"Okay...that's the foundational theories of laughter done and dusted, and if we look at our schedule for today, that leaves only the relative studies of the intersections of loyalty and kindness." Ocellus smiled, swapping one book for another. "I just hope I can get this done before the day's over."
Looking over to her, her mother smiled as she prepared their afternoon meal. "Oh, I'm sure you will, sweetie. No Changeling ever put in as much effort into learning as you have."
Ocellus blushed. "Oh, I don't know about that."
"Your mother's not exaggerating, Ocellus," another voice called out. Instantly, both Ocellus and her mother turned, recognising that voice instantly, and sure enough, it was their leader, Thorax, who was poking his head inside the entrance to their little corner of the hive, looking just the tiniest bit sheepish as he did so. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"
Both Changelings bowed to him, with Ocellus' mother being the one to answer. "Oh! My King! What an honor! We weren't expecting you today!"
Thorax, despite his kingly role, couldn't help but blush to the way they were talking to him. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that," he mumbled under his breath. Then, he gestured to the two of them to rise. "Please, I'm not here officially. I just came for a visit."
With the others rising, Ocellus' mother looked to her daughter, smiling sweetly to her before again regarding her King. "I'm sure Ocellus would be delighted to speak to you."
Ocellus' face beamed, giving away immediately that her mother was in the right on that count. "It would be my pleasure, King Thorax."
Thorax smiled to her, stepping to one side so as to allow his subject to walk past him and out into the rest of the Hive. Ocellus looked back, giving her mother a wave, which was enthusiastically returned, before focusing ahead. She glanced up to Thorax a couple of times, but said nothing as they journeyed down the once-gloomy tunnels. In the end, it fell to Thorax himself to break the silence. "I trust you're keeping well, Ocellus?"
Ocellus gave a firm nod. "Oh, certainly! My studies are going well, and I'm really enjoying them."
A smile came to the King. "I'm very glad to hear it." A pause, and he looked back to her again. "And your friends? I assume you keep in contact with them regularly?"
A sense of warmth came to Ocellus as she thought back to the smiling faces of her fellow friendship students, and when she spoke, it was with softness. "Yes, your majesty. I do. I miss them terribly when I'm here." A mere second passed before she looked back to the older Changeling beside her, her voice tinted with nervousness. "Oh! Not that I don't love it here of course! You've made this place a wonderful home to us all!"
In response, Thorax chuckled heartily. "Ocellus, you needn't worry. I know you weren't speaking ill of the Hive, or of me. And in truth, I understand the feeling well."
Ocellus looked up to him, tilting her head slightly as she did so. "You do?"
A sigh from Thorax. "I do. My life here in the Hive, watching all of you become better than how we started out? It's a true joy for me. Yet...there will be times when I wish I can just take it easy, fly off to Equestria and just hang out with Spike over a good game of Ogres and Oubliettes."
Ocellus stifled the need to giggle. "I played that with Sandbar once. He was really into it."
A wide smile came to the King. "Oh, it really is the most wonderful game. You should teach your family about it one day." Then, remembering his position, he cleared his throat, assuming a more regal stance as they continued walking. "In any case, I wanted to speak to you on something more important than Equestrian games."
Here, Ocellus started to look worried. "I...I hope nothing's wrong?"
As before, Thorax smiled to her. "Not at all. In fact, things are quite good. And largely, that's because of you."
Confusion was as clear as day on Ocellus' face. "Me?"
Another nod from Thorax, but before he or Ocellus could say anything else, they stopped to enjoy the feeling of the sun as they finally exited their tunnels. After a brief moment of letting their eyes adjust to the new light levels, the two smiled together as they regarded the scene before them. The Changeling Hive, as busy as ever, but with a sense of happiness having long overtaken the dread that one would have once felt at being in this place. Gone were the days of darkness and constant hunger, replaced instead with friendliness everywhere you looked. Changelings were talking, playing, going about their day like anycreature else. If you had no knowledge of these people, and were told that they were once a scourge upon the world, you'd have called such a claim as utter nonsense. Thorax looked on with pride at his people and his nation, knowing how far they had come, and when he spoke again, that pride emanated from every word. "We Changelings are better now, Ocellus. Other peoples, they accept us now. As allies and as friends. Where once they looked upon us with fear, now we are welcomed."
Ocellus too smiled to this knowledge, looking up to her leader. "And it's all because of you. If you hadn't strayed, if you hadn't chosen to deviate from the old Queen's ways, we might never have had this."
Thorax was grateful for her praise, but he shook his head slowly. "Kind words, but while I might have been the one to start us on the path..." After a brief pause, he looked down to her, staring her right in the eye. "You are the one who helped us be who we are today in the eyes of the rest of the world."
Naturally, a claim like that brought a fierce blush to Ocellus' cheeks. "I...I don't think I can take credit for that."
