Shadow of the Pony

I'll save you Rarity. No matter the cost.

The flapping of paper constantly being heard and the sounds of an upset dragon muttering to himself was all anypony could possibly hear in the library as books were scattered everywhere, all on magic and potions, even myths and legends that were already proven wrong. With bloodshot eyes and a sore body, Spike was skimming through all the words on every page, going by as if they were a blur. Only a single lamp was on to give the desperate baby dragon enough light to see the words on the pages. They were piles of books on the floor, many shelves containing nothing but dust as time passed on. Spike just finished skimming a book on all magic spells that had to do with healing, and grasped the next book beside him. Glancing at the cover, Spike read, "Sorcery and You." He opened it a bit too quickly, almost tearing out one of the pages of the aged book. But still, he pressed on.

"Spike, you should really be in bed." A tired voice came from the doorway. Spike glanced around at the lavender unicorn, but quickly turned back to the book, skimming through the words once more.

"Spike.: Twilight said more firm. The dragon sighed, and looked directly in Twilight's eyes.

"What?" He asked, wanting to get back to finding what he needed.

"You aren't going to find a way to heal Rarity, no amount of magic can fix that. And frankly, I don't see the point. You need some rest Spike, but I'll promise you I will help tomorrow." Twilight walked up the Spike and put a hoof on his shoulder.

"You promise?" The dragon asked. Twilight pulled him into a big, unexpected hug.

"Promise." She responded. Meanwhile, she was fighting with herself in her brain.

What do I do? Rarity is gone! No magic can bring a pony back to life, even Princess Celestia has tried it once! I'm not sure whether I can hold this promise or not, but I want to help Spike...

The unicorn was torn between helping Spike and just forgetting all about it. But she new that Spike would not let this up tomorrow morning, he's just going to continue dragging Twilight deeper into this mess, with no known way of getting Spike to recover from the recent... incident.

"C'mon. Let's get some sleep." Twilight said as she nudged Spike towards the door. The dragon stopped and took one last look at Twilight before turning towards the door and leaving the room. Twilight turned towards the mess of scattered books all over the floor, noticing that each book is one on magic or anything else that has magical effects. With her horn glowing a deep purple, Twilight levitated each and every book onto the blank shelves, making sure to have them in perfect alphabetical order. If nothing was neatly organized, she would probably have one of those "episodes," which usually happens due to terrible organization. After a few minutes of clearing the floor of books and checking every book to make sure they were in order, Twilight walked out of the room and back to her bed, where she slumped down, tired and exhausted. Before her slumber, she had to wonder what pushed Spike to stay awake for a full 48 hours, barely resting, looking through many and many books over and over again. She pushed the thought to the back of her brain to ponder about it sometime tomorrow.

The next day

Spike sat up and rubbed his eyes, yawning at the same time. He looked over at the window to see the sun rising over the horizon. He looked at the bed near his basket he slept in to find that the blanket was flat against the cover. He yawned yet again, thinking to himself what a good sleep that was. His thoughts were interrupted by a gurgling from his stomach, and he belched a green flame, in which it changed shape until it morphed into a letter, falling on the ground. Spike removed the ribbon keeping the scroll rolled up, and opened it to find a bunch of blurred words on the slip of paper. He narrowed his eyes to see better, and could form the words.

Dear Spike,

Come to Canterlot immediately. The Princess believes she knows how to help with your problem.

-Twilight

Spike's eyes widened, and he ran down the stairs, letting go of the letter, and letting it fall to the ground. He bursted out of the library in a rush to catch the train to Canterlot. Whatever this was, it was important to Spike if he could revive Rarity. He remembered it bright as day, getting things for Rarity as she was in bed, horribly ill. Not even a week before, she died of an unknown sickness, and doctors still cannot describe the sickness. After a long run, Spike arrived at the local train station and bought a ticket with some spare birthday money. When the train was about to leave, he hurried in and sat in a fairly comfortable seat, where he thought about many things at once, in which he was getting more impatient to get to Canterlot with every passing thought. He wondered what the disease Rarity had was, he wondered what Princess Celestia and Twilight had uncovered about how to help Rarity.

