Unforeseen Consequences - Thorax's weakness

>”So, Anon!” Thorax happily asked as the two of you walked back to the cave’s entrance “Tell me! Where are we going?”
“As I’ve told you like five times already, we’re going back to the Crystal Empire to meet Cadence so she can see that you’re not a bad guy. Shining Armor and my bodyguard Aegia are waiting for us outside of this creepy place.”
>”Shining Armor? Oh…” Thorax cringed “D-Don’t you think that he will be… y-you know… a-angry a-at me f-for what happened back in Canterlot?”
“Thorax…”
>You let out a sigh and rolled your eyes… c’mon, you understand that he’s nervous at all but this was starting to get a bit ano-
>But then you turned around and saw how truly scared Thorax was… now you felt angry with yourself, the guy just wanted to know what friendship is, but he’s terrified about the reaction that ponies will have about him…
>…But what do you even say to him? Should you tell a sweet little lie and make Thorax believe that everyone back at the crystal castle was waiting for him with open arms and were ready to forgive him?
>That could work… in the very, very, veeeeeery short term… Shining Armor and Cadence weren’t really happy with the idea of befriending a changeling, which was honestly understandable after what Chrysalis did to them
>If any of those two reacts with negativity, then Thorax will realize that you lied to him, his trust in you will poof away and even worse, the new hope that your new friend has found will be irredeemably destroyed…
>So… you suppose that the best route of action is to be honest with the guy… even if it makes him even more nervous… besides, Twilight preaches that one of the fundamental values of friendship is honesty right? And she’s supposed to be an erudite in friendhip…
>Plus, your mothers have always told you that you must be honest, loyal, generous, kind… and that is kinda expected from a prince… soooooo
“…I won’t sugarcoat you anything mate… Cadence and Shining Armor are still pretty mad about what Chrysalis and your kin almost did. To be more precise: Cadence does hate the changelings with a burning passion and while it took us some time to make Shining Armor understand that he should not harm you… he’s not really that excited about this either… I’m not gonna lie to you Thorax, this is gonna be hard and-“
>Thorax interrupted you with a crazed cackle ”Okay! New Plan! I go back to my hideout and stay there forever!” and then he ran off as fast as his buggy legs allowed him
>Dang! You were too honest!
>You immediately teleport in front of the fleeing changeling making him stop on his tracks
“Thorax, listen to me! Nothing bad will happen to you if-!”
>”Oh, by my grandma’s beard!” Thorax exclaimed with utter horror as he pointed at something that behind you “The Queen is here!”
>You immediately panicked and turned around, casting a shield around you and Thorax
“W-What?! T-Thorax, stay behind me and-!”
>”Nope!” The changeling slapped you on the back of your head, making the spell to short circuit which in turn stunned you for a few moments… and of course he took that opportunity to resume his escape “I’m s-sorry Anon! I r-really a-am! B-But I-I’m n-not ready f-for s-something l-like this yet!”
>Still feeling dizzy and disoriented, you get up… and immediately fall on the ground again… ugh… frickin’ magical shortcuts man…
>Oh c’mon why did you fall for this cheap trick?! You were supposed to be more intelligent than this! Well… at least you could maintain the light spell despite the short circuit… hnnng… okay… your strength was coming back… time to chase a changeling
>You try to teleport… but you only manage to cause yourself a minor headache… You rubbed the back of your head and growled
“Thoraaaax!”
>Time to run then! And…HAH! Thank you Moonlight’s training courses! Despite the advantage that Thorax had, you managed to quickly catch up with him and even managed to dodge with the ease the pebbles that Thorax threw at you from time to time
“HAH! You think that will stop me?! Think again! Because I, Prince Anon have been going through the most rigorous of tra- OOF!”
>…You should have paid attention to the snowball that Thorax threw at you instead of bragging… Owwww… at least Moonlight wasn’t here… she would murder you if she saw how clumsy you acted on that one
>You quickly stand up and give your head a little shake only to see…oh no… Thorax was getting closer to that opening… if he hides there there’s no way that you will be able to find him… and you’re sure that he will just look for another hiding spot if you go back and ask Eris for help…
>You try to teleport and… DANG IT! You still couldn’t do more than that lame light spell! And you think that you messed something up this time because you started to feel dizzy again…
>You fall on the ground… the world was spinning and you felt pathetic for not being able to do more… so you yell at Thorax… you yell and pleaded in hopes that he stopped running…
“Thorax please! Don’t go! Listen to me, please! I’m your friend!”
