"Alright, it is definitely time to get off, you guys," Thorax said decisively. A middle-aged pony dug herself a hole in the dirt before firmly planting her head like an ostrich. Thorax winced.

"What's their deal?", Xenica asked, fluttering from the alpha changeling's back and gingerly touching down to the ground. "I thought you said you used to live here, your highness. Is running and screaming how crystal ponies usually greet guests?"

"Well no, but I-"

"Also, I thought the sun princess said she'd inform the ponies that we won't stuff them in cocoons anymore," a purple drone added, arching an eyebrow at an old stallion moving at a crawl's pace, but obviously trying his best to flee. "These ponies sure look like they're expecting cocoon stuffing."

"I know Princess Celestia made her announcement by now - she sent me a scroll last week telling me she did," Thorax replied, his train of thought abruptly subdued by a tickling sensation. Something small and nimble was swiftly darting through his legs. A familiar set of tiny wings shivered there, overstimulated by the mass panic.

"Are we playing a game, Papa Thorax!?", Apex asked eagerly, voice on the verge of a breakdown. "Is this the game you said we'd all play together? Did you get all the ponies to play too!?"

"Wha-Apex, when did you get off my head?", Thorax pondered aloud. "Also, you picked Mobile Bug Pile, remember? That's the game that we-"

"Look at that pony! She can't fit through that window! I think her butt is too big. Can I go help her?"

There was a resounding 'no!' from the entire convoy, and Apex inflated his cheeks defiantly.

"Thorax, what should we do?", came the off put voice of Tibia, trotting up to the monarch's side. "Princess Twilight and Spike got swamped by the crowd. She's trying to work through it, but it might be a minute."

"What happened to Lance and Arrow?" Thorax inquired.

"Lance ran off to get the other guards for back-up, and I think Arrow is just trying to stop ponies from hurting themselves," Tibia replied with deadpan.

Suffering a deep sigh, Thorax looked past the mayhem and towards the crystal castle. Should they take to the sky and seek out the princess? That'd probably invoke even more panic of an invasion. Trying to reason with the crowd wouldn't work, either - Thorax had lived in the empire long enough to know that crystal ponies were like spooked cattle whenever confusion and panic took root.

Amidst his thoughts, two familiar faces caught his eye from beyond the frantic mobs. With a dawning smile, the alpha changeling gathered the attention of his drones with a wing flutter. Soon all compound eyes turned to find the third princess of Equestria and her husband charging at them full-tilt, dodging ponies as they ran.

"I don't know what's going on, but it looks like we may find out," Thorax said, noting a few cocking heads among the drones. "Everyling please stay close to me though, I don't want anyling wandering off and causing even more of a panic."

"I think the crystal ponies can manage the acceleration of their panicking all by themselves," Xenica replied with snark.

"Thorax!", came the ragged voice of Shining Armor. He slowed to a trot as he reached the squadron of changelings, and cast them their first welcoming smile.

"First of all, I'd just like to say thank you for taking a time to visit us, today," the royal stallion said, pausing to catch hold of his eluded breath. "Princess Luna informed us of your efforts with Princess Celestia and my sister. We are very excited to have you all."

"And of course we're also excited to see you again, Thorax," Cadance said warmly, gently embracing the large pastel bug. Thorax's pearly teeth gleamed as he readily returned it.

"I feel the same way. I can't believe it's been a full month already since I was last in the empire," he mused. "It's been so busy. We just finished rebuilding our new hive, and you wouldn't believe all the new things we've been discovering!"

Cadance fronted an adoring smile.

"You've certainly grown up in more ways than one, haven't you?", she stated with rhetoric. "It feels like just the other day we had a young changeling living in our castle, nervously inquiring to me nearly every day how he should go about introducing friendship to his fellow changelings."

Thorax's magenta eyes went wide, and his pointy ears shriveled pathetically to the inevitable aww's sounding from his pack.

"But I'm afraid proper pleasantries will have to wait," Cadance continued, pulling Thorax's roasting rear out of the fire as quickly as she had put it there. "First and foremost, we really must apologize for this fiasco."

