I am Not Your King!

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Final Chapter

Chapter 1

“Mine was done first, so I put it here first! You can put yours elsewhere!”

At the entrance of the arts and crafts room of the hive, two changelings faced off at the opposite ends of a moss-covered boulder, each holding a self-made vase in their hooves.

“King Thorax said I could put mine here once it is done and it’s done now!”

“It doesn’t matter that yours was done first, Junevile!” the blue changeling argued, putting their vase on top of the boulder.

“What?! My name is Pelipa! Junevile is teal!” exclaimed the very green-colored Pelipa. “Can’t you see I made this vase specifically for this spot, Aellyth?” She plunked her equally green vase on top of the boulder and pushed it forward to nudge the blue vase off.

Aellyth pulled back her creation in fear of seeing it fall off and glowered.

Pelipa claimed the now free boulder and grinned back, smug.

What then followed was an awkward wrestle between the two, attempting to break each other’s hoofwork while they jabbed and hissed at each other.

The noise soon drew the attention of other changelings from the room behind them and a small crowd gathered. The quarreling changelings didn’t care about the audience and continued their war over the vases.

Meanwhile, some distance down the hall, Thorax made his way back from the latest therapy group. Why was it when most of their old problems gone —especially the biggest over hunger— did changelings come up with so many more smaller, newer ones?

Even something that should be simple like picking a color came with questions. ‘What color should I be?’ ‘Is it okay to look different every day or would I even want that?’ and ‘What if someone didn’t like how I looked?’ As their leader, Thorax thought the best thing would be to start a Color Identity Management session where changelings could talk about such things openly.

He was about to pass by the tunnel that lead to the arts and crafts area when he heard the growing commotion there. Sighing, he turned towards the arguing voices. “What’s going on here?”

For an answer to his question, a vase flew over the gathered spectators and sailed right at him. He managed to somehow catch it by letting himself slump onto his haunches and holding both of his forelegs up in defense.

The fighting pair stopped in mid scuffle, frozen at the sight of him through a now split crowd of colorful spectators.

“Ugh… that was a close one,” Thorax said and placed the vase on a nearby rock before he got up and made use of the path created by the spreading crowd.

There was silence from everyone around when he walked through the crowd though when he reached the two fighters they both began to talk at once.

First they blamed each other, then they started speaking quicker and quicker to try and drown out what the other was saying. In the end Thorax couldn’t understand either of them.

Thorax lifted a hoof. “Stop,” he said quietly.

The two continued on as if he hadn’t said anything at all.

He cleared his throat and repeated himself, this time loud enough for them to hear him. “Stop it! I can’t understand either of you!” Finally that shut both arguing changelings up. Though their angry looks now blamed each other for upsetting their leader.

“One at a time,” Thorax suggested. So far so good, he thought. Now he just had to pick either of them to begin so he could get an idea of what they were fighting over. The blue changeling he had spoken with just yesterday, so maybe her. “Aellyth, why don’t you tell me your side first and after that we listen to Junevile—”

“Pelipa! My name is Pelipa! Seriously, we don’t look that similar.”

“Sorry! Sorry. To be fair, you two do change a lot…” Thorax turned to the other changeling and forced a smile. “So Aellyth.”

“Well… you remember when I asked you if I could put my vase here yesterday, right? So I finished it and when I wanted to put it up, she had put hers there, in my spot!”

“Only because I was there first, and I didn’t know we could reserve spots for our crafts to be displayed!” Pelipa immediately shot back, making Thorax face-hoof internally.

How did his mother solve these issues? How did she make them listen and actually do what she said? They were starting to argue again already. Should he be more intimidating? No. That couldn’t be the solution. He blinked.

“Yes,” Thorax confirmed, “I said you could put your vase there.” He looked back at Aellyth and smiled. “But, I never said that meant other changelings couldn’t, though. You see, the boulder is quite big. We could put three or even four vases full of flowers there, so why don’t you just put both there?”

The spectating changelings began to mumble and whisper among each other and the vasemakers exchanged a confused look, as if they were slowly processing the idea for the first time.

“I guess I wouldn’t mind…” Pelipa said before she looked down at the green vase in her embrace.

Aellyth remained quiet at first but when she noticed that all eyes were on her she nodded. “Okay.”

“Great!” Thorax chirped, buzzing over to the vase he had caught earlier to carry it over to the boulder.

Pelipa got up and placed her vase next to it, smiling.

“We should have thought of this option right away,” said Aellyth sheepishly. She walked to Pelipa and reached out a hoof in apology.

“I agree. Maybe we can pick some flowers for the vases together, too?” Pelipa suggested, hoof-bumping the other before she looked at Thorax, “I’m so glad you are our King now. Queen Chrysalis would have made us fight for the spot.”

“Or she would have smashed both vases, most likely,” added Aellyth with a giggle.

Thorax’s smile had left his lips the moment he heard the word ‘King’. Suddenly the joy of solving the situation was compromised by this one word. He wasn’t a ‘King’, he didn’t even have a crown! He just made sure his hive mates worked together.

“King Thorax?” Aellyth asked with concern, noticing the change in his expression.

Thorax tried to smile. It was a poor, forced smile. “I… uh… I would prefer if you just called me Thorax. I’m not your King.”

“But you totally are!” Pelipa countered, and looked around the crowd. “Everyone in arts and crafts thinks so!”

“King Thorax has a nice ring to it!” A male voice came out of the crowd behind Thorax.

Every time the title was used was like a jolt going through Thorax. Only now did he realize that he’d been the center of attention of the hive, not just the two changelings fighting. He didn’t want to disappoint his fellows, but he couldn’t accept the title.

“Listen, I—” he began but soon was interrupted by another changeling.

“We should make it official!” Another voice came from the left of him.

“Listen, everyone!” Thorax repeated loudly, and turned towards the crowd. “I’m honored you want me as your King, but I’m not even doing that much. I’m just… keeping us together!”

“Yes, like a King! No other changeling would be fit for the title like you, King Thorax,” Aellyth said from behind him and he turned back to her, frowning.

“Maybe we should have a coronation? That would make you feel more like a King,” Pelipa added. Her words sparked a wave of cheers through the crowd, making it hard to say anything against it immediately.

When finally the room was quiet enough for him to answer, Thorax did so with a sigh. “I will think about it. But please, for now, don’t call me King, okay?”

Aellyth raised a hoof and grinned. “Long live King Thorax!” she shouted and the colorful gathering of changelings all around cheered on.

