Precaution
Apparently the police had gotten a report from somepony living up the street from the fight that a brawl was happening and to come investigate, but beyond that, they didn’t seem to know any details about the fight itself, who was on what side, why it had taken place, and who all was involved or not involved. Naturally, Thorax attempted to explain that he was just an innocent bystander who had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and yes he had been a part of the fight, but only in self-defense, or else he would’ve ended up being among the more beaten up members of the fight. Three of those members, in fact, had to be taken to the hospital for additional treatment, while a number more received treatment on the scene by attending medics that had arrived too. Apparently though, over a third of the group escaped the fight relatively unscathed, as it turned out Thorax had ended up stunning more ponies than he thought he had. So he also tried reasoning to the police that he had probably helped end the fight before even more damage and harm was done to everypony present.
The police were willing to listen, but the fact of the matter was that they didn’t have any idea what had transpired exactly and too many variables that could hinder it, needing time to sort out and confirm what was fictional and what was fact. So as there were too many ponies to keep tabs on there at the scene, all of them were more or less taken into custody and loaded into the police carriages to be taken back to the station, Thorax included. The arrangement, Thorax was told, was likely to be temporary, at least until the police had a better idea what had transpired and what charges needed to be pressed, if any. In the case of Thorax though, even though it still felt like he was being arrested, the police insisted it was a “detainment.” Whatever the case, Thorax decided that the best policy was to simply cooperate and wait it out, hoping a peaceful solution would come his way.
Once at the police station, all of the participants in the fight were filed through the front office one at a time where they were asked to give their names and basic contact information, so to at least determine who was who in the fight for investigative purposes. For some of the group, this included collecting info for basic identification records, like their name, their hoofprints, mugshots, and things such as that. As Thorax was, again, purportedly not being formally arrested and no charges pressed yet, just being kept “on hoof,” the police were not yet obligated to collect most of this information for him, and kept it to just his name (which he gave as Thornton, because so long as he wore his current disguise, that who he was as far as everypony else was concerned). They were going to ask for a magical signature reading with which to identify his magic, but as Thorax was confirmed the only magic user present in the fight, it was deemed unnecessary to get his magical signature just yet, as there weren’t any other magical signatures it could be entangled with. They also made no attempt to put a magic inhibitor ring on his horn, a sign, Thorax felt, that suggested the police were inclined to believe Thorax’s story, they were just being thorough and getting sufficient evidence to confirm it first.
For Thorax, this was all a good thing, as he was very conscious of the fact that the police thought he was merely a unicorn at the moment, but in reality was a wanted changeling in hiding, and his situation would become disastrously worse should they find out. He knew the police would no doubt use what information they had on him to check out his background, a worrying prospect at first glance, but in reality Thorax realized it would only mean they would trace the pony Thornton back no further than Fly Leaf, who knew nothing of his true identity and knew she’d likely back him up. Still, he knew the danger was there, and he did not want to do anything to tempt fate. Therefore, he cooperated as asked, but still preferred to keep what the police learned about him to a minimum as chance permitted, and just what was absolutely necessary for proving his innocence in the fight.
Nonetheless, while Thorax was in that front office, he did take the time to glance over at the overfull bulletin board the police had been hanging their wanted posters on, and sure enough, saw that a copy of the poster for Spike the crystal guard had been handing out during their search for them still hanging on it. Thankfully, the poster had clearly been there for a while and was no longer the center of attention; it was faded, slightly yellowed, and the right eighth of it covered up by a newer wanted poster of a far meaner-looking criminal that made Spike’s much more innocent photo seem innocuous in comparison. All in all, it told Thorax that the search for Spike was no longer a high priority by the Vanhoover police, and had become yesterday’s news in light of no further developments on it; a “cold case” he believed the appropriate term was. Thorax preferred to keep it that way.
