The Legend of Fauna

“Geez, it looks like mom is pretty pissed. Dad is coming to take over for you tomorrow... and I'm pawning off my shift. What does yours say?” The monochrome Angel asked the vampiric Mage.

        “Looks like something similar, sort of, anyways. The first part is just a warning label about my mom's jealousy issues. Nothing new. Looks like I'm headed home Thursday.” The Angel nodded.

        “Seems like it. Well, if that's all there is, I guess we should get rid of these. Do ya mind burning these?” The Angel said, crouching to get to eye level with Spike.

        “I... guess? Honestly, if it weren't for the names at the top, I wouldn't have even known they were letters. Both of you can read all these squiggly lines?” Spike continued to examine the letters covered in foreign language. Some of the characters he'd seen when he read his comics, but as to what they meant was a different story. Eclipse handed Spike his letter.

        “Yeah. It's his fault too. Or I could just be compulsively competitive to a fault, that's also a possibility. But mostly, it's his fault.” Zephraim more or less lost all expression in his face and simply stared at his cousin.

        “Yep. My fault. Because I introduced you to a game. That you needed to be better at. Because... I was better than you... for like, a week.” Eclipse turned away and headed toward the library door.

        “I said mostly, didn't I? Come on Eris, let's go back.” The Mage said as he magically pulled the girl away from the table. She wasn't quite prepared for the sudden move and dropped the cup she was holding.

        “Hey! I was still drinking that...” The Mage shrugged. Once she was by his side, she gave up and fell in line.

        “Too bad. We'll be back tomorrow anyways. Later Z.” Eclipse said as he exited the library, practically pushing the black robed girl out the door.

        “Night Eclipse.” And with that, the door shut and all the guests had left the library. Spike grabbed a small white ceramic bowl that hadn't been used for the night's festivities and then lit the edges of both pages. He sat and watched as the green light started to creep up both of them, eventually igniting whole pages in a lime green blaze just before petering out into little black cinders. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Zephraim standing behind him.

        “You might just be handy to have a round after all, little dragon boy.” Said the Angel.

Was that a compliment? “Uh, thanks?” Spike said after deliberating over the sincerity of the statement.

        “Don't worry about it, it's just how I am. The sarcastic breed sarcasm, my whole family is that way. I'm gonna be up for a while, why don't you go get some rest?” He said while taking his disk from his pocket and beginning to swipe his fingers across the screen.

        “Okay then.” Spike stood, stretched, and yawned, not expecting the last action to happen. I must be tired after all. What a weird day. “I must actually be tired. I never yawn. Night Zeph.”

        “Night Spike.” With a wave and another yawn, Spike took to the stair case and dragged himself up it. When he finally reached the top, he noticed it was dark on the upper floor.

Twilight must be asleep already. If anything was weird today, it had to be her being social. Who knew she could be normal in a group? She's usually just quiet and jittery, but she actually spoke more than a few words. To more than one person at that. I don't know how much of this Celestia actually planned, but it must be good for her some how.

        With his thought process slowing, and his bed's embrace becoming a numbing agent, Sleep finally took the dragon boy.

        Wednesday came, and not much had changed, save for the cast of people to show up in it. A living relic of a person with a dark history showed up to train the girls in hopes of keeping the world safe, and Spike stayed at his new home, pondering what exactly he saw this morning.

        Sure, the Demon King, Sombra Black showed up, but more importantly, why did he see Twilight and Zeph sleeping together again?

She's social, she's smiling, and she's getting close to a guy? When did the world turn upside down? Who is this girl posing as my sister?

        Spike didn't know what to feel or do, so in an effort to ease his mind, he decided to burn through some of his recently purchased comics. In the first hour, he managed to keep from thing about anything else and focus on his story. In the next hour, a slight romantic sub plot started up between the main character and a girl that was introduced a few chapters before. It eventually derailed and collided with the main plot in the later chapters in the next hour, and finally, the main character was forced to kill his love interest to save the world, or join her and watch the planet crumble.