Author's Note

"Pelipa, Aellyth and Junevile are brood-mates, just like Thorax and Pharynx, so you could consider them to be like siblings."

Chapter 2

“‘Long live King Thorax!’ That’s what they shouted, Twilight. By now I bet the entire hive has started referring to me as their King and I don’t like that...”

A confused Twilight Sparkle stood in the entrance hall of her castle, watching the dubious king pace back and forth as he vented.

“And I tried telling them that I don’t want to be a King, I don’t want to replace Queen Chrysalis. I mean… I’m nothing like her; I really shouldn’t use the same title,” he continued while Twilight listened with an occasional nod. “But they just ignore it or they say I’ll get used to it. And now they want to crown me the new King of the changelings.”

When she finally got a chance to respond, Twilight hummed softly. “I think I can see the issue here, Thorax. I had the same feelings when I became a princess. But why don’t we go somewhere where we can sit down?” A smile came to Twilight then. “We could use the library, as it happens Ocellus is there, too. She’s helping me re-organize the books.” Twilight gestured at the door at the end of the hall as she spoke. “I honestly have no idea why ponies keep putting them in the wrong places, but Ocellus’ been a great help.”

That Ocellus was helping in the library did surprise Thorax. Back at the hive she hadn’t set a hoof into the new one they were building. Perhaps he should ask her about that later. “Uh… Ocellus is here, too? Twilight I don’t—”

Twilight was already heading for the library, with a cheerful bounce in her trot. “This sounds like a great friendship problem for us to solve!” she said eagerly.

Thorax winced and slowly followed after her. While he trusted Twilight, he wasn’t so sure about involving Ocellus in all of this. She was one of the last younglings to remember their strict and merciless Queen. What if the idea of him becoming the next King terrified her?

The smell of old books reminded Thorax of the little library the hive used to have before it had been buried underground. Queen Chrysalis had spent a lot of time down there and only on occasion other changelings were allowed to enter it, usually just to fetch a book for her when she hadn’t felt like getting it herself. Fortunately, a good amount of books could be recovered from the ruins but they were still boxed up for the time being, catching dust in the new hive library.

“Are you coming?” Twilight called from the other side of one of the tall shelves.

“Ah, yes of course!” Upon rounding a corner, Thorax spotted the little Ocellus hovering in front of another bookshelf, swapping out two books before she turned around with a shy smile.

“Hello, Thorax! What brings you here?” Ocellus asked as she landed next to Twilight.

“Hi, uhm… I wanted to talk to Twilight about something. You haven’t been home in a while so maybe you haven’t noticed it yet, but everyone wants me to become the new King all of the sudden! And I’m not sure if I like the idea, to be honest.” Thorax walked over to one of the reading tables, sat on a cushion and promptly dropped his face on the table.

Ocellus blinked and turned to look at Twilight who simply gave her an encouraging nod towards Thorax. Ocellus pressed her lips together and resolutely walked over to Thorax and rested a hoof on his back.

“What’s wrong with that idea?” Ocellus started, “I don’t know any other changeling who is more qualified to be our new King than you. Thanks to you I was able to make so many amazing friends back at the hive and here in Ponyville! You’re a much better ruler than Queen Chrysalis ever was.”

By now Thorax was used to the word ‘King’ and it didn’t make him cringe every time someone put it in a sentence with ‘you’ or his name, but it still made him feel uneasy. Once he had processed what Ocellus was actually suggesting he looked at her with wide eyes. “Wait, you aren’t worried I might end up just like our Queen?”

Ocellus shook her head. “No, not at all. You’re way different, Thorax. She… she was cruel and mean and she shouted at me when I made mistakes and…” Ocellus shuddered at the reminder and bit her lip. “If anything you’re the King we need. And the idea of you becoming our King has been on everyone’s mind for a while now, you shouldn’t be afraid of it.”

“I’m not afraid. I mean, I was a little scared of your reaction to the idea, but the main reason I don’t want that title is…” Thorax struggled to find the right words. “I don’t want to replace Queen Chrysalis…” he explained carefully, “I am more like a… big brother watching over everyone.”

“Well, I don’t want to walk all over your wishes,” spoke up Twilight as she walked around the table and sat opposite of Thorax. “But waiting for Chrysalis to reform might take quite some time. You’ve heard her talk; she swore revenge on Starlight, she flew away when we offered our friendship to her and she hasn’t come back since. For all we know, she is planning her revenge on every pony—and ‘ling— involved right now. We might end up fighting her again… for the third time.”

“I think Twilight is right. She’s wicked, cold-hearted and awful! She has made us steal love from ponies for ages, not caring about the consequences,” Ocellus reminded, sitting down by Thorax’s side.

Thorax let out a sigh. He had expected that at least Twilight would understand him but it seemed that everypony shared the same opinion on not only him becoming the new King but also on the former Queen.

“But don’t you agree that it would be better for us if Chrysalis was reformed and returned to be our Queen again? I mean… she is not just our Queen, she is our mother, too.”

“She’s not my mother!” Ocellus exclaimed with a sudden, unusually firm tone. She crossed her forelegs resolutely.

“Even if she didn’t raise you, she still laid your egg. I’m sure deep down she still cares about all of us. She just… forgot.” Thorax offered with a weak smile.

Twilight gently placed a hoof on Thorax’s shoulder. “You don’t have to accept the title but you should consider how much it would mean to your fellow changelings.” She glanced between him and Ocellus. “They look up to you as a hope for a better future.”

Thorax looked at Twilight with a frown, and fiddled with his hooves on the table. Finally he looked over to Ocellus who was still blushing in embarrassment for raising her voice before.

“Maybe you’re right. Not much would change.Even if everyone would refer to me as King I would still be the same changeling.”

“You’d get to wear a crown!” Ocellus chirped.

The mental image of wearing a crown had Thorax’s ears drooping again.

“But you wouldn’t have to wear it all the time. I don’t wear my own crown most of the time. I think it’s been weeks actually…” Twilight said quickly, trying to reduce the damage Ocellus’ suggestion had done.

“Err, y-yeah, you can just stay the same, Thorax. And at some point you won’t even notice the title anymore.” Ocellus added sheepishly.

Thorax realized that they both just wanted to help him feel better about accepting the crown, but it was beginning to feel like refusing it wasn’t even an option. Maybe he was just being stubborn? It wasn’t like becoming a King would actually mean he was replacing Chrysalis. He would be a King, not a Queen. That was a difference, right? Chrysalis wasn’t coming back. She would have ended his life if she had had the chance the last time he had seen her… right?