After the police had gathered this basic information from each of the participants in the fight, they were all put in cells to wait while the police interviewed each one in turn, gathering testimonies and piecing together the full story of the fight as accurately as possible. As the police station was only equipped with so many cells, a lot of the ponies ended up having to share cells with each other, but Thorax lucked out and got a cell all to himself. He wasn’t told why, but Thorax suspected it may have been an attempt by the police to keep him from coming to harm from other gang members that may not look upon his role in the fight kindly, assuming what he had told the police thus far was true, and of course it was.
He wondered if he was more actually being discreetly taken into protective custody of some sort as a result, and the police just wanted to keep it quiet. If so, the police were doing their part in being approachable at least. Once he was securely inside the cell, the police were actually fairly friendly, explaining what the process was going to be and what Thorax should expect from here. Of note was that because they had “detained” Thorax but not formally arrested him or pressed charges against him, they could only keep him in their custody for twenty-four hours maximum, at which point they would have to charge Thorax with something or they would have to let him go. They also told Thorax that he had the right to send one message via a messenger employed by the station to any pony of his choosing if desired, and Thorax used it to send a message to Fly Leaf and Spike briefly explaining his situation. He was, after all, now late to return from his lunchbreak and figured the two would be beginning to wonder what had happened to him.
Otherwise, Thorax was left to pace, wait, and quietly assess his situation. He took comfort in the fact that the police had thus far been unaware they had a disguised changeling in their custody, but he greatly worried if he’d be able to keep it up the longer this dragged on. It was Ragg he was especially worried about, who Thorax knew was aware he was a changeling now. What little they had managed to silently convey before the police arrived suggested Ragg was willing to try and keep this between only them…but he also knew he had no real guarantee that Ragg wouldn’t tell all. Thorax liked Ragg after all, but he still really didn’t know enough about Ragg to tell if he could be trusted or how he would react in this situation. Unfortunately, with Ragg having been kept largely separate from Thorax during all of this and now being held in a different cell, Thorax could only wait and hope for the best.
He also had worries that something he had overlooked might come up to clue in the police of his real identity regardless of what Ragg did. The leading reason for this was that Thorax’s cell was not guarded in any meaningful way, which he was quick to note. In fact, after he had been put in the cell, he saw fairly little of the police officers in the building, except when they happened to stroll pass his cell, usually on their way to somewhere else. It wasn’t that it was hard to see what Thorax might be doing at any time in the cell of course. It was a relatively empty room with the stereotypical prison bars serving as the means in and out and the only things within it besides himself were two cots positioned with one above the other, a metal bench, a basic sink, and a basic toilet—all of which were bolted to the wall or floor, and none of which could really be used to adequately hide himself or anything else an occupant might not be allowed to have. And the lack of guards could also just mean the police trusted him enough to not believe he needed such guarding, certainly a good thing if true. Nonetheless, the fact the police didn’t seem to be physically keeping an eye on him even as a precaution made him wonder if there was more at play here than was immediately obvious.
It didn’t take Thorax long to find it, either. The prison cells all opened into a long, cinder brick-walled, hallway, with one wall containing the entrances to all of the cells, while the other was a simple solid wall broken only by a doorway leading into the rest of the police station sitting towards the center. But mounted on this wall every few feet, so that each one was positioned directly across from each cell and could be clearly seen no matter where you stood in the cell, was the logo for the Vanhoover Police Force and adorned at the top with what appeared to be a decorative crystal to the untrained eye. It did not fool Thorax though—he quickly determined the jewel was magicked to monitor him.
What he did not know was how it was magicked. As he knew the jewel was neither big enough nor the right shape to serve as a lens for visual recordings like a movie film camera, he could rule that out. This meant it likely was monitoring him either with magic-sensing vision or heat-sensing vision. The distinction was important in Thorax’s case because of how the two sensed cast magic. All magic gave off some degree of heat when active, enough that it would always show in heat-sensing vision. For example, if Thorax were to light his horn and try and use his magic to move something in the cell, heat-sensing vision would detect the heat this would give off. This also meant that it could detect the magic Thorax was using to keep himself disguised as Thornton, but because it would blend in with the rest of Thorax’s natural body heat, it’s heat wouldn’t be distinguishable from it and would go unnoticed by anyone viewing whatever the heat-sensing vision saw.