        Suddenly, Spike felt like his comic and real life weren't so far apart anymore, and he went back to trying to decipher the riddle of what the hell was going on. He didn't get very far before the perpetrator of his conundrum arrived back at the library after some of the other girls did. He didn't know what to say to her. He didn't feel like she was willing to even talk about the subject after the way she acted the first morning, and even if he brought it up, she would likely outright deny any involvement in it until Spike had physical evidence for it. Of course, this wouldn't be hard to get considering there were molted Angel feathers in her bed, but that would just lead to a fight he didn't want to have.

        So, after dinner finished and everyone had left or gone to bed, Spike decided it was time to ask Celestia about his inquiry. At first, it was almost like as soon as he needed to write something he could no longer think, but then the thoughts and words started to flow from his fingers and into the keyboard.

        Before he knew it, he'd written nearly four pages worth of details about the strange relationship that had suddenly come into existence with just a few things sprinkled in about what had happened that day. Checking the clock to see if he had made it on time, Spike deflated when he realized he'd missed the deadline by about three hours.

        “Figures. Might as well send it anyways. I wonder if she's even awake? Oh well. At worst, I'll wake up to the feeling of a letter coming through... eww...” He said to himself as he prepared four pieces of paper to be printed on. When he checked the screen again, and was more than surprised to see that some of his text had changed.

        “What the? I don't... know some of these words, I know I didn't write this...” He said bringing the disk closer to his face to inspect the little pixels in the screen as if they held the answer to why his message changed.

        “My apologies Master Spike, I only meant to correct errors.” The disk said. Upon hearing the voice, Spike nearly dropped it on the floor before managing to catch the keyboard and the disk barely staying on it's jack.

        “Oh crap! Ah...” He breathed, setting the disk and keyboard back on the large wooden table in the center of the library. Then he realized who the voice belonged to. “Andromeda?”

        “Yes?” The blue and violet sprite of the sorcerer replied after making his presence visible.

        “How? Or really, why, are you in my disk?” The dragon boy asked, trying to settle his appendages back in the chair. It was always difficult to get his wings to cooperate after being startled.

        “Oh, I simply noticed you were still awake and decided to check on you.” He said in his generally cheery tone. Andromeda always reminded Spike of a butler when he spoke. Eager and happy to help at all times.

        “So uh... I guess if you corrected it, you read my letter huh?” A little puff cloud animation flew away from the sorcerer's sprite as he moved into a cross-legged position.

        “I suppose I did. I apologize if I've intruded on your privacy.” Spike sat back in the armchair and put his hands behind his head.

        “I don't mind, really. And maybe it's a good thing you're here. I kinda feel like I need someone to talk to this about.” Andromeda nodded.

        “If that is what you wish Master Spike, then I will hear you out. Perhaps you can reiterate what you said in your letter to me, and then we can go from there?” Spike started to feel a smile creep up on his face for the first time today, then began to tell Andromeda all about his day.

        Twilight awoke to darkness. She was on the upstairs couch, the book she'd been reading in her hands, and covered by a blanket she didn't remember getting. Faint streetlamps pierced the curtains to the windows of the library, keeping the light level at minimal, but that was more than enough for Twilight's eyes to see in. She checked around the room. Spike's curtain wasn't drawn, but there was no ten year old in the bed, and the Angel was curled up in a little ball of feathers in his own. Checking the clock on her disk, Twilight noticed that Andromeda was nowhere to be found either.

        It's 3 in the morning and neither of them are upstairs. Which means they're down stairs. Probably together. She figured that since sleep was lost, it wasn't coming back without some magical interference, she might as well see what they were up to. The current room temperature must have been ten degrees lower than what the blanket was at, because as soon as she removed her blanket, her hands felt like they'd been covered in ice.

        Throwing the blanket around her shoulders to try and retain warmth, Twilight made her way down the staircase, making sure to avoid looking at the Angel and getting funny ideas. On her way down, candle light was coming from the window in the wooden door that lead to the main room. She started to hear voices as she drew closer to it.

        “...And you think she should just... go with the flow? Give in, and just let it happen?” The first voice sounded like Spike.

        “Frankly, yes. Based on our earlier discussion, that future seems like it ends well for them both of them, provided our current time line doesn't diverge too far off course from it.” And the next voice was of the Sorcerer.