>… but he didn’t stop… you failed… you failed everyone… you failed Thorax…
>”I know! And I do like being your friend! But I don’t want to be destroyed by an angry Princess!” Thorax yelled back “I’m sorry Anon! Maybe w-we can meet another another- AH!” But he was quickly stopped when the poor guy bumped into something… or rather someone
>”Pursuing ze subject zat you were supposed to befriend? Reducing yourself to make useless pleads? Zat is a disappointment, Mon petit. But don’t worry, you are still learning and I’m here now to fix everyzing.”
>Thorax quickly jumped back on his hooves, but this time he started to walk back as Aegia took a few steps forward “W-W-Who are y-you?” Thorax asked with fear
>”Hoh?” Aegia raised an eyebrow as she lighted a lamp, revealing her face “I zought zat by zis point, ze prince would have already told you about his dear guarde du corps”
>Thorax quickly darted back to where you were and hid behind you “A-A-Anon w-who’s that s-scary m-mare?”
>You slowly stood up and walked to Thorax’s side giving him a small pat on the back
“That’s my bodyguard…Thorax, this is Aegia. Aegia, this is Thorax.”
>”B-But y-you s-said t-that she w-was g-guarding the cave’s e-entrance…” Thorax asked while trembling in fear
>You couldn’t respond with anything else but a shrug
“I honestly thought that too…”
>”Oh, Mon Petit…” Aegia let out a chuckle “You didn’t really zink zat I would have let you go in here wizout any kind of extra protection, right?”
“I was hoping that you did had a backup plan, with that said I have to ask, how in the world you got in here without me noticing it? I mean, the entrance is that way… And you came from the exact opposite direction…and as far as I know, there’s only one way to get in here.”
>”Mon Petit…” Aegia sighed in disappointment “Zere’s a zing called “reconnaissance” I scouted ze area and found anozer way to enter. Ze only reason why I didn’t catch wiz you sooner is because…” Aegia gently shrugged “I’m no General Moonlight. I can’ see in ze dark as good as her nor do I possess her keen senses when… as she puts it “I hunt my prey””
>”As for zis cute changeling here,  I have to make a warning” Aegia gave Thorax an ice cold stare “If you hurt even one of ze hairs on ze prince’s mane, zen…” With movements that were too fast for your mind to register, Aegia threw one of the daggers that she was carrying, slicing a nearby stalagmite in half “I can guarantee you zat going back to Chrysalis will look like a vacation in Prance compared to what I will do to you”
>Thorax quickly dashed behind you and was now using you as a shield to protect himself from Aegia ”A-Anon, w-why is y-your bodyguard s-so scary?”
>”Oh monsieur Zorax! As long as you play by mes règles, you have nozing to worry about!” Aegia giggled… and that only made her look creepier
>Oh dear! This went from promising to a dumpster fire stupidly fast! You have to calm Thorax, you MUST to! The poor guy was on the brink of a nervous breakdown
>You gulped and mustered all the courage that you had…
“And neither have you, Aegia! Thorax never hurt me! He’s my friend, right Thorax? Eh… Thorax? Buddy?”
>Why he didn’t answer? You looked back and…
“MAN! This is the worst moment to be a coward!”
>”Y-You clearly d-don’t know w-what you’re t-talking a-about A-Anon. T-this IS t-the best moment to b-be a coward!” Thorax said as he hid behind you again
>You turned to Thorax, placed your hooves on his shoulders and gave him a rough shake
“Listen to me, man! I know that you’re scared of Aegia, heck I’m scared of her most of the time, but think! You have to pony up! You left the hive and traveled for who knows how long in search of friendship, and you have already found one! Me! You have already done the hardest part!“
>”B-But…” Thorax gulped “I-I’m s-scared … w-what if e-everypony else j-just… hates me”
“C’mon man! Don’t think like that! You are this close to have all the friendships that you dreamed about! You can’t give up now!”
