Thorax met Morgan Spencer-aka Becky Stark-aka Raspberry Stardust on the battlefield. His Queen had sought to invade the land where Morgan lived. Morgan herself was a fierce warrior, taking out any of Thorax’s comrades that approached her. Yes she was the enemy, what of it? Thorax was still in awe.
She took down changeling after changeling- punching and kicking to make them fly back. Thorax had heard about a unicorn fighting on their side that turned out to be a traitor. He hadn’t believed it until he saw her tearing his brothers a new one.
He hadn’t noticed- so drawn in by the beauty of Raspberry’s powerful fighting form- he missed the kick directly to his own face. When he landed, he realized he was missing a tooth.
Thorax knew right then- Morgan Spencer (aka Raspberry Stardust) (aka Becky Stark) was the love of his life.
He hadn’t known she was Morgan Spencer, or Becky Stark. That bit came later.
He spent the next few months working on a cover story. Changelings in his world were shapeshifters. He crafted an illusion– somepony normal he could introduce to Raspberry Stardust.
He had to spend a while working on his nervous tic. Anytime he was met with too much love, his disguise fell. It was embarrassing! Cicada- Thorax’s little sister- teased him so much for it. Still, Cicada at least helped. Pharynx had teased him for ages!
All the work was worth it. Nearly 10 months of work then he was off to woo the love of his life! He wasn’t stalled when he heard she had been promoted to princess, when her friends were the six most powerful mares in Equestria, when she befriended Discord the god of chaos, even when she had a daughter!
Lilac was too cute for anypony to be annoyed at her!
Thorax’s only problem was actually working up the nerve to talk to her. Whoops.
Whatever. Thorax would work up the courage. He went after her, some would call it ‘stalking’. But...he was an idiot.
He actually thought he was good at stalking- uh tracking- her. Three blocks and she hadn’t noticed! She turned into an alleyway, which Thorax thought was weird.
He followed her inside. Funny enough she was gone. Thorax was confused. He hadn’t seen her fly out. There wasn’t an open ended. was confused. He hadn’t seen her fly out. There wasn’t an open end.
Before he could look up, something jumped on his back. Thorax tried to fight it off. Whatever it was, it grabbed his shoulders and pushed him against the wall with a thud.
Thorax blinked, trying to get himself back to focus. The form he’d chosen had wings so maybe he could-
He saw who had him pinned.
It was her.
Princess Raspberry (Morgan) Stardust (Spencer).
Thorax was gobsmacked. She was touching him! As a changeling, he could sense emotions quite well. The emotions of the Princess holding him down were irritation, annoyance, and...curiosity?
“Who are you and why are you following me?” She commanded.
Thorax was using all his dying brain cells to keep up his disguise. It was going as well as expected.
She slapped his face.
That helped.
‘She owns me now’ Thorax heard himself think before he could stop it.
“Tell me why you were following me before I get mad.” She growled.
Thorax realized she was speaking. A second later he realized what she was asking. He stumbled over his introduction. “My n-name... uhh...is...B-Bumblebee. Yeah. Bumblebee. That’s my name.”
Raspberry Stardust rolled her eyes. “I know a fake name when I hear one. Who are you?”
That got Thorax worried. If she figured out what he was, he couldn’t go out with her! She would ignore him forever. She would send him to the Princesses- or worse back to the Hive! If his kind knew he had a crush on Raspberry Stardust- the Great Betrayer- well Thorax didn’t like his odds of staying alive.
“My name is Bumblebee!” He insisted.
Raspberry Stardust let him go. Thorax dropped to the ground in a lump. She flared her wings, which in the shadows cast by the alley made her look more ferocious. This of course only made Thorax fall more in love.
“Don’t follow me.” She ordered before flying off.
Thorax’s heart leapt. She was going away! He never got the chance to talk to her!
He flared his own wings. He pushed off the ground, going after her. He spotted her in the sky, so he made sure to follow her.
He would talk to her.
Thorax would woo Raspberry Stardust! He would stop at nothing-
Where did she go?
Thorax paused in his flying. He couldn’t see Raspberry Stardust anywhere. On one hoof, it made sense that maybe she stopped her flying to avoid him but she had been right in front of him just a second ago.
He heard laughter behind him. He turned back to see Raspberry Stardust sitting on a cloud, laughing.
Thorax’s cheeks warmed up. He slowly flew over to her cloud, looking down as he tried to summon up his dignity.
“Look, from what I can tell, you aren’t gonna leave me be until I listen to you. So, start talking.” Raspberry Stardust informed him, still wearing a smile at his expense.
The changeling in disguise braced himself. Here it was. His only chance to admit it without resorting to being weird. “I was following you...because... I wanted to know if you wanted to go out sometime.” Thorax admitted. He stopped himself, eyes widening. “Not that I would have to build up courage, I was just waiting for you to be ready for it.”
