2349 Days In
Spike wandered Ponyville. He broke down a door, hoping to find some trace of life. He knew it was pointless. He looked around in this house multiple times already. He looked in every house multiple times already. All he saw were reminders of his previous life.
Spike sighed. He left the house, returning to the empty streets of Ponyville. He took one of his few remaining gems from his bag, throwing it into his mouth, chewing and swallowing it quickly.
Spike knew he wasn't supposed to be here. His goal was to head over to Canterlot, and loot it for any gemstones. That was what Ember wanted. However, Spike couldn't bring himself to go through with that. He knew it would be another reminder of the life that he lost-no, the life that was taken from him.
A thought suddenly occurred to him. If nothing mattered anymore-then that meant everything mattered. Knowing this, he turned around, staring at the Castle of Friendship. He had never been able to bring himself to go in. It was just..too much. But he was going to change that right then and there.
Spike crawled his way through the mass of bodies surrounding the castle. He recalled that day as if it were only yesterday.
4 Days In
Twilight hurried around the castle, using her magic to bring items to block the door. She had heard what had started from Celestia. She sent a letter asking for more information, but never heard back. She could only assume the worst. She approached Spike.
"Spike, what's going on with Rarity?"
"She's..well, I'm going to be honest, Twilight. She's not doing great," Spike looked sadly at Twilight.
Twilight looked at the door, the mass of angry ponies making it harder to have a normal conversation. Despite this, she responded.
"Damn it..Spike, go check on her. Please. The others..the others are probably dead. We can't lose Rarity. She's the only one we have left."
Spike, upon getting confirmation, immediately returned to Rarity's side. He held her hoof.
"It'll be okay, Rarity. I'm..I'm here," Spike knew Rarity couldn't respond. Whatever this disease was affected that. Even if she had the ability too, Spike knew she wouldn't. She had lost much as well.
Spike looked at the heart rate monitor, next to the bed. He had been the one who hauled it from the hospital. Wasn't something he was proud of, but he didn't care. He was willing to do anything for Rarity.
Spike had thought of freeing Rarity from this tomb she was in. He knew she was suffering immensely. For some reason, however, he simply couldn't bring himself to do it. He truly didn't know why. He knew it was the only good thing he could do for her now.
Suddenly, the doors to the castle were broken down by the mass of angry ponies! He could hear a scuffle between them and Twilight. Ultimately, Twilight's voice was the one that went silent, first.
He knew he had no time. He reached for the sharpest gemstone he had. He squeezed it in his hand. He knew he wasn't ready for this.
"Rarity..I'm sorry. I.."
The voices became louder. It was now or never. Spike slammed the gemstone in, the force and blood loss killing her. He dropped the gemstone on the floor. He stepped back from the bed that the mare he had loved so much now lay dead in. He went through a nearby window.
Present Day
Spike looked around the empty hallways. The castle reeked of a smell he could not identify. A few bodies were here and there, though not many. Furniture was thrown across the carpets. The rioters and looters from way back were most certainly responsible for the castle's sorry state. Or, at the very least, he assumed that they were-he wasn't around here when it happened.
Spike noticed the purple allicorn laying on the carpet. Twilight. Spike approached her body, laying a flower he had collected on his way here on her body. He, of course, knew before this that she was most likely dead. This was simply tragic confirmation.
Spike walked through the halls, eventually finding his room. He entered, hoping he'd find a good reminder of what he had before everything.
Upon entering, Spike shifted his eyes around the room. He noticed a spider spinning a cobweb in the upper-right corner of his room. He started at it for a moment, eventually cracking the first smile in many, many years. This was the first bit of life he'd seen that wasn't a dragon.
Spike approached the spider, carefully moving it into his palm. He thought for a moment of bringing it along with him, as a friend, perhaps-but he knew that he would most certainly outlast this little guy. Deep down, as much as he wanted to bring the spider with him, he knew he couldn't handle the loss of anyone else. He returned the spider to the cobweb.
