Tiger Lily's Friendship Adventures

by Pinkie Pie Sweets

Chapter 21: A Changeling's Love

Meanwhile, Spike has met a changeling named Thorax who is surprisingly not like the other changelings in a snowy cave far from the Crystal Empire underground. Thorax explains to Spike that ever since we was a little hatchling, all he ever wanted was a friend. Since what happened at Canterlot, he felt that he could live with his kind anymore and journey to find love that he can share. And the reason why he came to the empire because it has a lot of live, and it's driving him crazy. Spike begins to cry after hearing Thorax's story.

Spike wipes the tear from his eyes, and says, "Gosh, I'm.. I'm so sorry about it."

"I know, and it's hard to find ponies who want to be my friend…" Thorax sadly says.

He then sighs, and adds, "Except this one pony."

"Who?" Spike asks.

Thorax blushes bit, and explains, "Well, A long time ago a young pony took care of me while I was at my weakest. She was beautiful, and kind to me even though I'm like this. She even sang me a lovely song to me. Her love practically save me, and seeing how kind she is to me… I knew there had to be more ponies like her. But I was afraid she might not feel the same like how I felt with her. In a way of expressing my love, I give her flowers, presents, and other stuff I can think of. Ever since I ot to the empire, I've been giving her crystal flowers and other presents from here. I really wish I have the courage to talk to her at least get to know her more."

Spike smiles and says, "Wow, you sure are glad to have somepony like her."

Then Spike asks, "But do you know where she lives?"

"Yes. She lives in Ponyville. She has mane and fur like the grass and the trees, and she has this voice like a songbird. She also has wings that are elegant like a butterfly and uses magic to control nature. She… she's very special. I know she lives far, but I can't keep away from her. She all I ever think about," Thorax explains, feeling a bit desperate.

Thorax becomes sad, and says "But nopony in the empire would want to be friends with me."

Just then, Spike has an idea, and says, "What if I told you there was somepony they respect and admire so much, he could convince them to give it a try?"

"If only that were true," Thorax sadly replies.

"It is! I mean, I am! It's me, Spike! Spike the Brave and Glorious? I'm sure you've heard of me," spike says with confidence and a smile.

But Thorax says, "Nope. But I was raised by an evil queen. I'm Thorax. I can't believe you want to help me."

"Why? Hasn't anyone ever just been nice to you, other than the pony you've met?" Spike asks.

Thorax hisses in response, making Spike a little scared.

Thorax stops and apologizes, "Uh! S-Sorry! Kindness like that kind of brings it out."

"Do you still wanna be my friend?" Thorax asks feeling unsure.

"Of course! And I am one hundred percent sure I can get the whole Crystal Empire to be your friend too," Spike answers with glee.

But Thorax hisses in repose, scaring Spike again.

Calming down, Spike calmly says, "But... maybe I should just, uh, talk to them first."

Thorax grumbles in reply, meaning that he has to wait. But is hoping it will be worth it.

In the nursery, Tiger Lily is watching Snowdrop and Flurry Heart as they sleep in their strollers. Tiger Lily looks outside to see the the crystal guards are in watch of the changeling. She is curious to know what a changeling looks like. However, there is something else on Tiger Lily's mind.

"I wonder… is there someone out there for me. And so, will he really love me for who I am," Tiger Lily asks herself.

Then Tiger Lily starts to sing the song her mother has sang to her.

Tiger Lily:

There may have been the slightest bit of spite

In the way that I decided to stop being with you

But the way that your voice got so serious

All of the sudden when you spoke, was unfair

"I love you" is what you want to make me say, isn't it?

But I can't let you hear it yet

Lightly, these wings of happiness

Dance down from up above, and alight upon my heart

I want to take this feeling of being enfold

In their soft, warm kindness and hold it close to me

After singing, Tiger Lily continues to look out and wonder if there's a pony who love her. Little does TigerLily know, that pony will appear sooner than she thinks.

In the snowy cavern, Thorax looks to see Spike has returned after his visit to the empire. He really has his hopes up.

Eager, Thorax flies over, and asks, ""So? So? Uh, what did they say? How many new friends do I have?"

