They heard nothing further from Fluttershy, so both were left to assume she was able to return to Ponyville without further event. Spike expected there would be no further contact from Fluttershy too unless either they turned to her for assistance again, or something transpired that caused her to feel it necessary to break the silence. Of the two, Spike preferred the former option, liking the idea that they could count on Fluttershy again if needed, but he also agreed that it would be best they only do so when absolutely necessary and all other options are exhausted first, so to minimize risk of discovery. Thorax also requested that they still be on guard for at least the next following week and ready to flee the Vanhoover area should Fluttershy give them away, either intentionally or otherwise, as a precaution. As the days passed and they saw no signs of any danger of that though, it was clear Fluttershy meant it when she would keep what she knew about them secret for now.
Nonetheless, the whole encounter and how close they had come to getting caught brought back up the subject of whether or not it was really wise for them to remain in Vanhoover any longer.
“I know you like it here in Vanhoover Thorax,” Spike assured his friend as he sat beside the changeling’s sleeping nest. “I do too, and I don’t really want to leave any more than you probably do…but while I trust Fluttershy with my life, the fact she knows our secret now has added to the chances of us getting discovered…so I can’t help but wonder if we might be better off moving on to another location regardless, just to play it safe. That way, if Fluttershy somehow lets it slip where we are, we aren’t in danger of getting discovered. And you’re the one who’s on guard and ready for her to let something slip, not me.”
Thorax nodded along with Spike’s reasoning while he sipped from a glass of water and cleared the lingering congestion from his throat. “I see your reasoning Spike,” he said and sighed. “And frankly, you’re probably right. It’s just…I guess I’ve let myself become attached to living here, and maybe that wasn’t a smart thing to do considering we weren’t planning to stay long term in the first place, but…” he shook his head, scratching at the peeling chitin on his neck. “Assuming we did leave…where would we go? What would we tell Fly Leaf? What would we do once there?”
Spike thought about it for a second. “I guess we could go wherever we like,” he admitted, “wherever we can find work or funds to continue to be able to support ourselves at least.” He shrugged. “We’d have to look into it, I suppose. As for Fly Leaf…we told her when we took the job that we didn’t plan to stay long term…she’s already waiting for us to decide to up and leave…all we need to tell her is that we’re doing so now. Knowing her, she’d probably help us move out.”
Thorax frowned. “I’d just hate to leave her high and dry after she’s come to rely on us so much,” he said. He sighed. “And we’d still only be able to tell her so much, wouldn’t we? Could we even tell her where we’d be going, wherever that is?”
Spike frowned and realized his point. “Probably not,” he reasoned. “Otherwise, if someone did figure out we had been in Vanhoover, then they could just use Fly Leaf to get redirected to us. We’d be better off hiding that from her, and if she presses, give her some false location.”
Thorax immediately shook his head at this though. “No,” he stressed. “We’re already lying enough to that poor mare, I don’t want to add one more to it, not after everything she’s done for the both of us.”
Spike winced, and secretly shared Thorax’s revulsion to the matter. Both of them had become much more consciously aware about how much they had been lying to Fly Leaf after recent events, and both had been feeling especially guilty about it, especially as Fly Leaf continued to show both complete trust and aid for them. But he didn’t see a way around it. “Look, let’s just…be thinking about it for the next few days,” he urged. “And then we can sit back down and decide if we’re actually going to stay or move on. Okay?”
Thorax frowned, looking like he had already decided on the matter, but he nodded in agreement. “Very well,” he said.
In the meantime, Spike and Thorax worked to settle back into their individual lives and affairs, restoring what was the normal routine for them. Using the medication Fluttershy had left behind as instructed, Thorax continued to improve and recover from his illness at a gradual rate, but still faster than Fluttershy had predicted before she left. By midway through that same week, Thorax had recovered enough that he was more mobile again, capable of keeping on his hooves long enough to wander to and from the bathroom and about their room under his own power. Doing so still tired him out quickly and he still confessed to feeling “awful,” but it still heartened them both to see.
By that same time, the infection in Thorax’s horn had faded enough that he was able to resume basic magic and found he could raise his disguise and be able to maintain it flawlessly for a number of minutes. This was just long enough that Fly Leaf was able to step into the room and visit briefly with her ill employee without risk of her discovering he was actually a changeling and not a unicorn pony. This cheered Fly considerably and set to rest any lingering doubts she seemed to have about Thorax’s health, to the point that she sat down and apologized to both Spike and Thorax for her distrust on the matter.
