Chapter 1: Bars
Spike stirred from his slumber, his gaze landing on the cool crystal floor beneath him. As he surveyed his surroundings, the truth became unmistakable—the crystalline cell bars at one end of the room revealed his location: the dungeon of the Crystal Empire's castle. A rush of memories flooded his mind, vividly replaying the throne room scene—the sight of Flurry Heart, the mixture of fear, shock, and anger etched upon Twilight's face. And then, without restraint, the name escaped his lips in an exclamation, "Thorax!"
Spike rose to his feet and scanned the cell. Except for one wall, the entire room was made of solid, gently glowing crystal, casting a pearlescent light. A small crystal bench caught his eye on the side. on one of the cell's side walls. The cell held no other life besides himself, he was alone. Spike stood up, stumbling from vertigo, and walked toward the bench. The young Dragon sat down, noting the bench to be significantly more comfortable than the floor he rested upon before. Spike stared at the ground, contemplating the events that occurred in the throne room.
Guards tore through the hallways of the Crystal Empire's castle at breakneck speeds, searching for their quarry.
"Look around that corner!" one guard shouted.
"Over there!" called another.
Twilight Sparkle, Cadence, Shining Armor, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunburst were gathered in the throne room. The throne room also housed a significant number of guards, positioned strategically around the area.
"I know it's bad that there's a Changeling around, but is all this really necessary?" asked Starlight. "It's just one Changeling."
"If there's one Changeling, there may well be a whole army on the way," explained Cadence. "You weren't there during the attack on Canterlot," she added, her face darkening.
"I understand your concern. But Starlight has a point. This is getting a little out of hand," said Twilight, gesturing to the crowd of guards in the throne room.
"I know that, but I don't know what else we can do," Cadence said with a sigh.
"I do!" shouted a familiar voice from the entrance to the throne room. Spike was standing in the door, and behind him stood the dark chitinous form of a Changeling drone. The ponies, including some of the most stoic guards, gasped in shock.
"Spike! What are you doing?! Get away from that thing!" shouted Shining Armor.
"No. He's not a 'thing'!" stated Spike firmly. "His name is Thorax, and he's my friend!"
"Your friend?" snarled Shining. "You can't be friends with a Changeling!"
"And why not? A lot of ponies said the same thing about Discord! Fluttershy proved them wrong!" retorted Spike.
Twilight stepped forward and spoke, "Spike... Changelings are different. They can't have friends or feel love or-"
"How do you know?" interrupted Spike. "You haven't even met him."
"Spike, this Changeling took the form of your friend Crystal Hoof to deceive you! How can you even defend it?" scolded Cadence.
"His name is Thorax!" growled Spike.
"What?" huffed Shining Armor.
"I said his name is Thorax, and he's not an 'it'," Spike firmly stated. "Crystal Hoof never even existed, it was always Thorax."
Some of the guards mumbled in shock, having enjoyed the presence of 'Crystal Hoof' earlier that day.
"You won't even accept that he's not an animal. You gave Discord the dignity of calling him 'he,' you called Tirek a 'he,' you even called Sombra 'he.' What exactly has Thorax done that is so bad that he doesn't deserve to be called 'he'?"
The ponies present all cringed at the mention of Sombra.
"Those things kidnapped Cadence, put me under a spell, tried to take over Canterlot, and harvest our love. They are disgusting monsters! Spike! How can you stand here to defend this beast?" roared Shining.
Thorax cringed at this, crouching down to Spike's level and whimpering a bit.
"Chrysalis did that," said Spike, turning to look into the Changeling's eyes. "Not Thorax."
"It doesn't matter, they're all the same!" retorted Shining.
"Spike, why are you defending him?" sobbed Cadence.
Twilight's face was plastered with shock and betrayal; she only looked to the ground.
"You're clearly being controlled! like when chrysalis controlled me!" Shining stated.
Spike was so focused on the royals that he did not see Sunburst and Starlight flank him and Thorax.
He didn't see Starlight charging a Sleeping spell.
He didn't see Sunburst place an inhibitor ring onto Thorax's horn.
He didn't notice until it was too late.
