Identity Crisis

Chapters

Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Chapter Seventy
Chapter Seventy-One
Chapter Seventy-Two
Chapter Seventy-Three
Chapter Seventy-Four
Chapter Seventy-Five
Chapter One
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Two

Conversions

-Disclaimer: Hasbro owns all recognizable characters, most unrecognizable characters, and no, I'm not profiting off of this.

The young dragon had a rather loose plan of action for when he'd disembarked from the train. He'd certainly have loved to have an itemized list, detailing his every action and their consequences measured in seconds. Unfortunately he lacked the degree of foresight needed to make such an itinerary when dealing with the unknown.

His caretaker, he dared not think her name lest his flagging heart wilt further at the thought of her anxiety, her fear and disappointment, was equally third-eye blind. To make up for it, however, she tended to schedule a particularly large block near the end of her list for an extended anxiety attack.

So long as she didn't need to expend the allotted time for that, she was ahead of schedule.

The young drake held his suitcase against his chest for a moment, turning from side to side before brushing away the glowing aura on the handle. His plan may have been loose but his own ignorance could hobble it before it so much as began.

Green eyes locked on the brown of a nearby unicorn now walking nonchalantly between a pair of earth ponies. New saddlebags astride his barrel. An opera mask wearing his flank.

Theft, too, would cripple this journey.

"Excuse me!" Spike called after the unicorn. The stallion paused before turning around. Sweat beaded down his neck as sharp teeth and sharper eyes looked up to meet his own. "You look like a proper, well to do kind of unicorn. Could you tell me who the best jeweler in town is?"

"You lookin' for young Zyng Awl, kid? Best darned jeweler north of Apple Loosa if you are." The unicorn spoke as though from the back of his throat. A thick 'H' hung about his every mumbled syllable.

"The best north of Apple Loosa!" Spike cried with genuine enthusiasm. "He's gotta have some real tasty gems. Where do I find him!"

"About three block down south, at the intersection of Dawn and Willows. Runs one of the corner shops. What are you gonna... Naw, I don't need to know. Geckos and all." The last few words were mumbled, clearly meant to be heard while seeming polite.

Spike had seen this game played out since he could walk.

"Thanks Mister. Say, are those saddlebags new? They look like a genuine Rarity." They were, Spike had been assisting in the boutique the day they'd been made. They were also paired with a very distinct hat sitting on a very different pony's head.

"Echo, deary, those look just like your saddlebags..."

"Don't mention it, kid, now scoot." Sweat poured from the stallion's face like a broken spigot as the small dragon waved goodbye and toddled away. The whispers of the crowded station reached a fever pitch as countless eyes focused on him.

"Help! Thief!" Spike grinned to himself as he walked away from the station. Backhanded compliments were practically a currency to those who'd lived among the spires of Canterlot. Given away charitably by the well to do and the climbers beneath them.

Half-whispered insults though? The pastime of peasants and plebeians.

Spike traveled two blocks without consequence, and the third while only being nearly run over by a charging mare after her blank-flanked foal.

Blend's Pharmacy and Drug, Debutante's Delightful Bakery, Jim's Gym and Bejeweled were the names of the four stores.

Spike took a wild guess and crossed the road to enter Bejweled. It was a cramped little store, mostly taken up by the glass counter at front where the mysterious Zyng Awl stored his finished wares.

"I be out! One minute!" The jewelers accent was hard to place, his equuish painfully rough.

Spike reviewed the works on display while he waited. Rounds and Ovals made up the majority of the available stock, not a single cut gemstone was anything but diamond though.

His eyes narrowed as the proprietor, a pony, stepped out of the back room. He could swear he'd seen these before, that underneath the cut and dazzle the pendants and horn rings were familiar.

"Ah, Dragon yes? Not seen one in week. Here for snack? Is best selection in Equestria!" Spike chose to be the bigger dragon and ignore the shoddy copy work and the sign saying that every piece was original.

"Actually Mr.Awl." Spike hefted his suitcase onto the counter and opened it, revealing rows upon rows of rainbow gemstones, light reflecting off fine edges beyond the means of most.

Being that a fair few were opal, this isn't quite hyperbole either.

"I'm here to sell."

Author's Note

I put a pun in there. It's not terribly difficult to spot.

Chapter Three

Conversions

-Disclaimer: Hasbro owns all recognizable characters, most unrecognizable characters, and no, I'm not profiting off of this.

Spike liked Fillydelphia. It was a nice place, very modernized. Paved roadways, buildings reaching out to the heavens. It even had a...

Well.

Thriving isn't quite the appropriate word for it.

Manehatten nearly bordered the badlands, separated by a great swamp and was where Dragons typically touched down in Equestria.

Fillydelphia was where they came to live.

With that in mind, Fillydelphia had the single largest concentration of dragons this far north, including a subsection of the city referred to as "Dragon Town".

He'd visited it before. Bustling, loud, energetic and unruly on the surface. It wasn't until he'd come and gone from the human's world a few times that he recognized what had been bubbling beneath the surface there.

Fear.

Desperation.

Between the stone dragons marking the entrance he could almost smell it, wafting on the wind like ashes lingering from a rain-doused fire. It wasn't strong here, where the two cultures mixed. Deeper though, the buildings got rougher and the lingering oppression more raw.

He didn't know what the source was.

Well, no, he hadn't known what the source was.

He'd trekked north from Baltimare through the freshwater tidal marshes, like countless drakes before him had. It had taken him almost two days of trudging chest deep in mud and muck to reach the same place as a six hour train ride.

Coated in filth, deliriously happy to be free of mosquitoes he'd received a somewhat frosty welcome.

Well, frosty and confused. Recognizing the vested unicorns as police officers had set them backpedaling just a little bit. Asking if there was anyplace he could get cleaned up left them positively perplexed.

Spike hadn't given it any thought. He wished he could keep not giving it any thought.

"I'm sorry, but we don't accept Bits here."

He'd been aimed at Dragon Town, told he could probably get a hotel room for cheap since he was so little.

The third building into Dragon Town and on the left had been a hotel of sorts. The rooms went down instead of up. Plumbing was limited to the first floor only. The dragon stationed at the register was almost wider than he was tall, his scales red and his horns were, of all colors, pink.

"So what do you accept?" Spike could feel his blood pounding behind his eyes. He was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"Gems." Of course he did. Of course the dragons of Dragon Town would trade in a currency such as gems. Dragon snacks. Which he no longer had any of.

The pounding was almost painful.

"Can I at least use your bathroom?" He was a maturing dragon. His voice did not sound whiny. He did not wheedle.

"Um..." The dragon blinked one eye, then the other. "Why?"

Spike closed his verdant green eyes and pinched his brow above his snout, trying to push back the pain pulsing in his skull.

"C'mon, I'm totally covered in mud. This is disgusting."

The receptionist leaned forward, taking a long, loud sniff and sitting back.

"That's some good quality loam. Scrape as much of that as you can into a bucket and I'll let you use one of the stalls."

"Fine, whatever." Spike hopped up, snagging a key with a tag that said Seven out of the older dragon's claw and rushing to the right into a room marked with symbol of a shower head.

He considered, briefly, just strictly showering and letting his filth drain down the pipes. However as odd as the request was, it wasn't difficult or harmful and he didn't see any reason to burn unnecessary bridges.

Scraped clean and steamed fresh, Spike stepped out of the bathroom almost twenty minutes later.

"You took so long. Do you have the mud?" Spike dropped the bucket on the desk, as well as the key to the bathroom. "Ah, good. Good. Did you want a room for the night?"

"Sorry, no gems." Spike wasn't sure how to respond to that. He'd just had this conversation. With this same dragon. Not half an hour ago.

"Oh. That's too bad. Always sad to see ones like you so little." Little was fine with Spike. Little was better than tunnel vision and every attempt at conscious thought being overwritten like misspelled words in a journal.

Better than shattering everything he could see so he could take offal and junk to forge his horde.

"I'm sure somedragon else will like being covered in this mud though. It really keeps the smell down." And just like that the dulled throbbing behind his eyes regained intensity.

It took Spike almost three hours and he went through four hotels before finding one that would rent him a room.

In the pony side of town.

The receptionist had been nice, focused. A couple of slightly more probing questions than was strictly polite for small talk. He'd managed to get her to give him the paper from this morning, too.

He was making a solid effort to not wonder why she had been surprised he'd asked for it.

He was not going to let today unsettle him.

He wouldn't.

He had too much to do tomorrow, anyway.

Metal shod hooves walked crimson into the station.

Black iron creaked acid green and masked eyes stared unblinking.

East.

The head moved east and pulled, the peytral followed.

Dreams gleamed off broken barding.

East.

The ponies of Hollow Shades made a pointed effort to ignore the

Screaming.

Madness.

Addiction.

The same as it ignored them.

It's how little towns kept on keeping on in a world of magic and chaos after all.

Chapter Four

Conversions

-Disclaimer: Hasbro owns all recognizable characters, most unrecognizable characters, and no, I'm not profiting off of this.

At six days since his departure, Spike was frustrated.

And his savings were down by a third.

Food was expensive, it turned out.

Though he'd never planned on living off of it indefinitely, he'd hoped it would hold out longer.

"I'm sorry." was a phrase he'd heard almost two dozen times over the last few days, followed by some variation of-

"You're just not qualified."

"We've actually already found somepony."

"We've just filled that position."

"You don't have the experience we're looking for."

"It doesn't seem like you'd be a good fit."

Each time he'd made it to the interview process for a job. It was disheartening in the extreme, feeding into the flames of his frustration before it would sputter out.

He'd seen what such mindless actions would do, the hurt is caused between friends. He hadn't really made any here yet, but he didn't need to ruin his chances of that before he got started.

He wasn't sure what his reputation here was, not quite yet, but "Violent little upstart" was not where he wanted it to be.

Spike pushed those thoughts back as he dejectedly walked away from his last attempt. Little Getty's delivery service was not going to be for him it seemed.

Sitting on a bench in front of a small shop called 'Lustrous Delectables', a bakery, he reviewed this morning's classified ad.

The majority of which was scribbled over and blotted out.

He leaned his head back dropped the paper on his face, dulling the glare of Celestia's Sun.

Maybe, if he looked hard enough, he could find something he missed. Or find what he was missing to make ponies want to hire him. Either would be fine with him.

His eyes were starting to go blurry trying to focus on something so close to him when he heard somepony cough. Politely.

It cannot be stated enough that Spike spent his formative years watching nobles. Listening to nobles. Experiencing nobles.

He removed the newspaper from his face, folding it in the process and looked at the individual demanding attention. A pony, a stallion and a unicorn. Off white coat and wearing a brown striped vest. Spike couldn't see his cutie mark.

"What can I do for you?" Best claw forward, always.

"You the dragon looking for work this side of the wall, yeah?" Spike nodded. The unicorn's voice was decidedly neutral. Quietly even but certain. Confident.

"That's me. My name's Spike!" He hopped down from his seat and held out his claw. He was mutely surprised when the stallion pushed a hoof against his palm and shook.

Hard.

"Well, come in then. I'm not going to have an interview out in the streets." The unicorn turned around and walked into the shop, allowing Spike a glance at his cutie mark.

A trio of cherries.

"You will refer to me as 'Mr.Lemon' while we're here, am I understood." It wasn't a question, but Spike nodded nonetheless. His brain caught up with the fact the he was being lead a step later.

"Yes, Mr.Lemon." They went around the counter in the empty storefront and up a set of stairs, passing a small bathroom and a pair of empty rooms before reaching the stallion's office.

"You've been turning quite a few heads since your arrival, Spike." The chair behind the desk in the center of the room moved with neither a sound or glow. This was a familiar action for the unicorn.

"There aren't many dragons who try to find jobs this side. Cultural difference, I suppose." Spike heard the slur unsaid.

A paper fired out of a nearby cabinet, stopping dead in front of the young dragon.

"Fill that out." It was a job application, standard form from any one of the countless business management books found in every library in the land.

"Yes, Mr.Lemon." Spike still had his own pen. It had barely dropped onto the paper before he was interrupted.

"What experience do you have in baking? Can you at least do the basics of baking bread?"

"For the last two years I was somepony's personal assistant. I was in charge of keeping her schedule, cooking her meals and performing basic upkeep in the house. She had a sweet tooth and I can't think of anything but fresh bread to go with some meals." Spike stared at the blank column where he was supposed to list his education.

How do you explain that you were tutored out of illiteracy and then left to your own devices and interests without sounding like some foolish bumpkin?

"And what meals were best paired with fresh bread?" The unicorn was much less harsh in tone. What part of Spike's last statement brought that about, he wasn't sure.

"Tomato soup was the most common request, though certain vinaigrette salads called for it and it was always better for most meals and sandwiches than presliced and bagged." References were pretty spotty as well. He didn't know any dragons who could vouch for him, nor did he really have any personal friends not shared with...

Her.

He needed to get himself over this. It was worse than trying to convince himself to give up on Rarity.

"Your cooking expertise is certainly surpassing my expectations. You mentioned your master having a sweet tooth. What sort of desserts did you make for them?" His breath hitched. His claw froze.

"Blue... Blueberry muffins, scones. She had a preference for dark chocolate in her pastries over milk, though it wasn't uncommon for me to bake a full service if her... If her friends were coming over." Spike didn't think about the rest of the job application form, he'd filled out well over a dozen variants of the same sheet over the past few days.

"Hmm..." Lemon pulled the paper out from under Spike's pen, a straight line pulling from it and held it in front of his face. "Well, everything looks to be in order. We open at eight, so be here at six tomorrow morning. If you pass my test, you'll have a job. Understood?"

Spike smiled and fired off a salute. Future Spike would deal with the internal turmoil and conflict when he was back in the hotel room and alone.

Shadows skittered away and leafs curled in silent cringe. Animals fled while inherited instincts screamed.

The grass quavered as a nightmare of fire crawled through them in a way too primal and alien for the trees to remember.

Empty iron did not rest.

A roar. Afraid but unwilling to back away.

A bear backed against a tree. The green of long rot walked inexorably.

It charged. Steel bent. Iron shattered. Green stained red.

Red slowly drained to green.

East.

Author's Note

I know where I'm going with this. I have no idea how I'm getting there, though.

Chapter Five

Conversions

-Disclaimer: Hasbro owns all recognizable characters, most unrecognizable characters, and no, I'm not profiting off of this.

Dots at the edge of the paper slowly grew in number as a young dragon took his time looking for words. He wanted this to sound mature, educated, clear and eloquent.

A difficult feat when his extended vernacular was mostly second-claw or pulled from comic book context.

"Dear Twilight"

A letter was hardly difficult to begin, but truly starting it brought his mental gears to a halt. Did he tell her why he left? Explain what he felt? Describe the three ponies he'd hired to take his place?

"Dear Twilight"

What he felt was a maelstrom, his thoughts falling as drops of rain amidst the winds of confusion.

"Dear Twilight"

That was why he left. He needed some time to drag it down to something he could figure out. Everytime he felt like he was getting a handle on himself, something new would pop out of the woodwork and throw everything back into turmoil.

"Dear Twilight"

Hiring his own replacements had been an entirely separate nightmare. Not to mention doing it under a very tight time table and getting everything else ready. He'd been lucky, more so than he'd care to admit, in finding three ponies who would actually meet his expectations and had the right temperments.

"Dear Twilight"

Just the right mix of patience, grounding and motivation. Too much or too little of any of those would be disastrous in serving Equestria's youngest Alicorn.

"Dear Twilight.

I miss you."

Spike set the pen down. He'd have all day to figure out the rest.

Water, flour, yeast, eggs, honey, oats and cheese and so many other things Spike didn't want to think about.

He'd passed though. He had a job. He had to be up at an hour even Celestia complained about, but he had work.

Mixing dough, kneading it, baking it, keeping track of jam and jelly supply at the counter and a whole host of other small things.

Spike had noticed something though.

Not a single dragon had entered the store. He hadn't even seen any pass by the storefront window.

Spike hung up his apron, caked and smeared with enough raw materials that it too could be baked in one of the ovens. With how good it smelled, he'd bet no pony would even complain about the apron in the middle.

"Throw it in the washbin, Spike. We'll have a fresh one out tomorrow." Said Mr.Lemon's voice from behind the dragon.

Spike still didn't know his first name.

"I must admit, you surprised me. Dilligence, little dragon" One hoof rubbed the top of Spike's head next to his frills. "Pony and dragon alike need more of it, I say, but you've got it in spades."

The pony levitated his own stained apron off, cleaner than the dragon's though that hardly said much, and threw it into a large cloth bin at the end of one counter. Spike unhooked his apron and did the same.

The old pony was much less harsh after a full day of work. Maybe he enjoyed a full day of work, or perhaps he was simply happy to have a quarter of his work split off.

Brash as he was, arrogant as he could be, Spike knew he hadn't taken even half of an experts work load.

"Say, Mr.Lemon? I was wondering something." With enough flour on him, the pony looked like a paint instead of a solid brown and at first glance was less intimidating. His eyes, though, were sharp as ever.

"Well help me clean up while you talk then. Can't have the missus at home dilly-dallying all night." A broom was pushed into the dragon's claws while a bucket was filling itself under a sink. Spike immediately went to work sweeping the flour, dust and countless other things into a pile.

"I saw a pair of unused rooms upstairs. I was uh... I was wondering if I could rent one?" Spike got quieter near the end of his request, the look in the stallion's eyes was intense.

"Not liking it in Dragon Town, are you?" That was, Spike felt, an accusation.

"Couldn't find a place to stay there." Spike pushed the broom a bit too hard, flour rising into the air. "Sold my gemstones for bits in Baltimare and well wouldn't you know it? Dragon town dragons don't want bits."

"No." Mr.Lemon said, a curious quality to his voice. "They don't."

"So I've got a bank account full of money accepted everywhere in Equestria. In Yakyakistan. In the Crystal Empire. Even all the way over in Griffinstone! And it's no good." Spike looked to the sizable pile he'd built up, mirroring the frustration that had built up in his voice.

"If you haven't been staying in Dragon Town, where were you sleeping?" The unicorn's voice was softer now, something in it reminded Spike so strongly of Fluttershy that the coals in his chest went cold.

"The Thorny Rose over on West Pillar street. It's cheap and the beds are clean." But not so cheap that they'd rent out his room while he was out. Spike thought he knew the difference between cheap, and cheap.

"Three bits." The stallion's voice was sharp. He wasn't negotiating.

"What?" Spike paused, kneeling on the floor with a dustpan in claw and looked up, confusion clearly written across his face.

"Three bits off your hourly wage. Instead of ten, you'll get seven. Both upstairs rooms are yours, but I expect you to keep the entire upstairs clean, my office included. But one thing you'd best keep in mind." The stallion bent low, his eyes level with Spike. He could smell the honey and oats baked into the bread they'd shared for lunch.

"No. Parties."

Elsewhere, on a train heading north, a pink pony screamed.

Chapter Six

Conversions

-Disclaimer: Hasbro owns all recognizable characters, most unrecognizable characters, and no, I'm not profiting off of this.

A little over fifty years ago, Princess Celestia had finished organizing and passing into law a standardized education system in Equestria.

It held the benchmarks of what could be called a basic education standard for her little ponies. A basic understanding of relevant historic literature both fictional and non, mathematics skills including multiplication and division and a basic comprehension of the magical arts.

Particularly talented ponies could find their way into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot or up in Cloudsdale for the Wonderbolts Preperatory Academy for Young Fliers.

No such school seemed to exist for Earth Ponies.

Or at least Spike hadn't heard anything about it.

Either way, there was something of a formal education system in the land. It didn't have publicly accessible records beyond the basics of pass or fail. Class rankings weren't listed, specific grades weren't listed, all it said was that this pony or that pony passed school.

One of the local newspapers had an article in it though. Talks were going on in Canterlot to make the system more inclusive, expand the breadth of education offered.

The young dragon wanted to feel ambivalent. He'd never been to school. He didn't know anything about classical literature. His mathematics were just fine if he did say so himself. What use would he get out of knowing how pegasi flew or unicorns cast spells?

He wanted to be ambivalent, but he knew he couldn't. He hadn't tried to keep up with Twilight after he'd been assigned to be her assistant and the young filly's breathless questioning of theoretical dwemer construction of untested spells flew right over his head.

He wondered if she was disappointed back then, back when Celestia assigned him to the bright eyed and excitable little mage.

He wondered what she would think now, if she knew what he was paying for out of his first paycheck.

"That'll be eighty-five bits, please. If you'd like, we can throw in a pack of pencils and erasers for another three?" Mid-level basic education books. Math, reading, writing, science, magic and history. He'd picked up most of the basics in the past through association rather than anything resembling actual study.

"That'd be great, thanks!" Something cold and ancient felt a sting of displeasure within the small dragon, however he wasn't too concerned about his pride feeling insulted over something as small as a third of his pay.

It was something his boss told him after a few days, that he'd been reluctant to hire the dragon because he hadn't been sure he even knew how to read. No references, no education history. Spike simply wasn't earmarked as being a potential boon instead of a risk.

It was how most dragons came to the city. Most didn't feel bothered to change it, either.

"Say?" Spike stopped halfway to the door of the bookshop, hardly able to see over the stack in his arms. "Are there any other books you'd suggest?"

"Why yes, actually." The earth pony in charge of the store stepped out from behind the counter. He had a deep red coat, his cutie mark being an old style grandfather clock. Spike followed behind him as he began searching through the rows and stacks for something. "I don't believe I saw any notebooks in your purchase there. If you plan on working through those, you're going to need some scratch paper. Now where did those get off to..."

The pony shuffled around a few books before moving on, seemingly unsure of where things got around to in his own store. It took almost five minutes before Spike heard an 'Ah-ha!' from the pony.

"There we are." The pony held up three notebooks with spiral binders. Two were plain, colored blue and red. The third had an action pose of Daring Do swinging off on a vine. "These oughtta do you just fine, yes-sirree. Four bits for the lot of em, Mister Dragon."

"Wow, thanks! I didn't even think about notebooks." Spike gleefully paid for his new acquisitions and headed back ho-

To the bakery.

Back to the bakery. He'd get these organized in his room with the rest of his purchases. Between those and these, he still had a fair amount of bits left. At least enough to pay for food for the rest of the week.

Spikes enthusiasm petered out instantly when he opened the math workbook. The addition and subtraction didn't look too bad, but it was four digits long.

He opened it up further to a page in the middle and blinked at what he saw.

Why were there letters in the math problem?

What was a sin?

Why did ponies worry over dark magic with something this evil taught in their schools?

Spike closed the pages back to the first and grabbed a pencil.

He wasn't gonna let some numbers beat him!

Pencil met paper and scritch-scratched late into the night.

A hollow snap echoed in the woods. Dry branches covered the ground. Celestia's Sun had no purchase here.

Wet, ragged gasps were the only other sound as the forest watched silently.

Dry, cracked lips did not hide white teeth.

Red teeth.

Green swallowed to its core.

Empty eyes turned towards screaming. Blue eyes wide in fear. Horn sparking. Hooves running.

Fur fell to the soil. Iron stained the ground black. Steel walked with weight anew.

South.

The crystal walls were gleaming, polished to a shine. They were familiar now when not so long past they felt cold and barren.

Bone deep exhaustion had settled in long ago but that was held at bay, just enough, by the relief of coming home.

Hooves pushed, grand doors opened, three sets of eyes looked to her eagerly from within, a matching salute on them all.

"Um, pardon me but who are you?" Three new ponies, none that she expected.

"We" The ink black stallion in the middle stepped forth, his orange mane blocking his eyes. "are the replacements Spike hired. I'm Raggy, the janitor."

"I'm Pumpkin Spice. Spike hired me to be your chef." The pink pegasus said from his left. Her bright orange mane was cut short.

"And I would be Slide Rule. My outlined duties involved maintaining your accounts and keeping your library in order." Said the last, a green unicorn mare with glasses and her mane done up in a bun.

"What?!"

Chapter Seven

Conversions

-Disclaimer: Hasbro owns all recognizable characters, most unrecognizable characters, and no, I'm not profiting off of this.

"You look like something walked on out of Tartarus and crawled up your backside, Dragon." Mr.Lemon wasn't pulling his punches today, just like he didn't the last workday.

Or the day before that one.

Or any of them.

"It did. You. And ponies like you. You monsters made it. You and your math." Spike was squinting, his eyes were puffy and he was walking with a shuffle more akin to a zombie than any member of the living.

"Old Inkblot mentioned he'd had his first serious Dragon customer over the weekend. Can't say I'm surprised it was you though." An apron dropped over Spike before another wrapped itself around the unicorn.

"What's the difference between serious customers and not serious customers?" Spike held his claws under running water as he waited for the tap to heat up. For the bread it needed to be hot, but not scalding or it would kill the yeast.

Although he'd been told they'd be making a lot of flat breads next week when a bunch of Namby Pamby Prance Ponies started showing up for some convention.

"Inkblot tends to sell either smut or graphic novels when Dragons deign to come out of that over grown cave and patronize him." Mr.Lemon had... Strong opinions. About everything. And he was the right mix of cranky and old that he didn't care who heard him. "They like the blood-dark garbage that shows off a lot of, eh, scale if you follow my sayin' so."

"Wait. Do you mean in the smut or in the comic books?" Spike was tentatively familiar with adult literature. Purple prose, he'd heard the term once, and too much of it in the few books he'd tried reading. He'd stick to adventure and fantasy, thank you.

"Both. Neither. I don't know. Inky mentioned it and not a one of us wanted to ask. The lousy pervert can shut up the business association in a jot just talkin' about what ponies come in to buy. You think dragons are into some twisted reading though, you won't believe what minotaurs buy." Spike did a good job, holding in his curiosity. He'd almost finished mixing the first batch of dough when he asked.

"What do minotaurs get?" The unicorns eyes gleamed. His grin was dark. His very expression radiated a foul humor akin to the likes of Discord.

"Self help books."

Smoke trailed from Spike's nostrils as he repressed another burp.

He hadn't actually planned this far ahead.

Pawning off his hoard to fund an adventure to discover who Spike was?

Check.

Making sure his replacements knew the basics of their jobs?

Also check.

Knowing how to find a job?

Not check.

Discovering his focused upbringing hadn't prepared him for finding a job?

Also not check.

Having some plan for telling the head of their nation that he'd up and walked off from the job she gave him?

Very not check.

He nearly gagged at the feeling of ashes coating the back of his throat.

He picked up a pencil in claw during the momentary reprieve of another failed sending and squinted at the page in front of him.

Science wasn't as bad as math. It really just boiled to saying 'This works because not magic. Here's how!'.

Like how wood burned when metal melted. He knew that it happened. He made associations, which were part of this scientific progress or something, like thinking that this or that were kinds of metal, so they should melt. Or like trees were plants, so plants were like trees, so plants burned except when they smoked and smoldered.

Because they were full of water locked in these blocks called cells and cells were-

Spike turned his head to the side and stuffed his face into a metal bucket while he choked down another burp.

He paid for these books. He refused to destroy them if he could avoid it.

Pencil again met paper as the drake mentally shoved aside the discomfort behind his eyes and behind his tongue.

Twilight Sparkle, alicorn, purple and... Frustrated was currently the best approximation of her mood.

Twilight Sparkle paced a steady beat in her library.

She had good reason to be, after all. Her friend and assistant had disappeared from his home two, almost three weeks ago. Judging by the letter she'd found wedged in her inbox underneath an ad for anti-wrinkle cream and above a letter from some Neighgerian princeling claiming some ridiculous relation, he'd resigned.

He'd cited his main grievance as being a lack of personal development as well as a few minor notes about regretting being unable to keep up with the growing workload around the castle.

She'd noticed, of course, the way dust had collected on some of the books on the higher shelves in the library. That the variety in her diet had reduced to foods that didn't need to be particularly cold or hot if she was taking her meals outside the dining room.

That Spike had been spending less and less time with Rarity while trying to keep up with the castle.

She didn't particularly enjoy watching him work his claws to the bone, as a point of fact she was planning on expanding the staff of the castle.

She just wanted to talk to him about it first. A conversation she'd intended to have this morning.

Instead she had, as politely as a grumpy, sleep deprived alicorn could at any rate, terminated the temporary contracts Spike had written in her absence. The three ponies were informed they could reapply with everypony else if she was intending to hire.

They'd been good sports about it, all things considered. Pumpkin Spice had been teary eyed, upset, but she hadn't made a scene.

A month spent trying to find Changelings while parading about on a 'Royal Tour'. They found changelings. They befriended changelings. Cake had been involved in there somewhere.

The pony, actually. Missus specifically. Though with Pinky Pie about the pastry was definitely involved as well.

So Twilight Sparkle was tired. Twilight Sparkle was hungry. Twilight Sparkle was worried, and upset, and frustrated because she couldn't tell if Spike was getting any of her letters or if he couldn't answer or if she was even doing the spell right!

So Twilight Sparkle paced.

Author's Note

I've sent a message to a fella on Deviantart about using something they drew for coverart.

I'm this bad at writing. Do you really wanna see how bad my art is?

Chapter Eight

Conversions

-Disclaimer: Hasbro owns all recognizable characters, most unrecognizable characters, and no, I'm not profiting off of this.

Gray and black, stone and steel and glass molded into labyrinthine walls impaired it.

Broken metal scraped across cracked sidewalk.

Close. So close.

Salt. Water. The smell of burning stone.

Shutters closed and drapes dropped upon its onset.

Tattered red was left in its wake.

Wet, rasping gasps burbled from its depths.

Almost ready.

Magic sang.

One little dragon glumly stared at the sign in front of him.

Closed.

Pony food, fibres, grains and flowers just weren't working to silence the rumbling from his belly. He didn't have the bits to buy enough precious stones to comfortably do the job.

Well, that and his other expenses. He was getting himself an abacus and that wasn't up for debate.

So he'd priced some quartz at a do-it yourself department store near the edge of town. Two days ago he'd hunted it down after work, finding it after it was already closed. Yesterday he got in with just enough time to actually look at things for a few minutes before getting shoo'd out the door.

Today he brought the bits to cover a couple cubic hooves worth of the common crystals. Though apparently the time it took for him to go upstairs, dig his money pouch out from underneath the pile of partially completed textbooks and rush here was too long.

Spike kicked a pebble on the sidewalk, frustrated at his luck or lack thereof. It bounced once, twice and came to rest against a pair of stout red claws.

Spike looked up, and up, and up into unpleasantly familiar eyes.

And a fang filled grin.

"Ow." Spike's legs trembled as he took a step back. He knew this dragon.

Garble. A base bully of the worst sort.

His was the face that Spike saw when he heard about the evils of dragons long past. He was the villian of nightmare and dream alike. A foul, petty monster uncaring of the basic sanctity of life yet lived.

"A little baby dragon like you should be careful." A pair of legs stepped out from behind the adolescents silhouette. One white and one gray, revealing themselves attached to another pair of dragons. Garble stepped forward and gripped Spike's cheeks, tilting his head up and forcing him to meet his eyes. "Dragons like me and my friends here, we might take offense to that."

"I'm shorry." Spike mumbled as best he could while unable to move his jaw. From the corner of his eye he could see the last few ponies out in the evening hustling off, eager to leave before a fight broke out.

"Aww, he's sorry. Did you hear that, Turq? He says he's sorry." The red dragon shoved, sending Spike tumbling to the ground. "You ain't sorry yet."

Spike barely rolled out of the way in time to avoid a massive crimson claw that gouged fresh grooves into the cement where he'd been.

"My flight got cut in half thanks to you, squirt. Ain't no dragon wants to follow me after I let you and those pony losers go!" He scrambled to his feet without a second to spare. Dragon's breath licking at his tail. His legs were barely pumping when he ran straight into the shins of one Garble's lackeys. Thin and boney. The gray one.

He didn't get an opportunity to get back up before red claws were wrapped around his neck. He was lifted almost straight up, his claws, small and needle-like compared to the daggers gripping him failed to find purchase.

"Don't worry, Speck. This is going to feel so good." Sharp teeth and foul breath should have held the whole of the purple dragons focus. "For me."

Instead of the glowing green thing hobbling right behind his would be attacker.

The first thing the 'Teenage' dragons noticed wasn't the noise of things scraping behind them.

It was the smell.

In pony culture, meat was not served. Period. End of discussion.

Even the dragons of Dragon Town observed this particular societal understanding.

For the most part.

The omnivores had no distinct need for biological fare, should they have access to a steady supply of gemstones. The magical incinerator that was their flame readily converting stone and crystal into raw, unfettered energy.

That said, youthful rebellion would see the bucking of many trends before whatever upstart got some sense knocked into them by an older, wiser dragon.

So Garble was familiar with the taboo of living food. His lackeys, too, had indulged. One furtive instance of stale, rotted flesh that was embedded into their memory.

The overpowering aura of spilt blood brought their jeering laughter to a halt. The sound of tearing muscle pulling loose drew their ears. Something ancient, something primal deep within everything present, the inherited memories of the dragons who came before them hidden in the depths of their genes told them to run.

Not turn around like the band of fools they were.

It was close to them now, close enough for the details to be seen in the light of the waxing moon.

It was almost a pony in much the same way a peanut is almost a potato.

That is, they may have both had superficial differences, and nothing else in common.

It had four legs, one of which was dragging a raw smear into the ground. Lame and twisted.

It had two eye sockets in its exposed skull. A green light, an acidic hue glowing from somewhere deep within. There were no teeth in its empty grin, just small chunks of some kind that would rise and burst and bleed into the metal fused into its jaw.

It stepped forward, the pitted metal rust red and red with rust groaned ominously where skin had tried to grow over it. And tore. Filth stained the cement, an indelible mark.

Something green and glowing surfaced visibly in its throat and Garble panicked.

He threw the baby dragon in his hand at the thing and ran. Completely ignoring his wings. Forgetting his fire.

All that mattered was getting away.

Near the end of the road he heard the screaming stop, only to realize it had been his own voice. He chanced a moment to turn around.

And immediately regretted it.

Some things. Tendrils. Tentacles. Feelers. Things were coming out of the monsters neck and holding on to the baby dragon. Pulling his own victim down its throat, mindless of the flames and claws struggling to escape.

Garble turned away.

He refused to regret living.

Author's Note

You'd almost think I was writing a zombie story here.

Why yes, I have played Bloodborne. Why do you ask?

Chapter Nine

Conversions

-Disclaimer: Hasbro owns all recognizable characters, most unrecognizable characters, and no, I'm not profiting off of this.

There was a pounding at the door. Great heavy blows slamming into it.

Twilight turned over in her bed.

The slamming increased in intensity. Dust shook loose from the ceiling.

Twilight buried herself deeper into the blankets.

"Twilight Sparkle!" A great voice thundered from below. The pony in question jolted up from her bed before immediately falling out of in in a pile of blankets. "We require your presence!"

She disentangled herself in a flash.

Literally.

And bolted down the wooden stairs. She threw open the triangular red door to her home as another great knock rang against it. A regal pony stood in the darkness of her doorway, one hoof poised to knock once more against her door.

Hers was a coat of indigo hue, her mane a shimmering field of starlight drifting on an aetherial wind. More than just her towering size, her very air, her stature was the refined intimidation of the warriors of eld.

"Princess Luna?!" Twilight stepped back from her door, allowing the princess of the night into her home. "What's going on?"

"We, that is, I, had hoped you would have received our message Princess Twilight. The hour is late and the matter most dire." The dark princess stepped into the middle of the main room, her eyes scanning the walls.

"I haven't been receiving any letters from Canterlot lately. What did you need to tell me?" She wasn't really sure how to broach the fact that Spike had left.

"With young Spike having taken his leave, I suppose conventional mail would be too unreliable for these matters." A book floated from the wall before the princess. It opened to a random page near the middle before slamming shut and replacing itself. The princess sighed, her bearing cracked. "Very well, Twilight. The core of the matter then. In the eastern border of our realm have been troubling reports."

Twilight wasn't surprised she knew. It had been mentioned (at length) in the last report she'd sent regarding the bug hunt she'd been away on.

"What kind of reports, Princess?"

"The worst kind young Twilight. Foul magic. Dark magic." Mist coalesced before the princess before molding into an illusion. A suit of armor, old armor stood before the princess. Black iron polished until it was shining. Green light gleaming from the visor. "From our initial report, this is the form it took when it first manifested."

Twilight walked around the image, committing what she could to memory.

"This thing was seen exiting a train carriage. All passengers were accounted for, they reached their destinations safe and hale. One was an anomaly, however his potential contribution has been discounted." The image warped before twisting into something else altogether. Before it had been whole, though eerie, this was not. The left hind leg had been completely removed, so too was the helmet. Four great gashes marred the peytral and the metal was showing obvious signs of rust.

Then there was the flesh.

Twilight did her very best not to gag as she saw the muscle tissue growing out of the holes in the armor. The off white bone poking out of places it had no business being.

"What is this thing?" Luna had a much easier time hiding her disgust. Or at least repressing her need to revisit dinner.

"We are uncertain. It bears no true resemblance to any of the unliving we are familiar with. The armor it once was has been determined to be metal pulled from the train itself. Whatever magic created this thing imbued it with the ability to adapt its form. At this stage of its development we know that it consumed a relatively insignificant amount of wildlife on the path to its destination."

A bear, some over-curious squirrels and a bird that was already dead. Each significant in their own way, though readily lost in the macrocosm of nature.

"So this thing, it's carnivorous?" Twilight attempted to look down the neck of the thing. The glow was far too intense for her to be certain, but she thought she saw something... Beating.

"We cannot be certain. This is currently the only other image we've managed to find of this creature. An unfortunately accurate depiction from the nightmares of a young colt in Manehatten. It was encountered at the southern edge of the farmland outside the city." The illusion dispersed once more into mist. The discomfort in the depths of Twilights gut with it.

"It did not move to attack the poor foal, nor did it make any move to follow him as he fled. No distinct hunting pattern or territory have been discovered. Our current speculation suggests these were victims of opportunity, or else necessity."

"This abomination was not flesh and blood such as we Twilight. It was magic, and solely magic. Now it is more than it was, and we have no way in determining its purpose."

"So tell me, Twilight. What is magic?" The purple pony stood at attention, a smile on her face as she answered.

"Friendship!" The princess of the night gave the young unicorn a gentle smile. She leaned down to meet Twilight's eyes evenly.

"Not quite, my little pony. Unlike the briefing I gave you though, that lesson must wait until you"

"Wake up."

Twilight shot up in her bed, her wings spread out in fear as she looked around her room.

Crystal walls, crystal windows. Bed far too large. Alicorn standing in front of a window and looking out over Ponyville.

"Friendship is magic, Princess Twilight Sparkle. We do not argue this, for it is a magic we hold most dear. But magic, Twilight-"

"Is the ability to manipulate reality to meet our wants and needs, internally and externally. The most basic magic, available freely to each and everypony as well as every member of every sapient species, is imagination." The purple princess finished.

"Quite right, Twilight." Luna turned her head to focus one eye upon Twilight, still in her bed. "I need you to ready yourself quickly. We make for Fillydelphia soon."

Waking up was difficult, it felt like a leaden anchor dragging on his mind.

But the sun was up, burning away at painfully sensitive eyes.

He needed to get up. He had to... To.

Today was a day off, he wasn't in any rush. He could take his time.

He struggled to get to his feet, swaying drunkenly to his left before falling over.

The world was starting to come into a blurry focus.

This wasn't his room.

His claws scrabbled ineffectively to gain purchase against the cracked pavement beneath him. To push himself up.

He looked down to see why he couldn't grab anything.

And saw hooves.

And screamed.

Author's Note

I actually had the previous chapter done last night.

Idiot that I is, I forgot to hit publish. Whoops.

Chapter Ten

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Purple hooves brushed against the fur on his face.

Hooves.

Fur.

This was (Everything he dreamed of!) wrong!

He was a (Pony) dragon! He was supposed to have claws and scales and spines!

Not (Yes!) hooves or fur or... Or...

A horn.

He needed answers. He needed answers to questions he didn't even know how to ask.

He had to hope that this (Was) wasn't permanent. That this could (Not) be reverted.

His emerald eyes went wide as he stared at his reflection in the store front window. He placed his hooves over his ears and whimpered, a low, keening noise.

He could hear something (Himself) whispering in his mind. It wasn't the greed. He knew the greed. It wasn't a subtle little thing, begging him to take.

More and more, never satisfied. (Envious and brutish. Undignified.)

He struggled to his hooves, his legs shaking. (First the back, then the front. I've got this!) One hoof before the other, he started moving. He managed a few paces before spotting something glinting brass in a mixed puddle of red and yellowgreen.

The smell was nauseating. (Blood and sick.) His key was in the middle of it though. He carefully tried to pick it up a few times, futiley poking it around the mess before he felt something click and he managed to grasp the little piece of metal.

It was a start, he could work with this. (He had to.)

Not a single glance was spared for him as he travelled back to the bakery. It was unsettling, he was used to furtive glances and curious stares. Not even in Ponyville had that aspect of his existence faded.

He wasn't sure if it was nice (It is. I can be another face in the crowd now.) or not.

Letting that thought fade to the back of his mind, he stood to the side of the line in the bakery. He made an act of browsing the menu (The blueberry muffins look better today, for some reason.) while he waited for the last patron to leave.

"You gonna pick somethin' kid, or you gonna get out?" He hadn't even noticed the pegasus leave.

"Actually Mr.Lemon, I need to get some stuff out of my room." The other unicorn wore a bemused look, gazing over the new unicorn in front of him.

"You're gonna have to refresh my memory kid. I don't know any half-grown blank-flank colts anymore."

"Mr.Lemon, it's me, Spike." The elder unicorn stepped out from behind the counter. Spike backed up to the wall as his employer fixed him him with a frigid, searching stare until their noses were practically touching.

The open sign flipped over to closed.

"I want an explanation. Now. In the kitchen." Mr.Lemon spun on a hoof, marching into the back room. Spike took a moment longer, he needed to compose himself. He'd noticed there was something...

Hard. Cold wasn't the right word.

Inside the old unicorn. He hadn't thought it to be so frightening, before.

"At least you're no coward, boy." Spike wished he was. The unicorn was sitting, perfectly calm while the bakery around him worked through magic alone. It was chaos. (It was beautiful)

"So what's the story, huh. Some lost changeling, I'm guessing?" He seated himself across from the baker, marvelling at the work around him.

"N-no, I'm a dragon! I was a dragon. I('m a unicorn!) don't know. I got in a fight with some other dragons last night and this..." Spike stopped talking.

He started trembling.

He didn't know why he was crying.

He nearly jumped when he felt the a hoof moving up and down his back.

"Garble threw me at this thing. It just showed up and smelled like blood. It had me before I knew what was happening. It was pulling me into it and it didn't matter how hard I fought. I- there was green light inside of it. That's all I remember of it."

The crushing pressure, the smell of burning flesh and stale rot, the slick pain where it grabbed him. He didn't want to remember that.

"Then I woke up, like, a block away. I started freaking out actually." A trifle was placed in front of Spike, just a little tart really. Grabbing it was an afterthought. He was barely aware he was biting it.

"Whoah. Mr.Lemon, this is really good." He'd finished before he knew it and looked up, his boss sitting across from him again. He wore a pensive look.

"What were you planning to do, Spike?" The dra-Unicorn hesitated. He didn't want to sound ungrateful.

"I was going to get my bits from upstairs, whatever else I could carry and get a train ticket to Ponyville. I know Princess Twilight Sparkle, she's-"

"The princess of Friendship and the Element of Magic of the mythical Elements of Harmony. If you know her, I suppose that makes you that Spike, the one who did those things up north."

"You knew?"

"I suspected. You didn't bring it up and I didn't figure it was my job to drag up your history. Do you know how many dragons here are named Spike? Counting you, I've met five. Get on up there, I can at least see my favorite employee off." The harmony of the kitchen paused for a moment as Spike rushed around the table to hug the gruff old pony before running out to trip up the stairs.

Two ponies stepped off the first class train car, Alicorns the both of them. At Luna's request there had been no service, merely silence as she had dozed for the entirety of the trip.

Twilight hadn't minded in the slightest, she'd been busy compiling notes of the scant few observations she'd made in the dream the night before.

Further back, at a coach car, one unicorn with saddlebags loaded with books and pastries got on while an older unicorn waved him off with a few brief words of encouragement.

Chapter Eleven

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

It was strange, riding the train this time. He fit on the seat. His feet (Hooves) could touch the floor.

He could see the ground passing outside the window now instead of sky and trees.

Sitting across from him were his saddlebags. Half the pastries he'd been sent off with already eaten.

He couldn't quite describe the experience, try as he might.

Bringing light to shadows? An apt metaphor.

Seeing sounds?

Tasting rainbows?

Alright, not that last one. He'd get punched if he said that in the wrong company.

The point of it was, on his (Wrong) original tongue, there was sugar, salt, and maybe a faint aftertaste of whatever else went into the food.

Milk and eggs being the 'Strongest'.

And he'd worked with that. He'd developed a subtle pallet that let him cook, as he'd been told, amazing meals.

He'd just assumed everypony else tasted things the same as he did. Except they weren't lucky enough to enjoy things like a mellow citrine, a spicy sapphire, bittersweet emerald or a truly sublime diamond.

And he was wrong. So wrong it hurt.

Or maybe that was the forced self control to keep from devouring the rest of his bounty in a mindless rampage of glorious sugary satisfaction.

It was probably that.

(Maybe just one more?)

Probably shouldn't.

Spike did.

"So how do we want to do this, Princess?" Royalty was given a wide berth, the princess of the night even more so than the other three.

"T'would be easiest speak to the local authorities first. Even if they lack in details, an event of such nature would still have drawn their attention." Twilight supposed that made some sense. In experience she would have to disagree, but in theory that's exactly what the authorities were supposed to do.

"Alright. Where do we go to do that?" Twilight nearly walked past the elder princess before stopping to turn around. "Luna?"

"We're already here, Twilight." Her head whipped up, reading the great brass lettering of the building they were next to.

The Tack and Tackle?

She turned around to read the sign on the other building.

Fillydelphia Police Department.

That made a bit more sense.

Together they entered the building. Even the presence of two members of the Equestrian royalty couldn't silence the incessant clacking of typewrites, pens, pencils and just the general hubbub of activity of a police department in a multicultural city.

One unicorn approached the two, though he didn't bow.

"Princesses, we were told you'd be on your way. I'm Lieutenant Frisky. If you'll come this way, we'll get you situated in the conference room with the chief." They were directed to an elevator. The button for the next floor was pressed.

The front door of the department was ripped off it's hinges with a slam, the tinkling of broken glass filled the air.

A red dragon stood in the portal, the smell of cider followed him.

"Usually we're the ones finding you, Garble. Not the other way around." A unicorn doing paperwork at their desk was nonplussed at his entrance.

Twilight moved to exit the elevator, reopening the closing door as she did. Luna's hoof on her back stopped her.

"You gotta do somethin'!" The dragon was shouting, his breath foul enough to curl the princesses nose from across the room. "It ate a dragon, Gumshoe!"

"Are we gonna have to make you sleep it off in the drunk tank again? Byling, get him-"

"No." Luna stepped forward, forcing the closing doors to reopen once more. "Let him speak."

She stood to her full height, the air, fouled by the dragon's stench grew dark and oppressive.

"Tell us, wyrm. What ate a dragon?" Garble retreated a few steps, glass shards cracking beneath his claws.

"A m-monster. Made of metal and-and-and blood!" He was clawing at the glass, trying to get away as Luna's eyes glowed a pure, brilliant white.

"Show me."

Spike awoke from the short nap he'd been taking as the train attendant rattled on the window to his compartment.

Sugar, lemons, cherries and so much more.

He hadn't (Wanted) been able to stop himself.

It was just so good.

Ponyville would be the next stop, just a few short minutes away.

How was he going to explain this? Did he (Yes!) want to explain this?

He could (Shouldn't) just pretend he was a new unicorn in town.

Enjoy a Pinkie Pie party for being new in town.

Hang out with the colts and fillies his own age.

Finally woo Rarity...

Yeah, no. That sounded creepy, even (Especially) in his own head.

He liked to think (Know) he had some integrity, thank you.

The train was slowing down. He had a choice to make.

He looked to his reflection and smiled.

Like it was ever a-

What?

Spike made a face, pulling his lips away from his teeth.

That was not a pony smile. Those chompers were all dragon.

How had he not noticed? How would he have noticed? (I never had pony teeth to tell the difference with.)

He couldn't go throughout his life without smiling. (That'd be miserable.) So what was he going to do?

The train lurched as it came to a halt.

If he was a pegasus, he'd wing it. Instead he was just going to have to put one hoof in front of the other and deal with it.

He shucked his saddlebags over his back and made his way off the train. The station wasn't deserted, it was actually kind of a hot spot, what with Ponyville being the home of Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.

Still, it wasn't busy at the moment. A few ponies milling about, some getting on, some getting off.

One pink earth pony with a mane spun like cotton candy. Standing on her hind hooves and holding a sign over hear head that said.

