“Catch her! Catch her!”
“Nnnngh – gah! Got her, Captain!”
“Excellent! Does anypony have a cloak? What was that? Well of course I’m not going to use mine, are you insane?! Do you know how many hooves have trodden upon this ground? Eugh! There we go, set her on that. Gently now… gently… there! Good work, Stalwart Vigil!”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Hmmph, we’ll need to carry her the rest of the way. Well, what are the rest of you louts doing just standing there?! Go fetch a stretcher for your Princess! Go! Go! If you riff-raff took any longer we’d be here ‘till the Festival of the Autumnal Equinox!”
Spike watched as the group of guards which had gathered around the Princess scrambled out of the hall. The Captain’s voice was biting, any guard caught under his gaze withered like a flower in the winter’s frost. Within seconds the massive room was completely empty, still echoing with the sound of galloping hooves. In the ensuing moment of peace, the elder dragon thought back to the unexpected turn of events that had conspired to disrupt his entire day.
Something seemed off about Eos... Something strange. The Delirium does odd things to her, but this… this felt different. She was too lucid, too comprehending. Spike shifted his body from where he had lain upon the marble floor, tracing a starburst engraved upon the tile with his claw. She saw me, she actually saw me, but… that look of simultaneous recognition and shock. She had known me, but I was not who she had been expecting.
“Excuse me, Sir Spike?” The sound of Blueblood’s voice broke Spike from his reverie. The Captain had approached him while his mind was deep in musing.
“I have told you before, I do not wish to be called by that or any other title. I am Spike, and always will be Spike.” His voice reverberated through the throne room, a bass so deep it pulsed through the soul. Any normal pony would not dare resist his command. However, Blueblood had never been that kind of pony.
“I’m just trying to use polite and proper etiquette, Spike. But tell you what, I’ll make sure to call you Spikey-Wikey from now on. Any better?” If his smirk was any wider, the Captain would need a larger face to hold it all. Spike had always been impressed by the way Blueblood wielded a facial expression like a sword.
“Grrrrrrrrrrr.” Despite a growl that would leave the mightiest of Manticores cowering in fear, Blueblood held fast, never letting his smile waver. Perhaps it was the ghost of a grin tugging at the dagger-toothed corners of Spike’s mouth that gave him confidence. Perhaps Blueblood was simply insane. “I wonder how blue your blood really is, oh ‘Captain of the Royal Marching band’.”
“Bah-ha-ha! Oh Spikey, I wish! A marching band might be more coherent!” Blueblood descended into barely-contained snickers. After taking a moment to regain his composure, the Captain looked back to where Stalwart Vigil was dutifully standing near the unconscious Princess. “Of course I don’t mean you, Vigil.”
The stallion looked up from where he had been adjusting the straps to his armor. He seemed surprised to hear the Captain speaking to him once again. “Sir?”
“There’s a reason Eos appointed you and that mare Imbrium to be her personal guards.” Stalwart Vigil seemed troubled by Blueblood’s compliment. He looked down to the Princess, where she lay upon another guard’s cloak.
“I hardly understand her choice, sir. I think I was just in the right place at the right time. Or the right place at the wrong time, as it were.” That one is uncomfortable with Eos’ choice; perhaps someday I should ask him why, Spike thought. Just another thing for me to do, this week is going to be a long one. All I ever wanted to do was sleep after all, and now this.
“Nonsense! You’ve always been well worth your salt! And besides, Eos can see things in others we can’t see in ourselves. After all, I’m still trying to figure out why she keeps this ancient pile of scales around!” Blueblood turned his head back towards Spike, another smirk just for him. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, too bad it’s not something I can eat. Actually…
“Hmmm, was that the bell for breakfast I just heard? You know, I’ve been told that toasted runt goes great with a side of eggs and sapphires.” Spike chose this moment to yawn, opening his maw wide enough to reveal teeth as large as Blueblood’s legs. To his credit, the Captain only flinched a little.
Before Blueblood could retort, the throne room guards returned with a stretcher, already suspended above the floor by a hover spell.
“About time you returned, Spike was getting hungry.” The stretcher was brought to where Eos lay, tossing and turning on the blanket in fitful motions. With quick but gentle telekinesis she was lifted onto the device, where she seemed to settle in more peacefully. The Captain took hold of the stretcher with his magic, tethering it to his horn and powering the internal spell which gave it lift. “Thank you for your help, Gentlecolts. Back to your posts now, we’ll take the Princess to the Infirmary ourselves.
The trio left the throne room from Spike’s entrance, proceeding at a gentle pace. They walked in silence for a while, Stalwart Vigil and the Captain walking in front, with the Princess floating between them and Spike taking up the rear. His thundering steps echoed throughout the winding hallways like the beating of a massive drum. It was Blueblood who first spoke, addressing Spike as they turned a corner.