Magic-sensing vision, however, was a completely different story because it worked by detecting specifically magical energy—ambient or otherwise—within its field of view and then mark it according to its intensity. All ponies naturally gave off some detectable magic, but generally only in small amounts. Because he was disguised though, Thorax would appear as a bright glowing ball of magical energy to magic-sensing vision, and that would be more than enough reason for the police to suspect something. So of course he wished he knew which sensing means the crystal had been set up with, but had no way to confirm it without using his magic to scan it himself, and he worried that would only alert the police that something might be up if he tried. After several minutes of waiting in his cell without event though, Thorax could safely assume two possibilities; that the crystal was indeed heat-sensing in which case he was safe, or that the crystal was in fact magic-sensing, but wasn’t being actively monitored and was instead recording what it detected for later review. Of the two, he naturally preferred the first.
Waiting was the hardest part of all though, because the longer Thorax was left in the cell, the longer he had to wonder about what was happening, and to worry if things weren’t going to work out for him in the end. He wished he had something to distract himself, especially longing for something he could read, but the police offered no reading materials in the cell, and they had confiscated his saddlebags and all within when they took him into custody. They let him keep his midnight blue hoodie, but only because its pockets were already empty and thus had nothing to offer for Thorax to entertain himself with, except play with the zipper. He longed for some sign of progress at the very least.
What he got instead was a slender, bespectacled unicorn stallion wearing white saddlebags marked with a medical cross on it, stepping up to the bars of his cell. “Hello there, how are you doing this afternoon?” he asked as he magically floated a clipboard of papers up to his face, reviewing the information printed upon them.
Thorax pondered on how to reply as he strolled up the prison bars dividing them. “I suppose all things considered, it could be worse,” he conceded.
The stallion laughed. “Well, I’m just the police physician and lab tech here at the station,” he explained. “I’ve been asked to go around and do drug tests on everypony brought in from that gang tussle earlier today so to confirm none of you were under the influence or anything like that. You know—just as a precaution.”
“Oh, okay,” Thorax replied, nodding his head. Seemed sensible enough.
“Of course, it’s all voluntary,” the physician went on to explain. “We can’t make you participate in the test, especially if we can’t actually charge any of you of anything yet.”
“No, no, that’s fine, I’m happy to participate,” Thorax agreed readily, knowing he was on no drugs to speak of and saw that proving that to the police could only help his case. “I don’t have anything to hide about drugs.”
“Excellent!” the physician said happily. And then he levitated a small plastic container out of his saddlebags and over to Thorax.
Thorax accepted it into his hoof and stared at it blankly, not understanding. “Um…”
“I will need a urine sample to conduct the test,” the physician explained, seeing Thorax’s confusion.
Thorax blinked, looked up at the unicorn patiently waiting, then back at the container in his hoof again. “…Ah,” he remarked hesitantly, not expecting this. Truthfully, he had figured it would just be a quick magical scan of the blood coursing through his veins; nothing detailed enough that would risk giving him away as a changeling, he knew. It’s what would be done back in the hive at least, although the need for any equivalent of a drug test was typically rare there. But then he realized that probably could still be faked by a determined enough of a pony, so it made unfortunate sense the police would choose not to rely on such a thing.
The physician noted Thorax’s sudden hesitation. “Is there a problem?” he inquired innocently.
“No, no problem,” Thorax quickly replied, but in reality he had two big problems with providing a urine sample for testing. One, he wasn’t sure if there would be any notable chemical differences between his changeling urine to that of a pony’s, and if such a difference could be detected and give him away as a changeling. But the other problem was far more pressing; he couldn’t give any samples while he was still disguised. He would have to drop the disguise in order to do so…and obviously he wasn’t keen to do so while within a prison cell where he could be easily observed. “…could I maybe have some privacy?”