"Welcome home, Spike!"

Chapter Twelve

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

"How long have you been holding up that sign?" Pinkie Pie was a... Pink pony. Her mane was darker pink, her eyes blue and bedecking her backside was a trio of balloons.

"Well, I haven't been here all day. I've just been showing up when the trains are coming in pony-I-don't-know." Spike nodded. Pinkie didn't make much sense on the best of days, but standing at an empty train station and holding up a sign that would never be read?

This was the same pony who sat about watching paint dry to confirm she was the real Pinkie Pie. Spike really wouldn't put it past her.

"I guess I am a pony you don't know." He sat down in front of her and favored her with a closed mouth grin. "I think I'm a dragon you know."

Pinkie Pie put her sign down and looked him over. She rubbed her chin with her hoof and 'Hmm'd' loudly a few times. She walked around him, looking over him, she spread his mane and stared at the roots.

She even sniffed him.

"Nope. You are definitely a pony. Can't be the one I'm looking for. Dragon that is, not pony. Wait." She sat down, leaning her sign against her side. "How did you know I'm looking for a dragon?"

"Pinkie Pie. It's me. You're looking for me. I'm Spike."

"Nope!" She giggled. "If you were Spike you'd be about yea tall, with chubby cheeks and cute scales and sharp... TEETH!" Spike was willing to accept that Pinkie Pie was random, but he had seen that her randomness was usually based on some internal logic strange and alien to everypony.

Except Discord.

But he's not a pony, so he couldn't be counted regardless.

Please stop blowing a raspberry at the screen, Discord.

Thank you.

So what could have happened to cause her to scream and start backing away?

Oh. He'd smiled. (Dragon's teeth...) He couldn't help that he'd enjoyed being complimented.

He stood up, he motioned to walk towards her while she backed away.

He stopped. That wasn't going to help.

Chasing her, explaining that he wasn't...

Wasn't what?

He had dragon's teeth. He was Spike.

What wasn't he going to do?

(Hurt her)

He knew that! But explaining it never worked.

He caught one more glimpse of pink turning a corner past the train station and headed off.

He'd just... Forget it. Once he got turned back into a dragon, it wouldn't matter anyway.

"Take him away, now! Twilight, we go!" Magically induced sleep, a nightmare forced through an unstable mind.

Luna felt no regret for her choices.

The reasons, the thoughts may have been absent from the flashback but it changed nothing. His actions, his pride had been on display.

Might over the weak, sacrificing...

Spike.

How she would tell Twilight, she did not know.

"It has grown, Twilight. Nearly complete it would seem." They were not running.

Ponies seeing a pair of princesses running through the street? Chaos would follow.

But they did hurry, Twilight struggling to keep up with Luna's harried pace.

"He said it ate a dragon, Luna! It's still the size of a pony, right?" Luna nodded ahead of her. "Then how could it eat one? I can't think of any dragon that would have-have lost to that thing without it being noticed?"

"If it chanced upon a young dragon, it could." Claws gripping and struggling, flames searing and blazing forth from cracks made in bubbling steel. "It is magic at its core, normal convention as you may be aware may not hold true to it."

The location it occurred at, the attack, was vacant still. Something lingered in the air still, blood and ash, burnt iron stung at their eyes.

Luna felt the spell before Twilight finished casting it. The ground, one long line from the other end until a large patch nearby lit up purple. Specks and blotches were all over the place, a smaller trail led down a nearby alley.

"I've never seen so much..."

"Blood, Twilight? I would be worried if you had. The creature is afflicted with a sort of failed regeneration. It seems to be incomplete even still." They followed the smaller trail, concerned, wary as it turned from a looping, lazy line into scattered splotches before stopping altogether.

"What does this mean? Is it, is the thing complete?" Twilight had seen the spots after the magic faded. Crusted brown, damp red.

The puddles filled with a green that caused her stomach to roil, churn with protest.

"I fear it so."

A little over a month since he'd left it, the castle hadn't changed in the slightest.

He wasn't going to mention to Twilight, or any of the others actually, but he'd tried to, well...

Take a bite.

It hadn't worked. The palace walls were made of more than just shiny, reflective crystals.

Pure magic had gone into making it, harmony in raw form sprouted it.

His teeth hadn't found any purchase, but he remembered what those walls tasted like. It had been spicy, but it left his tongue and gums feeling cold.

He tried to sereptitiously look around to make sure nopony was looking when he licked the wall.

"Eww." He spun around to face the noise, tongue still sticking out. "Do you have any idea where that wall has been?"

"Pinkie Pie?" She was standing nearly nose to nose with him. He could taste her breath.

His tongue slid back into his mouth. He could swear she was breathing cake.

"Hi Spike!" He jumped backwards when she yelled in his face, landing on his rump when his hooves slid out from under him.

"That wall can't have been to me, because Pinkie Pie is a pony, not a place you silly billy!" She giggled and bounced over, grabbing him by his hoof and pulling him back up to all fours.

"So how does Spike the Dragon become Spike the unicorn? Does it work in reverse? Could I become a dragon? I'd be all 'Rawr, I'm Pinkie Pie, I'm a dragon.' and everypony would go 'Oh no, it's Pinkie Pie the dragon, what will we do?!' and I'll say 'Bring me all your cookies.' because I'd be a dragon and they'd be all scared and stuff and they'd give me cookies so I wouldn't take their princesses and go to another castle and-"

Spike stuffed a hoof down her muzzle, trying to make sense of her words as she gnawed away at him. He pulled his hoof away.

"And then a plumber and his taller brother would go 'Release our princess' and I'd be all 'Nya ha ha, your extra lives end-" Spike clamped both of his hooves over her motor mouth, holding it shut until she realized she wasn't speaking anymore.

"Pinkie Pie. I need you to focus, can you do that?"

She nodded.

"Where's Twilight?"

Author's Note

A few small edits to meet my preferred length, fixed the name to the standard I've been using. Didn't write this while feeling my best and I feel like it shows, but if I lose momentum, well, that'd have a worse impact than not making anything at all.

Chapter Fourteen

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

"I do hope you'll forgive me for being blunt, but, you are referring to yourself as a rather young dragon, yes?"

Spike nodded.

"Breathing fire, eating gems, the whole shebang?"

"Yes Rainbow Dash. I woke up this morning as a pony after being eaten by something that makes Discord seem sane and happy."

"Not meaning to insult you pardner, but, well, how? I mean, how'd you go from bein' a li'l bugger of a dragon to bein' a li'l bugger of a unicorn?"

"I just told you Apple Jack. I got eaten by a monster. I woke up as a pony. It's pretty much why I quit my job at a bakery in Fillydelphia-"

"You worked at a bakery in Fillydelphia? Ooh, which one, which one? Was it Creche and Crumble? Wake and Bake? Dazzle's Delectables? The one run by a yak?" Spike took two steps back. Then a third for good measure.

"It was Lustrous Delectables. Anyway I quit my job-"

"You were at Lustrous Delectables? You mean the one Dazzle Sparklepants has been trying to replicate for years? The one that held off vicious takeover after vicious takeover by would be investors trying to steal their recipes?" Spike tried to take a step to the side, seeing as he was backed against a wall.

Pinkie Pie's face remained firmly affixed to his. Her eyes were boring into him. Stripping away flesh and scale to stare into his soul.

"I guess? Pinkie, I'm trying to say I quit so I could get-"

"Absolutely unimportant Spike! You were working for Sweety Lemon! Do you have any idea how big a deal this is?" The other ponies were backing away now. It was one thing to go to a Pinkie Pie party. It was a whole other matter to be a material witness to a crime.

Spike trembled when she exhaled heavily into his face. It smelled sickly sweet, like pure sugar crystals.

"N-no?"

"It's Su-uper important Spike. He never hires anypony. Ever. Nopony knows how he keeps getting top reviews!" Only the remaining elements of harmony remained in the room.

The rest weren't willing to explain what they saw to the royal guard. Nope. If they asked, everypony was at home. Reading a nice book.

Pinkie Pie? Nope, don't know her.

"He doesn't do anything special Pinkie. It's just hard work. He's there every morning before the sun is up and he's cleaning up well after it goes down. That's all, okay?" She sat down, giving him a few inches of breathing room while she 'hmmed' and 'uh-huh'd' and rubbed her chin.

"I get it Spike, you've been sworn to secrecy!" She disappeared, leaving behind a smokey afterimage and wrapped a forelimb around his shoulders. "But that's okay, you can tell your old pal Pinkie Pie, right?! Right?"

Spike gasped in relief when a blue aura grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and pulled her away, pouting all the while.

"I'm sorry about that, Spike. I believe you were telling us that you quit your job and came back so Twilight could fix, well, this?" ...(Rarity...)

Spike blinked. Snapping himself out of a daydream.

He had to focus.

(Maybe letting her save me from time to time wouldn't be too bad...).

Shut up. Just... Shut up.

"Yeah actually. That's exactly it."

"I wasn't planning anything!" Luna was nonplussed while Twilight looked between the two, trying to make sense of what she'd heard.

"Garble, wasn't it?" The dragon nodded, held as he was in Luna's magical grasp. He gripped the bars grinding against his scales as though for dear life.

It did him no good, his claws tore free as he was slammed into the wall, his body contorting into the corner.

"I have walked your dreams, fool. Last evenings nightmare haunts you yet most vividly. I watched you devour stolen tourmaline. I saw you drag your lackeys from their slumber. You stalked the alleys away from your roost, dogging the heels of a dragon much younger than you and met him with a show of force." His skull impacted the ceiling above, broken scales lodging into stonework. His chin met the ground hard enough that Twilight was certain bone or tooth had cracked. When he was pulled into the bars once more, he looked far worse than almost anything she had seen before.

"What were you planning." What bothered Twilight most wasn't what the princess of the night was doing. It was how... Normal she sounded while doing it. There was no madness here, no trace of the Nightmare that sought to plunge the land into eternal darkness.

"...were gonna hurt him a little." Luna ignored the quiet sob and dragged him across the bars like a rack before bringing him to eye level.

"You will tell me, truthfully, whatever crossed your mind that you considered a reason to stalk our friend and bring him harm." Luna's eyes began to glow, the shadows of the room growing larger, twisting into... Gnashing teeth and twisting horns.

"Luna..." Twilight cowered into herself as the magic, so cold, seeped into her very bones.

"What kind of dragon gets a job with you ponies? Goes buying books. Had to show the upstart his place is all." The dragon wheezed between breaths, likely even that causing him pain now. "So we were gonna scare him, rough him up a little, y'know? Maybe pluck a few scales. He's a dragon, he oughtta be in Dragon Town, not working for that little prick baker Lemon." Garble's words died in his throat as a warm flood of magic pulsed, not from the cowering purple alicorn but from the still quietly, calmly incensed blue one.

He found himself still hunched next to the cot, his breathing calm and not a scale out of place.

There was a quiet clack of hooves walking away.

A door slammed shut.

He wrapped his claws around his legs and began rocking, mumbling to himself that "The blue pony princess isn't going to hurt me anymore."

Over.

And over.

Chapter Fifteen

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Spike sat on the somewhat small bed and looked around the room.

Pink.

Frilly.

A photograph of a trio of fillies stood on the nightstand. One white, one orange, one tan. All three were cheering over something amazing.

Their own cutie marks.

Spike pondered that himself. He was a year or two older than they were, and they'd been late bloomers. What was his going to be? Could he even get one?

Should he even worry about it? Twilight would be coming back soon, he was sure she'd put him back to normal in no time. But...

(Is that what I want?)

He was still uneasy over it. That voice. A whisper in the back of his mind. It had taken the place of the screaming, frothing, needing greed that he'd grown so used it.

It was a quiet voice, it didn't want for things. It just...

It took those feelings, the quiet envy, the mewling whelp, things that weren't quite thoughts.

And put them to words.

It didn't intrude, force its way to the fore of his mind where he had to struggle to restrain it, to use what he'd learned and been taught to rebel against...

Against who he was.

Perhaps, he admitted, that was what truly frightened him about it. It wasn't proud. It didn't demand attention. It was just... Honest. About himself.

Somepony knocked on the door to the room he was in. Once, twice and finally a third time before they opened to the door and stepped in.

Rarity.

From every perfectly brushed fur of her coat to her perfectly coifed purple mane, she was still the very picture of elegance to his mind.

His heart beat in conflict. (Not like this)

"Is the room to your liking, Spike? Sweetie Bell always leaves it in such a mess." She was glancing about the room as she spoke, wincing at specks of imaginary dust in the pristine bedroom.

"It's fine, Rarity. Thanks for letting me stay though." Fur did a fantastic job of hiding a blush.

"Think nothing of it, dear. I know Twilight left your room untouched in the castle, but coming home so dreadfully exhausted as she'll be and finding a strange pony waiting for her? Again? I'd say her reaction would just be dreadful." Spike rubbed his foreleg uncomfortably.

"I wasn't expecting her to fire them on the spot." Spike finally admitted after a minute. "I really thought those three would work out where..."

He trailed off, the silence saying much where he couldn't.

"I suppose expecting one little dragon to take care of the whole castle was a bit unrealistic of us, wasn't it?"

"I didn't want to say that to Twilight though. I just thought it would disappoint her. I mean, I don't know which would be worse? Telling her I wasn't cutting it as her number one assistant, or her agreeing with me." He looked up when he felt her wrap a hoof around his shoulder and pull him into her barrel.

The comfort felt different, the warmth wasn't as addictive but the hug still felt just as good as when he was, wasn't, was a dragon.

"It takes the strongest of us to ask for help, Spike. Something that I know you know. But Spike... Well, a mare really shouldn't say, but we're all allowed to be weak from time to time. If we didn't make mistakes, what would we have to learn from? Twilight would never be disappointed in her friends Spike, especially because they look to her for help."

Spike wondered, as he struggled to keep his vision from blurring further, how he could have forgotten that lesson.

"Rarity?"

"Yes Spike?"

"Thank you."

"Do you fear me, Twilight Sparkle?" Luna stood upon the terrace of the hotel room in Fillydelphia. Her fellow alicorn, Twilight, sat next to her with her chin resting on the balcony.

"Yes? No? I don't know." Her hoof was tracing imaginary figures into the railing.

Today had left her so, so tired. Disgusted, reviled, horrified and terrified and perpetually anxious. She would like nothing better than to slip into bed and just go to sleep.

"Please, Twilight, tell me all that troubles you."

"Princess? Luna." Twilight sighed and focused her eye on the much taller princess. "A lot of things are troubling me. What you said. What you did. I don't know how to feel about any of it."

She stood up and stretched her wings, the joints popping loudly before she sat back down.

"We don't know what we're trying to find, the dark magic dried up and that only makes more questions that I'm afraid to know the answer to. Like if it just popped out of existence, or manifested some new teleportation spell or magic or if it..." She hadn't anything left to gag on but bile, though her stomach did its best with even that. "Metamorphosed or mutated into something else entirely that's not dark magic, or else keeps it shielded and hidden."

"And you knew, knew that it... Did that, it, Spike's gone. It ate Spike. He's gone. I, he..." She hiccuped, she wasn't even trying to stop the tears. When Luna wrapped a leg around her, she clutched around her tightly, seeking some kind of warmth, solace from that loss. "He left because he was afraid of disappointing me! I didn't even get to say goodbye..."

Twilight sobbed, she did so until her eyes itched and her throat burned, the grief did not abate. Some time later, when the tears couldn't come any more she pulled away from the Princess of the night and wiped her nose.

"I thought -hic- thought that I'd feel worse about what you did to Garble. When you dragged us into that illusion. It felt so, so real and I was afraid of what you were doing to him but-" Twilight looked up, staring at something beyond the moon. "-he's a bully. I saw him, with Spike back during the dragon migration. He was breaking phoenix eggs."

Luna inhaled sharply, though Twilight continued on uninterrupted.

"He was trying to get Spike to do it, too. And he just. He said no. Garble was going to hurt him for it but me, Rarity and Rainbow Dash stopped him. It was the same thing here, wasn't it? Spike didn't do what he wanted him to do, so he was going to hurt him for it." Twilight leaned into it when Luna began rubbing her back, wanting, needing whatever comfort she could find.

"I don't, I can't feel anything for him. I should pity him, his friends only follow him out of fear. I should hate him, he hurt my friend not once, twice. I should feel sorry for him because of what you did, showing him that he wasn't strong or tough or whatever he thinks he is."

"But I can't, Luna. I can't do any of that. He's nothing. And I don't know how I feel, if that makes me a bad pony or-" Twilight was cut off when a gentle blue aura surrounded her, the warmth pressing into her.

Like a parent comforting a child.

She was deposited into one of the two massive beds before the duvet covered her.

"You are not a bad pony, Twilight. Nay, you are better than I was so very long ago. Sleep now, my little pony, and under the light of Celestia's sun we will resolve this mess."

Almost against her will, Twilight felt her eyes growing heavy. The last thing she recalled was a hoof brushing her mane away from her eyes.

"Rest well, dear Twilight."

"For I shall guard your dreams."

Author's Note

I've noticed a bit of confusion regarding Spike's motivation in earlier chapters, so I'll try to clarify something.

Spike makes bad choices. It's a character trait as well developed as his love of gems or his fragile self image.
He's my favorite character, but sometimes, Spike has his moments.
One part of that, and the part that I thought to try and focus on, can be distilled down to immaturity. I don't mean that as a character flaw, but as a facet of who he is. He's not an adult, he doesn't think or act as one, his logic would not be as one. Reality is going to conflict with his plans, there are going to be consequences he cannot foresee.
In short, if Spike were a perfect character, I wouldn't have a story.

Chapter Sixteen

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Magic was a fascinating tool, allowing one individual to do the work of many. With enough practice there was no limit to the functionality of even the most basic, most instinctual skills it granted.

Such as levitation.

Every unicorn learned to flex their magical might and manipulate objects in a manner most amazing. Most however never got it beyond the level where they could manipulate one thing, and that one thing only so long as they could see it.

Linear thinking. A to B. C through Z were somepony elses problem.

Sweetie Lemon used to be like that, too.

Decades and decades ago. When he was just a colt chasing butterflies and trying to sneak a bite of his mothers butterscotch pie before it was cool. Once upon a time when it was a dream to join the royal guard and protect the princess from rampaging dragons and gryphon assassins.

Drawers around the bakery kitchen opened of their own accord, whisks and rolling pins floating into the air.

They never mention in the recruitment pamphlets that the royal guard are almost completely ceremonial. That unless you've got the ambition to reach the top, you weren't going to be doing anything more important than standing wherever your assignment is for six solid hours a day.

Flour mixed with water and sugar as it floated along like a snake before uncoiling itself on baking sheets, weaving and braiding its way into ovens that blazed to life. Hard cheese lifted from the cooler in the back of the room, crumbling into a thick dust that joined the braid and wove its way into the dough.

The training to qualify, though? It was intense. The Pegasi were thrown through intense weather training, Earth Ponies pressed until either they broke or the boulders they were forced to lug around did.

Flames ignited beneath great vats of clear oil. Dough formed into rings above, waiting to drop within.

And Unicorns? They were taught one spell, just one, and then forced through some of the most grueling and mentally torturous experiences that could be dreamed of just to see if they would use it. Told it would destroy everything, it would. By temporarily altering their color and proving they couldn't be trusted with power.

The oil was bubbling, a loud 'Fwoosh' flowing from the gas burners when they would sputter and reignite, clicking and clacking and whirrings surrounded the old baker as he ran his kitchen.

If they passed, and most didn't, they were drilled on the basics of their spellcraft. Speed, precision and versatility were pressed until a Unicorn of the royal guard could juggle in his sleep, or so the rumors went. Compared to those rumors though, the reality was underwhelming. Better, faster and stronger basics that could still be toppled by a third year student with some fancy spell that came out of left field.

Somepony was knocking on the back door used for deliveries. He slowed down his donuts just a bit to focus on the door instead of making sure he broke his morning quota.

But that was how most patriotic dreams went, wasn't it? Work hard, work harder, and then when it's time for your hard work to show results...

"You're the baker named Lemon, right?" An alicorn shows off how little it was all worth.

At least this one is purple and not a ball of incandescent white flame casually kicking around a Minotaur who'd just shrugged off the Earth Pony regiment of the royal guard.

He was maybe a bit sour about that.

"I am. You'd be Twilight Sparkle then, thought you'd be in ponyville." He moved to the side to let her in. From the way she walked to the way she looked, her steps slow and eyes dull, he knew better than to say it.

She looked terrible.

"I was investigating something. Your name was mentioned, so I came to follow up." Even her voice was fatigued. He could only guess at how little she slept.

"About Spike, right?" She nodded, a spark of curiosity lit within her eyes as she saw everything in his kitchen moving. "Figured that'd be the case. He left something in his room upstairs, it's addressed to you. Want me to go get it?"

It's not snooping if the property is abandoned, is it?

She nodded, mouthing off numbers silently as she counted the various things floating around her. She thought she was somewhere in the fifties when he returned, though she couldn't be sure she hadn't counted some things twice.

Or more.

Her magic held up the object her held in hoof.

A letter.

It wasn't in an envelope yet, just a piece of paper in a tri-fold. It unfolded readily, though her nerve took a second more.

Dear Twilight Sparkle

I miss you. I'm sorry I left the way I did. I didn't mean intend want to disappoint you but I felt like I was. I know I wasn't keeping the castle as clean as I kept our home the library. And I know you missed those meals of hot tomato soup I used to make, or eggplant quiche or the pancakes and waffles.

There was too much to do more than I could finish on time. I tried to make things work better, schedule things better but I still ended up with more than I could finish in one day. I was never as good as you at following those checklists.

I hope the new ponies I trained to take my place are working out alright. I'm mostly sure about the janitor, but I know Pumpkin Spice can make some absolutely amazing food and I'm sure you'll get along fine with Slide Rule. Apparently there aren't a lot of job callings for ponies with a degree in Library Sciences. I guess not, since I didn't even know there was such a thing as library science.

Anyway, I hope you're doing well and I'll try to write again soon if I ever even send this.

Your number one assistant friend.

Spike.

Twilight folded up the rough draft of her letter and tucked it under a wing. Her composure was cracking, she knew it.

"Little fella was nervous as all get out last time I saw him." A fresh pastry was pressed under her nose, wrapped in a napkin. "Suppose he's gonna be disappointed he went back to Ponyville yesterday to see you and you were already here. Bad timing, that."

...What?

"What?" She was staring at him, her eyes wide, mind blank.

"Came back yesterday morning, thought he was some random colt at first. Said he woke up after being attacked by some monster and got turned into a pony. Had to get back to Ponyville to see a princess about some magic, saw him off at the station myself."

"What?!"

Author's Note

A chapter devoid of actual focus on Spike.

Chapter Seventeen

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

A cup of flour, a splash of water and an egg were the three things Spike mixed together in a bowl.

The stove nearby had a skillet sitting on the burner, a splash of oil heating up over a low flame.

Carefully, he spooned out almost half the batter he'd made and set the rest aside. He snagged a nearby spatula and sat down to wait.

This, right here, was where Twilight and cooking began to disagree. Doing nothing but waiting as food cooked was, in her eyes, time better spent reading.

Then she'd get caught up reading and the food burned and they called the Ponyville fire department.

Good times, good times.

Small bubbles began to form and pop, telling him it was time to flip what he was cooking.

"Sweetie Bell? Dear, you know you're not supposed to be-" Rarity cut herself off as she entered the kitchen.

There was a purple colt with a green mane standing in front of her stove and humming.

Not her little sister.

Her mind churned like a set of rusty gears, trying to remember yesterday.

Something, something, Spike, pony, coffee.

Well, that wasn't particularly helpful.

He flipped the pancake off the skillet and on to a plate, drizzling a thin zig-zag of honey all across the top and placing it on the table in front of her.

She'd worry about it later, he could stay for now.

"Do you want something to drink, Rarity?" She mumbled something in response, two syllables long and starting with a C.

He began filling a fancy looking, chromed coffee pot with water and set it on the burner next to where the hot skillet still sat. He was humming something while he poured the rest of the batter into the pan.

If she wasn't currently enjoying light, golden-brown, fluffy heaven she'd likely find herself irritated. The sun was shining brightly, she was up too early and there still wasn't any coffee.

No, wait, the nearby rattling indicated her overused coffee pot was still raring to go. The colt seemed to have a knack for the kitchen, using an over mitt to snag the handle and pour of cup of steaming black liquid.

"Cream and sug...ar?" She upturned her mug and chugged, burning black liquid vanishing into the abyss. He poured another cup into her waiting mug before taking his own breakfast off the stove.

"Delightful breakfast, Spike. Have you been awake long?" She perked right up, her eyes filling with life and a smile gracing her face.

"Not too long. I noticed you weren't up yet and I started making breakfast. Did you... Did you like it?" Her smile shrunk just a hair.

A lovestruck baby dragon doing his very best to help you with your every need?

Absolutely adorable.

A lovestruck colt doing everything he could to please you?

Still adorable, she supposed, but it bordered much more closely to 'Creepy' than she was really comfortable with.

"It was absolutely divine, Spike. My own attempts at making pancakes usually end up a touch more... Flat. How ever do you do it?"

"Oh that?" He puffed up in pride, his eyes closing and a hoof crossing over his chest. "It's all about the batter. If you stir it too much, that's what happens. Gets all the air out of it or something I guess."

"Like over stitching I suppose. Too much as bad as too little..." She waited calmly as he hurriedly hoofed his own food into his mouth. She supposed she could forgive his lack of grace this once, since his body was only just a day old.

But only just this once.

"Well come along then. We'll put a note on Twilight's door that you're here, much simpler than running back off to try and catch her before she and Luna go off again, no?"

"Luna!" Twilight wasn't bothering much with social norms in her emotionally heightened state.

Social norms such as etiquette, like not shouting at a sleeping pony at the top of her lungs.

Or teleporting in the house. Hotel room, in this case.

"Five more minutes, Celly..." Luna tangled herself further into the bedding, unwilling to awaken so early into the day.

"Luna! You need to get up, it's about Spike!" A lesser pony would have simply bowed and walked away when given a drowsy dismissal from their princess.

A lesser pony wouldn't, as a theoretical, wrap her hooves in the diarch's blankets and pull them off.

Under normal circumstances, Twilight Sparkle, a princess herself, is one such lesser pony. She was raised to be polite and courteous, though from time to time her curiosity and isolation would find a way to shine through.

Then there's this.

When Luna had managed to focus her eyes after picking herself up off the ground, she made a conscious choice to hold her tongue.

She wanted to lambaste the feckless fool who'd disturbed her slumber with the harshest recriminations she could muster. Truly she did, from the deepest, foulest part of her tarnished soul.

Instead she sighed.

Twilight was a mess. Her hair was out of sorts in every direction, eyes wide and shining with something and her smile...

Pinkie Pie did not smile that wide.

"Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and aspirant Arch-Mage, for what reason have you awoken me from my slumber?" Titles were almost meaningless among equals. Saying them for anything other than the sake of formality was just a waste of breath.

Or a stalling tactic.

Do you have any idea how many hors d'ourves can be shoveled on a plate while all forty seven of the titles for the High Apostate of Yakyakistan are said?

Enough to go back for seconds.

Here it offered Luna a spare moment to shrug off some of the haze of fatigue from her mind.

She had a feeling she wasn't going to like this.

"Spike's alive!"

She was right.

"Twilight, I watched the nightmare of Garble. I saw the thing devour the poor dragon. I doubt-"

"He's in Ponyville! I talked to his employer and he said-" Luna closed her eyes for a brief moment and inhaled slowly. "-So Spike turned into a pony and went to ponyville to see the princess about magic to turn him back."

She worked that last sentence over in her mind a few times.

Still not making sense.

"Could you repeat that, Twilight? I'm afraid I wasn't quite following there." She shouldn't have been surprised when Twilight teleported.

Twilight landing on her back threw her. The teleport afterwards? She really should have expected it.

Author's Note

The segments were actually written in reverse and then swapped for the sake of literary flow. Slice of life before drama.

Chapter Eighteen

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

"Now Spike, I really think your note needs just a touch more class, don't you? I mean, certainly "At Rarity's, love Spike" gets the message across but it just seem to be so... Brusque." The two of them sat before the crystal palace, a notepad between them.

"It's a two inch by two inch square of paper. I can't put too much more on it Rarity." He was tapping the ground with a pencil.

"I know dear, but perhaps something more akin to "Dearest Twilight, I, your faithful assistant Spike, have returned from abroad with a dastardly magical affliction. As you were adventuring with our second, well, third most... Fourth maybe? Most beloved princess Luna, your friend the dazzling, most elegant Rarity graciously allowed me to stay at her home until you return. Kisses, Spike."

He put the pen down. He brought his hooves up to his forehead, just under the horn, and pressed down. Hard.

The headache that had started building up at the base of his skull and traveling over his scalp subsided for a moment before redoubling.

"Rarity?" He was not going to get frustrated, he refused. Just because he was trying to get his crush in claw (Hoof) didn't mean he didn't still like her.

"Yes Spikey- err, yes Spike?"

"Twilight would need to use a microscope if I wrote all of that down on a two by two stickynote." He wondered about the hitch in her speech. It sounded like she was going to...

Nevermind.

"Well, yes, I suppose there is that. But wouldn't it be, well, better darling?" He supposed, if he squinted really hard, then yes. It would be better.

"I think it depends on the context. Yours sounds nicer, mine fits." She blushed hard enough he could see it through her fur. She hastily scribbled out a note on the paper in front of her and stuck it to the door.

"There! All done! Let's not talk about it anymore and go-"

Ponies do not have such a terrible technological marvel as what humans refer to as a 'Depth Charge'. Should a pony ever hear one of these devices go off, however, their first question would be 'Did somepony just try long range teleportation?'.

In regards to this hypothetical depth charge, the answer is no, nopony did.

In regards to what just knocked Spike and Rarity hoof over horn, the answer is 'Yes'.

Smoke rose from a crater almost six inches deep right where the two had been debating just moments ago. Two figures were slowly coming into focus as the dust and steam dissipated.

"This isn't my library!" The smaller figure spoke as it stepped off the larger one, who was left coughing and weezing.

"I'm right in front of my castle though. So that's about... Twenty-three meters southeast of where I intended to be. That doesn't make any sense!"

Rarity recognized the voice easily enough, the purple alicorn was one of her best friends after all.

Unfortunately, she also recognized the state of her friends mane, the gleam in her eyes.

This would require some... Finesse.

"Twilight, darling, is everything alright?" She slowly approached, as one would a wounded animal.

Oh, she truly wished Fluttershy were here. Her gift with such creatures would surely help.

"Rarity!" Twilight didn't quite blink out of existence so much as immediately appear nose to nose with the fashionista. The width of her smile, indeed the very width of her eyes caused a small part of Rarity to quiver and hide within herself. "Have you seen Spike? Well, different Spike? He's supposed to be a pony now, purple coat and green mane. Maybe a little taller and more filled out than Snails? Sweetie Lemon, that's his boss, his old boss now, said he got on a train to come here yesterday morning to see me because he trusted me to help him go back to being normal."

Twilight paused to take a breath. Rarity opened her mouth to say something, but failed as Twilight completely rode over her.

"Not that being a pony isn't normal, because it is, just not for him. Because he's a dragon. Unless he wants to be a pony! That'd be okay, right? Except it wouldn't be because he's not a pony and he was probably turned into one by dark magic so he'd be a dark magic pony like Sombra but not because he'd be Spike and I know he'd never want to do anything like take all of Ponyville and throw it out of time and-"

Rarity could see Spike walking behind Twilight to the other figure in the crater. He pulled her, Princess Luna she now realized, up to her hooves and helped steady her. They were talking, though she couldn't make out what was being said.

"-so I'm worried because I haven't heard anything, from anypony about- Rarity! Are you even listening to me?!" A hoof tapped on Twilight's shoulder a few times and she spun around. "Not now, Spike, I'm..."

Two hooves wrapped around her neck and pulled her into a hug against him. She didn't return it, she couldn't return it, her mouth hung open and her eyes were frozen in a blank stare.

It was the tears that broke her from her shock, the wet warmth bleeding into her fur.

"I missed you, Twilight." Her hooves shook as she wrapped them tightly around the colt. Her vision swam as she felt relief uncoil from a vicious knot against her heart. She pulled him tighter against her, afraid he'd be gone if she let go.

"I missed you, too, Spike."

Old enchantments awoke from centuries long slumber. The proximity wards had been set off countless times in the past, though those had been ignored as had been intended.

Chaos would not be expunged.

This was known. This was familiar.

It had bled off enough magic from a nearby shockwave to reactivate.

It would wait. It had always waited.

Good or evil were inconsequential.

All that mattered was its purpose.

Chapter Nineteen

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

"You have no idea how worried I, we've been about you Spike." His fur felt so different from the scales she was used to. "You should have told me how difficult things were getting, I would've helped. You know I would."

"I know, Twilight. It wasn't about the work, okay? Not really." He wasn't going to be the first to let go. This was home. She was home. "I... I wanted to find myself. See who I was. Does that make sense?"

Her grip loosened, but she wasn't letting go either.

"You're our friend, Spike. If you wanted to try new things, find something else you liked doing, you could've talked to us. All of us would have been glad to help." His legs held firm, both of their tears starting to dry.

"I know, Twilight. It's going to sound greedy but I... I wanted to find out who I was on my own. I wanted to see if I could stand up on my own, make sure I was making my own decisions instead of looking for help from everypony." Twilight didn't have anything to say to that, she'd been thrown horn-first into a position where she couldn't look up to somepony for help. It had been exhilarating, freeing. Terrifying.

For several long moments, growing increasingly awkward for their observers, their hug continued.

"I thought I lost you." Her grip was nearly painful, he didn't even want to imagine her expression. "Luna and I went to Fillydelphia to follow up on dark magic and we found out you'd been... Been eaten by that thing."

"I thought you were gone. D-Dead!" She hiccuped and he felt fresh tears matting his fur.

He felt terrible, guilt settling itself under his lungs. This wasn't what he'd wanted, this was never what he'd wanted.

"I'm sorry, Twilight." The hug got tighter, it was actually hurting him now.

"Don't be, Spike. You're here, I'm so-" She hiccuped again. "I'm so glad you're here."

"Twilight?" Rarity interjected, trying not to obtrusively stare at the other nearby Princess who was, somehow, asleep on her feet. "Perhaps it would be best if we took our reunion, err, inside instead?"

"What?" She wiped her tears away and looked around at the expanding audience. More than a few with cameras. "Oh, right. Inside is good."

"So, I met your other employer." Spike was keeping up with her relatively well, she noticed. Whatever magic had been employed in this change must have mimicked a ponies instinct set.

Or perhaps, she allowed, it had independently developed it somewhere between leaving the cannibalized train and encountering the dragon and whatever symbiosis between them was allowing him to utilize it.

She needed to analyze it. She also needed to discuss it with the only other legal expert on dark magic available.

Who was currently floating upside down and kicking at the air, drool puddling on the floor. Dead asleep.

She wouldn't begrudge Luna her rest, not after last night. Her own sleep had been fitful, to be sure, but no nightmares had plagued her.

"Mr.Lemon? Probably didn't have anything good to say about me, did he? Don't get me wrong, he's a nice pony, alright? He just-" Twilight laughed, interrupting his verbal stumbling.

"He seemed like a nice enough pony, Spike. And he had a lot of good things to say about you. Like being diligent and helpful even when other ponies weren't treating you the nicest." She opened the door to a bedroom, practically on the opposite side of the castle from her own, and gently levitated the slumbering alicorn onto the bed.

Ponies, Mr.Lemon had said, who disliked dragons for the sake of being dragons.

Where was the sense in that, she wondered. Had they completely forgotten the tale of Hearth's Warming?

Discord was real, Sombra had been real, monsters of lore and legend were lurking in the forgotten corners of the world. The attitude of the populace of Fillydelphia couldn't be allowed to spread, and containing it would only be a stopgap instead of a solution.

Twilight made a mental note to double check the weather reports from the north, see if a chill had been spreading.

Fighting Windigo's, after all, was not high on her priority list.

"He also mentioned some books that you'd purchased while you were working there." She saw him look down and scratch his mane from the corner of her eye. "How far did you get through them?"

"Not that far, really. The science and literature books weren't too bad, I guess. I was having a lot of trouble actually with the math and magic books. I didn't really get the harder math stuff and I can't even practice the-" She smirked when he went cross-eyed and stared at the horn protruding from his forehead. "Oh."

"Tell you what, why don't you go get your books from Rarity's and I'll help you go over them while we wait for Luna to wake up?" Spike smiled at her and rushed off to likely talk to Rarity who'd stayed in the entrance hall.

Wait. Back up. That wasn't right.

Those were not equine teeth he had.

Her own grin faded.

That meant the magic hadn't made a complete transformation, assuming that Spike was the one who'd been transformed.

On the other hoof, considering what she'd seen of the thing before...

No, no, it still didn't make sense. It certainly had looked like carrion but it wasn't expressing traits of what it had been subsuming. No bear claws, no wings or feathers and while certainly sharp, those were definitely dragons teeth and not bear or any kind of cat.

She walked into her study and pulled a notepad in front of her, a quill scratching away with her observations.

Spike's physical maturity had him at roughly early to mid adolescent. No cutie mark, supplied by the magic or discovered naturally, assuming it was even possible for him to develop one. Unicorn horn is present though whether or not it was capable of facilitating magical manipulation was untested.

That, she decided, was where the magical determination would start. With some luck he would be able to cast spells and hopefully, hopefully the magic would retain the signature of the artifact or spell that initially caused this... Metamorphosis, and would match up with a record of previously encountered phenomenon.

If not, it would reveal how deep the transformation was.

Gifting magic to a race resistant not only to magic, but to the idea of actively using magic?

'Actually,' Twilight thought 'Compared to everything else, the culture shock if other dragons found out about this isn't that big a deal'

Chapter Twenty

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

"It really simple, Spike, you see? If A is multiplied on both sides of the equation, you can divide both sides by A and remove it entirely from the problem." As Twilight explained this mathematical process to Spike, a piece of chalk was gliding across a green slate board to write out the steps as well.

"I got that, Twilight. That's not the hard part. If I keep doing that all the way down, all I get is C. It's not the answer, is it?" She rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. He was doing the work, using a lot of scratch paper in the process, and coming to the correct solution.

Which he thought was wrong because it wasn't a number.

"It's a placeholder. Alright? It's just supposed to teach you how to do the problem. What the book is trying to do is teach you how to do these kinds of problems, not just this one." She shouldn't blame him, really she shouldn't. He was doing the work right, he was coming to the right answer.

It just took him a while to get it.

And longer to understand it.

"Oh... I think I get it. It's a model of how I'm supposed to solve those kinds of things if I encounter them in the real world, right?" It wasn't his fault, she knew that.

She just felt frustrated that he wasn't picking this up as fast as she did.

"So how would I actually use this? The model is for the gear ratio in a clock." Her magic stilled for a moment as she considered how to phrase that answer.

"What the model tries to show you is that it can be applied to anything that has one thing rotating something else. Like the wheels on a train, or the propellers on ships. More complex formulas are made up of longer chains of math problems like this. And even these are actually made up of several smaller problems put together." She wrote out the original equation, putting in parenthesis marks around portions of it.

"Everything you cancel out is just another portion of a larger problem, but understanding each process that you remove gives you mastery of the process. See these?" She circled one section. "That's just multiplying one thing by another. In this case it's two variables, but if you knew what the variables were you'd get an actual number. Like, seven and nine. That parenthesis becomes a sixty-three."

Underneath of it, she wrote that number before continuing on her lecture.

"So that's how many times the gears revolve before both gears return to thier initial positions. If you were trying to figure out how many teeth those gears had and that's the number you were given, what would you need to do?" He was writing down her explanation for a few more moments, perhaps trying a few false starts in the margin of his paper before finally answering.

"I think you'd need to find the, uhh... Lowest common denominator?"

"Not quite, Spike, but you're not too far off. What we're doing is determining the whole factors, which in this case are three, seven, nine and twenty-one."

"Wait, three and twenty-one? Where did those even come from?"

"Those are the factors of sixty-three Spike. Try to keep up. Now if you're not certain of what specific factors you're using you can keep them in mind and paired off to the side. So you'd write down three x twenty-one and seven x nine over here and try to keep them in mind for later when you're attempting to discern the torque and shearing point of the given materials. It takes a lot more energy to completely move something in three clicks as compared to-"

"Wait, wait a second, back up Twilight. If the gears had three and twenty-one teeth, wouldn't they meet up back at their original configuration after seven revolutions?" This wasn't helping, he was just getting more confused.

"Precisely Spike! And because you figured that out you can remove three and twenty-one as having a lower common multiple than the given figure!" She crossed the two numbers off the board and got ready to continue.

She was, Spike thought, worse than the book.

Raw muscle was wrapped around flailing purple scales, fire roasting from within.

Luna had watched her experience of Garble's memory several times now, trying to piece together what had occurred.

In truth she could not get very far. Too little information, nothing definitive beyond an off duty royal guard who'd reported dark magic setting off his personal wards at home and a pair of memories.

She lightly stepped around the abomination, mimicked in her own dream, and tried to piece together what little she could.

It was certainly altering its own form, she knew. Flesh and blood had been minor features in the first memory, and in this one it had developed a skeletal structure.

More blood, the metal showing clear signs of decay and obviously wounded. It was not bothered with self preservation.

Luna pursed her lips as she stared at it.

"My word, Luna! Have you been watching horror films again?" Brilliant radiance shone down from above, an alicorn, her coat the purest of whites, floated down.

"Cut the theatrics, Celly." The light faded down to the dark ambiance of a Fillydelphia street. "This is the thing After Image reported last month."

Celestia stood tall, well above her sister as she inspected the vile thing.

"It's eating a dragon." And chose to state the obvious.

"Yes sister. It seems Spike has a most mercurial streak of luck." Celestia moved closer, giving the drake in the creatures maw her full attention. "What are you even doing here? It must be the middle of your court by now?"

"Iron Lungs has brought some new legislation regarding why the youth need to pay higher taxes. I may have found myself... Dreaming. I thought it prudent to do something useful with the time. You said has. Do you mean to say he escaped?" The princess of the sun did not even try to hide her concern. Why would she, among the one she trusted most?

"No. Something rather different occurred." The ground erupted in a shower of gray and blue, lighting up as Celestia's sun took over the place of her moon. The crystal palace Twilight resided in sprung forth, two ponies fading in with it. One purple, the other white.

"Spike was devoured, we are certain. Immediately afterwards this colt appeared. He met with Spike's employer, gathered the drakes possessions and made to Ponyville. Initially it would appear as though the entity finished transforming into a pony upon its acquisition of Spike, who then seemingly took control." Celestia was gazing upon the adolescent, a look unfamiliar to Luna in her eyes.

"You don't sound as certain."

"You know as I, Celestia. Dark magic does not breed providence." Her tone was grave as she looked upon her sister.

"Only despair."

Author's Note

People who just 'Get it' don't make for good tutors.

Chapter Twenty-One

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Spike sometimes marveled at the library in Twilight's palace. The outermost bookshelves were recessed into the very walls.

In itself it's somewhat impressive, the work needed to do so would have been immense and required countless hours of work from many talented craftsponies to carve the countless shelves. All level, all even and fit for all but the largest of tomes.

None of that had happened.

This room had come, brought forth from the soil itself, finished and waiting to be used. Magic had made in moments what would have taken weeks, if not months, to be finished.

That was what astounded him. That single act of creation, inspired by forces he could not comprehend, had created this... This...

He hesitated to call it home.

Whatever magic had forged this palace had expected him, a seat to fit him set at the shoulder of Twilight's throne. Small but distinct.

He didn't like putting a lot of stock in destiny. It, if he ruminated upon it too long, made him question his own choices and their merits. Made his decisions feel... Flat.

He walked by various artifacts kept within the room. An imitation of the crystal heart, an old, decaying book in a glass case sitting upon a pillow, a mirror and the broken remnants of a staff, twisted and vile magics warping it even as it had acted as nothing but an empty vessel.

Some would consider them trophies, and at least two of them would qualify. They were, however, mementos. Reminders of grand adventures and friendships forged.

He missed Golden Oaks.

"Spike!" Twilight hollered from a few stacks over. "The girls are here!"

"Coming Twilight!" He was also missing his dragon body for a simple reason. He couldn't exactly hold out a hoof and drag the blunt of that, being that it didn't have a 'blunt' side, across the spines of books as he walked down the aisles.

"-so we're just going to work on the basics here. Just see if we can identify the magic from the basic expression first and go from there." Five mares stood in a semi-circle before Twilight, each nodding in acceptance of their roles.

Spike was a touch conflicted. On the one cl-hoof, he'd enjoyed the quiet moment between Twilight's tutoring and the current experiment. On the other, he'd have liked to know the details of what everypony was going to be doing.

"And break. Spike, with me. We'll get you hooked into the thaumatic spectrum analyzer and see what's going on." He tried to puzzle out the name for a moment before they reached the center of the library. A helmet with light bulbs, various machines attached to various tubes with fluids bearing names he couldn't pronounce.

He'd tried.

"Is that what you're calling it this week?" She dropped the helmet on his head, harder than necessary he was sure, and began tightening the straps to it.

"I've always called it that." He knew her tone. She didn't want to talk about it.

"I think you were calling it your auric magic discerning device back when you hooked Pinkie Pie to it, weren't you?" He dropped his hooves into the straps in front of him.

He'd thought it looked uncomfortable when Pinkie Pie was in it, he was right.

"No, Spike, I've always called it my magic spectrograph- nevermind! Just, try to levitate this book-" She pulled a Daring Do novel off a nearby shelf and let it drop to the floor. "-and we'll see what the machine says."

He dropped his rump on the floor and gave the alicorn a deadpan stare.

"Twilight."

"Yes Spike?"

"I don't know how to levitate a book."

"...Oh. Right." She brought her hoof up to her face with a quiet smack, facehoofing at the obvious. "Alright, just um... Just push out your will and think 'Up'. The magic should do the rest."

She stared for several moments as nothing happened. Her machine drawing a straight line.

"Alright, maybe I need to be more specific. Spike, you need to want to lift the book. You need to look at that book, realize it's not going to move without you doing it and recognize something important." She stepped closer, purple eyes boring into green. "If you don't move that book, you can't have one of Pinkie Pie's chocolate cupcakes."

"Are they... Are they sprinkled?"

"And there's a full dozen of them. If you don't move that book Spike, I'm going to eat them. Right here, in front of you, while you can't do anything." Pinkie Pie dropped down from the ceiling on a rope, a tray of freshly frosted chocolate cupcakes, with sprinkles, in hoof. "I... Thought you'd be coming from the kitchen. How did you even?"

Twilight stopped herself. No good ever came of that. One does not question Pinkie Pie without a large amount of time set aside.

"Silly Twilight!" The needle on Twilight's machine scratched off to the side. "I have ziplines rigged all over Ponyville in case of zipline emergency!"

The needle jumped to the other side, red following in it's wake.

"At least you brought the cupcakes." The needle was screaming back and forth. "Now Spike, you need to... Lift... The... Book. Oh." Spike wasn't lifting 'A' book. He was lifting a stack, every book between him and the signed, singed first edition of the first book of the Daring Do series.

With an acid green aura burning off his horn.

"That's not good."

"The cupcakes will be mi-" His magic cut off along with his proclamation of victory, Twilight's machine going preternaturally silent.

The plinking of a sewing needle striking crystal would have been heard as the instincts of everypony present went haywire.

Cower!

Flee!

Hide!

Still!

Run!

The needle began moving back and forth with such frequency it painted the paper red.

A crack resounded through the library, a great gust of wind blew through the ponies present. Except one.

Spike.

He was bodily ripped from the contraption, straps still attached to his hooves and pulled into a bookshelf.

"Twilight!" A pained gasp ripped its way from his throat, though it was not he who screamed. Rainbow Dash flew from her perch near a window from where she'd been prepared to practice her namesake and evacuate the fine folk of Ponyville should anything have gone wrong.

The bookshelf began to tilt, Spike sliding up shelves until he hit the one behind it, already tilting as the one he'd been stuck to fell like a domino.

"Hold on, Sugarcube!" Applejack sprang from the doorway, leaping across falling bookshelves and latching on to the purple unicorn.

She dangled in midair, her hooves around his neck.

"Whoa nelly! Twilight, what's goin' on!?" A rope, encircled in periwinkle blue, wrapped around his barrel and neck.

Pinkie Pie was no longer dangling, no, she and Rarity both were holding onto the ends of the rope she'd been on, their hooves lacking enough purchase to slow his movement. An instant later Rainbow Dash dropped from her hesitant confusion and added her own strength to it.

It still wasn't enough.

"Twilight! Help!" Fluttershy, meek as she may be, could stand idly by as a friend was harmed. She could, but she refused. With four ponies pulling against whatever force held Spike in it's grip, it seemed to slow.

