guard suddenly yelled rushing into the room, his face contorted from panic.

“Whoa! Slow down!” King Thorax tried to calm the guard down. “Take a deep breath and tell me what happened.”

The changeling panted and wheezed as he tried to catch his breath, before relaying the news. “The exiles... they’ve stolen the artifact!”

Author's Note

This is about to get serious. I'll post chapter 3 when I can. Blame my college classes for delaying progress. ~~And I couldn't care less about whatever is going to happen in "The Maud Couple." I'll ignore it like I did "Hard to say anythin'"~~