Cadance ever so subtly shot a look at her husband. Shining picked up on the glare within moments, and turned to face the varied crowd of crystal ponies, all of whom had stopped in their tracks upon seeing the empire's royalty interacting with the strange newcomers. Dozens of faces looked on from around the plaza, invested in the startling cliffhanger.

"Attention, everyone!", Shining bellowed, his stolid voice carrying through the air. "I need you all to calm down. Our visitors are changelings from the newly-reformed changeling hive, lead by newly-crowned King Thorax - a prominent member of the Crystal Empire. They may look different now, but they are Equestria's latest allies, and as such deserve our utmost respect."

Like reclusive hermit crabs, crystal ponies began to emerge from their homes, and from behind planting pots, benches and lamp posts.

"At this time, King Thorax and the changelings will be accompanying Princess Cadance and myself to the castle," Shining continued, taking a few steps to demonstrate his point. "I would like to formally invite all of the empire to join me in the castle plaza, for a more in-depth explanation of current events, where I will be more than happy to answer all of your questions and concerns."

Shining turned on his hoof, leading the arriving convoy towards the looming castle, and leaving the diverse crowd to decide their next course of action. While many ponies began to follow the convoy, benign curiosity and fascination replacing fear, many stayed behind, conflicted.

As the mob dispersed, Twilight and Spike were regurgitated from the suffocating crowd of frantic ponies. Quickly taking sight of her brother, she enveloped Spike in magic and ventured to join him.

"If you can take Thorax and the changelings to the meeting room, I'll be happy to properly address the crystal ponies," Shining offered, Cadance's radiant form strolling along just inside his peripheral. "I can meet up with you all once I'm finished. Shouldn't take more than ten minutes at most."

"What happened to me 'mingling with the citizens'?", Cadance asked with a small smirk.

"Well, I have to clean up my mess, and you're way better with politics than I am," the stallion replied with a wink. Cadance backed to a modest smile in reply, meeting her horn to her husband's.

"Hmm, good answer."

Inside the iridescent walls of the crystal castle, Cadance lead the alpha changeling and his troop of drones down a highly-lit corridor. While bug ponies glanced around at the architecture with reserved interest, Thorax examined every corner of his old haunt like an enthralled child. Chrysalis's old hive had never held sentiment for him, but the crystal castle was another story entirely.

Memories greeted him from every corner, every crystaline pillar. The oversized changeling pranced in place.

"That's the fourth floor wash room!" A teal aura gripped the doorknob, and upon a quick reveal, two antlers poked inside. "Still the same. Flurry and I played in there so many times."

"Despite my best efforts," Cadance admitted with a nervous chuckle.

"Ooh, and that's an antique, genuine crystal ballroom!", Thorax continued, shouldering an elated eye at the drones in hoof. "There was this one time where we were all playing hide and seek, and I turned into an extra, out of place suit of armor. Shining Armor didn't notice me, but when he heard me rattle he ran out!"

"He's sworn the ballroom has been haunted, ever since," Cadance commented. "Never could get him to put two and two together."

The hallway envoy came to a fork, and with a hoof, Thorax signaled the princess to stop. Turning to his charge like a field trip leader, Thorax visited each face with a painfully unsubtle earnest.

"So, what do you guys think, so far?"

With bated breath he beamed, scanning their fidgeting forms for signs of intrigue. But as the bugs glanced around the shimmering hallway once more, they rubbed their heads and offered shallow grimaces in reply.

"Thorax, we get it," a green drone began, speaking for the group. "You lived in a castle and that's pretty exciting, but, honestly? All the shiny crystals make my eyes hurt."

The drones nodded unanimously. Thorax's ears wilted.

"I'm pretty sure if Chrysalis ever saw anything this shiny in the hive she'd have probably banished it," another drone added.

The thought of Chrysalis ranting and raving over highly luminescent rocks triggered a round of chittering. One drone sat back on his haunches to cover his mouth with his upper hooves, snorts escaping in bursts. But Thorax's disapproving look descended on the changelings like a storm, his shadow drawing their glossy eyes.