For a moment.

Cracking could be heard before the force redoubled, pulling Spike into the next bookshelf, dislodging Applejack's grip. She shook her head, taking no time to regain her bearings before she, too, grabbed the rope.

It stopped.

These five would stand against the world for their friends if need be, they refused to budge.

The sound of shattering glass roared and pulled them harder, knocking over the final bookshelf between Spike.

And Twilights mementos.

The mirror, Starswirl's mirror, was shining with an intensity that paled Celestia's sun.

His hind hooves met glass and sank.

Purple hooves gripped rope as well, rejecting the pull. Slowing his terrified motion.

He was still sinking.

He grabbed the rope harder than he'd had, certain his bones would pop with the force on them and pulled. He didn't move away from the mirror.

His friends were just pulled towards him.

His hooves stilled, a quiet clarity filling his mind. He looked behind him, to the mirror, and saw cracks spreading in from the edges. Countless lines marring the once perfect surface. He looked ahead, at his friends. Doing their very best to stop his being dragged into the world of humans.

He saw the rope digging into them, burning their skin, tearing open their flesh.

The mirror cracked once more, books began flying towards him and bouncing off the mirror. It was pulling harder, his friends weren't winning.

"Twilight!" He shouted, unsure he could be heard over the chaos.

"Spike! Just hold on, we've almost got you!" He could see it from here, see it with greater clarity than the books he'd read or the smiles from just hours before.

Their blood staining the rope.

It must have hurt them, so much, just to try and save him.

What a fool he'd been for leaving.

"Twilight." His voice was more quiet now, still a shout though lacking in the panicked volume. "I love you. I'm sorry!"

It had struggled, against the magic binding it.

But no magic can truly tame a dragon's flame. Dark or otherwise.

His throat burned. His face burned. Green flames licked at rope, separating he and they. He heard the tinkling of glass striking the ground and saw... Panic, fear, hurt. So many things.

The last thing he saw, before black claimed his vision and mind, was Twilight Sparkle crying.

Author's Note

I've a whole story arc planned around this. Kind of.

This scene was planned from the beginning. A few others as well. For the most part though, I'm just winging it.

Chapter Twenty-two

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Spike stared straight ahead, the moon high in the sky above him.

It wasn't his. His moon. His sky.

His face burned, his body screamed in pain. Everything hurt but he felt too tired, too drained to do anything about it.

He thought- He felt he'd drifted in and out of consciousness a few times, he wasn't certain. Some small corner of his mind wondered at the grey blur in the corner of his vision but he couldn't quite pull up the energy to move.

He thought he heard someone speaking nearby but he couldn't focus on it, not with the shadows crawling in from the corners of his eyes. The moon blurred and grew cloudy even as he stared at it, unsure why he needed to keep some light in his eyes.

He wouldn't recall the crawling terror in his chest when he awoke as he realized he was failing.

Twilight stared at her broken reflection.

The mirror had shattered.

All the pieces were still in the frame.

"Here, give me your hand."

But the cracks spider-webbing across the whole of the face could not be disregarded.

"Folks here are going to think it's weird if you walk on all four."

She couldn't follow him. He'd let them go, and they couldn't get him back.

"Easy there, just lean on me. It'll take some getting used to."

The magic wasn't gone, Starswirl's mirror still held the potential to breach the barrier of worlds. She'd bet her tail on that.

"You'll need to watch that. This place... Folks here eat meat."

She picked up the rope, the end of it singed and hard.

"Figured you'd need a snack. Strange place, strange library in the dead of night? Your... pup could probably use some real food, too."

Green flames had done it. She could still smell the burning fur, hear his surprised yelp of pain. See the resignation in his eyes.

"Can only help you so much with the decorations, Twilight. Popping in between classes doesn't leave me much time to help you. I'm sorry."

Her friends were each rubbing welts that were severe enough to show through their fur. She knew her own marks were sore and burning as well.

"No idea how Sunset Shimmer did it, actually. Probably just smarter than me."

"What has happened here! Twilight, are you alright?" Luna looked across the chaos, her eyes, though bloodshot, were wide in worry.

"Different school, actually. I just know a shortcut to get here."

"Sugarcube? Did you get hit on somethin'? You're bleedin' pretty bad." Applejack's voice was soft, she was shocked as well. Or maybe somber, over the sudden and unexpected attack? Activation? Of the mirror? Of failing?

"Never tried talking to her. Even when she dropped out of the portal she had a mean look in her eyes. Back then, I don't think she was looking for friends."

"Rainbow Dash, give the poor dear some room. This whole matter has been terribly distressing." A few wingbeats pushed approaching hooves further away.

"I've tried to go back, Twilight. Every month since I woke up here, under the light of the full moon. The mirror over there pulled me through, it hurt a lot of friends of mine doing so. I didn't step into it like you did. It doesn't want me to go back."

"Twilight? I need you to say something. Anything." Luna stepped in front of her, between her and the mirror and waved one hoof in front of her eyes.

"I don't know. I didn't naturally have magic like yours, I didn't gain it willingly. I tried to learn how to use it after I got it though. I did it near the mirror and I guess... I don't know. I hate how often I have to say that."

"Rainbow Dash! Go to the hospital now, tell them it's an emergency!" Luna was shouting, Twilight wasn't paying much attention. She hadn't noticed it, before, just how terrible the odor of blood was.

"I know exactly what you want, Sunset. To drag mindless, innocent children into a war, throw away their lives like meat to show you were never an adequate student, to keep feeding your grudge! I'll stop you here if I have to! You won't get past me!"

Why were all the colors going away? Her library was a vibrant panoply of colors, she was sure she didn't have so many books with brown and gray bindings.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I don't like doing that, fighting. I suppose you're probably going to think I'm just another of the monsters Starswirl banished here."

She felt Luna's wing cover her, she'd never noticed the alicorn was so blisteringly hot before. Distantly she felt the instant of a magical charge before her world went dark.

"Twilight, I'm sorry.

The first thing he really noticed was the taste. His tongue was fuzzy and the only thing on it he noticed was sour.

The second thing was the light, he couldn't really see it but there was an uneven brightness here. It took some doing, but he broke the crust over his eyes and opened them.

Everything was so bright!

He brought a cl-hoof up to block the light streaming through a window to his right and sat up. His ribs flared with pain, disagreeing with the motion, but he continued regardless.

He immediately regretted it. Not just the pain, but dizziness left his head reeling. He brought a hoof down to soft sheets to steady himself.

Soft?

Hooves didn't really register that kind of sensation. His head lulled slightly to the side as he looked down.

A hand. Fingers!

Manual dexterity was once more his!

Or he was dreaming again. He had a feeling, though he wasn't sure, that he'd been doing that before he woke up.

"Ah, you're awake." He turned his head to the left, uncomfortably so, to see a woman in a white outfit with pink hair, a red cross on a jaunty white cap atop her head. "How are you feeling?"

"...Thirsty." He swallowed dryly. "A lot of things hurt too, but I'm really thirsty."

Author's Note

Some folks pretty much knew I was going to be going in this direction. We'll get to some more exposition of what's actually been happening next chapter.

Maybe.

Chapter Twenty-three

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Twilight awoke with a beep.

Not from herself, she wasn't beeping, but that was the noise that woke her from her slumber.

She didn't remember falling asleep. She could also tell that this wasn't her bed.

Too firm. Too narrow.

She managed to blearily open her eyes, though there wasn't much to see.

What there was, though, she recognized. A heart rate monitor, a new book on her bedside within whose pages were held the most recent Daring Do story and a get well soon balloon, likely from Pinkie Pie.

She was having a hard time piecing together what she was supposed to be getting better from, though.

No... Wait.

Spike!

"Spike!" The alicorn shouted hoarsely.

He wasn't there! He was always there, when she was sick or she wasn't feeling well.

Why was thinking about him causing her brain to feel like it was trying to split in two?

"Twilight!" A soft voice came from the hallway beyond the door. A white mare, Rarity following it. "You're awake! That's good, we were-"

"Rarity!" Twilight croaked. "What's going-"

"Just hold on a bit more, I need to get the doctor, I'll be right back." The clothier continued on before abruptly turning back around, trotting out the door.

"Wait..." One purple hoof was raised, slow and leaden, reaching out for somepony who was already gone. She dropped back into the thin pillow with a huff.

She was confused, she didn't like being confused. She perked up slightly though when a yellow unicorn with a brown mane entered. Answers at last.

"Miss Twilight, how are you feeling?" No, she didn't need questions! She needed answers she...

"Not very good." She felt terrible. She couldn't do... Do... Fix this if she could barely move!

"Well, that would make sense. Princess Luna dropped you here in critical condition." He levitated a clipboard in front of his face, obscuring him.

"How bad was I?" Am I?

"That's actually a rather tricky answer, Miss Twilight. I hope you understand, we've never had an Alicorn patient before." Slowly, she pulled herself up.

"You make it sound like it's something specific to one of the tribes." She wasn't a medical practitioner, she knew there were some things that only pegasi got, like wing rot, or that unicorns could suffer from such as horn fractures. Beyond what she considered common knowledge, she knew she was relatively ignorant.

"While I wouldn't quite say that, I couldn't really say it's wrong either. You see Miss Twilight, you suffered a cerebral hemorrhage due to magical supersaturation." That... Sounded very bad. Bleeding in the brain could not be good. She'd never heard of magical supersaturation occurring inside of a unicorn before.

"That doesn't sound good."

"It's typically very bad actually. I've no idea what you were doing, but you are very lucky that you're an alicorn."

"I... Don't understand. What does being an alicorn have to do with any of this?"

"It's... Commonly fatal. In unicorns. Pegasi have stronger blood vessels to their cognitive centers, their survival rate is slightly better. Your symptom was more in line with the few pegasi who survived surpassing the sound barrier, such as Miss Dash does with distressing regularity, before coming to an abrupt halt." That didn't explain anything.

"What do you mean? What symptom?" She didn't want to let her voice waver. She didn't want to show how scared this made her.

"Bleeding. From the various orifices of your face. We found that much of the blood that had been pooling in your cortex was being drawn out and drained out of your sinuses. It was fascinating, to be honest, watching your brain scan recover between images." Cortex? She knew where that was. It was the safest place she kept the things most important to her, her memories.

"And finally I suppose I should mention that, even with this unique failsafe present in pegasi, their rate of surviving a hemorrhage like this is only marginally better than a unicorns. Earth Ponies, however, tend to hold on the best and are really the only ones we expect to fully recover with any regularity. About twenty-three percent of the time, given that they make it through the night." Her breath stopped, frozen in her chest.

"Miss Twilight?" She... She nearly died? Over what? She hadn't been casting anything that strenuous, had she?

A purple hand held hers as she stood on shaky feet.

Her headache spiked, her hooves gripping the sides of her splitting skull.

"That never happened..." She mumbled, her eyes squeezing shut.

"Miss Twilight, are you alright?" She heard him coming closer as the pain began tapering off.

"No..." Her memory was wrong.

Her memory was wrong!

"I... I think I have two sets of memories." How else could she explain it. She knew she had fumbled and flailed, latching onto walls and rails to keep from falling over.

Why did she remember someone there. Someone helping her. Someone...

Not somepony.

"Nurse! Redheart, get the cart!" He was shouting. Why was he so loud?

Green eye, green hair. He'd been waiting.

Her nose itched.

"Twilight! I need you to stay with me!" She sneezed and stared in horror, bile rising in her throat. The doctor was likely mirroring her expression.

"I'm okay. It's okay, I'm still here."

Moving made her feel nauseous, the twist of her head when she sneezed seemed like it had rattled something loose.

"Doctor! What's... Ew." Nurse Redheart wrinkled her nose as she stared at her superior. She tried not to snicker at the look he gave her, Twilight's snot dripping down his face.

She laughed, loudly even as the doctor leveled a professional glare on her.

It only made her laugh harder.

Twilight giggled. She shouldn't, she knew she shouldn't.

She laughed just as hard, her hoof pounding into the bed.

She couldn't help herself. Everything was just so ridiculous, what else was she supposed to do?

Chapter Twenty-Four

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Rarity listened from outside the door.

She listened as her friends laughter turned to sobs. The doctor and nurse both trying to console her.

She needed to talk to her. To Luna. Somepony important.

But maybe, first, she should take care of a teensy weensy little chore. Just a little something to get her nerve up.

Yes, that sounded like a wonderful idea! She needed to go get Fluttershy, tell her Twilight was awake, as well as Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and one must never forget Pinkie Pie!

With renewed fervor, Rarity headed for the exit.

He looked into a green eye, let his gaze linger over green hair and stared at raw, pink skin.

Spike hadn't really looked at a mirror lately. The doctors here in the human world had told him he wasn't supposed to leave the bed unless he really, really had to go.

Something about not aggravating bruised ribs.

Which were really, really aggravating. Getting out of bed sucked. Doing... Stuff really sucked. He hadn't looked in the mirror of the small restroom once while he'd been doing that.

Today though, he... He wanted to take a look. He wanted to see what the mirror thought he'd look like if he were human. Or pony. He wasn't all too sure anymore.

More than the hair or the fingers, he was amazed by the burn. He'd never had one before. When he was a dragon, he was functionally impervious to fire, magma, heat in general.

He lightly pressed a finger into the burn and slowly drug it down. The dichotomy of heat being followed by chilling cold was novel, new.

Kind of unpleasant, too.

He decided he didn't like it.

He made his gaze focus on the white elephant in the mirror.

The eye-patch.

The doctors said his eye had been lightly scorched, too. That it would probably heal up just fine if he left it alone but that it looked a little deformed from the injury.

He wanted to see it. He'd never broken a bone before, chipped a tooth or anything severe enough to leave him with more than a bruise.

His fingers gripped the cotton fabric wrapped around his face. He felt a thrill in his chest, his heart was pounding with anxiety, nervousness.

He pulled it away and up, a gauze pad dropping out from underneath.

The skin was a little blotchy, kind of pale, but it looked the same as the rest of his less-burned face. He used a finger and thumb to press open the eye.

He hissed, his eye stinging as it saw light for the first time in days.

Green. Not acid green, nor was all of it green, just the iris. The same emerald green as his other eye. It looked completely...

Normal...

For a dragon. Oh. That's what they meant by 'Deformity'.

His gut clenched painfully, fear rising from the depths. He was transformed, been transformed twice over, first into a pony and then to a human.

He swallowed, though nothing went down his throat. His mouth dry.

"Maybe too much magic was fighting each other? That happens all the time, right Spike?" His reflection didn't have an answer, much as he was expecting.

If that hadn't transformed, or reverted instead, what else had? Would?

Was he going to turn back into a dragon in the middle of the night? Would he turn into a puppy then? Or was that part of the magic of the portal and not part of this world?

"Spike, the social worker is here to see you. Are you alright?" Nurse Redheart was at the door, looking for him.

"In the bathroom!" He hollered to her. "Be out in a minute."

He pulled the eye-patch down over his eye again and rested his elbows on the sink, fingers curling into his hair.

He didn't feel so good.

"Princess Luna?" One mare stood at the head of a group of four, standing between the Princess of the Night and the room wherein stayed the Princess of Friendship.

"Lady Rarity? Ah, you must be concerned for Twilight. The healers assure me she is doing well." The three ponies behind Rarity let out a collective sigh, though the weight upon the unicorn's shoulders remained.

"That's wonderful, Princess, but that's not why I'm here. Why we're here."

"Whoa, speak for yourself Rare-bear, Twilight's-"

"Pinkie, this is important, please. Eh-heh, my apologies, Princess." Rarity blushed and demurely looked down, almost unable to see Princess Luna motion for her to go on. "Ah, yes, well. I wanted to say, that is, well, I may have... Recognized the magic when Spike used it."

Silence filled the hall as various ponies looked amongst each other.

"Geeze Rarity, you should've said something sooner!" Rainbow Dash looked as though her expression swung on a pendulum, sliding from confused to angry and back in a matter of instants.

"Hold, Rainbow Dash. As I understand, the magic was only in use for a few brief moments before... Events occurred. That she finds the muddled magics at all familiar is astonishing." The blue pegasus looked between the princess and unicorn a few times before nodding, accepting her words. "Now tell us, Rarity, what is the name of this magic?"

"I... You must understand, it all seems like a rather distant dream, quite hard to remember. I'm sure there's a more accurate term you and Twilight would use for it, but I do remember it's name... Part of the incantation. No, no, I'm sure the name will do."

"Inspiration" Rarity shuddered, as though the words themselves were vile. "Manifestation."

Chapter Twenty-Six

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

She was doing better, Luna thought. Twilight had been healing well, she'd only had a few episodes over the last few days while she was...

Experiencing the new memories?

Luna didn't fully understand the details. She wasn't exactly ignorant of the intricacies of non-magical healing, she was quite interested in the field. She was not, however, formally educated in medicine. Between her duties and responsibilities to court and kingdom, she'd never been able to find the time.

So she had a vague concept of what a neuron was, an idea of how they interacted. When she was told that new memories had been physically formed in Twilight's brain, attempted to overwrite different memories and then been rejected. Not by Twilight's initial memories, but by her magic refusing to be overwritten and then shunting the new memories into space immediately adjacent to the physical location they were trying to force themselves. She got the idea.

It was a bad thing.

She knew the brain was fragile, she'd... Not had an easy time mastering illusion magic because of that fact. That Twilight was recovering so well was nothing short of amazing.

That said, she wasn't certain how, exactly, to bring up the distressing news she'd been given a few days past.

Nopony was certain what had happened to the Inspiration Manifestation, it had simply fallen to the back of most of their minds during the clean up effort after... Rarity's mishap with it.

Somehow, Spike got a claw on it. Even more worrying, he'd found some method of using it.

Some flawed, inefficient and flagrantly wrong method of using it.

He hadn't even been a unicorn at the time!

It had never been used by anypony but a unicorn!

It didn't make any sense. It would have needed to be in constant contact with the drake for months and feeding off massive amounts of raw magic before it could forcibly forge a connection uninstigated by its victim.

Beyond that, a dragon's magical resistance, tethered to their very souls, would have shrugged off any such feeble bond before it could latch on and grow in strength.

Unless... Luna paced back and forth in front of Twilight's door, mulling the problem over.

No, no. It made no sense. Dark magic, by its very nature, caused harm. Much like the djinni sealed away in the royal vault, the book did not offer something without twisting it.

Perhaps... No. Speculating by herself would achieve little. Her magic gripped the door to Twilight's room.

Two alicorn's, she knew, were always better than one.

Twilight rubbed her head, just above her horn.

At least this was a new kind of headache.

"The Inspiration Manifestation. Luna, nopony knows what happened to that book. It disappeared some time while Rarity was... Obsessed with it." Possession wasn't quite the right term for what it had done. It had loosened the limitations on Rarity's magic, catalyzed her control and casting power by an untold magnitude and...

It sounded like the Philosopher's Stone of legend, when just the benefits were looked at.

"Where did the book come from, anyway?" The kind of power the book had offered... Magically, Rarity couldn't be said to be ambitious. If the likes of Sombra had gotten ahold of it a thousand years ago, or even Trixie or Starlight Glimmer during their... Bad days, it left a sour taste on Twilight's tongue.

"Last I recall, Twilight, it was to be held in a hidden room in our old castle, in the Everfree."

"No, no I mean, where did it come from before that?" Luna stopped pacing around the small room and sat down, a hoof on her chin.

"It was long ago... Celestia and I claimed it, before the two of us were deemed the diarchs of the land. Yes, taken as a trophy from the cursed tower of a vile enchanter. It was one of few objects that survived our anger. I believe that was why Celestia thought it best to be sealed away."

"But who was the enchanter? Something like the Inspiration Manifestation... The book is a trap. But what it does to a unicorn is almost beyond imagining. I mean, on a local level the things Rarity did were nearly on par with Discord!" Luna lowered her hoof, considering the mess she'd helped clean up.

"Yes, it is quite concerning how it draws out the inner nature of a pony, is it not?" Twilight shook her head. No, no that wasn't it!

"That's not what I mean, the book didn't drag out some dark part of Rarity! It was more like it was an addiction, every time she used it she had to use it more. What I want to know is the name of the enchanter and how they made an artifact that could boost a unicorn's power to the point they were on par with a chaos god!"

"Ah." Luna looked up, a distant look in her eyes as she traversed her own memories. "Zeb. Yes, that was his name. A black and white earth pony, though his coat was strange. All of it stripes. He too was responsible for the Alicorn Amulet... I've not thought on his evils in years."

"Wait, black and white stripes?"

"Indeed Twilight."

"Luna" Twilight couldn't much blame her, they weren't that well known even today. "I think Zeb was a zebra."

"A what?"

"Zebra, like Zecora, she lives on the edge of the Everfree."

"Another? So close? Twilight, why did you not say so sooner! I must go before she-" Luna stood and rushed for the door, barely stopping herself in time as the door slammed shut before her.

"Stop! Luna, just hold on! She's a friend!" Wild eyes met panicked ones.

"Another enchanter lives in our lands and you would have me yield? Twilight, why?"

"Because" Twilight didn't understand why this was so difficult. "She's my friend."

Author's Note

I couldn't recall a single instance of Luna and Zecora meeting in the show. A couple of google searches yielded nothing, no mention of any such meeting on the wiki either.
If this chapter seems a little distracted, I apologize. I spent most of my day at the hospital with my girlfriend. Her problems aren't mine to share, but she's going to be there for a few days and likely go through surgery.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Spike sat in the passenger seat of a car, the person, the social worker was driving. Her name was Beaming Wings, she was...

Nice.

He didn't have anything else really to say about her. She wasn't particularly clever or striking, she was just nice.

The car on the other claw? He had a lot to think about regarding it as she drove, yammering away to her captive audience.

"-you didn't appear on any missing persons reports. Our office is pretty sure nobody is looking for you. Even if they did, well, they'd have a lot to answer for, that I tell you." It wasn't really a fancy machine, not compared to a lot of the other ones on the road. It looked old, there was a lot of rust on the metal bar on the back and around the tires.

"What with how that nice vice-principal found you? You'd think they done blacked your eye and just rolled you on out of a car that they did!" More than anything else, he could only really compare it to the cider machine the Flim Flam brothers had made. They both had wheels and used some unseen mechanism for propulsion, though he'd imagine the cars on this side of the looking glass were a bit more refined than magic and steam.

"You healed up pretty darned fast though mister! I guess bruises will do that though now won't they?" He could only guess at what some of the gauges in front of her represented though. MpH didn't mean anything to him, but he knew RPM stood for revolutions per minute. The X1000 puzzled him for a moment before it hit him that it was a multiplier.

"I'm sure you'll get along just fine at Marley's group home. You and the other boys and girls there will be fast friends, I'm sure of it!" A lot of the signs they passed didn't mean anything to him, though 'Slow' and 'Stop' were pretty clear. It hadn't taken him more than two stops before he had figured out what the lights at the intersections were for.

"Most of her kids go to Canterlot High School, though a couple of the girls opted to go to the Crystal Preparatory Academy across the city. Oh, I still remember high school myself at that age... Which reminds me mister!" Spike focused his attention on her, hopeful she'd have crystalized whatever thought she was about to grace him with. "We still need to get your placement testing done! You look about the age to be a freshman and you seem to be pretty darned sharp so far. Girls like smart fellas like you, you know."

Spike had no idea how she got that impression.

No, really he didn't. He just kept his mouth shut while she prattled on and clamped down hard on his urge to panic at how little he understood. He actually felt pretty stupid when he saw people on the sides of the streets doing things he didn't understand, like talking into their hands or pressing something inside boxes attached to poles on street corners.

He knew there was a world of difference (Hah... made a funny) between Equestria and... He thought the word was 'Earth'. He didn't know if that was the name of the city or the planet though, either way it meant dirt.

"Ooh, we're just about to Marley house now." He could see some variation in the local architecture, but it still just boiled down to bricks with roofs as far as he could see. Jam packed right next to each other with no space between. The only thing of note was that some were painted different colors. "She lives in the green one right here."

Brown, red, green, pink, brown and brown. At least it was a little hard to miss. The car stopped, backed up, went forward, backed up again and went forward a bit before coming to a stop. Spike watched Beaming Wings pull a lever on the inside of her door before stepping out so he did the same.

The lever pulled with no resistance, but the door didn't open. He tried a few more times before it was opened by his social worker.

"Sorry about that Spike. My boss says 'Beaming, you need to keep the child safety locks on at all times' so that's what I do. I'll be sure to remind you next time, alright?" He undid the strap holding him in and shrugged, unsure if there even would be a next time.

One more week, there'd be a full moon and he could just go home.

"The Inspiration Manifestation? The name alone causes great hesitation." Twilight stood alone in Zecora's hut, the doctors had discharged her to checking in rather than keeping her bedridden.

She'd jumped upon the opportunity, metaphorically, to start gnawing away at the puzzle regarding her...

Her number one assistant.

"In my homeland there is a tale of an evil zebra cursed to fail. To steal great power was his desire, to forge himself his own empire. Curses traps and maladies, upon their owners he brought tragedies!" Twilight could certainly appreciate Zecora's talent, though it made conversations a little bit... slow.

"Zeb the zebra, forgotten by ponies. Yet my tribe has not hidden its follies. The book you seek, this crook once held. But inspiration he did not seek, nor manifestations did he need. His powers great, these words I shan't swallow, for in the shadows did he wallow. A book to bring about great power, it was first written to give life to a flower. A barren wasteland my home once was, now a flourishing forest beneath the sun!" Twilight wrote down the poetry as it was coming forth. She could more readily translate it at home.

So far she got that the book had been used to bring life to a place that had none and was stolen afterwards.

"Word of this feat spread far and wide, its power much too great to hide. Stolen on one sleepless night, Zeb nearly killed this pony by fright! Yet to he the book would not yield, he could sprout no seeds within a field."

Got it, book didn't work for the zebra.

"His terrible rage was one many knew, he cast the book into a cursed brew. For many days and many nights until its magic was cursed by rights. None could use it, this he saw, without twisting apart natural law. The curse was minor, that was the secret. With no great effect, none would see it. Twist not the world but the mind it held, a curse secret and lost to eld. Turn upon foe, cast away friend for lies always the victims would send."

That... Okay, Twilight wasn't too certain what to make of all that.

"Courage always was the key, truthful words spoken free. The curse would break, the magic too, the unicorns now free of this taboo."

"So... The pony held by the curse needed to be told the truth about what they were doing?" That part Twilight got, but it didn't really help with where things currently sat.

"That would be what I said. Have you some dust caught in your head?"

"Err... no, thank you for the story, Zecora. Can I come back later if I have any questions?"

"To you my door is open Twilight. Though you'd best be off before comes the night." Twilight headed away from Zecora's shack, thoughts rolling in her mind. She was certain she'd gotten an important piece of information from the zebra.

She just wasn't sure what.

Author's Note

Writing poetry is kind of a pain.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

"So what's your story? You a runaway like Earnest Hooves?" Spike had been introduced to the other children and their caretaker.

"Nah man, he ain't got the feel of no runaway. Definitely an orphan." The woman who was in charge here, Marley? Sharp eyes, hooked nose and perpetual scowl underneath her brown hair. Spike would bet the rest of his hoard that she had a gryphon counterpart.

"An orphan, yeah? Pretty well fed for an orphan." Then there were four girls and two other boys. Earnest Hooves, while certainly not sounding feminine, was one such mare.

"Ain't got the scars for it neither. Wonder what's under that eyepatch?" Augate was another, she superficially resembled Marley though with different hair and eyes. There wasn't any sort of underlying sense of caring or niceness in her attitude.

"Probably a hole. I bet we could see his brain!" Plumb Drop was huge for a girl. A... Senior? In her last year of basic education. She was the female division local heavyweight in wrestling over at Crystal Prep academy.

"If he even has one!" Lemon Zest was the final girl in the house. She hadn't looked up when he'd been introduced, said hello or anything. She was just absorbed in writing on some paper while music was blasting from her headphones.

"I bet there's just a little lump of brain! Barely enough to even keep him alive!" The two boys on the other hand? Absolute nuisances, the both of them.

"I bet he doesn't even have that!" Lumpy Sweets and Sweety Lumps were their names, a rambunctious pair of twins. He was supposed to be sharing a room with them until the rest of the girls rooming assignments were reorganized.

"So let's find out!" Two voices shouted in unison as a pair of colts leaped from beds aside the cot Spike had been given.

He dropped, the twins heads colliding with each other as their intended target disappeared. They each ricocheted off the others hard head and landed on the ground beside the camp bed.

"Soo... I think I've got a little more brain than that." He could feel both of the boys glaring at him and grinned. "But only just a little."

"We'll get you next time."

"So you better be ready!"

"Hmm..." Spike grabbed their arms from where he was sitting and pulled them both up, onto their feet. "Why don't you try playing this game on someone more your level? I bet there are some foa-kids, kids you could play with? Maybe you could practice on a toddler."

He got a pair of confused looks, his insult washing right off of them.

"Dude, what were you trying to say?"

"Was it fu-?"

"No! No, I was not going to say that... My uh... My tongue slipped is all." He thought he had that under control. He couldn't afford too many more mistakes.

These two were suspicious enough already.

"Oh, uh, alright." Sweety Lumps pulled a cell phone out from underneath his pillow.

"Weirdo." While Lumpy Sweets got a book.

Spike fell back into the itchy cot, his mind awhirl. Tomorrow Marley was supposed to take him shopping for things like clothes and blankets. It played into his thoughts for a few brief moments before he let out a wistful sigh and dreamed about the closest thing he had to a family.

His friends.

Twilight looked over what information, however little of it there was, that she had on the incident with the mirror and Spike.

Her own reports, the reports she recorded of her friends take on what had happened and a hoofload of journals once belonging to Starswirl the Bearded.

There was too much she didn't know, and she was certain most of the answers were written in old equuish. Her magic gripped the first book and flipped it open to a page she'd bookmarked in the past.

Three vyle fiends were they the siren trio. Neither matching in cleverness nor sorcery did they succumb to myne will and were so forth banished to the blighted lands. T'were a world without magic nay source for their feed. May they rot in a land barren of what wert they call food.

Right. Lovely. Like she hadn't read that before a dozen times already. It was exactly that passage that told her what the monsters plagueing the other side of the mirror were.

She dropped the book gently onto the pile of others.

That was the most legible passage in Starswirl's journals. It wasn't even the terrible spelling or forgotten words that were the problem.

He just had very, very bad lettering.

She stood up, shaking off the fatigue. She knew, as her hooves carried her through the stacks of books in her library, that she would need to struggle through what he'd written.

She knew as she sat before a shattered mirror. The secret likely lay in one overly looped cursive scratch detailing some sleeping part of the mirrors enchantments. Maybe some defense mechanism or trap, something that would explain how it acted where Spike had been involved.

Something that would explain why she had an entirely new set of memories about someone who hadn't existed before.

She laid down, her eyes tracing the puckered lines around the edge of the mirror.

It didn't make any sense, she knew that. She'd tried altering the timeline before to no avail, failing miserably when she'd tried to warn her past... Self.

She sat up in a flash, her eyes looking at the hair-thick lines around the mirror.

She had a theory! It was important, it was simple! She traced the faded line with her hoof as it lead up, to the left, down and back where it started.

What if changing the past was possible?

"What if it's a lot easier than I thought it was? If I intervened in my own timeline and made a significant change to a specific event...?" Her memory fixated upon her showdown with Starlight Glimmer, where such an event had readily been common.

"Then would I even remember making a change because such a change would no longer be needed further down the timeline? I know that "I" don't just stop existing then, but what if I had during a time where my would be future self were both less resistant to reality altering magic on a grand scale as well as having been inoculated against a specific branch of magic through exposure? Spike! Take a let... ter." She dropped back down, depression warring against inspiration.

Her eyes traced a fading crack. She'd need... She needed to think about this.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

A quartet of individuals were... Not quite enjoying themselves at a small cafe. A business meeting amongst individuals who were certainly not on friendly terms.

"Alright, those are his test papers. I made copies for both of you, as well as his final score." White hands held a single sheet while dark blue rifled through a packet. Light cyan was slowly flipping through the pages, the score sheet abandoned next to cooling coffee.

"His handwriting is atrocious. Beaming Wings, with these grades I'm not sure there's anything we could do for him. He failed most of the core subject." Principal Celestia said as she put the paper down. "English, social studies, history and geography are all well below failing."

"I know Celestia, but we need to do something for him. And legally-" Beaming Wings didn't have these sorts of meetings very often, she always left them feeling somewhat inferior.

"Celestia-"

"I'll take him." Principal Cinch said, though she didn't look up from the papers in hand. Vice Principal Luna huffed, irked at being interrupted.

"Really Cinch? I know you hate having to hold your students hands just to get them through algebra." This was why Beaming Wings didn't enjoy trying to sell a student to the local schools. Both principals would turn it into some kind of game to deride the other while simultaneously one-upping them.

"You're right, I do. But as an educator, it is our job to do our best to pull out the potential of each and every child that we oversee." Celestia raised an eyebrow and motioned for Luna to hand over the boy's test papers.

"Perhaps." Celestia allowed as she tried to make sense of the scribbles all over the sheet. "But that's more intended for us to teach a child to learn, not pull teeth."

"Um, ladies?"

"And sometimes old growth needs to be pulled before what's intended to be there can properly grow. I'm certain you understand as much?" Cinch was flipping between pages, comparing something.

"Sister-"

"But without fertile soil, it's just as well to let weeds be weeds." Celestia put the packet down, blank side up and took a sip of her milky, sugared tea.

"If that's your opinion, I suppose you intend to leave this one to me?" Principal Cinch finally looked up, a frosty glare settled behind her glasses.

"Well, you did volunteer. And with the recent legislature that's passed I can't really afford to bring this-" Celestia waved the test sheet in front of her. "-up to a passing grade. It'd likely be kinder to send him back to middleschool."

"Well, if that's settled then-"

"I suppose after last years debacle you really can't afford to put in this kind of effort then. It's been... nice seeing you, Celestia. Do have a good day, Luna." The vice principal stood up, accepting the dismissal as her sister did the same.

They'd been doing this for years and she still didn't know whatever caused the bad blood between the two. Competitiveness only went so far...

"And you as well Cinch. Good luck." Celestia followed her sister, leaving behind her trash. An empty cup, a dirty spoon. Luna, it seemed, had grabbed the papers.

"Do we have to do this every time?" Beaming asked Cinch, who continued to rifle through the test papers.

"I am sorry about that, Miss Wings. Riling up a sore loser can be very hard to resist. Now, this young man, Spike? No surname?" Principal Cinch sat back in her chair, bringing her coffee with her.

"Unfortunately not. We're not sure he had one to begin with. He mentioned being taught to read and then being thrown into the job of being someones personal assistant not long after." Principal Cinch looked between the social worker and the papers in hand.

"That's a comforting thought. How old is he? Thirteen? Fourteen? There's no sane person who would have had him working, not legally." Again she flipped between two pages in the pamphlet. "Still, he seems adaptable enough. He struggled a lot here before his handwriting shifted slightly, probably the paper actually, and correctly solved the problem."

"Well, isn't that what he's supposed to do?"

"Oh, yes, it is. But it's how it was done that caught my attention. The formula to solve this problem is actually shown here on the next page. The slant of his handwriting also matches up from this page to where he continued working on that problem."

"Oh... Is that good?"

"It's very good, Miss Wings. It means he can be taught."

"In math, maybe. But what about his other grades? He scraped through math and only did slightly above average in science."

"It's not exactly difficult to assign a tutor. We've got a sophomore who's been chomping at the bit for extra credit to put on her transcript. If I put these two together, he should be matching his peer group before the year is out." She set the papers down, pleased with her plan.

"Well, if you're sure..."

"Miss Wings, at Crystal Preparatory Academy we pride ourselves not just on our ability to achieve, but on our willingness to do so. If need be, we'll drag him up to par, willing or no." Principal Cinch picked up her cold coffee and drained it before standing up. "Be sure to have Spike at the school come Monday morning."

Beaming Wings stood up, noticing three Styrofoam cups sitting at the table, her own included, and began to clean up.

This. This was why she hated having these meetings.

Well, this and the tension between the opposing Principals.

At least Luna seemed a lot nicer after the 'Work Retreat' she'd gone to last year.

Chapter Thirty

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

This... Was not according to plan.

Standing here, in this hallway, wearing a red blazer and being in the wrong school was kind of the opposite of the plan.

He could work with this though.

Right?

"Dude. Bro's got an eye-patch." He was already being noticed by the student body. Being new, being odd...

Well, Twilight had been given a hard time, too. No way he'd be worse off than she had been, given he started off with the whole walking and talking thing.

"So does Perk, over in art. S'no big deal." He squared his shoulders, sliding the backpack he'd gotten, a plain green sack full of pockets that almost matched his hair, evenly into the small of his back.

"Yeah, but Perk is wearing a cheap little piece of plastic crap from the Topic so he can look all edgy. That thing man? That was put on by a doc, my dad does that stuff." The two students who were talking about him began following, continuing to talk about him.

"Woah. You think he lost it?" He was supposed to be looking for administration, see about his classes.

"I dunno. Why don't you ask him?" He turned his head to the left to better see, frustrated by the lack of detail when he got too close to the doors now that he knew he was losing focus.

"I don't wanna. You ask him!" He stopped and squinted, dragging the edges of the letters together.

Algebra 1-3. Definitely not it.

"Nuh-uh, you ask him." A few more doors down he stopped, the gossipers stopped with him.

"Ladies." Spike finally said, causing both to shut their mouths. "If you can show me where the office is, I'll tell you why I'm wearing an eye patch."

He waited a couple of moments, basking in the silence before his patience waned.

"Well?"

"What? You mean us? But you said ladies!" If Spike didn't know any better, he'd swear these two were the counterparts to Snips and Snails.

"You're gossiping like schoolgirls with a crush. Of course I mean you!" He was smiling, though it still took the other two boys a minute to get that he was joking.

"Oh! Okay! We've still got, like, fifteen minutes before class starts. The office is way back near the front of the school though, you totally missed it." Spike followed as they turned around, unsurprised that he'd walked right past where he intended to go.

He wasn't sure if it was just the awareness of having a problem, or if human eyes just weren't as good or some other issue he wasn't even aware of yet, but it felt like his eyes were getting worse day by day.

What really bothered him was that he hadn't even noticed as it got worse. Waving off difficulty with a variety of reasons and excuses from bad hoof-writing to boredom in things he used to enjoy.

Just a few more days, Marley would take him to get his glasses on Wednesday.

"So..." Started the one on the left. "What happened to your eye?"

"I had some burns on my face, doctors said it looked like it hurt my eye. I can see just fine out of it though." Spike lifted the eye patch, revealing the ovaloid iris.

"Woah."

"That's so metal."

"Metal?" Did he mean like the material? Or was he talking about that blasting, screaming music?

"Yeah man, totally hardcore." Okay, he knew what hardcore meant.

It was cool, right? Why couldn't he just say cool?

"Anyway the doc said to keep the eye patch on until it went back to normal. I'm not a doctor, so I can't really argue with him, can I?" The boys stopped in front of a door, he could vaguely make out the word 'Administration' on it.

"Anyway, here you are. Have fun in the dungeon." The blur on his left said.

"Yeah, try not to lose your other eye!" The one on his right rushed past him.

"Hey!" He shouted, causing them both to pause. "Thanks guys!"

They waved briefly before they were lost in the throng of the other students. Turning around, Spike squared his shoulders once more and turned the handle.

"You're late." The voice was female, curt and clipped. He wouldn't be starting this out very well today.

"I'm sorry. I walked right by the door without noticing." He stepped in and closed the door behind him.

"Try not to let it happen again." She was definitely miffed.

"Once my glasses come in, it shouldn't happen as often." She motioned to the chair in front of her desk, so he sat. The back was high and stiff, uncomfortable.

"I was unaware that you wore glasses, Mr... Hmm... Spike." Her tone shifted, she sounded less confrontational.

"I don't, yet. I've never worn glasses before."

"I... See. If you don't mind my asking, what is-"

"Hyeroipeia? Pia? It was something like that. It means I-"

"Hyperopia, yes. Farsightedness, meaning you have difficulty with focusing on things that are too close. Yes... That makes sense." She was tapping a pen on her desk, seeming caught up in her own thoughts. "Well then, ignoring that for the moment we'll get you situated in your classes. As a freshman, physical education and health are both required courses. Given the test scores, you will be placed in pre-algebra, english-1, physical science-1, physical education, lunch, remedial social studies, geography-1 and remedial history."

"Oh, um, alright. Sounds good I guess." Actually, they all sounded like a lot of work.

"That is your Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule. On Tuesdays and Thursdays your classes remain the same except for physical education which will be replaced with health. At the end of the semester you will be given the option of testing up for your classes." She leveled a glare at him, her voice deathly serious. "Moving up per academic tier will open more classes for you to take, but this is a rather difficult option. Both for you in taking more difficult classes and for us in dealing with the paperwork required by the state in regards to your academic changes. Therefore I would suggest you not make an attempt you are uncertain about. Am I understood?"

Spike nodded, unenthused. Twilight would have loved it here, he was sure of it.

"Very good. Your social worker has assured me that you have no afterschool activities therefore you will be coming to the school library at the end of the day, Mondays and Thursdays for tutoring. This is not negotiable."

"You have been accepted at Crystal Preparatory Academy, Spike. And we do not accept failure."

Chapter Thirty-One

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Today had been...

Terrible.

Absolutely, positively, downright terrible. He'd expected to be behind his classmates, sure. He thought, however, that he'd be within spitting distance of understanding what the teacher was talking about.

He didn't. He had absolutely no idea what a lot of words meant. Like coefficient, organelles, republic-democracy and the like.

It was okay, he could deal with this. He was used to feeling stupid, he lived with the smartest pony he knew.

Had lived.

"Gah!" Spike grabbed his head, silently shouting. It was already starting! The education was...

It was... Sinking in.

He dropped his hands, dropping the theatrics as well when he noticed there were people staring. He put his hands in his pockets- Delightful inventions, those, ponies didn't make much use of them- and moved on down the hallway. He had to find the library.

He remembered passing it earlier that day between classes, it was on the first floor. Had double doors, big glass windows.

His hand paused on the doorknob. A grin spread across his face. He opened the door and stepped in.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you!" As he got closer, the details got more muddled but this was somepony he couldn't not recognize.

"Oh, um, yay?" Why was her voice so quiet though? She was almost as soft as Fluttershy. "It's nice to see you too?"

"You weren't waiting too long, right?" He pulled out a chair at the end of the table where she sat and joined her. "I didn't mean to keep you."

"Oh, no, no. I got only just got here." She closed a book and tried to set it in a backpack near her feet. Something red and furry shifted by her feet and huffed. "Oh shush Garble."

Spike felt something in his chest freeze. He squinted, pulling her into focus.

It was Twilight, he knew that from the start. But there were details that he finally noticed, things that were different.

Her hair was up, she wore glasses. Those were wrong, certainly. Her hands were together in her lap, shoulders were hunched.

His gaze slid down, completely passing over her. By her feet was a large dog, its fur was red and it looked old.

"Is something wrong? I know a lot of people don't like dogs and Garble can be kind of intimidating but if you don't like him I can't-"

"Sorry, sorry, it's not you or him." He stopped squinting and started rubbing the brow over his right eye. "I found out I need glasses a few days ago and since then I've actually noticed how blurry everything is."

Alright, it was him. He was bigger, a pony...

Human. He was a human now. Still, just the thought of the red brute made him feel small, helpless.

Scared.

"Oh, I remember that.Back when I got my glasses, I didn't really notice I was nearsighted. It kind of hit me when I went outside with them on for the first time." She sounded wistful.

"What did you see?"

"Trees and branches. Leafs. I forgot what a tree in Spring looked like. What it really looked like." He could almost empathize, he couldn't remember what his claws looked like in detail.

Maybe he didn't want to.

"Anyway, I'm supposed to tutor you, right?" He nodded. "Alright. What do you need help on?"

He could lie. Shield his fragile pride and stubbornly tell her a falsehood he wished was true.

"Everything." But he wouldn't. If this... This replica of his closest friend was anything like he'd heard about Twilight before he was assigned to her.

No. He was going to be honest with more than just her. He had to be honest with himself as well.

If this Twilight was anything like his Twilight before she'd made friends in Ponyville, she didn't have anyone she could really talk to. Didn't have anypony who was closer than an acquaintance...

"That's a lot to cover." Maybe she didn't have faith in herself yet. He knew she understood the material, there was no such thing as a Stupid Twilight. "Maybe we should try one topic. What do you want to get started on?"

Nothing.

"Social studies. I kind of understand how a dictatorship works but everything else is new to me." Certainly Equestria was ruled by a pair of princesses. Who'd been in power for over a thousand years, never passed on, never had children and never gave up their throne. Human definitions did not call that a kingdom.

"A-alright, that should be simple enough. You see, there's a handful of major government structures and from there we have..." Spike listened as she explained how various government structures were defined, asking questions when she explained something he didn't understand.

A lot of questions.

The longer she talked though, the more comfortable she seemed to get. Faltering and stuttering only after he asked a question.

"...And that's how a representative democracy such as our own works."

"But wouldn't that be..." Spike noticed she was fidgeting, that Garble had gotten up and was pawing at the ground. "Time's up I guess?"

"Er, yeah. The tutoring session is scheduled to go from 2:45 to 3:45 but it's almost half after four." She stood up, banging her knee on the table. She hissed and Spike heard a growl. "Heel Garble!"

The dog was facing him. It wasn't growling any more, but Spike still felt nervous. If it was anything like Garble from where he was from... It would be vicious when it stopped playing nice.

"Sorry about him. He's trained to be very protective of me, that's all. Anyway, if you have anymore questions you'll be welcome to ask them on Thursday." She started walking to the door, glancing at him every few steps.

"Sure." She paused, her hand on the push bar for the library. "Thanks Twilight."

She rushed out the door, sparing him one last glance.

That was different, he never remembered her acting like that. Or at least, he never remembered his Twilight acting like that.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

The other analogues had been different, he knew.

So why wouldn't she be, too?

Author's Note

To the individuals wondering where in the timeline this is occurring... I think I shall answer your question with a question.
What branch of magic is the creator of the mirror famous for having created?

Chapter Thirty-Two

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Spike stared at the portal. Really looked at it for what felt like the first time.

A horse, not a pony, rearing back. Strength, triumph, determination.

Resolution.

He wasn't sure about those first three, but he felt the last.

As well as fear, trepidation... Disappointment.

The clouds overhead parted, revealing the light of the full moon.

Spike shuddered, trying to shake away the feeling that he was being watched. He knew it was just paranoia but there was something about the way this moon looked.

Like there was a face, staring straight down at him.

He shook his head, pushing away the fleeting fancy. One hand raised, he stepped forward.

And met solid stone.

His other hand pushed against stone as well, frantic scrambling became ineffective pounding.

"No!" He cried, his fists slamming into the rock. "No no no no no! Come on! Please..."

He sank down on his knees, his head pressed against his arms while the fabric of his jacket slid roughly against the monument.

He was so tired of crying, so tired of panicking.

"I just want to go home."

So tired of feeling lost.

He returned home at nearly three in the morning, failing to get any rest.

A few hours later, Marley did her rounds around the house, waking up the numerous children and pushing them to start getting ready for school.

He had a head start, though just a small one. Showered and dressed before the girls had finished breakfast and started fighting over who got which bathroom first.

He'd spent most of the night just sitting on his bed, his hands tapping, folding and unfolding the glasses he'd gotten earlier that day.

Yesterday.

He hadn't worn them yet. He hadn't wanted to really accept what they meant.

How would he accept that he'd missed... Missed so much of the world because he could only focus on one little thing at a time?

How would he see his friends now? Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and...

And Rarity?

Were there flaws he'd never seen? Couldn't see? Would they...?

Spike slipped his glasses on, his room gained details, the details gained edges and lines.

They were his friends. They were always his friends. Just because he could see them clearly now, didn't mean he hadn't seen them clearly before.

And he would see them again. Portal or not.

"Spike?" Marley was speaking through the door. "I'll drive you to school. We need to talk."

"Alright. I'm good to go." He got up and opened the door, Marley glaring at him from the other side.

"Come on." She lead him out the front door, past the other kids. The twins looked worried for some reason.

She opened her door first, a hideous green vehicle with an oblong covered back end, it looked like someone tried to stick a covered wagon on the body of a car. He got in through the passenger door after she leaned over to unlock it.

"Alright." She broke their silence at the first stop light. "Where were you last night?"

Oh... He'd thought she hadn't noticed. He shrugged internally, doubtful she would glean much from the truth.

"I went to the statue at Canterlot High School." She glanced at him as they took a turn, puzzled.

"Why there? I know kids don't... hang out there after dark." He wondered what that pause in her speech was supposed to imply.

"You know how I was sent to the hospital with busted ribs and burns all over me?" She nodded, though she didn't speak. "That's where I was found."

