“So what’s Pharynx calling on me now for?”
Thorax sat in the throne room, seemingly bored. An aide had just come up and was relaying some news to him, which Thorax was paying extra attention to. He kind of had to, he’d forget otherwise.
“Hello, Mandible,” he said, and she began speaking almost instantly.
“Well, King Thorax—“
“Just Thorax, please,” Thorax butted in.
A moment of silence, but Mandible soon continued, “He says there’s some problem that’s beyond his caliber to fix.”
Thorax absentmindedly looked at the ceiling. Pharynx was not only his brother, but his guard. A guard which Thorax had assigned to the position specifically because he could tackle pretty much any physical issue. Unfortunately, Pharynx could really only handle physical issues, so calling on Thorax himself for… less physical issues was a common occurrence.
Thorax looked down at Mandible. He fluttered off the chair, looked directly at his aide, and sighed. “Where is Pharynx?”
“As far as I can tell, he’s hanging near the nymphs who just got back from the School of Friendship.”
“Pharnyx? Really?” Torax asked.
“I’m sure he has his reasons,” Mandible responded, though Thorax could note that she was very much uncertain.
“I’ll go see him anyway. Oh, should I change to welcome the students better? What should I choose? I want to make them feel as welcome as possible—.”
“I’m sure you going as yourself will be just fine,” Mandible stressed.
“You’re absolutely, positively sure?”
Mandible rolled her eyes. “Yes. Anyways, back to the issue at hand.”
“Right!” Thorax responded. “Can you lead me to where Pharynx is, real quick?”
Thorax was led to a place near the front gate of the hive. Sure enough, among the counseling sessions and changeling workers, there was Pharynx, and he was standing within a group of nymphs, albeit a small one, and he certainly didn’t look like he was having fun.
“Thorax?” Mandible asked, glancing at the angry Pharynx in the midst of the excited nymphs. “Should I be worried?”
“Nah,” Thorax responded, pretty much instantly. “It’s just Pharynx, he’ll be good in like an hour.”
Thorax stepped a little closer and tried to pry the more excitable nymphs off of Pharynx. He more or less just kindly asked them to get off.
“I can’t believe you deal with this on a daily basis,” Pharynx muttered.
Thorax gave a nervous laugh. “I can’t really help it…”
“Well, I suppose if you can’t help being an annoying ball of sunshine all the time,” Pharynx added, making sure to stay quiet enough so the excited cries of the nymphs would cover it up.
Another nervous laugh. “Now, Pharynx—“
“Whatever, I just need some help with them,” Pharynx noted.
“Can we… maybe talk out of earshot of all the nymphs you’re about to talk about?” Thorax inquired.
Pharynx rolled his eyes. “Fine.”
The two walked a little bit away, still close enough to the nymph pack to watch them play, but far enough away to be out of earshot.
“You obviously called me for something,” Thorax noted.
“Astute observation,” Pharynx replied.
“So, uh, Pharynx, what is that something?”
“Well, a couple of things, really. First off, I need someling to get these students in an orderly line to take a headcount,” Pharynx began.
“We have no need for a headcount, as long as you can recognize each student. We can let them be free. We don’t need them in an orderly line,” Thorax countered.
“On the contrary,” Pharynx continued, “I’m pretty sure we do, because I don’t think Ocellus is among them.”
Thorax immediately perked his head up. “She’s gone?”
“Th— unfortunately.”
“And you want me to help look for her?” Thorax squealed.
“…Yes.”
“Where was she last seen?”
“I don’t know why you’re so excited about this,” Pharynx replied. “It’s just a missing changeling. But… fine. She was last seen coming off the carriages that dropped all the nymphs off.”
“She just didn’t come in?”
“It appears that way, yes.”
“Can’t be too far away then!” Thorax concluded. “Let’s get going!”
Thorax skipped his way out of the changeling kingdom. Pharynx followed, looking at all the changelings around him, trying to let them know that he was not affiliated with the humming and skipping changeling beside him in any way. This was of course a lie and everyling knew it, but he still tried.
After a brief hop, skip, and jump— in Thorax’s case, literally— the two changelings arrived at the front gates. They were more just ceremonial rocks, but they acted as gates nonetheless.
“Why don’t you ever get real gates for the kingdom?” Pharynx asked.
“Well, real gates are scary and imposing, and the rocks do the trick just fine in a significantly less imposing way. So, they’re staying.”
“You don’t want to appear scary and imposing?” Pharynx asked.
Thorax looked at him concernedly. “…No?” he replied, as if it was common sense.
“I’ll never understand you,” Pharynx muttered.
“I figured that out a while ago,” Thorax responded. “But there was a changeling we were looking for. Pharynx, you’re good at tracking things, right?”
“Only the best,” Pharynx gloated.
“Good, because… I’m kinda bad at it…” Thorax said.
“How did you become king?” Pharynx questioned.
“The changelings loved me too much.” Thorax answered.
Regardless, following the exchange Pharynx kept a sharp eye out for anything blue that was nearby. He tried to taste any emotions he thought were particularly changeling. He’d spent years around them, so he figured he could figure it out. Thorax watched with intrigue, trying to note everything Pharnyx did, though he did get a little distracted sometimes.
After scouring the mountains surrounding the changeling kingdom, Pharynx was eventually led to a cave. It wasn’t particularly far away, but it was far enough away for it to be a concern. Sure enough, in the cave, was a blue changeling, crying, face against the back wall.
Thorax immediately rushed up to her. “Ocellus! We’ve been looking for you!”
Ocellus turned to face the changeling brothers, silently looking up at them.