Spike’s train of thought was broken by a thud on the wall behind him. Spike quickly hopped down from the bench and turned to look at the wall. The wall, at first, looked the same but upon closer inspection he could see a faint shape through the translucent crystal, it looked like a pony or maybe…
“Thorax!” Spike exclaimed as he fully took in the faint features of the being that laid beyond the wall. “Thorax can you hear me?”
The room was silent for a moment before Thorax tapped harshly on the wall.
He must not be able to speak for some reason, thought Spike. He pondered for a few seconds before remembering something he heard once in a movie, "I've got an idea, Thorax. Tap once for 'no,' tap twice for 'yes,' and tap three times if you don't know. Does that work?"
Thorax tapped the wall twice in acknowledgement.
Spike started off with some basic questions; “Are you ok?”
Thorax responded with two taps.
Spike was relieved at his friend’s safety. “That’s good to hear. Is there a way out that you can see?”
A silence enveloped the space, lingering for a brief moment as the distorted shape on the other side of the wall moved restlessly. before the sound of one tap came from the wall.
“Figured. If my cell didn’t have an escape, yours probably wouldn’t,” Spike grumbled before letting out a sigh. “I’m sorry you’re stuck here, if it hadn’t been for me you would never have gotten into this mess. I wish you never would have met me,” Spike said as he started to sob.
Thorax tapped on the wall, wishing he could comfort his friend.
“So there I was, in the middle of the Everfree Forest, without a map, compass or guidestone. When I say Pharynx was mad, I mean he was mad! Hissing and throwing a tantrum!” said Thorax, throwing some more wood onto the small fire between him and Spike.
“So what is the deal with Pharynx anyway? You haven’t talked about him a lot. He’s your brother right?” asked Spike.
“There’s honestly so much to say, but so little at the same time. I mean he is my older brother. The truth is we had very different upbringings,” the Changeling's gaze wandered off into the distance, his expression pensive and contemplative. “He wanted to go into the army and be a soldier, I didn’t. He’s still my brother though and I miss him a lot.”
“What did you want to be anyway? I kinda figured that all Changelings were soldiers or something, no offense of course," Spike asked, adding on the last part sheepishly.
“I suppose it’s fair that you’d think we were all militaristic, considering that’s all you saw of us,” said Thorax. “Anyways, what I always wanted to do was become a scholar and a historian, it’s an important job, and not one everyling is up for,'' Thorax explained while waving his hoof around a bit. “Many Changelings can’t even write. Most of us can read, but there is still a large majority that cannot.”
Spike nodded, and after a moment of silent contemplation he asked a question, “Do Changelings have their own language? I heard some of the Changelings at the Canterlot attack talking and I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying.”
“We do… and it’s very different from Ponish. Almost Everyling can speak It but most can’t read or write in it,” explained Thorax. “It has a wildly different sentence structure. I can read and write as well as speak both it and Ponish fluently but I’m not as familiar with other languages like draconic or griffish, but I can speak a few common words.”
“Now I'm curious, what exactly does your language sound like?” asked Spike.
Thorax looked thoughtful for a moment, choosing his words carefully, “Che’kth oth’k Spike, g’thu’t ecah k’et kior che’kth uik’ol.
“And what does that mean? I Think I heard my name in there somewhere,” questioned Spike.
“Literally, it means ‘Companion-thing Spike, greetings, I am glad you are a companion thing to me,’” explained Thorax with a smile, “But in more simple terms it means ‘I’m glad you are my friend, Spike.”
Spike and Thorax smiled at each other and soon Thorax got back to telling the story of He and Pharynx’s escapade into in the Everfree Forest.
A few minutes of soft sobbing had passed before a loud single Bang was heard to Spike’s right, followed by another and another. Thorax was tapping the same area over and over again. Spike looked to where Thorax was bucking and noticed a small crevice, only a few inches across hidden amongst the smooth crystals. Spike’s tears began to dry and he peered through the hole. locking an eye with Thorax. Thorax stepped back , revealing a muzzle securely fastened over his mouth, restraining his ability to speak. An inhibitor ring was placed at the base of his horn, suppressing his magical ability. Thorax gestured with his hoof towards the muzzle and Spike noticed a small lock that held it in place.