“You know she can’t be allowed to keep doing this, Spike.” The unicorn’s tone was serious, all traces of his previous jesting gone. “She’s not doing anyone any favors constantly working over the edge of exhaustion, least of all herself. I don’t care if she’s immortal, she’s still a pony and it is not healthy!”
“I’m sorry Blueblood. I truly am. But there is nothing I can do that I have not already tried.” Spike let out a dejected sigh. “She is determined to continue her work, regardless of the personal harm involved.”
Blueblood would not be deterred. “But there must be something, can’t you at least speak to her?”
“I wish it was that easy. But you must understand, this is more than just another experiment or little project. She will not stop until she has achieved a breakthrough, and in this, she deserves our support and understanding.” If things were only as simple as just lending our support, there wouldn’t be a problem in the first place. “I only hope that one is reached before her research consumes her.”
~~~~~~
The rest of the walk was fairly quiet and uneventful. They moved through several halls of the castle on the way to their destination, grand tapestries of unparalleled beauty paying silent witness to their passing. There were paintings in every medium, across centuries of history. There were even a few of the dragon himself. His favorite was one in the west wing of the castle, a depiction of him curled around an emerald as big as Eos.
As they rounded yet another corner, Spike caught the first glimpse of the Infirmary, a specialized medical station that attended to any injuries occurring within the castle. Usually, it was for the mages working within the palace and for occasional training accidents between guards. Every once in a while, though, it became the impromptu recharge station for a certain overworked goddess, whenever she was driven to temporary insanity by hyper mana drain. Castle life has always been so very fun.
“This is the last straw, Spike! This is the third time in as many years that she’s done this to herself! It’s not healthy, I won’t stand for it!” The voice came from an elderly unicorn, where he stood shaking his hoof near the entrance to the Infirmary.
“Ah, Chief Medical Mage Keen Tonic, Imbrium has already filled you in on the situation I take it?” Blueblood took the lead, pulling the magical stretcher behind him as he approached the aging doctor. Professor Keen Tonic wore a white coat with purple borders over his faint green fur. His messy grey mane betrayed that he had recently been sleeping.
“Yes, she arrived a while ago and explained the situation. Not to mention pulled me out of bed and had me running around at this dreadfully early hour!”
Canterlot Clock Tower chose that moment to chime, announcing the time. Everyone took a moment to pause and listen to the deep tolling of the bell, counting as they did. When the final note had rung, Spike was the first to speak.
“It is nine o’clock.”
“Exactly!” The doctor seemed satisfied with his perceived victory, turning from Spike to the Captain and saying, “I’ve already prepared the attunement crystals. She is unconscious, I take it?”
“Indeed, she fainted earlier in the Throne Room, after being brought there from her chambers.” Spike noted Blueblood’s omission of the reason for her fainting. Trying to spare me from the doctor, is he?
Keen Tonic’s horn glowed for a moment as he adjusted his bifocals, moving beside the stretcher and looking at the Princess. As he did so, he muttered quietly to himself, “ohhh dear, what a mess. Mane completely disheveled, a few dried tears, several feathers missing, appears they were even removed forcefully. Suggests unhealthy levels of stress at the least. Not to mention a fresh chip in her right forehoof. May have been caused by a bad fall, suggests unbalanced motor skills, perhaps? Definitely congruent with previous cases of advanced Delirium Induced by Magical Exhaustion.” After a few more seconds of observing his Goddess, the professor looked at the trio and pointed towards the Infirmary door. “Bring her inside, we can discuss the details while I finish setting up the equipment.”
The group moved forward into the specialized magical trauma room. Due to his massive size, Spike settled for sitting in the grand hallway outside and laying his head within, neck weaving through multiple rooms to reach them. Once again he found himself grumbling about the lack of a proper Infirmary section set aside for dragons. Filing a mental note on the subject, Spike shifted his weight into a more comfortable position and eyed the stallions through the open door as they unloaded Eos from the stretcher.
After a moment, Eos had been placed on the patient bed and surrounded by glowing crystals and runic spell-lines. While fiddling with his instruments, Keen Tonic prompted, “Imbrium told me she had awoken in this state?”
At that question, Vigil stepped forward and addressed the doctor, “as far as we can tell, yes. Imbrium and I were at our posts this morning not long after sunrise when we heard her screaming.” Keen Tonic turned to look at the young guard, squinting to keep his glasses in focus. “When we entered her bedchambers, she was sitting in front of the mirror, muttering to herself about dreams and someone named ‘Celestia’. We assume she had been asleep not long before.”
“Hmmm, very odd.” The doctor thought out loud, “how could she have depleted her magic while sleeping? Spike, do you know if she had been up late experimenting, perhaps in the field of sustained thaumic channeling?”
“To my knowledge, she was not. As unlikely as it seems, she retired to her chambers at a decent time. Do you suspect there is an unknown factor in this, Doctor Keen?”