Placing his hoof upon her shoulder, Thorax looked to her as her own farther would. "But you can. What I did? That saved our people. Helped bring them from darkness to light. You?" His smile grew. "What you did proved to all the world that this was true. It is one thing to improve ourselves, it is quite another to make others believe that change has happened. And you, along with all your friends, did a great service to Equestria. One that, with luck, has helped greatly to mend what we did to them all those years ago."
It was, of course, a lot to take in. And Ocellus didn't quite know how to feel about it. She knew that her people placed a lot of faith in her, but for them to see her as some sort of guiding light for all Changelings? That was definitely news to her ears, and overwhelming news at that. Still, as her mind drifted back, remembering the scorn she was looked at when she first arrived at that school, and also the sense of heroism that was showered on her when she and her friends had overcome Cozy Glow's plan, she softened to the notion. Never before had Ocellus truly considered that this one act on her part might have re-written the way an entire nation might have viewed her people, yet here was her king telling her that this was indeed the case. After a deep breath, Ocellus exhaled, her mind awash with all sorts of questions and doubts, one of which actually managed to leave her mouth. "Why did you choose me?"
In contrast to his disciple, Thorax had no hesitation at all in giving his answer. "Because I believed...you were the best of us." Again, he looked to her with pride. "Better than I could ever hope to be." He thought on his own words for almost a full minute of silence, then resumed his smile. "And it appears that I may well need to think of my choosing you as perhaps the greatest accomplishment of my kingship."
Having another place confidence in you is quite a feeling, Ocellus thought to herself, and she could not deny that Thorax had a talent for it. She reciprocated the smile, silently letting him know that she appreciated his words. But neither of them got the chance to say anything further for the time being, as it was here when there was a sudden and loud buzzing of wings coming from above. Craning their necks upwards, they looked on as a Changeling that rivalled Thorax in size descended. It was Pharynx, Thorax's brother and his right hoof in all matters. Approaching, he gave his brother a brief bow before speaking up. "Brother."
"Brother," Thorax replied, with just the tiniest of smirks while doing so.
After nodding, Pharynx glanced down to Ocellus, giving her a knowing smile. "I see our king has given you your due credit, young Ocellus?"
Ocellus nodded back, speaking in a way that, perhaps, was somewhat more formal than she would talk to Thorax, if only because she knew how much Pharynx was a stickler for protocol. "And I'm grateful for it."
Stepping forward, Pharynx glanced around. "And your father? I was expecting him to meet me for our regular patrols this morning."
Giggling, Ocellus scratched the back of her head. "Well, he was going to do that, but my mother reminded him that it was his turn to look after my siblings. So they're out in the gardens."
Though usually inclined to be annoyed at breaches of plans like that, Pharynx had clearly learned to relax in recent years, and simply sighed before nodding. "Very well. But tell him I expect him to meet me with the rest of the patrol first thing tomorrow morning."
Ocellus gave a salute, and one given completely genuinely, which Pharynx seemed to appreciate. But, it was here when Thorax stepped forward, looking quite amused at his brother. "You know, once you're done with your patrol, I think we can probably have some personal time together. We're both so busy nowadays we hardly ever spend as much time with each together as we used to."
Pharynx arched an eyebrow. "We never spent much time together before either."
Thorax rolled his eyes. "Yes...but I know just the thing we can do when you're done."
In the blink of an eye, the color started to drain from Pharynx's face. "Oh no...not the feelings forum?"
A firm nod from Thorax. "Oh yes, the feelings forum."
Pharynx grumbled. "Ugh! Brother! You know how much I hate talking things out like that!"
Here, Ocellus stepped forward to add her voice to things. "You really should learn to be more open, Pharynx. It's good to get things off your chest and have your feelings out in the open."
The older Changeling looked to her with some incredulity. "Learn that in your pony classes?" After seeing the proud nod Ocellus gave back to him, he took a deep breath, then slumped his shoulders slightly. "...Very well. But only a short visit today, alright?"
Thorax too gave him a salute, and this one, unlike that of Ocellus', was very much intended in jest. "Aye-aye, Captain."
Pharynx turned, his wings buzzing loudly as he once more took to the skies. Only when he was out of earshot did Ocellus and Thorax break out into laughter, and when it died down, Thorax reached over and patted her on the shoulder. "Things here have changed forever, Ocellus. And we must continue to change for the better. Not only for ourselves, but for the sake of those we would live alongside." He dwelt on his own words. "Changelings don't have an ideal past...but I feel that, if we can keep working at it, we can truly shine in this world."
Ocellus had no problem at all giving a nod of agreement to that. "No worries there, your Majesty. Changing is the one thing we do best after all."
Author's Note
I love how, by the time the show ended, every non-Equestria location we were given was given enough of a cast to actually feel like plenty of stuff was going on when the ponies weren't there. It wasn't just their leader and a bunch of similar-looking people, and I appreciate that 