“I might be able to get it loose,” Spike said.
Thorax nodded before placing the lock near the hole. Spike took one of his arms and passed it past the threshold of the crevice and felt the cold iron of the lock. He placed two of his clawed fingers into the lock and began feeling around, searching through the pins within the lock to find one that would move into place; eventually, his claw found his mark and the pin slid out of the way with a satisfying click. He repeated the process four more times, eventually moving all the lock’s pins into the correct position. Once the final pin clicked into place the lock’s shackle slid out of the lock.
Spike retracted his fingers from the lock’s interior and helped to pull the muzzle free from his friend. Thorax breathed in a long breath of fresh air.
“Spike, it’s good to see you’re alright!” exclaimed Thorax. “They put this muzzle on me because they thought Changelings could spit acid or something,” Thorax added. Thorax looked back through the hole and saw the tears reforming on his friend’s face. “No! Spike! You’re ok, it’s not your fault, it’s mine. I shouldn't have let you take me back to the Castle, this is all my fault!” Thorax sobbed, sitting down on the cold crystal floor.
“It’s my fault, I was the one who convinced you that the ponies would accept you,” retorted Spike as he slumped down onto the floor. “You just wanted a friend and I couldn’t even be that, I'm so sorry.”
Thorax felt a new wave of emotion hit him, and a determination overtook his mood. He pressed his eye to the crevice and looked through it. “Spike. Stop it. You are my friend. You will never stop being my friend. And I will never stop being yours, as long as I live. It doesn’t matter if it didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to, it’s the fact that you tried that I care about. No, you didn’t just try, you tried your hardest to get them to accept me, but in the end they couldn’t, that’s their loss, not yours.
Spike brushed away the tears that welled up in his eyes and directed his gaze toward the crevice. There, he saw one of Thorax's piercing blue eyes, a striking monocolor orb, peering closely through the opening. The eyes of a Changeling held a distinct appearance, one that some might find intimidating. They diverged from the familiar sight of a pony's eyes, a Dragon's gaze, or even Discord's peculiar orbs of yellow and red. A Changeling’s eye, from what Thorax had told him, was more like an insect, in fact, Changelings shared many traits with insects; Apart from their eyes, their wings, and thus their manner of flight, more resembled that of a particularly large fly rather than the bird-like flight of a Pegasus or Thestral. Their body was also made up of a hard glossy chitin that grew only a thin layer of dark fur, Thorax had explained that while the Changelings do Have bones, their hard chitin exoskeleton helped to protect them from physical attacks.
“Thank you Thorax, I think the same thing,” said Spike, smiling. After a few seconds of contemplation, the Dragon’s expression turned to a more determined demeanor. “We need to get out of here. Did you see where they put the keys?”
Thorax peered away from the crevice, “yes, they’re just outside of my cell, but I can’t reach them from here. Can you undo the lock on my inhibitor ring?” asked Thorax.
“I can try,” said Spike.
Thorax lowered his head down to the crevice and placed his horn as close to it as possible. Spike tried to place his finger into the lock but immediately felt resistance and a flash of force threw Spike’s hand away from the lock.
“Ow,” said Spike, shaking his arm free of a tingling sensation that ran across it. “Sorry Thorax, looks like the keyway is enchanted, should have figured.”
“Sorry, Spike,” said Thorax. “I saw the guard place the key on the key ring. So at least we know where it is.”
“You’re fine, I just need to think, I remember Celestia telling me something about anti-magic artifacts back when I was training with her,” said Spike absentmindedly.
“You trained with Princess Celestia?” exclaimed Thorax Inquisitively.
“Yep, it was a long time ago, only a few years before Twilight and I moved to Ponyville. She taught me how to use my breath to send messages,” explained Spike. “I still remember what she told me all those years ago.”
Within a small room at the north end of the Canterlot castle stood two figures. One was a diminutive purple Dragon standing at a mere foot in height. Despite his small stature, his presence was a center of attention among the people of Canterlot. Towering over him, however, was a statuesque white alicorn, radiating an aura of elegance and power. The alicorn was the (at the time) sole ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia.
