~~Follow me, and dare to face the unknown, and ponder the question... What If?~~

The Crystal Empire. A land of peace, prosperity, and glistening crystals that would make the Sun envious. No really, Celestia herself kept bargaining for low prices on those diamonds, who can blame her though? The Empire also boasted several of Equestria and beyond's greatest legends and was an oasis of hopes and dreams.

As with any good thing though, every oasis has its gators and parasites, as this isolated(Well, not really anymore) mass of pure love and chivalry is all that stands in its frozen wasteland, as a powerful shadow, one that feeds off of fear lurks in the icy plains, waiting to slaughter those who dare come within range of its cruel maws.

But, that's a story for a later time.

This story won't take place there, the cameraman thinks it's an absolute hell-hole. It will take place in the Crystal Empire, not in the village, but in the castle, as the subject of our story is a young drake, taking a friend with him to see the infant princess-in-line.

You may recall this particular story, with the ending being the lonely changeling finding true friendship. However, the changeling flees, and the drake finds some unexpected help(or burdens) from someone rather... eccentric.

"This place is everything I've ever dreamed of! But I can't keep pretending to be a Crystal Pony forever, can I?" A sky-blue-colored pony whispered to a stout lavender-colored dragon.

"Relax. You're winning them over. Pretty soon, nopony will care that you're a changeling," The petite dragon reassured.

Only a moment later, a pink-maned alicorn strode up to the duo with jubilance, eager to show the dragon's friend the newfoal Empress of the Crystal Empire.

The strawberry-pink alicorn beamed, "Spike! Twilight told me you were off with a friend. And any friend of Spike the Brave and Glorious is a friend of mine."

The dragon nervously chuckled, dreading the every-inching moment his friend's secret was revealed. To an eagle-eyed observer, that would have given away he was hiding something. Princess Cadence was not, much less right now. She led the pair of friends through the castle's ornate halls.

Guards were posted at nearly every nook and cranny of the gleaming fortress. Shining Armor, the ex-Head of the Royal Guard now crowned Emperor, ordered guards to keenly watch every post on the alert that a changeling, Equestria's most hated enemy, was spotted nearby.

Eventually, Spike, Cadence, and the sky-blue newcomer reached the throne room. Inside, there was a large gathering of ponies, the majority being guards and ponies. In fact, there was a surplus of guards in the throne room, all eager to catch an unlucky shapeshifter. Along with them, there was a tiny hot pink crib rocking back and forth.

Cadence and the sky-blue pony strolled over to the crib and he got a good look at the Empire's future empress. The baby alicorn cooed at the sight of the two ponies, excited at the prospect of making a new friend.

Endeared, the blue pony remarked, "Oh, she's so beautiful! There's so much l-love around her...! I... I...!"

Cadence looked confusingly at the pony from his shuddering when suddenly, the pony shifted into a grotesque coal-black insectoid with cyan eyes and transparent wings. Curiously, the insectoid had holes in its legs, implying a fierce battle or accident occurred. The other ponies in the room were astonished by the pony's true form.

"I... I'm so... sorry...! I can't... Can't... stop!" The shapeshifter apologized.

His reassurance was fruitless as one of the ponies, a lavender alicorn telekinetically dragged Spike and barked, "Spike! Get away from the changeling!"

"Wait, no! You don't understand!" Spike responded.

Another pony, an orange unicorn with a night-blue cloak and glasses panicked, "This changeling replaced your friend to get close to the baby! What other explanation could there be?!"

Speechless, Spike attempted to explain the truth, but he dejectedly replied, "I... I don't know."

Gutted to the core, the changeling fled the castle with a legion of guards committedly in pursuit.

Cadence stated with concern, "I hope your friend is okay."

Spike, feeling like a pack of bricks had fallen on him, found no other words to say except, "Yeah... Me too."

Far in the frigid outskirts of town, there was a cliff that overlooked a deep, icy fissure. As you may recall, this was the first place that Spike and Thorax met and the place they reunited. As such, Spike attempted to locate Thorax in his exiled home. In this reality, however, Thorax had fled much, much farther, and therefore, Spike could not find him.

"Thorax! Hello? I just want to apologize! I should have stood up for you... Aw, come on, Thorax! I know you're in here!" Spike hollered next to the fissure.

Seeing and hearing no sign of Thorax, Spike decided to venture closer to the frosty arch they scared each other, or more accurately, Thorax scared Spike.

Spike aimlessly wandered the place, checking every corner.

"Thorax, it's okay, I'm sorry!"

"Thorax, it was just a misunderstanding!"

"Thorax, if this is a joke, it's not funny!"

"Thorax, could you come out please, you're still my friend, aren't you?"

"Aren't you?" The cave echoed.

The barren cold offered no more replies.

Frustrated and hopeless, Spike returned to the Empire. Upon entering the plaza and experiencing its nighttime glow, he noticed that his once glorious statue had been bludgeoned, tarnished, and scorched. It was a formerly valiant, now ridiculed display of the hero that had prevented King Sombra from regaining his remorseless hold on the Crystal Empire. Not a bad likeness, Spike grimly thought.

Wherever he went, ponies that once idolized and cherished Spike had scorned and sometimes even ignored the fallen hero, refusing to make even a glimpse of eye contact. After a long walk, Spike lamented, "What's the point? Everypony that isn't Twilight had always acted as if I never existed. But the one-time anypony acknowledges me, it's to push me away from a friend. At least the Crystal Empire respected me. But now, they despise me."

A cloud of gloominess started to shroud Spike's mind. "Equestria will be better off without me. Hopefully, I can end my life without anypony noticing. I've always been a nopony anyway." Spike glowered.

Later, Spike searched around for an exceptionally sharp crystal in the. It was perfectly pointed for thrusting, with a sharp edge but a larger handle, like an icicle. It was also quite easy to find, as it only took around 10 minutes to search the glimmering expanse as there were a seemingly unlimited plethora of shiny gems.

Ignoring the jeers from the nearby Spike statue(Most likely about him) Spike then walked over to a back alley, constantly watching for anypony to look for him. The alley was inky dark and secretive, perfect for hiding. Despite the voices in his head telling him to not make a deal with the devil, Spike pressed on, eventually reaching a dead end and a dumpster on the right.

Spike then sighed to no one in particular, "Good-bye everypony. Hopefully, I will be valued in the next life."

Spike held the pointed crystal, its ruby features gleaming under the moonlight, ready to thrust it upon its neck.
He jerked it forward and suddenly,

T H U M P

Author's Note

*Looks like someone is about to become a [[Big Shot]].

*You wonder why there aren't any other Deltarunefics yet.

*Click the banana.

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Turn the volume all the way up for maximum POTASSIUM :)