"What? You think you're gonna find the guys who did that to you?" They turned a corner, probably a little sharper than she'd intended.

"I know who did it to me." I have no idea how it did it to me. "I'm just, I kind of want an answer."

"Things like that, people don't do it for a good reason, Spike. If you know who did that, you need to tell someone. Me, the police, geeze, tell Beaming Wings if you feel comfortable. You can't just let that go!" He drummed his fingers along the plastic on this side of the door.

"It's not that simple. The (pony) person responsible is gone. Been gone for a long time. But he left a lot of things lying around without any instructions on what they did or how to use them." That was true enough. Starswirl the Bearded had more incomplete spells lying around than just his Final Spell, and nopony, Celestia included, could really make heads or tails of his notes.

Starswirl triumphing over the Sirens had been recorded by someone else, the tale of his banish...ing.

His forehead met cool glass.

The tale of Starswirl Banishing the sirens had been recorded by somepony else. It mentioned the mirror as the means, but never the method.

Or why they had never just come back through.

"You alright?"

"Yeah." No. He wasn't. At least with Crystal Prep coming into view he'd have all day to think about it.

Twilight Sparkle, Alicorn, Princess of Friendship, stared in horror at what lay before her.

Ponies.

Almost a dozen of them, maybe more!

And they all wanted her attention. And her bits.

"This is perfectly normal, Twilight." Rarity sat beside her, eagerly gazing at the various ponies all vying for a job.

All eager to have a job serving the Princess Twilight.

"I know, but I wasn't expecting this many! I though maybe five or six would answer the ad I put in the paper, not-" She waved a purple hoof at the throng of equines. "-all of this!"

"I know it can seem a touch out of hoof dear, but as an employer you have to expect these things. Besides, just think of how much more glamorous your castle will be once it's been polished and waxed back to almost like new?" Purple pony princess was not impressed. "Oh be that way. You must admit that it would be nice to walk into a room without having a sneezing fit."

"I know, alright Rarity? Um... Can I tell you a secret?" Rarity glanced at her, curiosity peaked. "I actually went and found the contracts that Spike made for those three ponies he hired. I was hoping they'd be willing to come back, so I wrote a letter to each of them."

"Darling, not to sound too, well, crass but... You did fire them. It sounded like they were hardly a coordinated bunch to begin with."

"I'd prolly take offense to that." A tall black stallion said from nearby, his orange fringe covering his eyes. "But you ain't wrong."

Author's Note

Before too many folks comment, I just want to say that upon reading it in native format instead of just editing format, I found the problem where I bolded everything.
I put the commands in while I'm typing, I found that I'd failed to close off the command where I intended to.
It's since been fixed.
Anything I missed, please feel free to comment.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Classes today had been different. Reading the associated material and following along when the teacher wrote on the white board at the front of the room added new depth to the experience.

It was still boring and tedious. He wasn't enjoying himself.

Really, he didn't secretly enjoy getting to be just like everybody else, getting the same experience from the same events. The glasses didn't factor into it in the slightest.

Honest.

Lunch was more interesting, which was saying something.

He was used to eating almost the same amount as everypony else and walking away gorged, satisfied in his gluttony.

Here not so much.

It wasn't even about the amount of food they offered, that was fine.

The aluminum tray in his hands was very nearly overloaded with foods, some he recognized and the rest he didn't. He took a step to the right of the door from the serving area and surveyed the cafeteria, looking for a seat.

He saw the two boys from Monday at a round table, though all of the seats were full. Another table had less than half its occupancy filled, at least physically. He could smell from here the self-importance and oppulance surrounding them.

He'd be crushed if he joined them, flattened beneath the combined ego that drove away peasants and seemed to inflate their presence.

So sitting with the rich children was a no go.

A familiar head of hair was sitting at the end of a rectangular table, alone save for a great red slumbering beast. He shrugged, jostling his drink slightly as he made his way over.

She looked up when he set his tray down, brushing her bangs from her eyes. It bothered him, more than he wanted to say, that he couldn't recognize the look in her violet orbs. He heard a claw scrap tile but from the corner of his eye he saw that her dog was merely dreaming.

"You don't need to sit here." He did so anyway. "I'm your tutor, that doesn't mean we're friends."

He pulled apart his burger, dropping the brown circle onto his tray as he filled it with the over-vinegar enriched salad.

"Everywhere else is full." He took a bite and grimaced. It tasted terrible. "I didn't think you'd mind."

"...You don't like hamburgers?" He paused for a moment before he finished chewing and swallowed.

"They taste alright but there's something with the texture. I don't like it." It was salty and delicious but it dissolved in his mouth and stuck to the sides of his gums, like some kind of grit and he could taste it for hours later. Whatever it was left him feeling on the edge of gagging until he drank enough of something to wash it off.

"Can... Can I have it then?" Her tray was nearly untouched, why would she want it? He shrugged anyway, motioning for her to go ahead while he took another bite.

She used a napkin to pick up the foul thing and leaned over, putting it in front of her dogs nose. Spike watched as Garble woke up from his nap at the smell of it. He licked it a few times before he tried to wedge his mouth around it, struggling to fit the too-wide chunk into his mouth.

"So what were you reading?" The book was open in front of her tray, but the few words he read from his perspective didn't give him any insight.

"It's, uh, it's a dissertation on the methods of hygiene used by the upper class during the reign of the Byzantine Empire." He knew most of those words!

"I don't know anything about this Byzantine Empire, but I bet the nobles used a lot of perfume." He recognized the fries he was given, but he could tell they weren't made of hay.

"I don't know, that's actually never mentioned here. The Byzantine Empire was descended from the Roman Empire, it carried over a lot of the methods used by them. Like bathing and various other methods of cleaning themselves. Slaves were still in use for much of the time frame referenced by the author." That soured Spike's mood in an instant. "Are you alright?"

"It's fine, Twilight. I just don't like the mention of slavery." It didn't remind him of Twilight, his Twilight, but the other ponies in Canterlot...

He'd been too young, it was so long ago but...

He refused to think about it.

"I'm... Sorry?" She had no idea what was on his mind. He wasn't going to tell her. "Oh, you're wearing glasses! I was so caught up in my book I hadn't noticed."

"Yeah. Wearing them feels really weird. I always just though I was clumsy, not blind." Alright, he hadn't been blind, but the comparison seemed apt.

"I know what you mean, my brother had no idea why I stopped playing catch with him. I didn't really know how to tell him or my parents that the ball was getting harder and harder for me to see." The ringing of a bell screamed through the air.

Ten minutes to get to class. Barely enough time.

"See you after school, Twilight!" He flashed her a grin as he turned around, rushing to drop off his tray.

"Oh... Yeah. See you then." Her voice was an unheard whisper among the roar of rushing students.

She bent low, ruffling the fur of the great red beast that lay at her heels.

"Come on Garble, I need to get to class." The dog stretched, getting up slowly on creaking joints. Once fully standing she continued scratching his ears while she waited for the line to drop off her lunch tray to dwindle. After nearly two minutes only the stragglers remained. A moment later she was out the door, her dog walking beside her.

"That was weird. I haven't talked to someone at lunch in... A while." The beast beside her huffed. "I know but... It was, it's kind of nice."

Chapter Thirty-Four

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

"Are you... Alright?"Twilight asked as Spike walked into the library for his tutoring session, looking more than a little bit green.

"Humans are disgusting."

She blinked at his statement. He wasn't wrong but she wasn't sure what brought on this revelation.

"Okay. Why are humans disgusting?" She asked, hoping for some insight as to why he sounded about ready to divorce himself from the concept of being human.

But that was just silly, right?

"I could have lived the rest of my long, long life without ever knowing how sick they could make themselves through mating." He seemed thoroughly disgusted.

Well, she couldn't really argue that. Still, it sounded weird how he said that as an outsider.

"Well, Sexually Transmitted Diseases certainly don't paint a pretty picture."

He turned a bit greener.

"But still! I've read that appropriate protection and abstinence can greatly reduce the risk of contracting any of these illnesses."

"Wait." He croaked out.

She cocked her head to the side in confusion as the green tinge in his sickly pale cheeks deepened.

"I thought the video on pregnancy was bad. You mean there are actual diseases people can get from... That?"

Oh.

Twilight stood up from her seat, leaving Spike to stare glumly at the table as she retrieved a book from the shelves. She flipped through the pages before dropping it in front of him.

"When you finish reading that, please feel free to ask me any questions you may have." She stared as he read a few lines before nodding.

Good. She'd expected him to ask 'What is it?' instead of figuring it out himself.

She sat back down and opened her own book, chewing into the methodology of pre-calculus.

"So..." He started a few minutes later, a finger trailing underneath a particular passage. "This says that symptoms aren't, err, equally present across genders? Does it mean male and female have different symptoms for some diseases?"

"Yes, that's what it means." Her tone was clipped, more so than she intended. He was supposed to ask questions after all.

"Oh." She glanced up, noticing that his eye was flittering around on the page. She looked down at the book, where he was moving his finger beneath lines at a decent clip.

Not as fast as her of course. Still, he was moving faster than most of her 'Peers'.

It was odd, she mused, for him to be so terribly ignorant yet seemingly so capable. His behavior was equally inconsistent.

He also kept a fair few behavioral quirks that she couldn't place. He was so desperately eager to please individuals that were socially superior to him, except for those who came from backgrounds of affluence and were implied rather than stated to be his betters.

"Alright. Let me repeat myself. Humans are disgusting." He shut the book, done with it.

In multiple ways.

"Do you have anything you didn't understand?" She tried to let her concern bleed into her voice. He was avoiding her gaze, likely embarrassed.

"Yeah." He got up and put the book away, exactly where she'd gotten it from.

Odd.

"Why do people bother doing... that... If it can get them sick with all of, ugh, that?" He sat back down and looked at her.

She averted her gaze down, looking at his teeth while he spoke.

"According to books" Lots and lots of books. "It's supposed to feel very good."

"So feeling good is worth a lifetime of bumps and warts and sores?" He leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. "I don't know if I buy it."

"I suppose that's why the schools attempt to promote abstinence in classes." Considering the number of girls who'd dropped out due to... Complications, she doubted that particular lesson was sinking in very well.

"Besides" she continued. "Recent health surveys suggest that only a small minority of the populace would be afflicted with these ailments, so it's not as prevalent as the book would suggest."

"Okay, I get that. But that's supposed to be for people who have reported it, right?" She nodded uncertainly. "So what about people who don't know? Or the people who do know but won't admit to it? I can't imagine everyone would be willing to say they've got, err, any of this."

She nodded again while looking down at the pre-calculus book in her hands. She shut it.

Inaccurate data. He was accusing the data of being wrong. And he made a good argument for it.

"Twilight?" She pulled a plastic box out of her backpack and opened it. There was a sticker of a penguin upside down on the side he could see.

"Human error." She was tapping away furiously. "I hate human error, Spike."

He glanced around the side of the box in front of him and saw light reflecting off of her glasses.

The tapping stopped and she shut the box.

"Spike."

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to join a nunnery."

Twilight Velvet hummed to herself as she pulled dinner from the oven.

A glance at the clock suggested she'd have more than ample time to finish cooking the vegetables before either her husband or daughter got home.

So she was quite curious when she heard the door slam shut and the pattering of footsteps going up the stairs.

An expert eye glanced over the vegetables, steaming over a pot of water. With a sigh she moved them to an empty burner and turned off the heat. By the time she got done talking to her daughter, the house would have probably caught fire if she didn't.

She made her own way up the stairs and knocked on her daughters door.

No answer.

She counted out to ten before she knocked again, this time opening the door afterwards.

"Mom, come-oh!" Twilight sat upon her bed, pulling her shoes off her feet. Her backpack lay open next to her and Garble was curled up in the middle of the floor.

"I wasn't expecting you home so soon. Is everything alright?"

"I guess?" Twilight Velvet sat down in her daughter's desk chair, pushing a graying bang out of her face.

"You don't sound very sure. Is something wrong?" She grinned as a thought drifted through her mind. She knew it was unlikely, but she could hope. "Boy trouble at school?"

"No. I guess?" Twilight Velvet beamed, her daughter was finally growing up! "I was helping Spike, the new student I'm tutoring, go over some material for health."

Velvet nodded, a dopey grin on her face. They were a bit old to be playing Doctor, she'd have to talk to Twilight about that.

"We were going over Sexually Transmitted Diseases" The grin fell off her face in a flash. "And we were uncertain about the statistics. So I looked them up. My initial assumption was that roughly one in twenty individual was a carrier."

Alright, not pleasant, but that didn't sound so bad.

"It actually comes closer to one in five." What?

"What?" Twilight Velvet felt like choking on her own tongue.

"So, mom, where's the nearest convent?"

"...What?"

Author's Note

Version Two. It was pointed out to me by Radical Dishonesty that the way I'd written it in the beginning was kind of confusing.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Marley looked at her reflection in a window. She stared, glared at her age lines until they receded.

Which didn't work.

This was a problem.

Well, her age was too, but that wasn't really a problem she could do anything about.

She'd expected this to taper off after a while, it wasn't unusual for a week or two.

The kids were scared they'd get shipped off again, do their chores and then some until they felt comfortable.

Realize she wasn't going to throw them away.

This though?

"Spike, I think we need to talk." She'd managed to find him in the kitchen, cleaning. He wore an apron and gloves.

Her apron. With frilly flowers and bunnies.

He also had his hair hidden under a bandanna, black with green flames.

"Sure. What's up, Miss Marley?" He dropped a rag into his bucket and turned around, a disturbingly innocent grin on his face.

"I just wanted to ask you some questions, that's all." She walked by him and opened the fridge, pulling out a pair of sodas.

She'd kill for something harder, especially for this kind of talk. But after the last pair of twins she'd housed before getting themselves shipped off to the juvenile detention center for selling her alcohol that wasn't going to happen.

"You're not in trouble, I just want to talk is all." She seated herself at the kitchen table and cracked open the can in her hand. He mimicked her shortly afterwards.

"Now, you know cleaning the kitchen this week is supposed to be Sweety Lumps' job, right?" She was staring straight into his eye as she spoke.

With one eye covered, his facial expressions were a lot harder to read. The rest of him, though? His body language was refreshingly honest.

And the slight tightening of his shoulders, his elbows getting closer together?

He thought he was about to get scolded. Or punished.

"He's not going to learn to be responsible for himself if you're doing his work for him, alright?" This wasn't completely new territory for her, unfortunately. He wasn't the first kid to act like this. "And you can't keep doing the work for the other kids, either. I'm not going to yell at you for taking care of laundry, Zest shouldn't have left it in the washer but just..."

She tried to wave her hand to encompass the whole of the house. To try and infer that the dishes, windows, vacuuming and just everything that had been done since he came to their home.

"I just wanted to impress..." He spoke quietly, unsure if he was justifying or explaining.

"And I'm very impressed, Spike. You've done a better job than I or any of the kids would have done. I'm sure you'll make a great house-husband if you don't pick a career. But this isn't about the work you've been doing all month." She took a long drink from her soda, using the moment to decide best how to continue. "Before you came here, were you doing all of this?"

"Yeah, it..." He hesitated for just a moment before he soldiered through. "It was my job."

She had wanted to hear almost anything other than that.

"How did you get that job?" Please say a newspaper. A help wanted ad. A window sign.

"Not long after I was born, my guardian gave me to somepon- Someone who worked for her. They looked after me, taught me some math and reading and then started teaching me how to be an assistant. A while later my guardian reassigned me, I was supposed to be the personal assistant to her student. I did that for a few years and then things kind of fell apart and I came here." He was smiling again, likely remembering someone he was friends with.

That... that was insane!

It was how you'd treat a pet not, not a thinking, intelligent child!

"How do you mean 'things fell apart'? I mean, we- you were found with a lot of bruising and burns on your-" She motioned her hand over her eye. "-that sounds like a lot more than just 'Fell apart'."

The only comparison she could think of involved a religious cult that had been on the news lately, its members giving up their children to their leader for position and prestige.

"Things fell apart. I can't really say much more than that." He seemed contrite, like he was keeping a secret that he knew was important.

"That's... That's fine, Spike." That was not fine. She didn't even know where to begin with that kind of mess. "Go ahead and finish up what you were doing but promise me something."

"What's that?" His chair screeched across tile as it slid back while he got up.

"Stop poaching the other kids chores. They get assigned for a reason."

Twilight walked into her library.

She didn't canter, nor she did trot. She most certainly did not run.

She was far too exhausted for that.

The train she and her friends had been on was long enough that she certainly could have gotten some sleep, but the atmosphere had been far too tense.

Unsurprising really, given that they'd only just barely uncovered a plot in the Crystal Empire to dethrone her brother and Cadence.

A plot developed and personally executed by Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings who still obeyed her.

Which, it seemed, were few and far between.

The queen's whole monologue had been about how much a victim she'd been, how her control had dwindled without love and that she was going to drain the Crystal Heart dry to reestablish absolute control over every last changeling in Equestria and beyond.

Cadance took exception.

Cadance took exception with extreme prejudice.

The righteous fury of a mother was not, it seemed, palatable to changelings.

Even if it was made of love.

The whole ordeal had left off on a sour note unfortunately. Cadance was extremely protective of her daughter and Shining Armor was sulking about being duped. Again.

The only hoof the elements of Harmony had in the whole debacle was Pinkie somehow unmasking Chrysalis. By accident.

So tensions in the Crystal Empire were at an all time high and the Empire was exporting it in bulk.

Starting with Twilight Sparkle.

But she was home now. Home and in her library. Her sanctuary.

Where the evils of the world couldn't get at her.

Except one.

She cast her gimlet gaze upon Starswirl's mirror, her eyes glaring at the mercurial tears seeping across...

She stared in confusion and awe as silver droplet were slowly, so very slowly seeping into the fractured mirror from the frame.

Some of the most minute cracks had faded away in her absence.

For the first time in days, Twilight Sparkle smiled.

Author's Note

I've never seen the sound of music.
I did not have this chapter planned, but I got to thinking on it and some of my past training in spotting abuse in children (Camp employee, nothing certified) and got to thinking. I don't have anything else to do while I'm at work.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Spike glared at the book on his desk, a sheet of paper beneath his pencil littered with letters and numbers and shreds of eraser.

Math didn't normally prove too difficult, not anymore, but he was studying to try and advance up from pre-algebra into proper algebra. Because of this, Twilight had assigned him a few pages of extra work.

Nightmarish extra work.

He took his glasses off and set them down on the desk to rub at his nose where they sat. He put his hands over his eyes and flopped down, his forehead hit the book and something crunched under his elbow.

This was all just so difficult without a calcu-!

Wait.

Spike shot ramrod straight and ran his hands over the desk, finding and pulling his glasses up. One lens and arm at least.

"No! No no no no no!" His other hand flew across the desk in a panic, knocking the other half of his glasses down to the floor.

He quickly followed, immediately getting down on his hands and knees to find them. It took a few moments of frantic searching before he was successful, noticing them by a glint of reflecting light.

"Please no, please please please no!" He jammed the nose pieces back together, hoping for them to click, or snap into place or something! He needed them to be whole!

He wanted them to be whole.

Pinpricks of pain spread across the back of his hands momentarily before the metal jammed or caught on something, looking vaguely like they were fixed.

He jammed them onto his face, finding that they fit perfectly. Just like before.

That didn't make any sense!

He flew from his room, papers floating in his wake as he barreled towards a bathroom. He nearly fell down the stairs, barely catching himself as he rounded a bend and slammed into a door.

"Just a minute!" Plumb Drop. He was going to be waiting a while. He'd hoped this restroom would be empty by dint of being on the first floor instead of the second. Then again, both Plumb Drop and Lemon Zest were roomed on this floor as compared to everyone else sleeping upstairs.

Wonderful.

Spike absentmindedly scratched at the back of his hand while he waited. Contrary to everything he knew and expected, she really did come out almost a minute later. Dressed in cotton shorts and a long shirt, her hair was still wet and clung to her face.

He didn't know much yet about what was considered attractive here, but he was certain she would have been thought as such. Or maybe handsome?

He wasn't quite sure. For all he knew she might be considered the same as Bulk Biceps was back home, that is, muscular to the point of being disturbing.

"Oh, Spike. I thought it was Lemon Zest at the door." She walked by, looking at him as she did.

"Thought this bathroom wouldn't be occupied. Thanks Plumb!" He barely kept from slamming the door behind him as he bolted in.

His hands latched onto the sink in a white knuckled grip as he leaned forward, examining his face and glasses in detail.

Nothing. Not even a seam in the middle.

They looked like they'd never come apart.

"I know they did. I saw them!" He pulled his glasses off and gingerly pulled on the arms. They bent a little at the screws but refused to separate. He slid them back on and looked himself over again.

Nothing.

He knew they broke though! He looked down while he turned on the sink.

Spike froze. Well, his mind did. His body continued on the course of action, getting his hands wet, lathering them up with soap and then washing blood down the drain.

He brought the citrus fresh appendage up to his face, staring at the purple scales that had pushed through his skin.

It wasn't how scales worked. Especially not on dragons! They might shed and replace accessory scutes uncommonly, but they didn't just burrow out from below the skin!

He sat down on the toilet, staring at his hands all the while.

"Magic." He finally said. "It's got to be magic."

He knew he broke his glasses. And just as surely as he knew that, he knew they were sitting on his face, hale and whole.

"I need to talk to somepony." The weekend started tomorrow. "I need to talk to Sunset Shimmer."

He had just planned to wait until Twilight came to get him. Intended on not making his problems theirs or worrying them over the state of the portal.

But this?

He couldn't just ignore this.

Even though the scales were itching as they sank back beneath the skin, he was sure they'd be back.

Because somewhere, deep in his heart rested a place he only acknowledged with despair, the envy and joy he felt for a brief, brief moment where he levitated those books for Twilight.

He had to do that again.

Dear Princess Celestia

It is my sincerest hope that this letter finds you well.

I am writing you today, not with a friendship report, but with some questions and a request for help.

As you are undoubtedly aware, there was a recent mishap involving the mirror to the world of humans. Spike, afflicted with dark magic, was forcibly dragged through the mirror. The process of which brought serious harm to myself, the mirror and undoubtedly my assistant as well.

Recently, upon my return from the Crystal Empire to meet with my brother Shining Armor and sister-in-law Princess Mi Amore Cadenza I discovered the mirror in the process of repairing itself. This appears to be done using a weave of conjuration, etched into the frame, to materialize ambient magic and feed it back into the mirror in order to reverse whatever damages occurred.

At nearly two weeks since the incident, only the outermost fractures have mended. Assuming the rate of recovery remains fixed, I expect it to be almost another month until the mirror returns to full functionality.

I was hoping that during the interim you would be willing to loan to me any books pertaining to studies made on the Inspiration Manifestation, Curses and Countercurses and whatever few books have been written detailing the studies on the binding of displaced souls or consciousness.

When Spike returns, I need to be able to help him.

Please, Celestia.

Your Faithful Student

Twilight Sparkle

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Sunset Shimmer had never told Twilight or himself where she lived. Or didn't live.

For all he knew she was homeless, sort of like he was.

He kind of knew where Pinkie Pie lived, he'd be able to recognize her house if he saw it, but he wasn't sure of the actual location. He'd been in a backpack for a good portion of the trip there and at the time he simply wasn't paying attention to things like street names or numbers.

He had two other options though.

Applejack, over at Sweet Apple Acres and Rarity, who even in this world had her own boutique.

He picked the option that didn't have him traveling outside the cities limits.

Carousel Boutique was listed in the phone book, both address and phone number. Finding a local map took a little more doing but he had made his way to the fashionista's business before noon.

He had to admit, it looked a lot different here in the human world.

It wasn't a fashionable little business slash home like it was in Equestria. Or if it was, it lacked the unique appearance he was used to.

At home it was designed like an actual carousel. Here, it was just another slate grey brick and mortar building with the name embossed over the front window. It looked to be two stories tall, but it was just a small partition of a much larger building.

A bell tinkled over head as he stepped in.

The front room was a mess, mannequins were all over the place in varying states of dress.

And varying kinds of dress.

A formal tux on one, half of a rustic outfit on another, some wore dresses whilst others were garbed in skirts. There was no order to the placement, a ball gown stood out starkly when surrounded by casual shirts and trousers.

"Just a minu~te!" Sang a sublime voice from the back room.

"Rarity?" He hollered back. Something about her voice sounded different, though it may have just been muffled by something.

"Yes, that's me! Welcome, welcome to my shop!" She came out of the backroom.

Spike felt his heart beat just a bit harder.

There wasn't anything particularly special with what she was wearing. A cream-colored turtleneck sweater and jeans. Very tight, embroidered jeans. She had her glasses on, though the almost garishly styled red frames were resting up in her hair.

Maybe it was the way she carried herself, maybe it was just her confidence. Either way, it was still stunning.

"Here you'll find clothing to meet your hearts fondest desire. All the clothing here is handmade and I can personally swear that every unique piece is sleek, chic and absolutely magnifique!" She was beaming, her arms were spread wide as to encompass the whole of her store. "Now how can I help you today."

"Well Rarity, I was looking for-" He stopped talking when she darted around behind him, humming to herself. He turned around to face her again. "Rarity, I was-"

"You have the most slender frame of anyone who's yet walked in." She continued walking around him, picking up her pace as he continued to turn and try to properly face her. "And that hair, please tell me that's not your natural hair color? Oh, who am I kidding, of course that's your natural hair color!"

"Rarity, I need-" He was interrupted as one finger pressed itself against his lips. He froze in place and allowed it to slide off as she finally got to looking at his back.

"Please, Darling, at your age? I doubt you'd know when you need a drink of water, let alone how to make the most of everything you have. No, that is why you've come to me!" He could nearly hear the ecstacy radiating from her voice. "Now, hmm... Narrow frame, narrow shoulders to go with it. Did you know your arms and fingers are longer than average for your height? Lanky, tsk. We'll need to draw attention away from that."

"Rarity, I-"

"Oh, I have been rather rude, haven't I? My sincerest apologies Mr... ah? I'm afraid I've not gotten your name yet." She sidestepped her way back in front of him, looking up and down at the space below his neck.

"I'm Spike, Rarity. I'm also a freshman over at Crystal Prep." He wasn't surprised when she looked up, meeting his eye. Emerald green stared into calm azure until her gaze broke.

"Spike is it? Well, no accounting for taste I suppose. Crystal Prep you said? I really must apologize but with their uniform policy it seems I won't be able to help you near as much as I'd hoped." She looked down, coming off of her inspirational high.

"That's alright. It wasn't my first choice but it's where I am. Listen, I'm looking for Sunset Shimmer. Do you know where I can find her?" He felt a knot tighten in his belly when she looked confused.

"Sunset Shimmer? Certainly a more fitting name than... Well, not as though you had much choice in the matter, now is it?" She blushed lightly as she caught herself.

"It's fine. I always thought my name was perfectly normal, so no problem alright?" He'd been getting that a lot since he came here.

"Anyway, I hate to say this but I'm afraid I don't know of even a single soul named Sunset Shimmer. If she's a friend of yours, you could probably find her online easily enough." She looked apologetic. She even sounded apologetic.

So why did Spike feel like his blood had turned to ice.

"That's... That's alright, Rarity. I just thought she might go to school over at Canterlot High."

"I truly am sorry, Spike. Can I help you with anything else?"

"Not, er, not right now. I'll be sure to come by again next time I've saved up a Bit though, alright?" He headed for the door, trying to wrap his mind around what he'd heard.

"That sounds marvelous, do come back soon!" She closed the door behind him.

He made it to the end of the block outside the boutique and sat down on a bench, his mind swirling around the pieces he'd seen.

She hadn't recognized his name. She didn't know Sunset Shimmer. He hadn't even thought to ask her about the others, if maybe they might know her.

He leaned back and looked up, the clouds drifting above and birds flying over.

He was alone.

Author's Note

I like handing out puzzle pieces like candy. If I'm feeling nice, they'll all be to the same puzzle.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Time will pass, as is its wont. Days shall come and months will go.

For a brief moment, a few days at most, Spike the Dragon, the Unicorn, the Human allowed himself to be depressed.

Such was not, however, his nature.

After sulking for a little while he was swept up, into a new normal. He went to classes, was tutored a few nights per week as he struggled to catch up to the level his peers were at academically and was, for much of his time, utterly baffled with just how little he truly had to do.

A few chores around the house, homework in the evenings before bed. For a dragon used to spending a great majority of his time cleaning up after an eclectic researcher, the free time left him aimlessly adrift.

In the late hours of the night, when he was sure he wasn't going to be disturbed, he tried to practice whatever magic had clung to him in this world.

Countless hours spent focusing, chanting gibberish and made up words while waving his arms around. Countless hours wasted. He felt no closer to discerning how he'd mended his glasses. Why the scales of his original form had dug through his human shell.

School at least was proving more successful.

With this Twilight's help, he'd made leaps and bounds in understanding much of his current curriculum.

He'd been able to do multiplication and division before, even keep a basic checkbook. He knew some of the physical properties of matter prior to joining this world, now he knew the deeper truths of the world, such as the fact that there was a fourth state of matter.

He wondered, sometimes, if Celestia's Sun and this worlds Sun were the same in that way. Or if the Alicorn of the Sun controlled something composed of magic instead.

She wasn't any warmer with him, much as he wished to he couldn't claim her as a friend. They were acquaintances.

He was sure there was something he was missing, some wall to overcome.

Both with Twilight and with magic.

Each month though, during the nights of the full moon he still made his way to the statue at Canterlot High School.

And every night he pressed his palms flat against the stone. After the first few nights the tears had stopped coming when he met the solid surface.

He knew he would get home, he knew that deep down in his bones. He had every faith that Twilight Sparkle would come and find him. Every faith that his friend could figure out what was keeping him from going home.

It was one such night beneath the glare of the full moon that found Spike forlornly sitting against the monument. His back was flat with the square base, the moon reflecting off his eyes.

One slitted, the other not.

He'd grown to hate his eye-patch. Confining and left him half-blind, it still kept some of the less desirable attention away from him.

He was treated with indifference as a cripple, rather than the jeering of a freak.

With that in mind, he truly appreciated these quiet moments. These cool evenings where he could let his eye breathe. He used to find these moments stifling, slowly filling him with anxiety while he waited, cleaned and organized. Now that he wasn't supposed to do those things, he found that he wished he could go back to those nervous, stressful days. They had been less boring.

His mind was drifting aimlessly as he sat, not quite able to focus on anything. Twilight and Twilight drifted through his mind, he had almost decided on what truly made the two unique.

And then he was interrupted when he felt something slam into his back.

He pitched forward, his chin slamming into the concrete while something heavy landed across his back and rolled off. He put his hands under himself and pushed up, propping up on one knee while he looked at what knocked him over.

Red hair.

The most obvious thing, her most recognizable trait.

Red hair flailed to and fro as she scrabbled against the ground, fingers spasming as she tried to grab onto something with numb hands.

"Hey!" Spike hollered as he got up, a flutter of excitement in his heart. "Are you okay?"

Hard cyan eyes were glaring into his own as he held out a hand to help her up. Her grip was harsh and demanding on his hand as he pulled her up to two feet.

He knew, even before she spoke. This wasn't the Sunset Shimmer he had last met.

"Who are you?" So much venom. She didn't even know him but she scorned him none the less.

"Thorn." He hated this. He hated lying to her, who she would eventually be. But this wasn't her. Sunset Shimmer, his friend wasn't this angry. His friend didn't have such cold eyes. "What's a pony doing this side of the mirror?"

She jerked her hand away from his, acting as though his mere touch scalded her. Derision fled her face to be replaced with wariness, fear.

He could change all of this. He could be the friend she needed, teach her the virtues of friendship.

He forced a smile onto his face, wide and fake.

She hadn't wanted friends, and as long as he'd been here so far, he hadn't made any. He was at times left wondering if he could make any friends of his own.

If he could do something right without Twilight to help him.

"No answer?" He didn't figure she would give him one. As a unicorn she was immensely skilled. Here as a human with neither allies nor magic? "That's alright. I've got some pocket change left. I'll get us something to eat and we'll get you walking straight, alright?"

She grabbed onto his outstretched hand with both of hers, stumbling even as she took her first step. Her red and gold hair swayed in the breeze, reminding him of Celestia's setting sun.

Of home.

Author's Note

Don't expect Spike to magically fix things.
It certainly didn't work for Twilight when she was trying to...
Well, Spike has figured out what's going on.
I'm sure my audience has as well.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

She'd been a stumbling mess, clinging to his shorter frame for support as they walked. By the time they'd reached the small diner, one of the few that didn't care about curfew so long as you paid, she was almost walking on her own.

The silence during the brief walk had been stifling, he'd found himself uncomfortably speechless even when she would gasp or whimper over something as mildly uncomfortable as stepping on a rock.

He helped Sunset Shimmer into a booth before seating himself, waving down the waitress when she looked their way.

"This is new, kiddo! You ain't brought a girl by before." She held up a pen and pad. "So what can I get ya' tonight?"

"Just a cocoa for me and load up the whip. As for my friend here-" Had she said her name yet? Spike couldn't recall. "-I don't think she knows yet."

She was gripping on to the table hard enough her knuckles had turned white.

"I'll put her down for a hot chocolate as well and come back in a bit, give you two a few minutes at the menu. Alright?" She turned and walked away, shooting a questioning glance over her shoulder at him once she was behind the redhead.

He shrugged, looking honestly bewildered.

"How do you-" Sunset's voice was almost a growl, more frustration than speech. "How do you use these things?"

She held her hand up, curling her fingers into a fist and relaxing them. She did this several times before he caught on.

"It takes some getting used to." He gently grabbed a hold of her wrist, ignoring her flinch, and slowly flexed her fingers one by one. "With a little practice you'll have it down in no time! That mirror... The magic is really thorough."

She held her other hand next to where he was moving her fingers and looked between the two. Slowly one finger flexed individually, then another. The third tried to as well, but ended up dragging along the forth. She glared at her hand and continued trying before she watched him place a folded piece of plastic, a menu, into her hands.

"So does everypony know about the mirror here?" Her voice dropped, finally taking notice that, while sparsely filled, they were definitely not alone.

"Not everybody. So far as I know, nobody who isn't from the other side knows about it." He sat back into the plastic cushion as the waitress returned, two steaming cups in hand.

"Here you go kiddos, you two figure out if you want anything to eat?" She set the mugs down. The one in front of Spike was topped with a pyramid of whipped cream. Sunsets, in contrast, simply had a small blot floating in the middle of her mug.

"I'm good. Sugar and chocolate are what I run on!" He flashed her a grin, one that finally felt like it belonged.

"I'll have the... Uh... Bacon sausage pancake breakfast platter?" She only said pancake without hesitation, the words bacon and sausage unknown to her.

"Coming right up dearie. I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." She winked at Sunset playfully and scurried off, likely to refill another patron's coffee.

"Alright..." Her glare hardened and focused on Spike, reminding him far too well that she, too, was once Celestia's personal pupil. He was terrified she'd already figured him out. "So Thorn, who are you supposed to be?"

"Myself." He leaned back, crossing one leg over the other and putting his hands in his lap. He couldn't let her see that he was nervous. "If you mean what am I in connection to the mirror? I'm stranded here, for some reason I can't go back through."

Her glare had him sweating bullets but he refused to fess up to everything. He knew, from personal experience, that the footsteps of an ant could stomp out a mountain from ever forming. He knew he'd already changed things, though he couldn't know what.

"That eye of yours says enough I guess." Her glare softened and she grinned.

He thought a hydra's smile was less threatening.

"You were playing with dark magic, weren't you." It wasn't a question. "You must've been dumb enough to try it next to the mirror. That's the only way to activate the trap Starswirl put into it."

He sipped his cocoa while he let her words wash over him. If she was trying to make him feel small, like a failure...

She was succeeding.

"I didn't think anyone could make much of his notes." It was a leading question, playing to her superiority.

"Oh they're badly written, there is that. But if you spend enough time tracing the letters and spreading them out they're not as bad." She put her hands together and looped them behind her head, her posture alone said how smug she was feeling. "Of course, a thousand years later and nobody could figure that out? Idiots, all of them."

The waitress dropped off Sunset's plate, loaded with delicious, fattening foods.

She grabbed a hold of a fork, no more struggle in her manipulations, and stabbed it into a slice of crispy bacon. She brought the broken chunk to her mouth and began to nibble.

Vengeance was his!

"You know what bacon is, right?" He had to keep the laughter out of his voice, this would make up for the whole conversation.

"No idea, Thorn, but it's delicious!" She shoved the whole piece into her mouth, breaking it apart between her teeth.

"It's meat." Her chewing came to a halt. "From a pig."

She grabbed a handful of napkins out of the tray at the end of the table and began gagging, wiping at her tongue with them. She spat and choked as she worked to get all of the red bits out of her teeth.

"Yeah." He was grinning at her display, barely keeping himself from laughing. "I had that reaction, too."

Chapter Forty

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

"Thanks for your help, but keep away from me you magic-addled freak."

Sunset Shimmer's parting words had left him feeling conflicted, even months after they had been said.

She was vicious, mean-spirited and selfish in the extreme. She'd been cast out as Celestia's student for demanding results from the princess that she, in a fit of short-sightedness, refused to work for.

No, that wasn't quite right.

She was willing to work for it, but she wanted results now because she felt she deserved them now, regardless of reality.

On the other hand, he wanted to help her. He wanted to retain some kind of connection to his world. He wanted to be able to drag her off the path of self-imposed isolation and cruelty.

And having no company was better than the alternative. He didn't know where to find the trio that Starswirl had banished and he wasn't about to go looking.

So instead he continued the course.

He felt manipulative for doing so, knowing that Sunset would eventually go on to steal the crown but he didn't know what else to do.

Not without putting a metaphorical noose around his own neck.

More time would pass, his grades inching their way up and connections, if not friendships forming with his classmates, his housemates.

Though some others would take turns he most certainly was not expecting.

Yesterday had been interesting.

He never thought it would happen, but Twilight had actually stopped him between classes to tell him something.

She was cancelling his tutoring session tomorrow, now today.

One of the football players had asked her out. One of the American football players, not one of the rest of the world's football players.

She mentioned it to her mom and was practically pushed into accepting a day later.

He'd smiled, said he was happy for her, not to worry about it.

Though it definitely made the hour he'd spent in the library after school a lot more lonely today.

His homework done, he'd left. While a lot of the books were interesting, he had other plans to make of today.

Getting nearly bowled over by a purple blur on his way home hadn't been one of those plans.

He stumbled when she clipped him, turning around in time to see her turn a corner.

It took his brain a few precious seconds to make sense of what he'd seen.

Dark purple hair. Pink stripe.

He took off running.

He followed as she passed almost two city blocks before she disappeared. Traffick was going strong at the intersection and he couldn't see her through it anyway so he slowed down, trying to catch his breath.

Physical Education was doing him some good at least.

He backtracked a little ways, head angling from left to right. In frustration he flipped up his eye-patch, hissing as it was exposed to Cele... The sun.

Still, he nearly missed her.

He only caught sight of her shoes peaking out from behind a trash can down down an alleyway. As he got closer he could see she was sitting down on the ground, arms around her knees with her forehead sitting against them.

Choking back sobs.

He sat down next to her, rough brick scratching at his blazer, and waited.

Twilight, his Twilight, wasn't very big on contact. She tried, a lot, but it wasn't until well into her stay in Ponyville that she started to really give or accept hugs.

Before that he'd just been there, and he tried, but during one of her meltdowns he'd just been there, and he tried talking to her.

And he just didn't know what to do.

He raised his left arm hesitantly and set it across her shoulders. She flinched, but she didn't pull away.

He wasn't that Spike anymore. He didn't want to just be there.

He wanted to make things better, but he couldn't do that if he just stood there.

"What happened, Twilight?" He asked softly.

"He- Pristine Shield, he-" She choked down a sob and looked at him, her eyes puffy and red. "He didn't want to go out with me. He didn't want to-to be my friend!"

He started to rub her back in small, soothing circles. He pinched his blazer sleeve on his right arm forward a bit and dabbed at her tears.

It didn't do any good, they were pouring out too fast.

"He just wanted me to do his homework! Said some 'Plain-Jane Brain like you should feel flattered I even asked'. And he was- he was so mean!" She buried her face in his chest, crying even harder.

Spike wished he could be surprised. Crystal Prep Academy had a long winning streak in a lot of things.

The more important you were to the team, the more important you were to the school and that meant there was a lot more you could get away with.

Handing in a homework assignment in someone elses handwriting wouldn't even be noticed for a football star.

"Then he's a jerk." Spike was referring to more than just this instance regarding Pristine, but saying 'I could have told you this yesterday' wouldn't help. "He should know that's not how you treat a girl. A gorgeous girl like you especially."

"You mean it?" He couldn't see her face but he knew she was confused. It wasn't until his Twilight had come to this world, among humans who didn't know her, that she was recognized for more than just her status and academic inclinations.

This Twilight may have had the latter of those traits, but she didn't have the benefit of being Student to the Princess of the Sun to shield herself with.

"'Course I do." She didn't have someone big or important to hide behind. No titan to shelter her while she grew into her own.

"...Thank you, Spike. I-I want to go home." She pulled away from him, her face was a mess of tears and snot. He reached down to the backpack he'd dropped earlier, pulling out a small, foil wrapped square. It tore open easily and he pulled out a small cloth, coated in alcohol.

"Sure Twilight, I'll walk you home as soon as we get you cleaned up, alright?" He gently pressed against her cheeks with it, wiping away tears, wiping away snot.

He stood up first, offering her his hand and pulling her to her feet when she took it. He slid his hand with the soiled glasses wipe into a dumpster as they walked together out of the alley.

She didn't have some great titan to protect her from the world as she grew into her own.

So Spike would have to do.

Chapter Forty-One

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Twilight Velvet was enjoying a quiet night alone with a book.

Her husband was restocking the shop and her daughter was off on a date with a cute football player. Every now and again she'd get a letter from her son, explaining how he was doing in the military, going through basic training.

She couldn't express how proud she was of him, joining the national guard.

She'd expected to get through a decent portion of her book before either her husband or daughter got home.

Not to be a dozen pages in when she heard the front door open.

She sighed and closed her book, getting up from her chair before the dark television set to see who'd come home.

"Twilight? What happened?!" Her daughter was standing in the doorway, talking to someone outside.

And she looked a mess! Her eyes were puffy and red, her uniform crinkled and stained and filthy, and her hair! It was unkempt and half out of the bun she kept it in.

"Just come on in, I want my mom to meet- Oh, hey mom!" But she was smiling, so bright and honestly!

Twilight barely ever smiled anymore.

Velvet knew that, she'd been told what to expect. She just hadn't known what to do, what to say.

And trying to treat her brilliant, brilliant daughter like a normal teenage girl often just made things worse.

"Err, hi?" The boy that followed her daughter through the doorway looked nothing like she'd been expecting. He wasn't tall or muscular, he didn't have the cocky, self assured confidence of a football player.

Instead he was half-starved and shorter than her daughter!

"I'm Spike." He held his hand out to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh... It's nice to meet you, too." She shook his hand and looked him over again, her gaze more critical than before. "Twilight, why don't you go on upstairs and get cleaned up."

It wasn't a request.

Still, Twilight flashed another smile at Spike and ran upstairs, the commotion setting Garble off to barking as usual.

"Alright young man, let's go on and get something to drink fixed up, hmm?" She was going to get to the bottom of this, mark her words.

He followed her into the kitchen nervously, his footsteps soft and he was glancing at her furtively the entire time.

Good.

"What would you like to drink? We've got soda, some apple juice?"

"Just some water, please." He was fidgeting by the doorway, one eye glancing around the kitchen.

She wondered how bad it looked under the eyepatch, but she knew when to draw the line between demanding and rude.

She could feel the subtle vibrations through the sink as she poured him a drink.

Twilight was taking a shower then.

Even better.

"So." She handed him the cup, a plastic one with some novelty cartoon mouse printed on it. "What happened to my daughter?"

"I wasn't there, I just know what she told me." He set the full cup down on a nearby counter. He hadn't been thirsty to begin with and the way the atmosphere shifted? He felt like he was in front of an angry dragon. Again. "Pristine Shield didn't want to date her, he just wanted her to do his work for him."

He met her gaze for a moment before looking down and clearing his throat.

"He said some nasty things to her and she took off. Ran me over while I was walking home. I barely had time to recognize her before she was out of sight and I followed. She was half hiding in an alley and crying when I found her so I-" Spike inhaled slowly, putting his thoughts together. "I sat down with her and let her cry on me. When she'd cried out the worst of it she said she wanted to go home, so I walked her home and that's how I got here and-"

She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently, offering him a small smile when he looked up.

"Thank you, Spike." She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but this hadn't been it. Rejection in one form or another, certainly. This particular nightmare? Not so much.

"For what? She needed someone there and I wasn't just going to leave her alone like... Like that." He knew how it felt to cry alone until you just couldn't anymore. He'd done that more often than he was ever going to admit.

"For that. Garble is getting old and I can't be there for her all the time. For being a decent person where there aren't many left." She thought he looked absolutely adorable with a blush all the way across his face.

There was a squeak from upstairs, the shower was turned off.

"You'd best drink up, Twilight will be down in a minute I'm sure." She handed his cup back to him and turned around to get herself something from the fridge.

"Why is she here?" His voice was quiet, she couldn't tell if he was just thinking aloud or asking her something.

"Pardon? Why is who here?" She grabbed hold of the apple juice. Nearly empty, she'd have to pick up more.

Or have her husband do it.

"Why is Twilight at Crystal Prep? Wouldn't... Wouldn't Canterlot High have been better for her?" It was a good thing he didn't sound accusing, else this old argument would have turned from her husband on to him.

"It's what she wanted. Crystal Preparatory Academy is the fast track here in Canterlot for college bound students. Don't tell her I said this-" She caught sight of her daughter's feet lingering on the stairs outside the kitchen and grinned. "-but she really wants to take after her brother. He made the Deans List, one of the top performing students in his year."

Her daughter was just coming down the stairs.

Perfect.

"Now what's that nickname she gave poor Shining...? Oh right, she used to call him her BBBFF I-"

"Mom!" Twilight nearly bowled Spike over as she rushed into the room, too late to spare herself the embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Twilight." She certainly didn't sound like it. "But how often do I get to embarrass you in front of your friends."

Velvet smiled as her daughter sputtered, glancing between herself and Spike and blushing.

And Spike avoiding Twilight's gaze and blushing himself.

Now this was just too cute.

"It's a Mother's prerogative, after all."

Chapter Forty-Two

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

In the weeks to come, Twilight Sparkle would offer something to Spike's life that had been missing since he'd joined the world of humans.

Companionship.

On particularly rare occasions the two would go to the city's public library, but more often than not it was merely the casual atmosphere found in their tutoring sessions. The breadth of their conversations covering anything and everything.

From Twilight Sparkle's observations on events and people to stories told by Spike of the adventures he'd been on or heard about in the past.

Heavily edited, but still it brought joy to both of their hearts. He finally had someone to talk to who treated him as an equal.

And Twilight?

Spike listened when she spoke. He may miss her meaning, or maybe her context, but he wouldn't interrupt her mid-word. He didn't insist he'd already heard what she was telling him, or that it didn't matter so he didn't need to know.

He didn't make fun of her for looking at things differently, for thinking of things differently.

He would, in a good natured way that still took her a moment to process, poke fun at her, that was true. But he didn't dwell on her faults, belittle her mistakes.

Spike didn't make her feel bad for being herself.

He'd been trying for so long now, he'd lost track of the time.

It was late though. The moon sat high in the sky, no pale beams of light crossed through his window.

"Just push out your will and think 'Up!', the magic should do the rest."

The instructions had been amazingly simple, but failure after failure after failure had him convinced he couldn't do it.

He had magic! He knew he did!

So why wouldn't it work?

"You need to want to lift the book. You need to look at that book, realize it's not going to move without you doing it."

Where was he failing? How was he failing? He wanted the pencil to lift, he wanted nothing more than to go home to lift the pencil.

So why couldn't he?

Spike flopped down on his bed and groaned.

He'd levitated books once, he'd repaired his glasses once. He knew he had the magic.

Did he just not want it enough?

Want...

Spike sat back up, his legs dangling off the bed and looking at the pencil on the desk.

He raised his hand, ready to catch the pencil and-

"Spike want!" The feeling of pins and needles in the palm of his hand didn't worry him so much.

The feeling of the pencil impacting his palm should have made him feel elated, overjoyed!

He figured it out!

Except... The smeared scales sinking back into his palms represented a different issue.

Greed. His greed. It made him stronger, empowered him...

Crippled him.

In the throes of his envy, he couldn't think, he couldn't reason. Just take, take and take.

He flopped over, groaning as his head sank into his pillow. He couldn't shouldn't use this.

Or if he did, he couldn't use that.