He broke the silence with a sigh, releasing all of his worries through that one, big breath—for now—and stood. With a decent attempt at a smile he reached a hoof around Ocellus and pulled her into a soft embrace. Well, as soft as a chitinous embrace could be. “Thank you. I think maybe, you two are right.” He said, looking back at Twilight. “I will accept. Maybe we have lost a Queen for good, maybe we do need a King and maybe I’m the right changeling for the position. I mean, how can I refuse if everyone and even my pony friends see me as King of the changelings?”

Surprised by the sudden hug, Ocellus buzzed her little wings and smiled as she wrapped both her forelegs around the taller changeling’s neck. “It’s just a title,” she reminded and looked up to Thorax.

Twilight chuckled at the sight of the two hugging. “You’re a hero, Thorax. You shouldn’t be so modest all the time.”

“Yeah, I guess. Thank you, Twilight! I hope you and the others will attend my coronation whenever we decide to have it.”

“Of course we will!” chirped Twilight in response.

Thorax let go of Ocellus and stepped away from the table, peering over to the door. “So,” He paused. “You two will be re-shelving the entire library?”

Twilight shook her head, “Nah. We’re re-organizing it. Re-shelving means we pull them all out of the shelves and put them up in a new order. Re-organizing means we take the ones ponies have put in the wrong places and place them back to where they belong! Big difference!” She explained with the typical, nerdy excitement in her voice.

“Ah so… yeah, I get it.” Thorax replied, feeling like he didn’t.

“You can help us if you like! It really clears your head, maybe just what you need!” Ocellus suggested, buzzing over to Twilight and looking just as excited.

While he wasn’t as much of a fan of books as these two, Thorax thought Ocellus might be onto something; he could use the distraction.

“Sure, why not. I got two hours before I have to attend the choir so I can stay for another hour. We’re working on a new interpretation of an old changeling lullaby!” Thorax said proudly as he walked over to the nearest shelf to see if there were any books out of order.

“Ooo! I didn’t know you had your own changeling songs!” Twilight exclaimed. “Can you sing one now?”

“I’ll try, Twilight, but , I’m really not the best singer.” Thorax warned before he cleared his throat and tried to recall the lyrics.

With the three of them working on the task they were done well within the hour Thorax had to spare.

Just when the current leader and soon-to-be King of the changelings stepped outside into the afternoon sun he heard another pair of hoof-steps echoing from behind, followed by a quiet voice that called his name.

“Thorax,” said Ocellus as she trotted up behind him. “Wait! I wanted to tell you something.”

Curiously, Thorax tilted his head and waited for Ocellus to catch up. He took a few steps back so they wouldn’t block the castle’s entrance.

“Hey Ocellus. Are you going back to school now? How long until classes start again?”

“Oh. We’re still off until next week but yes, I was about to head to my room.” Ocellus stopped right in front of Thorax and craned her neck to meet his gaze. “I know you said you will give it a try… but I have been thinking: most of us only have bad memories of our former Queen, but not all of us?”

“That’s right,” Thorax answered, trying to figure out what Ocellus was on about. “Even I have a few good memories, I suppose. What are you suggesting? Oh, let me walk you back.” It wouldn’t be much of a walk, perhaps a minute or so but he felt uncomfortable standing around.

“Well, I’ll probably regret suggesting it, but you should maybe talk to Pharynx about this. It might be a good idea to hear different opinions,” Ocellus suggested with an apologetic smile as she trotted past Thorax.

“Pharynx, uh… I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t want me to be a King, yeah,” he rubbed his neck and then hurried after Ocellus. “Why would you regret suggesting that, though?”

“Oh.” Ocellus blushed a little. “Well... I really want you to be our King and he might convince you otherwise, I dunno… but I want you to want it, too. So in a way he’d be the perfect test to see if you feel becoming our new King would be the right choice for you.”

‘Hard to believe that she could ever be related to Chrysalis. They are so different.’ Thorax marveled.

Then again, all changelings were children to the Queen and Ocellus had spent more time under Thorax’s lead than the rule of the Queen at this point.

Before Thorax could voice his opinion, a pink hippogryph charged in and picked up Ocellus, squeezing the changeling affectionately whilst flapping her wings. It happened so fast he hadn’t even seen where she’d come from.

“Oooocellus! Where have you been all day!?” Silverstream interrogated with a sudden shift from cheerful to serious.

Ocellus pulled her face out of the feathery chest and tried freeing herself from the embrace with a weak push of her hooves. “Eee! I… I was with Princess Twilight, remember? I told you guys I’d help her re-organize the library!”

“Oh!” With utmost care Silverstream placed her friend back onto her hooves, and folded her wings. “When’d you tell us? I don’t remember you saying anything about re-booking with Princess Twi,” she asked rubbing her chinbeak, with a brow raised.

At this point Thorax began to feel out of place. Maybe he should just leave the younger generation be and head back home, and talk to Pharynx as suggested.

“I told you guys yesterday but you never listen when I— ”

“Hey Thorax! I almost didn’t see you!” Silverstream cried and immediately rushed to glomp Thorax like she had Ocellus. He awkwardly reached a hoof around her and let out a nervous chuckle.

“Hi,” he answered, taking a step back when he was released. “Actually, I was about to leave. You two seem to have something fun planned and I don’t want to keep Ocellus from it.”

At the mention of fun Silverstream beamed and turned her attention back to Ocellus.

“Right! I was looking for you because we wanted to play a game of hoofball! And you need to be on my team.” Silverstream asked while leaning forward enough to touch foreheads and squish her beak against Ocellus' muzzle.

Ocellus made a gentle attempt to escape the grasp, when it failed she replied with a quiet, “But I am bad at hoofball…”

“Not when you shape-shift!” Silverstream sing-songed with a beaky grin.

“I am allowed to do that?”

“Yeah, we all agreed that it’s fine.” Silverstream let go of Ocellus and glanced over to Thorax with a smirk. “Hey you could join us, too. I bet with two changelings the others have no chance!”

“Don’t you think that’d be a little unfair?” Thorax asked and offered a little smile. “Besides, I really need to get going. You two have fun, okay?” He waved his hoof.

“I guess a little?” Silverstream shrugged and then waved back at Thorax, only to dash off a moment later.

Another moment later Silverstream came back and snatched up Ocellus who was in the middle of waving to her leader when she was taken away.