He must have downloaded himself from my disk to Spike's... Rather than joining the conversation, Twilight decided she might listen for a while to see what they were talking about. It wasn't a too far off guess that it involved her.

        “So, what exactly did he tell you? That it just kinda happened? How did that happen in the first place? He's no Mage. I've read a lot of stuff for my age, and even the fantasy stuff doesn't go like that.” Argued Spike. If Twilight knew her brother, he was debating a scifi theory.

        “I don't know. Master Spike, there is very little written and recorded on magic that travels through time in any form. Pocket dimensions are a close as we can get, and that really isn't even close to actually moving within a time line. The Eldritch girl is an anomaly just by existing. Considering these events happened on the same night, there's very little chance that it was just coincidence. He wouldn't lie to me, and I believe that they could end up together.”

What in the world are they talking about? A book or something?

        “Well, even if it wasn't coincidence, I don't like the idea of shipping them on purpose. It just feels kinda... I don't know, dirty. Shouldn't it be her decision? Like, without an outside influence?”

        “Honestly, I wouldn't be able to tell you if she will ever open up to anyone. 'Hope for the best, expect the worst, and interfere where you can.' The woman knows what she's talking about, and this situation is one that we can interfere with. Is it better to let her continue like this, frail and lonely? Or would you prefer to see her happy, even if you might be the cause of it?”

        Something slammed on wood. Judging by the volume of the sound, it was probably Spike's tail.

        “Of course I want to see her happy, but I don't like the way this feels! It's like... that episode of Time journal. He read the entry saying he never opened that door and would win the game in just a few hours after. But he decided to change fate and look in the door, and learn something he never should have. The whole world blows up like, ten episodes after that, but of course, not without thousands of people dying in the process. Should we really open the door?”

        This wasn't... a normal conversation. Spike sounded like he was actually concerned. Not just, 'oh it's just a story, it would never happen in real life,' but something more was going on. The further the conversation went, the more it sounded like it wasn't about a book or some anime.

        “If you intend to follow that line of logic, then how about this? Say we don't open the door. We don't try and help this along, and we never speak of it again. And things go awry. Horribly awry. What if, I told you that, in a year, she would have more power than anyone else? Suddenly she can do as she pleases, and there will not be much outside of the strongest forces available that can fight her? She happens to be a key to one of those forces as well, so then what do we do? Do we rely on her moral integrity? Or do we wait for her to crack when her anti-social tendencies finally take over? The day that she does, it may as well be the apocalypse.”

        “Apocalypse? What else do you know about this that I don't? Andromeda, that's not just playing with two lives, that's playing with the world!”

        Spike was shushed hurriedly for being loud.

        “We wouldn't want to wake anyone, now would we Master Spike?” There was a silence before Andromeda continued.

        “But you are correct. It is playing with the world, but this is where the saying becomes relevant. We expect the world to end when that day finally comes. We hope that it doesn't and everyone can live another day. But to beat our expectations, we must interfere. We have cards of our own, even if she has the ones that will win the game, so we must use them carefully and wisely to gain the upper hand in this situation. She can defy the norms and usurp society at a certain point. But, we can make it so she won't if we push her in the right direction. But that takes an active hand, and I don't have one.”

        The room lost more sound, and now all that remained were the calm winds outside blowing against the leaves of the tree. Twilight tried hard not to think about what was just said. The more she did, the more she thought Andromeda was being intentionally vague in the event someone could hear them. She didn't like it. It lined up too well with reality.

        “Can you give me some time to think about this? You make it sound like I'm the deciding factor in letting the world crumble here... Spike finally replied with a heavy tone.”

        “But of course, Master Spike. But remember this: It is only a story. You can change the way it ends.”

A story? Oh, thank gods. They're talking about a story. Just... a story. I'm going back to bed. I feel like my heart is about to burst, and my head hurts. I don't need this right now. I amthe deciding factor in letting the world crumble as of Monday anyways...

        When next Twilight awoke, she was not where she expected to be. She was in the main bed, but alone, and more or less in the fetal position at the foot of the bed. She jolted herself awake and scanned the room for other occupants. The time was about noon, seeing as she was almost needing to cover her eyes with the curtains drawn. There was no one else in the room, so she decided to check out her disk. As expected, the flashing pink outlined mailbox had the number 1 by it.