He got back up and put the pencil on the desk before returning to his bed.

He put his arm back up, his hand open.

The warmth of their fur as they held each other.

A letter unsent. Full of truth. Never to see the light of day.

His friend hurting, her cries muffled against him as he did what little he could do to comfort her.

His fist closed.

Spike opened his eyes and stared down at his closed hand. Looking at the nub of the eraser sticking out between his thumb and fist.

And scales. Crawling out from between his knuckles and almost extending to his wrist.

Spike smiled. He could do this, he could really do this!

"You're a hard pony to track down, you know that?" Spike looked over his book at who had chosen to interrupt his first solo visit to the city library.

A cocky smile, perfect hair and clothes that almost outright said 'Rebel'.

"That's the first time I've been told that, actually." Spike set his book down, a fictional story about magic and doorways to fully focus on Sunset Shimmer.

He was curious, he'd admit. He hadn't been able to keep track of her here, he didn't know how she was doing so well.

"Either way, Thorn, got something I thought you'd be interested in." She'd been practicing her smile, learning how to take advantage of her canines to seem intimidating.

Spike was unimpressed.

He'd seen bigger.

"And that is?"

"Celestia's been writing to me, since I've been here." Spike raised an eyebrow at her confession, not wanting to say that made a lot of things make sense. "And she thinks her sister is about to come back!"

"That is interesting, but I don't see how Nightmare Moon on the other side will do me much good." He wanted to smile as she floundered, her thunder momentarily gone as she recomposed herself.

He didn't though. He wanted to seem uninterested, not be a jerk.

"Geeze Thorn, how long ago were you thrown in here?" She was looking at him like a particularly interesting puzzle, one where she wasn't sure she had all the pieces.

"It's been a while, I couldn't tell you exactly when." Monday morning, Ten Fifty-Seven A.M., three months after the One-thousand and Second summer sun celebration.

"It must've been a long time ago, if you still remember that. I couldn't find any books that even mentioned it except for a small footnote in Silver Shoes journal, the royal accountant back when that happened." She sat down finally, looking more curious than menacing. "But here's the thing, Luna's going to raise the moon and, if Celestia doesn't stop her, she's going to keep it up. That's going to cause some serious problems with the limitations on Starswirl's enchantments. Might even be enough for you to go back through."

"I think I'll pass." He picked his book back up, flipping between pages to find his spot.

"But-but-between you and I, we could rule Equestria! Between my knowledge of current events, court and magic as well as your dark magic, we could take down Luna take over what's left!" She was incredulous, how could he pass up this opportunity?

"And then what?" Spike set his thumb against the paragraph he was on and looked at her, really looked at her. "We tell everybody what to do while the moon hangs in the sky? As plants wither, everything freezes and everything dies?"

Alright, it wouldn't happen quite like that. Something that Nightmare Moon was doing in that one timeline kept everypony alive in eternal night. Relatively warm, too.

But Sunset Shimmer didn't know that.

Instead she was staring at Spike, her eyes wide and her mouth open. Trying, and slowly succeeding, in envisioning his words.

"Oh... Oh Celestia." She'd been to the northern lands, once before. Desolate and biting, the cold seeped into her very bones from memory alone.

"The sun may burn, may be cruel." Spike remembered these words from a Power Ponies plot, one involving a Bison called 'The Chiller' saying this just before he... Went away. "But the sun is the mother to all life as we know, the source of beauty at dawn and the gentle reminder that the cold of night need not last forever."

"I hope, for everypony's sake" How would he say this? How do you sound cryptic about the ending of a book you've already read without giving it away? "That Luna remembers this, too."

Chapter Forty-Three

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

It was summer when things first came to a head for Spike.

He'd gotten an old rotary lawnmower and was mowing the lawns of almost a dozen people, trimming bushes and cutting back weeds to earn some spending money.

He'd even gotten himself a cell phone with a basic, pre-paid plan. His number of contacts was short, Twilight, Marley, Beaming Wings and a few other friends from school he never talked to.

Twilight on the other hand?

She burned through his minutes almost as fast as he could afford them. She always had something she wanted to talk about and Spike had never had the heart to tell her to stop.

Either of them.

And he wouldn't trade it for the world. She was always happy to talk to him, to tell him about everything she was doing or had done during the day.

Today for instance was a simmering afternoon, the sun high in the sky and the temperature soaring. It didn't seem to affect him too much, he was sweating and hot, sure, but he wasn't feeling uncomfortable.

Quite the contrary, the balmy weather was comparably fantastic.

Pushing the rotating metal was boring, tedious in the extreme but it kept him busy and made him a little money. It also didn't make a horrendous amount of noise like the gas-powered ones or cost him much by way of effort besides running a whetstone over the blades in the evenings.

He got started earlier in the days and finished later, but in the evenings when he could get a bite to eat for himself, it was worth it.

His musings drifted apart like dandelion seeds when he heard his phone going off. He flipped it open and brought it to his ear, awkwardly pushing the mower with one hand.

"What's up?" He hadn't been able to check the caller id, but only a few people would be calling. Marley about some chore one of the other kids had forgotten about, or Twilight to give him an update on her day.

"Spike?" It was Twilight, but something was wrong. "Are you busy?"

"No Twilight, what's wrong?" He looked over the lawn, ignoring the empty brown patches in the grass. He was, at best, half done.

Old Mr.Henderson wouldn't care in the slightest, assuming the old man was even half-here today, so long as Spike promised to finish up tomorrow.

"It's Garble! He's... Spike, the vet says we need to put Garble down." That would definitely explain what was wrong. The old curmudgeonly dog had been Twilight's friend since she was a toddler. She'd never explained why he was allowed with her at school, Spike never asked, but he knew there was something important there.

"I need to drop off my stuff at home and I'll be right over!" If this was a good part of town he'd just leave the lawnmower in Mr.Henderson's backyard. But he didn't have that luxury, not here.

He'd been working on something though...

"We're still at the vets. We-we'll be home soon, I think." He heard a snippet of another voice in the background, but it was too muffled for him to hear clearly. "Yeah... I'll be home in an hour. I-I'll see you then, okay?"

"Yeah Twilight, I'll see you then." Twilight hung up, and Spike put his phone away.

The defeat in her tone, that finality...

He knocked on Mr.Henderson's door, ignoring the expletives the old man was shouting as he came to the door.

"Murkle-durned comm- Spike? Izzat chu? The lawn ent half-durn mowed." The old mans eyes were glazed over, the smell coming from the house was foul.

"My friend is having a family emergency. Would it be okay if I finished up your lawn tomorrow, no charge?" The last part grated on him, but Twilight was more important than twenty bucks.

"Free eh? Yeh, free tomorrow is better 'en paid today. Go on 'en. Scat yeh little wyrm tongue hoozits." Spike always had trouble understanding the man, but he seemed amiable enough, especially about not having to pay to have his lawn mowed.

Spike was halfway down the block when he heard the man start shouting, almost like clockwork.

"Me wee men! Blast all darnabbit, whodun took me wee men!"

Spike turned the corner and disappeared, he knew better than to be nearby until the man was medicated again.

Spike turned the corner to Marley's home, his back itching something fierce and dragging the lawnmower behind him. He just had to drop it off in the back and then get going...

But he was so much more tired than when he'd been mowing at a sedate pace.

Maybe just a glass of water?

Spike steeled himself, thirst could wait.

This was important.

Except...

Spike went inside, opening a cupboard in the kitchen and pulled down a glass. He ran the tap, filling it with cool water and then went upstairs to the bathroom.

He was well ahead of schedule.

He grabbed a fresh set of clothes on the way over, khakis and a zip up hoodie, and went into the bathroom to change.

His shirt was filthy, covered in fresh stains, his shorts only less so.

Freshly changed, freshly watered, Spike rushed out the door of the silent, empty house.

He checked his phone, it had been a little over half an hour since Twilight called. He picked up his pace to a hurried walk. It would only take fifteen minutes to get there, and Twilight told him it would be an hour...

But she had a habit of being generous with the amount of time taken to do something when other people were involved.

And not generous enough when it came to setting her own timetables.

Their car was already back, and another look at his phone suggested he was fifteen minutes early.

He knocked on the door. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, a crying Twilight, a somber Velvet maybe...

Not a tall young man with a shock of short blue hair.

"Oh, uh, Spike right?" Shining Armor, Spike guessed.

"Yeah. Shining Armor, right?" The young man nodded at Spike's query. "Twilight talks about you a lot."

"Mom and them aren't back yet, do you want to come in?" Shining Armor stepped back, making room for Spike to come through.

The kitchen light was on, living room too. Spike gravitated straight to a well worn couch in the former and sat down, fidgeting nervously.

"Twilight mentioned you, in her letters." Shining Armor sat down in a chair across from him, the one Twilight Velvet preferred.

"That's nice? She just called me a little bit ago, about, err, about Garble?" Spike always felt small compared to Twilight's older brother. In Equestria, he was the commander of the guard, master of shielding magic so powerful only a few could break it.

Here he was a lieutenant, slowly working his way up a structure that was decidedly less inclined towards individual merit.

"Yeah... Dogs his age getting cataracts aren't all too uncommon. I guess there were other complications though. Dad called me a little bit ago, they were going to... Put the old guy down, I guess." Twilight's older brother didn't seem to know what to do or say either. "Listen, you're her friend, right?"

Spike nodded, not quite sure what to say.

"Then you might be a little more aware than mom and dad are. I know she doesn't have many friends at school but, well, can you tell me how she's doing?"

"She doesn't-" Spike had barely gotten those words out when he was tackled by a purple blur.

His arms were pinned to his sides and Twilight's head was pressing painfully into his chest.

"Twilight!" Spike wheezed, his breath pushed out of his lungs and struggling to return. "What happened?"

"Garble!" She hiccuped. "He's gone!"

Chapter Forty-Four

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Twilight Sparkle had slowly turned into a frazzled, nervous mess. Whereas before she worked on her own projects, reading advanced books that left everyone else scratching their heads, now she was acting like a shadow, hounding the heels of Spike, Shining Armor or her parents.

They understood, she was dealing with the loss of a friendship older than her own memory, but her family and friend were at a loss on how to console her.

Spike had rearranged his fledgling lawnmowing business, most of his patrons understanding completely.

Except Mr.Henderson. He'd gone missing, Spike wasn't willing to find out where.

Shining Armor had taken to playing board games with his sister, discussing whatever fiction books with her they'd both read.

Daring Do, also written by Yearling here. The fact or fiction of her stories wasn't up for debate for most. Spike hadn't brought up the possibility of the writing being an autobiography.

It had been a week since things had... Happened, and Shining Armor was supposed to be heading back to station at the end of his leave.

Spike was enjoying the quiet in his room late that night. School would be resuming soon and he'd be returning to Crystal Prep High, just like every other kid.

Except the ones going to Canterlot.

He'd been practicing on nights like these, placing and pulling on objects from nearby. Trying to set them up or stack them in increasingly complex ways.

He didn't need to feel some strong emotion to trigger this little bit of magic anymore. His confidence, his certainty seemed to be enough.

He was juggling his cellphone, a calculator and a particularly shiny rock he'd found one day while mowing when his phone went off, prompting him to drop everything.

Literally.

He snatched his phone off the ground by the third ring and flipped it open.

Twilight.

He pressed connect.

"Hey Twilight." He was tired. He'd done three lawns today with a rusty old piece of junk and it could definitely be heard.

"Spikeyouwon'tbelievewhathappened! ShiningArmorgotmeapuppyhe'sthebestBBBFFever!" What?

"What was that Twilight? I think you might need to-"

"Shining Armor got a puppy for me!" That was what he thought he'd heard. "He's absolutely adorable! He's small and he's purple and he's got these green patches and Shining Armor said he already had a name but it would be kind of awkward because-"

Spike pulled the phone away from his ear, just an inch. She was getting louder and faster the longer she spoke.

"He's named Spike?" He'd kind of expected this. Twilight had an analogue here, she was his best friend. But the more things that were different...

"How'd you guess? But he's still young enough, I can give him a different name. Maybe-"

"Does he seem like a Spike?" The more they stayed the same. "Sorry, Twilight. I know how much you hate to get interrupted like this but-"

"It's fine. I was getting overexcited, I know." Spike frowned at her tone. He was going to have to do something tomorrow. Milkshakes, he decided. And dog treats. "He does seem kind of like a Spike, you know? It kind of just, I know it sounds silly, but I think that name is meant for him."

"Then I'll live with the confusion. It's not a good idea to fight destiny Twilight. Bad things happen."

"What do you mean? Does this have anything to do with... Before?" Before? Before what?

"What do you mean, Twilight? Before what?"

"Before you came to Crystal Prep. You... You mentioned going to a foster home, and-and being in the hospital before that a while ago. I just- Sorry I mentioned it." Spike closed his eyes and flopped down on the bed. He hated when she got like this, when she was afraid to say whatever she was thinking.

"It's fine Twilight, you got nothing to be sorry about." Too clever, too clever by far. "It's a story where I come from, is all."

"Oh, alright. Do you want to tell me about it?" She'd perked right back up in an instant.

She knew he wouldn't get upset about her asking questions.

Didn't she?

"It's a long story, so I'll just give you the cliff notes, alright?"

"If it's good I'll want to hear the rest of it, you know that."

"That's fine. Tomorrow is free anyway. So anyway... You know I don't like doing this over the phone, right?"

"Quit stalling, Spike! You promised me a story." There was that fire. He grinned up at the ceiling, thrilled to have gotten something out of her other than somber moping.

"Alright, alright. I'm kind of jumping to the end of the story as I know it, so here's a summary of the characters. Two girls were born of the earth, their bodies tough as the mountains and strong as the ox. Two girls were born of the sky. One as swift as lightning and the other gentle as a breeze but tough as a gale. The last two girls were born of neither sky or earth, but of the lands unseen, of magic and mystique." Twilight listened intently from the other end of the line.

Or set her phone down, she could do that too.

"One of them, one of the girls born to magic had, through great trials and greater strength of heart, broke through the trappings of her tribe and was gifted the wings of the sky and the bones of the mountain. This girl is the hero of our story. She and her faithful companion, a baby dragon gifted to her by her mentor, hatched from her own magic as a small child."

"Not long in the past, She and her friends had encountered a sorceress, a woman of immense power. She was nursing a hurt in her heart, feeding it false truths so it would feed her strength. She used her magics to strip away from people their talents, their hearts desire so that all would be equal. All would be the same. All except her. The heroine and her friends had exposed her plan, broke her spell and freed the people trapped by her curse, but the sorceress, while not as powerful as the heroine, was at least her equal in skill and so she escaped. Hiding in the wilds, passing anonymously through the towns and hamlets that dotted the lands."

"Somehow, though none are certain when or how she had accomplished it, she broke into the royal archives of the princesses of the sun and the moon. She stole a scroll, ancient and forgotten by all but the most dedicated scribes. One that was written by someone who was considered the most talented user of magic to ever exist. Someone who freely traveled across time and reality on a whim. Someone whose magic was unmatched, but someone whose heart remained forever cold."

"The sorceress finished a spell he could not, one that would allow her to freely alter the past, and rewrite the present. She used this magic to challenge the hero, to make her triumphs into failures, to allow monsters and beasts to rule the realm. And yet every step of the way the hero matched her. She and her dragon followed her through time and space, trying to convince her to stop, to tell her that in her talent she was unique, she was special and should be treasured."

"It wasn't until she saw the consequences of her choices, saw a barren world of perpetual... Dusk that she finally stopped to ask why. 'Why are you and your friends so important? How can your friendship stop this? All of this?'. The hero said she did not know, she could not explain how her fate was interwoven to the destiny of the world." Spike was getting tired and he was sure he heard a yawn over the phone. Twilight was still listening at least.

"Seeing her failures, each worse than the last, the sorceress hung her head in defeat. She told the hero that she would accept whatever punishment she saw fit."

"Do you know what her punishment was, Twilight?"

"No Spike. What was it?" And listening attentively at that.

"You will be our friend, Sorceress. You are just as important to this world as we are, and we want you to see it." Spike had enjoyed this, the reminder of Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. He wondered if Twilight Sparkle, smartest girl in Crystal Prep had enjoyed his mediocre storytelling as well.

"Hey Spike?" She sounded drowsy, probably ready to fall right to bed.

"Yeah?" He certainly was.

"You'll have to tell me more tomorrow, alright?"

"I'd love to, Twilight."

Chapter Forty-Five

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

"Guess what, Twilight?" Spike asked his phone while he balanced a cardboard container of drinks in one hand while holding a bag. His cellphone was propped against his other ear in his offhand.

"What is it Spike? I'm a little preoccupied with Spike!" He could tell, the sound of thumping and banging was audible from where he was standing.

"Well, if you don't want to come downstairs and let me in, I could just drink both of these milkshakes by myself." He smirked when he heard a door slam upstairs. There was a rapid thudding of her footfalls coming down the stairs and then the front door flew open.

Twilight looked like a mess. Her skirt was covered in grass stains. Her blouse was covered in grass stains. Her glasses were askew and her hair more resembled a frazzled mop instead of a neat pony-tail.

"Mine!" She grabbed one of the milkshakes out of their carrier and drew on the straw. A second later she pulled the straw out of the shake, coated in vanilla ice cream, and grabbed the other milkshake from the container. "Nope, this one's mine."

"Yeah, thanks for clearing that up." He accepted the vanilla milkshake while she switched the straws, not saying a word.

This was hardly her weirdest quirk. She was hardly the first person he'd met who was concerned about germs.

"I wasn't expecting you to come over until after I'd taken Spike to the trainers, so I'm kind of a mess." It had taken forever to convince her that he wasn't going to think any less of her for being less than perfect. He didn't know when he started getting through to her, but she didn't sound apologetic about looking like she wasn't a porcelain doll anymore.

"Trainers?" Spike walked in after Twilight stepped back.

The house looked a mess, too. Like a pack of wild dogs had torn through it.

Or one hyperactive puppy.

"Yeah. Obedience training and service animal training." She started upstairs and he followed.

"Alright, umm... What's service animal training?" She opened the door to her room.

It didn't bear describing the room itself, merely that at the epicenter of the destruction sat a perfectly content puppy, happily wagging his tail.

"It's, well, it's special training some dogs get to be registered as service animals for people with special needs. It instills behaviors meant to help regulate difficulties in a disabled persons life. Like comforting someone having a seizure or getting doors for people who aren't able to do so, like if they're stuck in a wheelchair." She was speaking in an offhand manner, like she were speaking of the weather.

"Okay. But why does Spike need that training? Nobody in your family is disabled." The dog perked up at his name, bounding towards Spike. Human Spike.

He hesitated for just a moment, certain he'd read something about this being a bad idea before he bent down and scratched the dog behind the ears.

Something of momentous import happened, the likes of which would never more be repeated.

The dog wagged its tail.

Or not.

What, did you think something like an explosion would occur, or matter, for some inexplicable reason, cancelling itself out? The chronological signature of every atom is measurably different, but the atoms themselves are functionally identical beyond a certain point.

What does the universe care about a duplicate?

And so a poorly explained sci-fi plot twist failed to come to be as Spike pet Spike, who was licking Spike.

"It's for me. I thought I mentioned it a while back? Or maybe I thought about mentioning it, the two kind of are interchangeable I guess." Twilight started wringing her hands when Spike looked to her, confusion clear on his face. "I have AS. Asperger's Syndrome?"

Spike just shrugged, ignorant of its significance.

"It's part of the autism spectrum." She was getting more nervous the longer she spoke.

"I don't really get it, Twilight. I go to class with a few autistic kids, and you don't act anything like them." He picked Spike up and handed him to Twilight, who started hugging the dog like a lifeline.

"It's not normal autism, I mean, no autism is normal but this is different. I don't..." She sat down on her bed, Spike, the dog, rolling in her lap and begging for a belly rub. "I don't understand people. Give me math, science, even music and I can pick it up without really thinking about it. It just clicks. But people, they make me anxious and nervous and frustrated! Because they won't make up their minds or they're always changing them so they can make the same mistakes over and over and over again! And that's just other people."

"And other times I get so caught up on something that I think is important and I can't do it. Or I can't do it right. And I focus on it exclusively and make myself a nervous wreck over it. If I don't find some way to fix it, or if someone else doesn't derail it, it turns into a full-blown panic attack before I have a nervous breakdown." One hand was rubbing the belly of a very happy puppy. Her other was nervously twisting the blanket underneath of her.

"When... When my parents finally had it diagnosed a few years ago there was a lot of shouting. From my mom. She blamed my dad, she blamed the doctors who vaccinated me when I was a little kid because she bought into the whole scare-tactic the anti-vaccination groups were selling. I think she blamed herself, too. Dad though, he just, he just sat down with me and talked. He asked me what I wanted." She looked to her left, where Spike sat down. He still looked confused, but he wasn't interrupting her.

She didn't think she'd be able to keep going if he did.

"I told him I wanted to be normal. I wanted to be able to talk to my classmates and not feel frustrated over how pointless the small talk felt, or that I didn't want to be upset when I asked them a simple question with a yes or no answer and they started telling me their life story. I guess dad felt really bad that the one thing I asked for, he couldn't do for me. A week later though, he signed Garble up for the service dog training." Thinking about the great red dog left her eyes watering, but she started this and she intended to see it through.

"We didn't think he'd take to it. Garble wasn't a puppy back then, he wasn't old yet though. And he was stubborn. His training took a little longer than normal, but he passed it. He was supposed to be with me when I went to school, so I could focus on him instead of... Whatever was causing my anxiety." She looked over at Spike, seeing a purple blur of his hoodie instead of the sharp gaze of his eye. She couldn't bring herself to look him in the face.

She didn't want to see what he thought of her.

"I miss him, Spike. And I feel like I'm replacing him and I feel terrible and-" She was cut off when a pair of arms wrapped around her, freezing for a moment before she melted into the hug.

"You're perfect, Twilight. Don't-don't let anyone tell you otherwise, you got that?" His voice was thick, like he was choking out the words. "Don't let anyone ever tell you you're not perfect!"

Her arms wrapped around him, squeezing so hard it nearly hurt.

He didn't care that she was different. He didn't care that she had difficulty understanding people, or that she was smarter than him or anything else.

He was her friend.

She didn't know why his acceptance of her, his acceptance of her flaws and problems left her silently shedding tears as she held him.

But whatever it was left her feeling like she'd shed a weight around her neck she'd gotten so used to carrying she hadn't even noticed.

Author's Note

Anyone remember Lesson Zero? Twilight's actions in that episode may be a bit extreme, but her reactions throughout follow a painfully familiar thought process with a drastically skewed priority optimization not found in a 'Normally functioning mind'.

Chapter Forty-Six

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

The leaves had turned brown once fall came.

They dropped from the trees of their own accord, no stampede to shake them loose.

Birds were flying south of their own accord, squirrels gathered nuts and countless other animals did countless other things, all without help. Nobody told them what to do, made nests for them or intentionally bloated them before hibernation.

Spike thought it was amazing, fascinating that this world ran on its own hidden clockwork.

No magic to direct it, nopony to guide it.

Well, there was one Pony, but she wasn't exactly interested in the nature of the world she'd hidden in.

Sunset Shimmer.

Spike wasn't certain how she found him, he went out of his way to avoid her. It didn't matter.

"I'm going back." He had no idea why she chose to confide her plans with him. He certainly wasn't going to help her.

"Alright. Why?" Spike had a pretty good idea why. It didn't hurt to be sure though.

"Because somebody there stole something from me, and I'm going to take it back." She hadn't said Somepony this time, she'd gotten that out of her system a long while ago.

"What'd they take?" Spike thought it had something to do with the library. She always managed to find him on his rare outings to go to the library alone.

"They took this." She pulled a tiara out of her backpack and dropped it on the table.

Oh... She wouldn't...?

"The element of magic?" Watching her gape like a fish when he threw out some knowledge she was certain he couldn't have was hilarious.

"What? But how do-"

"Which would only activate for its chosen bearer after Celestia subjugated it and the sister elements to banish Luna."

"Seriously, how do you know this? Were you one of the scholars before Luna got banished or something?" Sunset slouched back in her chair in a huff.

"Nah, never had the horn for magic, y'know?" He leaned back with a grin, his arms behind his head and a cocky look in his eye.

"What? That doesn't even make sense! A slitted eye like that one you've got was a clear, commonly reported symptom of sensory altering dark magics. It's one of the few things that stood out best when Celestia was describing Nightmare... Moon." She trailed off, finishing softly as she looked him over, comparing his details to something in her memory.

"You aren't some illegitimate foal of hers, are you? Banished here by Celestia?" Her question ripped the grin off Spike's face.

It's wrong, absolutely wrong.

It would be kind of nice, though. Knowing his mother. Knowing he had a mother.

"Wrong. On both counts. Also not a changeling, in case you were wondering." He leaned forward on the table, wresting his elbows on it. The right one at least. The left one was resting on a thick book.

"Then how do you know stuff. You knew about Luna. You know about the elements of harmony. Next you're going to tell me the Schmooze is real." She looked about ready to burst into flames, smoke was, figuratively, pouring from her ears.

"It is, actually. One of Discord's friends. And it's disgusting." He drew out the 'U' in disgusting, grinning all the while as Sunset gaped at him. "Still, it's not so bad. Tirek was a whole other matter. You have any idea the kind of damage that guy can do when he's jumped up on alicorn juice? He makes Sombra look like a wimp, which is probably why he's all sneaky and uses that mind control magic."

"You what? How? What?!" That might have been a bit much, she looked like she shifted paradigms without hitting the clutch. "Those all took place hundreds of years apart! You'd need to be an alicorn, or-or a god or a dragon to have seen all of that!"

"Eh, it happens." Spike knew better than to mention that, for him, it all took place in the span of two years. She assumed he was a relic of the distant past.

He wasn't going to dissuade her of that notion.

"So I think you were talking about stealing the element of magic?" He tried to remind her of what she came here to talk about, hoping to reboot her after that mental breakdown.

"Stealing, right, I was going to steal-Reclaim! Reclaim the element of magic. Jerk." She was glaring at him. Glaring hard enough to set him aflame.

If she had magic.

"Is it really that bad here?" Her glare softened at his question. "I know there's no magic in this world, but does that really make it that bad for you? I already know you're popular, you won the crown at the last two events over at Canterlot High, right?"

She nodded, her gaze hyper-focused on him. He must have said something wrong there.

"And I bet you could have your pick of friends. Teacher or student alike, I'm sure all of them want to help you succeed here if you just ask. You don't have to do this, Sunset. I know if you just tried-"

"Get away from me!" She slapped away his open hand, her glare returned.

She wasn't upset with him anymore.

"You think you can patronize me? You think some magic addled freak like you has the right to tell me that I can do better. That I can be better if I just try hard enough?"

She was livid.

"The next time I see you, Thorn." She stood up, towering over him as he remained sitting. The menace in her tone set off something he thought he'd buried, the old desire to bow to her whims and be subservient to her goals. "You had best tell me the truth."

"Or else I'll rip it out of you."

Author's Note

Edit suggested by Radical Dishonesty, followed through because it was good advice.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Today had been so different!

The ponies here had such totally different social dynamics from anything she'd ever been familiar with!

Couples were grasping each others hands in public rather than nuzzling and smaller herds or groups seemed to be the norm as compared to the large massing of friends as was common in Equestria.

And this castle...

This school! If she had more time, if she didn't have to worry about getting trapped in this world for thirty moons, she'd be studying everything!

"I didn't know you had dropped it." Twilight had to strain her ears to hear the quiet voice in the hallways.

"Well I did! And I was about to get it before you swooped in and ruined everything." That voice, the biting tone. "You shouldn't pick up things that don't belong to you."

Twilight would recognize a bully anywhere. But the first voice, there was no way she wouldn't recognize it.

Fluttershy!

"It-it doesn't really belong to you either." The girl who spoke brushed a lock of her mane out of her face and looked down, she couldn't meet the bullies eyes.

"Exscuse me!?" The bully, a red-maned mare slammed a hand against the lockers, startling both Twilight and the Fluttershy counterpart.

"Nothing." She slid down the wall while looking up, inching away from the girls ire.

"That's what I thought!" Twilight looked down, she could hear Spike growling. "That's as good as mine and you know it! You really are pathetic. It's no wonder your best friends are all stray animals."

She'd had enough. This, this was unacceptable!

"How dare you speak to her that way!" She spread her hooves and solidified her stance, glaring at the girl down the hall.

"What did you say?" The bully turned around and glared.

That mane, those eyes.

The thief!

The two closed in on each other, had they horns they'd be crossed.

"I said, How dare you speak to her that way!" They locked eyes.

The thief blinked first, her countenance breaking into a confident grin as she leaned back.

"Heh, you must be new here." She slid a finger under Twilight's muzzle and flipped up. "I can speak to anyone any way I want."

She sauntered down the hallway, passing Twilight and intentionally terrifying her classmates. One so much so he hid himself in his locker.

"I can't believe you did that!" The bully's first victim spoke up excitedly. Or at least with as much excitement as Fluttershy ever had.

"I couldn't just stand there." It would have stood against everything she was.

"It's just that... Nobody ever stands up to Sunset Shimmer!" The pinkette sounded so surprised.

Could nopony here stand up for themselves?

Well, alright, maybe this one didn't count.

But still!

"Sunset Shimmer?" It wasn't really a question, it was just surprising how easily this was all falling together.

She knew there was a catch somewhere.

"You've heard of her?"

She broke into my room, stole an artifact of immeasurable power and, oh, right. She's from my world.

"Sort of."

"I don't think I've seen you around before. Did you just transfer to Canterlot High from another school?"

"Yes! Another... School!" She nervously dug at the air with her forehooves, thrown internally by the lack of ground beneath them. "My name's Twilight."

"I'm..." The girl, Fluttershy's counterpart was rubbing her left limb nervously and looking between Twilight and the ground. "Fluttershy."

No. Absolutely not. A counterpart in a sister reality was one thing. Direct parallells?

"Sorry. What was that?" Twilight put her hand against her ear, hoping to funnel the whisper a little more fully.

"It's flUttershy!" Her voice came out as a squeak, even harder to understand than before!

"It sounds like you're saying Fluttershy but... How can that..." Twilight looked down to her right, catching Spike in her peripheral vision and offering him a questioning look.

"Oh my goodness!" This was definitely Fluttershy. Her fear broke at the sight of the dragon...

Puppy.

Her fear broke at the sight of the puppy and she ran to him, sliding down to speak at him on his level.

"Who this sweet little guy!"

"That's Spike! My-" Dragon. "Uh, dog."

"He's so cute!" She lifted him by placing her hands under his muzzle for a second before bringing him back down. She grabbed something, a dog treat, out of her backpack and held it in front of him. "Go on, eat up little pup!"

Spike took a tentative bite and nearly spoke before snagging the rest of the treat.

Close. Way too close!

"Oh, wouldn't you give anything to know what they're really thinking?" Fluttershy seemed absolutely enamoured with the idea.

"He usually just tells me." It wasn't really that fascinating. More snark and irony than anything else lately.

Spike looked at her at the same time Fluttershy did, waving a paw across his throat.

"What do you mean?" Spike barked, regaining her attention.

"Nothing, nevermind!" That was even closer! This was bad! "Sunset Shimmer said you picked something up. Something that belonged to her. It wasn't a crown, was it?"

"How did you know?" Fluttershy stood back up and looked at her, finally meeting her eyes.

"Uh... Lucky guess?" She leaned forward, an excited grin on her face. "Do you still have it?"

Fluttershy shook her head, humming a negative.

"But you know what happened to it." This wasn't a question. She was piecing it together, this was what Sunset Shimmer had been upset with Fluttershy about. It had to be.

Fluttershy nodded.

"This morning, I was passing out flyers at the animal shelter like I do every Wednesday. I was out in front of the monument and it hit me, right in the back of the head. I have no idea how it got there! But I didn't want anything to happen to it, so I decided to give it to Principal Celestia." During her explanation Fluttershy had sat back and started petting Spike. It seemed to make it easier for her to explain things.

"Principal Celestia? She's the ruler here?" Her being here wasn't a surprise. Being a school administrator though?

What would that mean as a parallel to Equestria?

"You... Could say that. Technically I guess she and Vice-Principal Luna do make the rules." Fluttershy stood back.

"Where is she now?" This could solve everything!

"Probably in her office."

Spike ran off behind Fluttershy, Twilight in the opposite direction. An instant later they both returned, a sheepish looked shared between the two.

"Third door on your left." Fluttershy pointed past Twilight.

"Thank you!" And the pair ran off again, the right way this time.

"Oh wait!" It was still soft, but Fluttershy's voice carried well enough it drew their attention. They poked their heads around the corner to look at her. "You're not really supposed to have pets on school grounds! You might wanna tuck him into your backpack. That's what I do."

A trio of animals, a cat, a rabbit and a bird jumped out of her yellow backpack, emblazoned with Fluttershy's cutie mark and ran around her.

"I just get so lonely when I'm at school all day."

"Oh, okay!" A bell rang overhead. "Thank you!"

"Oh no!" Fluttershy stood up. "I'm late for class!"

With practiced ease she scooped up her animals and ran off, leaving Spike and Twilight behind.

"So uh, where would I find the head of the party planning committee?" He heard Twilight ask from nearby, seated across from the Fluttershy belonging to this world.

He barely had time for this. Swapping out his blazer for his hoodie wasn't too time consuming but he knew he was cutting this one close.

Fitting this in between classes was going to be a nightmare.

He'd been thrown back in time and he didn't have time. Someone out there must think they're hilarious.

He finally caught a glimpse of her as she was setting down her apple, ready to grab the burger.

"I wouldn't suggest that." She hesitated at his words and looked over, catching sight of him walking up to her table.

"Oh, you're from earlier." She set it down and looked up at him. Fluttershy across from her was also staring, though he couldn't tell how much she saw from behind her hair. "Why? What's wrong with it?"

"I just... Don't think you'd like it. It's made of hamburger." Both of them were confused.

Right, Twilight wouldn't know what that is yet.

And Fluttershy could eat that everyday, it was normal for most people here.

"You'll need to watch that." He pressed on. He remembered the consequences of this meal. "This place, folks here eat meat."

Twilight turned green at that, staring at her burger. Fluttershy simply continued to look confused for a moment.

"Oh, you're a vegetarian?" Fluttershy had put two and two together, coming up with four. At least for now she was lacking the perspective to see the rest of the problem.

Spike sat down next to Fluttershy, across from Twilight. He could make out his canine counterpart looking at him from Twilight's bag.

"Oh, uh, yeah. We don't have these hamburgers?" Twilight glanced at him, continuing at his nod. "Yeah, we don't have hamburgers where we're from."

"Oh goodness. Then it's a good thing you're friend was here." Fluttershy poked at her fruit salad for a second before getting up. "You might want to save it for you-know-what in your backpack like I do then. I'm going to go take care of that, so I'll see you soon?"

Twilight smiled at her and nodded, getting the same back.

"Thank you." Twilight said to him once Fluttershy left, testing her grip on her as of yet unmarked apple.

"It's no problem." It was actually a serious problem. He was going to be cutting it down to the bone to get to his next class on time. "Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier."

He held his hand across the table to her, waiting for her to grab it. She hesitantly did, getting one shake before he let it go.

"Everypony here calls me Thorn."

Author's Note

I know it needs to be done, but it's not very fun.
The part where I very nearly quote the movie directly.
That first scene up there? It's roughly 1200 words long and covers all of five minutes.
This is why authors use time skips.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Laying on a pile of books wasn't so bad, really.

It offered a lot of... Support? They were firm?

Twilight rolled to her side, staring at the bookshelf.

This place, this world, it was amazing. It was wonderful!

She missed her home.

She rolled back on to her back and looked up, gazing into Thorn's green eye and pondered this world. The technology here was so...

Wait.

"Thorn!?" Twilight shrieked, waking Spike up who, thankfully, did not start barking. "What are you doing here?!"

"Oww, Twilight! That was my... Thorn?" Spike circled around and looked up, also meeting the gaze of the strange person.

Pony?

Who'd been dogging their footsteps since they'd gotten here.

"Yeah! What are you doing here?" Spike couldn't decide between a shout or a whisper, his question coming out as kind of both.

"I thought I'd check up on you. You've been here all day, right? I know how confusing, scary this place is when you're on your own." He sounded wistful and, honestly, kind of sad.

"We-I fine..." Twilight sighed and sat up, bringing her knees to her chest. "I want to go home."

"I know." Thorn sat down on the floor, next to the books and pulled off his backpack. "This place, underneath the surface it's not like Equestria at all."

"It's really not. It looks like it, at first. But the more I listen to everybody here I see more small things that make it look less like home." Her friends broken up, the administrators disregard for their students. It seemed like there were nearly as many kids here as there were ponies in Equestria! Or at least a significant percentage.

"But Twilight, this world has all of our friends! Like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie and Applejack and-" Spike sighed dreamily, garnering an undecipherable look from Thorn. "-Rarity."

"Which is even weirder. Spike, all the parallels adding up, it's almost like we were destined to come here, or like our own world we were destined to become friends." She caught the way Spike deflated at her statement, though she wasn't sure why.

As the trio descended into silence, Twilight opened the backpack handed to her by the other human and opened it. It took her a bit of struggling, it was packed full to bursting but eventually she worked the zipper over.

Two very squished pillows and a thin blanket, folded into a small, neat square.

"You didn't have to do this. We're only going to be here for tonight, just sleeping on books would've been fine." That said, she wasn't going to just give them back to him. She fluffed the first pillow out, its dimensions returning slowly and set it where her head had been. The other, after some fluffing, was placed next to it where Spike had first laid down.

"I'd guessed as much, the portal won't be open for you for very long. Still Twilight-" He turned his head and grinned at her. "-I know what it's like to wake up, alone, cold and lost in a world you don't recognize."

She would've thought he'd sound bitter, maybe resigned after saying something like that.

"Say, you two hungry?"

"Yes!" Spike hollered.

"No." Twilight demurred before her stomach growled. "Okay, yes."

"Alright. I left something downstairs. I'll go get it and bring it up." He stood up and walked out the aisle. Once he'd turned the corner, Twilight got up and followed, Spike at her heels.

They turned the corner at the edge of the bookshelf, but didn't see him. They rushed to the stairs.

He wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"You remember telling me there's no such thing as ghosts?" Twilight picked Spike up and began edging her way back to her bed.

She'd thought it was kind of creepy when he did the same thing this morning.

Alone, in a dark library with only her dragon.

Dog.

Spike for company?

It was so much worse.

She turned the corner to her bed and screamed.

He was sitting there, sitting next to her bed and holding a box!

"How did you get here?!" He was shifting uncomfortably, probably at the accusation in her tone.

"I... Walked?" No! Absolutely not!

"We were right there! At the top of the stairs! You did not just 'Walk' past us!" You tell him, Spike!

"I walked really fast?" He turned the box around, hooking a finger under a flap and lifted it.

The smell was divine, readily interrupting their interrogation.

It was coming from a circle, a glorious golden circle half covered in every kind of vegetable Twilight could imagine. The other half was a beautiful golden brown, small bubbles risen to the top of the meal within the cardboard treasure chest.

"Figured you'd need a snack. Strange place, strange library in the dead of night? Your... pup could probably use some real food, too." He had some plates with him, too. Flimsy and made of foam, but he doled out a few slices of the food on two plates. He handed Twilight hers and put the other on the ground.

"Thorn, thanks. Really." Twilight took a bite, savoring cheese and tomato and olives and peppers.

"Yeah Thorn, thanksh!" While Spike was simply gobbling as fast as he could.

"It's no problem. I can't imagine going hungry is too pleasant." He lifted the box off of himself and set it to the side. "So do you have some kind of plan for tomorrow?"

"I... Don't know. I mean, I know what needs to be done but I don't know how to do it." Thorn made a hand motion, one she assumed meant for her to go on. "I have to fix my friends friendship, check on the party decorations, win the fall formal and get my crown back and I've only got a day to do all of that. If I mess that up, my friends won't be friends, or everything will be ruined or I'll lose or-or!"

"Stop!" She froze and stared at Thorn when he did a thing with his hand, moved his fingers and made a snapping sound. "Now breathe. Just take it slow, alright? In, then out."

Twilight blushed and buried her face in her hands. She was getting worked up again, she couldn't afford a meltdown now! Too much was too critical!

"Alright, it sounds like you've got a list of what needs done, right?" She nodded at his query. "So let's just focus on what needs done, rather than how it needs to get done, alright?"

"Alright, yeah. That's a good place to start I guess." Twilight took a shuddering breath and began listing off her bullet points.

"My friends. And their broken friendships." It was her number one concern. Everything else was still important, but Equestria could make do without the element of magic for a little while.

Right?

"If they were friends, then they probably still are friends. They just might be angry with each other. I've only seen a few friendships that ended so badly it couldn't be resolved by talking." He sounded certain about that.

And she didn't think he was wrong.

"I've also got to check on the party decorations tomorrow."

"Can only help you so much with the decorations, Twilight. Popping in between classes doesn't leave me much time to help you. I'm sorry." She made an irritated sound in the back of her throat. It wasn't ideal, but at least she had proof he had more to do than coddle her.

"And the rest?" She didn't really know how to win over large groups of people! With ponies, so long as she was useful, she was needed. Humans here were so much more...

Fickle.

"Be yourself. If people here aren't blind, they'll see Twilight Sparkle for the amazing person she is. Human or not."

Chapter Fifty

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

He hadn't gotten much sleep.

Tossing, turning, rolling over and over to stare at a clock for hours on end.

Not much sleep at all.

"You look terrible." It must be particularly bad if Twilight had noticed it.

Tutoring had ended as of the end of the last school year. Twilight Sparkle and he continued to meet up, still on the same days, to go over their schoolwork.

"I know." He slumped back in his chair. Today was going to be a nightmare. "I barely got any sleep."

"What kept you up?" She leaned forward in her chair, propping her elbows on the table and her head on her hands.

"I met up with an old friend from home." He reached under his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. "She's out of her depth, no idea what she's doing and probably going to be this close to missing her flight home."

He held up his off hand, his index finger and thumb less than an inch apart.

"She doesn't recognize me at least, that would have made things a lot more awkward." How was he going to explain he'd been thrown out of time?

With some luck, he wouldn't.

"Oh... Err, that's nice?" She leaned back and put her hands in her lap, looking away. "What kind of friend was she?"

"I never really thought about it." He opened his eye and looked at Twilight, puzzled by her body language. "I mean, she took care of me for a while, she was also kind of my boss. And a friend, we'd go on adventures together. There was a lot of things I couldn't talk to her about, though. It kind of felt awkward because when it came to that stuff I wasn't sure if I was talking to her as a boss or as a friend."

"Oh, okay. I thought you were talking about... an old crush." She'd brightened back up considerably.

"Nah. I remember her pretty well, thought I was a lot younger than I was. Think I creeped her out near the end." Time and distance can do wonders for perspective. He still wanted to impress her, make her see him in that kind of light.

He just didn't feel an absolute need to do it.

"What was she like?"

"Who?" He started fiddling with his eye-patch, a habit he seemed to have when he was thinking back.

Before he met her.

She'd seen under it a few times, when he thought she wasn't paying attention and got tired of it. It didn't look quite right, but it was just an eye.

She didn't care if it was slitted.

Well, okay, she did. But she just wanted to know why, she didn't mean to make him feel nervous.

"Your crush."

"Ah. She... Was really focused on appearances. She was gorgeous, but that was all hard work. The real character trait she had, where she was really beautiful, was her generosity. She liked making things, she was an artist. You know the kind, right?" Twilight nodded uncomprehendingly. "She'd go out of her way to make a dress, or hat, or just something for anyone who met her. She didn't even ask anything in return, at least, not unless they asked for it first."

"So, she was an artist?" Spike yawned and nodded at her query. "Was that what you liked about her?"

"Maybe? Or it might have just been that she was older and confident. For someone who doesn't feel like they have any control over their life, just looking at someone who seems to have that... I don't know. It was a crush, it doesn't really need to be well founded." He'd spent a lot of nights wondering the same thing. Countless hours where he should have been sleeping pondering Rarity.

He never found out what she thought of him, though he had an inkling she knew what he thought of her.

"I guess. All the books say that a crush is an attraction to an idealized image of an individual, regardless of the less than pristine reality that most crushes actually live." All the books. Lots and lots of books.

"Yeah, I can see that." When he was with Rarity, all he could focus on was how beautiful she was, how generous and kind she could be.

The two settled into a comfortable silence, the scratching of pencils breaking the monotony. Occasionally one would ask the other a question regarding the homework. Spike for help or review, Twilight for an opinion. It didn't take much longer for them to finish up.

"So, are you going to see her again?" Twilight sounded worried.

She probably thought this was bad for him.

He thought she was probably right.

"Yeah. I've already thrown a few wrenches in the gears. It wouldn't be responsible for me to wash my hands of the whole mess now." His head dropped down to the table.

After yesterday, after last night? He was already so tired.

And he knew everything was just going to go wrong.

"Can... Could you promise me something?" She almost never asked him for a promise.

"It depends." And after she'd explained why to him, he wasn't too quick to jump on them anymore either.

"If something does go wrong, or anything bad happens or you just want to talk, you'll call me. Alright?" Twilight shifted nervously in her seat for a second before frowning, piecing together her next few words. "I know there's a lot of stuff you won't tell me. Or can't. And I'm alright with that! But you're barely sleeping, your schoolwork is slipping and you seem distracted. I just... I worry, you know?"

He stared at her for a few seconds where she refused to meet his gaze.

That hadn't been too much, was it?

"Twilight." He held his hand across the table. She grabbed it and he squeezed before letting go. "If anything goes wrong, I'll call you."

"I promise."

Author's Note

I'd initially thought I'd end this at fifty chapters. I can see it's going to be going for a bit longer.
I've got some big plans for the big reveal though. It should be fun.

Chapter Fifty-One

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

From this perspective, sitting atop the school, watching two groups play keep away with the Element of Magic was almost amusing.

Almost.

Twilight Sparkle and the human counterparts of her friends against Sunset Shimmer, Snips and Snails.

The boys really did have the worst luck. It seemed as though they were destined to be flunkies.

Or else had an adolescent attraction to powerful female figures.

Hadn't the Equestrian versions of them done something or other with that one showmare?

Spike couldn't quite recall, the details buried deep in his memories.

And Sunset Shimmer just got her hands on the Element of Magic.

His opening act was almost here, he just had to wait for the curtain to rise...

Maybe it was just a trick of the light, but he could swear he saw her crying before the light turned blinding.

"This is gonna be so cool!" One of the two idiots said from behind Twilight. Snips she thought, though it could have just as easily been Snails.

This was wrong! Everything was going wrong!

Sunset Shimmer had the crown, the Element of Magic had gone some kind of haywire and now Sunset was a dozen feet tall and red and powerful!

Sunset looked down, her attention drawn by the panicking students who'd come out of the school at the commotion.

She landed, lighter on her feet than she should have been and stepped towards them.

"I've had to jump through so many hoops tonight, just to get my hands on this crown!" She leaned forward, magic lighting in her palms.

"Let me guess, three right?" She stood up, her height impressive and towering above the person who'd interrupted.

Thorn. Twilight wasn't sure how he'd gotten up on the portal without her noticing. He was just sitting on the stone saddle, legs crossed like he was wholly unconcerned about the demon menacing dozens of teenagers.

He was wearing something different tonight though. Heavy denim jeans and he had a light green sweater under his purple hoodie. Drastically thicker, heavier clothes than what she'd seen him wearing before.

Twilight noticed something, though.

He wasn't wearing his eyepatch.

"Thorn. I'd been hoping you'd turn up! I've got something I wanted to show you!" Sunset raised her hands, about to make a grasping motion over him before finding that, as she had obstructed her own vision, he had disappeared.

"All things considered, maybe you should keep it to yourself." She whirled around at his voice, finding him sitting, his stance unchanged, on the steps of the school.

"I'd thought you had magic, knew you were toying with me! Snips! Snails! Get him!" Her peons barely made it as high up as her waist, their change almost certainly cosmetic.

"Really? I'm kind of insulted. Not about sending your boys after me." Twilight caught sight of the minute distortion in the air as he moved, now on Sunset's shoulder. "But their fashion sense. Seriously. A top hat needs a tux."

"Finally! He gets it!" Rainbow Dash, Applejack and herself all glanced at Rarity who turned bright red under their attention. "What? Someone had to say it."

"Enough!" The demon released a flash of magic, blinding everybody for a moment. "I told you, Thorn. When I saw you again, I was going to pull every little secret out of you! Did you think I was joking?!"

Twilight blinked away the dots in her vision until the world came back into focus.

Thorn was standing in front of her, between her friends and Sunset Shimmer, cohorts included.

This close, with the light of the moon at her back, she could make out crimson scales slowly creeping up along his back.

"I'd kind of hoped, yeah." He thrust out both hands, a sickly green aura covering them.