Thorax had no doubts that Ocellus was in good hooves—or claws—with her friends but sometimes he wondered if they weren’t a little too… intense for the timid nymph. On the other hoof, back under the Queen’s rule she had to endure much worse, so what was there to worry about?

Back to more pressing matters. The view of Pharynx on the whole King of the changelings thing was certainly one that interested Thorax.

Author's Note

"Most songs changelings know have been created by their Queen at some point and while they were greatly enjoyed many of them are rewritten after their Queen's fall to fit the less hostile views of the changelings."

Chapter 3

The conversations he’d had with Twilight and Ocellus lingered with Thorax throughout his trip back to the hive and the session with the singing group. It didn’t help that the singers now also called him ‘King’ and tried to make a carol out of singing his praises. He decided to give the group a little break and took a walk the long way through the tunnels to give himself time to clear his head.

His slow trot was interrupted when a familiar changeling suddenly shot out of one of the junctions. Thorax raised his hooves to shield himself, but Aellyth managed to stop just inches away from him.

“Aaah! King Thorax!”

“Just Thorax is fine,” he said, taking a step back to give Aellyth—and himself—some room to breathe.

Aellyth landed and nodded her head in understanding, "I'm sorry," she apologized before she jumped and flailed her hooves about excited again. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere, tho'!"

"You have?"

"It’s a disaster! Juneville has turned evil again! She’s all black and she hissed at me and—”

“Hold on a second." Thorax interrupted, putting his hoof to the other changeling's muzzle to silence her. "Can you slow down a little? You do mean Juneville or are you talking about Pelipa? And what exactly do you mean by ‘turn evil’?”

Aellyth buzzed herself out from under his hoof and then around him to push at him from behind. “I mean that she looks like she did before you defeated our evil Queen. Look for yourself!”

Thorax let himself be pushed forward several inches before he finally relented and walked down the tunnel that supposedly lead to the ‘evil’ troublemaker.

“Did she say why she changed back?” Thorax now hurried to keep up with Aellyth when she buzzed by him.

At his question, Aellyth stopped and tilted her head a little. “Umm... not really, but when we started telling her how she should talk to you and reconsider she hissed at me! So I went to find you while the others made sure she didn’t get away!”

“The others...?”

His question was answered a few seconds later when they arrived at the cafeteria of the hive. It was one of the larger caverns located in the part of the hive that still had a ceiling, and was filled with stone-chiseled tables and benches. In the corner a group of five colorful changelings surrounded a black and holed changeling.

“Every-ling, I’ve found King Thorax!” Aellyth announced with a proud grin, causing the entire group to turn around.

“About time, Aellyth. She won’t talk, and we’ve tried everything!” Informed one of the five captors.

The now black Juneville clenched her jaw and then huffed. “I am talking! You won’t listen to me!”

Having heard enough for now, Thorax lifted a hoof. “Alright. I see what is going on,” he sighed and walked into the scene. The other changelings made way for him to talk to Juneville who immediately bowed low as he approached.

“King Thorax, I didn’t mean to cause any trouble!"

“I know that.” Thorax nodded understandingly while he ignored the title, there was no point in correcting every single changeling at this point. “Just tell me what happened to make you feel like reverting back to your old self. You can talk about anything with me.” Offering a smile he sat down in front of her. “Okay?”

At first, Juneville fiddled nervously with her hooves before Thorax’s smile relaxed her. “Remember when I told you that I can’t really choose a color? Whenever I feel comfortable with one, another changeling copies me. Like lately, they started to mix me up with Pelipa! And our colors weren’t even the same! So I decided to choose a form no other ‘ling would use. At least not anymore.” She crawled up closer to Thorax and looked at him with pleading eyes. “I am not evil! But the moment the others saw me like this, they got upset with me! So I got upset with them! It’s just how I chose to look like! We all used to look like this!”

“I see,” said Thorax and sighed again. The best solution seemed obvious: Juneville had to pick some other form of appearance and then the other changelings would stop suspecting her of 'going darkside' again.

“How about you pick any other color than this? Think back to when Pharynx refused to change. At this point simply looking like we did before gives the impression of you not wanting to fit in with the others. And wouldn’t you rather have a personalized, unique appearance like everyone else?”

Right after he had said that, a strange, déjà vu like feeling overcame Thorax. ‘What am I saying? Unique like everyone else? That sounds kinda wrong. So, why did it feel like a good idea a moment ago?’ Thorax wondered silently.

A glance around showed the other changelings smiling, looking fond of his suggestion. All except for Juneville who frowned. ’Mother used to do the same. She would remind us to follow the rules, and not to be different from the other changelings because if a single changeling stepped out of line it would affect the entire hive. Maybe she wasn’t entirely wrong, but that doesn’t mean I have to solve problems her way.’

“But... “ Juneville began, trying to justify her decision. “I am unique like this! There are only so many colors to choose from. I promise I won’t hiss again, King Thorax.”

Thorax snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the word ‘King’ yet again. “You’re right. It wouldn’t be fair if I forced you to do what every other ‘ling does,” he admitted, unable to keep up his smile at this point. “I’m so sorry, Juneville. You can stay like this if it makes you feel better. But you gotta understand that it might scare the others. Maybe we should address it on the groups you’re in to make sure no one starts to worry.”

Juneville’s face lit up in a smile and she jumped up to wrap her hooves around Thorax’s neck in a tight hug. “Thank you so much! I’ll bring it up in my groups! Is it okay if I say that you approve of it?”

“Err...sure.” Thorax replied, reaching a hoof try and pry off the enthusiastic, nearly strangling hooves.

Aellyth stepped beside Thorax and looked up to him. “You’re saying it doesn’t matter that she looks like the changelings the ponies are scared of?”

After a gentle squeeze and a careful push to free himself from the embrace, Thorax turned to Aellyth and shook his head. “It really doesn’t. She’ll have to expect some negative reactions from some creatures, I guess. Our old look was a little intimidating, but if she can deal with it I see no problem with it.

“And this is why I think you should be our King! I never thought I’d see it that way! I’ve been judging Juneville without even listening to her reason why,” Aellyth admitted with a big smile before she turned to Juneville. “I’m sorry, Juneville.”

“It’s alright. Thank you for getting King Thorax instead of calling for Pharynx. I’m sure he would have reacted differently.”

Thorax upon hearing this, tilted his head in curiosity. “Wait, why didn’t you get Pharynx? He‘s responsible for the hive security after all! Shouldn’t he be here around this time anyway?” he asked, causing a bit of a mumbling among the five changelings that had been observing the scene.