With a slight frown upon his face, Keen Tonic moved over to a medical apparatus at the bed’s side. It was a device used to scan inner ley fields and diagnose magical ailments. Made of a single hoof-sized, white crystal, it worked on a principle similar to the stretcher’s tethering, by linking itself to the patient and synchronizing to their magic field. Spike had become well-acquainted with the ‘Attunement Crystal’ as it was called, thanks to Eos’ frequent incidents.
Activating it with his magic, Keen Tonic stepped back and watched as the crystal began to glow and create a light humming noise. Bringing it close to the Princess’ horn caused it to spark, arcs of purple magic streaking between them. Each magical arc from Eos’ horn caused the crystal to spin and its shade to darken, gaining a purple coloration.
While they waited for the crystal’s work to be done, Blueblood took Stalwart Vigil aside and spoke to him quietly. The doctor seemed quiet intent on his work, but Spike could hear them well from his position.
“Listen, Vigil… Imbrium mentioned to me that this was not your first time bearing witness to one of Eos’ episodes. I want you to know, I truly admire the poise with which you have handled the situation. I know it isn’t easy, seeing her like this.”
Vigil nodded, the Captain’s words seemed to fill him with new life. The boy had been silently dwelling on this since the incident, Spike was surprised Blueblood had noticed. “Thank you, Captain. I… I’m just glad it wasn’t as bad this time.”
“Just remember, we are Royal Guards. It is our duty to be as strong for Eos as she has always been for us.” After this short exchange, they returned to watching the attunement crystal where it floated above their princess, crackling with energy.
After half a minute, Keen Tonic grabbed it with telekinesis and brought the crystal to a nearby table, still spinning so fast that it was little more than a diamond-shaped blur. The rest of the group watched as he probed the crystal with tendrils of his own magic, gleaning its secrets with the expert precision only a high level unicorn could achieve.
With everypony else’s view focused on the crystal, Spike was the only one in a position to notice Eos as she shifted on the bed. It was the twitch of a dreamer, someone deep in the land of their own subconscious. Among the agitated movements, she uttered just a single word, nothing more than a whisper on the breath:
“Celestia.”
I never asked for this. Today was supposed to be sleeping day…
“Strange” Keen Tonic uttered, after a long breath of silence. “I’m… not really sure what to make of this.” He removed his glasses for a moment, polishing them on a rag he kept in his coat pocket. “Blasted crystal must be on the fritz.”
Blueblood let out an exaggerated sigh of frustration. “What is it this time, Doctor?”
Placing the bifocal glasses back upon his muzzle, Tonic said, “Well this is just peculiar. In all honesty, she appears quite healthy. I see virtually no signs of rapid thaumic depletion, nor hypertension of her ley lines beyond previously established limits.”
“In Equestrian, Doctor Keen.”
In the unintelligible string of nickers and neighs that followed, Spike saw Blueblood’s eye twitch no less than three times. Apparently, those rumors about the doctor knowing Olde Whinny were true. Hmmmm. Note to self: research ancient dialects for use as weapons against Blueblood’s sanity.
“Aargh, Modern Equestrian, if you would be so kind!”
“It means that the Princess of Dawn has no reason to be afflicted with Delirium.”
What?! Oh Eos, what have you done this time?
“What do you mean, 'she is not under the effects of the Delirium'?” Spike questioned, eye swiveling to gaze deep into the doctor’s own. Keen Tonic seemed just as confused as everyone else.
“By all means, it doesn’t make any sense. I’m sure it’s just a problem with the crystal.” Doctor Keen was clearly nervous, but did his best to keep control of the situation. “I’ll perform a second analysis; see if a mistake has been made. If need be, I’ll refocus the crystal and try again, no problem!”
Spike’s head lay upon the polished marble floor as he contemplated this latest turn of events. For some reason, I doubt the Doctor’s words of comfort. Something is going on here, something clearly beyond mere magical exhaustion. But regardless of what is wrong, she’ll talk to me. She always talks to me.
For several minutes, the group stood (or laid, in Spike’s case) in silence, each occupied with their own thoughts. The only exception was the Doctor, who was busy once again with his analysis.
“Well then, Doctor, I think I’ll be leaving.” Spike said, lifting his massive head and neck in an exaggerated act of movement. Blueblood was the one to respond, Doctor Keen too engrossed in his work to take notice of the gigantic dragon.
“Wait, Spike! You can’t leave now; when she wakes up she’ll want to see you!”
Spike chuckled. “Oh I have little doubt of that. I just have a feeling that Eos will not be in the mood for medical advice when she does so.” He was already withdrawing his head from the Infirmary, pulling his neck back through the rooms and out into the main hallway. “In the meantime, I think I’ll be taking a nap. I’m sure you two can handle things while I’m gone.”