"Well, it didn't go exactly the way I thought," Spike nervously answers.

Thorax groans in defeat, and says, "I understand. Well, thanks for trying. I-I guess it's not surprising."

"How can you expect ponies who looks like this…" Thorax ads, transforming himself into a small crystal colt with blue fur and dark blue mane and tail with a vase for a cutie mark.

Then transform back, and says, "To trust something that looks like this?"

Seeing Thorax transforming to a crystal pony and has come up with an idea

He says with glee, "I think I might know!"

Later, Spike and Thorax who is disguised as a young crystal pony walks into the halls of the palace. Spike is able to sneak Thorax into the castle. Now all they have to do is to get past anypony before he is exposed.

Suddenly, she hears Twilight's as she walks over to them, "Spike, if you're done searching for the changeling, Starlight and I could use your help. We're working on a protection spell for Flurry Heart, and nopony takes notes like you."

Spike and Thorax who is disguised look at each other nervously, and are not sure what to say.

Spike nervously says as he tries to think of something"Uh, actually, Twilight, I, uh, wanted to introduce you to my friend, uh... Uh, Crystal, uh... Hoof! Crystal Hoof!"

"My good friend, Crystal Hoof," Spike adds, introducing the two to each other.

"Nice to meet you," Thorax nervously says, offering a hoof shake.

"Oh. Well, it's, uh, nice to meet you, too." Twilight calmly replies, shaking his hoof with a smile.

Then Twilight asks, "How do you know Spike?"

"Oh, uh, Spike and I go way back." Thorax nervously answers.

Then Spike says, "To the Equestria Games! That's when we met. We've been pen pals ever since."

"Pen pals? Spike! You could have been using my pen pal quill set! Why didn't you tell me?" Twilight asks with glee.

"Well, I... I pretty much only write to him when you and Starlight are... studying," Spike answers, feeling less nervous.

"I like to brag to all my friends about my letters from Spike the Brave and Glorious," Thorax lies.

"Yeah," spike adds.

Then the two nervous laughs because none of this are true.

Not suspicious about it, Twilight says, "Well, I'm sure Starlight and I can manage, if you want to spend time with your friend."

"Great! Crystal Hoof promised to take me around the city," Spike says.

Twilight then walks away so she can and Starlight can discuss about the changeling trouble. When she is gone, Spike and Thorax being to walk down the hall so they can explore the city.

Thorax happily screams, "Oh, that was amazing!"

"I told ya," Spike says with a smirk on his face.

The two then begin to travel around the empire to so that Thorax can make friends. Luckily, it's becoming successful. Spike introduces Thorax to the crystal ponies, and things are going well. Thorax tells the ponies about some jokes and his travels. Even about the part of finding love and is a little scared to talk about it. Soon, Spike can see that Thorax has end up with a lot of friends, even though he's in a different form. Thorax stops at a store and buys a purple crystal rose for his love, and Spike encourage him that he should introduces himself to her, his real self. Thorax decides that he will.

In the crystal palace's hallway, Spike and Thorax are walking to the throne room with two of the guard. Thorax is very happy to meet a lot of friends.

"This place is everything I've ever dreamed of!" Thorax says with amazement.

Then Throat nervously whispers, "But I can't keep pretending to be a Crystal Pony forever, can I?

"Relax. You're winning them over. Pretty soon, nopony will care that you're a changeling," Spike reassures with confidence.

However, they becomes startedle when they hear a pony saying, "Spike!"

They look to see they are at the throne room. Cadence sits on her throne, with Twilight, Starlight, Sunburst, Baby Flurry Heart in a stroller, and a few castle guards.

Princess Cadence walks up to Spike and Thorax, and worriedly says, "Twilight told me you were off with a friend."

Spike nervously laughs as Thorax bites his lip feeling scared.

Princess Cadence smiles and says, "And any friend of Spike the Brave and Glorious is a friend of mine."

Princess Cadence shows Thorax still in disguised Baby Flurry Heart who is still sleeping in her stroller. When he walks to her, he can see that the baby princess is still sleeping,. Just then the baby wakes up. When baby Flurry Heart wakes up to see Thorax in his pony farm, she coos and tries to reach out to him with a smile.

