A Changeling's Love

The next morning, Starlight woke up and went over to Thorax's room. Making her way up, she noticed that he was still fast asleep as she looked at him. He was murmuring,

"Oh, Spike..."

Starlight leaned in to hear what he was saying.

"Dinner or you...? So hard to... choose..."

Just then, Thorax started to make kissing faces as he held his arms up, creeping Starlight out. Having seen enough of Thorax's dream, Starlight said,

"Wake up, Thorax."

"Wake up? We just got into bed..."

"THORAX!!!"

"AAAHH!!!" screamed Thorax.

Snapping out of his dream, Thorax looked around to see what has happened around him before turning to Starlight.

"What happened?" he asks as he rubbed his eyes.

"Too much to describe." she replied in a creeped-out manner.

"Hmm?"

"Get dressed. We've got a long road ahead of us."

On that note, Starlight left Thorax's room with him looking on in a confused manner. Later after having breakfast with Spike whom had to deal with Twilight's paperwork, Starlight took Thorax to go see Trixie as well as Maud. After gathering the two of them together, Starlight said,

"I'm gonna go and write a letter to Ember. You two stay with Thorax and see what advice you can offer."

After Starlight teleported away, Thorax was stuck alone with Maud and Trixie. Awkward silence ensued as one tried to break the ice. Trying to speak up, Thorax says,

"So... does anypony know what to do when you're in a same-sex relationship?"

"Hmm..." Trixie wondered.

After thinking for a brief minute, Trixie said,

"For me and Starlight, it's a little bit complicated."

"How so?" Thorax asked.

"When we first entered a relationship, it involved a little bit of groping. But on the serious side, we often treated each other to dinner if either of us had a bad day. I'm more playful than Starlight, but that's not saying a lot. For guys, it may be a little different. I may not know the whole aesthetics to it, but they seem a little more forward from what I've seen." Trixie explained.

"Are you sure?" Thorax asked.

"Would I have brought myself out here without Starlight or anypony else?"

"Hmm. What about you, Maud? What's your relationship like with your new boyfriend?" he asked with nervous laughter.

"We often spend a lot of time talking about either sticks or rocks. I don't really know much else we do." Maud said in her usual deadpan voice.

"Really? Surely, you seem to know more if you've been in a relationship that long."

"Well..."

Thorax sat forward and listened to Maud speak. Listening word after word, Thorax was intrigued while Trixie appeared to be a bit more weirded out by Maud's topics. Over time, he slightly started to pick up what she's telling him and what he could do to win Spike over. But then he said,

"I dunno. It just seems a little weird to talk about something random like balloons or anything like that."

"Trust me. I wouldn't be going over this if me and Mudbriar weren't together. Besides, it's not like you're trying to get into Spike's pants or anything."

Thorax blushed upon hearing that statement come from Maud. Nervously laughing, Trixie asks,

"Was that really necessary?"

"Technically, it's better that way if he were to come clean with Spike." Maud countered.

Both Thorax and Trixie were stunned by Maud's statement. But doing their best not to lose focus, Maud and Trixie decided to help Thorax practice a little bit by starting with his social skills. With every minute that passed by, it just became even more awkward. From Trixie's point of view, it was like teaching a foal how to walk for the first time.

"How are you still the King of the Changelings...?" she asks as she rubs her eyes.

"I'm trying! It's just... I want to make sure things go well by playing it safe. If I-"

"You see? That's the problem! You're too guarded to even make an advancement! If you at least softened a little bit, you could have a ghost of a chance with speaking to Spike in that manner. But right now..."

"It's not totally hopeless."

"And how do you figure that?"

"He's pretty much an oddball like Spike and he seems to listen pretty good when somebody talks." Maud points out.

Hearing this surprised both Trixie and Thorax as they looked at each other awkwardly before turning to face Maud.

"So is there anything else I need to know?" Thorax asked, albeit nervously.

They went back to talking even further about relationship as Thorax took notes on what to do with things such as making advancements or being honest with one's soulmate. By that time, it was already two o'clock. Starlight came back to the three and she said,

"I just got back with Ember and she said that she would be here tomorrow due to unforeseen circumstances going down at her kingdom right now."

"What kind of circumstances?" Thorax asked.

"Didn't say. But she did say she was willing to help out with your assertiveness. But she has very high standards when it comes to this sort of mental training. I just hope you can take it." Starlight said.

"I can. Anything for Spike. I really wanna be with him."

"With the way you're acting right now, you totally have a chance." Trixie said in a sarcastic manner.

"Trixie!" Starlight shouted.

"What? He has the demeanor of a doormat. The kind that makes Fluttershy look intimidating."

"Even so, we are going to encourage Thorax to get better. Are we, Trixie...?" Starlight asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I know what you're saying, Starlight. Just quit giving me the stink eye. I can already feel it in your soul." Trixie said, leaning back in her chair.

"I'm being encouraging." Maud said.

"I know, Maud. I know." Starlight said as she sighed.

Afterwards, the four of them went back to lecturing Thorax for about two more hours. By the time they were finished, it was already four o'clock. They decided to call in quits. Thorax got out of his seat and proceeded to look for Spike. After heading back, he went to the main room to wait for Spike. After waiting for several minutes, Spike arrived.

"Hey Spike." Thorax said.

"Oh. Hey Thorax." Spike said in a rather bummed manner.

"Are you okay?" Thorax asked in a concerned manner.

"I'm fine. Just had a rough day."

"Would you like to talk about it over dinner?"

"Sure. Just let me rest a bit." Spike said as he walked to his room.

"Okay." Thorax responded as he went into his room to read while waiting.