Time is all we have.

by Iron Sword

Rating: mature
Tags: Rarity, Romance, Spike, Tragedy, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Sad, Main 6, Princess Luna, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 3147

Tragedy strikes the girls. Can Rarity and Spike come together to undo the past?

After a trip to the Castle of the Pony Sisters turns disastrous. Spike and Rarity are left picking up the pieces. Follow them as they hope to undo the past and save their friends from their terrible fate.

Published 2015-03-10 18:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-03-10 18:00:02 UTC

The near past.

Author's Note

What's up guys. Just trying out some different ideas I got rolling around in my head. If ya'll like it, clicky the button.

And I always.

Terrible grammar
Colons and Semi-colons are the devil
I am my own editor

With that, Enjoy!

The near past.

"It's okay Spike, whenever you're ready, you can begin."

"O-okay Doc." The tiny dragon answered, doing his best to hold back tears.

Clearing his throat, he began. "I woke up like any other day. Twilight told me the night before that the earthquake a few days back had opened up a new passage in the Castle of the Two Sisters... She naturally wanted to go there and explore it. I hadn't seen her so excited in a long time. She was going on about all the possible books and artifacts she might find."

He gave a weary smile. "She was even more excited about categorizing it all. I mean really, what kind of pony is excited about labels and alphabetizing?"

"And were you excited?" Dr Head Shrink asked, jotting in his notebook.

Spiked paused. "Eh, I was just happy that Rarity was coming along."

"Miss Rarity?" Head Shrink asked with a raised eyebrows.

"N...yeah." Spike admitted in defeat, not looking away from the floor. "The girls thought it was silly, but I have liked Rarity since the first day me and Twilight moved to Ponyville... She's nice and funny and super pretty. Some ponies think she's a snob, but that's just because they don't know her like her friends do."

"I see." Head Shrink says nodding. Using his magic to scribble into his notepad again.

"So what happened next?" He asks, looking up from his notes.

"After gathering all the girls, we headed into the Everfree Forest. That's where the castle is."

Spike looked up from the ground and met the gaze of Dr. Shrink.

"We never should of gone." He whispered, choking through his tears. A look of absolute terror on his face.

"Ughhhh Come onnn. You guys are sooo sloow." Rainbow Dash whined from the skies above the small troupe of ponies. "We could have been there an hour ago."

"Not all of us have wings, Rainbow Dash." Applejack casually reminded her friend AGAIN about that small fact after catching another branch to the face.

"Come now darling." Rarity smiled beneath the rim of her comically over-sized sun hat. "There is no need for all this hostility. We shall be there shortly."

"Ohhh I'm so excited. I wonder what we will find!" Twilight squeaked, looking more like Pinkie Pie with her bouncing.

"I know!" Pinkie Pie answered. "I can't wait to get back! I already have the decorations set up for the, "We found a bunch of cool stuff party."

"I just wish we told Princess Luna and Princess Celestia." Fluttershy remarked, stepping gingerly under a low hanging branch.

"No way Fluttershy! I wanted this to be a surprise for them when we found something from their childhood. Can you imagine the looks on their faces when we show up that something!? Oh it will be priceless. Plus its too late for that, we're here." Twilight finished by moving a jumble of vines, exposing the castle just over the gorge.

Even though the girls had made the trip dozens of times and even stayed over night, the castle never got any less eerie. The shadows had a ominous way of gathering over the fallen statues and broken columns. Even the Everfree Forest has had a hard time reclaiming what was once its land. The girls marched across the rope bridge and made their way into the newly exposed catacombs deep beneath the ground the castle was build upon.

Letting off a cute squee of a sneeze, that made every pony leap out of their coats. Fluttershy is the only one to say anything during their dark decent, only commenting on how stuffy it was. The rest of the girls seemed to be lost in their imaginations. Concerned as to what could pop out behind any one of the unexplored corners. Twilight and Rarity held the magical light at the tips of their horns but this didn't help either. The narrow halls and dark stone seemed to leach the light from the air and the warmth from their bodies.