Thorax wouldn’t hear it, though, and instead took full responsibility for it. “Looking back, you had every right to be concerned Miss Fly, and I deeply apologize for putting you through that,” he told his employer during her visit while he was able to keep himself disguised. “It was me that urged Spark to try and keep my illness to just between him and me and try and keep you out of it, and I admit that I did that out of vanity for my own private affairs…but I shouldn’t have. I very nearly brought serious harm to myself doing so, and I recognize that, as well as the trouble it nearly brought you and Spark…and that was wrong of me to do.”
Fly chose to wave the matter aside then. “It’s all water under the bridge regardless now, so I think we’re all better off moving on,” she said. “Let’s just…agree to not do it again, okay?”
“Agreed,” Spike and Thorax unanimously concurred without argument. Neither of them was eager to put themselves through that more than once.
By that Thursday, Thorax continued to show improvement to the point that Thorax himself decided he was out of the woods when his body began what Spike later came to think of as the “great icky purge.” Back when he was falling ill, Thorax had made mention that the glands he used for creating a cocoon were becoming clogged up, and while Spike hadn’t asked for more details both out of respect for Thorax’s privacy and the well-being of his own stomach, he figured they had remained clogged up during the time Thorax was sick. That changed Thursday when Thorax woke up that morning to discover his glands had both loosened up and were now working to drain out the build-up as well as any lingering infections within.
This occurred through either one of two sets of glands as Spike discovered. One was through what Thorax referred to as his “gel glands,” a pair of glands located in the back of his mouth that could secrete the green gel-like substance so commonly associated with changelings. In normal usage they were for creating cocoons or projectile spitting the gel to serve as impromptu traps or other purposes, completely under Thorax’s control and discretion of course. But in this case however, the glands began draining into Thorax’s mouth whether he wanted them to or not. For Thorax, this was relieving as it was finally draining a pent-up pressure that had been in his head, but for Spike it was notably less pleasant as it meant every time Thorax coughed or sneezed, small globs of icky green goo came flying out of the changeling’s mouth that then needed to be cleaned.
It thus went without saying that this reaffirmed Thorax’s need to cover his mouth when coughing or sneezing, and at first resorted to doing it into tissues that he kept close by. But when even the tissues proved to not being resilient enough to withstand the onslaught, Thorax eventually resorted to using a bucket to catch it instead. Either way, the mere sight of the gel disgusted Spike, so he didn’t really care so long as it meant there was less mess he would have to wipe up. That wasn’t the only problem the excess gel caused though, because inevitably a lot of the gel Thorax was secreting ended up swallowed, and eventually that upset Thorax’s guts enough that he ended up having to make frequent, occasionally urgent, trips to the restroom to sort out the aftermath. Again, unpleasant, but Thorax reasoned it was still good in the end, on the grounds that it was again aiding to clean out any lingering infections in Thorax’s body, though Spike told him upfront that he didn’t care to dwell on how.
The drainage also occurred through a second set of glands that were revealed to be located at the tip of the frog in the underside of each of Thorax’s forehooves, which he referred to as “resin glands.” All changelings had them, but only some of them made significant use of them, namely the structores, or builders, within the hive, as the glands, when properly coaxed, produced a sticky blue-green substance that, upon hardening, formed a chalky solid used for building things in the hive. Because Thorax had never served as a structor, he never had to rely on them too extensively (and was glad for it, because apparently working in such a position forcibly heightened one’s metabolism massively so to keep the glands producing resin continuously and was purportedly stressful as a result), but his still produced resin that regularly needed to be cleaned out (and apparently Thorax had done so privately without Spike’s knowing twice before since meeting the dragon).
But as these glands had also become clogged during Thorax’s illness, the flushing his body was undergoing struck them too, causing them to secrete the resin in regular amounts without his control. Thorax was thankfully able to keep it largely under control by regularly wiping his forehooves with tissues, but nonetheless urged Spike to avoid the discomfort of touching his hooves. And they found Thorax was still inadvertently tracking trace amounts of resin everywhere, as soon a dusty trail of blue-green hoofprints began to fade into view on the floor of their room. All in all then, it meant their room was a rather unpleasant place to be that Thursday for Spike, but nonetheless, Spike shouldered the duty of cleaning up after the ill changeling where needed.
