Fitting In Is Hard To Do

by origami

Part I, Chapter 1 - Making a friend in the Frozen Wasteland

Author's Note:

I was inspired to do this story after reading a few different stories based on the episode Times They Are A Changeling, namely the ones by the Owtcast and Carapace. I liked the idea of Shining and Cadence not immediately warming up to Thorax and used that as the basis for this story. I was also motivated to write this after re-watching the actual episode and becoming slightly miffed at the writers for not exploring prejudice and the need to overcome it in more depth. They could've actually had several episodes spread throughout the last part of season six where slowly but surely, Shining and Cadence eventually overcome their prejudices and welcome Thorax into the Crystal Empire in a more heartfelt way.

Also the idea for Heartfelt's special talent is based off the RWBY character Lie Ren's new ability gained in Volume 8, Episode 7, where he begins to see the emotions of others come off of them in the shape of flower petals.

EDIT 1/9/2021 10:00AM EST - At the suggestion of reader MelodySong, I reformatted the second part of this story.

EDIT 1/9/2021 8:45PM EST - I found some mistakes upon rereading the story and corrected them.

,"W-Why d-do I d-d-do th-this t-to m-m-my s-self?"

The question would've echoed in the canyon of crystalline mountains, if not for the raging snow storm currently bombarding it. Winds whipped across the snow, most of it packed down but some having freshly fallen. The sky was a dull grey, and the air was full of white powder. Combined with the well below freezing temperatures, it was a blizzard to be remembered. At least, it would be if it wasn't the norm for this region.

Trudging through the snow was a creature. While somewhat resembling the ponies that called this world home, it most decidedly wasn't one. It had dark chitin across its body with holes all through the legs. From its mouth came long white fangs, and its eyes had no pupils, just a blue color. This creature was known as a changeling.

This specific changeling, though, was different. The norm for the species, at least by pony standards, was that they fed off of love energy and preyed upon any that could provide it. Worse yet, they could change their appearance to mimic whatever creature they chose to. They could take the place of your loved ones and you'd never know until they were holding you down and sucking the love out of you.

This changeling was different. He did indeed hunger for love, but he also hungered for something else: a friend. He detested the deceptive ways of the common changeling and wanted to share love openly. His name was Thorax.

Thorax continued to trudge through the snow, memories of his recent exit of the changeling hive fresh in his mind. Most of his kind were happy to see the "weakling" leave. Hell, almost all the hive wanted him gone. The only one who gave him any sort of a send off was his clutchmate and brother Pharynx, who simply told him to be careful of forests. Well, told him that in his own words anyways.

The changeling was still shivering when he stopped for a moment to try and navigate to a safe spot out of the storm. He'd been drawn this way by a strong pull of love energy, stronger than he'd ever felt before. If the information he'd gathered from that town called Ponyville was correct, then it was coming from a place called the Crystal Empire.

The empire had recently returned from a long absence, their tyrannical ruler King Sombra having been overthrown. Now it was home to the most recently married royal couple in all of Equestria. Thorax shuddered at the thought. While he hoped to make friends with ponies, he knew the couple probably wouldn't be the first, and with good reason.

A while back, the leader of the changelings, Queen Chrysalis, ordered the invasion of the city of Canterlot. It occurred during the wedding of this couple, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, more commonly known as Cadence, and Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard. Chrysalis kidnapped Cadence and posed as the alicorn, using a hypnotism spell to make Shining Armor obey her commands. She would have him lower the shield spell he'd erected to protect the city, and the horde would then come in and round up all the ponies in Canterlot and feast upon the love that the wedding had generated.

Unfortunately, Chrysalis' plans did not work in the slightest. A unicorn mare named Twilight Sparkle had showed up for the wedding. She was Captain Shining's younger sister, and was also foalsat by Cadence in her younger years. As she spent time with the changeling queen in disguise, she quickly deduced that the Cadence in front of her wasn't the real Cadence. When called out on her odd behavior, Chrysalis banished Twilight to the caverns underneath the city.

This was a huge mistake, however, as the queen had stuck the real Cadence in the caverns earlier. The unicorn and alicorn princess soon found each other and a way back to the city. Once out, the duo confronted the queen, who set her plan into motion, using a hypnotized Shining to lower his shield spell and begin the invasion.

While initially rather successful, the queen slipped up and in a moment of boastfulness, Cadence went to Shining and used her love to break the hypnotic spell on him. Recovered from hypnosis and emboldened by his soon to be bride's love, he cast a new shield spell so powerful, it sent changelings flying in every direction away from Canterlot.