Aellyth’s smile turned sheepish. “He’s kinda rude sometimes… I’d rather talk to you.”

“He is rude, but he loves our hive more than anything else. You can trust him and I’m sure he would have handled this fine. Next time you feel like there’s a threat to the hive, seek him out. Unless you see me first, of course.”

Aellyth’s ears drooped. “Understood, King Thorax.”

“And please, stop calling me King until I actually am your king!” Thorax added in mild annoyance.

The drooping ears perked right back up and Aellyth grinned. “Does that mean you will become our King for real!?”

“I think so. But if you’d excuse me now. I actually wanted to talk to Pharynx about this. The King Thorax thing, not this incident, I mean. Can anyone tell me where he is?” Thorax asked.

A changeling in orange chitin raised her hoof. “Oh! I think I saw him not too long ago. He was heading for the library with his lunch.”

Thorax blinked. “The library? You mean the destroyed library?”

“Nah, the new one on this floor,” the orange-ling replied. She crossed her hooves and furrowed her brows. “It’s strange, I’ve been here for most of the day giving out meals but he hasn’t been to the cafeteria. Maybe he’s secretly cooking his food in the library?”

“Pharynx… cooking?” Thorax shook his head; he’ll just ask Pharynx himself. “Anyway, thank you.”

As Thorax came closer to the cavern that was supposed to become the new hive library, he could hear what he assumed was Pharynx digging through clutter and trinkets. A peek around the corner into the dimly lit room confirmed his suspicion.

“Pharynx, what are you looking for?”

Pharynx was headfirst in a large, wooden crate. At hearing Thorax’s voice, his wings buzzed to lift himself out of the box. A green hoofkerchief with little, black hearts on it dangled from one of his antlers.

“What are you doing here?” Pharynx demanded as he walked from the box to where a bowl was set up next to a rolled up carpet. He sat on the impromptu cushion and spooned pale mush into his mouth. “I’m on my lunch break, thought I’d see what the others have managed to save from the ruins.”

For a moment, Thorax debated internally about telling him about the hoofkerchief.

“You… got something stuck there,” Thorax said finally.

“Er?” Using his magic Pharynx removed the piece of cloth. “What’s this?” He didn’t wait for an answer and just tossed it back into the crate.

“Anyway, I’m here because I wanted to talk to you,” Thorax finally started while making himself comfortable on the carpet roll next to his brother.

“Hmm? Don’t tell me it’s about the King thing,” Pharynx guessed before he continued to stuff his maw with the mushy food.

Thorax noticed an odd smell when his brother talked and took a closer look at the bowl. “Yeah it is, actually—what are you eating?”

Pharynx shoveled another spoonful into his mouth and then made sure to clean the bowl with his tongue before he responded. “Mmaffed potatof I ffink.”

That was… strange, Thorax had trouble remembering when they last served mashed potatoes, if he wasn’t misunderstanding his brother.

“Mashed potatoes? I think we haven’t had them in over a week. Actually, we’re out of potatoes and have been since last Tuesday!”

“Tuefday, yep.” Pharynx confirmed, then swallowed. “Ah. I prefer it when it’s a few days older. It’s sour and good.”

“It’s rancid, Pharynx!” Thorax exclaimed. “You can’t eat that!”

“I’ve done it this way for months. Don’t tell me what to eat. It was your idea to eat pony food so I’m choosing mine.”

Thorax struggled to argue with it. Their new diet was mostly inspired by what ponies ate, but if rancid food didn’t make Pharynx sick perhaps it was different for changelings? Could changelings eat things ponies would get sick from? Something to investigate but not his main concern at the moment.

“Well, the reason I’m here is because I want to know your opinion.”

“You want to know if I think you would be a good King? Nah, not like this. You really need to toughen up. Maybe the pressure and a title would make you tougher. So, I say sure go for it. I don’t care. It’s just a title.”

“Huh.” Thorax blinked as he watched Pharynx put his bowl down and return back to the box. “I never thought you’d be okay with me being the King.”

Pharynx looked at Thorax over his shoulder and shrugged. “If you are scared of the title you are probably better off passing it to someone else but if you think you can lead us and have what it takes to be a King, you would be stupid not to take the crown.”

“Why would that make me stupid?”

“Because a title is powerful. The other creatures will have more respect for you and that’s good for our nation. Not saying Chrysalis was a good Queen, but she’d been our Queen for centuries and it’s only just recently become a problem.”

Thorax blinked again. “I don’t care about power! Respect for power is the same as fear.”

With another shrug, Pharynx reached back into the box and dug through it again. “This was from the Queen’s private chambers. I was curious if there was anything useful in it. Maybe some magical weapon or jewelry.”

“If there’s anything enchanted in there, I doubt it’ll do good, Pharynx.” Thorax commented, watching his brother. Suddenly, a book flew his way and almost hit him; considering his earlier practice he was able to catch it just in time and read its cover. “A journal?” He opened it to see what his former Queen had written in it. “It’s empty…?”

“What about this thing?” Pharynx asked, still muzzle-first inside the box. He threw a green, heart-shaped pillow over his shoulder. Thorax with his hooves full couldn’t catch and it hit him square in the face.

“Pfftlth—hey!” Thorax cried while spitting out stray bits of pillow-fluff. Afterwards, he carefully picked the pillow up and turned it over in his magic. A sniff later had him scrunch his muzzle. “Yeah, it definitely belongs to her, alright. Are you sure there’s anything actually special in there?” ”

“Maybe.” Pharynx finally pushed himself out of the box, holding a bunch of dolls and a crumpled piece of paper in his embrace. He dropped them on the floor and cackled. “Look, aren’t these the dolls you used to play with?”

Curiously, Thorax stepped closer and inspected the little figures that represented different creatures, from dragons to ponies, and even changelings. “They look similar, but mine were different. Besides, I keep them in my room. I wonder where these come from?”

“You don’t remember where you got yours?” Pharynx raised an eyebrow, he’d never cared where the dolls came from but was surprised that Thorax didn’t know either.

“Nah. I guess I just kept mine from when I got them as hatchling.” He gently poked at the tiny changeling and then noticed the scrunched up piece of paper. Using his magic he opened and straightened it before he lowered his head to read the text on it. “Looks like a page from the journal or something.”

Pharynx, now curious, buzzed his wings and read from over Thorax’s shoulder. “Odpre wexr Fépi—”

“You really shouldn’t read it out loud. It could be a spell or worse!” Thorax interrupted. To be safe he folded the paper and levitated it over to the empty journal, slipping it between random pages before putting the book back into the box.