Help. More like rising from the dead. Spike knew that everyone has to die sometime, even Princess Celestia and Luna, what with them being immortal and all. But making someone come out of death and back to being conscious again just isn't natural. Spike argued whether he was doing a good or bad thing. Maybe he should let go of Rarity, continue on in life without his crush with him...

*Screeech!*

"Arriving at Canterlot!"

Spike looked up and out the window. He already arrived. His thoughts must have gone longer than they seemed, it only felt like minutes since Spike left Ponyville. Nonetheless, the dragon jumped down from his seat and ran out the train doors. Locating the castle, Spike ran in its general direction, making haste. He needed to know this information now, no matter what.

A few minutes later, Spike walked through the castle doors, thankful that no guards were there. It was always a battle just to get inside the castle. Spike instantly ran down a series of hallways and stairs, memorizing every location of every room in every hallway, from his past memories here. When finally slowing down, sweating, and panting, Spike finally found the door to Princess Celestia's throne room. He pushed the door open and found Twilight talking with Princess Celestia about he matter.

"I'm here!" Spike wheezed, "Now tell me what I have to do!"

"...Yes, I believe we have found a solution to your predicament." Princess Celestia confirmed.

"Lay it on me." Spike requested, still panting, taking deep breaths.

"Well, no magic can fix this, not even Princess Celestia's magic, which as we know, is almighty." Twilight explained.

"Yes, there has been no recorded spell to bring a pony or other creature back to from the dead." Princess Celestia confirmed.

"BUT! There have been legends of an ancient and forbidden land, where nopony inhabits it, except one." Twilight reassured.

"Yes, there are myths of the being known as Dormin, the god that can make any wish come true." Princess Celestia explained.

"So, why is it deserted?" Spike asked, a puzzled look on his face.

"That's a good question! You see, the land isn't very good for living, but it is said there were once beings living there. This is still a legend, but they say that there are ruins of cities and monuments, and the only thing that still stands is the shrine." Twilight explained.

"However, this is still all a longshot. We do not know if this is true or not, and the only lead of where exactly it is was with a map passed down from my ancestors for generations." Princess Celestia responded.

"But why me? And why can't you teleport to the place?" Spike asked, looking between the two.

"That's the problem. We can't teleport there because of Dormin. His presence hinders our teleportation." Twilight explained.

"Or if he isn't real, something is hindering our teleportation." Princess Celestia interrupted.

"And we can only bring you and another pony because of how many supplies you would need. The trip there is over two weeks. We can't have supplies to feed an entire group higher than at least one. Thankfully, you don't need as much food as other beings, and Rainbow Dash has proven her survival skills." Twilight quickly explained.

"Rainbow Dash?" Spike asked, getting more confused by the minute.

"Yes, Rainbow Dash will join you in your adventure." Princess Celestia said.

"Well, let's get started! I want this done fast!" Spike said in a rush. Twilight turned and nodded at the Princess. She nodded back, and her horn started glowing a bright yellow. Soon enough, there was a bright flash, and Spike and Twilight were back in the library.

"Okay, you'll need supplies. I want you to gather all the food you need for the trip." Twilight ordered.

"Got it!" Spike saluted. He then dashed off to get food and things. Twilight used her teleportation spell, which still needed a little perfecting, and got herself back in the throne room, where Princess Celestia was waiting, a sword, a bow and a pack of arrows, and a strange cloth with a peculiar design on it. Twilight looked at the item that closely resembled clothes and a cape and sighed.

"Really?" She asked, annoyance in her tone. Princess Celestia just shrugged. Twilight sighed again and walked over to the items, and used her teleportation spell yet again. She was back at the library, and found Spike cramming a hoof full of diamonds in his mouth.

"Come on, Spike!" Twilight half yelled.

"What?" He said between bites, "I'm getting some for the road!"

"Whatever, just put this on." Twilight handed him the clothes and supplies and watched as he struggled to put it on.

"Are you sure, Twilight? This is itchy... and why do I even have to wear this?" He asked. Twilight searched her mind for an excuse, but only one word came to mind.

"It's stylish?" She pitifully said, an awkward smile on her face. Spike sighed, and strapped on the remaining equipment.