As Thorax thought back on the failed invasion, his hoof slipped and he fell into a cave in the ground. Standing up and dusting snow off himself, he examined the cave around him. The walls were a wide variety of crystals, from quartz to gypsum to rhodochrosite. It was a sight to behold.

Looking around nearly spelled doom for the changeling as he nearly stepped into a large chasm in the center of the cave. Jumping back quickly, he regained his footing and looked over the large crevice. It was so deep that the bottom was not visible. ,"If anything without a pair of wings fell in there, that would be it for them" thought Thorax as he directed his attention to the remaining parts of the cave.

Off to one side was an old tunnel that had been shored up with wooden beams. Thorax smiled, thinking that maybe there were some ponies in the cave he could approach, but decided to try speaking with them from a distance before getting up close. He called out into the opening of the tunnel, but he got back no reply. There was also no light source in the cave, which meant more than likely the ponies that had made it weren't here at the moment.

Thorax walked into the tunnel and could see that there were some tools abandoned on the ground with signs of rust on them. This tunnel had been here for some time, and it looked like whoever had made it wasn't coming back. Further down, there was what looked like some crates stacked up. The changeling moved down the tunnel to investigate.

The crates in question were a supply of coal, likely enough to last a month or more if rationed properly. On top of one stack was a can of lamp oil and an oil lamp. Thorax observed the lantern had a supply of oil in it, and used a small burst of flame from his magic to light the lamp.

The tunnel lit up, revealing that it went down a short distance before it stopped at a wall that sparkled brightly in the light. Thorax decided to check it out and poked his hooves at it. The surface was uneven, and had some sharp points to it. Picking up a quartz crystal, Thorax rubbed it on the wall, and after a moment, he could see the sharp edges could cut at the crystal. He found a sharp point on the quartz and tried to carve something into a flatter part of the wall, which yielded no result.

,"Wow", he said in amazement, "This must be a solid wall of diamond, and they didn't have the tools to harvest it." He dropped the piece of quartz and went back to the lamp. A glint of something metal caught Thorax's attention, and he walked over to investigate, finding a book with metal decorations on it. Levitating it open revealed it was a journal belonging to an Onyx Jade.

Thorax set it down for a moment and prepared to make a camp for the night. He made a ring out of crystal rocks and broke up a nearby empty crate. Making a teepee out of the wood, he added a few chunks of coal and lit it. A small fire blazed forth, and the chill in the air was quelled somewhat.

Going back to the journal, he found that this Onyx Jade was a mason of sorts. The pony's special talent was being able to fuse different kinds of gemstones together seamlessly. If the cover was to be believed, then it represented the pony's cutie mark: a black stone and green stone merging together. He had been out here to obtain crystal to fashion into a new tower, but a lack of volunteers and funds forced him to abandon the project.

Thorax let out a yawn. He had trudged through so much snow, it gathered in his leg holes. His body temperature was normalizing and fatigue was setting in. With nothing to do, the changeling decided rest was the best option, and fell asleep by the fire.
===

Thorax was suddenly awoken from sleep. He was unsure of how much time had passed, but he knew it had to have been the next day at least. Rubbing his eyes, he rose and began to investigate the cave for what had caused him to wake up.

He came out of the tunnel and checked the cave. Nothing appeared to be disturbed, as the only hoofprints in the snow were his. His ears did perceive hooves crunching on snow, and voices. There were ponies outside the cave, but the next words he heard quelled any desire to come out and make friends.

,"This creature can take on the appearance of anything! Be on alert, Even more so than normal!" The voice came from a military commander, which meant a guard detail, and they were searching for him. ,"Drat!", thought Thorax,"They must've spotted me when I was coming out of that first blizzard!" The changeling recalled getting through the first wave of snow and ice and wind, briefly catching a glimpse of the glimmering crystal structures that made up the empire.

Trudging hoofsteps getting quieter meant that the guards were moving away, which brought Thorax some relief. Guards wouldn't make friends while on duty, even with other ponies, so Thorax thought it best to find a new hiding place until they left. He was about to check if the coast was clear until he heard a pair of hoofsteps and another set of steps that he couldn't immediately place.

,"You go check that group of rocks over there, and I'll investigate this area." came a voice that sounded more like it belonged to a child than anything else. He heard a confirmatory "Aye Aye" and hoofsteps trudging away from the cave. Thorax breathed a sigh of relief and decided that he shouldn't leave just yet. The snow from the last storm had actually covered over the entrance enough to conceal it. So long as no one fell on it, he w-

The snow covering the entrance gave way and in fell a purple dragon and rock. The dragon tumbled down the steep entrance to the cave and nearly fell into the chasm, only saving itself by grabbing onto a stalagmite at the last second. The rock fell into the crevice, it's landing thud never being heard. ,"Wow, that is deep." Thorax thought to himself.