“Eh. You’re no fun.” Pharynx stuck his tongue out. “What about the dolls? Do you want to keep them?”

“Maybe? We could give them to the younglings. I doubt there’s anything wrong with them.”

“Except they’ll all grow up to be like you if you make them play with dolls.”

With furrowed brows, Thorax reached for the dolls and pulled them over. “Nothing wrong with that. They’re children, they can play with dolls.”

“I never have and I turned out alright! You can have fun without toys. Remember that one time I stole the dragon egg and threw it into the spring at the hive? I bet it’s still at the bottom of the pond. Hah! Or remember when I made a cookie out of stone and told one of the younger ‘lings to eat it and he lost a tooth to it?” Pharynx grinned. “That was fun!”

Thorax pressed his lips together, and shot his chuckling brother a glare. “That was me. You gave that stone cookie to me and told me it was a gift from mother!”

Pharynx blinked. “Oh. Yeah. Maybe it was more funny than fun.”

“Not for me.” Thorax grumbled. He picked up the toys and turned towards the exit.

Pharynx stepped around and stood in front of Thorax. “Hey, come on. I’m sure you have some good memories, too.”

Thorax looked down at the dolls held against his chest. “I do have some good memories. But none with the other changelings, just some of my own, playing with my dolls. Although… where did they come from?”

He closed his eyes and tried to remember...

I remember one day I was walking the hive alone when I saw a group of changelings my age scuffling. I don’t remember what they were arguing about, only that there was a lot of hissing. Of course, I turned around in order to not be drawn into it, but they had already spotted me. One would call, “Hey look, it’s Thorax!” and another one would say, “And he’s without his bodyguard today!” because Pharynx wasn’t with me. Usually I was glad if he was following me around because he protected me from worse. Not that time.

Eventually, someone reported my black eye to mother. I don’t remember what she did to the bullies but she could figure out who had beaten me and they would lay off for a while.

One day the Queen asked to speak to me in her private chambers. I was so nervous that I thought I was going to throw up. Only very few changelings had even seen her bedroom. Part of me wanted to ignore the request out of fear, but when I thought about what happened to changelings who didn’t follow her orders I knew there was no other way.

When I entered the room and the metal doors shut behind me, mother was standing a few feet away at a lectern. Despite being queen, her furniture was practical. The bed was a boulder with a flat surface and several blankets and pillows on it.

Quietly and with my ears flat against my head I walked up to her. She didn’t have any words for me, only a cold glare that was silently judging me for… I don’t even know what.

“You’re very lucky to be personally raised by me, your Queen, aren’t you?” Mother said and I knew what she was expecting an answer. I didn’t feel lucky but I knew what she wanted to hear.

“Yes, my Queen.”

She smiled at that, but it was short-lived.

“You’re lucky not because I have chosen you. I only choose the grubs that I see the most potential in. You’re lucky to have the potential to become more than a majority of your siblings. So why do you insult me and my love by letting your less fortunate siblings beat you up? Why won’t you fight back?”

I think she couldn’t understand it. A changeling who wouldn’t fight back. Changelings, according to her, were supposed to be fearless. But then she said something that surprised me.

“If you find yourself unable to deal with your foes, what do you do? What does a changeling do? It leaves and comes back with an army! Why did you not come to me and tell me about your situation?” I couldn’t tell whether she was mad with me or not, but the tone of her voice became softer with every unanswered question. And finally I found the courage to say something myself.

“E-Even if I do nothing, I’m always the target. No changeling plays with me, no changeling likes me. And Pharynx, he tries to be nice but then he— ”

Mother’s glare turned into something I could only describe as disappointment. But… I think there was sadness in it as well. She frowned and then she turned away and picked up something with her magic. I don’t know what it had been before but after a green flash she was holding a couple of dolls in her magic. She sat down and placed them on the ground before herself. An earth pony, a changeling, a zebra and a dragon.

“Thorax, you’ve always been a little weaker than the others, so you have to work even harder to make up for it. Sit.” She leaned forward and petted the floor. Of course I did as asked and sat down. We were so close, and she was so tall and scary. But all of the sudden... nice, too?

“You see these dolls? If the others won’t play with you, you can still play alone. I made these just for you. For you and no changeling else.” And then she picked up the changeling and the pony doll. “What is the difference between these two?”

“Um… this is a changeling and that one is a pony.” I said carefully, but she just shook her head.

“No, Thorax. One is a changeling and the other a changeling in disguise. You see, we can be whoever we want. If you don’t want to be the victim, be someone else. If you wanted to, you could be the one bullying.” She flung the changeling at my hooves and chuckled. I picked it up to return it to the others and when I did, she reached a hoof around me and she hugged me!

It was something special, better than a day off, better than candy, even better than feeding on love. It was a mother’s love.

“These are yours now,” she told me then, “Don’t let anyone take them from you.”

I always thought what she wanted to tell me was that I could be whoever I want to be and that she made these dolls because she loved me. The only reason I had the courage to run away eventually were the dolls, I think.

In hindsight, she might have been trying to encourage me to be more like the other changelings. I wish I knew for sure. Did she make those dolls because she loved me or to manipulate me?

“Are you there? Hey!”

Pharynx waved his hoof in front of Thorax’s face who was just sitting there, eyes closed.

When he didn’t respond Pharynx carefully tugged on the doll in his brother’s grasp..

That seemed to have done the trick as Thorax suddenly jumped up and hissed at Pharynx, and tightened his hold protectively.

“Whoa! Easy! I was just trying to wake you up!” Pharynx said in defense, falling over backwards and landing in his mashed potato bowl with his flank.

Thorax blinked, now back in reality he put down the doll and walked over to help Pharynx back up. “Ah, I-I’m sorry, I was just…”

“Did you remember something?” Pharynx inquired while he wiped the potatoes off his carapace with his magic.

Still looking a little lost, Thorax nodded. He glanced down at the figurines. “Yeah. And I’ve made a decision.”

“That’s good, bro.” Pharynx picked up his bowl and put it on a nearby boulder. “Did you have a pony friendship moment kind of thing and are going to start singing now?” Pharynx teased with a smug grin.

Thorax opened his mouth to respond when a realization struck him. He stood there for a moment, mouth agape, then hurried for the door.

“I totally forgot about singing group! They’ve been waiting on me!”

Author's Note

Bonus

Final Chapter

“I wouldn’t have expected another royal gathering anytime soon.”

