The Binding of Spike

"Are you sure this is wise, sister?"

"I can't say for certain, but I fear that it is necessary."

Celestia paced the floor of her bedroom while Luna looked out the window. The air was moist, chilled from the passing winter. Neither of the princesses wore a smile, nor did they believe they could in the moment.

"Explain to me again why this is so?"

"You know my student. My most beloved protege, Twilight Sparkle. She is brilliant beyond her years, skilled in spells only thought possible by an alicorn, and yet she lacks one of the most important things to a young pony." Celestia stopped her pacing at a pile of old letters from her student, each one filled with love, wisdom, and  most importantly the magic of friendship. "She has no sense of free will, and if she never learns that then I fear she will ultimately become a pawn to the ages."

"I suppose your reasoning is just. Still, you have not told me of the reason why this holds you in such low spirits. Shall this not just be another simple task for her to carry out?"

"I fear it is, but the task is what worries me."

Luna turned from the window to stand by her sister's side. "Canst thou give a simple request which she is to disobey? Surely there is something simple that she can refuse to do and prove-"

"No. It can't be that easy. If I tell her to do something silly and insignificant, either she'll do it and think nothing of it, or she'll refuse and learn nothing due to the lack of severity. If I know my student, it will take something big to get this across to her."

"Then what is it that you have commanded of her?"

"Twilight, you got a letter from the princess!"

"Oh good! I was wondering when my next lesson would arrive."

"Well I have to go finish cleaning the bedroom, so I'll be upstairs if you need me." Spike placed the scroll on Twilight's study table, and turned to scurry up the stairs. Twilight broke the seal on the letter and unrolled it, starting from the top.

"My Dearest student, Twilight Sparkle. Today, I will not be giving you a lesson, but rather a simple task that you must carry out. You see, I have come to think perhaps you do not... You do not respect me as your teacher?!" Twilight read over that part a few times, each time trying to make it sound right, but it never did. "Of course I respect her! What did I do? Oh no, Celestia must be disappointed in me! I must have missed an assignment, or maybe it was something I said. This is bad, this is terribly, awfully bad!"

She frantically doubled over the table to read the message as closely as she could. "I am also afraid to say that Spike's growth has come to my attention. As a dragon, he will grow out of his innocence in time, giving in to his natural greed. It pains me to do this, but I have no other choice. To show your devotion to me, and to spare Spike from a life of draconic misdeeds, your task is to..."

"You WHAT?"

Luna threw her hooves forward to pull her sister's face towards her, forcing them to stare into each other's eyes.

"Tell me you are joking! Please, tell me you didn't!"

"I had to, Luna! It had to be something drastic, or Twilight would have learned nothing!"

"And if she goes through with it?!"

"She won't, her love for Spike is too strong. She will realize that my message is too much for her, and she will refuse. I trust in her, I believe that she will do the right thing."

Luna turned away in disgust. "I'm sorry Tia, but I simply can't condone this! Could you not tell her to burn a book, or burn bridges with one of her friends?"

"I suppose, but the chances of her actually following those orders would have been too high. This is one order that I know she would never follow."

"I do not care if you believe in her, you need to contact her before something goes wrong!"

"Yes... Yes I should. I wasn't thinking, thank you for being honest, Luna." Celestia lifted a quill from its ink well and began to scrawl out a new letter.

"To my Dearest student, Twilight Sparkle..."

Spike stood atop a ladder, reaching up to the highest shelf of Twilight's room. He hummed a happy tune as the dust puffed off of a rather voluminous tome. From beyond the door, he could hear hoof steps coming up the stairs. Surely, Twilight needed his help with something.

On the other side, Twilight placed a hoof on the first step, her breath heavy with fear and doubt.

'I have to prove my worth to Celestia. I need to do this.' Her mind ran circles around itself, trying to rationalize what she was about to do. Her eyes watered uncontrollably as she fought the urge to break into sobs. It seemed as though her entire life was falling apart. 'If I don't do this, Celestia will never love me again, but if I do...'

The knife floating before her, encased in a dark purple aura, shone brilliantly from the flickering light of the candle on her desk. Another step up, she felt the tears soaking down her cheeks. The magic that she held her weapon with flickered, wanting to drop the accursed thing and abandon her schooling. 'I could become a school teacher. I don't need to study magic forever...' But then, the other part of Celestia's letter came to mind.

'Maybe Spike will be better off this way... I'd hate to see him grow into something evil...'

Step after step, Twilight worked up her resolve, knowing what she must do. She raised a hoof to knock on the door, and the reply was gut wrenching.

"I'll be right out Twilight, I just finished dusting off your personal book shelf."

"Can I come in?" Twilight asked, her voice wavering as she choked up with each syllable.

"Of course! You sound upset."

The door swung open and there he stood, holding a feather duster and wearing his little cleaning apron. Twilight's face was soaked, her eyes were puffy and red, and her lips quivered as if about to devolve into a crying mess.