Upon saying nothing, Thorax leaned close to Ocellus and asked, “Why exactly did you break from the rest of the group?”
Pharynx decided to butt in with his two bits, “Under no circumstances should you break from the group. It’s cowardly, ruins cohesion—“
“Pharynx,” Thorax interrupted, “You’re not helping.”
Miraculously, Pharynx listened, and moved in closer to Ocellus as well.
“All— all the changelings looked so happy…” Ocellus sobbed, instantly feeling more comfortable with the bug brothers talking to her. “But, but I wasn't myself, I couldn’t be…”
Thorax looked around, glancing a little at his brother and the rest of the cave.
“What do you mean by that?” Thorax asked.
Ocellus gazed up at Thorax, then looked back down again. “I… I don’t know. There was just— just something off about the rest of the changelings. Nothing with them.. but I felt like an outcast…”
Thorax nodded sagely. Pharynx stepped forward, but Thorax motioned for him to not say anything. Pharynx listened, after all, Thorax was Pharynx’s king.
“They’re so happy being the changelings they are, and I’m… not.” Ocellus added, her voice getting quieter.
Thorax gazed up at the rather bland ceiling, noting an interest in its blandness. He stared at the ceiling for a bit before remembering what he was sent to fix.
Shaking his head to free himself from spacing out, Thorax added, “Could you elaborate?”
“Sometimes I feel like I’m with… with them… the changelings, sometimes… I feel like I’m not. Sometimes it’s too shy, sometimes I feel like I’m too ponylike that day—“
“Come on,” Thorax added. “There’s no such thing as being too ponylike—“
“Yes, there is.” Pharynx cut in.
“Pharynx.”
“I mean, of course you’d think that considering how many of Rarity’s items you have.”
“Read the room Pharynx,” Thorax scolded.
Ocellus weakly chuckled, Thorax was happy that she seemed to be getting better.
“I-is that really true?” Ocellus inquired,
“Yes, it is,” Thorax explained. “You might be able to see me wearing some if you were here more. But the important thing is, I’m not embarrassed about it. Ocellus… you don’t have to be either.”
Ocellus looked inquisitively at Thorax. “How does that follow me feeling like ‘too much of a pony’ somedays?” she asked sincerely
Thorax looked around. What was he trying to say? What was his point? He just kinda pulled a metaphor out of thin air.
Thankfully, Pharynx came to his rescue. He stepped onto a rock, and looked directly at Ocellus. “I think what the daft fool was trying to say—“
“Hey!” Thorax shouted.
Pharynx ignored him. “—Is that on those days, just be a pony.”
“I still don’t follow, but… okay…” Ocellus responded.
“The best thing about changelings is that we can be whatever species, or what have you, we want to be! Anything at all! Want to be a loyal changeling? Ferocious dragon? Or even…” Pharynx sighed, “…a pony. You can be.”
“But what if the others—“
“Forget the others. If they’re changelings, they know, if they’re any other species, they won’t care.”
Ocellus recoiled from Pharynx’s statement. She wasn’t expecting such intensity, much less the fact that he decided to legitimately put his hoof on a rock while delivering it.
“But there are those that will— right?”
“Well—“ Pharynx began, before Thorax finally got a word in edgewise.
He leaned down close to Ocellus. “I’m certain there will be creatures who want to see you as just one thing or the other, but you can’t let that stop you. Hey, what are you feeling today?”
Ocellus looked around briefly. She looked up at Thorax and then muttered something to the floor. However, Thorax picked up on it.
“…I feel like a pony today.”
“Then be a pony!” Thorax exclaimed. Ocellus was shocked. “Show us what you feel!”
In a flash of green light, there stood Ocellus. Not too dissimilar from the Ocellus he was used to, but rather a pony with a braid this time.
Thorax jumped and fluttered in the air briefly. He cheered.
Upon landing, Thorax stood beside Ocellus. “Come on, let’s get you back to the group.”
Thorax thought for a moment, then turned to Pharynx.
“Hey… Pharynx, how did we get here?” he asked.
Pharynx rolled his eyes.
Thorax and Pharynx walked back to the hive, and despite the changeling group having long since dispersed, the brothers dropped Ocellus off at the gate. Thorax gave Ocellus a hug, warm and inviting, and Ocellus collapsed, looked up at Thorax and smiled.
In response, Thorax hugged her even tighter.
“You go on your way now, Ocellus,” Thorax said, and waved her off as the two broke contact to return to their respective duties.
“You are too friendly with everycreature,” Pharynx scolded.
Thorax buzzed next to Pharynx, looked him in the eye, and replied, “Well, they’re all friends, are they not?”
Pharynx sighed. “You’re going to get killed someday.”
“And why do you care so much?” Thorax inquired. “Do you secretly like me a little?”
Pharynx sighed once again. “Fine, yes I do…” he mentioned, while seeming very much not pleased with having to say it.
“I knew it,” Thorax declared. “Is that why you invited me to help with Ocellus?”
Pharynx looked around for any signs of nearby changelings, when he determined the coast was clear, he whispered, “Maybe a little…”
Thorax jumped on Pharynx and gave him a hug as well.
Pharynx was not amused.
“Thorax, get off.”
“No.”
Accepting defeat, Pharynx leaned in a little bit more.
Author's Note
Haven’t written a story like this in a while, thus, am a little nervous about its reception. But hey, this is my brand and I better stick to it. Also Thorax best boy, I just had to when I saw Tangerine Blast asked for him.
Same comment rules of other stories of this ilk, slurs will be deleted on sight.
