When The Light Turns Dark

“If you can’t trust yourself enough to let love in, your continued existence is a phenomena as love is the one thing that keeps so many fighting for a better tomorrow” –Unknown source

Spike tensed every muscle in his body “Where am I now?” he thought. Just a second ago he was staring into the psychotic eyes of Zareit and now he felt he was lying on cold ground, but he couldn’t bring himself to open his eyes. Spike shivered at the memory of the tortured little zebra and how those beatings warped his mind and scarred him. Spike however threw all those thoughts to the side when he felt something soft press up against his underbelly. He was set to lash out at it, but a familiar scent stopped him cold.

He rested his arms across Apple Jack and pulled her close to him, the sweet aroma of apples filling his nose. He opened his eyes to see the orange mare cuddling to him in her sleep, her blond mane released from its usual braid and cascading around her. Spike found himself staring; he had never realized how beautiful she was. Obviously she wasn’t beautiful in the same way as Rarity or Luna, but something about her; something he just never noticed made her look entrancing.

“Spike” Apple Jack mumbled opening her eyes and looking up at the drake. Her eyes shimmered silver in the moonlight as they lay half open, staring like a filly that had stayed up past her bed time. Her mane moved as though they were surrounded by water, it bounced around weightlessly as she moved her head. “Is it morning already?”

Spike ran his claw through her mane. “No it isn’t, go back to sleep and I will wake you when the sun comes out” Spike rolled her on top of him so she was resting on his underbelly as if it were a giant pillow. She mumbled something Spike couldn’t quite hear then closed her eyes and rested against him.  Spike did a quick scan to find that Twilight and Dash were sleeping not too far away, but much closer to the fire than they were. Spike gently placed his tail over top of A. J. to make sure she stayed warm.

He didn’t dare go back to sleep. “Who knows what will happen next time?” he thought to himself.  So he spent his night staring at the beautiful mare sleeping on his chest, at first he felt weird staring at her but that passed soon after he felt her warm breath against his chest, and the aroma of apples became even more evident. Though he didn’t sleep the night wasn’t long at all. He even begged Celestia to put the sun back down once it peaked over the horizon. His plea was not answered and it wasn’t long before he had been harnessed to the chariot with his wings flared, and he once again felt the freedom of the sky around him.

Rainbow Dash was speechless at the decrepit tower that loomed before them. Spike had landed just outside the half rotted gate of the gnarled and twisted replica of the Canterlot castle. The place was unkempt to say the best, the wood was rotted and moss and other plants grew from the stone, leaving the once grand architecture with a sickly brown and green speckled pallet, not a single of the once vivid hues remained in the apocalyptic recreation.

“Well no doubt this is the place” A.J. said gulping and moving slightly closer to Spike.

“Yeup” Spike said, imitating Big Mac to try and lighten the mood. It didn’t work. “You ready with the spell Twilight?”

Twilight nodded and levitated one of the many large books she insisted on bringing over to her. Even Dash could see by the torn and worn binding that the book was older than any of them could even imagine. Printed on the front was a dusty and worn picture of what looked to be a changeling and nothing else.

It didn’t take long for Twilight to find the page she was looking for, and her horn swiftly emitted a white light “could you two stand together?” Twilight asked, gesturing to Dash and A.J. They did as she asked and a bolt of light shot from her horn surrounding not only them but herself as well. Then as quickly as it came it vanished again, leaving no trace that it had done anything.

“What the heck?” Rainbow asked confused. “It didn’t even do anything” She looked over to A.J. and realized she was wrong. The spell had indeed done something. A.J.’s eyes were bright white leaving no trace of any color apart from her pupil, a quick glace to Twilight confirmed that her eyes had changed as well.

“That’s fancy and all,” Apple Jack started “But what did it do?” she blinked a few times as she looked into rainbows white eyes.

Spike didn’t give Twilight a chance to answer “It was a spell that will let you see through the changelings disguise” He said.

“Cool!” Rainbow shouted, leaping into the air with excitement. “I’ll admit I was worried about getting you guys mixed up with a bunch of changelings.”

“So were we” Twilight answered, still glaring at Spike for stealing her moment. “That’s why I asked the Princess for some help, and she gave me this." Twilight levitated the book in front of rainbow. “It’s filled with all sorts of spells and facts that have to do with preventing changelings from tricking you.

“But what about Spike?” Apple Jack asked.

This time Spike replied with a chuckle. “Something cool about a dragon’s eyes is that we can do this.” He shut his eyes for a mere second and when he opened them up the usual emerald green was replaced with a luminescent white. “So are we all set?” He received a chorus of cheerful but hollow “yeah’s” and “Of courses” but he could hear the fear behind each voice.

With a small stutter in his words he said “L-lets go” And with that he stepped into the nightmare version of the castle they all knew so well.