“Me neither but it makes sense, this is so exciting!”

The entire changeling population had gathered below the hive ruins in a large, illuminated cavern, chittering and chatting. At the far end a makeshift wooden stage had been set up with lanterns hanging from vines above to create a spotlight.

Hidden behind the stage, Thorax sat on a stool in front of a vanity mirror. He was surrounded by a group of colorful changelings, one of which brought out a robe and put it over his back. The robe was dark green with a soft white fuzz along the edge and golden pins in seemingly random spots.

“What’s this?” Thorax wrinkled his nose at the musty smell. “How old is this thing?”

The pink changeling who had brought the robe smiled. “It’s from Queen Chrysalis’ belongings. We thought it would be fitting. It’s not meant to be a royal robe but according to some older ‘lings it was awarded to heroes of the hive long ago.”

“Well, I’m not really a hero, all I did was stand up against Chrysalis. And I had help from my friends, too.”

“I’d call that a hero.” The other changeling winked at Thorax and trotted off.

Thorax looked at his reflection in the mirror and sighed. Even though he had decided to accept the title, the last few days had been exhausting.

“Cheer up! It’s your big day, King Thorax!”

“Starlight?” asked Thorax as he pushed himself off the vanity to spin the stool around. Sure enough at the corner of the stage there was Starlight, waving her hoof.

“I hope it’s okay that I interrupt your preparations.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m pretty much ready, just a little nervous, you know?”

“About your speech or the idea of becoming the new ‘Queen’ of the changelings?” Starlight asked with a giggle.

“Between the speech and being made King I am having trouble which to be more worried about.” Thorax answered before waving off another changeling who approached with more makeup.

Starlight walked over and brushed a hoof over the green robe he was wearing. “Perhaps a little, but I generally have no issue with talking in front of a crowd. Besides, it’s just a title we’re talking about, right?”

“Just a title, yes.” Thorax agreed and looked down to his hooves. “I’m mostly doing it for the hive.”

“Oh?” Starlight tilted her head a little. “It doesn’t sound like you actually want to do it. Maybe you should pass on it? If you don’t think it’d make you happy.”

“But I already said yes. Look at the crowd, every changeling of the hive out there today expecting me to accept.”

“Well you have to do what you have to do, I guess…” A moment of awkward silence passed before Starlight suddenly spoke up again, remembering. “Oh, hey! This is for you.”

When Thorax looked up he saw a little doll floating in Starlight’s magic aura. It wasn’t just any old doll. It was his doll. Similar to the ones he and Pharynx had found the other day. But this one belonged to him.

“W-where did you get that!?” Thorax cried and grabbed the doll with both hooves.

“I met Pharynx on the way in, he wanted me to give it to you. He said that he had saved it from the ‘reassignment of your bunk’ when you hadn’t returned to the hive. Dunno… something like that.” Starlight shrugged then lidded her eyes and put on a smug smile. “Is this an emotionally important object to help you with your stage performance today?”

Thorax didn't take his eyes off the small figurine of the drone in his hoof and slowly nodded. “So that’s where it was... thank you, Starlight.”

“Well! Good luck then! I’ll go mingle. Everypony is here: Trixie, Twilight, we’ve decided to bring Ocellus’ entire class along because they wouldn’t have a teacher available to them anyway, so perhaps I should have said ‘every-creature’.”

“Thank you again, Starlight. I’ll also have to thank Pharynx, later. Where is he anyway?”

“I met him at the entrance, so he’ll probably be watching from there.”

“Ah, yes… makes sense. He’s the captain of the guard after all,” Thorax murmured mostly to himself.

When Starlight left, he was alone with the doll and his thoughts. Why would Pharynx save his doll? Especially at a time after Thorax left the hive. It couldn't have been because Pharynx wanted to play with dolls. He made fun of Thorax about them constantly when they were younger. Did... Pharynx just want something of his after he left?

Eventually, one of the changelings shook him out of it with a tug on the robe.

“We’re all ready to start! How about you?” It was Aellyth, holding a notepad to her chest and smiling at Thorax. She went over a bunch of checked entries on her notes. “Did you need a reminder of how the coronation is supposed to go down?”

“Nah,” Thorax replied coolly, and waved a hoof at her. “First I get on stage. I wait until everyone is quiet and thank a few changelings and ponies. Then I hold a speech before the oldest changelings of the hive. They crown me the new King and lastly, I guess I’ll do a question and answer thing about the future of the hive.”

Aellyth nodded and hugged her notepad. “You’re ready!”

When Thorax finally climbed up the stairs to the stage, the crowd fell quiet for a moment only to start cheering even louder for their leader. He winced, it was almost too loud for him to think on what to say.

After some meandering steps, he found what he thought was the middle of the stage and sat down. In one hoof, hidden to his chest. he still held the doll while with the other he waved. Eventually, he gestured for the changelings to quiet down so he could begin.

“H-Hey, everyone... ahem... It’s great to see you all in such a good mood and I’m happy to be here today with all of you!”

Now it was quiet, except for a single cough from somewhere in the back. Thorax looked around and when his gaze fell upon Starlight she waved back at him. She stood with Trixie and Pharynx near the entrance.

“First of all, I want to thank you all for being here and— wait did I say that already?” A few chuckles drifted from the crowd as Thorax went over the script in his mind. “Err… A-anyway, thank you all and especially my brother Pharynx for supporting me and the hive. Without him we’d have serious security problems. I also want to thank our pony friends!” Thorax pointed towards the entrance of the cavern where his pony friends stood, well, Rainbow Dash hovered above the others and waved a hoof when the spotlight fell upon them. The other mares offered smiles and waves as well and were met with cheering and stomping hooves from the changeling crowd.

“That was… yeah, oh, right, my speech!” Thorax said, drawing the crowd’s attention back to the stage. “Only a few years ago, I was nothing but a rogue changeling. ‘No one misses you.’, ‘The hive is better off without you.’ and ‘Don’t expect us to take you back!’ were only some of the things I heard from changelings I happened to meet on occasion after I left the hive. The bad behavior, negative attitude and hateful tone among changelings were the reasons I left and when I returned a few years later, I returned with my new friends, to bring back friendship to the hive.

We tried to reason with Queen Chrysalis despite her past actions against ponies, but in her world there was no room for friendship, to her it was a disease.” Thorax paused for a moment, going over his script once more. “Yes, she had to be defeated and we did it.”