Luckily for him, he quickly learned that a preferred bleach-blended cleaner Fly Leaf used in the shop worked surprisingly well to dissolve both the gel and resin Thorax was leaving, and once dissolved, both were easy enough to wipe away. Upon discovering this, Spike used the same cleaner to finally clear away the failed cocoon Thorax had left in their bathtub that Spike had otherwise been at a loss for figuring out how to clean up, the cleaner breaking down the failed cocoon enough that, upon adding some water, allowed the remains to be washed down the drain without problem. Thorax was surprised the cleaner was so effective on both of these secretions though, as his past experience was that they generally had to be scraped off with some effort. So he took note that the cleaner instead made it easy to clear away both, to the point he admitted he almost wanted to send some kind of anonymous warning back to his hive about it.
“Just imagine what would happen if this cleaner was spilled in my hive,” he said, envisioning the worst. “Use enough of it, and you could feasibly break down the whole hive!”
“Oh yeah, I can just see the pony armies all converging to attack now, armed with nothing but spring cleaning supplies,” Spike joked, who wasn’t too worried about it. If the changelings had gone this long without it being a problem, he expected it wasn’t going to change anytime soon, and pointed out it wasn’t the hive itself that would be seen as a threat to any pony that might learn this tidbit; it was the changelings that lived within it…and they couldn’t be “cleaned away” nearly so easily.
Whatever the case, Thorax’s “purge” went on for most of that day, but thankfully by that evening had begun to wind down as his body began to relax back into a more regular state. And after a good night’s rest that night, Thorax awoke rejuvenated and reenergized, so much so that, despite a few lingering symptoms such as a mild cough and a few remaining aches—both easily treatable with the medicine Fluttershy had left them—he felt recovered enough to try and go back to work, and that morning was disguised and working in the shop as normal. His stamina proved to still be not quite fully restored though, so by the end of the morning shift he had lost enough energy to no longer be able to keep going and had to retire back to his room. But having him in the shop working with the rest of them brought back a sense of normality that made Spike confident for the first time since Thorax fell ill that things were going to be okay again.
It also helped that despite not having quite enough stamina to go through the full work day in the shop, Thorax was still feeling restless after spending most of the past week cooped up in their room and looked for something productive to do. Remembering Fluttershy’s advice to have the cloths and blankets that made up Thorax’s makeshift sleeping nest cleaned then, Thorax set about dismantling the nest and sat most of the afternoon in the bathroom with a washbasin giving the cloths a well-needed cleaning before hanging them to dry. He neglected to plan ahead enough to ensure the cloths would all be dry enough to reform the nest in time for bed that evening though, so upon realizing this, Spike pulled out one of the sleeping bags they had obtained for if and when they left Vanhoover and set that out for Thorax to sleep in…only to watch with amusement as Thorax proceeded to bunch it into a loose shape of his sleeping nest and curl up atop to sleep.
Spike watched him with a wistful grin as he proceeded to set up the window seat as his usual sleeping space himself. “It’s nice to see you’re feeling so much better, Thorax,” he said aloud.
Though he had his eyes closed and ready to drift off to sleep, Thorax grinned. “It’s good to be feeling better,” he observed aloud in return. When Spike didn’t reply but sensed the dragon was still watching him, he opened his eyes slightly to peek at the dragon. “You seem troubled,” he observed, sensing the dragon’s emotions.
Spike sighed and nodded as he heaved himself up onto the window seat. “Just been thinking about what we discussed when Fluttershy left…about whether or not we want to leave Vanhoover.”
Thorax was quiet for a moment. “I still want to stay, Spike,” he said softly. “I know there’s no logical reason to at this point, not when it could put us at risk, but…” he trailed off, looking thoughtful. “…I don’t know how to explain it. I just feel like…this is the place we need to be at…at least for a little longer still.”
Spike was quiet for a long moment, but then to Thorax’s mild surprise, he nodded in agreement. “I feel that too.” He shrugged. “I’m not sure how or why…maybe it was just the sight of seeing you working back in the shop today that heartened me or what…but I feel like that, despite the odds…we’re going to be okay staying here…for a while longer still at least.”
Thorax straightened. “So we’re staying?” he prompted hopefully.
Spike chuckled. “Guess so.”