Sunset lunged, claws ready.

She slammed into Snips and Snails, both pulled through the air and into each other to block her path.

Sunset pulled herself back up, stepping on one of the boys as she raised her hand, bubbling black fire coalescing within. She slammed it down, flames raining on the spot where he'd been.

"You know, you don't have to do this." Twilight looked around frantically, finally finding Thorn had reappeared almost ten feet to the left of where he'd been standing.

He smiled though. His hands had grown scaled and clawed, his mouth full of razor sharp fangs and he smiled.

Twilight didn't know why it looked so familiar.

"I will not be denied my place!" She lunged forward, her claws digging through cement. "You won't stop my ambitions!"

She failed to duck as Snails, the boy she hadn't stepped on, was thrown at her back.

"What ambitions? What place would Equestria have for a magic-addled freak like you?" His hair was looking more and more like spines instead of anything that would appear atop a human.

Sunset Shimmer released a wordless howl of rage at his taunt.

Crimson scales, green spines and slitted eyes?

But dragons couldn't use magic!

"Twilight, your buddy on over there seems to have things in hand. Reckon we oughtta get on?" Applejack asked her.

She could.

They should.

But this was as much her fight, she couldn't let him do this alone!

"My ambition? I want Equestria! I'd planned to have my own teenage army behind me, mindless and obedient. With them, I'll take my place as Princess of Equestria!" Sunset laughed, twisted and mad.

"No, I won't let you! We won't let you!" Twilight stood defiant, her friends growing confident behind her.

"I know exactly what you want, Sunset. To drag mindless, innocent children into a war, throw away their lives like meat to show you were never an adequate student, to keep feeding your grudge! I'll stop you here if I have to! You won't get past me!" He'd finally raised his voice, drawing Sunset back into her death glare. She raised her arms once more, flames glowing bright orange.

Her left hand jerked away from the incomplete magic, the spell fizzling away harmlessly. Her right did the same, before both hands were forced across her chest and kept her bound in green magic.

"We won't let you do that to our world, our friends!" Rainbow Dash stepped forward, the rest behind her. Together they all lined up next to Twilight.

"How precious! You think some parlor tricks can stop me?" Her hands broke free, wiping away a tear as she laughed at them. "That your friendship matters?"

Magic pooled between her hands, glowing and growing into a sphere. Unlike before, it launched on its own without an exagerated wind up, straight at the girls.

They huddled together, pressing close and trembling in fear. As their arms wrapped around each other, they felt a spark.

A gentle warmth instead of an inferno of pain.

Thorn stood in front of them, his clothing in tatters and much of what lay beneath bared to them.

Scales.

Rows upon rows of scales.

"Thorn..." She didn't know what to say. The pink aura obscuring everything didn't help, but she knew what needed to be done. "Thank you."

"You! Sunset Shimmer, you don't understand Harmony! You don't understand friendship!" Thorn disappeared again as she began speaking, grabbing a hold of Sunset Shimmer's arms and straining to keep her still when the shock broke.

"The magic in my element, it recognized the elements that helped create it!" A wisp broke from the crown and joined the light show surrounding the girls, raising them into the air.

"Honesty! Kindness! Loyalty! Laughter and Generosity! Together they make a power greater than you can imagine, a power you cannot control!" The light died away to reveal the girls, all wearing new outfits, all bearing the physical traits of their counterparts in Equestria. They joined hands, all together in the air as magic glowed in a literal rainbow of colors.

"You might have my crown, but you cannot control it! Because you lack a magic you don't understand, here and in Equestria! You lack the magic of Friendship!" The power surrounded the demoness, the dragon strained to his limit to keep her from escaping.

"It is the only magic that can truly unite us all!" The magic brightened, blinding everyone as the girls descended, momentarily drained.

Getting back up took a few seconds. She... felt so drained, like she'd tried to keep pace with Applejack or Rainbow Dash. It wasn't until she felt Spike licking her cheek that she pulled up enough energy to sit up.

The rest of the girls were right behind her when she did though. Next to them, still smoking, had formed a massive crater.

And at its center lay Sunset Shimmer, worn, haggard and very much so alone.

Author's Note

Who's going to try killing a dragon with fire?
Seriously?

Chapter Fifty-Two

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

"Hey Twilight?"

She'd gone to bed early tonight.

Not that she'd gotten any sleep.

She'd been tossing and turning atop her covers. Spike had taken up a spot just next to her bed, in a little basket she was sure he'd outgrow. She'd been looking up blankly at the cieling for a few minutes before she'd check her phone.

No missed calls. No texts.

She knew he was going to call tonight. He'd promised.

"It's Spike."

She wasn't sure if it was nervousness, anxiety or something else, but she felt like she was missing something important. Like she was supposed to be somewhere or doing something.

"I think I did the right thing. I helped out that old friend, I think I managed to keep another one from screwing things up too badly."

She dropped the phone next to her head and stared straight up at the cieling, her mind somewhere far, far away.

"Well, helped her anyway. Twilight..."

Countless scenarios went through her mind.

Spike leaving, being taken away. Abandoning her.

Picking his old friends over her.

"Twilight? I think I messed something up."

Her phone rang.

"Everything hurts."

The caller I.D. said 'Spike'. She pressed the connect button.

"Hello?" She said into the device.

She listened intently for a few moments before she flew out of bed.

She threw open her closet, grabbing the first set of acceptable clothes she could find and practically warped into them.

Spike woke up at the commotion and started running around her, barking excitedly.

"Spike, where are you at?" She sat on the edge of her bed, wiggling her shoes on one handed. "Right now. Just read the nearest street signs!"

She grabbed a leash and deftly clicked it onto Spike's collar with experience that belied years of practice.

The next instant she was out the door.

Initially she'd passed him on the street, a few blocks from Canterlot High School and roughly halfway between her home and his.

Spike had stopped her though.

He'd frozen at the end of his leash, sniffing at the air and whimpering.

"Spike! Just leave the garbage alone!" He still did that, he still got distracted by whatever he thought smelled interesting.

"Okay." She hadn't expected it to answer. The huddled mess that spoke was in the shadow between a trash can and the curb, she'd mistaken it for a lumpy bag of garbage at first.

"Spike?" As she got closer, he became more defined. His clothing was in tatters, he was holding on to himself and shaking.

It couldn't have been from the cold, it was still very early in the fall.

"Y-yeah Twilight?" His voice was still a little too high, kind of airy and slower than normal.

"What happened to you?" She crouched down, noticing the smell as she got within arms reach.

It would definitely explain why her puppy had nearly frozen mid-stride.

"I'm not- I'm not really sure." His muscles all tensed for a moment, his face drawn in a grimace before he relaxed. "I know what happened. I just- I just don't know why it's doing this."

She reached over, putting her hands on his chin and making him look up at her. His green eyes were unfocused, tears brimming at the edges.

"Just talk to me Spike. Tell me what happened." Spike, her puppy, jumped on Spike, her friend's lap and stood up on him, licking his face.

"My err... My friend from ngh!" He lurched forward, almost dislodging Spike while he clutched at his stomach.

"Spike! Hold on, I'm calling an ambulance." She pulled her phone up before another hand grabbed her wrist.

A hand freezing and coated with purple scales.

She screamed, scrambling back from her friend once she broke his grip.

It hadn't been difficult. There hadn't been any strength to his hand.

"What's going on?!" Any louder and she'd have been screaming. As it was, her pitch was just below a holler.

"That always happens when I'm teleporting or levitating." He was taking fast, shallow breaths. "I just never did so much of it all at once."

"Teleportation and levitation aren't real!" And people didn't have scales or claws!

"Neither are dragons, right?" Exactly! Dragons weren't...

"Are you a dragon?" She was scooting forward again, taking in every detail she could see.

His hair was slowly unmatting as she watched. The scales she'd thought to be the ruined sleeves of his hoodie were fading their way down his arm, leaving unblemished skin behind.

"Y-yeah. Not much-" He exhaled slowly before sucking air back in. "Not much of one though, am I? Get hit by one- by one friendship powered rainbow laser and I just, hah, I'm just falling to pieces!"

He sounded like even he didn't believe what he was saying.

Which just made it even harder for Twilight to piece together what he meant.

She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly.

Stop.

Pause.

Think.

Do.

She exhaled.

Twilight grabbed onto his wrists and pulled him with her, awkwardly, to standing up. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled, getting him to start moving.

"I'm sorry I got you into this, Twilight." He was shuffling, barely moving faster than a stand-still. "I'm sorry I'm such a bad friend."

"You're not a bad friend, Spike." If she'd wanted a set of bad friends, she'd go out in the hallway of Crystal Prep and pick a student at random.

"I kind of am. I mean... I didn't know about her problem until you told me. And I've been keeping this a secret for so long, next thing I'll blab about will be the time travel and I'll feel even worse for keeping it from you."

Time travel? Time traveling dragon? What next? Was he from some world of pastel colored ponies, too?

"Time travel?"

"You know?" His head lolled forward for a second and he stumbled before getting his feet back under him. "Twilight Sparkle, of course you know. Stupid unicorn and his stupid spells."

She was being sarcastic!

"Unicorn?" Maybe he could introduce her to one, when he was feeling better?

Probably not. That was one childhood dream she seriously doubted would ever be fulfilled.

"Yeah, you know the one? Starswirl the Bearded? Guy left some unfinished spells behind, like the one that rewrote history and took an editors pen to destiny." He usually said a lot, but not like this. Not with this much substance instead of empty prattle and observations on the present.

"Spike. Do you want to tell me what happened?" Half-carrying him was miserable, he was a lot heavier than her.

"I don't know if I'm supposed to."

"I didn't ask if you were supposed to." Both green eyes focused on her for what she thought was the first time.

"I asked if you wanted to."

Chapter Fifty-Three

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Twilight Sparkle sat at her desk, pen in hand and notebook open.

Spike was downstairs on the couch, asleep. Her mom had fussed over him, trying to make him comfortable with pillows and blankets.

She'd wanted to take him to the hospital, too.

And if he wasn't any better by morning, that's where he'd be going. Voluntarily or not.

Her pen met paper and she paused.

She had no idea what to write.

Had no idea where to even begin!

Observations. That would be a good place.

Which one though?

His guardian, Marley, she clearly wasn't in on his secret.

Secrets.

Time travel, dragon.

She wrote those two down. She followed it up immediately afterwords with 'Magic'.

Magical time traveling dragon.

Absolutely unbelievable.

She wanted to doubt it, but the story he'd told her had been too detailed, too emotionally invested.

Magical counterparts in an alternate reality?

Her, popular?

Her dog a dragon?

The last part hadn't sat well with her from the start. Was he, a talking, sapient creature considered a pet where he was from?

He had mentioned being taken to a vet when his dragon nature had kickstarted a kleptomaniacal hoarding urge.

That his crush had never looked twice at him because he was physically a toddler, despite being older than her younger sister.

However he'd also mentioned being raised, mostly, by his country's leaders secretary.

A leader who was immortal and raised the sun.

And he'd had rare 'Play-dates' with her own counterpart.

Who was the chosen student of the demi-goddess princess of the sun.

Twilight took her glasses off and started rubbing her temples.

Too much, there was just too much to go over regarding her best friend.

If... Was he her friend?

He was from the future, he knew, or at least claimed to know, a confident, happy version of herself.

Who had magic and friends.

Let's shelve that under A is B, A does not equal B.

She had enough on her plate without trying to analyze the differences between herselves in a failed bid to emulate successes whilst not having access to the same tools.

"You're perfect, Twilight. Don't-don't let anyone tell you otherwise, you got that?"

No, she decided. His friendship, his sincerity wasn't in doubt.

That left her with a host of other problems.

Dimensions, magic, magical interference in dimensions...

Interference. There might be something there, actually.

Twilight stood up and stretched, grabbed her laptop and sat back down.

She had studying to do.

She jolted awake at her desk when she heard slamming on her bedroom door.

"Twilight! Get dressed, we need to go!" It was her fathers voice. Her mother would have just walked in.

"Just a second!" She hollered back. She'd been in the same outfit since yesterday, she needed to brush her teeth, shower, just make herself presentable for the day.

On second thought, if it was that big a hurry she'd probably be fine jumping into a new outfit and applying fresh deoderant.

She was out the door and thundering down the stairs a minute later when she saw the emergency.

Spike was standing in the hallway in some of her brothers old clothes, pale, sweating and shaking violently.

"Spike! Geeze, you look terrible!" She knew she was stating the obvious, but the silence felt terrible, wrong.

"You-your dad said I needed to go to the doctor's." He rubbed his hands along his arms in a futile bid for warmth. "I'm fine though, alright? Can you tell them I'm fine?"

She shook her head. He looked to have a foot in the grave, she wasn't going to lie just to keep him from getting better.

"I know Marley." Her dad stepped in from the kitchen, shoving a glass of water into Spike's hands. "Drink that. He looks like he's going to fall over any moment!"

Spike did as he was told before Twilight started shoving him out the door.

"We're going to Canterlot Primary Care. If you can't meet up with us, at least call ahead and clear things up with their administration." Night Light was right behind them, still on the phone. "Marley, I don't care what kind of light show Canterlot High was putting on last night, or that one of your girls is saying she saw a demon."

Twilight glanced over at Spike.

He'd mentioned something to that effect.

"Thank you, Marley. I'll talk to you when I drop Spike off after we get done at Canterlot Primary. Alright? Talk to you in a bit." Night Light flipped his phone shut and walked around the two, getting in the drivers door.

Twilight helped Spike into the backseat before she joined her father up front.

Spike had been oddly quiet during the drive to the doctors, offering only short responses to the nurses when they asked some preliminary questions.

He'd been taken to the back to be seen in private, leaving Twilight and her father in the waiting room.

"...Did he tell you what happened?" Her father asked her, a medical journal idly open on his lap.

She shook her head.

"Alright. If I didn't know the kid, I'd think he was coming off some kind of drug." He was watching her out of the corner of his eye, gauging her reaction.

"If I didn't know him, I'd agree with you." Shakes, fevers and chills. It was close to flu like, but a lot of things shared these symptoms.

"So if drugs are off the table-"

"Miss Sparkle? Would you be willing to come in the back?" Twilight shot her father a puzzled glance when a nurse asked her back.

He didn't have an answer either.

She got up and followed the nurse to the rooms patients were seen in.

"What's going on? Is something wrong? Every room back here had a television, the waiting area was still using standard definition.

"He's fine, he's fine. You don't need to worry about that. He's just a little afraid of needles is all." The nurse opened a door midway down the hallway.

Spike looked terrible in a paper dress.

Chapter Fifty-Four

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

It wasn't getting better.

He'd been given bottles and bottles of pills, told to come back and talk to doctor after doctor.

He was tired.

It had been weeks and he was still exhausted.

Magic had never done that to him before. It had made him tired, sure, left him feeling worn out of course.

But that had faded off after a few hours at most.

It hadn't left him hurting before, at least not on the inside. A slight pinch when the scales came out at most before he got used to it.

Not... Not feeling like something had taken a handful of something underneath his skin and twisted it, made it burn and throb to his heartbeat.

School had been iffy for a little while.

His grades had certainly dropped.

And Twilight was worrying herself sick when she wasn't mumbling about adjusting this or that to pick up better on something or other.

She'd explained her project to him, he just... Hadn't had an easy time focusing.

Today was going to be difficult enough. Even if he managed it without another episode.

He placed one hand on the glass door and pushed.

Sugarcube corner was a new place for him, at least here it was. It certainly looked different.

For one thing, it was actually on a corner. And it didn't look like cake.

Still, it had its own kind of charm.

Especially the interior.

Booths, tables, stools and even a few couches against the walls. It was a lot more eclectic than the Sugarcube Corner in Equestria. It was comfortable, even kind of homey.

"-The princess of Friendship!" Spike, the dog, the dog from Equestria, was standing on Fluttershy's lap.

And being loud.

Hadn't he known better?

No, no probably not. He hadn't picked up on trying that until he'd had a mental breakdown outside Carousel Boutique.

When Rarity hadn't recognized him.

Lovely.

"You might want to tone it down a bit." He said as he walked up to them.

Spike jumped and barked, trying his best to look like a normal, non-talking dog.

"Nah, come on, I'm kidding." He rubbed the top of the dogs head before flopping down on a nearby chair. His eye drifted lazily over the nearby menu before he blinked and brought it back into focus.

"Thorn." Sunset Shimmer was looking at him oddly, almost like she was seeing a ghost. "We weren't sure what happened to you."

"Pardner, ya ain't lookin' too hot." Applejack was staring too, but she didn't have a stricken look on her face.

He flinched when Pinkie Pie put her hand in his face, her palm on his forehead.

"Gosh, you feel like the side of a stove!" Even Pinkie Pie looked worried!

He couldn't look that bad, could he?

"I'm fine, alright? I-" His left hand gripped the armrest of the chair he sat in, his knuckles turning white as his hand shook. He pitched forward slightly before he got his reflexes under control and leaned back, breathing heavily. "I saw a couple of old problems in town recently and thought I should find you. Well, Sunset Shimmer."

He leaned back, his grip relaxing and the coiled muscles slackening in his abdomen. Holding down a coughing fit always left him feeling miserable.

"Wait, me?" The girl in question pointed to herself. "Why me?"

"Figured you'd best know about Starswirl's old accomplishments. You figured out his notes, right?" Sunset nodded as Twilight turned starry eyes on her. "You probably read about the Sirens then, yeah?"

"I... No, I don't think so." Sunset shook her head, a distant look in her eyes as she tried to remember musty old tomes. "A recipe for eggs, a five page ballad on Celestia's... nevermind and uh, some notes about the mirror and how big a pain it was chaining the spells in it together."

A personal journal then, and probably an early one.

"That's alright." Spike stood stiffly. "All I really know is that it's Sirens. Never thought it was a good idea to seek them out myself. Dark magic and all."

A really, really bad idea. He'd rather be here for a decade than ask them for help.

"Hey, Sunset?" He knew that this wouldn't matter much.

"Yeah Thorn?"

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I don't like doing that, fighting. I suppose you're probably going to think I'm just another of the monsters Starswirl banished here." He didn't want to stick around for this. He just didn't have the stomach for it at the moment.

"Thorn." He glanced over at Sunset when she said his name. "Thanks... Thanks for trying."

"No problem." He shuffled past her, stopping for just a moment next to the 'Princess of Friendship'. "Twilight, I'm sorry."

He didn't stop to listen, not when Sunset called for him.

He was just so tired, his bed was calling for him.

He almost missed it when Twilight asked the group something.

"Who was that?" Almost made him pause.

Almost.

A figure in a purple hoodie stood up after the group, the 'Rainbooms' settled back down. She closed her journal and gathered her things, leaving unnoticed.

"Who was that?" Rainbow Dash couldn't believe her ears. "We've been trying to figure that out since he fought Sunset Shimmer here to a standstill!"

"Indeed dear, while certainly no Knight in Shining Armor he put on quite the display!" A mysterious figure, confident and powerful? Rarity had said several times that he had been 'Practically Storybook!'.

"Wait, fought Sunset and made a display? Do you mean before the whole crown incident?" Twilight didn't want to remind them of... That. But they weren't making sense!

"Twilight, are you serious?" Sunset Shimmer put her shake down on the table, looking into Twilight's eyes.

Confusion. Sincerity.

She had no idea.

"Twilight, Thorn was the one who stood up against me when I corrupted the element of magic." Sunset looked down, she didn't want to remember this. "He fought me while you and the rest of the girls were getting your bearing together. He tanked the fireball I threw at you!"

"But..." Twilight hesitated. "But that's not what happened!"

Author's Note

Posting this late.
Writing this late.
The day was supposed to be fun, was for the most part.
Learned about some serious, serious drama in my girlfriends best friends life.
Stuff that should involve the authorities.
Can't say much else. Unlike 'Identity Crisis' it's not my story.

Chapter Fifty-Five

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Twilight Sparkle, element of magic, Princess of Friendship and currently the youngest Alicorn in Equestria stood in a dark kitchen, a notebook of scribbles beneath her.

She was trying, remembering countless research papers, magical theories and even the events from her daily life in Equestria. And nothing seemed to stick!

The magic of harmony was here, she knew that! But what she didn't know was what kind of power coefficient it worked on here, if it was the same as back home or if somehow this world the same magic could accomplish more, less, she didn't know!

And triggering it. Friendship was the key, but she had always assumed that the elements were akin to the latch on the doors to her friends hidden powers.

Or something.

She wasn't always good with metaphors.

So maybe instead if they managed to join together in harmonic pitch, using each other to amplify their own isolated...

Twilight spat out her pen, that wouldn't work either.

"That's not gonna work!" She rubbed her eyes, long since exhausted.

Tomorrow was minutes away and she'd been up early as it was.

"Hey Twilight?" A voice spoke from a darkened doorway, spooking the teenage girl. "You're up late."

Sunset Shimmer sauntered into the kitchen, heading for the fridge.

"Just looking over the counter-spell." Twilight pulled Fluttershy's notebook under her arm. "We only get one shot at this and it has to be perfect."

She held the notebook open, looking over the scribbled out numbers and notes.

"We really are alike." Sunset pulled open the fridge.

"That's what everyone keeps telling me."

"Who could possibly use this much whipped cream?" Sunset leaned forward, looking for one can, just one can that was already open. "Must be nice to have everyone always looking to you for answers to their problems."

"Yeah... Sunset?" It'd been bothering her all day.

"What's up Twilight?" Sunset finally gave up and grabbed a fresh canister of compressed dairy product. She popped the lid off and sprayed a little on her finger.

"That guy earlier, Thorn. Who is he?" Everyone had seemed to think she should know him. They all said he'd been there when she and her friends had proven Sunset wrong.

And he wasn't! She'd remember, she would!

Wouldn't she?

Sunset had paused, one finger in her mouth as she seemed to think on the question.

"No-one is really sure. He-ah!" Sunset had closed the fridge and jumped at the sight of an unexpected eavesdropper.

"Boulder was hungry." A girl, stoic and blase held up a rock as she spoke. Her other hand opened a cabinet overhead without looking and grabbed a box of crackers.

Which she began pouring on her rock.

She left behind a trail of broken crackers as she walked away without a word.

"I still can't get over the fact that she's related to Pinkie Pie!" Sunset said to Twilight in a fervent whisper.

"I know!" Twilight whispered back.

"Totally different... Right. Thorn." Sunset crossed the room and leaned against the counter in front of the sink.

"You said nobody is sure who he is?" They'd all been friendly though.

And worried.

In Sugarcube Corner the boy had looked pale and thin, his skin drawn tight across his face in a constant grimace.

Pinkie Pie had latched on to him as well and said he'd been running a fever.

"Yeah. He was waiting outside the portal when I came through the first time. Back when I... Yeah. He helped get me on my feet and walking like a human, showed me how to use my hands and then pulled a prank on me after I'd shot off at the mouth a bit. Definitely taught me that this world wasn't just a parallel of home." Sunset looked to her left, looking back.

"A prank? You'd only just got here, right?" That sounded incredibly mixed. Helping someone before being mean to them?

"Yeah, and I'd already accused him of practicing dark magic and being an idiot. His 'Prank' was waiting to tell me bacon was made of pig meat until after I'd eaten some." Just the thought of that delicious, crispy, greasy strip made her mouth water and her stomach turn.

"...Eww."

"Yeah, eww. After that we went our separate ways. I never figured it was important enough to find out where he lived or what he was doing, especially with how much effort I had to spend to learn everything I could about this world. I might be queen bee of the school now, or was, but I had to claw and scrape every single grade for it." And it'd been worth it, those difficult assignments would be cake for her now.

"Then Princess Celestia wrote me a letter. Actually she wrote me a lot, but this one was important. She told me that Luna was coming back and that she wouldn't be strong enough to fight off her little sister. I guess... Maybe it was her way of asking for help? Offering me a chance to come home and prove I'd grown up a little? Didn't matter. I'd seen Thorn a few times at the local library and tracked him down. Offered to help get him through the portal if he'd turn his dark magic to helping me. Know what he did?"

"He said no?" Considering there wasn't a unicorn despot in Equestria.

Anymore.

It was a fair bet.

"Said no and asked me how much I'd like to rule over a dead planet. No sun, he said, meant no plants, no food, no life. He said he hoped Luna, and he specifically said Luna, not just Nightmare Moon, would remember... Geeze, how'd he say it? Something about the morning's comfort."

"He knew that Luna was Nightmare Moon?" That didn't make any sense! He would've had to have been banished almost a thousand years ago to know about that and have been here before Sunset!

"And Discord, the Schmooze, Sombra and, get this, Tirek. Said Sombra, Tyrant Emperor of the Northern Wastes had nothing on a Tirek jumped up on alicorn juice." Sunset turned around and opened an overhead cabinet, pulling out a pair of glasses.

"He... What?" Twilight accepted the glass of water as her brain misfired.

That...

Wasn't really wrong, now that she thought about it.

"That's what I said." Sunset drained a third of her own glass in one pull.

"How long has he been here? When would he have been banished through the mirror?!" He looked like a teenager! There was no way he would have been able to witness everything he said he did!

"Don't know, he never said. He also never said he could still use magic on this side of the portal, either." And hadn't Sunset been miffed to discover that?

Actually, she'd been half mad when she discovered that. Miffed would have been preferable.

"What? No, seriously. I... I don't know what else to ask."

"It's alright. I wanted to ask him a lot of questions today. A lot. But with how bad he's looking, I don't know if he'd have been able to focus long enough to answer anything." Sunset finished the rest of her water, though she didn't set down her glass.

"You said he was using magic. What all did he use?" Twilight was too many different kinds of frazzled.

It wasn't supposed to be possible. This was supposed to be a world without magic!

"Basic telekinesis and short-range teleportation. He didn't do anything that moved him farther than line of sight until... Well, until he had me held in place and we both got hit with the power of harmony."

"He was holding you when the harmony went through you?"

"Yeah, had a hold of both my hands. Think he said something too before it hit, but I couldn't hear it over you monologueing." It had been bothering Sunset Shimmer ever since, too.

"Sunset. I don't mean to sound like a broken record but..." Twilight took a deep breath. "None of this makes any sense!"

"I know, Twilight." Sunset grabbed the empty glass out of Twilights hands and put both it and hers in the sink.

"I've been thinking that since I met him."

Chapter Fifty-Six

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Marley wished she still had alcohol in the house from time to time.

More so recently than before.

She loved being a foster parent, she really did.

It was stressful, messy, difficult and an all around hassle, but having kids in her life, kids who looked up to her and trusted her to help them and keep them safe filled a void in her heart.

Though some nights she'd lay in bed, reflecting soberly on her life choices and think she was just using them. Offering them a bed and food so she could feel loved, until they got adopted or grew old enough that she couldn't keep them here anymore.

And other nights she wished she'd never signed up for the whole mess.

Lately she'd been having a lot of 'Other nights'.

Spike, out cold in his room, was the source of those nights lately.

Going back and forth to the doctors, watching a sweet, though often confusing and easily confused boy whither away while test after test came back negative was wearing away at her resolve more and more every day.

Shaking him awake in the mornings he couldn't get out of bed left her scared witless.

More often than not he had a scalding fever anymore. No appetite to speak of and he had a hard time keeping down whatever she forced down his throat.

She'd had kids get sick before. She'd fostered children with serious illnesses, too.

She'd never seen one deteriorate like this, though.

And she had no idea what to do about it.

'Yes!' Twilight, most intelligent student of Crystal Prep Academy thought to herself. 'My theory was right. Or at least partially correct.'

Red lines peaked and troughed across a scrolling page of paper in her lab.

An abandoned, unused classroom in the schools basement filled with old, out of date electrical engineering equipment.

She had no idea why that elective was no longer offered.

"Alright." She mumbled to herself, jotting down her notes. "So this 'Magic of Harmony' stuff does express interference across local static energy fields. This 'dead' radio station, which for the past few days showed no variation in signal, is now oscillating at... a frequency of one-hundred and five hertz per minute, margin of error at five."

This was good. Very good!

Energy can be detected, manipulated and converted. Even should that energy be created as a byproduct from another reaction.

"It's not being kept a secret very well. Someone would have to be blind not to see that something weird is going on at that school." Her friend had proven an invaluable resource in figuring out a lot of the goings on she'd discovered.

Fieldwork was working wonders for the rest.

"Spike, alias Thorn, told those girls he was avoiding the 'Sirens' because of 'Dark Magic'. Speculated to be referring to emotional manipulation of some sort. Very uncomfortable." It didn't take much to blend in over at Canterlot High.

A hoodie and jeans made for an effective enough disguise there.

And the data she'd gathered onsite had allowed for her to start designing a prototype device to detect local, active sources of magic.

Something she absolutely had to have before returning to her rival school. Being a wallflower in the auditoreum while the bands played was nice.

Being objectively aware that her emotions were being manually twisted by external stimuli? Was honestly horrifying.

She had a trio of pictures, all of the faces of girls, circled with the word "Siren?" above them.

Strangely enough, all of them were human.

Externally.

Strange considering Spike had implied, heavily, that before his 'Time Travel Incident', he hadn't come from Equestria as such and he was supposed to be a dragon.

He refused to tell her what he'd come through as.

It hadn't stopped her from writing down her own theories.

She'd seen her own counterpart after all. And her counterpart had come part and parcel with a dog, almost certainly named Spike.

It... Explained a few things.

Her spiderweb of evidence explained a bit more.

A human girl with red hair and blonde highlights. Her photo next to a printout of an image found online of a great red giant that was stepping on what looked like an idiot in a knockoff Broadway costume.

Sunset Shimmer. Age Unknown. Residence Unknown.

Sources cite her as Equestria Native.

Race: Unicorn

Across from her was a photo she could almost mistake as being her own.

Except not quite right.

Her hair was down, she wasn't wearing glasses and she was smiling brightly while surrounded by people.

Twilight Sparkle. Age Unknown. Residence: Palace of Friendship (?)

Sources cite her as Equestria Native.

Race: Alicorn (Ascended unicorn?)

Along with those two were the rest of the girls who'd participated in a major way during the last event, each of them with a printout of their profile pulled from the current popular social media website.

Far beneath them was a photo of Spike, her friend. Two threads connected him to the other Equestrians. As well as another one connecting him to a photo of a dog.

Twilight knew she didn't have the full picture, not by a longshot. But she was piecing it together, more and more each day.

Deductive reasoning and examination and reexamination of the facts would pull out the secrets that continued to hide, just like a sudoku puzzle.

"Just keep holding on, Spike." She stood up and stretched, moving away from her computer and various attached monitors. "I can fix this, I know I can."

If she could discern the root cause, if it was the anomalous energy interference or if that was simply the byproduct, she'd be one step closer.

She just wished she knew how many more steps she'd have to take after that.

Author's Note

So, who can figure out what's wrong with Spike?
I've given all the hints I'm going to, no new symptoms are going to show up or some strange, esoteric illness from any underdeveloped countries.
Being broke, I can't offer anything to whomever figures it out, I'm sorry about that.

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

He'd missed it.

He could not believe he'd missed it!

He even had a line he'd been practicing, something prophetic and vague and cool!

Which just got flushed. Twilight Sparkle was already back in Equestria.

She'd done a good job, though.

The sirens had been beaten, Sunset Shimmer had joined the song and Vinyl Scratch had posted the whole thing on the worlds most popular video-sharing website.

With an addendum about awesome special effects.

And watching it from Vinyl's angle, it was definitely awesome.

He was still really upset that he'd missed seeing it in person, though.

Nothing for it, then...

Okay, he was also just a might bit peeved that he slept through an opportunity to do the whole 'Feeble prophet' gig, like Seeress Yesterday from Power Ponies, issue fifteen.

Clocks turn and time passes, against the endless onslaught of time, nothing ever truly remains the same.

Desperation can drive a person to great lengths, borne of concern, worry and fear hidden beneath frenetic energies.

Fatigue, pain and lethargy can slowly morph into cynicism and apathy.

A solid friendship, however, can keep both likelihoods from fruition.

Such was the bond between Spike and Twilight.

Tired as he was, he never allowed her to get so fully absorbed in her research that she lost sight of her life. Worn out as he felt, he refused to let her think she was anything other than the most important person in his life.

And her? Frustration melted to understanding as he went from medication to medication before settling on one that managed his symptoms.

Barely.

He wasn't getting any worse at least.

Her research progressed at a snails pace, Spike wasn't recovering and Spike was only slowly working his way out of the puppy phase of his life.

Nothing can truly resist change, but they can certainly plateau for a while.

And that plateau was about to shift dramatically.

Twilight had found it!

Or at least a part of it!

As for what it is, well, it's a breakthrough!

The science behind it was... A bit iffy, it ran on a lot of supposition in place of recorded evidence, but that wasn't going to stop her.

Some of the most amazing discoveries had been made by a leap of faith.

Still. A few more days and she knew she'd have an opportunity to test out her new device.

The 'Friendship Games' were occurring in just a few days. On the tenth.

And those girls wouldn't be able to keep from tapping into their elements of harmony.

Spike had tried explaining that, once.

Honesty, laughter, kindness, generosity and loyalty.

Five attributes that somehow made up an existential force.

Plus one, this 'Element of Magic' that kickstarted the rest. Or catalyzed them into having a measurable impact.

It was a nice thought, really. Five core personality traits that worked together to create Harmony.

It didn't explain anything about what was going wrong with her best friend.

How did Harmony, in some ray or explosion, cause her friend to suffer from what his doctor described as organ rejection?

Especially without any single, specific organ that was being rejected?

The doctors were terribly confused, the immunologist was terribly confused, Twilight was extremely confused. With no idea why that was happening, it couldn't be repaired, reversed.

And she'd researched it and the drugs he was taking. They could mitigate the symptoms, but not indefinitely.

No, she needed a permanent solution.

And hopefully the pendant in her hands, the result of months of research and testing, would be the key to the first step in finding it.

He hadn't been down here too often.

This was Twilight's sanctuary in school, one he generally left to her and treated as being about as close to sacred as anything else.

Dean Cadance had actually authorized her to use it, signed off on it as being important to an independent research project that Twilight was performing in the hopes of accelerating her college career.

He knocked on the door, waiting a few moments for her to answer. When nothing came, he pushed the door open and poked his head in.

Twilight was sitting on a rolling desk chair, hunched over a workbench with a magnifying glass attached to it.

"Hey Twilight?" He asked, low and quiet. She could be surprisingly easy to spook.

"What?" She turned her head, glancing at him through her right eye before returning to whatever she was working on. "Oh, Spike, what did you need?"

A bright light sparked from between her hands as he stepped in and closed the door behind him. He took a moment to check Spike's water bowl and food dish.

Mostly empty, though the puppy likely didn't know.

He sighed and refilled the food. There wasn't any water in the room, unfortunately.

"Just coming by to check in on you. You've been more absorbed in your project than normal the last few days." He turned to look at the walls, all of them covered with papers, clippings from newspapers and string.

Lots and lots of string.

"I'm fine, Spike. Better than fine! My research has advanced to the next stage! It's only the alpha build at the moment, I already worked out how to scrap it and make the next one more efficient, but I wanted to put it through a live test first." He'd expected her to be grinning at him from ear to ear, eyes wide open.

The other Twilight would get like that, especially if she was working on a project.

This though... It was just a gentle smile.

She was genuinely happy.

His smile a little tighter in response, but seeing her smile always made him feel like doing the same.

"Alright Twilight. What's your device do?"

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Being called to the principals office was... Novel.

Yes, Novel was a good word for it.

She'd never been in trouble before, and most of the interactions involving Abacus Cinch had been performed by her parents.

And one lawyer from a disabilities group her mother had contacted.

Apparently Abacus Cinch was allergic to dogs and had used a variety of reasons to try and keep her, Twilight, from being allowed a service animal.

Sombra, the previous dean, hadn't cared one way or the other so long as the appropriate paperwork was on his desk.

Paperwork Cadence, the current dean, had seemingly never seen it. Or her bureaucratic backlog was immense.

Either way, it wasn't particularly pertinent.

No, opening the door in front of her was.

She hesitated, her hand nearly on the handle. She nervously opened the door and stepped in, glancing around the room.

Cadence was on her right and nodded reassuringly.

It didn't help.

She crept forward into the room. Dimly lit, half-filled bookshelves lining the walls.

This room, it felt like it belonged to a predator.

Twilight seated herself on the stool before the principals desk, twisting in it when she heard the door creaking shut.

"Shining Armor?" He'd graduated a year before she'd joined Crystal Prep Academy. "Why are you here?"

And wearing his old Crystal Prep sweater?

"Principal Cinch thought he might add some unique perspective." Cadence answered for him.

"Perspective on what?" Neither Cadence nor Shining Armor answered, too busy sending furtive glances at each other.

"Why the Friendship Games, of course." Twilight's head snapped back, looking at Principal Cinch, sitting on a throne behind her desk. "You competed in the games did you not, Shining Armor?"

He blinked and cleared his throat upon being addressed.

"I did."

Twilight knew what this was.

They were posturing. Acting. Reiterating known facts in a subversive manner.

"And you won, didn't you?" Cinch stood up and leaned forward on her desk.

"We won, Crystal Prep did. We always win." Shining Armor was trying his hand at modesty.

Twilight could only guess at his motives.

Cadence seemed to want something, too.

Twilight shrunk in on herself, rubbing her arm nervously as three people, only one a friend, isolated her and focused on her.

"Yes. We always win." Cinch walked out from behind her desk, pausing in front of a display case full of trophies.

"...Why did you ask to see me?" Twilight was already guessing.

Theories flew to the front of her mind, most discarded without a second thought. She ended up missing almost half of Cinch's speech about reputation and expectations.

She flinched when Cinch knelt down in front of her, looking her directly in the eye before standing back up, continuing her speech about her own reputation.

"-You've done quite a lot, haven't you?"

"I don't know. I guess?" Twilight had caught the way her principal had spoken. Somehow twisting Twilight's own accomplishments to... Improving the principal's reputation?

She didn't quite get it.

But the longer Cinch spoke, even with Shining Armor 'Interrupting', the picture painted itself.

They wanted to pull her out of her lab, force her to mingle with people who'd gone out of their way to avoid looking twice at her, and then parade her around in front of an audience to improve the standing of an institution that felt threatened by the growing success of another.

And they were dangling her old application to an independent study program over her head like a carrot.

Intimidation, threats, betrayal...

All over a sporting event!

"I... Understand you want me to compete, but I really can't! My work here it-" Cinch gently tapped a folder on her desk, silencing Twilight.

"Dean Cadance, Shining Armor, if we could be left alone for a minute?" Cinch's tone and grin were both patently plastic. Dangerous. "Yes... Your work. Twilight, are you aware of the pull of reputation? In return for... Using your agile mind to help us win the games, I'll use my reputation to... See your Everton Application to the right people. Do we have a deal?"

"Though I suppose I could also... Deny it. It's all up to you, of course." She was treating the folder in her hands like a dog treat, trying to tempt Twilight into looking at it and eating out of her proverbial hand.

Twilight, in contrast, was twisting her hands, looking everywhere in the room except at Cinch. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to be here with Cinch.

She didn't want to be here!

"S-sure... I-I'll be there." She stood up to leave.

Principal Cinch stood up and held out her hand.

Twilight stared for just a moment before the rules clicked into place.

Social Etiquette. Hand Shake. Friendly greeting or the sealing of a deal.

Twilight lightly grasped the principal's hand. Cold. And her hand was pumped once before the Principal let go.

"Here are the details. Be here early tomorrow so we can appropriately size your uniform." Principal Cinch lost her smile, her tone was all business as she handed Twilight the folder she'd been toying with for half the meeting.

"Sure." Twilight focused on the folder in her hand, rushing out of the room as politely as she could without running.

Her mind was fully occupied as she left the room, ignoring her brother completely when he greeted her as five different thoughts struggled for priority at the forefront of her mind.

She didn't like sports. She wasn't good at sports. She didn't want to do sports!

She'd been manipulated. Easily. Intimidated by ambiance and vague threats, her brother a familiar element to throw her off guard. Then isolation to increase nervousness and make her more pliable.

She needed to get Spike.

She needed to talk to Spike.

She... Felt wrong. Angry, depressed, upset, frustrated, threatened and so many other, less than positive things.

Anxious especially.

She...

She needed Spike. Now. Either of them!

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Getting out of geometry as the last class of his day, Spike had expected to find Twilight in the library or waiting by the doors to walk home.

She'd been in neither location.

Nor was she answering any texts.

Spike knew he didn't really need to worry about Twilight. She was a strong girl, when she wanted to be.

It didn't stop him from doing so anyway.

He'd considered checking a few of the classrooms, maybe asking some of the teachers.

He'd considered it. Then he decided to not bother wasting time and just knocked on the door to her lab.

He didn't get an answer. He hadn't been expecting one.

The room was empty. Not bare, but the papers were missing, Spike was missing, Twilight had been in here recently.

And moved everything important out.

That... Was a bad sign.

She didn't like rearranging her work or living space unless she deemed its configuration flawed. Too cramped, too wide, this needed to be closer to that or some such thing.

He wasn't quite certain of the implications, he just knew it wasn't good.

He was halfway through a text when his phone started vibrating.

'On Bus to canterlot high. Couldn't hear phone.'

That... Was odd.

Twilight had never mentioned an interest in visiting Canterlot High School.

Spike looked around the room for clues. After going over it a few times, he saw something.

'What are the friendship games?'

He'd run past the point in the timeline he had been around for. Or maybe the Friendship Games had been so blindingly ordinary it wasn't important.

'School friendship competition thing. Boring.'

Spike put his phone away and glanced around the room one more time.

Buses were already gone. The sports students were already gone.

He needed to find a teacher, ask if there were any more buses heading out today.

There were.

Spike grumbled as he stepped off the short bus.

The kids hadn't been a problem. He got on just fine with most of them.

The teacher chaperoning though?

The guy was a royal jerk. He spent more time yelling at a kid who was sitting still and not doing anything than paying attention to another boy who'd been half out a window.

Spike thought it would almost be worth the pain to trip him down the stairs getting off the bus.

But it wouldn't. Scales and blood ripping out of his hands while the authority figure was getting hurt? Probably a little too showy.

Canterlot High School, now that Spike was taking a moment to properly look at it...

Hadn't changed in the slightest.

He didn't see Twilight though. That could be a problem.

A big one.

He had no idea how she was going to react if everyone here recognized her.

"Twilight!" That was Cadence's voice. His head jerked to look at her. "You need to check in with the others."

He jogged over to her, breathing deeply at even that minor exertion.

"Oh Spike, you're here." Twilight sounded distracted, she was looking at the device she'd made.

It was supposed to detect and contain anomalies, or at least that's what he recalled her saying.

"You alright?"

"Yeah." She looked up, glancing around to notice that there was some distance between herself and everyone else. "No."

"What's up?" Everything he'd seen, everything he saw so far. He was getting more and more worried.

"It's... A lot." She was hesitating, putting her words together before she said them. "I... I don't want to be here, Spike."

That didn't surprise him. This kind of thing, it wasn't really her scene, being out in the center of attention.

"Cinch... I think she threatened me into competing. I filed an application to join an independent study group for advanced students last year. I'd still kind of like to go, but I'm not making it an absolute at the moment. She was holding it over my head, and getting in my face and she had Shining Armor there to tell me about how much he enjoyed the games four years ago." Twilight was curling in on herself as she spoke. Fiddling with her hands and twirling a bang as a means of covering her face.

And it was getting worse.

"And when I went to get on the bus to come here, the girls were... Just really mean. I think I offended them? But she kept mumbling at me, bad things. Even after we got here she wouldn't stop."

He left her alone for a day.

One day.

Just the one.

"Then I got into the school, the pendant was picking up on things. A lot of people here recognized me, Spike. They thought I was the other Twilight. It was... Nice. They were all greeting me and saying hello and how it was, how it was nice to see me again. Spike... I've got a question." She was glancing at him from the corner of her eye. She was nervous still, but less so.

"You're the only one who's spoken to me like that in years at Crystal Prep. Is that... Normal? Here I mean, or maybe the rest of the world. Is it normal for people to be so nice?" She took a few more steps after asking her question before she'd noticed that Spike had stopped.

He was looking at her with an expression she recognized. One she'd seen often enough in her own mirror.

Dejection. He looked like he'd failed something.

"It's normal Twilight." He caught up to her quickly enough and they continued to the auditorium. "Not for everyone, but most people out here will say hi, be happy to see you if they recognize you. Crystal Prep is just different."

Wrong. He'd noticed a week after he'd been enrolled, but there was something wrong with the place.

The normal students were aggressive and mean.

Twilight Sparkle, unassuming and nervous, was simply part of a minority of students who weren't concerned with making themselves look good.

Spike didn't think he was in either camp.

He always looked good, if he did say so himself.

Real good.

Chapter Sixty

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

They had all gathered in the gymnasium. Crystal Prep Academy students across from the Canterlot High School counterparts.

It started off fine. Music, punch, all the kids were having a good time.

Things had been a little tense, sure, but Spike wasn't sure where the escalation started.

Either way, he didn't want to be here when it got worse.

"Hey, Twilight?" He couldn't just abandon her though, not with the Shadowbolts walking around with a chip on their shoulder and everything to prove. "You see that girl over there?"

She followed his finger and blinked at the person energetically prancing around the edges of the forming cliques.

"With the hair?" Big and pink and fluffy.

"Yeah. She doesn't seem too interested in the 'My side, your side' stuff. While I'm going to the restroom, why don't you go say hi?" He was pretty sure Twilight was aware of who Pinkie Pie was, he'd told her after all.

He'd even mentioned that Pinkie Pie made friends at the drop of a hat.

And then picked the hat up and made friends with it, too.

"Spike are you... Are you sure?" She was hesitating, uncertain how to even approach the pink ball of energy.

Not that Spike could blame her. In her own way, Pinkie Pie was the most intimidating of the elements of Harmony. Not for being mean or intimidating, but rather her unmatched energy and propensity to speak at length about every minor connection she made.

Nonsensical or otherwise.

"Yeah I... Really need to go. I know you don't mind finding a quiet place to think on your own, but right here that's in short supply. I'm not demanding you make a friend, all I'm suggesting is that you say hi." Something he'd finally figured out with this Twilight, after many halting, difficult conversations was a small part of how she thought. She liked having clear goals, she enjoyed knowing where the line in the sand was.

One part of her social difficulty was her lack of natural awareness of where that was for people, her difficulty in picking up on when she was getting close to crossing that line until it was well past too late.

"Alright Spike. Could... You hurry, please?" She relaxed slightly when he grinned in response.

He hadn't promised, but he would at least try.

Getting through the horde of simmering teens was difficult.

Not slamming through some of those teens when they felt it necessary to push him was more so.

Regardless, he tamped down that flame and soon opened the gymnasium door, stepping out into the hallway.

He walked through two hallways and turned one corner to a stairwell, sitting down on the lowest steps.

His left hand pressed against his abdomen while the other clutched his knee.

Maybe the punch had been too sweet? Or else the music was too loud.

The source didn't matter much, a distant part of his mind realized.

Whatever the cause was, his stomach was roiling and burning, his eyes were pounding in time with his heart.

He took a slow, deliberate breath and held it for a few seconds before slowly releasing it, counting out the seconds on his fingers.

Three more sets had him calmed down and seemed to reduce the migraine.

It did nothing for the clawing, burning in his gut.

"So. Spike. It's good to see you." He looked up to see who'd spoken.

Crimson and gold hair.

"Hey Sunset. It's good to see you, too." She looked so much happier than when he'd last really looked at her. Her back was straighter, she seemed almost proud.

"You're... Not looking so good." She sat down next to him and put a hand on his back.

She pulled it away almost immediately.

"And you feel like you're on fire!" She was exaggerating, though not by much.

"I am? That makes sense, I guess." He leaned forward, pressing harder against his stomach by leaning into his knees. "The doctors warned me I'd get used to the medicine."

"Medicine?" That sounded so mundane, and this, whatever was wrong with him, did not look mundane.

"For the fevers and coughing and vomiting." And aches and headaches. Other things.

"That sounds pretty bad." She looked him over, taking in the lines of his face and how loose his blazer looked. "How long has it been like this?"

"A few months? I don't really remember too well. I slept through a lot of it at first." A doctors excuse to sleep in all day? Celestia would leave the sun hanging at high noon for a chance at such a thing.

"Spike, you should've come to me. I... I'm your friend, aren't I?" Her tone was familiar. It wasn't wheedling or needling, she wasn't blaming him

She was blaming herself.

Absolutely wonderful. Something else he'd screwed up.

"Of course you're my friend, Sunset. But I knew you'd make other friends, better friends. And my world... Kind of shrank, if that makes sense. When I couldn't get out of bed it was me, Twilight and the doctors. I didn't have the energy to do anything else. Or maybe I didn't... What did you call me?" He wasn't delirious, he wasn't dehydrated at all, so that couldn't be it.