>”B-But what about Princess Cadence?!” Thorax cried out “! I-I don’t know h-how I’m even going to talk t-to her after what h-happened! I can’t d-do this A-Anon… I h-have never done s-something like this!”
“Then…”
>You gave Thorax a confident smirk and extended your hoof to him
“It’s good that you’re not doing this alone, eh Thorax? Or did you forget that we’re friends? I will be there with in every step of the way, so if you crash and burn, I will crash and burn with you… err”
>You rubbed the back of your head and gave Thorax a little awkward smile… sheesh, that last part sounded a lot cooler on your head
“But that won’t happen, and you know why? Because it’s clear to me and I bet it will be to everyone who talks to you for more than ten seconds that you’re far from evil, that your bug’s heart aches for friendship… you can do this Thorax, we can do this, it’ll be hard sure, but everything will be fine… we just need to have faith”
>”O-Okay…” Thorax grabbed your hoof and slowly stood up “I-I will try…”
>You gave Thorax a light punch on the shoulder
“That’s the spirit!”
>”Yeah…” Thorax awkwardly chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck “S-Sorry for r-running away and t-throwing you a bunch of s-stuff… a-and you know… making your magic go haywire”
“Hah!”
>You rolled your eyes as you gave Thorax a little smile
“No hard feelings man, it’s not the first time that I have had a magical short circuit, that stuff is kinda normal to me… I’m sorry that my bodyguard scared you like that though…”
>”Don’t worry…” Thorax waved his hoof “I was raised by an ancient evil queen, that stuff is kind of normal to me”
>You and Thorax looked at each other’s eye for a brief second and then started laughing at how silly this whole thing was
>”Speaking of zat…” Aegia stepped in “I suppose zat ze young prince has already told you zat Chrysalis is already looking for you, non?”
>… dang it Aegia…
>”No, but eeeeh, he really didn’t need to…” Thorax shrugged “Once you leave the hive, it’s pretty much guaranteed that she will send somepony after you for… you know…” Thorax made a motion of slicing his neck… and yeah, you and Aegia got the message
“And you still choose to look out for friendship despite knowing that? Sheesh man, that’s pretty hardcore”
>Seriously, this guy knows that an ancient psychopath is actively looking for him and he is taking it like a champ… you really don’t know if you would have that kind of guts really, the fact that he was all on his own before you met him is even more impressive… this Thorax was seriously brave… or even more idiotic than your alternate self.
>”I-I don’t know w-what hardcore means b-but…” Thorax smiled sheepishly “Thanks!”
 >But before you could say anything else, Aegia flew past you and said with an authoritative tone “We can’t stay here forever. Princess Cadence is waiting for us, so let’s start moving.” And with that, she started marching towards the cave’s entrance
>You and Thorax quickly nodded and started marching in silence towards the cave’s entrance with Aegia following you closely behind
>”I never said zat you weren’t allowed to talk…” Aegia giggled once she noticed how silent you two had become “In fact, monsieur Zorax…”
>”Y-Yes?” Thorax replied with a shy voice
>”After you have your audience wiz ze Princess, would you mind telling moi what a changeling commando is?”
>”Huh? Uh… well.. eh… sure!” Thorax gulped as he looked back at Aegia with a nervous smile “T-That’s what f-friends d-do, right?”
>”Sure…” Aegia chuckled “Just not in my line of work”
>”Anon…” Thorax whispered to you “I-I’m still scared of that mare”
>You rolled your eyes and whispered back
“That’s normal mate, she’s like the top pony in the secret service… I think that part of their job description is to be scary or something, I honestly don’t know much about those guys, just that they battle really nasty stuff”
>”Zat’s right!” Aegia suddenly raised her tone, making you and Thorax flinch “Ze service has plenty of expertise in dealing wiz obscure and dangerous zreats. So you better keep in mind my little warning, monsieur Zorax.”
>”Y-Yes!” Thorax quickly nodded as he rapidly dashed behind you “I’ll keep that i-in mind!”
>And there was another moment of awkward silence, but just like last time, it didn’t last long since Thorax whispered to you ”Hey Anon, I have a question for you…”
>You shrugged
“Sure, fire away…”
>Thorax happily nodded ”Okay, sooo… umm… Why do you talk so weird?”