“Good,” Thorax said, and laid back down for the night. “See you in the morning then.”
Spike watched the changeling wistfully again for a moment, glad to have his friend healthy and around still. “Yeah, you too,” he said before settling in for the night himself.
Hmm...I had a feeling he would get better before this chapter was over. Nice to see Thorax all better. Let's just hope Spike doesn't get sick.
That cleaner stuff is going to be interesting when Chrysalis is going to invade.
A chapter the day after one? What sacrilege is this? Still loving the story, though these two are pushing the boundaries of idiotic plans. Ah well, all's well that ends well, I suppose. This, I do have to admit, is one of the stories that suppresses me without being random, id est, everything has a reason.
Pretty sure these guys are jinxing themselves with all this "i'm feeling good about this" stuff.
Mop and go, for getting rid of all your changing messes! But nice little breather bit to get things back to normalcy.
Good chapter
Its really interesting to hear about Changeling biology
And your author's note has me a bit torn
I kind'a want Spike and Thorax to make peace with the ponies ,but I'm honestly hoping to see something different for a ending
Like if they don't stay in Vanhoover they could honestly go to the Dragon land's. I mean if anything Spike could live off gems and Thorax could just live off Spike's emotions while being disguised as a Dragon
But how ever the story ends I'm looking forward to it And hoping those DAM RACISTS PONIES get what they deserve
grammatical error should be necessary
That's an odd sentiment to hear from a changeling. I mean, lying is what they do. They're a whole race of Anti-Applejacks. Deception is their special talent. I see this in a lot of changeling stories, though; the lone changeling trying to live among ponies is always wracked with angst over having to lie to them. Just once I'd like to see a story about a changeling who integrates into pony society and makes friends but still just can't get away from being a compulsive liar. Culture clash! Comedy!
Is there anybody who seriously believes Fly Leaf hasn't figured it out long before now? (If it turns out that she really doesn't know, that would be the surprising twist.)
And Thorax is in the clear! Yay! Now all we have to worry about is whether the girls will listen to Fluttershy.
8088076 8089208
Well, Thorax isn't 100% recovered just yet, as the next chapter will touch upon, but yes, he's definitely well on his way to a full recovery regardless.
8088141
Actually no...this chapter was still posted on the usual Monday and Friday schedule as before...so not sure what you mean by that.
8088144
We'll have to see, won't we?
8088227
This and other errors corrected.
8088837
I suppose that just demonstrates just how very different Thorax is from his fellow changeling brethren.
I think it's time to progress the plot. We've gotten the journey, we've gotten them into a Town and Home, and now even a minor 'Conflict' with Fluttershy knowing about that. But most of the time, a lot of the story is filler. Like this chapter. It's interesting and informative about Changelings.... But ultimately just fluffy filler and not needed. It's actually getting kinda boring now, cause other than a very few minor changes, the chapters are starting to look like repeats of each other. Changeling & Dragon hang out and talk about moving on or staying or something else. Pony comes visit once in a while. Minor conflict about telling the Pony or wondering if she knows by now or not. And repeat.
It's starting to lose it's 'Uniqueness' now, turning into a Slice of Life without anything interesting happening in that life.
8089470 Great...just don't have him get sick again, okay?
8089470 May have been drunk when I posted that. So, I've gotta be honest... you're probably right in saying that what I said makes no sense.
I really hope at some point they decide to tell Flyleaf. After all that's happened she seems like the kind to be understanding of their situation.
8089500
Well, first of all, I do feel obligated to point out the story has borne the "slice of life" tag from the beginning for this very reason, and I did clearly mention in past author's notes that the story would have stretches of slice of life in it. Indeed, except for the beginning and the ending of the story, which are necessary to the tale, I would sooner call the story a slice of life story above anything else. The story was always to be more about the characters and how they would tick in such a situation than anything else.
But that said, know that I am very much aware of the potential pacing problem, and already regretting slightly how I arranged chapters in this story, feeling I could've arranged them better so there was more plot-driving chapters breaking them up in-between, but too late for that now. It probably didn't help that, so to ensure I could continue to produce enough completed chapters to continue to post regularly, a lot of chapters that I would normally have left as one larger whole were instead broken up into two or more separate parts as a result, and I see now that only emphasized the problem. In looking ahead though, I have been working to make a more concentrated effort to keep the story progressing as I can with what yet remains to be told. Largely because of this, I have already dropped three chapters from the line-up, and may yet drop more still, depending on circumstances.