'You were asleep at the foot of the bed when I woke up. Honestly, you sleep kinda like a dog. In any case, Andromeda said I should probably just leave you alone, so that's what I did. If you can remember where the sandstone square is, there's a circle inscribed on a piece of parchment that Dad left for you. Spike is still there, he should be able to point it out. I'll be back tonight, but I've downloaded Andromeda for today's assignment. He will come if you summon, but you shouldn't need to duel today. Eclipse and Eris left this morning, So Dad and I will be taking over training. It sucks to train with dad, so... good luck'

        From Zeph. Or, as he's labeled in Twilight's disk, Ass hat. Twilight rolled her neck around, letting it pop a few times before realizing that going to the square would be a day of getting beat up by Black. She had two options before her.

On one hand, I could go, take the beating, learn some new tricks, maybe even get some more definition on my significantly less flabby arms as of yesterday.

And then the lazy hand says, Or, we could not do that, screw off around town, and then get the shit kicked out of us by... any number of royal family members, including but not limited to: Celestia, Black, and Zephraim, but later. She sighed.

I should go. Making her way down stairs, Twilight found Spike typing away at a keyboard like a mad man.

        “Geez, kid. What are you up to that you brought out a mechanical keyboard Startled by the noise, all of Spike's appendages froze and flared out. He slowly turned his head and stared blankly at her.”

        “Oh... uh... H-hey Twi...” The stutter tipped her off. Spike forgot something important, or he just remembered what he'd forgotten.

        “What did you do?” She said, getting straight to the point. Spike's tail twitched left and right.

        “Uh... the circle is on the table?”

        “You didn't answer my question.”

        “What do you mean what did I do? I didn't do anything.”

        “Which means you were supposed to do something. What didn't you do?”

        “You don't happen to know the time, do you?” Twilight narrowed her eyes at him.

        “It's just about twelve thirty. Why?” He sighed.

        “I... may or may not have been told to wake you up three hours ago.” He said, his body finally relaxing. Twilight rolled her eyes.

        “Friggen figures. Whatever, I'm gone.” Twilight grabbed a large white rectangle off the table, flipped it over, and placed it on the floor. She imagined that this circle would take her to a safe spot on the sandstone, but just to be sure, she magically edited it to transport her starting six feet in the air. The fall might hurt, but at least her atoms and someone else's wouldn't be mixing in time-space. With a snap of her fingers, Twilight was gone, and Spike was left alone in the library.

        “Okay, she's gone!” Spike called out into the library. From the basement stairs started to climb Zephraim. He exited the staircase and then joined Spike at the table with Andromeda waiting patiently on his disk.

        “Alright... so what exactly do you two need to talk to me about? I was supposed to instruct physical training today with the girls. I'm honestly surprised that you managed to talk dad into doing it instead.” The Angel said as he propped his feet up on the large table.

        “First of all, I for one would like to discuss this with you face to face. Did she send you the proxy?” Andromeda said from his technological prison.

        “Oh, right. Yeah, here give me a minute.” Zephraim swiped a few times at the screen of his duel disk, then ejected it's matter wave. From his pocket, he pulled out a pure white card base that had no details on it, save for the standard black border. He placed the white square on his matterwave, and then it started to change. Zephraim started to mutter words that Spike couldn't understand, several letters that Spike couldn't discern started to glow in a rainbow of colors, and then the card turned into a dull version of Twilight's Andromeda card. The duel disk flashed violet, and Andromeda was sitting on the table, in his usual cross legged position.

        “Woah. What was that?” Spike asked, looking at Zeph.

        “He can explain this one better than I can.” The Angel said leaning back in his chair further so to remove two of its legs from the floor.

        “That is what is known as a Proxy card. An invention of Starswirl, he had originally intended to use them to release my siblings and I from our stone prisons, but the spell he'd created couldn't generate enough power to free our souls. Instead, the proxy could temporarily transfer our souls to itself, until it lost it's source of power, or we could no longer sustain our being outside our slates. Celestia uses them to capture copies of soul cards these days. I believe you call them blanks now?” Andromeda said, giving Zephraim a look of question at the end of his sentence.