Thorax eyes sparkles and happily compliments, "Oh, she's so beautiful!"

But then becomes nervous as he says, "There's so much l-love around her...!"

He steps back in fear as he scaredly stutters, "I... I...!"

But before he can say or do anything, he hears somepony saying, "Hello everypony."

Thorax still as Crystal Hoof and the others ponies look to see Tiger Lily, carrying baby Snowdrop in her hoof as she walks down the carpet to the throne.

Twilight smiles, and asks, "Hey Tiger Lily, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine. Snowdrop just had her nap and decided to see how you're doing," Tiger Lily happily answers.

Snowdrop coos with a smile.

Tiger Lily notices a new pony around and questionably replies, "Oh, and who is your new friend?"

Spike comes to Thorax as he says, "Tiger Lily, this is Crystal Hoof. Crystal Hoof, this is Tiger Lily."

Tiger Lily smiles, and says, "Hi Crystal Hoof, it's very nice to meet you."

Thorax begins to shake and sweat a bit seeing Tiger Lily's sweet smile. Spike, Tiger Lily and everypony else in the throne room can see that Crystal Hoof looks nervous and begins to shake like crazy.

"You seem a bit nervous. What's the matter?" Tiger Lily asks with concern.

Thorax begins to shake like crazy, and doesn't have the gut to say anything to anypony. Suddenly, Thorax changes back to his original form in front of everypony in the throne room.

Twilight scaredly warns her, "Tiger Lily stay away from that changeling."

"Wait Twilight!" Spike tries to protests.

Buy Sunburst says, "But Spike, this changeling has taken the form of your friend.

Spike becomes worried and see that his plan hasn't worked that well at all. Because they seen him as a pony, they think Thorax has taken Crystal Hoof's place. They have no idea that Crystal Hoof and Thorax are actually the same pony. Spike feels scared about admitting that all of this is his idea, and wonder what the others will say knowing about all this.

Before anypony can do anything, Tiger Lily smiles and happily says, "It's you! I can't believe I get to see you again! I'm so glad to see that you're okay!"

Everypony in the throne room are shocked to hear what Tiger Lily just said. Even Thorax is shocked to hear it.

Still shocked, Thorax asks, "You… you remember me?"

"Of course I do. You're not that easy to forget," Tiger Lily replies with a smile.

Then she stops smiling and asks, "But why did you left the night we were in the cave? I… I didn't even get to know your name."

Thorax continues to stare at Tiger Lily for the longest time, and can see that she wants some answers.

Still nervous, Thorax stutters as he hold out the purple crystal rose, and says, "Th-th-thorax."

"Thorax? Is that your name?" Tiger Lily asks.

Thorax nods his head answering your question.

Seeing the flower, Tiger Lily asks, "And… is that flower for me?"

Thorax simply nods his head in reply. Feeling please, Tiger Lily uses her magic to take the rose, and puts it in her hair.

Tiger Lily says, "Thank you."

Everypony are shocked to see that Thorax is being… nice to Tiger Lily, and hasn't attacked her at all. Even Spike is shocked to see this. He begins to wonder why he gives Tiger Lily the flower, and why he's acting nervous around her. Just then, Spike starts to remember about the discussion he has with Thorax. The description and living location matches Tiger Lily's appearance and she lives in Ponyville, and Tiger Lily has received present especially stuff from the empire, and Thorax said he's been giving his love presents from there. Just then, the realizating hits him… Thorax is in love with Tiger Lily. And another thing, Thorax is Tiger Lily's secret admirer.

Still feeling scared, Thorax sadly says, "Goodbye."

With that, Thorax teleports himself away and leave Tiger Lily and everypony else in shock. Tiger Lily simply smiles knowing that the one she has taken care of is alright and gets to save him again. Everypony else are still in shock to see what they have witnessed. Twilight, and the others want an explanation.

Author's Note:

Wings of Happiness english lyrics from Onegai My Melody.

A changeling's in love