"What did I just finish telling you guys outside about being polite?" He lowered his head, forcing the tiny-by-comparison bug ponies to meet his gaze. Those changelings nearest to him did a reverse careen of their necks, taking a few anxious steps backwards.

"Oh, don't worry about it so much, Thorax," Cadance said jollily, giving the colorful bug ponies an encouraging glance. "They're just being themselves, I don't take offense. Honestly, Shining Armor actually said the same thing when we first came to the empire. The light really does take getting used to."

"Well, you'd think we'd be used to shine by now," Thorax mused, offering a softer look towards the drones. "We do sorta look like the colors of the rainbow, now, and don't get me started on how our wings and tails reflect light."

A sudden, lengthy gasp sounded. Someling had just been blessed by realization.

"Yeah, I almost forgot!", a grass green drone exclaimed, dancing on the tips of his hooves. "Hey guys, disco tail rave!"

Thorax and Cadance turned their heads to the bizarre proclamation. The squadron of drones, once passive and apathetic were now clamoring around the crystal pillars lining the hallway's walls. With insatiable grins they maneuvered their tails to filter the corridor's ample supply of light. Various shades of purple, green, blue and red light flowed along the floor, and the drones began dancing.

Accomplished whistles and cheers filled corridor, and Thorax took facial refuge in the darkness of his hoof.

"Oh my goodness, that's so creative!", Cadance giggled, putting a hoof to her chest.

"Oh, please don't encourage them, princess," Thorax muttered into his hoof, his tone bogged down by a sharp onset of fatigue. "When they first figured out they could do this, it was shortly after we reformed. I couldn't get them to stop for days."

Cadance's giggle only grew. For the remainder of the trip down the hall, the changelings danced as they walked, cramming the air with relentless yips and hoots.

"At any rate, Equestria is a colorful place," Cadance picked up, effortlessly citing wisdom like a fortune cookie. "Ponies, the homes they build, even the grass, trees and sky all around us are immensely vibrant. If you want to talk colors, Thorax, I think you'll find you actually fit in more than you did before."

"I dunno, I kinda liked having holes in my legs. It made me feel edgy," one drone thought aloud.

"Well I hated it, trying to walk anywhere without getting your hoof caught in roots was infuriating," another spat with contempt.

"Do you guys remember Scapus?", a third brought up.

"Was he the one who used to sleep transform into weird stuff every night?"

"No."

"Was he the one who got a gopher stuck in his leg? And Chrysalis fell off her throne laughing at him?"

"No, that was Cercus. Scapus used to change his form into a changeling without holes, and he made it a popular thing for a while."

"Oh, yeah, I remember him, now. That whole thing was pretty funny, too."

"It was funny until Chrysalis noticed it and flipped out," Xenica interjected, dramatically raising her hoof and standing on her back legs. 'What are you fools doing? We're perfect the way we are, how dare you desecrate the proud changeling image!'"

Violent laughter erupted once again as changelings began to play off one another's quips. A Chrysalis with a sun hat and purse appeared among them, followed by a dramatically uncharacteristic Chrysalis featuring the same colors as Thorax. Each new gag drew more and more abhorrent cackling, until at last, a sky blue spark commanded silence. Though undisturbed in their merriment, the drone's shrieks became mute in the face of a teal aura, crafted in a personalized dome around them.

"Sound equalizer bubble," Cadance replied, answering the young monarch before his mouth could even participate. "Cancels sound above a certain decibel level. Found it particularly helpful for handling Flurry's 'I need it now' tantrums. She doesn't get what she can't ask for with her indoor voice."

"Oh, you definitely need to teach me that one," Thorax chuckled, his sly eye gone unnoticed to the drones in hoof. "Getting everyling to calm down when they get into an uproar is one of the things I struggle with the most."

Cadance simpered. Somehow, that wasn't the least bit surprising. "Noise aside, I'm really glad to see the changelings have transitioned so well. I'm a pretty optimistic pony, and I certainly did my best to encourage you whenever you came to me for advice, but..."

"Even you weren't entirely sure it was possible?" Thorax finished. Cadance's lofty disposition perked up again.