The physician furrowed his brow and thought about it. He didn’t seem certain. “I’ll ask,” he assured, taking back the container with his telekinesis and trotting off. He was back with an answer only a few minutes later. “Unfortunately, due to past security problems where detainees have used that privacy to try and fake the sample, you cannot be permitted to give the sample in the privacy of a restroom or the such,” he explained apologetically. “But as I can understand it’d feel awkward to do it while watched, I can just stand to one side of your cell while you provide the sample. It’d give you at least some privacy. That is, of course, assuming you still don’t attempt to skew the sample with anything.” The stallion nodded his head at Thorax’s horn.
Thorax glanced up at it himself. “Last thing on my mind, sir,” he replied.
“Well then, that’s the best I can offer you. Are you still willing to participate in the test?”
Thorax paused to think about it. Ideally, now that he knew a bit more about what it’d entail, he’d prefer not to, but knew that would only suggest to the police that he had something to hide. It also struck him that if the police were really so concerned about security problems with the test, then the physician’s offer to stand to one side and not watch seemed oddly generous…but then Thorax remembered the magicked crystal monitoring him, and his eyes involuntarily glanced at it briefly. Clearly, the police expected the crystal to catch any attempts at fudging the sample the physician might miss, and Thorax knew there was nothing he could do to change that.
But despite all of that, Thorax did concede that it was the best he was going to get, and thought that, so long as he was careful, he had a chance to pull it off undetected. “Yes, that can work,” he told the physician.
The physician grinned. “Very well,” he said, and floated the plastic container over to Thorax again. “At your leisure, then.” He then stepped to one side of the prison bars that barred off the cell, turning his back to Thorax so he would not see.
Thorax let out a deep sigh and decided to get this over with, stepping over to the cell’s little toilet while pulling off the lid on the container. There was a small ledge mounted on the inside edge of the toilet bowl that the plastic container sat neatly upon, clearly having been installed for exactly this purpose. Once it was in place, Thorax then took a deep breath and assumed the necessary position to proceed. He waited as a passing police officer walked by his cell, the officer averting his gaze quickly when he noticed what Thorax was prepping to do. Once he had gone by, Thorax listened for the sound of any other hoofsteps of anyone else about to pass by, but heard none. The hallway outside his cell seemed to be open for the moment. So Thorax, knowing this window of time would be short, forced himself to relax and began dropping his disguise.
All changelings had to drop at least a small part of their disguise when answering the call of nature in any form, even the queen herself, for a number of reasons but usually because the anatomy of the current disguise simply wouldn’t line up with the changeling’s actual anatomy as needed. Thorax knew of changelings back at the hive who had learned of ways to do it so they could drop the relevant parts of the disguise only and no more, making it easier to go undetected, but as Thorax was only a lowly invader that had seldom gone far from the hive in disguise, he had never been taught to do it himself, and had never bothered to figure it out after fleeing the hive, as he hadn’t seen a need to. Now he wished he had, and made a mental note to try and teach himself the first chance he got, if and when he ever got out of this current mess. Whatever the case though, it meant that Thorax could only either drop the whole disguise or not at all.
Normally, he would just let the disguise collapse all at once in the usual burst of magical flames, but as he knew that would not only show on the magicked crystal monitoring him all too well but also produce enough light and sound that the physician standing to the side of the cell would probably notice too, he had to do it a bit more gradually so to allow it to go unnoticed. He began by allowing holes to form in the disguise covering his back hooves, then allowed the “holes” to slowly grow, creeping gradually on up his body. By it time it passed his hips, he tried to see if he could pause it there, but he only succeeded in slowing the decay of the disguise slightly. The only way to stop it from collapsing now was to refresh it entirely, restoring it in full.
So instead, since the relevant areas were now undisguised anyway, Thorax decided to quickly take aim and…fill the container accordingly. By the time he had finished, the decaying disguise had reached his face, and Thorax went cross-eyed briefly and warily watching as he saw the flickering line of cyan energy lap over the tip of his snout while he also worked to keep his wings pinned firmly to his back, for fear that they would show up on the magicked crystal monitoring him otherwise. But done now, he quickly worked to restore the crumbling disguise in full and the decaying rapidly reversed, washing back over Thorax’s body until once again it was completely intact. Shaking himself briefly to unwind some of the tension the whole experience had brought upon him, he replaced the lid on the container then scooped it back up into his hoof.