"Anypony else feel that?" The usually tough Applejack asks, visibly shuddering from the cold breeze that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"It does feel a bit nippy, doesn't it? Oh I knew I should have brought a scarf." Rarity shuttered, shrugging her shoulders against the chill.

"OW! What in the...." Twilight began but is stopped short, coming in contact with the large menacing black door in front of her. "This is... strange. Fascinating but strange."

"The light disappears into the metal." Rainbow remarked. Twilight ran a hoof over the door, causing her light to all but flicker out.

"In all my studies, I've never come across anything like this... We need to get in there." Twilight said turning around.

The rest of the group only stares blankly at her.

"You know me Twi, I'm always up for a good adventure but.." Rainbow began.

"But the walk down here was fun enough. Besides, my Pinkie Sense is going all kinds of wonky right now." Pinkie Pie finishes, her body
spasming in unnatural ways, even for her.

"Besides sugar cube, look. There ain't no handles or nothin'. How do you suppose we get in there?" The orange mare asks, hoping this would discourage her over eager friend into giving up.

"If she heard any of it, she didn't say so." Spike said, bringing the story back to the present.
Counting on his claw he recounts, "I mean, those girls defeated Nightmare moon, Queen Chrysalis, Sombra, Discord, the big centaur thing what's his name?.."

"Tirek." Dr. Shrink remarks.

"Yeah him, I mean, not to mention hydras, manticores and all others that I can't even remember. What could they possibly be scared of?!" Spike finishes wincing. Not sure of whom he was trying to convince.

"Are you okay Spike? How's the pain? Do you need me to call the nurse?"

Finally losing his composure. "Buck the nurse! And buck you! Don't you get it?!"

The doctor looks at him, puzzled, caught off guard by this tiny dragon's furry. "No I.." He's cut off by a shrieking.

"It's all MY fault! I opened the door! I knew it was a bad idea, I should have tried harder to stop them!" Spike falls to the floor, blood seeping through the bandages on his missing right claw. "It's all my fault, and now they're gone... It's all my fault..."

There is a light knock at the door.

"We're busy, please make an appointment." Dr. Shrink says, not daring to leave his broken patient without a shoulder to cry on.

The door creaks open to reveal a surgical tech, still in scrubs. "I'm really sorry to disturb you Dr. Shrink but, she's awake and frightened and wants to talk to somepony she knows."

"Finally some good news." Dr. Shrink says under his breath. "Come on Spike, there is somepony who wants to see you."

Spike entered the small, dimly lit ICU room. Beneath the steady tones of the monitors he heard soft, labored breathing. He was told it was Rarity but that wasn't possible. Her usual perfect white coat was stained with dried blood and dirt. Tubes ran out of her nose and into a machine he assumed was helping her breath. Her well kept mane and tail were disheveled and dirty. Even with the aroma of disinfectant in the air, he could smell her. Not her usual lavender or rose petal perfume but that of sweat, burned skin and death. This wasn't Rarity; This was a nightmare.

"Spikey- wikey?" The twisted body weakly inquires in Rarity's sweet voice. "Is that you? I can't see you darling, please come closer it hurts to move."

Spike slowly approaches. The thing in the bed sits up, face catching the moonlight flowing in from the window. It smiles when it sees him.

"Spike? I've been so worried. The doctors and nurses won't tell me anything. What happened, are the girls okay?"

Any trepidation the young dragon had was gone a soon as he saw her panic-stricken face. With a heaving jump he made his way onto the bed and wrapped his arms around her neck. Any tears he would have had were all used up and to be able to hold her was a bitter sweet blessing.

However, something felt wrong. "Spike wha..." Rarity trails off pulling him away at arms length with alarm in her face. "What happened to your claw?! I don't understand, where are the girls?!"

After a few moments, Spike finally looks up, trying his best to be strong for her.