>… You narrowed your eyes at Thorax and angrily growled…
“Hmmm?”
>Thorax immediately flinched and started to go on another nervous breakdown ”O-Oh! P-Please d-don’t get m-mad! I-it’s just that I was w-wondering why y-you s-say stuff like anyone and someone instead of… y’know… anypony, somepony and things like that”
“Oh! That! Meh, don’t worry man, I don’t mind”
>You let out a little chuckle as you friendly “punched” Thorax’s shoulder
“It’s kinda simple and it has to do with where I came from, but you see…eeeh… before I tell you everything… lemme ask something to Aegia”
>You looked at Aegia… better not screw this by releasing unnecessary info that might earn you one of her glares
“Oi Aegia, are you fine if I tell Thorax about my past?”
>”Normally zat would unadvisable. Telling any kind of exploitable information to ze enemy is somezing zat you should avoid at all costs, but…” Aegia shrugged “I don’t see any enemy around here”
“Hah! Did ya hear that, Thorax?!”
>You gently hit his chest with your hoof
“I told you that once ponies actually meet you, they would become your friends”
>”Y-yeah…” Thorax turned to Aegia with a hopeful smile on his face “T-Thank you miss Aegia…”
>”I never said anyzing about being friends…” Aegia shook her head “I just confirmed zat you are not our enemy”
>”Still, considering w-what I-I am…” Thorax sighed, his face had a hint of sadness “I-I know t-that it’s h-hard to e-even say something like that, so… t-thanks f-for not considering m-me y-your enemy…”
>”It may be hard for untrained ponies…” Aegia replied with a monotonous tone “But in my line of work, it’s vital to distinguish who is an ally and who wants to put your head in a trophy room. Now if I’m not mistaken, ze prince was about to answer ze question you made.”
>Heh… always serious when working, aren’t you Aegia? A little tiring at times, but you guess that her professionalism is what made your moms to hire her as your bodyguard
“Yeah… well… you’re probably gonna think that I’m taking you for a fool, but what I’m about to tell you it’s nothing but the truth, so you better keep your mind open, alright?”
>”A-Alright! Y-You are m-my friend and I t-trust you” Thorax replied with confidence… well, the most similar thing to confidence that he has been able to gather… it was like… Canadian confidence, not low but not very high either.
>Now that you think about it, Thorax is the most Canadian thing that you have encountered so far. Not very assertive, creepingly polite and kind… and he could live in a frozen cave for months… Thorax could very well be the unofficial mascot of Canada….
>And you just got derailed… awww shoot! And you were on your way to break your record on staying focused for the longest period of time… Oh well, you win some, you lose some
>”Anon…” Thorax gently poked you “Are you okay?”
“Yeah… I was just thinking about something… say, Thorax do you… like maple syrup?”
>Thorax slowly shook his head as he shrugged ”I don’t think so…why?”
“Ah, just curious, don’t think too hard about that…”
>Thorax raised an eyebrow and gave you a funny look ”You sure?”
 “Yeah, I’m sure! Let’s go back to our main topic…”
>What were you even going to say? Something about your past…hmmm… oh, that’s right!
 “What I’m about to tell ya IS pretty heavy stuff, so you better not flip out on me, alright?”
>”Alright…” Thorax nodded
“Well, as you are surely aware, I was adopted by Luna and Celestia, They are my moms and I love them with all my heart, everything normal there, the thing is… I don’t come from any equestrian orphanage”
>”Oh! S-So you a-are from another kingdom then? Hmmm, weird…” Thorax rubbed his chin as he gave you a quick glance “You don’t have a Saddle Arabian accent…soooo… Britneigh?”
>… Did he say that you were british? Did you have yellow teeth? No wait, he was using your accent to try and tell where did you come from, so that con only mean… man, you gotta stop saying “mate” so frickin’ much!
“Nope! I’m from another dimension.”
>”What…” Thorax gave you a thousand yard stare
“You heard that right…”
>You let out a sigh… the thought of your old world… your past life… it was kinda depressing to even think about that…
“I come from another dimension, what happened to it is not something that I really want to talk about, the only thing that you have to know is that if Eris didn’t gave everything to keep me safe and if Discord hadn’t saved me… I wouldn’t be here talking with you… but yeah, that’s why I speak like that and I know that it’s hard to believe but-“
>”I believe you” Thorax quickly interrupted you
“R-Really?”
