Spike awoke with a shrill gasp to the warm sensation of something fuzzy pressed to his snout. His eyes shot open and were instantly met by a pair of twinkling magenta spheres way to close to his face for comfort.
"Hey, Spike, you wanna snuggly wuggly?" asked Thorax, king of the changelings.
Before Spike could even say a word his wings flared in instinct and he shot out from under his covers in a purple and green flash.
"T–Thorax... What in Equestria are you doing here?" Spike stammered, lifting himself up from where he'd been cowering at the bottom of his bed. Thorax hummed, rolling around in Spikes blankets like a playful kitten. "Erm, on second thought, how did you even get here?" Spike asked, a claw raised to his muzzle.
"Hmmm, your bed is so soft, I usually only come here for Twilight's chair but this is a whole lot better," Thorax said, wrapping himself up in a cocoon of covers as a pillow caught between his antlers.
"Erm, thanks... I guess," Spike mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. "Still doesn't answer my question though. Not that I don't want to see you and all, but usually ponies don't just appear in my bed?"
Thorax looked up, ears perking. "They don't?" the royal bug questioned, then smiled. "Must be something only super special friends can do then," he surmised as he went back to rolling around.
"No, it's usually what really creepy ponies do... Sometimes Discord, but you..." Spike trailed off, a waving claw pointed at the royal changeling as Thorax started to chew softly on a pillow.
"Pufft." He spat it out with a huff. "Okay, does not taste as good as it feels," he stated, setting back to snuggling the non chewed side.
"Hey, are you even listening to me? Thorax, are you okay?" Spike pressed, and once again Thorax grinned at him.
"Oh, I'm fine, really, never been better. Pharynx said it was just the season, that's why I came here," Thorax beamed, resting the pillow between his forehooves as his translucent wings fluttered.
"You came here for a season? You mean like seasoning or something, don't you have that back home?" Spike asked, eye crest raised.
"Nooo." Thorax rolled onto his back, head hanging off of the bedside. "Pharynx said it was something the new hive ruler has got to go through every so often, Chrysalis did it too. Let me think, what did he say?" He tapped his chin. "Something to do will snuggles and more changelings?"
"You mean Chrysalis used to snuggle? Ick, can't imagine who'd want to snuggle with that monster," Spike retorted, sticking out his tongue.
"That's exactly what I said but he just told me that she did it for the good of the hive!" Thorax righted his head, ears standing tall again as, with a flash of green fire, he adopted the darker form of his brother.
"Thorax, you really need to get this whole leadership thing straight. There are some things that need to be done and you're the changeling to do them now. I just don't want to be the one who has to deal with you going through it, go ask your pony friends about mating season, they'll help you. Friends have to right?" The Pharynx illusion deadpanned, and there was a flash as Thorax returned to normal.
"Mating season that was it! But I didn't understand what he was talking about so I decided to call it snuggle season instead." Once again Thorax's smile brightened and Spiked gulped, taking a step back.
"Mating season, he didn't mean like dragon mating season did he?" Spike asked, biting his lip. Thorax's look went from happy to perplexed as he cocked his head.
"I have no idea, but I need to do it soon whatever it is, the hive is depending on me." The king gave a mock salute. "So I was like, who is my best friend in the whole world? Then I thought of you, so..." He patted the bedside with a hoof. "Wanna snuggle, Spike? We need to make more changelings."
Spikes blood ran cold and the dragon paled as he sat back. "T–Thorax, that's... I don't think that's how it works," he offered and once again Thorax cocked his head.
"What, do we need to snuggle extra hard or something? Where do nymphs even come from when you're snuggling anyway? Do they," Thorax wondered, looking upwards. "Do they just fall from the sky?" Spike was unable to do anything other than mumble as Thorax tapped his chin again.
Before anypony could say anything more, however, the doors to Spikes room where flung open. "Spike, are you alright, I heard screaming and... Oh..." Twilight declared as she burst through the door, only to pause as she saw Thorax once again rolling around on Spike's bed. "King Thorax, what a pleasant surprise," she corrected with a slight chuckle.
"Hi, Twilight, sorry if we woke you I just came here to see Spike," Thorax chirped, regarding the little dragon with a happy look.
"Oh, that's wonderful," Twilight improvised, before nudging spike and muttering under her breath. "Spike, do you mind telling me why the King of the changelings is rolling around in your bed?"