"We found a hole in the wall. I was the only one small enough to fit, so I was volunteered to go in. I didn't want to Rarity, honest."

She winces but speaks. "I remember... you went in and there was a loud noise. It sounded like... stone against stone."

"Yeah, I found a lever that looked like it opened the door, so I pulled it."

"Yes, yes." She says, as if remembering a dream.

The heart rate monitor and blood pressure spiked suddenly, bringing in a crew of nurses.

"Oh Celestia no, Spike tell me it's not true, please!" Rarity begged, hoping to wake up from this horrid dream.

Unable to hold back anymore Spike finally let go of what he was afraid of saying out loud, maybe if he didn't... I would make it less true.

In a whisper. "They're all gone Rarity...Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight. Whatever was locked behind that door killed all of our friends and..." he finishes by holding up his right arm.

The two looked at the stump for a moment before Rarity's eyes rolled back into her head and began seizing.

"Code blue! Somepony bring me the crash cart!" A unicorn nurse shouts, lifting Spike off the bed, guiding him across the room and into the hallway before a team of doctors and nurses rush past him. The door shuts leaving spike dazed and disorientated.

"Let me in! That's my friend!" He screams while beating on the door, causing his half healed arm to spill new blood. "Please! She's all I have left. Please, I don't have anyone else. Please!"

"Tis a lie young Spike. We are still here for you." A soothing voice calls from behind him.

"P-P-Princess Luna?!"

"I apologize for my absence, Tia is still recovering from her fight with the creature. How fairs Generosity?"

"I think...I think her heart stopped." He says looking back toward the door, about to break into tears again at any moment.

Luna's horn emits a bright glow before a smile appears on her face.

"The doctors were successful in restarting her heart, she is resting. There is no more you can do here Spike. I need you to come with me."

Without having an opportunity to give an answer, Spike sees the familiar glow of teleportation magic before he is standing in a familiar library.

"Does thou recognize where we are Spike?" Luna inquires, walking toward a chained off section of the Canterlot archives.

"Uhhh, it looks like the Star Swirl the Bearded section... in Canterlot's library. What are we doing here? Shouldn't we be waiting for Rarity to wake up?"

"Perhaps." She answers nonchalantly, lazily levitating books on and off the shelves. "Does thou happen to recall what kinds of spells are kept here?" She asks, throwing spike a cocked eyebrow.

"I don't know, the only time I was here was when Twilight was looking for a time trav..." His still bloodshot eyes widen and his heart jumps into his throat before he scrambles toward the closest isle. Ripping book after book off the shelf in a frantic attempt to find an answer in the first twenty seconds of being there, he feels a loving hoof on his shoulder.

"Calm yourself Spike. First you need to heal. You are no good to any pony in your state."

"I'm fine princess." Spike says a little more aggressively than he intended.

"Are you now?" She asks, pointing at the gauze. In his haste, he didn't realize that he had been dripping and smearing blood all over the books that he now held in his arms. He shakily sets the books down, afraid for a moment that Twilight would come running around the corner to scold him... But that wasn't going to happen ever again.

"When...When are the funerals?" Spike asks, looking up to meet her gaze.

"Two days from now. There are also plans for monuments to be put up in the Castle Gardens." She says, as if it were just another day. This didn't sit well with Spike.

The usually suppressed dragon in him coming out once again in disgust, "Do you not care?! Weren't they your friends? Do you not feel anything?!"

The always composed Princess Luna turn into her moonlight to let him get a good view of her. Spike immediately regretted opening his big mouth. Upon her face was a deep sadness the likes he had never seen on any creature. She had been alone, imprisoned for 1,000 years and she had just lost all but one two of the ponies she had cared for most.

"Spike, we would love to be selfish, if only for a moment but we can not. With my sister recovering, the country still needs a princess and the sun and moon still need to rise and fall."