        “Yeah. Blanks are sold everywhere, albeit at a rather expensive price. Someone has to be trained to use the spell to create one of these, and it's a level 7 spell that has no way to reduce it's cost. You know about the whole cost-equilibrium with magic right?” Spike nodded.

        “Oh, yeah. It's like how easy spells are efficient to a certain point, but then the power generated isn't equal to the power required right?” Zephraim snapped.

        “Exactly. Rune magic is hard, and mom and Luna teach people personally how to do it. Kiebzen owns the only Blank factory in the world, and they can only make about twenty of these a day. I had Mom make this one for me herself though. She can pop sevens like they're nothing. I'm honestly sure she does it to show off some times.” Zephraim said.

        “So, back to the matter at hand, what was so important that the two of you needed me here instead of doing my job?” He asked.

        “Well...” Andromeda began.

        “I... I need to know how you...” Spike swallowed, trying to calm his nerves. As much as he'd become used to Zephraim, that duel with Fluttershy still haunted him every time he would look into the Angels eyes. The demon was always lurking inside, just waiting to strike. Beating at it's gold flecked prison with each passing second.

        “I need to know how you feel about her.” Spike finally said. Zephraim looked at spike, then he looked at Andromeda who was avoiding his eyes.

        “Andy... What is he talking about?” He said, staring blankly at the Sorcerer. Andromeda moved a finger, then quickly brought it back to his lap.

        “Oh, come on! You know what this is about! My sister!” Spike said, beginning to sound more desperate. Zephraim very quickly took his attention away from Spike to narrow his eyes at Andromeda.

        “You... told him!?” He said, with more intensity, but no more volume.

        “I felt he had a right to know.” Andromeda said defiantly.

        “And don't think I haven't noticed the other stuff either! You two... spooning or whatever the last two nights. You don't look at her the same way anymore, and she always looks frustrated when she's around you... Why...? Why did you just... flip personalities all the sudden? Did Celestia put you up to it? I've heard rumors about what she can manipulate. Twilight is an easy target for her too, so just... tell me what's going on? What don't I know that seems to have so much weight behind it?” The ten year old said, losing the anger and giving in to the powerless feeling he's been fighting since last night.

        Spike has always been more attentive than Twilight would ever give him credit for. These past four days had been so hectic that he could never tell if the sky was going to fall in the next minute, or the ground was going to crumble in the minute afterward. All he could do to escape was to hide away in the worlds of his comics, where none of reality had any bearing.

        The first day, he learned about ancient wars that were about to resume practice. The second day, a murder happens within fifteen minutes walking distance of where he was sleeping. The third day, suddenly Twilight starts to change. And finally, last night, Andromeda decides to fill him in on the fact that somehow, someday, Twilight could be the key to ending the world, if not on Monday night.

        It was likely that she hadn't noticed it herself, but every time she used her magic, Spike would always catch a glimpse of a gold spark. It would shoot off in an unknown direction as fast as it appeared, but it was there. Her aura felt like it was growing, becoming more intense with each passing moment. It had a strange alluring effect, almost in the same way that when in the presence of either of the Queens, one can't look away. Zephraim directed his attention to Andromeda to give him the family death glare, then sighed.

        “Look, Spike.” He said, kneeling to reach eye level with the dragon boy. “I don't know. At first, I was completely indifferent. I hate to admit it, but I've always been a little jealous of her. For the normal family model, I have a large one, and I live in the same house with my aunt and uncle who have kids around my age, which only makes it an even bigger family.

        Suddenly some brat shows up and dad is hardly ever around for an entire year, and then mom is the one who's less available all the time. Shortly afterward, she adopts another kid and I'm beginning to feel left out. It's hard to be thirteen and not have your parents around all the time, and even more so when you know the reason is because some new kid has their attention. It wasn't until I finally accepted Fluttershy after an incident in Namiva that I realized that there might be something more to these other kids that my parents had taken so much interest in.

        When I finally met her, all those feelings of indifference and jealousy just kinda started to well up, and I couldn't find it in me to like her much at all. But then, we dueled on the train. Spike, have you ever been in an intense duel? One where you felt that your entire being was pulled together against a challenge you weren't sure you could over come?” Spike was slow to answer.