"Spike." Her victorious grin was wiped away in an instant when she took another glance at him. "I heard this world's Twilight call you that."

"Oh man, this is gonna be real fun." He tried to lay the sarcasm down thick. All that he breathed out, however, was resignation.

"Yeah, it is. So which is it? Thorn, or Spike?" Her gaze bored into him with an intensity he couldn't hope to match.

"My name is Spike. Number one assistant to Princess Twilight Sparkle, friend of this world's Twilight Sparkle, cursed pony dragon thing after being swallowed alive by a magical abomination-" But he didn't have to match her intensity.

Not when he had determination in spades to surpass it.

"And time traveler. It's nice to meet you, Sunset Shimmer."

Author's Note

One thing I'll never say.
I'm not a hypocrite.

Chapter Sixty-One

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Twilight Sparkle stood, her back against the wall, next to a door and listened.

"I remember how it felt when I was getting worse last time. I'm going to miss just having fevers and migraines." Spike was through that doorway, talking to someone like an old friend.

"So why didn't you tell someone about it? Why didn't you tell me? I could have written Twilight, there might be a magical solution to this." It was a voice she recognized, though only from a few brief encounters. She couldn't quite put a face to it.

"There probably is. Except I can't go through the portal. It won't let me. So whatever spells or elixirs would fix this, I can't get." It was something she already knew, though hearing it put to words felt like a ball of ice was settling in her stomach.

He didn't even sound upset.

"So what? You're just going to turn into a sick, trembling mess again? There has to be something you can do!" Please. Please say there was.

"I'll go back to the doctors. I'll get another immunosuppressant, I'll be alright for a few more months until it happens again." There wasn't any fight left in his voice. All the determination in the world didn't matter when pitted against reality.

"So what are you going to tell her?"

"Twilight?"

"You two are friends, aren't you? She's going to notice."

She hadn't. What did that say about her, that she hadn't noticed?

"I can hold it off for one more day, alright? Twilight might be the smartest girl in Crystal Prep, but she's never practiced any sports stuff. The events are... Dirtbikes and archery and something else?"

"Speed Skating. She's never done any of that stuff?"

"No, never as far as I know. So my school is throwing a novice against hobbyists. My classmates are going to try and tear her apart." He sounded absolutely certain of that.

"Future knowledge?"

"No, last thing I was here for was the whole Siren dealie. But I do know Crystal Prep Academy. Twilight needs someone at her back. She's got too much on her plate as it is, alright? Sunset Shimmer please, don't tell her about... About me. Okay?" He was worried about her?

He was falling apart at the seams! He should be worrying about himself!

"You fall over puking your guts out, I won't have to say a word." The girl, Sunset Shimmer sounded like she was as fond of that idea as Twilight was.

"...Thanks Sunset."

"So what's next on your agenda, Mister Time Traveler?" She was trying be humorous, but both listeners and one eavesdropper knew it fell flat.

"Can you show me where the art classroom is?" Twilight stepped away from the wall, heading towards the entrance as the conversation drifted away, too quiet to be heard.

She... Needed to think.

She needed a plan.

And judging by how much her backpack was rustling, she needed to let Spike out.

He was done with time to spare after he'd finished his project.

It wasn't much, just some construction paper he'd drawn on, but it would serve its purpose well enough.

Now he just had to figure out where the auditorium was. Twilight wasn't scheduled to participate in the shop or home ec. tasks of the preliminaries.

Cinch instead had aimed her straight at the academics.

The spelling bee and a mathematical test.

Neither of which Twilight could fail if she paid them so much as half of her attention, he was certain.

He made it to the competition after almost half of the contestants had been eliminated.

Rhombus.

It was the word he came in on and he was... Disappointed.

He didn't recognize the girl who misspelled it but...

It wasn't even a long word! Seven letters!

It wasn't like the girl had been asked to spell parallelogram!

The silent H wasn't even a mean trick.

Spike sat himself down with a huff. He didn't have much by way of school pride, but the little bit he'd had deflated.

Two more girls had been eliminated before Twilight came up for her turn.

Spike lifted his project up overhead.

"Miss Sparkle, your word is 'Isosceles'. You have ten seconds." Principal Celestia said to the girl.

Twilight took a moment to respond, hesitating before breaking her gaze away from where he was sitting.

"Isosceles. I, S, O, S, C, E, L, E, S. Isosceles." She stood waiting for a moment, her head tilted and staring directly at Spike.

"Dude, put that down! We can't see." Spike gleefully ignored the boy behind him.

Pristine Shield couldn't pay him to be considerate.

"That is correct. You may take your seat." Twilight returned to sitting at the edge of her group, almost falling off her seat to keep her distance from her team.

"It would seem that we're tied at an astounding... One for one on the spelling bee. As such, we'll be bringing out a tie-breaker." Luna said from beside her sister.

Mr.Twist, the math teacher here at Canterlot and Miss Vector, of Crystal Prep, wheeled out a pair of chalk boards.

"The first student to correctly solve the problem within the time limit will be the victor. Would the winners of the spelling bee please step up to their respective boards?" Dean Cadence seemed to be more into the showmanship of the events.

A pair of spotlights trailed over both Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer as they stepped up to the boards.

Spike took off his glasses, but he still couldn't make out what was written on them from this distance. If he squinted hard enough, he could make out a triangle and a big X.

He shrugged, put his glasses back on and held the poster up over his head.

"Dude, seriously!" Spike grinned. He may not have been competing, but at least he could make his own fun.

Chapter Sixty-Two

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

He wasn't sure if Twilight had been avoiding him, or if luck just wasn't on their side.

Maybe a bit of both?

Probably a bit of both.

He hadn't managed to find her before the second set of events, instead he just ended up filing into the stands with the rest of the kids.

He'd fired off a 'Congrats on the win' text to her, but she hadn't responded.

Probably too busy. He didn't know how much prep went into the next bit.

Watching her and her team lining up to be announced gave him a solid idea, though. Fitted uniforms, and those were definitely fitted uniforms, took forever to get in and out of.

He held his arm over the edge of the stands, holding up his poster.

Spike scowled when he saw her teammate, the one with her hair up in buns, elbow her and point at him. But seeing her grin and look down told him she hadn't minded.

"-In this event, our qualifying competitors will face off in Archery, Speed Skating and finally, Motocross!" Dean Cadance was in top form for the announcement. It seemed she genuinely enjoyed this part of her job.

"So, if the competitors are ready!" She raised an airhorn and fired it. "Each competitor must hit a bulls-eye before their team can start the next leg of the relay!"

Sour Sweet bolted, and as little as Spike had to say about her he had to admit.

She was good.

The hurdles didn't slow her down. The mud pit was easily traversed. And most impressively, she fired off a trio of arrows all at once, landing one bulls-eye.

Spike clapped and cheered alongside the rest of his school before dropping silent.

Twilight had a rough start. And a rougher fall.

He watched her falter and drop at the first hurdle. Pick herself back up, look at him and give him the oddest smile before stumbling forward.

Spike shifted uncomfortably on the bench.

There was something wrong here. He didn't know what that look had meant, but he knew it wasn't good.

Twilight swung limply back and forth over the mud pit, Sour Sweet glaring at her and... Was she pulling on her own hair?

None of the other students seemed to be too concerned.

Maybe that was normal?

Applejack had caught up by this point. She fired off a few arrows before hitting her own bulls-eye. She turned to look at Twilight afterwards.

Spike felt it then. Just a trickle, but the magic that he'd pushed so deep was acting up. Churned by his frustrations at watching Twilight struggle and be torn down for it.

And he couldn't do anything.

Well, that wasn't true. He could do something.

'Just a touch, all it would take.'

He shook his head. A touch of telekinesis redirecting an arrow mid-flight might not be noticed by everyone else, but Twilight would see it.

And she would question herself, for needing help. And him, for thinking she needed help.

'Calm, just calm down.'

Applejack, far down below, must have picked up on how badly Twilight was doing. She'd stepped next to the erudite and was talking to her.

Whatever she said must have worked, because the next arrow Twilight let loose hit its mark.

The other competitors from Crystal Prep took off and were cheered on.

Though Spike wasn't among them.

Spike, the dog, had just jumped up to the archery platform and been picked up by Twilight.

Sour Sweet, on the other hand, was backing away while staring at the poor little pooch. She had a look on her face like she'd just seen something... Out of this world.

There was a whole host of possibilities he could think of, though he couldn't settle on a single one. Not without actually being down there to see what had her so freaked out.

Eh, she probably just didn't like dogs.

Or not.

Twilight had hugged Applejack, and she'd done or said something because her magic, her Honesty had responded.

And Twilight's pendant had as well. It floated open, draining the orange aura off of Applejack.

Spike simply stared from where he sat, his eyes wide and mouth open.

This... This was going to be a problem, he just knew it.

When Twilight fell over, loosing her pendant from her necklace, he saw it. Not what was inside of it, but what it was doing.

Rifts. Holes. Tears or whatever else you wanted to call them, they were opening around it.

And tentacles, thorned green limbs thicker than his arms were creeping forth from them.

He latched on to the trill of magic, biting into his own arm to keep from screaming out in pain as scales roared their way down from his shoulder, and made a grabbing motion.

The tentacle wrapped around Twilight's ankle was severed, dropping her to the ground next to the pendant she'd been reaching for when she'd been intercepted.

He bent over, resting one claw and one hand on his knees while he tried to catch his breath. When he looked up again, he could just make out Rainbow Dash flying around a great, flytrap-like maw.

If absorbing Honesty had been enough to open rifts like that... He needed to get down there.

He needed to get Twilight to call off whatever research she was doing before she got a hold on the other four elements!

"And Canterlot High wins!" The dean shouted over the nearby loudspeakers.

The stability of local time and space was threatened and she was worried about a game?

Spike swore he'd never understand that woman. Or mare.

Or both.

Or just the female gender in general.

None of them made any sense!

Author's Note

Silly Spike. Twilight already has three of the other elements.

Chapter Sixty-Three

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Spike had hurried as fast as he was able, but fighting his way around dozens of people without knocking them over was not exactly an expedient art.

And he wasn't very good at it anyway.

But after elbowing only a few people he made it down. He walked quickly to the stands just behind the competitors arena.

And arrived just moments too late.

He didn't know, he couldn't know what had been said between the Elements of Harmony and Twilight, but he knew he saw her running away.

Crying.

He dropped his poster and bolted after her, following her back into the school.

For a girl who'd never actually been there before, Twilight was turning corners and dodging with amazing speed and accuracy.

More than him at least.

He was only barely able to follow her because Spike was trailing behind, taking the corners just a little bit slower than her.

After catching the dogs eye a third time in a row, he was beginning to suspect something.

But that couldn't be right, could it?

Well, alright, to be fair his actual line of thinking was; 'Why is she running so fast? I can't breathe! Need air.'

She'd stopped running after going through a doorway. Or at least he assumed she had. Spike was hovering just at it, anyway.

It lead to a stairwell, and Twilight was sitting on the bottom steps. Arms resting on her knees and her head buried in them.

From the way she was shuddering and shaking, she was doing her absolute best to be silent as she cried.

He sat next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. When she looked up, her glasses askew and snot and tears running down her face, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her against him.

She grabbed a fistful of his blazer and hiccuped, her crying unabated. She shakily latched on to Spike when he climbed up to her and started sniffing at her face.

"Come on, Twilight. They didn't mean it..." Spike said from her side.

Spike stared down, though he couldn't quite see the dog. He wasn't freaking out.

He wasn't!

He was just... Shocked.

This definitely looked different from the opposite side.

"What happened?" He wanted Twilight to answer.

"Oh, Twilight showed them her shiny! But they got scared of it and started yelling. Then Twilight started crying and they yelled more and she left. So I followed her!" The dog was speaking in complete sentences, but he was missing a lot of context. "And you were following her and you've made her feel better before so I made sure you found her so you could make Twilight not cry!"

"Good boy, Spike." Her voice was muffled, but Twilight was speaking again. That was a good sign. "They called me an idiot."

Oh.

"They're wrong!" Twilight Sparkle was to dumb as the sun was wet! "You're the smartest girl I know."

"But I feel like an idiot." She sounded so small when she said that. "They're right. I'm playing with things I don't understand. I'm just making a mess of everything."

"You know who else played with things they don't understand?" She looked up at him, her eyes were puffy and red, her hair a mess. "The people who tamed fire. You think whoever brought the first burning stick into their hut, or cave or whatever they lived in knew what they were doing?"

"No..."

"Of course not. And they screwed up. We still do. You see fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems all over the place, right? So it still turns on us, and we still use it, and we keep trying to use it better and make us safer and you know what happens?"

"Yeah."

"Exactly! The house burns down! But we keep trying and keep learning to do it better, right?" He was really getting into his explanation.

Normally he wasn't too good at making things up off the cuff like this, but it involved fire.

And deep down, he's still a dragon.

"Of course we do!" She leaned up and pulled him against her in a tight hug. "Thank you, Spike!"

She pulled her squirming pup up and hugged him, too.

"And thank you, Spike."

She stood up, pulling Spike, both of them, with her.

"I need to go freshen up before the final event. I'll see you there, right?" She already knew the answer.

"Like I'd miss it." He'd made his way to every one of her events so far.

"I'll see you there." Twilight walked out of the stairwell, Spike following at her heels.

Spike sat back down on the bottom step, resting his side against the cool wall. He slid his left hand through the neck of his shirt, pressing against his shoulder.

The scales were still there.

A look at his right hand, his wrist, saw that they'd receded from there.

He'd never had such a strong reaction before, not even when he'd been practicing lately.

Though, tearing apart a root certainly demanded more force than lifting a pencil.

Was that it? Was it responding to how much magic he was using?

That had certainly been true before but...

During the whole Element of Magic/Sunset Shimmer deal, he'd used a lot more magic, been teleporting left, right and center without it being this bad.

This painful.

He needed to figure out what was going on, soon. If it kept getting worse like this, he wouldn't be of any use to anyone.

Just left sitting idly by while everyone went about their lives, back to being a footnote...

Spike focused, dragging his mind from the malaise it tried to settle into.

Hadn't he meant to talk to Twilight about something?

Twilight.

Magic.

"Crud." He slowly pulled himself to a stand using the stair rail. "Well, did the exact opposite of what I was trying to do. Good show, Spike."

Author's Note

For those still around, next chapter will be fun.
Lots of fun.

Chapter Sixty-Four

Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Dusk was falling, clouds filled the skies and most of the students had fallen oddly silent.

Except for the ones singing, but Spike had learned to tune that out years ago.

He could spit fire, but his vocal range was just a bit too narrow. Give some, get some and all that.

From his spot in the stands he could see Twilight hesitantly walking forward, across from Sunset Shimmer.

She was doing something, holding something out in front of her.

In hindsight, he should have found a spot over to the side.

There was a jolt, something in the air had moved and Spike sat up straight, looking around, his head swinging left and right.

The wind had shifted, there was pressure in the air.

Finally he zeroed in on the disturbance.

Which, being Twilight Sparkle being dragged into the air by an orb of light would have been particularly hard to miss.

By the time she was a foot off the ground, he was up and rushing through the onlookers. Almost two meters up, he was on the ground and running to her.

"Ugh! Help m-me" Cinch was backing away as Twilight screamed. One hand reaching out as the glow encompassed her.

Spikes world went red. Pain exploded down his spine as he reached out and moved, grabbing on to Twilight's hand.

She bobbed, but didn't break free.

He couldn't focus, he didn't have time to try and reorient himself. He couldn't picture anything, any place to go.

He tried anyway.

His limp grip on the magic broke, the teleportation fizzled out when the light pushed away his fingers. Something had reached in then. Or maybe something had reached out? Whatever it was, it felt like it had grabbed a hold of something in his gut and ripped it out.

Distantly, he was aware that he was falling. He could hear voices around him.

He just couldn't make sense of the words.

Panic.

His wits were staring to come back around.

There was panic, students were panicking.

He tried to sit up and his vision was filled with black.

"Just rest, alright Spike?" Soft lips were pressed against his forehead. "We'll get you home and I'll make everything better. I promise."

It sounded like Twilight. Except it didn't. Her voice was too deep, full of something Twilight had never had.

Power.

Control.

His vision finally cleared and most of the cobwebs swept from his mind, he took in what was happening.

Chaos.

Discord would be proud, or maybe not?

It was hard to tell with him.

There were tears hanging in the air, windows into Equestria as Twilight, bearing great raven wings and a spiraling horn, ascended into the air.

He struggled to his feet, ignoring the sticky feeling going down his back and tried to take stock of what was happening.

Twilight going mad with power?

Check.

Better double check that, the portals were growing bigger. And she had taken to laughing maniacally.

Elements of harmony coming in to save the day?

They were pulling people out of the unstable rifts, not ponying up or whatever the girls had taken to calling it.

He'd call that a half check.

No, belay that. Sunset was doing something with the pendant.

Mark that up to a full check and wonder how in blazes Sunset Shimmer took on the avatar of an Alicorn.

This should be just about over then.

He really wasn't looking forward to trying to help Twilight get over this...

Sunset fell down at Spike's feet.

"What's wrong?!" Twilight laughed from overhead. "Isn't your magic strong enough? Is your resolve so pitiful? The stories I'd heard paint you as heroes, not simpering children!"

Spike was dumbfounded.

The elements hadn't worked.

The elements always worked!

"Twilight!" He shouted. He didn't want her seeing how weak he felt. Unfortunately, the waver in his voice gave it away. "This is enough! What's going to happen if the portals keep growing? What's going to happen to this world?!"

Her wings folded over herself, before she reappeared directly in front of him and spread them once more.

She looked even more frightening as black stripes slowly began to cross over her skin.

"Spike..." One gloved hand pressed against his face, softly trailing down his cheek. "Twilight's not here at the moment!"

He was sent sprawling to the ground when the back of her hand slammed against his face.

He picked himself up, keeping an eye on her, on the portal behind her as she walked closer.

Something was wrong...

More wrong than he thought.

"So who is here, then?"

She smiled, madness glinting in fire ringed eyes.

"Midnight Sparkle, the true form of Twilight Spa-"

"You're lying!" He could see it, he could see what didn't fit with the picture in front of him.

Her shadow.

"Who are you! What have you done with Twilight!?" Her shadow didn't have wings. Didn't have the magic-borne dress.

It was Twilight, still in a skirt and her hair in a bun.

It was his Twilight.

"You know. How do you know?! You've been a thorn in my side since you found me! You broke my curse and bound me under the flames of your soul! Still you would deny me? Very well, you may know my name, you may know the name of your demise!" She raised one hand overhead, fire coalescing into a great orb. "I am Zeb! Greatest of the war shamans, wisest of the enchanters! And you? You are nothing!"

Orange reflected off emerald eyes as flames roared.

Smoke obscured everything for just a moment before a breeze cleared the air.

Spike stood, though not unharmed, his claws covering his face.

And Twilight stood opposite, breathing heavily.

"You said... I had you bound beneath my own soul?" The magic that he'd used to lift things or move himself was gone, a void in their place. He reached deeper, calling for anything, whatever he could find in his desperation.

Far beneath magic, buried below scales, something stirred.

"I'd think I would remember doing something like that. I know I never met a Zeb." Spike could almost swear he felt it, some hidden part of him, blink groggily.

"You've forgotten? A sin beyond terrible and you've forgotten!" Twilight was screaming at him, her magic ripping at the air.

'Spike... Want.'

'No! Greed won't help this. It has Twilight!' Of course, that had to be it. Absolutely wonderful.

"You devoured me! You shattered the link I'd forged with that unicorn and kept me hidden away inside of you so I could not find a new host!" That did sound kind of familiar, but he knew he'd never eaten anybody. Or anypony.

'Twilight? Has... Twilight?' Spike pointedly glanced down, confirming what he already knew.

The shadow was crying.

'Let us out. Let us out! Let Us Out!'

'...Alright.' It wasn't quite the same as having two voices in his head. Both were parts of him, and deep down both wanted the same thing.

And right now they agreed completely.

"You won't stop me again! Your 'Elements of Harmony' don't measure up and you're nothing compared to them. Nothing!" Twilight floated into the air, both hands up and charging an ever-increasing fireball.

Spike, on the other hand, was not. He didn't know what he was doing, but it needed magic.

A lot of it.

And he was tapped out.

His eyes glanced over the scales which had steadily been growing along his arms, that he could feel crawling down his back and up his neck.

The scales began turning grey, growing brittle.

It would have to be enough.

With a scream, Twilight flung the fire at her friend.

Mad glee spread across her face when she watched him doing nothing.

And morphed to fear when green fire in the shape of a claw swatted the flames out of the air.

Chapter Sixty-Five

Rejection

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Sunset Shimmer struggled to lift her head up, propping herself up on her arms.

She lost.

She'd failed.

Against some power-drunk novice with no clue what she was doing!

But looking up, watching Spike stand on shaking legs and deny her, reject that this could be his best friend?

She couldn't believe he'd be so naive.

Worse still, she felt guilty when the thing wearing Twilight Sparkle had admitted he was right.

But whatever Spike was doing now, she didn't comprehend.

There had been a brief haze of heat and then something hit the ground, hard. It stood on four legs, a great tail as long as the body and a narrow, pointed head atop a long neck. Great gouts of flame sputtered from its back before solidifying into a grand pair of wings.

A dragon made of emerald flames roared.

Sunset Shimmer had never heard of a spell that could do this. Never heard of magic that could summon something like that.

"How dare you?!" Though 'Zeb' seemed to recognize it. "Unimaginative worm, uninspired, thoughtless whelp! You bring my tormentor here, here where I am free?!"

"Get out of her!" Spike's voice barely covered the distance. Weak, but resolved none the less. "Now!"

"Never!" Zeb dodged a swipe from the claws, far faster than Sunset Shimmer had expected. "Years ago, I thought my freedom at hoof! A dream, what you could be if you'd been born to the race of your masters!"

White light seared across cement, always a meter behind the dragon that rushed and dodged as though it weighed nothing.

"It was pitiful and small! An uninspired hope from a fool! But, but just enough!" Zeb blinked out of existence just ahead of a gout of emerald flames. "Yes! A hope, a dream! The magic I'd bound myself to could use that! Twisted, subtle, sneaky it had to be to escape from my prison!"

Blasts rained down in bursts, scorching the earth and sending everyone who was left scampering away from the battle. Holes were punched in the dragon's wings before being sealed in fire.

"The golem I made was to find you! Find you and devour you, disjoining the magic and giving me control and you ruined it! Flesh and blood and bone when it found you, not cold iron. Not cold magic! Ruin, so much ruin you inflicted on it! Directing the magic to repair it, you stole it from me!" Zeb was screaming, hate in her voice and madness in her eyes.

"My body, my new body playing host to a dragon's soul? Madness! Treachery! I was supposed to be in control! Me! Not you! It was my body, my magic you stole from me!" Zeb flinched back in fear as the dragon ascended in an instant, grabbing her in its claws.

"You would take another body from me?! Was two not too many? Thief! Dragon! Wor-"

"Shut up." The dragons teeth clamped down on Twilight's throat.

"Oh no!" Fluttershy grabbed Sunsets shoulder and pulled her to her feet.

Sunset didn't have an answer. It was over... Spike had-

The dragon pulled away, writhing shadows clutched in its teeth, screaming as smoke and fire burned the putrid mass.

It couldn't hold it for long, however, and spat the raw, teeming malice away from itself, clutching Twilight to its chest.

It descended, gently placing Twilight on the ground next to where Spike lay.

"Monster... Look at this. Look at what you've done to me!" A hoof stepped out of the puddle of shadow, transparent black and made of stripes of murk.

Sunset could see right through it.

"The air hurts here. The magic is gone, void, empty of this world! You would condemn me? Fool, look at yourself!" The horse-sized shadow charged, only to be rebuffed by an almost negligent wave of the dragons tail.

"I know. We're fading away." Sunset ran over to Twilight, staring at her neck. Free of marks, free of stripes. She was staring blankly into space though. That couldn't be good.

Spike, next to her, looked far worse. He'd been shifting, changing into something resembling a dragon at first. Now he looked nearly human again, though his skin was raw, wrinkled and pink and the few scales still on him looked old. Gray and cracked.

He hadn't turned his head to look at her, to look at Twilight.

"Hah! You would abandon her to harm me? Strike me? Wound me? Monster, worm, you are a monster!" The dragon didn't respond to the taunts, choosing instead to stand guard between the shadow and his friends. "Feh, fool. I would fade to nothing, and what of you? Do you think to return to your corpse? Pretend for a while longer to live among magicless apes as your soul burns you from the inside out? Without me, you are without magic! Useless, worthless! A joke no longer funny, you linger like stench!"

Sunset was really getting tired of listening to it. Her friends surrounded her, each looking over the two catatonic students from their opposing school.

"Twilight..." A small dog, the Spike belonging to this world, nudged at her immobile form. He wiggled his way under her wings to stand against her, his face against hers. "We need to go. It's scary here."

One hand slowly reached up, set itself on Spikes head and gave him a soft, hesitant rub.

"We can't leave yet." Her voice was quiet, she sounded distracted as she stared at her best (human) friends immobile form. "Spike can't keep this up much longer."

She pushed herself to her feet, bracing herself against the ruined remnants of the horse statue as the Zebra and Dragon charged each other once more.

"Then we'll do this together. You don't have to be alone." Sunset held out one hand to Twilight.

She rubbed away tears and reached out, taking the offered hand.

With a solemn nod, Applejack grabbed Twilight's other hand and held out her free hand to Rainbow Dash.

One after another, the Elements of Harmony joined together. A faint spark, determination, hope and so many other emotions fuelled something so much greater.

The dragon grinned as magic washed over the area. With a burst of speed, his sluggish legs propelled him to latch on to the writhing shadows.

"What is this?! Unhand me! You know what happened last time! You have no fleshy shell to hide within now! It will erode us, wear away at us, annihilate us! Is my demise worth so much to you?!" The zebra struggled against the claws grasping it in a tired struggle, failing to free itself.

"If it means you can't hurt her again? It will always be worth it." Spike smiled as the rainbow washed over him.

It felt... Right.

Author's Note

...Binding your own soul to an artifact of power, and then languishing for over a thousand years? I wonder if Zeb was aware of the world outside of the book, could feel the passage of time? Either way, as you may be able to tell, he's not quite right in the head.
Of course, he was a living curse. That's not going to be a good thing any way you slice it.

Chapter Sixty-Six

Rejection

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

The concept of nudity wasn't a particularly hard concept to grasp for Spike, though the importance behind it had been.

Clothing was an accessory in Equestria. On Earth, it was a legal mandate.

He had quickly adapted a utilitarian mindset on it, which slowly grew to a 'Need' similar to what the rest of the humans felt.

Perhaps that was why he felt naked in this... Whatever it was.

Fog and lights. He was standing, though on what he couldn't say.

The only thing with form here was himself, no floor, no walls.

He brought his hands up and looked down.

Claws and scales. They felt smaller than he remembered.

Hesitantly, he stepped forward. One foot slowly touching down on where he assumed the surface was.

This was weird. He'd definitely remember coming to some place like this, wouldn't he?

"How long have I languished in the Abyss? My name lost, my people forgotten?" Spike's head jerked back and forth, trying to find the source of the voice.

It was subdued, like a great voice trying to be quiet, or a soft roar.

Great winds buffeted the small dragon, the fog dispersing as though it had never been there to begin with.

Spike looked up and his mouth dropped open in awe.

Hovering well overhead was a dragon. Gleaming golden scales shone brighter than the sun as six wings, the color of the sky flapped slowly.

"Welcome young dragon, to the lands between memory and dream. The crossing between life, and death." The dragon was slowly descending, growing in size until it was truly massive.

"Am... Am I dead?" That was what this place was, wasn't it? The dragon had said so.

"Is that your desire?" Lights gathered at the beckoning claws of the titan, forming into a window of color and sound. "If it is so, it can be made so. Though I would think your desires lay elsewhere."

Twilight and Sunset Shimmer, still in their avatar form were hovering over him. His human form. Rainbow Dash was doing something to him, both of her hands were pressing against his chest repeatedly before she tilted his head back and...

She was performing CPR.

Why was Rainbow Dash using CPR on him!?

"What's happening to me? What's going on?!" He remembered fighting that shadow pony, the elements of harmony blasting through both of them and then... He was here.

"The empty shell is dying without a soul residing within. And you are here, for you are a soul beyond a body. Were you simply reckless, child? Or are you perhaps wise, to have challenged something so twisted and pulled it from the girl without harming her?" Spike was gently lifted into golden claws and raised before the Dragons face.

"I didn't want to make her cry..." And that's what she was doing. Her stoicism was broken as Rainbow Dash kept the body breathing.

"Not all tears are bad, my child. Joy and happiness are wont to bring tears to even these old eyes." Spike couldn't see the dragons eyes to guess at how big its tears could be. He wasn't even sure if the dragon's face was covered in golden scales or a tri-horned helmet. "Upon your arrival here, I wept with joy! For a dragon to find their way to this place, most often they have earned an audience with The Great Mother, or should their ambition outweigh their bloodlust, they would meet the mad remnant of the Corrupted One, who suckled at the roots of the world."

"You aren't the guardian of this place?" It would have made sense. Some fabled, mythical place between important realms would be protected, right?

Like Cerberus did at the gates of Tartarus.

"No, child, guarding this place was never my purpose. Until I was Lost it was my duty to protect and guide those who strode forth in Hope. Those who dreamed of making their world better, who stood against great challenges not for glory, but to bring light in the darkness and give succor to the hungry. Had you challenged the parasite with greater courage in your heart, had it outweighed your determination to save your friend, you would meet with another." Slowly the nameless dragon set Spike back down on the ground.

It almost felt as though it were afraid he would break at a sudden movement, treating him as some kind of fragile treasure.

"So what am I supposed to do? Why am I here in this... Place between places?"

"It is rare, these days, for any to find this place. The hall of remembrance has seen few enough that were not barred for the monstrous acts performed to attain the power to walk here. And yet here you are." One massive claw gently rubbed the frill atop Spike's head. "You've no desire for the kind of power this place offers. No magical might, nor authority over something as trivial as the elements. You sought strength enough to save what you loved most and looked within. Burned away the magics born to you as a dragon to drag free your very soul. Even as the world sapped away at everything you are, everything you were, you grew beyond the poor fit of your mortal shell."

"I... Won't fit in my body any more?" Rainbow Dash had stopped the chest compression. She was staring at his body with such an empty, dejected expression he could only assume one thing.

"Not as it was. Not as it is. If you desire to return, you must choose now. And regardless of what you choose, know that nothing shall be the same. And whatever your choice may be-" Windows of light shimmered into existence. Moments of time, memories of laughter and play, sorrow and joy were arrayed before him. "I, at least, am proud of you."

"I can't leave them, not like this. If I do, Twilight's just going to-" A great claw pressed against his lips, silencing him.

"I need not your justification, child. Simply your answer. Do you wish to return?"

"...Yes." The fog was rolling back in, the lights glaring and blinding him.

"Farewell, Spike. If again we meet, I hope to call you 'Friend'."

The fog faded away, neither dragon to be seen.

Only stars, far as the eye could see.

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Rejection

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

'No!' Twilight Sparkle dropped to her knees aside the still form of her closest friend. Trembling hands grabbed limp shoulders and pulled him against her.

"Wake up Spike! Please! Please..." She knew she was crying. She knew she was crying in front of other people.

She didn't care.

She'd been oppressed, possessed and her best friend was gone.

At this point, what did she care if something as superficial as her reputation painted her as weak, emotional?

"I don't want to be alone again! Please Spike, I need you!" The singed, crusty remnants of his shirt did a poor job absorbing her tears.

"Twilight..." Sunset didn't know what to say. She'd lost things, she'd lost friends, but never to this.

She placed one hand on Twilights shoulder as the girl, worn out and exhausted from so much that had happened, let everything out in choking sobs.

Her grief was loud enough they almost didn't hear the slow, rattling breath as Spike's body, for lack of a better word, restarted.

Or at least tried to.

His eyes didn't fly open, his arms didn't wrap around the girl clutching him for dear life.

It was far less impressive, but instead his body was wracked with a violent coughing fit.

Twilight had simply frozen as he convulsed against her.

When it abated, she could hear his labored breathing.

But he still didn't wake up.

One part of her mind, detached and clinical, began to tally up details.

His breathing was labored. He had not regained consciousness. His fever was growing hotter and hotter by the second and he was breaking out in a cold sweat and trembling.

That same part of her shunted aside the piece of her that remained frozen in shock and determined her next action.

Spike needed to go home.

She'd known that for some time. Its priority had been accelerated earlier today. And now?

It was at the prime spot of her list.

Earth wasn't equipped to deal with magical maladies, especially not...

'As your soul burns you from the inside out?'

There was no medicine or machine that she knew of to repair something like that.

And she didn't trust religion.

"Sunset Shimmer." Her voice sounded harsh. Part because of the form her body refused to release, part because she didn't feel there was time to deal with social niceties. "Spike needs to go home. Where is the best hospital in Equestria for magical illnesses?"

"But... Spike can't go through the portal. I watched him try, it-" Sunset felt herself thrown off at the sudden change in demeanor.

"That's not an answer. According to Spike, the portal activates in a town called Ponyville. Where is the best magical hospital from there?" Even at a time like this, people continued to natter on without answering a direct question.

"North-east." Her geography was rusty, but that sounded right. "In Canterlot, there's a clinic staffed with unicorns from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Best of the... Best."

Twilight gently leaned Spike back to the ground and stood up, her wings folding behind her. She looked over the remains of the statue they had gathered around and circled it once.

"It won't do any good. The portal is go...ne." Twilight had pressed her hands over the space where the portal used to be.

That was expected.

What was not expected, what shocked Sunset Shimmer speechless, was watching her dig her fingers into the stonework and pull them apart, tearing open a hole.

And on the other side was a room, filled with books and an alicorn, though said alicorn was facing away from the hole and looked to be reading.

She pulled her hands away from the spread edges and growled as it sealed shut.

"Do that again." Applejack had watched closely, though silently.

When Big Mac would get like this, silent and direct, it weren't usually a good sign. Usually best to just let the fella work out what was bothering him in his own time.

Twilight wasn't Big Mac though, and this looked to be a lot more serious than just finding out your crush had a thing for a useless braggart.

Twilight silently complied, pushing open the portal again.

Applejack stepped up, grabbing on to the lip of it and pulling.

It felt like trying to pull two carts all on her lonesome.

"Rainbow Dash! Quit bellyachin' about kissin' a boy when he couldn't see how awesome you was and gimme a hand here!" The poly-chromatic girl grumbled something -very- unflattering about her but joined her none the less.

With her pulling on the same side as Applejack, the two almost had enough strength behind them to keep it open.

And when Fluttershy joined in without a word, but a kind smile?

Holding one side open was easy as pie.

"Oh, oh I got this side!" Pinkie Pie, fully reinflated now that Thorn-Spike was less... Gone than before, latched on to the other side of the gap. When Twilight let go, however, she was pulled away as the gap tried to shut. "Okay, maybe I only kind of got this side. Rare-bear! You want to give me a dandy-handy so Twilight can go to magic horsie land?"

"Err... I guess?" Rarity offered at first only a dainty grip on the meta-material of reality before realizing she actually would have to put her back into it.

And she didn't disappoint.

Sunset Shimmer smiled at her friends, all doing their very best to help. And she wasn't going to exclude herself.

She grabbed on to the edge of the tear in reality and pulled, holding it open and grinning.

"Hey Twilight!" Sunset was grinning as she strained with the rest of her friends. "Come back soon, alright?"

Twilight gently lifted Spike into her arms, marveling at how light he felt.

She prayed it was just how strong she felt in this body, rather than how light and empty his was.

"We'll be back before you know it!" Spike, her dog shouted as he ran for the portal.

"Yeah. We'll see you soon. Hey Sunset?" Emotion was bleeding back into her voice. The shock was wearing off, replaced with fear, excitement and exhilaration. "Can you tell my parents I'm sorry?"

"For what?" And was this really the time? The gap was getting harder to hold by the second.

"For not saying goodbye." Her wings spread open and flapped once, propelling her through the portal.

Something struggled, pulling at the edges of the portal, trying to pull it shut and keep her out.

Or keep Spike away from it.

But her wings beat once more, propelling her through the resistance.

And into Equestria.

Author's Note

I referenced two mythical dragons in the last chapter, and the third one was from another video game, because good dragons are kind of sparse in mythology.
Who can figure out who was who?

Chapter Sixty-Eight

Rejection

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

The mornings were the worst part of her day.

She'd wake with the sun, go downstairs, and have a delightful breakfast of toast and coffee.

The same as every other Tuesday morning.

Then she'd examine the newspaper, see that absolutely nothing had changed, and carry on with her routine.

It was, in its own way, critical.

If she wasn't seen reading up on the commons of the day to day, ponies would think she didn't care about their lives. They'd end up doing insane things to get her attention.

Like knocking on her door, or sending her baked goods or fruit, or having Rainbow Dash propel herself through her study window at speeds just shy of mach-1.

Actually, Twilight Sparkle still hadn't followed the particular event trail that caused that last one to happen.

It certainly hadn't repeated itself, regardless of vigorous testing.

Which was, in hindsight, far more curious than not.

Regardless though, after nipping Pumpkin Spice's future gossip in the bud, she typically took care of her leftover paperwork from Monday until roughly lunch time.

That was when the fun happened.

Fun for her.

Tedious and boring for most.

She had a unique opportunity, after all.

She had the single most complex enchantment currently known to ponykind sitting in her library, after all.

And she was tearing it apart. Strand by strand.

Except the one time she did it literally.

She'd... Been having a bad day.

For a very long time.

Starswirl's Mirror was an amazing piece of work, it contained a gap in reality, through which a tunnel had been bored to another reality. And then both ends had been, for lack of a better term, applied to otherwise mundane materials.

It wasn't like she could just stick her hoof through any other mirror, now could she?

She couldn't. She'd tried. It had been a bad day.

Boredom... May have been a bit of an issue.

Though that wasn't to say she hadn't been successful at the brunt of her endeavors on disassembling the mirror, just that, from time to time she needed a break.

And that usually involved crazy pony shenanigans.

Like the one time she'd visited Applejack, learned square dancing from Granny Smith and then had to help the old mare win a hoof at poker to pay for a new hip

Briefly, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and youngest alicorn of Equestria debated writing everything down.

Maybe making a book of it?

Before discarding the idea. It hadn't worked last time.

And she'd run out of variety to try around Ponyville. At least without finding Discord.

So instead, after Lunch, every Tuesday, she buckled down to keep working on the mirror. And she was making progress.

Though, she decided, Starswirl was maybe a bit touched in the horn.

The basic enchantment on the mirror was relatively simple. It was a more complex, safer and far more powerful version of what was placed on magicians boxes, the vanishing cabinets that swapped a ponies position via pre-programmed teleportation across two clearly defined anchors.

The conditional limiter on that enchantment was, again, relatively simple. It would lock the other side based on the phase of the moon.

She'd learned how to do that all the way back in magical seventh grade.

The rest of the enchantments, though, was where things started getting tricky.

Because while some unicorns would remember that Starswirl was the founder of Time Magic, he was also a tinker. He had more incomplete spells in his wing of the library than finished ones, some that were simply never completed and others he failed to write down.

And the time spells attached to the mirror?

He definitely never wrote them down.

It took a lot of work, especially since she was functionally doing everything from memory, but she managed to break down a few of them.

Like the one that, if activated while the mirror was drawing out a source of dark magic, would eject it into a random point on the other side of the gap.

It was entirely possible that the sirens had only been in the human world for a few days before they'd started the battle of the bands.

On the opposite end of the extreme, they may well have been the founders for the city of Canterlot.

Without interviewing them, it would be impossible to say when, exactly, they had been thrown out.

Twilight couldn't decide if that was clever or hare-brained.

The other time spell he'd woven into the mirror though?

Well, Starswirl should probably be happy he'd passed away almost a millenia ago. If not, Twilight would have words for him.

Like 'Jerk'.

She had no idea if it was commonplace to curse your enchanted items way, way back in the day. Starswirl and Sombra simply weren't enough points of data to make a definitive conclusion.

But she'd take her greatest fear over being stuck in a blasted twenty-four hour long time loop for trying to unweave an innocuous looking spell to update the mirrors integral stability to the spell that determined if it needed to auto-repair!

She didn't even know what the end-goal of the spell was supposed to be!

Did it remove her from normal time? Had her friends woken up one Wednesday morning to find she just wasn't there?

Were there other ponies, some poor unicorns trapped in a day that would never end?

Twilight was terrified the answer was 'Yes.'.

But she hadn't let it stop her. Day after day, Tuesday after Tuesday, she got up in the mornings.

And she had toast.

And she got to work.

Because she wouldn't get herself unstuck by doing nothing!

Twilight's chin struck the table as she glared at the book in front of her.

She hated days like this. Days where she was feeling introspective.

It always left her feeling powerless. Depressed.

But that didn't stop her from feeling a charge in the air. A smell akin to burning metal was slowly filling the room.

"Woah, this place is neat! It's full of those books Twilight likes!" That voice.

She hadn't heard that voice in...

She wasn't sure. It... Had been a long, long time.

Her head whipped around and she froze.

He was standing there. Standing on two claws, his tail wagging back and forth behind him.

His emerald eyes were taking in everything around him, walking in a circle and oohing and aahing at everything.

Finally he seemed to notice her petrified form and he bounded to her, bouncing on his claws and tripping to get to her.

The pony in her said she needed to back away. The researcher said this was something new.

The Twilight Sparkle in her said nothing as she stared, transfixed, as a baby dragon ran up to her.

"Hi! I'm Spike!"

Author's Note

I can spell innocuous without having to look it up, and end up missing the N in anchor.
Lovely.

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Rejuvination

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

She took one step, and the another. He was just standing there, looking at her with the most innocent expression.

But it wasn't recognition.

"H-hi Spike. I'm Twilight." This wasn't her Spike. The mannerisms, just the way he was standing were all wrong.

And last she recalled, Spike was a unicorn.

Well, not quite true. She could put two and two together well enough to know that the last time she'd seen Spike, he'd been a human.

And calling himself Thorn.

She was almost a hoof away from the grinning dragon, his tail wagging like a dog, when the mirror bulged out towards her.

"You're Twilight too? I-" Spike never finished what he was saying before he got bowled over, impacting with Twilight and barely slowing down his fall.

Twilight had developed an instinctual response to magic blowing up in her face. That being, drop down and go limp until the ringing stops.

It was only marginally effective.

Following the magical burst was another thing Twilight hadn't been expecting to see.

An Alicorn. Great black wings at her side and eyes rimmed in fire, holding on to something and trying to decelerate all at the same time.

She ended up crashing into a chair, dropping what, who she was carrying and rolling into a bookshelf.

Twilight gave her an eight for her entrance, but her total score came out to a measly three for sticking the landing.

"Twilight!" Spike jumped to his feet and was already running for the downed alicorn.

Twilight herself slowly got to her hooves and cautiously walked towards the downed pony.

"Spike! Check on Spike! I dropped him, I can't-" She was trying to get her hooves under her.

And failing spectacularly.

The dragon veered to the side, running for the immobile lump instead of the flailing alicorn. His claws pressed against the unicorns barrel, palms flat against his ribs.

"He's breathing!" The dragon shouted, much less gleeful than before.

Twilight finally got a good look at the unicorn he was checking on.

And she thought she was going to be sick.

He was out cold, his tongue splayed out of his mouth and... Twilight could count his ribs.

And worse still, she recognized him.

Her mind wanted to lock up.

She wanted to freeze.

She refused.

Water. No, no, doctor. Yes. Definitely a doctor.

"Hey! You, um, listen!" The alicorn had finally gotten her hooves under her and was walking unsteadily towards Twilight. "My friend, he's really sick. I need to get him to Canterlot!"

Canterlot? There was a perfectly decent hospital in Ponyville. Why would she, a human by Twilight's guess, need to take him specifically to Canterlot?

"What happened to him?" The pieces would come together eventually. Asking would make it happen much faster though.

"He did something, with his soul and magic and-and this zebra-spirit-curse thing called Zeb! And now whatever part of him is a dragon is burning off the rest of him that isn't and it's killing him!" The alicorn was trying to wrap her hooves around him again, but she simply couldn't make them work properly.

Twilight easily hefted him in her magic.

The time loop had happened before Celestia's promised books had arrived, unfortunately, and she hadn't made a point of it yet to go to the mail sorting center and dig them up.

They might have had the answer to this.

Probably not though.

"And Sunset Shimmer said to go to the hospital in Canterlot? Did she say the learners wing or Canterlot General?"

He wasn't supposed to be this easy to lift, he'd always felt like he 'weighed' more than he actually did when she used her magic on him.

This was definitely a magical issue then.

The hospital wing of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, then.

"No-no, she didn't say which. Just that he had to go to Canterlot." Behind the flames, Twilight was starting to piece the new alicorn together.

The pink streak in her mane, a baby dragon attached to her side and the general nervousness?

She'd bet she was looking at herself.

She wondered if her duplicate had figured that out as well.

"He can't teleport in his condition." For a dozen different reasons, the least of which being that he wasn't quite all there. He may not be able to keep himself together during the teleport, and leaving half of him here while the rest was a hundred miles away?

That would defeat the purpose entirely.

"We have to do something! He wasn't breathing earlier and he just- he- I can't lose him!" The dragon put one claw against her side and she leaned in to him.

It was almost comical to watch somepony so much bigger draw strength from something so little.

"And we will. With help. Think you can keep up?" At this time of day, seeing as she wasn't wasn't barreling into her study at speeds touching on sound, Rainbow Dash would be sleeping in a cloud, just over Applejack's farm so as to enjoy a nap right over top of someone working their flank off.

Twilight's wings flared open and a nearby window unlatched under her magic.

"It doesn't matter if I can." Her doppelganger said.

"Because I will!"

Rainbow Dash awoke with a jolt, breaking an awesome dream where she'd been showing off a totally rad triple-woozy corkscrew feint to the wonderbolts.

She blearily rubbed one hoof over her eyes before blinking at what woke her.

Well, who woke her.

Twilight Sparkle was hovering next to her cloud.

And Twilight Sparkle was hovering next to her cloud, except darker with fire around her eyes and looking, at least, twenty percent cooler than normal.

And Spike was a baby dragon again and on her back.

Alright, nevermind. She was clearly still dreaming.

"Rainbow Dash, we need your help." Normal Twilight spoke.

Yeah, that was usually how these dreams started.

Then a unicorn was levitated onto her cloud and she reared back.

Mostly dead unicorns were not how these dreams started!

Chapter Seventy

Rejuvination

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Pushing at her hardest, Twilight Sparkle had some serious 'Oomph' behind her.

Going at a leisurely pace, Rainbow Dash flew circles around her.

Two entirely separate worlds of skill.

Which was why Rainbow Dash was pushing a cloud far, far in the distance to Canterlot while Twilight was keeping a strong, though steady pace behind her.

It was just slow enough that the other Twilight could keep up.

Panting and struggling to keep altitude, but keeping up.

Spike was clinging behind her own neck after nearly being dropped.

Twilight stilled her wings for a moment, gliding off speed to meet her counterpart as Rainbow Dash disappeared from sight.

They would trust Spike to her.

They had to.

"So... How did you become an alicorn?" It was a question that had been niggling away at the back of Twilight's mind since they'd started the flight, and they still had a ways to go.

Almost half an hour, on the short end.

"I just-" The doppelganger was struggling to breathe, sucking in great breaths of cold air. "-was. I might have-" Another deep breath. "-tried eating an energy field bigger than my own head."

Well, that didn't make much sense, but Twilight supposed it was meant as a joke.

Especially since the other Twilight jumped in altitude while having a hacking, coughing laughing fit.

She was slowing down though, matching Twilight's pace instead of frantically trying to speed up.

"Let me guess, field of stars and fog, memories of your friends playing while some mentor tells you how you've done so well?" It was what happened to her.

Mostly.

"What? No. Blinding white light and fear while I felt my one friends hand trying to pull me free of a lot of magic. And then... Euphoria for a little while before I got shunted to the side of my own brain." The alternate Twilight wasn't even paying attention to where she was going at this point, just drifting along next to the slightly smaller alicorn with a distant look in her eyes. "Something kind of took over me, took over the magic. Spike noticed, called it out when it tried to pretend to be me and then he... Is there magic here that can drag a soul out of a body?"

"Why do you ask?" Twilight herself was only paying the smallest amount of attention to their heading as she could get away with.

"Because Spike used it. On himself. He pulled his soul out and fought the thing that took hold of me as a dragon made of fire. He pulled the soul out of me that was in control and he held it down while the... The girls over there and I did something and it-he-they got blasted with Harmony."

That certainly sounded impressive.

"And Spike died."

Wait.

"What?!"

"He wasn't breathing. His heart wasn't beating. You've seen him... Well, I thought-I thought the magic had just pulled too much from him. Rainbow Dash was performing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, but we hadn't thought it worked. It... It must have, though."

