Archmage
He was awoken from his slumber by an incessant pounding upon his door.
Hardly the first time he'd been awoken in such a manner. Griselda could be such an excitable gryphon.
His joints cracked as he lumbered to the door, his first attempt at hollering for her to stop trying to break his door down interrupted by a jaw-cracking yawn.
His claw gripped the bronze doorknob and ripped it towards him.
Honey brown eyes were open wide and her beak was greedily sucking in air.
She'd run up here.
"Archmage Ritter! There's an emergency, on the ground floor!" One talon was holding on to the doorframe while she caught her breath.
"I figured as much, but what kind of emergency?" He slipped his robe over top himself, already reaching for the rest of his wardrobe.
A silver circlet, a pair of rings and a necklace later he was walking down the winding stairs that lead up to his tower.
"-and this pony absolutely refused to leave because she insisted we see to her friend! I told her anything life threatening could be seen to by our professor of medicancy, but she just threw a fit! Insisted you come down yourself!" A pushy mendicant was hardly anything new, his reputation certainly preceded him these days.
It didn't explain why they hadn't just fobbed her off to one of professors or thrown her out.
"Slick Caster was just going to throw them both out, but the ramifications of it! Imagine what the tabloids would say!" That explained a little bit.
Griselda hadn't made such a fuss since Sapphire Shores had shown up, incognito, asking for a cure to a particular... Condition.
"Alright, alright, this probably won't even take a..." He very carefully swallowed his words after opening the door to the main hall.
Rainbow mane. Cyan pelt.
Rainbow Dash.
And if she was here with someone who 'Couldn't wait', it was probably one of the other Elements of Harmony.
"Hey!" Between one blink and the next, she was directly in front of his face. "You the archmage guy, Blaze somethin'?"
"Blaze Ritter, yes." He carefully sidestepped her, looking at the skid she'd brought with her. He grabbed a hold of a piece of the insulated fabric and pulled.
Slender legs, massive wings, all lavender.
Even growing into the size of a full alicorn, he'd recognize her anywhere.
Princess Twilight Sparkle.
And her horn was shattered.
"You're like, the smartest healer this close to Equestria, right? You gotta be able to do somethin'! No... Nopony else could." Rainbow Dash trailed off uncomfortably, looking down at the flat stonework of the floor.
A curse fracture, if the smell was anything to go by.
Of course the backwards mules in Equestria couldn't do anything. They'd jumped so far forward they'd forgotten their own history!
"Griselda. Go and prep..." A negligent flip of his wrist fed him an update on the keeps enchantments, telling him who was where. "Exam room three. Have Slick and Wispy clear out rooms one and four."
The stone beneath Twilight Sparkle melted, a table with six short, stubby legs rising up and carrying her with it to skitter off to the room he'd specified.
He raised his claw, rolling it over so the palm was up and holding a tiny, glimmering light.
"Miss Dash, if you'll follow the light you'll be taken to the guest quarters so you may freshen up. I'm afraid the preparations for Miss Sparkle here will take the better part of an hour. When you're ready, simply open the door and the light will lead you to our waiting rooms." She looked torn between hugging him and following the light.
Thankfully for his nerves, she chose to follow the light.
Once the pegasus, both of the unicorn professors and his secretary, Griselda were all clear of the room he sank down against the nearest wall.
His nerves were shot. He was trembling and anxious, terrified.
It... It had been a decade now, or close to it since he'd learned what he was. Since he'd watched his friends... -Her- friends grow distant and disturbed at his presence.
Since he'd started trying to fix -her- mistake.
He'd be in an operation in less than an hour, and he couldn't even keep his hands still!
Thank Discord magical healing was only rarely the same as surgery.
With a deep breath, Spike the Dragon stood once more upon two feet and, ensuring that the enchantment that kept his purple scales the color red, he walked to the exam rooms.
The sooner he was done, the sooner his past would go back to where it belonged.
He'd need to prepare though, he hadn't been lying.
The horn, her horn would need to be shorn back, cut back until the infection was excised.
A cutting spell then. He wouldn't need anything special for that.
She'd need to be kept under the entire time though and he had two choices for that. Spell or potion.
Potion. Definitely a potion. He wouldn't have to swap out any of his equipment in the middle of anything important.
Another one to seal the stub of horn afterwards, keep it from getting infected.
Spike sighed as he realized at least two more steps that would need to be taken.
Her magic would need to be bound and she'd need to take a series of potions to encourage the growth of a new horn.
He knew what Twilight Sparkle was like, this was going to be a nightmare! She'd follow the aftercare instructions to the letter, except the ones telling her to hold off casting spells with her new horn until it had finished growing.
Which would be weeks! Plural! As in, more than one.
Yes, definitely have to bind her magic. Otherwise Rainbow Dash would just bring her back, semi-comatose again and try to blame him for her being, as usual, impetuous!
Because she'd just shatter her shiny new horn trying to cast some master-level spell well before it was ready...
Oh... Oh, Discord no!
They were going to have to convince a princess to stay here, in his keep, for her own good.
Spike steeled himself outside the exam room, ignoring the bustling of irate students being dragged out of exam rooms they'd been having... Rendezvous in.
Best get this over with now, it wasn't going to go away if he ignored it.
Much as he wanted it to.
Author's Note
AN/ This is supposed to be the hook before a series of flashbacks, then another scene in the present, followed by more flashbacks.
Odds are I won't be doing anything with this for a while, so I'll come clean with where I was intending to take the plot.