Excepting the next chapter though, and possibly one or two others that I suppose I don't technically need, I wouldn't readily call any of the upcoming chapters "filler." Though it may not be readily obvious at first glance, all of them have an ulterior motive behind them that will play some sort of factor in the pivotal ending chapters. In short, I am going somewhere with all of this.
But criticism noted. I will attempt to accelerate the story on as much as opportunity will present. Just know that we're far enough into the story now that there's only going to be so much I can adjust now without having to make potentially massive edits to the story, both before and after this most recent chapter. I readily take the blame for that, but still we're committed to certain parts of this tale now, and if that's not entirely to your tastes, I do ask to bear with me. Given the reader reactions to past "pivotal moments" in the story, I'm pretty sure it'll all pay off in the end.
8089853
8089981
So...don't drink and comment on fanfics, then?
I'm still holding onto the suspicion that Flyleaf is a changeling as well. I mean, I'm sure poor Thorax isn't the only changeling in existence who defected from the hive to live peacefully amongst ponies. Heck, even if it's not Flyleaf, the fact Thorax caught a contagious changeling sickness is a pretty strong clue that there's one nearby.
Looking forward to future chapters!
8090147 What?! It could happen!
8090147 My problem wasn't with the Slice of Life itself, if you re-read it again. It was:
What I meant by this ultimately, was that these chapters between the important plot points were starting to become... well boring. Mainly because they seemed to revolve around the same thing again and again like I pointed out. That being Spike and Thorax talking about leaving, staying, and hiding info from Fly.
I just wanted more.... Well anything else. The beach chapter was interesting. The being sick chapters were interesting. And while the last chapter here brought up a bit of interesting stuff with the Changeling Lore, it still has Spike and Thorax sitting down and talking about staying and talking about Fly not knowing their secret. <--- That right there. Spike and Thorax sitting and talking. Most of the story is just that. Even if Slice of Life, have them do other things besides sitting around, and talking to each other.
The most interesting way to do that, is getting Fly in on the secret, or adding in someone else into the mix. Or have them making friends or doing activities in and around the town. Just something else besides sitting and talking. Even them getting hobbies, like the Magic lessons, and listening to Radio Drama was more interesting than sitting and talking. It just seems to be all they do. They sit, and talk.
8090779
Ha ha, yeah, you're right, I missed an opportunity there.
8090839
Oh, is that all? Well, in that case I'm already several steps ahead of you on much of that. Do stay tuned.
On the subject of Spike and Thorax talking about whether to stay or not repeatedly though, it only came back up again, because I thought it would be amiss of me to at least not address it again given recent events and explain their choices, otherwise I'd likely get flak from readers about that too. Always a balancing act, writing...and I've found from practice you can't avoid the logistics sometimes, because even if it does seem a tad dull, it helps support a more credible story in the long run. But I hear you on it coming across as a bit redundant. Were it not for those reasons, I would've preferred skipping over it myself, so I think we're more on the same page here than we've been giving each other credit for.
8088076 The disease is only active in changelings, remember?
8092230 Spike could get sick from something else.
8092235 ah, okay.
8092255 I was meaning that I was hoping we don't go through a 'someone is sick' arc again.
8092269 ah, I see what you are saying. It would get a little too repetitive like that.
Random Guard: "Time to clean this mess up!"
(I can really picture that one.)
: "That's not how a sleeping bag works..."
Is it even feasible to have more "We're gonna git caught, git!!!" moments in here???
I bet this will end somehow with the season 6 finale.
I get the feeling they are going to have a good use for that cleaner later on.
8114187
It would probably end 1, 2, or 3 chapters after the Season 6 Finale.
Hm, given that this fic seems to go by "episodes happen in airing order" rules, and it's been ~4 or 5 episodes since the opening chapters... I'd estimate maybe 40 more chapters before the next map mission (RD/Twi). I wonder how Twi would react on that mission...? Not that we'll probably get to see that, but it'd be interesting to know how certain "fixed" events occur with Twi in her crazed state.
Thorax is feeling a home here, isn’t he?
"Just imagine what would happen if this cleaner was spilled in my hive,” he said, envisioning the worst. “Use enough of it, and you could feasibly break down the whole hive!”
foreshadowing?