        “No, I... I don't really play that much.” He said reluctantly, his hands drifting toward his pockets.

        “In a duel where you and your opponent are locked against each other, where neither player is willing to move without a fight, you start to... feel them. The other player, that is. Their emotions, you being to figure out how they think, how they would act in a situation. When I dueled Twilight that day... I felt such a different person than what was on the exterior. She felt so... Alone. Afraid. Betrayed. Confused. Crushed. Defeated. Depressed. Frustrated. Hopeless.

        'Is this the girl that I was so afraid was going to steal my parents away from me?' I remember thinking. And then it finally clicked. Something my aunt told me just the day before finally made sense, and I started to see similarities in her and myself. As the day went on, I watched her duel again and again, and with each duel, I saw more of who she had the potential to be. By the end of the day, I'd say I even liked to be around her a little bit.

        She wasn't as terrible as I initially thought, and with time, she might not be bad at all. Then... I had that dream, or... whatever happened that night. I saw a future, and I met a different person with the same name and face as your sister. I thought they were different people, but she told me she knew I would see her one day. Not the man she was with, but me, as I am now.

        She told me things I could have never known if she hadn't, and in that strange world which might have been our future, I believed her. So I did what she told me to. And for a good couple of days, I thought Twilight was really going to open up to me. But... You probably heard what we talked about last night, didn't you?” Spike nodded.

        “Yeah... She... the divorce really did a number on her. I guess, she hadn't quite given up hope for them yet. And when she finally found out, she basically gave up on them both. Dad's cleaned himself up since then, even tried to patch things up with mom several times, but she just doesn't want anything to do with him anymore. I guess that spite really does run in the family...” The dragon boy sighed through a hollow laugh. Zephraim shook his head.

        “But you get where I'm coming from now right? I don't know if mom is in on this or not, and even if I asked her, she's likely to deny anything involving her hands be it the truth or not. There just isn't any way to tell what's actually going on, and this is only the fourth day. There are four left, and one mistake will end the world.

        So, I'm just going to do my best to keep up that occasional smile she gets when she sleeps. Manipulation, circumstance, stress, I don't care about any of that at this point. If we all end up dying after Monday, then we might as well spend what time we have left happy with each other right?” He said, putting that comforting hand on the ten year old's shoulder.

        “I guess, but now that I hear it from you, I just feel like you're letting it happen because of some crazy dream. I don't really want this to turn into a fight, but, do you really care? Nothing you've said to me sounds like a real answer.” Zephraim's mouth scrunched and he pulled his hand away from the boy. He put his hands on his hips and sighed.

        “Anything to add Andy?” Zephraim said, turning to the Sorcerer who had remained quiet.

        “Is the answer not obvious here? How else would one settle an argument where there are only words? Actions must take precedence. A duel should suffice.” Andromeda said as if they'd been looking at an object claimed lost.

        “Wait, what?” Spike said, realizing what he was asking of him.

        “He has a point.” Zephraim said, nodding along. The sorcerer turned to Spike

        “Celestia has taught me over the years that conflict is easiest resolved through a fight to obtain understanding. Of course, she has never condoned physical violence-”

        “Cough* except when it come to us* cough*” Zephraim quickly added in. The sorcerer scowled at him and continued.

        “Never condones physical violence, so instead, she typically uses a duel as a way to break boundaries between people in order for a bond to be formed. Over the years, she used this tactic many times, and with each attempt managed to prevent fights from breaking out, or stopping conflicts all together. The game is filled with magic and causes each player to feel the soul of the one they stand across in a battle of wills. I've seen more duels end in draws that were for substantial claim than ones where a winner was decided for a tournament with her.” Zephraim smiled.

        “Yep. I'd say Andy is on point here. Well, maybe except for the violence part, but duels certainly are some kind of magic. I've never had a bad interaction with someone I didn't like after I dueled them... Eh, well, Twilight is a special case, but we'll just ignore the outlier. So come on, grab your deck and let's go outside and give the ol' game a whirl. It works like, 99 percent of the time.” Zephraim gave Spike a good slap on the shoulder, but then Spike shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down. He muttered something.