Turning his back to the spider, he approached his bed. He tried his best to ignore his Rarity plushie. He was able to do it for a few minutes, but eventually gave in. He stared at it for a few seconds..then those seconds became minutes. He looked at it for a total of twelve minutes, before escaping from the hold it had on him.
Spike made his way to the room where he watched Rarity die. He never expected to ever return to this room. Then again, he never expected to ever step foot in this castle again.
Spike approached the bed where Rarity had died. Her corpse had been moved. By who..or what, he could only guess. It didn't matter to him. He knew which bed was the one. He pulled a fire ruby out from his backpack-he had been keeping it for this moment. He placed the fire ruby in the bed, rubbing it for a few seconds.
Spike left the room, returning to his room. He grabbed the Rarity plushie, putting it inside his backpack, before going into the bed himself. He tucked himself in. Spike needed a break.
2350 Days In
Spike woke up, blinking a few times. He instinctively looked out the nearby window, but it was pointless. It never changed from night to day anymore. Spike learned pretty quickly that meant Celestia was the first one to go.
Despite the lack of proper time, Spike had grown accustomed to counting the seconds, minutes, hours..days. It was the only way he was able to keep from going insane, at least at first-at the beginning, he still had the idea that this would all go away quickly. He missed his naive optimism.
Spike reached for his bag, putting it on his back. He made his way through the body pile, returning to the outside. He decided he was going to head to Canterlot now-Ember sent him on this quest for a reason. Really, she was all he had left. There was no way he was going to let her down.
2351 Days In
Spike awoke next to a river, the water seeping down from a nearby waterfall. He knew enough about Canterlot to know that this waterfall meant he was close.
Spike flew up using his wings, quickly making it to the top of the waterfall. Turning to the right, he noticed the castle which once housed Celestia and Luna. He also noticed what used to be Twilight's tower-he recalled that Twilight gave Moondancer the key. He wondered what happened to her for a moment, ultimately deciding that she, like most everyone, was dead.
Spike sighed. Knowing he had time, he sat down on the grass, next to the waterfall. He watched it flow down. He pulled a gem out of his backpack, eating it. He knew he had time to spare. Ember usually didn't send scouts this far, on account of it not being worth it, typically. There was no chance of him being caught not doing what he was assigned to do.
Spike stood up, looking down over the cliff. Without hesitation, he closed his eyes and..walked forward. On the fall down, he opened his eyes. Instinctively, he activated his wings, flying up.
"Damn it!" Spike yelled at the top of his lungs. "Why can't you just..why are you afraid to do it?! What do you really have in life anymore that's just..preventing you from doing the only thing that will make things better? Ugh.."
Spike curled up into a ball, and began to quietly sob. He don't know what cruel being made it so dragons were unaffected. He wished they weren't. He knew saying that was selfish. He didn't care. All he wanted was for everything to go back to normal. He missed when the only threats were physical villains that could be defeated with the power of friendship. He missed his friends. He missed the citizens of Ponyville and Canterlot, even the ones he didn't interact with. He missed the princesses.
The tears stopped flowing after a few minutes. Spike wiped his eyes, getting up. He had a job to do.
Spike knocked on the door to Canterlot Castle. He knew this was just a formality. Nobody would actually respond-
"Who's there?" Somepony said on the other side of the door.
"What the hell?" Spike responded, very shocked that he actually heard a voice.
"I'll repeat. Who. Is. There?"
"Lord of the Dragon Lands," Spike replied, jokingly.
"So you're a dragon, hm? Wait right there." Spike could hear hoofsteps-or what sounded like hoofsteps, anyway, fading away. Spike attempted to open the door, to no avail.
The same voice arose once again from the other side of the door. "The General has decided to not let you in."
"Is there any chance I could be let in?" Spike replied.
"..Well, he said he'd let you in on..one condition."
Spike sighed, somewhat expecting this. "What?"