Basic Premise is that, Spike wasn't alive when Twilight hatched him. Yeah, undead Spike, zombie dragon fetus. Celestia doesn't believe he's anything more than a particularly well animated golem, tells Twilight after disturbing things happen, that spreads to the rest of the mane 6 and things break down from there as everypony starts to feel even more uncomfortable around the dragon. Spike eventually leaves quietly in the night and I'd intended for him to suffer from a degenerative magical condition which eventually leaves him an inanimate husk when Twilight isn't around to 'Recharge' him off her ambient magic. He'd find his solution in a school of relatively unpopular but versatile magic, enchanting.
The meat of the story is supposed to be about determining the value of life. He may have been made, but does that make him less alive, does that somehow mean he's soulless compared against the rest?
Archmage 02
He stared blankly at the book in his claws.
He woke with a start, a gasp. His chest was burning.
His eyes were skipping over words, constantly doubling back to catch what he'd already read half a dozen times.
His mouth felt like sandpaper, he couldn't get the sour taste off of his tongue. His back was killing him.
Why was he sleeping on a metal table?
He sighed and turned the page. It was a book he'd read often, though not enough to quote by heart. Reviewing it wouldn't imprint the words any deeper.
He just needed a distraction.
"I'm sorry, Twilight." He knew that voice, he could recognize it even through the fog in his mind.
It was Nurse Redheart, at least, he thought it was.
Recognition alone didn't equate clarity.
The other individual in the room with him, covered by a thin sheet, shifted in her sleep.
Her breathing quickened.
He closed his book.
"We don't know what happened. Fluttershy brought him in a few days ago in a state of hibernation."
Fluttershy?
She was supposed to be watching him while Twilight was out.
He'd just seen her a few hours ago!
"Nngh... whuh? Rainbow Dash?" Perhaps it was merely the morning fatigue, but her voice was much deeper than he remembered.
"I'm afraid not, Princess." He crossed one claw across another, dimming the windows and dulling the brilliance of the morning sun.
His head was pounding, his legs ached with every step he took towards the door.
He felt like he'd overslept for far too long.
"After rigor mortis set in, we... figured it would be best if we kept him preserved until you could return and... Make arrangements. He, well, he looks like he's just asleep."
"Who's there? Why can't I see anything!?" An innocuous red gemstone on her bedside began flashing quickly.
Panic. Her heart rate was rising well above normal.
"I'm Blaze Ritter, Princess. Headmaster of North Star Academy as you may recall. We met briefly the year before last, during the peace talks between yourself, the Crystal Empire and Yakyakistan?" The pulsing light faded as he talked, calming her as he directed her down memory lane.
"North Star Academy? Then, then you're a dragon?" Unseen by her, he nodded. "You were removed from the peace talks by security after getting in a fight with the delegate from Yakyakistan, weren't you?"
"If you don't want to see him, that's fine. We can move right on... to..." It had taken some effort, but he'd managed to open the door, a thick beast made of steel.
Natural light stung at his eyes.
Screams nearly burst his eardrums.
"He made some very rude assumptions as to what I'm teaching here, and I took offense." He was not training street-side buskers nor mares of ill-repute and he'd refused to let the accusation slide. "You may want to close your eyes, Princess. This may sting at first."
She didn't respond, so he assumed that she did as instructed. Diamond-rending claws gently pulled at the cotton fabric that had been meticulously layered over the stub of her horn and eyes, unraveling the pristine fabric from her purple mane.
He idly took note that she still had the streak of pink shocking through her locks.
"Alright. I've dimmed the lights but you may still be susceptible to backlash-induced migraines. If it's too bright, please tell me." One amethyst eye squinted open, followed moments later by the second. She blinked a few times as she adjusted, her pupils contracting almost immediately.
"Oh... huh." Her head slowly swung to and fro, bobbing slightly as she took in the room. The carved, polished stone of the wall and the warm oaken furniture. "This doesn't look like a hospital room."
"And it's not, in the strictest sense of the word. This is a place of magic, not medicine." He placed his book on her nightstand, seating himself once more in the nearby chair. "I'm sure you're aware of the difference between a healer and a doctor?"
A white pony, her mane pink, skittered back against a desk loaded with pens and papers when she saw him. She was screaming, her eyes widened in fright.
He could see the whites of her eyes.
Another pony stood frozen next to where the white pony had been. This one was colored purple, though unlike the first she had a horn and wings. She was staring at him, her jaw slack in surprise.
He didn't know what was going on.
Awkwardly, he waved hello.
"Sp...Spike!?"
"I...I feel better." She had ignored his question. "Is that why I feel better? Celestia and everypony else brought the best doctors in Equestria and they couldn't do anything..."
She trailed off to a whisper at the end, so quiet he could barely hear the last words.
Blaze sighed silently, dearly wishing he had thought to bring something to drink with him.
Preferably something strong.
"I can't speak for my counterparts in Equestria, I'm afraid, but your injury is one we've encountered a fair few times here." She zeroed in on his hooded eyes, glare suddenly razor sharp. "There's little by way of documentation of them in Equestria, but myself and a few of my colleagues found the existing records as well as the basis of what we use to treat them."
The ruby on her bedside was flashing again.
"Curse fractures are frightfully uncommon, Princess Twilight, even moreso is the unicorn that survives receiving one. If you don't mind my asking..."
Her nostrils were flaring, her eyes wide. If she wasn't half sedated, he'd be afraid she would charge him.
"What drove you to try casting Dark Magic so far beyond your skill?"
