Hey everypony!
Now, this short one shot is inspired by what Thorax said in "To Where and Back Again Part 1", when he said that Sunburst sent him to get Twilight's help. But how exactly did Sunburst manage to tell Thorax to get help? And how did Thorax manage to escape from his fellow changelings that replaced Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart in the Crystal Empire?
Well, for that answer… Look down below!
It was seemingly another normal night in the Crystal Empire, everypony asleep in their dreams as they snoozed. Well, except for one certain pony, or should we say changeling…
Thorax, the only changeling so far to change his ways and live as a pony, was trying to sleep in his room in the Crystal Castle, but for some reason he just couldn't, somehow, he felt there was something wrong. Eventually the reformed changeling how enough and got up to walk around a little in the castle, having no fear because, well, everypony in the Empire accepted him as one of them. That acceptance and friendship eventually led Thorax's wings to change, his wings now shiny with what looked like crystals in them. However, he somehow had some fear tonight.
As Thorax walked on, he could hear something, a faint humming and suddenly, a hint of green light appeared from where he knew the royal couple, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, along with their baby alicorn, Flurry Heart slept in. Thorax started shaking as he slowly went to the royal couple's bedroom door and peeked in, he really wished he didn't…
Inside the room were three changelings, evil of course and Thorax saw them overpower the sleeping royal family and trap them in cocoons. He looked on as the changelings opened some sort of portal and sent them to the changeling kingdom Once that was done, Thorax saw his fellow changelings change into the royal family.
"Excellent, now that this royal couple is gone, we only have one more to replace." A changeling chuckled evilly.
"Yeah, I'm surprised the ones in Canterlot didn't put up a fight, we sure caught them off guard." A second one said.
This caused Thorax to panic and even thought he was keeping his muzzle shut, he couldn't help but let out his feelings, since this was something very bad for everypony.
"Oh no…" Thorax said quietly, but loud enough for the other changelings to notice.
"What was that?" one of the changelings asked the others.
"It sounded like that traitor, Thorax, Queen Chrysalis told us we should try to capture him and bring him back to face punishment." The second changeling reminded the other two.
"Lets find out." The third one said to the other two and they went to the door, Thorax already gone from the door.
The evil changelings, of course in their royal disguises, trotted out of the bedroom and looked around the area, spreading out as they searched for who spied on them. However, they couldn't find Thorax, for he didn't forget he was a changeling, he could change into anypony and he changed into a crystal guard, complete with spear and armor as he trotted normally while trying to stay calm.
The evil changelings saw him, but thought he was just a guard on patrol, not the traitor changeling they wanted, and after the changelings felt they searched enough, they decided to let Thorax go. As Thorax saw the three changelings in disguise enter the royal couple's bedroom, he sighed and went back to his original changeling form.
"That was close…" Thorax thought in his head and trotted out of the castle, trying to breathe as he couldn't believe it, the changelings were back and not only that, their plan this time was bigger and more discreet, Chrysalis surely learned from the royal wedding.
"Thorax…" A soft voice called out from close by, Thorax looking to see where it came from. "Thorax." The voice repeated.
Thorax, after some looking, saw that it was Sunburst, or a pony that looked like Sunburst. Thorax cautiously walked up to Sunburst, thinking he might be another changeling that wanted to capture him. As Thorax came to the orange stallion, Sunburst felt relieved.
"Oh, I'm so glad you're okay Thorax." Sunburst said, however confused by Thorax's behavior to him.
"Yeah, me too…" Thorax replied uneasily.
"What's wrong?" Sunburst asked.
"How do I know you're not a changeling?" Thorax asked.
"Remember when I first saw you in the Crystal Castle, I said…" And Sunburst repeated what he said. " This changeling replaced your friend to get close to the baby! What other explanation could there be?!"
"It is you Sunburst…" Thorax sighed and apologized. "I'm sorry I doubted you."]
"That's okay Thorax, you're just being careful." Sunburst accepted Thorax's apology. "So, I take it you know what happened to the royal couple?"
"Yes, what do we do?" Thorax asked Sunburst.
"Canterlot's lost now, the only pony that can help us now is Princess Twilight and her friends, you need to go to Ponyville and warn them of what's coming and what happened to the rest of the princesses." Sunburst told Thorax.
"But why me?" Thorax asked, not sure he was up to the job.
"Thorax, there's no time." Sunburst reminded Thorax. "I'll stay here and learn as much as I can about what the changelings here have planned and it's better if you escape, you are a much more prized target for Queen Chrysalis to capture." Sunburst explained his reasoning.
"You're right Sunburst, I'll go and hopefully I'm not too late." Thorax tried to put on his bravest voice.
"Good and best of luck." Sunburst said and let Thorax go before the orange stallion himself went back to his own house.
Thorax sneaked out of the empire, staying on the ground, to make sure he wasn't going to be spotted before lifting off and flying as fast as he could to Ponyville. He could only hope that the changelings didn't get to Princess Twilight and take over in Ponyville as well, if they did, than all hope would be lost. And Thorax wasn't doing this for himself, he was doing this for all of the ponies of Equestria, that's how much an effect that friendship had on him and he was determined to save the royal couple he lived with himself if he had to, even if it meant facing his former queen and sacrificing himself for others…
And done!
Sorry it's a little short and not that good… I wrote this very late in the day…
But I hope everypony enjoyed my representation of what happened that night in the Crystal Empire!