Ridiculed. Furious. Ashamed. These were only an iota of the feelings coursing through Spike ever since Thorax had fled the Crystal Empire. The young drake tried looking everywhere for the renegade Changeling, even the cliff where they first met. Starting to have...unpleasant thoughts, he considers freeing himself from this life. He then enters a dark alleyway, where not even the former chants of glory, now the cries of disbelief and rage could not echo in his ear. As he sulks closer to the dead end, the nearby dumpster crashes wide open, jumping from it, a strange little man wants to make a deal with him.

(Cover art is not mine, it's by Steampunkfox999 on Reddit)