"Well, can you dig up Rarity? I'll go get Rainbow Dash." Spike said, and walked out the door. Twilight sighed, she never really like dirty work, even with her magic. What ponies don't understand is that magic can't do every single thing, it takes time and patience. Twilight strolled out of the library, and levitated the shovel leaning against the wall. Twilight shook it out, for it had not been used for years, and it was collecting dust. Why would you need to have the use of a shovel? It's a library, for Celestia's sake. But Twilight knew it would come in handy someday. However, she never knew it would be for digging up one of the dead bodies of one of her best friends. She walked towards the Ponyville cemetery, which was not too far from the library.

"Rainbow Dash! Are you there?!" Spike called up to the cloud house. He heard the clicking of unlocking a door, and heard the pegasus call out,

"What?!" She sounded a bit annoyed.

"Down here!" Spike called. He saw the cerulean pegasus look below off her cloud and her frown turned into a smile.

"Hi Spike!" Upon closer inspection, Rainbow laughed and finally added, "What's with the getup?" She then continued to laugh, while Spike stood there embarrassed, annoyed, and growing more and more impatient.

"Just come down here!" Spike called up to the laughing pegasus. Soon enough, he found her blue form descending from the cloud and finally in front of him.

"But really, why are you dressed like that?" She looked at the blade at his side. "And the sword?" Another closer look. "...And arrows?"

Spike hesitated. He didn't know whether or not Rainbow would believe this, let alone join him. Finally, he spoke up.

"Well, Princess Celestia and Twilight think they might've found a way to save Rarity." Spike quickly explained. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at this.

"You mean they found a way to bring her back to life?" she asked.

"Possibly, yes. And I need your help to do it." Spike responded.

"Sure." She agreed. Spike was shocked at this. She didn't care? At all?

"Well, we have to travel for two weeks to a place we aren't even sure exists." Spike pressed on.

"Pfft, I've dealt with worse. Besides, Rarity is my friend, I'll do anything to help her." She responded.

"...Okay! Let's meet up with Twilight.". Spike was about to walk away towards the cemetery until Rainbow Dash called after him.

"Wait! What's Twilight doing?" She asked.

"Oh, she's digging up Rarity's body." Spike informed, and walked towards the cemetery yet again.

"...Oh." Rainbow said, lost in thought, before catching up to Spike.

Twilight stood there, panting. Boy, this sure is exhausting, she thought, even with magic.

Once again, she got back to digging, and finally, a loud Thunk was heard as the shovel bumped into something in the pit. Twilight looked down into the hole, and with her magic, tossed the remaining dirt on the bottom out of the pit. Sure enough, there was a wooden coffin there, and Twilight opened it with her magic, revealing a bit dirty, but still very fresh, Rarity. Twilight levitated the body into a large cloth and wrapped it around her, covering all of her body.

"Hey Twilight!"

Twilight looked over to where the call was made, and saw Spike standing next to Rainbow Dash, waving their hooves and claws in the air, getting her attention. They ran over and looked at the peculiar cloth with a strangely shaped lump inside.

"I'm guessing that's Rarity?" Spike asked.

"Yup. You better get going, did you pack all the food?" Twilight worriedly asked.

"Yeah, it's back at the library." Spike confirmed.

"Perfect. Let's get moving!" Rainbow interrupted.

"Now Spike, from Princess Celestia's instructions, you two need to head exactly in that direction, straight." Twilight told Spike, pointing a hoof past a building that looked like Northwest, but Spike wasn't too sure.

"Got it." Spike nodded. Rainbow nodded too.

"Alright, that seems to be it, I wish you two good luck." Twilight finished.

Spike nodded, and hopped on Rainbow's back, which held a formidable amount of food, not too much, not too little. Spike took another look at Twilight, as if he'd almost never see her again.

"Bye, Twilight." Spike said, and Rainbow Dash went airborne, following the direction Twilight had pointed out. After the departure, Spike's mind took control, and he pondered about so many different things at once, already missing his friends and family. He lifted the cloth covering Rarity's body, and took a look at her pale face. He smiled. Even when she's dead, she still looks beautiful...

_____________________________________________________________________________

Well, that's the end of the prologue.

If you don't know what this story will be based off of, it's Shadow of the Colossus. Google it.

Anyways, I hope this becomes really good and hope that the people who read it will very much enjoy it. Please excuse me for some mistakes or anything else, I tried as hard as I could to make this.

Until next time!

-Digit