"He'll... He's going to be okay, right?"

Twilight didn't even know where to begin with that.

The only magic she could think of, that she'd ever read of, that would do that...

Well, the badlands weren't always a barren wasteland.

"I don't know." She never wanted to hear empty platitudes.

She doubted this Twilight would want them, either.

"Spike was never trained in magic, everything he was doing, he was doing it instinctively, so we can't tell just what he was actually doing. But he's breathing, so we can focus on making him better." Twilight actually had to marvel at that.

He'd been teleporting.

That wasn't just a spell anypony could pick up.

And he was doing a lot of it.

"But if he has any say in it, he's not just going to leave you (me) alone, alright?"

"...Yeah. Thank you."

"Anytime."

Rainbow Dash was a lot of things.

Awesome, for starters.

Totally awesome, too.

And maybe sprinkled with a dash of amazing.

But only on days that ended on Y.

Today was special, though.

She was pulling out all the stops.

Well, okay, not all the stops. If she was pushing for sonic-rainboom speeds, Spike would fall off the cloud Twilight dropped him on.

But she was definitely pulling out most of the stops.

Canterlot was rapidly getting closer and she was scanning it for the building she was supposed to take Spike too.

Blue shingles, tall spire, looks just like every other building in canterlot!

Except for one detail. There was a platform next to the spire with a great big red X on it.

Well, Twilight said cross, but that's just a lazy X.

Right?

Either way, she was landing on it.

A gentle nudge had redirected the cloud under her hooves and she spread her wings, decelerating.

There was nopony on the ground to meet her.

She glanced at the cloud, the unconscious Spike, and decided she needed to fix that.

There was a bridge attaching the platform to the nearby spire, stopping off at a door.

Which was locked.

She latched on to the cloud and zoomed over the side of the building, she sent the revolving doors spinning as she rushed through them.

A receptionists desk, the smell of sick and sterile.

This was the place.

"Hey Nurse, I need a doctor, pronto!" The mare behind the desk didn't so much as look up, simply tapping on a plaque that said 'Shh!'.

"Look lady, I ain't got time! He's in real rough shape!" The receptionist finally looked up, her eyes going wide as she saw who was talking to her.

That's right. Rainbow Dash.

"Oh! I-I'm terribly sorry Miss Dash. I'll-uh I'll get right on that!" She started fumbling around behind the desk, looking for something.

Probably boring pen and paper stuff.

Rainbow Dash hated that stuff, but she understood.

Bureaucracy needed to be fed.

"Look, get somepony out here to take care of him now, I'll do the paperwork after. Capisce?" Absolutely not.

She'd get Twilight to do it.

"Certainly! Right away Miss Dash!" The receptionist, her name plate said 'Buttercream', scampered through a door.

Sometimes, it totally paid to be popular.

Chapter Seventy-One

Rejuvenation

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Twilight yawned her way into the waking world.

Yesterday had been fun, maybe the most she'd had in... A while. It had been new, exciting and terrifying all in equal measures.

But it was another Tuesday.

Just another Tuesday.

She brushed her teeth, brushed her mane and made her way down to the dining room to have her breakfast of toast and coffee.

She froze in the doorway.

She'd offered a bed to the other Twilight after they'd been told that, until they'd finished examining him, there wasn't anything that could be done for Spike.

She could've sent her to the princesses.

She could've sent her to a random hotel.

She could've just left her to sleep on a chair and wait indefinitely for the doctors to tell them whatever magic afflicted Spike.

But what was the point? She wouldn't see the result of the choice, and this Twilight was the most interesting thing that had happened to her in ages.

They'd stayed up late into the night talking, retiring just shortly before midnight.

Before the alternate Twilight would disappear and she'd wake up to the morning sun of another Tuesday.

She couldn't believe her eyes.

"Good morning, Twilight!" Her alternate said through a mouth full of toast.

Twilight slowly walked herself over to the table and sat down, eying an infant dragon messily stuffing his mouth.

She latched on to the morning paper and pulled it to herself as a steaming mug slid across the table to her.

'Wacky Wednesday Hi-jinks!' was the header for the news that morning.

Wednesday.

She didn't understand.

She chewed, slurped, sipped and nodded without listening as Twilight and Spike and Pumpkin Spice all talked, trying to figure out what had happened.

She hadn't felt a Wednesday in...

Months?

Well, she'd repeated the same day for multiple instances numbering well over sixty, so it was technically months.

Except that it was still the same day.

Did that count?

Twilight wasn't sure.

She made some off-hoof excuse, freshening up? And walked away.

She needed to check on the mirror.

She needed to see to the enchantments!

She wasn't even aware she'd been running until she skidded to a stop in her library.

The books that had been knocked over yesterday were still strewn about. The chair was still knocked over.

The mirror was broken.

Twilight didn't understand.

She'd broken the mirror more times than she cared to count. Sometimes in a fit of peak, other times by pressing just a little too hard on the enchantments.

It never stayed broken though.

The shards were never still on the floor the next Tuesday.

What was different?

Twilight cleared a spot of floor with her magic and sat down.

She'd done absolutely everything she could think of regarding the mirror. Poking it, prodding it, activating and deactivating it. Manually unstringing every spell on it and in it.

So how had the other Twilight managed to break it, unintentionally at that, in a way that stuck?

Twilight mulled over the facts as she knew them.

Alternate Twilight had propelled herself through resistance to bring Spike home. She had also absorbed whatever magic had been used in anchoring the portal on the other side.

She was also not a native entity to this world, meaning that the transformation magics that would refit an individuals body to match the world they were moving to would have been activated regardless of the attempted lock.

So, in short, Twilight had been both accepted and rejected by the magic.

And it wasn't flexible enough or aware enough to work around that.

She broke it. That's really all there was to it.

Alternate Twilight broke the mirror.

From the other side!

Twilight threw her head back and laughed. She cried and she laughed because it was so simple, but something just beyond her abilities.

And she didn't think she'd enjoy any other Wednesday as much as she was going to enjoy this one.

Difficult and stressful as it was going to be.

"It was nice of her to let us stay here, huh Spike?" Twilight had known nearly the moment she'd seen her, the alicorn was her.

Herself.

Except not.

It was weird.

"And all this food!" The dragon shouted with his mouth full.

Twilight didn't know how much Spike had changed since jumping through those rifts, he was definitely smarter and could talk.

But he was still a dog under it all.

"It's just some eggs and toast, hardly anything special." The pegasus, Pumpkin Spice, she was nice. She didn't seem to understand the severity of everything that was going on and changing around her, but at the same time, she kept doing her job.

It was admirable, in its own way.

"Yeah, but you made it and it's good, doesn't that mean it's special?" Spike asked between bites of buttery toast.

"Oh, you are just absolutely adorable!" The pegasus actually picked the dragon up out of his seat and hugged him, excitedly spinning around in a circle once before she plopped him back down and trotted off to the kitchen.

Twilight had absolutely no idea where Spike learned to do that.

It would be something handy, err, hoofy?

Let's stick with handy.

Handy to learn how to do that. Compliment people and not confuse them.

"This is your third plate, aren't you feeling full?" And it'd been different each time. Apple jelly and poached eggs first time, strawberry jam and scrambled last time and this time had been buttered toast and sunny side up.

He'd inhaled everything.

"Nope." He patted his belly. "Still hungry."

"You keep eating like this Spike, you're gonna get fat." And that would be a nightmare.

Trying to keep a dog on a diet always got the dog to making their caretaker feel guilty.

"Wait. What's fat?" He actually put down the slice of toast to ask.

"It's what happens when you eat too much." Or have a glandular condition or a mix of either of those two with a sedentary lifestyle.

"Fat sounds awesome!" Twilight's hoof met her face.

"That's not-"

"I wanna be fat!" Spike stood up in his chair, toast dangling in a claw held up over his head as though he'd said something profound.

She had no idea where to start disabusing him of that idea.

Chapter Seventy-Two

Rejuvenation

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Waking up was... Difficult.

He didn't know why.

His eyelids felt heavy, his limbs were sluggish and even his jaw resisted cracking open for a hefty yawn!

But he struggled through it anyway.

It took some doing, but he managed to crack his eyes open.

He didn't recognize the room he was in.

It was dark grey, dim and dull. There was one chair in the corner and nothing else.

And a pony.

A younger stallion, dressed in a lab coat. He was green with a black mane, and Spike could see a needle trailing thread on his flank.

"H-hello?" His voice cracked, his mouth felt so dry.

"Ah?" The unicorn looked up from where he was scribbling. "Oh? Oh my!"

He set the clipboard on the edge of the bed Spike lay in and stepped up to him. His horn lit up and he seriously invaded Spikes personal space, shining the blinding ray straight into his eyes.

"Good, actually very good. Optical responses are within normal range." A small green ball floated into existence in front of Spike, moving to the left and right. "Very good, yes... Optical reflexes also normal."

The clipboard floated off Spike's bed and a quill started scratching at it.

"So Spike, how are you feeling?" Wasn't he supposed to ask the questions before he started doing tests?

"Uh? Tired. I'm really tired." He felt like he was ready to go back to sleep already, but he didn't want to.

He couldn't!

He didn't know if he was still dreaming, but he really hoped he wasn't.

He... He was home, wasn't he?

"Where am I?" He would've recognized the room if he'd been here before, he was sure of it.

"Oh, yes, yes. You were not awake when you were brought in, were you? Well, you wouldn't be able to answer in the positive, no, sorry. Right... The Canterlot Academy of Applied Magical Medicine, that's where we are at the moment." The unicorn was mumbling, but Spike could just barely make out what he was saying.

He'd had a lot of practice.

"In Equestria?"

"Of course? Where else would we be?" The doctor sounded puzzled.

Spike supposed that made sense. The human world wasn't exactly common knowledge.

"Nevermind. I think I think I'm still dreaming, does that make sense?" Spike closed his eyes and leaned back, the pillows felt so soft.

"In a way, yes. Can you tell me the last thing you recall?" The doctor had the notepad at the ready, quill poised to write.

"I... Think so? It kind of feels like I heard someone say something to me while I was underwater, I don't, it's hard to focus." Spike looked at the doctor, scratching away at the paper. "I think there was a dragon and he was... Proud of me?"

He had the impression that the memory was of something huge and golden, but he couldn't recall an actual shape, or put a voice to the words.

"Hmm... I see. Well, actually I don't. It may have been a dream, perhaps a fever induced hallucination? We've only just gotten that under control by the way, your fever." The scratching was picking up pace. "Now, Spike, you know who you are, yes? What you are?"

"Yeah... I'm a dragon. Why?" The doctor was making Spike uncomfortable, but he wasn't sure why.

"Well, strangest dragon I've never seen. We've been working almost non-stop since Miss Dash brought you in." The clipboard was set down again, the doctor looking directly into Spike's eyes. "After Princess Twilight and the... Other Twilight explained the situation many of us were quite excited to get you under the horn, as it were. Transformation magic mishaps are quite rare and poorly understand, you understand?"

"I... Can't say I do. Why?"

"Because they are temporary. Magical permanence is achieved through static enchantments on inanimate objects. The report that your form was forcibly altered, or perhaps that you are possessing an animated... Thing. It's somewhat difficult to discern considering the breadth and variety of magic you've been afflicted with."

"Been afflicted with? What's afflicting me?" That really didn't sound good.

"There's dark magic residue, but that's fading away quite well. Whatever it was, it looks like it was in direct contact with your for a matter of years. Most unicorns like yourself tend to get a little... Weird when that happens. Laughing inappropriately, trying to subjugate others, a fondness for pranks and bullying are the most common behavioral traits exhibited afterwards. Usually followed by ambition driving research which leads to spiking intelligence before some strange mishap occurs that leaves the afflicted individual as some kind of near-mindless malignant nit-wit." Well, that described Sombra pretty well.

"I didn't think dark magic was common enough to do that kind of research on?" Spike tried to leave that as a statement, but he couldn't keep his curiosity completely quiet.

"It's what I did my thesis paper on." Well, that was worrying.

"Carrying on, we've also found that almost all of the remaining magic left to you has differentiated itself into a form most often used by phoenixes and dragons. Commonly referred to as 'Fire magic' by the uninitiated. It's what's causing your fever, your... Form isn't appropriately able to utilize the magic you do have. Should you try, there are very good odds of a magical backlash. You like your horn, don't you?"

The question threw Spike a bit.

"Uh, yes?"

"Then I'd very strongly suggest you not try to cast anything. Now that you're awake, we can actually discuss treatment options. This is all new territory, you understand that, yes?" Spike hesitantly nodded at the question. "Good, yes. Well, what we would like to do is perform an active analysis on your magic and how it's interacting with your artificial biology. Miss Sparkle, the one with the larger wings, suggested that perhaps the absorption was incomplete and that remnants of your dragon nature remain. If so, we intend to try and either revert your form back into that of a dragon or else find some way to express them strongly enough that you can utilize the magic within you in a safe manner without inflicting grievous harm on yourself. Do you understand everything so far?"

Spike thought on the question.

He thought on it for several slow minutes as the doctor began impatiently tapping the clipboard with the now-dry quill.

"Sorry. Not at all."

Chapter Seventy-Three

Rejuvenation

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Celestia stood in the observation chamber of the hospital.

She didn't need to be here. There was no royal prerogative to watch an experimental process, nor was she related to anypony below.

Not by blood, no. Only one shared her blood.

But duty, responsibility? Filtered though it may be.

The stallion below, staring with bewildered awe as purple fur became purple scales before splitting apart, was a royal ward.

A fancy way of saying an orphan under purview of the crown.

He was older than Luna remembered. A young stallion rather than an older colt.

The cabal of healers shifted a hoof into a claw, longer and wider than the dainty little thing she remembered.

Ages and ages ago she had dreamed, entertained the notion of perhaps raising the newly hatched dragon.

It wasn't to be, it couldn't be. Her responsibilities wouldn't allow it. So much of her time was spent focusing on keeping the court running and her detractors stifled.

When could she have given him the time a child would need? Between court and duties, how could she have found the time to be...

Be a mother?

Spike was hardly the first she'd wanted to claim as her own. He would hardly be the last.

Celestia remained stoic as he panicked, belching fire and scrabbling at his throat.

The healers had it under control soon enough, however. Congregating together afterwards to try and find out what went wrong while one of their number wheeled Spike out of the room.

"'Tis surprising, no?" Celestia turned her head just enough to see the intruder in one eye.

Her sister. Few others had the wings to try and interrupt her thoughts.

"Yes. He's proven rather willing to undergo experimental treatments. He's very brave." It was pleasant when there were only the two.

Celestia didn't need to posture or pretty up her words for some scatterbrained sycophant.

"Perhaps. Or merely tired. The Twilight, the other one of course, you recall her words?" Luna had to restrain herself for the entirety of that meeting.

Aside from looking like a typical villian, something about the mare completely set off all of her warning bells.

"You think he's given up? After lingering hopelessly for months, with an actual prize in sight?" Celestia shook her head. "No. Not given up. But he has grown up."

And wasn't that what a child was supposed to do? Grow up, grow wise and then grow a new family?

"I can see that, I suppose. His friends care greatly for him, and through his actions he cares equally for them. Few enough who would fight for their friends. Fewer still would die for them." An awkward silence began to fill the room, a subject neither truly wanted to broach.

Death may not have been an intimate subject to pony-kind, though it was not unknown.

It was Luna who spoke first.

"Are we certain that this pony is Spike? Not some... Thing? Lingering in the shell he was forced into?" Luna didn't want to press, not too hard. Celestia's relationship with Spike was difficult, for many reasons.

"He has acted somewhat differently from what I recall, but nothing outside of reason. It is a ponies body, with a ponies appetite." And Celestia didn't want to answer.

"You know what I meant. Healer Watch House mentioned in his report that Spike mentioned having a dream, one where he could recall few details but those of a great golden dragon that was proud of him." A dream that Spike could recall nothing else of.

"Many ponies have strange dreams under strange circumstances. A disincorporated soul is, I would imagine, a very strange circumstance."

"Yes, a circumstance almost akin to what happened to Twilight Sparkle not so long ago, I would imagine." Luna was tiring of this game.

There was a reason she, and not Celestia, bore the Element of Honesty.

"I suppose you could look at it like that. But Luna, only one alicorn came through the portal and she's certainly not in this building." They'd both know if she were. Her power, her magic felt like a lingering hole torn in space and time.

"And Spike was never truly a pony to begin with." So why would he be an alicorn, Luna left unsaid.

"Indeed he's not." And Celestia left so much more unsaid.

"So what, then, would a dragon become?" Luna was genuinely curious, at the possibilities more than the reality.

The reality could be nothing after all, or it may be everything.

Only Discord knows.

"What more can a dragon become that is not a dragon? There are no deep, intrinsic differences between dragons as there are the pony tribes. Only that some are hatched with wings, others not, and all bear the same magical breath." Excepting old legends, well before the sisters time. Of dragons breathing lightning and frost.

Modern scholars simply assumed one to be Windigo's and the other myth or misinterpretation of great storms.

"Is that why you think they can have no aspirations greater than a hoard of gems?" Luna did not wilt at her sisters glare.

"I beg your pardon?" Celestia wasn't certain where the accusation came from, but it tickled her ire none the less.

"For some reason, Twilight Sparkle, your protege, inundated both our offices with dozens of papers on Wednesday containing reports, budgets, speculation and so many other problems which, upon review, were not trivial minutia. Las Pegasus is insolvent, Manehatten has more incidents of copyright and patent infringement than the rest of the kingdom and Fillydelphia is doing a very good job trying to draw the Windigo's back from the north." Luna fired off, heedless of her sisters attempts to interrupt her.

"The first two alone are serious enough, but Fillydelphia represents a matter of national interest. Growing resentment and discrimination has been fed by the creation of local laws to segregate the free beings living there and create a new caste of second class citizens!" Celestia leaned her head forward, pressing against the cool glass.

She couldn't escape court, not even in the hospital.

And judging by the knocking on the theater door, her guards were here with even more business that Luna had just brought up.

Lovely.

Chapter Seventy-Four

Rejuvination

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

"How are you feeling?" Twilight Sparkle looked over the unicorn, still lying in the hospital bed.

He'd put on weight.

A little, at least.

"Not too bad. They think they've just about got me figured out." At least, that's what one doctor told him.

The rest had no idea.

"That's good. I brought a few books with me, since, well, you are kind of a long term patient." Her saddlebags opened silently, a trio of books floating to rest on the table next to him.

"Daring Do, Hairy Trotter and The Hardy Colts?" Two mystery novels and one mystifying novel?

"I thought you'd like something to keep you occupied." She rubbed the back of her head.

He appreciated what she was doing, honestly. Keeping up appearances.

If she'd brought the trashy romance novels he really preferred, well...

He had more in common with Rainbow Dash than he really liked to admit.

"How are Spike and Twilight... You know, we really need a better way to refer to them. I bet everypony else is thinking the same thing." He knew it'd been a little confusing for the Human Twilight, but really it had just been Spike and Spike, confusing but not terrible.

"They're doing fine and Rarity may have brought that up, actually. Pinkie Pie has had zero trouble with it, of course."

"Of course."

It was Pinkie Pie. That mare could tell twins apart.

"Have you discussed it with her?" That was important, wasn't it?

"Not yet. She's still settling in, and it hasn't really been easy. She loves magic, no surprise there." Both Twilight and Spike shared a deadpan look.

A Twilight who didn't love magic? It'd be an invasion of the body snatchers before that came to pass.

"But she's doing really weird things with it. She levitated a pencil for a minute and had a breakdown. Something about violating gravity, Newtonian physics and the basic rules of the universe. I... Might not have helped matters."

Spike rubbed a hoof over his nose.

"What did you do?"

"I... Might have mentioned that, well, that's kind of the point? Of magic?" In her defense, it really was.

"Did you explain it to her?" That would have taken a lot of the edge off, at least he hoped.

"Yes, of course I did! Not. She's still in the waiting room, I'll explain to her how Magic is the means of expressing will upon reality in a little bit." It was the most basic understanding of magic that existed.

Cheerilee taught it to foals!

Twilight probably hadn't thought of that, not in any significant manner, since she'd been accepted into Celestia's School.

"Should I go explain it to her now?" And there was the guilt.

She hadn't done anything wrong, hadn't meant any harm. She was just involved, she took things too close to heart.

"Would you want someone to find you as soon as they knew the answer to something troubling you?" Of course she would. That's a part of who she was.

"If I'm done before visiting hours, I'll come back soon, alright?" She bolted out the door before he could so much as wave.

Still, he smiled. It was Twilight, it was just who she was. Excitable and quirky and too clever for her own good.

Either of their own goods.

He reached for the Hairy Trotter book and settled in, he was going to be here a while.

...Why did he feel like he was missing something important?

Spike set the book down, a grin on his muzzle.

Twilight hadn't returned, nor had Twilight shown up with Spike in tow and wow he really needed to figure out a better way to refer to them.

The rest of the Elements not showing up wasn't too terribly surprising, though it was a bit disappointing.

They all had responsibilities, lives to live and a trip by train to the nations capital was neither fast or quick.

Though regardless, it certainly wasn't going to ruin his good mood. The Hairy Trotter series wasn't his favorite, but it was up there pretty high.

A young colt off to learn magic, in a school where anything and everything was possible...

Spike felt like hitting himself.

It was obvious. It was so blindingly obvious!

Underneath all the flavors and inclinations, what was magic?

Will made manifest!

And he had magic!

With a grin he latched on to the fire roiling within his soul and exhaled.

Not enough to expel a tongue of flame, but enough to calm his beating heart.

Fire was a lot of things, to a poet it could be anything.

To Spike, it was synonymous with magic. One was the other, but one could always be more, if you could imagine it!

He pushed his desire into the flame, shaping it and directing it.

Scales replaced fur.

This was it! This had always been it!

The unicorns couldn't change his form, not permanently.

But him changing himself?

It had been his goal from the beginning.

Scales pushed out fur and made their way up his neck.

Okay, maybe this was a bit... A lot uncomfortable.

Bones audibly cracked as flesh split and reform, new claws latching on to the rails of the bed as the magic moved on its own, heedless of its container.

Spike's mind reeled as it tried to decide what was hurting more, his head, his back or his claws! At least, that was before the long bones of his limbs creaked and protested the changes forced through them.

He was twisting the metal, a distant part of him realized.

It was sheltered from the agony of years of growing pains all coming to bear at once, and it was his refuge.

He could feel, it was different from everything else, the way his claws were twisting the groaning metal.

Not a lot, not enough to shear, but more than enough to warp.

And that same part took notice of wide eyes staring in fear through fiery rims.

Twilight.

"H-hey Twilight. Don't-don't you know it's, it's rude to walk in on someone changing?" And it was the part of his brain that enjoyed making bad jokes.

Wonderful.

Chapter Seventy-Five

Rejuvenation

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Twilight had been quiet throughout the entire process.

Spike, panting and exhausted, couldn't even begin to explain how much he appreciated that.

"Are you okay?" Twilight approached from the side, looking him over, her eyes trailing up and down.

He looked a lot older than her Spike.

"I think so. Gonna surprise the doctors tomorrow though, aren't I?" He was inspecting himself as well. His claws were sliding up and down his arms, gliding across smooth scale.

"Yeah..." Twilight looked to be thinking, she was there, but she wasn't.

Spike lifted the blanket off of himself, sliding onto unsteady legs.

He'd looked sickly as a pony. He looked just as bad as a dragon.

Stickly and thin, his spines jutted out more starkly from his emaciated frame.

He failed to notice Twilight blushing as he tried stretching out his legs, circling around himself a few times to get a glimpse of his tail.

It was longer than he recalled, but it was so much thinner than before. Just like the rest of him.

His claws were longer, his limbs were longer, and this time around even his neck was longer!

With that in mind, it took nearly no time at all for him to stumble over his own feet.

Twilight was under him in an instant. Propping him to his feet with her shoulder in the same instant she latched on to him with magic.

"You need to be careful!" She stood there, his palm against her shoulder until he was steady on his feet. "You have no idea how worried I've been."

"Sorry Twilight. I guess I'm not used to my feet anymore." He rubbed the back of his head, claws sliding roughly against unfamiliar spines.

"I..." She shuffled her hooves. "I didn't just mean that."

"Huh?" His glasses didn't fit anymore, leaving Twilight a purple blur in his vision.

"How long were you sick, Spike?" She pushed him back, forcing him to sit on his bed.

"I don't know. A few months?" He hadn't kept track of it, though he had certainly tried. During the worst bouts, before finding human medication to take the edge off, he'd lost days at a time to exhaustion and fatigue.

"Almost three. I visited a few times when you were hospitalized and you were so... Still. I was afraid you'd died and the nurses just hadn't cleaned you up yet." She climbed up on to the bed, sitting awkwardly next to him.

Ponies really weren't built to sit like that, like they were humans.

"Then you'd come home and miss days of school and Marley would let me check in on you. And you weren't any better." Her voice had gotten higher, Spike could hear that she'd taken a deep breath.

She was crying.

"Twilight, I'm-" A hoof pressed against his lips, halting his apology.

"Don't say it, Spike. You were doing something amazing and it just, it, just, it don't apologize for trying to help people. Okay?" She pressed on, her voice staying level, though at a higher pitch. "And then I came in here because I was worried and I saw you, hurting and changing and it scared me."

"Twilight." He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her against- No, he wasn't strong enough to do that. He pulled himself against her, though. "I wasn't trying to scare you. It surprised me, too, when I figured it out. I'm sorry you caught me in the middle of that."

The both of them sat in silence for a few moments. Twilight gathering her thoughts. Spike simply enjoying her warmth.

"You're different from Spike, you know?" She moved her shoulder against him. "He's learning quickly, but everyone says he doesn't act like a dragon."

"Well, he's a dog. Coming through the portal, he's still a dog on the inside. But..." He scratched at his muzzle with his free claw. "There are dogs here. I watched Winona for Applejack once."

And only once. It had been disastrous.

"So you wonder why he didn't just come through as a dog?" Twilight sounded curious as well.

It would have used less energy, wouldn't it?

"I guess there's a sort of balance between the worlds, the mirror trying to swap things exactly as they are on the other side. I kind of wonder what would happen if Winona tried to go through it. I don't think she'd change, you know?" Twilight shrugged against him, a sign of silent agreement.

"And Spike is probably going to be fine." The other Spike, not himself. Though he hoped he'd be alright as well. "It'd take something really severe to get him down for too long."

"Like not being able to go home?" Her wings were drooping.

He took it to mean that it wasn't really a question.

"What happened?"

"I... Bringing you here, I broke the mirror. It didn't want to let me, you, us through." She pushed against him when his grip went slack.

"Twilight? You... You can't go home?" His heart froze in his chest.

He knew how that felt.

He knew that despair.

"Maybe? Twilight said she was working on recreating the mirror. Just... Better." She didn't sound as worried as he felt. "And... maybe I don't want to go home."

"Twilight?" She wanted to stay here? Away from her family? Away from her...

She'd reached out to the human worlds elements of harmony. Didn't she want to try and be friends with them? Get to know them?

"Everyone here is so much nicer than back home, Spike. If you bump into someone, they say they're sorry, you say you're sorry and everyone walks home happy. At Crystal Prep, if I walked into someone they'd just yell at me, knock my books to the ground and... And usually you would help me pick them up." She pressed her head against him. "The other Twilight, she told me that not all ponies are that nice, that there are places where it's just as bad as back home but I haven't seen it. And my best friend, he's here. This is his home, it's where he belongs."

She sat back up straight and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hoof.

"So I want to stay here. I want to learn magic, learn to fly, learn to fly with you and not go back. Back to all of... That. I love my parents Spike, and I love my brother, thick-headed as he can be, but... What will I be going home to?" He placed a claw on her trembling shoulder, working at deciphering everything she was saying.

Fly with him? But he didn't...

Oh.

He did.

Wings, he'd sprouted wings. It must have been part of the rest of the transformation, but he'd been a bit too distracted to notice.

"Maybe you could transfer to Canterlot High? It's full of good people, nice people who wouldn't be upset with you, or feel threatened by you just because you're smart." And awkward. But saying that probably wouldn't help.

"Maybe. But Spike, that's just a maybe. Even if I did do all that, even if it all worked out, what about you? You're my best friend, you've been there when nobody else wanted to be... When my brother practically sold me for a date with the dean." Okay, that might have been a bit extreme.

"So you're going to stay here?" It wasn't really a question, she'd made herself clear enough.

"Aim at where the target is going to be. Exhale. And release..." Twilight mumbled to herself, seemingly centering herself though Spike couldn't tell for-

She pressed her lips against his.

"I'm staying here, Spike." Her tone was solid, borderline forceful. "You're not getting rid of me, and if you worry me like that again... I'll tear down Tartarus to bring you home again before giving you something to worry about."

He nodded.

She... She'd kissed him.

"Twilight?" His brain restarted, countless thoughts stuttering to a halt as they tried to finish forming.

She didn't respond, not verbally. Instead she leaned against him, nearly pushing him over before he propped himself up.

"I'm... I'm glad you're here." He didn't know what else to say.

Because nothing more needed to be said.

Author's Note

And this is done.
There's so much that could be done with this, and I may do an epilogue chapter, haven't decided yet, but I'm satisfied with where I've brought this.
It's kind of full circle, in a way.

Everyone who's reviewed and commented, I just want you all to know that I've greatly appreciated everything you've had to say. Even my less than stellar critics.
This is the first story I've brought to a close... It's really kind of cathartic.

Chapter One

Growing Up, Growing Away

Beyond some half-forgotten memories, Spike the Dragon has lived with Twilight Sparkle for as long as he can recall. Distant memories of play freely intermingle with the drudgery of a hard day's work. What's a self-motivated adolescent to do when today looks just like yesterday and tomorrow doesn't plan on changing?

Maybe, somewhere underneath the scales and above the wild magic, Spike can figure out who he is, more than just being a baby dragon.
But unless he takes tomorrow in claw, it won't be any different and he'll still just be Spike.

-Disclaimer: Hasbro owns all recognizable characters, most unrecognizable characters, and no, I'm not profiting off of this.

A young dragon, purple of scale and frilled with green, settled himself as best he could upon a seat that was too long, too wide and much too deep.

Eyes of emerald gazed without sight as trees flickered by as the train carried him and what little he called his own to a distant locale to the east.

Fear gripped his heart while trepidation filled his mind. Regret hung like a miasma through his thoughts, held at bay only by the steel of his resolve and the self-consuming flame of need.

His listless gaze drifted to the emptiness of his cabin.

Even as the train inexorably ran to its destination, the drake wasn't certain of his own. He didn't know what he needed.
Food, certainly. Shelter would be nice as well.

No, this flight, this journy was to feed a rather different maw. To satisfy a rather strange hunger.

The youth needed to know, beyond his own doubt, beyond his own dreams and fantasies. He needed to know that how he'd been living, if what he knew and that which made it was truly how he intended to spend the countless days before him.
Perspective, in a way.

It's a small word for what he was looking for. He didn't really know how to find it, though he knew what it was. Always had he lived as a dragon, though rarely had he understood what it meant. Fairly, he assumed a dragon he would always be, though the trappings of a wyrms claim he hardly knew.

How does one describe the scent of lillies on the wind, or the sound of a brook babbling over flat stone upon a shallow in a river?
How would one of reptillian visage explain a desire to have fur? A wish to see a feast in a field of daisies instead of soothing beauty? To know beyond any shadow of doubt his true talents, the purpose for which he was born? Instead... Instead of being hatched?

Idly the young dragon shook his head, dispelling the iridescence in his gaze, the shadows from his thoughts.

A claw ran across the top of a suitcase nearby. Truthfully, it was the only other thing in the cabin beside himself. The presence of which did nothing to calm the turmoil of his mind, though it bolstered the steel within his heart.

He wasn't walking into the dragon's den (A corner of his mind giggled at the irony of the statement) empty-clawed at least.
A hoof rapped harshly upon the window to his cabin, the shadow of a conductors hat bobbing behind the curtain.

"Half an hour to Baltimare! Everypony get their things together, all children under hoof! Wouldn't want anypony getting left behind now!" The shadow ducked out of sight, repeating itself to every closed door and open family upon the few cars of the train.

The dragon locked his gaze upon the window. Emerald eyes met emerald eyes.

"Lookin' good, Spike. Real good, you got this!" The sharp grin that responded was brittle.

No, he really didn't.

Author's Note

Figured I'd try my hand, and whilst a favorite character, Spike is terribly under utilized.
Also figured this would be good exercise to get me broken fingers through physical rehab.
Any issues noted, please either PM or comment.

Chapter Thirteen

Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Spike followed behind Pinkie, doing his best to keep up as she spoke at the speed of light.

He liked the mare, he really did (It was hard not to) but she tended to babble and get distracted on tangents that were confusing on a good day.

Some ponies insisted she was 'Just so random' and waved her eccentricities off as 'She's just Pinkie Pie'.

He didn't quite agree.

Pinkie Pie was just... Bad at explanations.

Like back during the parasprite incident. (That was almost as bad as my birthday) He'd been with Twilight when she was asking why Pinkie was getting all those instruments together. She'd tried getting them to play a part in a makeshift band to drive the little critters off but she hadn't explained why.

She even got frustrated when she was asked why she'd been doing that

Twilight got like that, too, sometimes. It was why Rarity never came to her for lessons on magic.

"-Anyway, Mrs.Cake hadn't actually been replaced by a changeling but was in Las Pegasus for a bakery convention and Rainbow Dash thought-" She was still going on about the trip they'd been on.

He was interested. Really, he was, he just... Couldn't keep up.

"-But we found some changelings, actual ones when Applejack went to this place called a club because she heard they were serving something named after her and the changelings were dancing! But we didn't know they were dancing then. No, wait, we knew they were dancing but we didn't know they were changelings! Things got really weird then because-" She hadn't told him where Twilight was.

Just that she had something important to tell him.

"-They actually splintered off from the hive because the magic broke at Canterlot and found their friends spread around and we're here!" The sun was setting, the lights were off at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie opened the front door, Spike couldn't make anything out inside.

He didn't even think twice while he followed her in.

The door closed behind him, dropping everything into the abyss of darkness.

"SURPRISE!"

The lights flicked on, the room was full of ponies.

Spike was surrounded.

He jumped, flailed in the air and dropped down in an unkempt mess.

"Pinkie Pie, ah thought you said Spike was back?" An orange mare wearing a stetson asked the pink one.

Applejack, element of honesty. Adorned with neither horn nor wings, she was an Earth Pony. Her physical might immense and unquestionable.

"But it is Spike!"

"Sugarcube, ah'm sure you mighta noticed while you were bringin' the little fella here but, well, that's a pony."

"Yeah, totally not a dragon, Pinks."

"I'm afraid I must agree, dear."

A fifth voice tried to speak, but it was too quiet to be heard.

"But I am Spike!"

"I am sorry you got dragged into this, dear. Pinkie Pie is... Pardon?" An alabaster unicorn, her mane a royal purple paused as she processed his words.

"Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie! Not pardon! I told you he was Spike, you just wouldn't listen!"

Spike looked at the cake, the five mares, the great big banner proclaiming 'Welcome Home!'.

At least he couldn't say today was boring.

"Is the dragon sober yet?" Clues had dried up at the scene of the incident. The dark magic was too faded to be followed by any divining spells nor was there any more biological material to be found.

"Yes your highness. He's down this way, in holding. We were about to process him and send him off." The unicorn, Frisky led the two princesses to the back room where a trio of holding cells were kept.

"I thought we got everything he knew about it, Luna?" Twilight was curious, a commendable trait, Luna knew, but in this case quite troublesome.

She needed answers. A friend had been lost to her. Twilight would figure out this was beyond routine in short order, she was sure.

"It would be best if you waited out here, Lieutenant." Twilight started to speak but was silenced with a nearly indecipherable look.

"I can't do that, Princess. Policy says that-"

"Then I shall make it an order. Celestia has signed away much of her royal privilege and prevented our youngest additions from gaining the power we wielded. I have not. You will remain outside this door, you will not enter until our business is concluded." Princess Luna, she who raised the moon, did not ask if her order was understood. The Lieutenant meekly nodded, knowing better than to argue when a superior was pulling rank.

The door to the holding cells slammed shut behind them, an aura magic sealing it shut.

"Luna, what's going on?" Twilight was growing uncomfortable. The atmosphere had been oppressive since they'd walked away from the scene of the incident, but this was worse.

She was almost willing to say she was afraid of the elder alicorn.

"One-thousand years ago, Twilight, we were the absolute authority of the land. Celestia and I passed judgement as needed, we'd begun writing the new laws defining the legal power we wielded." She was speaking loudly, ensuring her voice carried to all the corners of the room.

"Slavers and murderers were not uncommon, even among the pony tribes. Then, as she does now, Celestia favored forgiveness. I did not. Tell me, Twilight, did Celestia ever share with you which of the elements lent her their aid in the battle against Discord?" They were walking slowly to the end of the hall, no dragon present in either the first or second cage.

"No, Princess." Twilight's ears laid flat. She knew whatever was burning under Luna's visage wasn't aimed at her. It was terrifying none the less.

"I cannot claim to be surprised. Once upon a time, she strove for perfection. Likely enough, she still feels an echo of shame that Loyalty, Honesty and Magic chose myself." The hunched red form looked miserable, even to Luna's dispassionate gaze.

"My greatest regret is not that the nightmare possessed me, Twilight. It turned my horn upon my sister, struck down those that remained whom I called friend, ally. Honeyed words that exposed them at their weakest. My greatest regret was that it was my weakness that brought about such harm."

Luna's horn glowed, and Garble was lifted, flailing.

And slammed into the side of his cell at speed. He was flung into the wall opposite before he was dragged, pulled into the bars at front.

"Luna! What are you doing?!" Twilight was horrified, this was wrong, cruelty she hadn't dreamed the princess capable of.

Luna, in contrast, stared down at the quivering dragon with a wrothful, imperial stare.

"What had you intended for Spike upon your ambush!" Twilight opened her mouth, confusion, disbelief marred her face.

"Speak, Worm!"

Author's Note

I pull most of my inspiration from reading other stories or watching things on Youtube.
I cannot praise Undertale enough. The story is amazing, but the fandom... Much of what they've made is heart rending.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Spike looked through the open doors as he walked through the hospital, the doctors wanting to do one more test on him.

Well, they said with him. Being poked and prodded, told to stand this way or that, he didn't much feel like his participation was optional.

This time he was supposed to see some doctor called 'Ophthalmologist'. He was pretty sure that wasn't their name...

Pretty sure. He'd met Flaming Flatulence in Canterlot once. If that was a name, Ophthalmologist could be one too.

"Here we are, Spike." It was practically a separate wing of the hospital. There were various names, followed by letters like M.D. and Ph.D, all of it strung up on doors with words that twisted his understanding of Equiish.

"All of these doctors work here?" He assumed that's what they were. Doctors, nurses and janitors were the only ones who worked in hospitals, right?

"Well, yes, but they don't actually work for the hospital. This segment of the hospital is reserved for specialists or doctors running independent practices who are leasing space. For the most part, individuals coming to the hospital don't have eye injuries so they wouldn't need to see an eye doctor. That's what an ophthalmologist is, by the way." The name, in white lettering on a glass door, said Clarity Lens.

"Do I have to see her because of the burns on my face?" It was the only thing he could think of, why else would he need to see a doctor about his eye?

"Actually" She opened the door and waved for him to enter. "I noticed you squint a lot while you're reading and I brought it up with the doctor. He agreed that it wouldn't hurt to have a specialist see to you."

"It's not my fault! Most po-folks just have really bad writing is all." He gingerly set himself down on a chair to wait while Nurse Redheart was talking to the receptionist.

"Spike, most of what we've had you read were all printed. You barely paid any attention to the television when it was on and when we did get you some comics from the library you'd only read them for a few minutes at a time." She sat down next to him, her business with the receptionist taken care of.

"Those just... They aren't very interesting." What was he supposed to say? 'I'm sorry, your power gals comic just isn't as amazing as The Power Ponies'? He had no idea how to broach the whole 'Other Universe' subject.

Instead he'd kept quiet, tried to keep as many answers short and without detail. Referring to the ponies he knew as 'My friends' 'My boss' or 'My caretaker'.

The one po-person, the social worker, she seemed increasingly upset while he'd been doing this.

Called him a 'Brave little boy' when he (heavily) paraphrased how he'd been injured.

He certainly didn't feel brave. Especially not when he remembered the look on Twilight's face.

"Spike? Clarity will see you now." Another woman, a different nurse, said as she opened a side door, clipboard in hand. "Please come with me."

He hopped to his feet from the chair.

He grabbed the armrest of the chair as his entire abdomen screamed in fire.

A few deep breaths, he steadied himself, covering a grimace with a grin, and followed the nurse.

He never noticed the frown on Nurse Redhearts face.

"Alright Spike- Wait, Spike? Really?" Clarity Lens was an older ma-woman. Woman. Spike was hoping those slips would stay in his head instead of his speech.

Clarity Lens was an older woman, her hair was graying but her brown eyes were undeniably sharp. Though Spike wouldn't say it out loud, she was also definitely looking past her prime.

"Yeah, really. Why?" This wasn't the first time he'd gotten that reaction. The social worker had asked him the same thing.

"Nothing, sorry. It's just that my son has a dog with the same name. Supposed to be tough I guess, but really he's just a yappy little thing." Spike grunted, suddenly very unamused. "Oh, don't be like that. Have a seat and take that patch off, we'll go through a few tests before we check your vision."

He sat down in front of a large machine, straps made of materials he didn't recognize bridging odd pieces.

"Just set your chin in the strap right there, I'll be taking care of the rest." He did so, feeling incredibly nervous as he watched metal getting closer and closer to his face.

He nearly let out a sigh of relief when it stopped. It was so close, he was sure he'd poke something out if it moved any more towards him.

Then it spat out a puff of air, directly into his eyes. He nearly pulled away from the machine due to flinching so hard.

"Hey!" Clarity Lens was laughing, he most definitely wasn't. "What was that for?"

"Don't worry, Spike. It's just supposed to clear out any obstructions and equalize pressure, you know, to help make sure these tests are accurate." He grumbled but continued to cooperate. Shortly they moved on to some test where he had to say if he saw movement of some kind against a white field.

He felt like he'd failed that test.

They moved on to a test about colors, this one he was sure he did alright on.

Nearly forty minutes after it had all begun they'd moved to a different room. It was dimly lit and had a huge machine hanging from the ceiling.

"What's that supposed to do?" The ophthalmologist, Clarity Lens was staring at a clipboard even as she looked at what he was pointing to, the machine in the middle of the room.

"It's what we use to determine where your vision sits. We can manually adjust the refraction of light with it until we've determined what the appropriate offset is to appropriately match a deform." She flipped the page up before motioning for him to take a seat in the large leather chair under the machine.

Setting down her clipboard, she grabbed the handles of the behemoth and settled it on Spike's face. He was surprised to note that, while it felt tight, he had fully expected it to be heavy considering it's size.

"Now Spike, just go ahead and read the smallest line you can, alright?" He tried to nod, which predictably failed to work.

"Alright." There was a white board clearly visible in front of him. "E, M, Three, I, Five and a backwards E."

Third line down, that was probably normal.

"Alright. Now tell me if this is better? Or worse?" Something flicked off to the side and came back, blurring everything.

"Worse." He didn't expect them to find anything, he could see just fine after all.

"How about now?" The same thing flickered, though this time everything looked different.

"About the same. Maybe a little worse?" He couldn't be sure, had the E become a B?

"Alright, definitely not myopia. We're going to try going in the opposite direction. Just tell me if things get better or worse." The lenses flickered away, Spike knew there wouldn't be anything to find as new ones slid into place.

"...Better."

Author's Note

Eh, pure slice of life revolving around one of Spike's weaknesses and something I'd noticed across a few episodes.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Rediscovery

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

Spike had waited at the statue before Canterlot High every night of the full moon since he'd come to this world.

And almost without fail, nothing happened. The outlier, the one difference had been when Sunset Shimmer had come through the portal.

This night he watched her return.

Her glare had focused on him, watching as he did nothing but sit and wait. He hadn't gotten up, hadn't said anything.

As much as he wanted to, he knew she wouldn't listen.

Gingerly she set one hand against the stone, watching it sink in with some resistance. She pulled her hand free and looked behind her.

She jumped when she saw Spike was only a step behind her. Flinched when he reached over her shoulder and set his palm against the cool stone. Stared when his elbow bent at the force as he failed to go through.

"Same as every other night I've tried this." He smiled at her, contrary to the bitterness in his voice. He placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

"Good luck, Sunset." He stepped by her and went around the statue, turning the corner sharply.

"Thorn wait!" She moved to follow him, grabbing the corner to look around it.

She saw nothing but the wide, empty street. Her view unobstructed for blocks beyond.

A tremor ran through her, one she blamed on the cool autumn air.

That wasn't supposed to be possible.

Not here.

"You don't have to do this."

"Teacher or student alike, I'm sure all of them would help you succeed if you just asked.

She firmed her resolve, shoved away her hesitation with pride.

He didn't know anything about her!

They'd already proven him wrong!

He had to be wrong.

Right?

The sun was shining, birds were singing. It was a beautiful day outside.

One he almost wished he was spending inside.

He'd never lingered around the portal during the daytime. It wasn't really placed in a location he could just loiter indiscriminately.

He could already feel the other kids nearby staring at him, trying to place him.

This had been a bad idea. It had to be.

Twilight had done just fine the first time around, hadn't she? He didn't need to be here...

He glanced at his phone, checking the time.

Still on lunch.

He quelled his nervousness, shoving it aside with determination.

He'd watched Sunset Shimmer return through the portal earlier that morning, stuffing a crown into her backpack before taking flight.

She hadn't noticed him.

He hoped.

He watched the statue. And he waited.

He didn't have to wait long.

Someone melted through the stone.

An instant later, he did too.

Show time.

"But... I have no idea what you are." A little purple puppy said to her. Her puppy, her dragon, her friend. Spike.

She raised her hooves up, looking at the digits that she didn't recognize and willed them to flex.

It had been kind of like gaining wings. The muscles were there, the body knew what to do but she didn't.

They bent, moving in the sequence she thought.

She inhaled.

Her panic bubbled to a boiling point.

A digit pressed itself against her lips, distracting her and ripping her attention away from her own state.

Somepony stood in front of her, one digit pressed up against their own lips in a silent gesture she vaguely recognized to mean 'Shh!'.

"Hey!" Spike yelled. "Get your paws offa her!"

"Here." He pulled his appendage away from her face and held it in front of her, the bottom of it facing up. "Give me your hand."

She hesitated.

He'd been here when she arrived, hadn't he? He'd been waiting here...

She walked past him instead.

"Spike, come on!" He looked between her and the stranger who simply grinned and followed.

"Folks here are going to think it's weird if you walk on all four." Twilight hesitated and looked up at him. The way he was talking, he knew she wasn't from here. She couldn't doubt that.

"What do you mean? How do ponies here walk?" He was standing on two feet, he'd taken two steps with her before he'd spoken.

Was that what he meant?

He offered his... What had he called it? That thing was a hand? He offered it again and she took it this time. Rising unsteadily to her hooves and pushing against him.

She took one step on her hind hooves and stumbled.

"Twilight!" Her number one assistant yelled.

But didn't fall. The person holding her up caught her as she fell, stumbling with her.

"Th-thank you..." If keeping her balance was going to be this hard, getting her crown back was going to be a lot harder than she'd thought.

"You're not with Sunset Shimmer, are you?" He knew she didn't belong. If he was some sort of trap set by Sunset Shimmer, he was doing a pretty bad job of it.

"Nah, she had the same trouble you did when she came through, though." Well, that at least made sense.

Wait. No it didn't!

"You were here when Sunset Shimmer came through? Did you see where she took my crown?" Being met at the door with a clue? It was too good to be true!

"I mean when she came through last year. Couldn't stand on her feet, couldn't use her hands and nearly lost it when she realized she didn't have her horn." It was strange, the emphasis he was putting on those words, like...

Oh.

Oh!

Oh no!

Her hand flew up to her forehead, smacking against her face.

She didn't have her horn!

What good was her magic without a horn?!

"Unicorn, then." Unicorn? What was that supposed to...

He'd tested her. Clever...

"Easy there, just lean on me. It'll take some getting used to." She looked down, moving her feet the same way he moved his. A few steps later and she let go, wobbling a little as she walked on her own. "There you go, that's it!"

That smile on his face, he looked so genuinely happy to see her succeed.

He opened the door in front of her, letting her into the castle first.

She turned around, a thank you dying on her lips when she saw nopony behind her.

Author's Note

I set up clue after clue for what's going to happen.
I wonder how many I'm actually going to use, and how many are just going to be false leads to dead ends.

That said, I know where I'm going with this.
I just have no idea how we're getting there.