        “What was that?”

        “I can't...” He muttered again.

        “Come on man, ya gotta work with me here. What are you saying?”

        “I don't have a deck, okay! I'm not normal, and as far as I know, I'm only half human! I can't play the game because I don't have cards...” He shouted finally. Zephraim puffed out a breath.

        “Well, that's problematic. Most people at least have a mass production deck for learning the game by your age... but I can see how your station might prevent that... Well, maybe... Do you have a mark?” Zephraim asked.

        “A mark? Well... not exactly...” Spike replied, scratching the back of his head.

        “Define 'not exactly' for me.”

        “Well, there is a mark, but it's not like yours or anybody else's.”

        “You mind showing me?” Reluctantly, Spike took off his shirt and pointed to what looked more like a lime green scar on his right pectoral that blended in with his skin. It was in the shape of four cones that all pointed inward, resembling something along the lines of a bird's talons. Possibly a dragon's claw.

        “Well, there you go. I've had this since I was born as far as anybody alive knows, and I've never had a mark 'manifest' like everyone else does.” He said, more than a little on the defensive side. Zephraim started to grin.

        “Ooh, do I hear a touchy subject? I'll leave it alone for now, but this is interesting, none the less.” Andromeda nodded.

        “Hmm... while that may not be a mark in the traditional sense, I do believe it does at least let us know where his soul is closest to his body... Master Zephraim, you might try and pull it out from there.” Zephraim started to stroke his beard.

        “I think you're right... here, hold still. This might feel a little weird. At worst it doesn't work, but a best, you might find that you're more normal than you think...” Zephraim kneeled to get on eye level with the green scar on Spike's chest, then raised his right hand like he was about to grab a book. Much like he'd watched Eclipse do yesterday morning, Zephraim's hand started to let off a burning mist in a dark green color, occasionally with black tips.

        His hand slowly started to move toward Spike's scar, and as it did, Spike felt like something was tugging at his heart. It started to beat faster, and once Zephraim's fingers touched his body, he could hear a pulse. He could smell a faint but familiar fragrance, he could taste something sweet that reminded him of home.

        Soon, memories of the past started to flood his mind, good times, bad times, and everything in between. Then, just as gradually as it had built up, the senses and the memories faded in an instant. Spike was dazed by his sudden trip through all the years he could remember, but when he managed to get a grip, Zephraim had a great big smile on his face.

        “Congratulations Mr. Sparkle, you just so happen to be human enough to have your very own set of soul cards.” The monochrome Angel stood up and handed Spike his very own deck.

        “No way...” He said quietly. He started to rub his eyes and sniff. “I never thought... I would ever... just be normal...” Spike sank to his knees and held his deck tightly to his chest. A precious reminder that he, was human too.

        “It appears that the scar on your chest may just be your personal mark. I don't know much about dragons, as elusive as they were back in my time, but you are at the very least, a product of the human race, Master Spike.” Andromeda said astutely. “However, it seems as if this proxy is either fading, or Zephraim has run out of energy for me to borrow. My data is being transferred back to Master Sparkle, so I won't see you until she returns. Until then.” Andromeda stood, bowed, and faded away. Zephraim took the card from his disk and waved it in the air.

        “Man, that didn't last long. I don't even think it was the proxy. Twilight must have summoned him...” Realizing Spike had yet to move from his spot on the floor, still holding his new cards, Zephraim put his hand on Spike's shoulder.

        “Hey, what's so fun about being normal? Soul cards are all about being unique! A representation of you, a picture of your very own soul! If you ever need to know who somebody is, you give em a duel that makes them run through their deck! Then you get to see just who they are behind the mask they call 'normal.'” He said, pulling Spike to his feet.

        “Slide those into the main slot so the disk can register your cards. They're brand new, so it'll take a few minutes to figure out what does what and sort what goes where in the event you have an extra deck. Climb on my back. We're gonna go find a nice spot to play while things are working, okay?”

        Spike managed to stop the tears and nod in reply. He hadn't even looked at the cards himself yet, so it was going to be an interesting game for sure. The two walked out the library door, and the disk began to read Spike's cards. With Spike loaded on his back, Zephraim started to run, expand his wings, and took to the air.