“Here,” he announced simply, handing it back to the physician through the space in the prison bars.
The physician turned and took the container in his magic. To Thorax’s mild embarrassment, he held it up to one eye and swirled the contents, peering inside to check for any abnormalities. Finding no obvious ones though, he grinned and stuck it into his saddlebags for storage. “Thank you,” he said cordially. “We’ll get that tested and let the investigators know the results. Hopefully you should know more then.”
He then walked off. Thorax watched him move on to the next cell containing a member from the fight then turned his eyes to the magicked crystal monitoring him, wondering if it had noticed anything that could cause trouble. After several minutes ticked by with nothing happening and no one coming to investigate Thorax closer, only then did the disguised changeling let himself relax, letting himself practically melt to the floor in relief. He frankly couldn’t believe he had actually pulled that off without giving himself away. But he knew he wasn’t in the clear just yet; there was still the matter of whether or not the drug tests on his urine would reveal anything additional that could give him away as the changeling he was. The rest depended still on what the police ruled on the case, agreed if he really was the innocent bystander he was, and the testimonies the other ponies involved in the fight gave in reference to Thorax.
But there was nothing Thorax could do about it now, except wait and find out.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed by the things my brain will think of and then lead me to write. 
But at least in this case it does make a degree of sense that a drug test would be something Thorax would have to face during the given situation, and I found the implications and problems that presented to him worth exploring. It also allowed me to elaborate a point on changeling disguises that I had alluded to before in passing.
Otherwise, I admit this chapter doesn't really do a great deal to further progress the matter, but it also does give one a better frame of reference of just what the situation Thorax has found himself is; problematic, but not so much so that there might still be a way out of it...assuming how things go and if they all play in Thorax's favor, of course. And that remains to be seen. 
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Huh. Okay...so Thorax has kinda half dodged all of this? I honestly have no idea where this is going...and that both excites and scares me. I really hope they stay where they are for a little longer but...oh boy, this is going to be interesting.
I like this chapter, it feels really tense and opens up to possibilities as to how Thorax could be outed without telling us explicitly if he is or not.
I'm thinking if anything does happen it's going to be that Spike and maybe Fly Leaf go to meet Thorax at the police department and one of the officers are going to notice how Spark has an uncanny resemblense to the wanted Spike the dragon
I have a question, If Thornton was a creation of Thorax, why didn't he just mold as close as possible to his changeling form? Or is just Pony and changeling anatomy in general?
The proper answer, Thorax, is "I decline"; particularly after the lack of privacy gave you an out.
8134616
Long story short, Thorax lacks the fine control over the disguise so to compensate for things like this. Basically, by changeling standards, he's certainly not inept at making disguises, but at the same time, I wouldn't call him an expert at it either.
8134653
Thorax's thinking was that declining, even though that was totally an option, would've only given the police cause to suspect him, thinking he had something to hide. I mean, if you were the police and went to ask a possible suspect to participate in a drug test and they refused to do so, what's the first thing that would tell you? So Thorax figured in the end that it was smarter to take the risk and participate in the drug test regardless, where it might reveal something for the police to suspect him, than to refuse to do the drug test which likely would reveal that he at least had something to hide. A summarized version of this was pointed out in the chapter itself.
I feel like you're going to get him charged with something, just to give us a twist of sorts.
I think Thorax will get recognised for leaving teeth marks on that bloody pegasus from before. But the Police would suspect a Vampony (assuming ponies eather don't know of the venom or it rapidly dissolves after a short time), they call for Princess Luna to come and seach for a rogue thestral.
Would be funny because it would get Luna closer to intrude on Thorax'es mind.
8135253
Hmm...
Ew, drug tests.