The dragon got up and brushed the snow off itself. Thorax took this opportunity to thoroughly examine the creature. Besides being purple, it had green fins on its head, back and tail. It had emerald colored eyes that studied the cave it now found itself in. ,"Wow", it spoke, the voice giving the initial impression it was male,"This is some cave!" He began to explore it, looking over the various crystals on the walls.

The changeling hiding in the cave became nervous. If the dragon kept exploring this cave, he'd be found out soon enough. Very quickly he hatched a plan. Sneaking back out of sight, Thorax used his magic and changed into a perfect copy of the dragon and hid quickly behind the tunnel entrance. He then used another magic and reached out at the dragon itself, waiting for the right moment to put his plan into action.

Thorax was not a particularly gifted changeling in regards to most of their tactics. The typical deceptive techniques didn't appeal to him since he desired to make friends with the ponies, not use them as a food source. But, he did get proficient at concealment spells, which served him well to get as far as he did away from the hive. Right now, he was preparing to use a spell that was specifically tailored for the situation he found himself in: The Mimic spell.

The spell itself was fairly simple in regards to operation, but wasn't the easiest to maintain, calling upon a great deal of energy reserves to pull off correctly. ,"Hopefully I have enough left for this", Thorax thought as he completed the mind link. The spell required the changeling to unknowingly link with a creature it had copied and would allow for the copying of the exact movements the creature was making. A modification done by the spellcaster would then allow for the intended affect of the mimic spell - the mirroring of movements, as in making the target think they were looking at a mirror. An oddly specific situation, yes, but the changelings always prepared for situations that normal ponies that dabbled in spy craft wouldn't think to tackle.

The steps of the dragon came closer to the tunnel opening, which told Thorax it was time. He stepped out at the same time the dragon did, startling the creature. Thorax's body reacted the exact same way the dragon's had, except for flipped to make the dragon think he was looking at a mirror. The ruse was working; after some experimental movements, the dragon was convinced he was looking at a reflective stone and nothing else. He turned to walk away until he heard a thud hit the snow.

Thorax was already depleted of energy from his journey, and he had used a fair amount in casting the mimic spell, so it was no surprise it faltered the minute the dragon turned away. The dragon immediately turned around and observed a copy of itself standing up and cleaning itself off of snow. Once his copy locked eyes with him, it let out a sigh and disappeared into green flame, revealing the dark chitin and compound eyes of a changeling.

Immediately, the dragon screamed and stumbled backwards. Thorax tried to warn him about his actions but was too late. It had turned to run but smacked right into the very stalagmite that had saved it earlier, knocking itself silly. The dragon's wobbly footing then carried it over the edge and into the chasm.

,"Oh crud!", exclaimed Thorax,"That dragon is gonna die because I scared it! I gotta save it before it hits the bottom!" The changeling quickly took to the air and dived into the chasm. While not as fast as a pegasus pony, he was still faster than the dragon's rate of falling, and caught up and caught the dragon in his mouth. The dragon, who had been screaming in terror, looked up to see that the changeling had rescued it from its doom.

Thorax raised out of the chasm and set the dragon down near the edge, landing just in front of it. The two were silent for a few moments, with the dragon giving the changeling a confused look. It ultimately spoke first.

,"W-Why did you rescue me?" it asked Thorax. The changeling shuffled its hooves in place.

,"Because it would've been wrong to let you die in that thing." he replied, gesturing to the chasm beside them.

The dragon kept looking at him with a confused look. ,"But since I'm still alive, I could scream for the guard to come in here and rescue me. It would've served you better if you'd let me perish."

The changeling shook its head. ,"While that's true, I could never bring myself to allow another creature to come to harm just because it might save my neck from being found out. My hivemates might do that, but not me."

The dragon raised its brow in skepticism. ,"I thought changelings were evil and only wanted love to steal?" It asked in confusion.

The changeling shook its head again, clarifying its previous statement. ,"I'm not evil at all. The only thing I ever wanted was a friend."

There was silence between the two for a minute, before the dragon spoke again. ,"So, you're really not gonna attack me and try to drain my love?"

Thorax shook his head. ,"No. Even as starved of love as I am, I wouldn't try to steal it from somepony. It always felt better to me when I had shared it or was given it willingly." he replied. The dragon sat there for a minute still in confusion before the changeling added,"If I really wanted to drain you of love, I could've pounced on you the minute you recovered from nearly falling into that chasm the first time."