"Everything's ok, Spike. Everything will be alright."

"Woah, Twilight, what's going on?" Spike threw the duster to the side and ran to his caretaker, wiping a gentle claw under her eye lid to clear away a single tear. "Was it the letter?"

"Yes, Spike... It was the letter..." Being so close to the caring little dragon made it all so much harder, seeing the genuine concern in his eyes as she levitated the knife around to his back as discretely as she could. "But we're all going to be ok. I'm going to be fine, you're going to be fine. We're all going to be fine."

Spike furrowed his brow, looking his mother figure in the eye with something beyond worry. "Twilight, what's going on? You're kinda scaring me."

She faltered. Her magic flickered once again as she checked to see that the knife was in the best place to make it quick and painless.

"I'm sorry, Spike."

She pulled towards herself, intending to lodge the blade deep into the tiny lizard's back and through his heart. Noticing the glance that she gave to the knife, Spike turned just in time to see it rushing towards him.

"Woah!" He yelled as he jumped out of the way, just barely dodging his own demise. One of the ridges on his back was clipped, but he was otherwise unharmed. "Twilight! What the hay!"

"The princess demands it."

Spike's eyes widened in fear as the knife is hurled in his direction once again. He clambered up a shelf, knocking a few books down on his way up. "The princess asked you to stab me? That can't be right, you must have read it wrong!"

"I have it right here." Her voice was emotionless, almost dead as a tear stained scroll is levitated up to the scared dragon.

Sure enough, as Spike read through the letter, it detailed the task of sacrifice. Spike was to be made a burned offering for the princess of the sun. Another pass of the knife before him tore the note in half, and missed his nose by a mere centimeter.

"This has to be a mistake! Celestia would never have you kill anybody! Think about this for a second! Please!"

The tears were flowing faster and harder from Twilight's eyes, but her attempts at her assistant's life only grew in fierceness. She stabbed towards the dragon as quick as she could while her vision was blurred. Each one was dodged, but only barely, until the knife finally embedded itself into Spike's tail. He let out a sharp cry as he lost his balance, and fell from the shelf. Twilight attempted to dislodge the knife, but it was stuck fast between scales. Spike returned to his feet, fighting against the force of Twilight's magic, when the knife came unstuck. The opposing forces of movement sent Spike tumbling to the floor again, slipping in the small pool of blood that had bled from is wounded backside.

"I'm so sorry Spike," Twilight whispered to herself, raising the knife for a killing blow. Thinking as fast as he could, Spike rolled to the side and the knife plunged itself into the wooden floor where he had just been laying.The door was still hanging open, and so Spike made a mad dash for the stairs. He slammed the door shut and pressed his back against it.

"Something's wrong Twilight, I know it. You stay in there, I'll send a letter to the princess and we'll get this all sorted out!" He could feel the tears welling up behind his eyes, as the knife blade shoots out through the door, almost impaling his shoulder. "Please Celestia tell me this isn't happening."

Skipping every other step, the baby dragon was desperate to clear this mess up. Taking up a quill and a piece of parchment, he begins writing his letter.

"Celestia. Twilight is trying to kill me. I don't know what to do. She says you ordered her to and showed me the letter. I don't know what I did but please help me before she ---"

He didn't have time to write any more, jumping at the sound of the door behind him shattering into a splintered mess. Spike hurled his green flame at the note and sent it off. 'I hope she gets it in time,' he thought, each beat of his heart becoming more solid. Twilight stalked across the room towards her prey, the look in her eyes telling Spike that she was barely conscious. It was as if she had let her body take over, not wanting to remember any part of what was to come.

"It's for your own good, Spike!"

He dove out of the way of the knife, wishing there was some way to get the thing away from her. It whittled a large chunk from the wooden table and redirected its course towards Spike. He had to get away somehow, but what made it all particularly difficult was his unwillingness to harm his guardian.

'Think Spike think.' He searched everywhere he could in his head, but nothing seemed like it would work. 'She's blocking the exit, so I can't leave... Where else can I go? Aha!'

Below the stairs, there was another door. The door down to the basement.

'Twilight told me not to go down there by myself, but I think it's worth a shot.'

He made a fake lunge to the right, sending Twilight's focus off as he quickly turned to dash for the basement.

"There, Spike should be getting my message soon. I only hope it's not too late."

"I pray for his sake that your student has acted rationally."

"I have to believe that she would never go through with it. Please Twilight, do the right thing... Oh, what's this?"

A scroll materialized in a lick of green flame before Celestia. Without skipping a beat, she had the thing open and laid out in front of her.

"What is it, sister? Has she passed your test?"

Celestia's expression could only be described as one of absolute, unfiltered horror.

"Tia, don't tell me she-"

"I need to go. Now!"

The princess of the sun leaped from her sitting position and out the window, disappearing in a burst of white light. Luna turned her attention to the note on the floor.

"This can not end well..."