Raspberry Stardust clearly didn’t believe him. Thorax wondered for a moment if she could read emotions too- she was clever enough. “Uh-huh. Right, of course.”
Thorax took a deep breath. “So, you wanna go out sometime?”
Now it was Raspberry Stardust blinking. Her eyes widened slightly, her jaw worked to keep from dropping. “What?”
Thorax held up his hooves, trying to keep her from jumping to conclusions. “Hold on. Just one date.” He proposed.
“A date with a guy stalking me?” She pointed out.
Thorax had to give her that. It didn’t sound good when you put it like that. “Good point. When you say it like that, it’s bad. Hear me out.”
“One minute, and then I throw you.” Raspberry Stardust warned.
Thorax wanted to say that he could fly, except he knew that if Raspberry Stardust told him to fall for her he would do it all over again. “One date. It goes sour, and we go different ways and never look back.” She gawked at him. “Come on. One date, and then you’ll never see me again.”
Raspberry Stardust thought it over.
Thorax took that as a good sign. She wasn’t outright rejecting him. Granted, he had gone about it all the wrong way so she wouldn’t be insane for telling him no. Even after giving him this chance in the first place. It was breaking something in Thorax to be giving Raspberry Stardust an option to never see him again, but he hoped that the date he had planned would be so good she would give him a second date.
He just...really, really liked her. Not just from her incredible mind, or her courage in standing against Thorax’s mother, she was beautiful. Changelings paid little attention to physical appearances when romance was involved, Thorax couldn’t discredit the way her amber eyes shined with an intelligence greater than Thorax could ever know.
“Sure.”
Thorax had to take his rented home into account. If she said no, would he have to stay at it until the rent contract ended? Or could he just ditch- Hold on did she say something?
She said yes?
He let himself have a moment of shock. Raspberry Stardust was grinning again, mirth in her golden eyes. Thorax had to remind his brain cells not to fail him now by dropping his disguise. He shook his head, putting on a wide grin.
“Great. You free this Friday?” He asked.
“No. I’m expensive.” She replied.
‘She’s perfect.’
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Thorax replied. He managed not to sound like a lovesick dork. Progress! “See ya at seven.” He flew off, in the direction of his house.
"How do you know where I live?” She called out to him.
Thorax laughed. He had a lot to do for Friday- maybe he’d get it done when he came down from Cloud Nine.
She said yes!
==TCD==
Now we jump ahead a few years. Needless to say, the date went well. It turned into a second date, that turned into a third then a fifth then another adopted kid then a twelfth date and then boom.
Thorax had discovered Raspberry’s secret identity. She’d found out his. His mother had rallied her troops for another invasion- it went wrong, thanks to Morgan Spencer.
She actually blew up the Hive. She’d even unlocked a secret power within Thorax, which he spread out to his kind. Changelings didn’t need to feed on love anymore- they could share it instead.
Morgan had been so excited. She told Thorax all of her secrets- her humanity- her human crown- her whole planet that existed in another reality- wow what a twist! Cooler yet she brought Thorax along!
Thorax knew Morgan was perfect. This was just another thing to love endlessly.
==TCD==
Many years later...
They had just defeated three sirens. Thorax had fun. Raspberry had fun. Their band had fun. They won the battle of the bands! Who knew Thorax could rock the drums?
They returned to a big party. A big, beautiful party. Pinkie threw to celebrate the third most important thing that ever happened in Thorax’s life. After Cicada agreeing to be his sister, and Raspberry agreeing to go on a date.
Raspberry asked Thorax to marry him.
Thorax couldn’t believe it. He thought she would never agree to it, after ten years of him bringing it up over and over only for her to turn him down at every turn.
Pinkie welcomed them on their return from the mirror universe. She threw them an engagement party. All of their Ponyville friends came to celebrate with them. All of their kids enjoyed themselves. Thorax loved it even more, as Raspberry stayed by his side the whole night.
They finally were gonna be married.
They were getting married.
Hours later, into the night, Thorax and Raspberry settled back in their house. The kids stayed up late. It took ages for their youngest to fall asleep. Thorax and Raspberry went to bed, but did not fall asleep. They just talked. Even after everything, they hadn’t stopped to settle and talk.
“So...what now.” Thorax asked.
Morgan blew out a breath. She shifted to their human form to help put Cookie to sleep. “We get ready for Marvel.”
Thorax nodded. He curled around Morgan. She started running her hand around his head. “Yeah...yeah...but I meant about our...you know.”
“I told you. Earth Vegas.” Morgan supplied. “We go to my earth, swing by Vegas, and then go to Marvel to celebrate everything else.”
“Are you...excited?” Thorax asked.
“Very. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I just mean...you’re not doing a lot of planning for it.” Thorax replied. Morgan tilted her head, confused. “Go to Vegas. Get married. Go away. Like, it’s a lot simpler than the other plans.”
“I’m getting married to you.” Morgan replied. “I don’t want anything to be complicated. I love you, and I want people to know it.”