Poor Thorax.. XD Can't wait for more, eeee!
8135222 Complying is the vastly more risky move there, for him, considering he suspects he's already under magical surveillance, has to drop his disguise in the open to comply, and has no idea if his biology is pony-enough not to send up the red flag. On the other hoof, Thorax just might not be a very good infiltrator.
8136573
Or maybe he's actually a very good infiltrator. Thus far, he actually has managed to avoid being detected as a changeling through all other means.
It also might just be the fact that Thorax is being overly cautious on some of these fears too, and that the "risks" he considers might not actually be as real as he thinks...but remember that changelings (in this story at least) are generally trained to consider ALL possibly outcomes and not disregard them without solid proof showing it's irrelevant to do so backing it up. At any rate, regardless of the risks, I had to admit that were I in Thorax's horseshoes, I'd probably do exactly the same thing as he...
...which obviously would explain why I wrote it like that, so I guess that argument doesn't really help me too much...
Admittedly, the idea of having Thorax to go through such risks just so to provide a mere urine sample also proved too tantalizing to ignore, so that plays a factor in it too.
There's also a small but actual legality backing behind all of this too; in the US at least (though it seems a number of other major countries generally do likewise or similarly from what I've found), you have the right to refuse to comply with the police's requests to give up things such as this...like "the right to remain silent" and "pleading the fifth" or the right to refuse to offer identification if asked. But in pretty much every instance where such a thing takes place, especially the latter example, the police will thus assume then the subject has something to hide at least until proven otherwise, and will take all remaining steps available to them to try and find out why. Usually, it seems, they're often right in making such an assumption. And they'd be definitely right to assume so for Thorax, and Thorax fears given them ANY belief they need to dig deeper and wants to avoid that. Both certainly ARE risks, but he deemed that playing along with the drug test was the lesser risk for now, on the grounds that, from the police's point of view, it at least keeps up appearances, and at least sheds him in a good light by continuing to be cooperative.
I admit this might all come across as more plausible to me though, because I already know what will happen in the upcoming chapters relating to the matter.
8136639 I suppose, being (effectively) an undercover actor, he wants to play dumb, but that set of risks he just pulled... IMO he'd have been better served as playing it as if he were at least a little legally savvy (eg. rule #1: never, ever volunteer information to the police).
I wonder if I'm the only one who's reading these chapters with optimism. With all these close calls, I can't be the only one who sees a way that they can aid Thorax and Spike when that time comes.
Would it disrupt his disguise if they would attach it?
That would be a boring way to have fun.
But it may be useful to annoy the guards (and other staff) if the zipper is loud enough.
The changelings never tested something like that?
Good chapter.
Can't wait to see what happens next.
8140677
That was my thinking, yes. During the fight, Thorax got a hole torn into his disguise just because it got weakened by a blow to his horn, briefly numbing it. I figured then that, logically, something similar would transpire if an inhibitor ring was put on his horn. And as that would make it a little too easy for the police to then figure out he was not what he appeared, I strove to avoid putting Thorax in that situation.
Otherwise I probably would've put the inhibitor ring on him anyway, because that just seems like the smart thing for the cops to do, if only as a precaution.
I would imagine the changelings preferred to avoid getting themselves put into such situations so they wouldn't have to test things like that.
But of course, I could just as easily see it simply being a case that yes they did test it, but nobody bothered to tell Thorax the results.
now, what about that pony he bit in the battle?, tell me they are going to find the marks.
God damn cliffhangers!!! Lol
This is intense! Bring outvthe next chapter quick dude I need to know what happens!
God, now I know how Thorax feels with waiting to see how his radio dramas would continue. Can't wait for the next chapter.
Also, while I think this is a great story and you are an amazing author, I kinda feel like they should move on from Vanhoover. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, and I'll still read it even if they don't leave or are found for a while, but I do wish for a change of scenery.
ponies than
Wait doesn't his body turn emotional energy into liquid?
... please let my hunch be wrong.
Please let Thorax go free
.