>”Yeah!” Thorax happily nodded “You believed in me right? W-What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t do the same things for you?”
“Heh… thanks Thorax… sooo…”
>You placed your hoof around Thorax’s neck and gave him a little budge
“Why don’t ya tell me a story about yourself? I’m sure that you have some fun ones”
>”I-I don’t know…” You could see that Thorax’s insecurity was coming back at full force… man, poor guy, he really had self-esteem problems.
>You gave him another little budge as you said with a cam voice
“C’mon! I know you can do it!”
>”Ah… well…” Thorax tapped his chin “O-Okay… b-but don’t get a-angry if t-they aren’t fun…”
>And once Thorax started… there was no way to shut him up, he kept telling these stories about how he screwed up mission after mission because he never could bring himself to hurt another living being… even if that earned him the hate from the hive and Chrysalis
>You had to admit, they were actually incredibly funny. Thorax seemed to always get into all sorts of whacky problems thanks to a combination of his inability to do evil and him having the worse luck.
>And the best part was that every time you laughed, Thorax laughed too, heck, you could even heard Aegia chuckling from time to time…
>”… A-And then, the imperator of Brayzil discovered that his loyal tiger was actually me… And since the whole mission failed thanks to me, I-I had to hide from both the imperator and my kin…”
“Sheesh man, how did you get out of that one?”
>”W-well…” Thorax looked away in embarrassment “I got inside the kitchen and hid myself on a fruit bowl by transforming into a pineapple… it’s just that I didn’t know that queen Chrysalis was also part of the mission. She was disguised as the ambassador from another kingdom and was having a dinner with the king of Brayzil…. And I also didn’t know that the fruit bowl was going to be part of that dinner… you can imagine the surprise of everypony when that king tried to taste that deliciously looking pineapple…”
>You snickered… then giggled… and then you simply couldn’t contain your laughter any longer
“Aahahahahah! Oh man, that’s rich! And what happened then?!”
>”The imperator got into the room… and then my kin… and then queen Chrysalis changed into her real form… but I have to say that her argument about how I was her second ambassador and that she only wanted peace and love based on fruits was pretty good”
“With those diplomatic skills of yours, I bet that my moms would hire you as our new ambassador!”
>You put a serious face and tried to imitate your mom Celestia’s voice
““Ambassador Pineapple! You’ll be representing me on the show floor today. Now go out there and work your magic!””
>Thorax started laughing too “HAHAHA! Maybe I could say that I’m “Thorax: the ambassador of Pineapplestan”!”
>You and Thorax continued laughing… until you heard Shining Armor’s voice “Seems like you made a new friend, huh lil’ bro?” And that of course, killed off the mood immediately… dang… you didn’t realize that you were already at the cave’s entrance.
“Oh… wassup bro… How long have you-“
>But you were cut off when Shining Armor moved you to a side and started inspecting Thorax “So, this is the one million bit changeling…” He then looked at Aegia and asked with a gruff voice “Is he okay?”
>Aegia nodded “Oui. I failed to detect any ill will from him. I don’t zink zat he will try anyzing stupid…”
“C’mon bro! You don’t have to be like this, Thorax is fine, he-“
>”I HAVE to be like this lil’ bro.” Shining Armor quickly interrupted you “He is a changeling and from my personal experience, they’re always up to no good. So it’s my duty to protect the crystal ponies and my wife from any danger.”
“Just trust me bro, he’s not evil”
>”I trust you, lil’ bro. That’s the only reason why I haven’t blasted him back to his hive, now…” Shining Armor glared at the now scared Thorax “You better change into something that isn’t your normal form. I don’t want more problems than what we already have…”
>Thorax lowered his head as he replied with a pretty depressed ”O-Okay…”
“Thorax, come on…”
>You placed your hoof around his neck and gave him a gentle shake
“We knew that Shining Armor wouldn’t be cool with this right out from the gate, but give it time alright? As I told you, we just need to have faith…”
>”Yeah…” Thorax sighed as he transformed into a small colt with blue fur and black mane “Yeah, you’re right… as you said… I have already come this far, I can’t give up now…”
“That’s the attitude man…”