Another silence between the two before the dragon stood up on its hind legs and walked over to the changeling. It held a claw out to him. ,"Thanks for saving me", he began,"I know it doesn't feel good when others are quick to judge, so I'm sorry about not trusting you right off the bat. My name's Spike."

Thorax raised a hoof into the claw and introduced himself. ,"Well, Thorax", Spike beamed,"Congrats on making your first friend." He couldn't believe what the dragon had said. It wanted to be his friend? It couldn't be this easy.

,"You're not doing this because I saved you just now?", he questioned,"You don't owe me friendship for that."

Spike chuckled and shook his head, but then rubbed it nervously. ,"I'll be honest and say that I don't one hundred percent trust you yet", he admitted,"but I trust you enough to give you a little benefit of the doubt."

Thorax honestly couldn't have hoped for anything better. He finally made a friend after coming so far. It felt so amazing to him, he felt he could fly. A bashing of head against ceiling a moment later told him he had been flying. He descended quickly and rubbed the painful spot on his head where it collided with the cave's top. Spike chuckled for a second before his tone became more serious.

,"You might have me as a friend now", Spike began,"but I'm not so sure that other ponies will be quick to give you a chance. However, with my status as being a hero of the Crystal Empire, I might be able to convince them to give you one."

Thorax's eyes lit up upon hearing that. ,"Really? You'd do that for me?" he asked his new friend.

Spike nodded and replied,"Anything for a friend."

Without warning, Thorax wrapped Spike in a tight hug, squeezing him about as hard as he could squeeze anything. ,"Oh, thank you so much, Spike", he told the dragon, and let him go after a few moments. Spike smiled but then became worried as he heard hoofsteps make their way into the cave.

,"Oh, ponyfeathers!", he exclaimed,"You better disguise yourself and hide here. I'll go back to the empire and see if I can convince them to meet with you." Thorax nodded and changed into a stalagmite just like any other in the cave. Spike turned to look at the cave's entrance and saw the pony he told to check a rock grouping earlier, Heartfelt.

The pony was a member of the palace staff. Specifically, he was the royal psychiatrist. His special talent allowed him to see the emotional state of ponies and other creatures as waves of energy coming off of their bodies. It was represented in his cutie mark: A heart surrounded by a heart shaped ring in the six colors of the rainbow. He had a cyan coat similar to Rainbow Dash, except a shade or so darker, and his auburn mane and tail were straight with a ragged cut at the ends. He had braided bangs on either side of his head.

,"There you are!", Heartfelt said with a sound of relief,"The guards were worried when you didn't answer their calls." He paused to look around the cave. ,"We'd better let the detail search this place." he added. Spike held up a claw.

,"That's not necessary.", Spike told him,"There isn't much to this thing and I already checked it out. Nothing down here."

Heartfelt looked at him skeptically, but gave a nod. ,"Okay, I trust you", he relented,"Now, let's get back to the empire so we can have a cup of cocoa and warm up!"

Spike nodded and the two trudged out of the cave. Spike led the way back, but Heartfelt lagged at the entrance and looked back in. His eyes locked on a stalagmite in the floor. He looked intently at it for a few moments before he decided to ignore it and head back to the empire with Spike.

Comments

[Melody Song]

Great job! I love the way you're going with this!

Though I do have one small edit to make; you should always start a new paragraph when a new character starts speaking (it causes less confusion over who's talking). For example, this:

The dragon raised its brow in skepticism. ,"I thought changelings were evil and only wanted love to steal?" It asked in confusion. The changeling shook its head again, clarifying its previous statement. ,"I'm not evil at all. The only thing I ever wanted was a friend."

Could be rewritten to this:

The dragon raised its brow in skepticism. "I thought changelings were evil and only wanted love to steal?" it asked in confusion.

The changeling shook its head again, clarifying it's previous statement. "I'm not evil at all. The only thing I ever wanted was a friend."

Of course, you don't have to take this advice if you don't want to, merely a suggestion. I think you did a great job with the first chapter, I can't wait to see what else you do with this idea

[theOwtcast]

Aww, I wasn't expecting to inspire a story!

Interesting start. Will be tracking

[origami]

10620854
Yeah, that's a bad habit I've had for a long time. It's that whole "Paragraphs should be four sentences" crap pounded into my head since first grade I haven't unlearned yet. I may go back and reformat this.

[Melody Song]

10620875
Yeah, I get it, I used to do the same thing in my earlier works, until I took a Creative Writing class. Still, you did a great job with the first chapter

[origami]

10620885
Thank you for the compliment

[Melody Song]

10620890
No problem!