"Oh, no! I was confident it was possible, I just wasn't sure it'd be such a smooth process," she confessed with a sheepish grin. "You were passionate, Thorax, but I wasn't completely sure you'd be able to make much, if any difference, especially so quickly."

Thorax shot a glance at the squadron of drones behind him, happily babbling and bantering back and forth. One drone had begun to assail a neighbor with a head rub, much to the later's apparent discontent.

"I definitely wouldn't have been able to on my own, not with the hold Chrysalis had on the hive," Thorax admitted, a melancholic smile budding his lips. "It was a domino effect, starting with Chrysalis's second invasion - a runaway train that brought us to the best possible outcome, thanks to Starlight and her friends. To be honest I still wake up some days, amazed at how things turned out."

The air between them fell quiet for some time, as the group rounded a corner and ascended a brilliant teal staircase. The upper levels of the castle greeted them with the welcoming echoes of their hoofsteps.

"I know it's a touchy subject for you," Cadance broached at last, observing the flowing patterns of crystal beneath her hooves, "so please don't feel obligated to humor me if you're uncomfortable with talking about it. I've just always wondered what she was like, outside our borders. From the way it sounds, she must have been pretty terrible to all of you. Was she always like that?"

Thorax's expression hardened. Thoughts to a darker time invaded his head, draining the changeling of his stoic posture.

"As far as I know. There isn't a changeling alive today who remembers a time where she wasn't in power," Thorax explained solemnly. "If I had to describe her with one word, it'd be 'obsessed'. All she ever cared about was conquest, and being in charge. Sure, she did a great job of dressing it up as 'ensuring the hive's survival' and 'being a providing queen', but from what I saw, her care for us went about as far as our usefulness to her. Starlight witnessed that first-hoof with me, before you all were released."

The turmoil in her heart found validation, and so Cadance gave a sullen look.

"Even after the events of my wedding, I tried to convince myself that she truly had to do what she needed, for the sake of her species," she said softly, sighing deeply between her thoughts. "Shining Armor and I had several arguments in those following weeks. He saw a heartless monster with no compassion, not worthy of mercy from the very start. Meanwhile, I just couldn't bring myself to harbor those levels of contempt, I couldn't bring myself to truly hate someone. I had to hope there was something there that I could look past her actions for."

Thorax raised his eyes. Emerging from the depths, Cadance composed herself in the silence's embrace.

"Truthfully I had harbored hopes that she at least displayed some amount of compassion for her own subjects, but I guess Shining Armor was right about her, after all. I don't know, maybe I'm just naive."

Having reached the summit of the unyielding staircase, the envoy came to a standstill. While his drones spread themselves out throughout the new room, Thorax rested a hoof at the base of Cadance's leg, drawing her gaze.

"...you really do represent love in its purest form, Cadance," Thorax said softly. "I don't think you're naive at all. The world is full of flaws, but that doesn't mean your approach is the wrong way. In fact, I think the ability to forgive and be ready to share compassion with anyone is a really amazing thing. That's why you're a princess of Equestria."

Brilliant rays of sunlight filtered through the corridor and lit her smile, and Cadance mirrored the gesture with her own hoof.

"Thank you, Thorax. One thing I can say for certain, you're the kindest leader the changelings have ever had, and I know that whatever Chrysalis lacked in compassion, you can make up for ten-fold."

Cadance turned to the group of drones, spread out throughout the room like a flock of wandering sheep.

"This is one of the highest points in the castle," she explained, pointing towards the massive windows completely encircling the room. "Very shortly my husband will be joining up with us so we can have some discussions with King Thorax. But I thought you'd all enjoy the best view of our empire before the boring politics start."

She gave an inviting wink, and enthused smiles began to bloom all around the room.

"But how have we not heard about this!?", a blue mare with a sandy mane asked desperately. "If Princess Celestia sent out a message to all of Equestria as you say, we should have received news about it!"

Fronting the barrage of concerns from his public, Shining Armor stood atop the lower balcony of the crystalline castle. Behind him stood Twilight, Spike and a group of empire guards, nonchalantly distancing themselves from the relentless wave of criticism.