"We lost someone on our last expedition for food. It was in the Ursa Cave, in the Everfree Forest. Go check it out, and the General will let you in here for..whatever it is you need."
"Fine." Spike sighed, dropping his backpack, and opening it, intending to grab a gem. However, he notices the Rarity plushie.
"Hey, um, any chance I could leave this here? I have some..valuables I'd rather not lose."
"Yep, that's fine," The voice on the other side of the door replied.
Upon hearing the answer, Spike flew off in the direction of the Everfree Forest.
2352 Days In
Spike woke up in a tree. He remembered that he had made his way into the Everfree Forest, but decided that the dangerous creatures were reason enough for him to avoid sleeping on the ground as he usually does. Spike yawned, climbing on down, continuing his flight over to the Ursa Cave.
The Ursa Cave was quite easy to locate. Spike had been there before, before..everything. He entered. Noticing how dark the cave was, Spike used his fire breath to see more clearly. This proved to be a mistake.
Upon the usage of his fire breath, Spike noticed the large, purple Ursa Major that laid sleeping.
"Can my day get any worse?" Spike said audibly yet quietly to himself. The Ursa Major took up a large majority of the cave, except for a few small cracks on the left and right sides. Spike took the right side, narrowly avoiding so much as bumping into the Ursa Major.
Spike made it to the other end of the cave. He decided using his fire breath, despite the fact it would obviously make going through the cave easier, wasn't worth the risk. He would locate whoever was in here on his own.
Spike made his way through a large tunnel, that was clearly dug by the Ursa Major. It was quite long as well, for some reason, though that was of no importance to him. He had looked around the rest of the cave, determining that this was the only place whoever he was trying to find could possibly be.
Spike made his way through the tunnel, discovering a clearing. Deciding he was far enough to use his fire breath. he did.
Upon doing so, he discovered many corpses. Many of them were bitten into, presumably meaning this tunnel was dug by the Ursa Major as a waste disposal area. Spike sighed. He knew as a matter of fact he was going to have to return to Canterlot to confirm which species the voices belonged to.
2353 Days In
Spike had made much progress on his way back to Canterlot. Not that he minded, of course. All he really wanted to do now was do what he was told to do and return back to the only place where there were people he could consider friends.
Flying up, he landed next to the waterfall once again. He continued flying over to the Castle. Landing outside the door, he knocked and..the door opened slightly. Spike stepped back for a moment, surprised, assuming that it would be locked as it was before.
"Anypony there?"
No response.
"Let's try this again. Anypony there?"
Once again, no response.
"I'm heading in, then. Don't say I didn't ask."
Spike stood outside the Castle for a moment, a voice in his head attempting to convince him that maybe going inside wasn't the best of ideas. He didn't listen. He walked in, and-
Spike blinked a few times. He was submerged under water, something covering his mouth. He attempted to take it off, to no avail. He looked around..he was stuck in a tube. There were several, from what he could see, Changelings surrounding the tube, some staring, some writing down notes. He noticed Thorax.
Thorax noticed Spike as well. He approached the tube that Spike was contained in.
"Spike, I hope you understand..I did this for a reason. We believe that dragons themselves were responsible for this pandemic. We needed one to test this theory. I'm..I'm not a monster, Spike. I wish it could have been any other dragon. But..it just so happened you were the first one to come to our doors."
Spike listened to Thorax as he said this. He realized he should be angry. But..he wasn't. Spike remembered his attempt a few days ago. He didn't have much left. He wish he got to say goodbye to Ember, of course. He knew she would miss him. He would miss her, as well. Despite that, he missed his other friends more. He missed Twilight's love for books, Pinkie Pie's jokes, Applejack's can-do attitude, Rainbow Dash's loyalty, Fluttershy's kindness, and..well, just Rarity in general. He missed them all.
Spike knew that he would not survive being taken out of the tube. But he was fine with that. He was fine with the end.