Everyone patiently waited as Thorax started to struggle with his words, his head felt hot and tiny pearls of sweat formed on his forehead. As he looked around he noticed Ocellus and her classmates in the middle of the crowd, apart from the ponies. They met his gaze with curious expressions. Thorax then looked down. His little changeling doll had fallen out of his hooves at some point and laid face down on the floor.

“She was… the root of our hatred… but we followed her. And most of us didn’t question her. So, we are to blame as well for all the bad we have also done. It’s not all on her. At first I was worried when you wanted me to become your new King. What if everything would just repeat? Not necessarily the evil, but what if changelings stopped thinking for themselves again just to follow a new King or Queen? I know now that we’ve all learned from the past and I doubt that something like that could happen again. But digging into the idea of becoming a King led me to think about our former Queen a lot more. While under her rule a lot was worse, not everything was terrible, right? Changelings have been surviving for hundreds of years because of her and I’m sure everyone has at least one nice memory of her, too.”

Thorax finally picked up the doll with his magic and showed it to the crowd.

“Chrysalis made this for me. It’s just a doll… she’s made a bunch of them for me and I have no idea why she would have done that if she didn’t care for me. Sure, she has made dolls for others, too. But we’ve only ever found a few. The few hours I’ve spent with her as youngling are some of the happiest memories I have. If someone were to ask me what it feels like to have a mother, I’d say that was the feeling.”

Thorax waffled slightly and looked around, trying to find the right words. His eyes landed on Starlight, Trixie and Pharynx. “It’s...like… a kind of warmth, similar to what I feel now when I’m with my friends. Sadly, with Chrysalis I’ve never had any further positive experiences with her. But with so many children she couldn’t have spent a lot of time with every one of us. I’ve often asked myself when she had stopped caring. But maybe she hasn’t? She’s just in a very dark place. Alone.”

It didn’t seem like the crowd were able to follow Thorax’s train of thought. There were some confused mumbling amongst the changelings about this strange turn in his speech.

Hurriedly, Thorax continued, “What I’m trying to say is that I think she needs help and even if she refuses to accept our friendship now, I really hope that she will one day see all the good we changelings can do for each other. I want her to see it and come back to us and ask us to help her. Because I think —no, I know—she cares about us in her own way and she needs our help, should she ever return.”

Thorax took a breath. “...and that’s why I can’t accept the crown.”

There was no cheering, only shocked faces, and the growing murmur of the crowd. It felt like they became louder with every passing moment.

Two changelings who were half-way up the stairs to the stage stopped and looked at each other in disbelief. They were supposed to crown Thorax after his speech and carried a big, green pillow with a golden crown seated in the middle.

Thorax bit his lip and felt rising panic, he’d expected the changelings to accept his reasoning.

“Everyone!” Thorax said to calm the crowd once more. “Listen. That doesn’t mean I won’t accept every responsibility that would come with the title. I want to be your leader, just like a King, I do, but I don’t want to replace someone who belongs in our family and someone who is important to the hive. I want the best for all of us. Queen Chrysalis may never return or even show herself again, and I would never let her destroy what we have achieved... but I will do whatever I can to help her and make her understand that our way of living is better now than ever before!”

Silence. After a short while, however, a voice from the back of the crowd echoed through the cavern.

“Who needs a Queen or a King? Leader Thorax sounds better anyway!” It was Pharynx, hovering above the entrance for everyone to see. His comment sparked another round of chatter through the crowd.

“Leader Thorax… sounds quite nice, actually.”

“Yeah, leader has a nice ring to it.”

“King, Leader, it’s all the same anyway!”

Starlight and Trixie exchanged determined looks and began to stomp their hooves. “Make noise for Leader Thorax!” Starlight shouted.

At first only the changelings around them joined in but soon the entire crowd was cheering and stomping.

Thorax stared in disbelief at the reaction. It seemed almost silly how the word ‘King’ was such a big deal when ‘Leader’ wasn’t much of a difference. His entire speech seemed to have gone over their heads.

“Uh… leader Thorax?” It was one of the pair of elderly changelings, trying to get his attention.

Thorax felt awkward for having them bring a crown to a coronation that wasn’t even going to happen anymore. “Ah, the crown… Sorry about that…” Thorax said, rubbing the back of his neck. “You know what? I’ll wear it if you don’t mind, just for today.” Thorax turned back to the crowd and lowered his head so the smaller changeling to his left could put the crown on his head.

Visible confusion on the watching changelings, but Pharynx quickly resolved it by shouting, “All hail Leader Thorax!” And once more the cavern was filled with cheers.

Ocellus levitated a book over to Thorax who hovered a few feet above her, he took it and placed it in a mostly empty shelf that was large enough for hundreds more. All around the spacious room changelings were busy filling bookshelves of the hive’s new library.

“I was wondering about something…” Ocellus asked.

Thorax looked down with a smile. “About what?”

“Do you really think she will come back one day? There’ve been rumors that she’s still in Equestria.”

Thorax let out a sigh and starting to collect the books he was given instead of shelving them as his attention shifted from the task to the question. “You mean Queen Chrysalis.”

Ocellus simply nodded floating another book up to him.

“I doubt she will come back anytime soon. But you don’t have to be scared of her. We’re hundreds against her should she threaten us and we have our pony friends on our side as well.”

“Yeah… I guess. You really want her to come back, though, don’t you? Why is that?”

“Chrysalis is our mother. All the bad things she has done in the past, in her head, she probably did them for us. There are no bad ponies or changelings, not really, just ponies and changelings who do bad things for bad reasons.” Thorax finally pushed the ten books in his magical grasp into the shelf.

“She’s so mean and scary… I’ve never really thought of her as a mother,” Ocellus murmured and her eyes dropped and she shuffled on her hooves. “But if you really think there’s a chance for her to change then maybe there is…” She made a small smile. “I still much prefer you as our leader, though.”

Thorax smiled at that and lowered himself to Ocellus’ level. “I won’t stop doing what I can for the hive, even if she returns. And she’d have to accept our way of living, anyway.” He reached a hoof around Ocellus and gave her a gentle hug she returned with a big smile. “The new library’s coming along quite nicely!” He said as his gaze wandered over the bookshelves. “Let’s take a little break.”

“Okay! I’m gonna write a letter. Professor Pinkie Pie said she could organize a bunch of beanbags for the library. They are so comfy!”

Author's Note

"Chrysalis started making dolls for other changelings as well, after seeing how happy they had made Thorax. There weren't many other toys for the younglings since they grew up fast and spent most time practicing combat and shape-shifting."