//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Ice and Heat // Story: A Thorax in my Side // by LaysPotatoChips //------------------------------// Chapter 7: Ice and Heat "You've got to be kidding me." Thorax said as he placed his hooves over his eyes in frustration," A freaking power outage?" Thorax plopped himself back on his side of the bed, while he continued to grumble under his voice. Spike, as he grabbed some candles from the bottom cabinet shelf in the bathroom said " It's not that bad Thorax." Spike said as he made his way over towards a candle and lit it with his fire breath. "I'm quite sure that somepony will be here within a few minutes to fix the electricity." Thorax looked over at Spike, and let out a sigh. This was the last thing that he wanted to happen today. First their plans going up in smoke, next the blizzard, and now this. What made the situation a lot worse, was that along with the lights going out, the heater in their room was down as well. "Well now that the lights are out, what do you wanna do?" Thorax asked Placing the candle on the nightstand beside the bed, Spike thought about what they could do. After a minute of thinking, he came up with absolutely nothing. Seriously, their was literally nothing to do. They didn't have any games to play with, no books, not even a comic book. Spike, defeated, walked back towards Thorax's bed and climbed on. Thorax, despite being a bit miffed at the present situation the two of them where in, grabbed Spike and began cuddling with him. The cuddling went on for minutes on end without a word coming out of either of their mouths. After about ten, or so, minutes of cuddling, Spike decided to break out a random conversation with Thorax. "So Thorax." Spike began," How do Changelings consume love? I mean, it's not really a solid, liquid, or a gas, so how do you do it?" Thorax thought about the question for a second before answering. "Well, the way that Changelings, like myself, consume love is by one of the three ways. The first way we can actually quire love, is by draining it out of the pony, or ponies, that we so choose. Now, it's not a painful process as far as I know, but it does have some slight side effects that are more of a burden than anything." "What are the side effects?" Spike questioned "There the same as when you would feel if you went on a long marathon. You know, sickness, headaches, blurry vision, fatigue, and exhaustion." Thorax replied "Interesting. So what are the other ways a Changeling can consume love?" Spike asked " Well, the second way is by getting it from the air itself. Now, this is one that is not only a hard way for a Changeling to gather love, but it's also a very unsuccessful way of actually satisfying our hunger. Thus, we don't use this way unless we're desperate. The third way that we gather love is by. Well, do you want me to talk about it , or do you want me to show you how?" Thorax asked Spike, curious as to what was so interesting about the third way, said "Okay, uh. Show me." Thorax gave a devious and seductive smile as he made his way towards the baby dragon. Within an instant, Thorax's lips where now connected to Spike's lips. Spike , who would have normally freaked out at this point, closed his eyes and savored the soft kiss the Changeling was giving him. After a few seconds, Thorax pulled away, and wiped his lips. "That, my dear Spike, is our third way of gathering love." Spike's ears and face blushed a crimson red as Thorax gave him another satisfying smile. "You see Spike, this option is not something that we Changelings like to actually carry out, for a few reasons. One, since most Changelings are Asexual, we don't really desire to actually be with anypony, we pretty much (at least for me that is) try to avoid those kinds of relationships. Second of all, not many ponies are willing to give a kiss to a Changeling, much less a hug, so if we where to try and get our meals like that, we would most likely starve to death within an hour. Oh, and we also don't do this because well, most of the Changelings are just plain evil in their own sense, so they would be less likely to actually carry it out with anypony. Also, the same effect can come by just by a simple hug." Thorax ended the conversation with that. Spike looked up at Thorax and asked "If...y..you could get the s..same...amount of love just by hugging" Spike began" Than, how c...come..you k...kissed me." Spike said as he continued to blush from all sides of his face. Thorax just laughed, and then gave a smirk as he said "Well, one because I wanted to mess with you, and two, your just so darn cute." Thorax gave out another laugh before continuing to tease the dragon "What's wrong Spikey Wikey, cat got your tongue?" Thorax said in a sarcastic, but loving, way Spike's nose started bleeding from the intensity of the situation. Never, except for Rarity and Pinkie Pie, had anypony called him by his nick name before. Spike looked up at Thorax, who was now looking down at Spike with the same smirk still stitched on his face. Spike's eyes then started to water from the situation he was in. This was not only embarrassing for him, but it was also a small reminder about how Rarity was with him, and that wasn't something that he liked very much. Thorax, upon seeing Spike's eyes water, immediately regretted the course of action he had taken. "I'm sorry Spike" Thorax said in his timid voice" I shouldn't have teased you like that. I know how much love you have for Rarity, and I shouldn't have been messing around with it like that." Spike smiled at Thorax and said "It's okay, it's not your fault. To be honest, I kind of lost my interest in Rarity." Spike said in a saddened voice. "How is that?" Thorax asked "Well, it started out a year or so back when I was helping Rarity around her new Boutique. I knew that she was planning on leaving Ponyville for some time, so I decided to finally stand up to my fear and tell Rarity how I felt about her." Spike took a deep breath as he continued to speak. "Well, after I finally admitted my feelings towards her, she gave a smile, but then her smile turned into a really sad frown. She took me by my claw, and led me to the outside patio. She sat me down, and sighed as she took her seat." Spike's eyes started watering even more as the thoughts of what had happened there continued to fill his mind. "She then started to say how flattered she was for my crush on her, and how I was a very sweet gentledragon for being so honest about it. However, she then started telling me about how she didn't feel the same way towards me as I did for her. She went into, albeit hard to stomach, some truths about how it would not really work out. She explained that since I was a dragon and she was a pony, we really wouldn't be able to actually form a proper relationship together. She also explained to me how, since I was still young for my age, that it could really harm both of our reputations, and could possibly make her out to be a predator, which she wasn't. After the little conversation, and knowing the hurt that was on my face, she tried to cheer me up by saying that I was still a great dragon friend, and wished that more stallions acted more like me. She also took me out for some ice cream later, which helped. In the end, as heartbroken as I was, I accepted it, and pretty much just gave up on trying to find a mate for myself. I mean, their really isn't much out for me as it is, mostly because I'm going to be stuck in a baby dragon's body for the rest of my life." Spike ended his conversation with that. Thorax, on the other hand, was practically bawling his eyes out at the story that was presented by Spike. Thorax, still crying, picked up Spike and said " I...I'm so...sorry that happened to you Spike." Spike gave a weak smile and said "It's okay Thorax, it wasn't your fault this happened. I honestly don't blame anyone for that matter. It's just that it's hard for me." Thorax gave a small whimper before asking "Spike, can I ask you a question?" Spike looked up at Thorax and said "Sure, what's up?" Thorax took a deep breath. "Spike, I know I may not be a girl, or a boy for that matter, but would you be willing to try something?" Spike's eyes widened at what Thorax was saying. Was he suggesting what he thought he was? "What do you want to try?" Spike asked "Would you be okay if I asked you to be in a relationship with me?" Thorax asked with tears flowing down his eyes "Well, I mean, I kind of asked that question a few days back, but sure. I'm willing to give it a shot." Spike said as he gave Thorax a hug. Thorax smiled and gave Spike a kiss on the head and embraced him in a warm, icy hug.