Spike sucked in a deep breath, collecting himself, then shrugged. "I don't know. He just showed up, almost scared me out of my scales," he whispered back as Thorax started to hum again. "Keeps asking me to snuggle with him, something about changeling mating season."
"He wants to do what!" Twilight exclaimed, only to fold a wing over her mouth as Thorax looked at her sharply.
"Wow, are you okay, princess? You scared me there." The king pressed a hoof to his chest as he took several deep breaths. "Sorry if I seem distracted, I just have this uncontrollable feeling to cuddle everything that's colorful!" Thorax went on, rummaging in Spike's covers before finding a doll that looked very similar to a certain fashionista.
Spike reached out, clutching at air as he winced. Meanwhile, Twilight shot the blushing dragon a curious look.
"So, Thorax." Te alicorn began, trotting over to the king. His head raised, standing tall atop his neck as he followed her path with his gaze. "Why are you here again, don't you have a hive to be looking after?"
Thorax blushed, chuckling. "Well, yeah I do. But they kinda told me to come here to find a mate, yeah that's right? I need to snuggle super hard to make more changelings, Pharynx says I'll go back to feeling normal after that," the changeling elaborated, and Twilight nodded slowly.
"Right... Well, for one, you're a guy so... In fact, never mind I have no idea how royal changeling biology works." Twilight waved the idea away with both forehooves. "Bottom line is that you can't snuggle with Spike to make more changelings," she told him bluntly.
Thorax seemed to deflate, then his disappointment morphed into confusion. "Why not, he's my best friend? So can't we just snuggle a little bit? Pharynx will be super mad if I come back without more changelings," Thorax pressed.
"I'm sorry to say, but no, you can't. It's really not possible to do that," Twilight insisted, and Thorax crossed his forelegs, pouting.
"Well, shouldn't Spike be the one to decide? He hasn't said it's impossible for us to snuggle?" Thorax asked, smile lighting as he turned to the dragon, while Twilight silently shook her head in the background.
"Look, Thorax, I'm glad to be your best friend and all, but I'm a lot younger than you and even I know that's not how it works," Spike agreed with Twilight and Thorax looked like a newly burst balloon.
"But Spike, we could have made so many beautiful changelings," Thorax whimpered, forehooves reaching out longingly. "I thought that was what best friends did together?"
"No, that's what lovers do... Or whatever the changeling equivalent is, seriously why did he send you here?" Twilight interjected, and Thorax turned to her with quivering eyes.
"He did say some things, but they were all icky and disgusting. Then he got really mad and told me to come here," the king finally confessed.
"So you do know how to make more changelings?" Twilight quired, but Thorax shook his head with a sniff.
"Nope, it sounded like something Chrysalis used to do, so I didn't listen," he declared proudly, wiping his muzzle.
Twilight face-hoofed. "Of course you didn't. Then you would know that snuggling Spike will not make more changelings," Twilight snapped and Thorax flinched.
"So what you're saying is I need to snuggle you?" The changeling waved a hoof at Twilight and she recoiled. "I'm totally okay with that if you are, princess." He winked.
"No way, I'm not ready for a whole hive of new kids, thank you," Twilight rejected, and Thorax frowned.
"Why won't anypony snuggle me until we make more changelings!" Thorax cried, forehooves thrown wide and wings flared as he sat up on Spike's bed.
Both Twilight and Spike rolled their eyes, then looked to the door as the shuffling of hooves sounded.
"What in Equestria is everypony yelling about in here, it's three AM?" asked a very sleeping looking lilac unicorn.
"Starlight!" Thorax declared, beaming at the weary mare. "You'll snuggle with me until it's raining changelings, right?" He pleaded.
Starlight's butt hit the floor as her mouth worked, seconds before both a very agitated Twilight and an equally frustrated Spike pulled her back out of the room.
"No, no she will not! Nopony here is going to make changelings with you, Thorax!" Twilight shouted, before telekinetically shutting the door in Thorax's puzzled face.
"How about you? Can you snuggle with me?" He asked the doll he'd found in Spike's bed sheets. When it failed to do anything other than droop to one side, however, Thorax huffed. Finally going back to huddling himself up in the blanks, he asked. "You'll snuggle with me, right, Spike's bed?" he asked triumphantly, rubbing the mattress as he finally set to making a new generation of changelings with his new found lover.
Author's Note
Just some more random fluff. Thorax is such a fluffy guy, after all.