"I'm sorry princess... I,"

"You are fine young Spike. I fear the harder task is with you at the moment. If you are to succeed in this undertaking, you must convince a particular unicorn to learn the spells and be willing to go back in time to prevent this from happening."

"How, I mean... I know she'll want to but..."

"A matter of aptitude then? If she does agree, I will train her myself."

"What about Princess Celestia? What does she think about all this?"

"My sister will agree... Most likely.... After I tell her." Luna says, trying to hide her own worries.

Spike tries to voice his concerns but is quickly cut off. "As I said before Spike, you just worry about recovering and talking to Generosity. I will worry about my sister."

"O-Okay princess... Is there anything else you need me to do?"

She smiles and nods. "Wake up."

Spike blinked hard against the harsh lights of the ICU waiting room. "Huh..Wha?", was all he could muster before the pony behind the nurse's desk spotted him.

"Thank goodness, you are finally awake. You passed out in the hallway beating on the door to miss Rarity's room. She should be waking up any moment now, she gave us quite the scare ya know."

Spike nodded and yawned. "How long was I asleep for?" He thought to himself before pushing open Rarity's door.

Since his departure to dream land, the nurses had cleaned up Rarity to the point that he couldn't really tell anything had happened at all. She sat in the moonlight in her purest form. Her usual stylized mane hung loosely around her shoulders. Her face had no traces of make up at all and, to Spike, it made her seem older for some reason... He liked it. He stood in the pale darkness and stared at her in awe. Finally noticing another presence in the room; Rarity turned, her tear stained cheeks glinting off the light, telling Spike everything he needed to know. She smiled at him and stuck out her arms, motioning for him to give her a hug. He graciously accepted by hopping up and snuggling into her fur. They lay there for a moment, neither one knowing what to say. If there was anything to say. Finally, Spike broke the silence.

"I'm sorry Rarity... I'm so sorry. I.."

"Shhhh, there there darling. There is nothing you need to apologize for." She whispered, rubbing back the spines on his head. "It happened and it's no ponies fault, so just keep those dreadful thoughts out of your head."

Seeing his opportunity to tell her, Spike looked up to meet her view. "What if I told you, it never has to happen?"

She stares at his tiny face for any sign or clue to what he was talking about. Finding none, she glared at him with doubt. He takes a deep breath, looks toward the window and carefully explains what had happened in his dream. He tells her about Luna and the time travel incident with Twilight and Pinkie Pie. He sees that she is about to doubt her own skill but quickly explains how Luna and Celestia will train her. He reluctantly tells her about he funerals as well. She smiles sweetly, before slowly contemplating all this new information before a frantic realization appears on her face.

"Could it really work?" She murmurs, not expecting an answer.

"...Isn't it worth a try?" He prods.

"Yes!" She says in a, how dare you suggest otherwise, manner. "What do we need to do?"

"First we need to get better." He says, holding up his mangled bandages, repeating what Luna had told him. "Then we go to the castle where Luna will train you in magic."

"What will you be doing Spikey-wikey?" Rarity asks, positive he didn't mention it before.

He paused. "Uhhh, I don't know. I guess she will tell me when I get there. I don't know how much help I can be without magic but..." He trials off.

"Don't you worry your handsome little scales about it, one thing at a time remember?"

He smiles, yawns and repeats. "One thing at a time... Well, I should probably let you sleep, I will see you when you wake up, okay?"

Rarity looks hurt for a moment then a bit embarrassed. "Spike, would it be too un-lady like for me to ask you to lay with me until I fall asleep?"

He does a poor job hiding his enthusiasm and snuggles back up to her neck. She lays a foreleg around his tiny frame and pulled him close. She knew if she let her mind wander now it would be the end of her. She refused to let her brain remind her that Spike was alone now...That he had just lost his, for lack of a better term, mother. She refused to let the poisonous truth about Luna's plan take hold; That was a long shot at best. No, not tonight. Tonight it was only her and Spike and any pony else was just going to have to wait. She finally, reluctantly let her eyes drift close and slumber took her.