Thorax held tighter to Raspberry. Her joy sparkled within her, shining so bright it spread warmly in his own chest. Thorax nuzzled her cheek.
She giggled. It brightened up the light shining around him.
Had Thorax mentioned he loved her? Together almost nine years (nearly a decade) and they were both stuck in the ‘honeymoon’ phase. Maybe time becoming irrelevant made that things likes ‘phases’ stupid.
Thorax hoped it never ended. On Morgan’s side- Thorax would never love Morgan any less.
“And in the MCU? What are we doing then?” Thorax asked.
Morgan hummed in delight. “Not a clue. But I’m ready to find out!”
==TCD==
Morgan’s World
Morgan stepped back from the mirror.
“See anything cute?” A voice asked.
Morgan rolled her eyes. “Just your ass.” She reached over, whacking their haunch.
They yelped. They reached back, rubbing the aching spot. “I get that it’s cute, but you don’t have to do that in public!”
She giggled. She guided them to a hospital bed. “You never said I couldn’t.”
They sat on the bed, reclining back on a pillow. “...can I say it now?” Morgan nodded. “You can do that in public but just...be subtle?”
“Sure thing.” Morgan missed their nose. They blushed, bright red showing against neon green. “So. Do you remember what the Plan is?”
“You told me a dozen times.” They replied. They held up their hoof. Morgan held up her palm. Thorax dropped their hoof in her hand. “We are going to visit the MCU. Your number is on my phone. All I need to do is see where I am, then call you and tell you.”
“Good.” Morgan praised. While she loved that they remembered what she said, she also loved this wide giddy smile on their muzzle. “And how will you know where you are?”
Thorax paused. “...I look out the window, right?”
“Right!” Morgan kissed their cheek again- this time a little closer to their lips. Thorax blushed even brighter. “What next?”
Thorax seemed to figure out the system here. “I tell you everything I know about my life. We plan a meet-cute. Then we watch Lilac settle in from a healthy, supportive distance. Was that right?”
“It was.” Morgan rewarded them again. Again, the kiss moved closer to their lips. “We’ll be so distant and supportive.”
Thorax nodded. “For sure.”
“Mom, Dad, quit it!” A girl skipped past them. She fell into another hospital bed beside Thorax’s. She smiled at Morgan and Thorax. “I can handle myself. I don’t need supervision.”
“Of course not, Princess.” Morgan praised. She gave Thorax a pat on the hoof. They winked up at her. “We have full confidence in you.”
Thorax grinned. “Yeah! We’re just being good parents. Can’t just make it look like we disowned you, or anything. That’s not good parenting.”
Lilac rolled her eyes. She held out her clawed hand. Thorax reached out another hoof, taking hold.
If Morgan’s eyes shimmered a bit, that’s her business. She sat herself down on Thorax’s bed. They adjusted to give her space.
“Lilac. What’s the plan with you?” Morgan prompted.
“I gather funds through as many questionable legal means as possible.” Lilac explained. She patted the small bag on her hip. “If I can’t sleep in shelters, the Bag can serve as a hostel. I need an apartment before a month is out.”
Morgan nodded. Again, if the eyes glimmered, it means nothing. “Before you do any of that?”
Lilac tapped the bag again. “Use my phone to take a picture of my face, and send it to you.” Lilac explained. “And then, since I’ll definitely be too young for a real ID, Mom will find me and tell me what to avoid. In case my own memories aren’t what they should be, anyway.”
Morgan squeezed on Thorax’s hoof.
Lilac smiled, assuringly and proud. “I can handle it.”
“We know.” Her parents replied.
Morgan braced herself. “Where’s the idiot?”
“Right here.” Thorax cheered.
Morgan looked around. All she saw was Thorax giving this dopey grin. “No, I mean the other one.”
“Hey shut up.” The fourth and last member of their group jumped over. She sat at Morgan’s side, throwing an arm around Morgan’s shoulders. Darcy grinned widely. “Make me Nikki Stevens again. That one was fun.”
“You got cut in half last time.” Morgan reminded her sister.
Darcy scoffed. “Pfft. Yeah, but like, with a whip. That’s awesome. I wanna try it with a sword.”
“You’re gonna get cut in half with a sword?” Lilac asked, blinking at her aunt. “On purpose?”
“No! Maybe.” Darcy reached for her sister’s hand. Morgan let her take it. “I didn’t play in fake vents to miss out on this.”
“Yeah you did. You’re gonna miss a lot, actually.” Morgan teased. She bumped her hip against her sister.
Darcy bumped right back. It knocked Morgan into Thorax. “I will shoot you in the head.”
Morgan laughed. Thorax chuckled, kissing Morgan’s cheek. Lilac rolled her eyes at her parents. Did they have to be like that all the time?
“Alright guys.” Morgan warned. “Time to go. Everyone ready?”
“Ready if you are.” Thorax replied.
Morgan squeezed their hoof.