“Ok, hold your breath and concentrate on the scroll,” said Celestia gently.” Now think about the pedestal, imagine the scroll atop the pedestal, that’s where you want it to be, and when you think you’re ready, exhale.”
Standing atop a dark metal platform, the young Dragon, Spike, closed his eyes. Before the Dragon was a scroll which, thanks to Celestia’s magic, levitated in the air. Spike took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before exhaling. With the Dragon’s breath came a small green flame, the flame flew forward and enveloped the scroll. It momentarily held the scroll's shape before bursting forth with intense energy.
As Celestia's horn glowed brightly, the circle on the floor lit up, casting a golden glow. An invisible antimagic wall projected from the ring, halting the flames of Dragon fire. When the flames subsided, the scroll lay in cindering fragments upon the floor.
“I’m sorry Princess Celestia, I'm trying, I really am, it’s just difficult,” said Spike dejectedly.
“Worry not, Spike, you are still young, you will figure it out eventually,” said Celestia reassuringly. “There is no danger of the flame escaping, the circle will make sure of that.”
“How does the circle even do that? It just looks like a piece of metal,” asked Spike.
“It’s not any metal, Spike, That is Dragonsteel,” explained Celestia.
“Dragonsteel?” questioned spike.
“Yes,” continued Celestia, “Dragons are magical creatures and can forge alloys with their breath dragonsteel is one of them, It can be imbued with certain runes and enchantments to dispel and halt magic. Dragonsteel is not the only metal that can be enchanted to stop magic, however it is the best at it. If it weren't for the Dragonsteel your Firewarp could run rampant and destroy random objects before it can dispel.”
Spike nodded. “I’m ready to try again.”
“Ok, remember, breathe in, concentrate and breathe out,” said Celestia.
“Thorax, I have an idea,” said Spike.
“What is it?” asked Thorax.
“I can try to Firewarp you out of your cell,” spoke Spike hesitantly. “You can get the keys from there, but it could be dangerous.
“Firewarp?” questioned Thorax.
"Celestia told me about it, it's one of the abilities a dragon can have," explained Spike. "It allows me to breathe fire that can transport objects between places. I've teleported scrolls plenty of times, but I've never tried it with a target as big as a pony. It should work, according to Celestia, but I've never tried," Spike trailed off. "And I'm worried I might hurt you."
“Spike, I promise I’ll be OK. we can get out of this,” said Thorax reassuringly.
“Ok, just stay very still,” said Spike, looking to the hall outside and then to Thorax. Spike committed the images of the hall and the Changeling to his memory and then closed his eyes. Ok, remember, breathe in, concentrate and breathe out, thought Spike, his mind echoing Celestia’s words. The dragon inhaled a deep breath, his focus locked on the mental image of Thorax standing in the hallway. The moment Spike felt the time was right he released his breath, riding along the exhale of air was a brilliant emerald flame.
The flame circled the dragon for a moment, like a young Phoenix seeking its mother before rushing forward through the hole in the crystal and enveloping the changeling on the other side.
Spike looked to the hallway and noticed an ember of identical green flame begin to grow. At first it was just a blob of green fire but soon the defining features of thorax grew from the flame and solidified. Standing outside of the cell was Thorax.
“You did it Spike!” said Thorax. “I’ll get the key in just a second.”
Spike Smiled but felt a wave of exhaustion fall over him. He got down on one knee in an attempt to catch himself from falling completely to the ground. Spike closed his eyes, noting a slight ringing in his ears. Soon, however, the ringing was replaced with the creaking of hidden metal hinges that held the crystal bars in place. Thorax had found the keys.
“Spike! Spike! Are you OK?” asked Thorax worriedly.
Spike’s nausea began to fade and he stood up and looked at Thorax with a smile. “I’m fine, that just took a lot out of me,” explained spike.
Thorax hoisted Spike onto his back with his magic, which he had back thanks to the absence of the ring on his horn. “We can get out faster this way, plus it will let you rest,” Thorax explained.
“Ok then, let's get out of here,” said Spike.