"Princess Celestia did send word to all of Equestria regarding the changelings," Shining Armor confirmed. "However, the Crystal Empire is a self-governed kingdom under Princess Cadance, and to a lesser extent myself - word from the rest of Equestria filters through us before it's distributed to citizens."

With hundreds of eyes watching his every move, the prince prepared himself for the painful honesty about to pour forth.

"I'm afraid this is mostly my fault. Celestia's contact to the empire was different from the rest of Equestria, it mentioned that King Thorax would at some point seek to visit the empire to forge friendly relations. Because it didn't mention an exact date, I decided to play it by ear, and not announce anything until I had a far more solid time frame to work with."

Faces began to soften among the crowd, as ponies began to slowly process the situation.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't announced until last night that the visit would be today. I'm the one who failed to announce the state of affairs early this morning to you all prior to the changeling's arrival, and for that I deeply apologize."

"Then technically isn't it your fault for rushing this whole thing along in the first place, Twilight?", Spike whispered from the balcony rear. He darted an eye at Twilight, who suffered from onset timidity. The mare rubbed her front hoof while drops of sweat trailed her forehead.

"We forgive you, Prince Shining Armor!", came a female voice from the audience, inspiring the entire crowd to nod in agreement. An outbreak of clapping and hoof stomps ensued, and the white stallion's face grew content.

That went way better than anticipated.

"Thank you, all. Lack of communications aside, I am happy to say that Thorax and his changelings arrived safely, and they are very friendly and eager to meet you all. It is the wish of Equestria's princesses that we give the changelings a warm welcome and a second chance. That is why Princess Cadance would like to open the empire up for our guests today in the form of a low-key festival, to help them feel welcomed in Equestria for the very first time. I invite everyone who would like to take part in this festival to work with myself, Princess Twilight and Spike, the Brave and Glorious to help make this celebration of new friends and allies one to remember!"

The once concerned and fidgety crowd of crystal ponies exploded with a synchronized round of cheers and flailing upper hooves. While the royal guards descended from the balcony to the street below to assist the crowd in organizing, Shining Armor turned to his beloved sister with an uncanny smirk.

"So, just for the record, we both know you owe me one now, right?" he said slyly.

"We sure do, big brother," Twilight replied, gently shaking her head with a giggle. "I'm sorry for dumping all of this on you so quickly. Thorax and I were making such great progress last night, but he was concerned with how to contact the empire, so I thought I could help him by-"

Twilight's mouth was gently covered by a hoof.

"You should know by now you don't have to explain things to me, Twiley. I already forgave you," Shining Armor said warmly. "And, you know I'm actually kind of relieved and happy to see that you still blaze through things when you're excited. Same old Twiley."

Twilight closed her eyes for a brief moment. A huge grin crept up her mouth.

"If you make me blush in front of your entire empire Shining Armor, next time there won't even be advance notice."

Author's Notes:

Alright, so we got a few things here:
1: So hurrah! That official teaser for S7 was cool, huh? If you don't care for spoilers, don't read the blacked out.

Looks to me like Thorax, accompanied by a small squadron of drones, attending important events in Equestria, presumably to integrate changelings into pony society. Hmm, I could of sworn a certain author around here had started writing that sort of thing since December. *dons shades and smokes a pipe*

2: I've officially moved cross country to Tampa, FL. :D Very excited, but still have some work to do to fully settle in. That said, I have found the time to finish this chapter before I start my new job. I'd expect the next chapter sometime after the new season premiere later this month.

3: It was fun writing Cadance in this chapter. I got to portray her as a pure being who's ultimately very detached from feelings like hatred and anger, seeing as she is the princess of love.

4: Lastly, have another relevant artwork I wanted to share. It's the only artwork I've seen that depicts the, 'Thorax assumes a parental role of Chrysalis's leftover children' theme I've been portraying. He's just a little overwhelmed, he'll be fine.

'King Bug Moose meets his babs' by bakufoon
Please give their page a look if you enjoyed this piece!