~~~~~~
She dreamt of sunlight. Dew-covered grass rustling gently in a wind she couldn’t feel. Everything was bright light and green fields; as far as her eyes could see, the green blades stretched out endlessly across gentle rolling hills, like the undulating waves of an infinite ocean. In the distance, great mountains pierced the heavens with impossibly tall peaks, all topped with white snow. The sun hung directly overhead, covering everything within sight in its warm embrace.
But in this timeless realm of perfection, a place so pure she felt herself washed clean just by the act of witnessing its glory, there was a blemish. There was a spectre.
She knew this being. It was the creature from before that stood in front of her now, the silhouette of sharp lines and sharper whiteness. Though it stood upon the grass, it did not seem to join this world of substance. Its dimensions were unreadable; no judgment of size or distance could be made by her, though she felt that it was close. It seemed to draw the sunlight away, darkening the area around it without casting a shadow.
It did not belong here. It was wrong.
“What are you? Please, what is this place?!” She asked. Her voice carried across the fields, a call of happening through a land of inaction.
The thing looked at her, shifting lines never pausing. For an eternity they stood there, lone companions in an endless land. Finally, the being opened its maw, and spoke.
“We are Echoes.”
“That doesn’t tell me anything! I want an answer!”
The Wrongness opened its wings, and launched into the air. With a single flap of snow-white lines, it soared higher than her imagination would believe. It continued to rise, higher and higher, yet it always remained clearly visible. It flew to the sun, and once there, took the flaming orb within itself.
And the sun was no more.
~~~~~~
“-very clear where you stand on the subject. I hold a similar sentiment myself.”
Twilight’s eyes shot open, even as her body lay still. With her heart pounding quickly, she fought hard to keep her breathing steady. Silently gasping for breath, she listened to the voices near her.
“At the very least, we’re fortunate that she activated those failsafe spells to sustain her enchantments, in case of incapacitation such as this. You were just a foal back then, but I still well remember the Day of Darkness. Now, at least, the sun and moon will rise on reserve energy until she’s back.”
“It just doesn’t feel right, seeing Princess Eos like this. Why can’t Spike say something, why won’t she listen?”
Three voices, all male. Two she recognized, one she didn’t.
“You have to understand, Vigil, he has. Spike has always done all he can for her, which is far more than I think he lets on. She relies on him.”
Her head was facing away from them, towards a closed door. Taking a moment to collect her fractured thoughts, she looked around the limited range of vision in front of her. She appeared to be in some clean, white room. Counters lined most of the wall where the door wasn’t in the way, which were covered in objects of varying shape and complexity.
“Indeed, Blueblood is right. In this, the Princess simply will not stop. She seems convinced that her goal is close at hoof. All any of us can do right now is pick her up when she falls. Spike knows this.”
Spike… Twilight was too tired to move, but she listened intently to the stallions as they spoke. There was a moment of silence before the conversation resumed.
An elderly voice said, “You know, Blueblood, the attunement crystal showed me something else during the scan. I didn't realize it at first, but while checking error margins I noticed a very strange thing.”
He paused for moment, as if waiting for a response. When none was given, he continued, “Her magical signature. Normally, it’s not something you pay attention to, since it’s always the same for a pony. At least… it’s supposed to be.”
“What?!” Blueblood, she recognized that voice. It was surprised, but hushed, like he was trying to stay quiet by speaking through clenched teeth.
“It was still very similar, which is why I didn't notice at first, but you heard me right. Princess Eos’ magic signature is slightly different; still close, but just barely off. I won’t even pretend to know what it means, a pony’s magical signature comes from their soul! There’s no conceivable reason for it to have changed.”
“I’m sure it’s just a problem with the crystal. Once you've finished preparing another one, we’ll get a proper diagnosis.”
“You had best hope so.”
This dialogue has gone on long enough!
“Where is… where is Spike?” That was definitely her voice. Twilight tried to sit up, realizing only then that her limbs felt like lead.
“Princess? Princess! Doctor, she’s awake!” The young one again.
“Blast, I’m not done working on the attunement crystal yet!”
“I have to talk to Spike!” She rolled off the hard surface where she had been laying with a painful tumble, landing in a flurry of feathers upon the equally hard floor. Before Twilight even had the time to wonder where her sudden burst of strength had come from, she was already making an attempt to stand.
“Please Princess, stay calm.” Blueblood. He was speaking quietly, slowly moving towards her with his hoof outstretched. “Just a little bit longer now, and we’ll have you all better.”
“No! Get away from me!” She panicked, launching the Captain back with a burst of telekinesis. Twilight had only meant to push him away, but instead he slammed into the far wall with a grunt of pain. He sat there for a moment, head spinning, before shaking his muzzle to clear the daze from his mind. A younger guard had moved to Blueblood’s side, making sure the Captain was alright.
“I… I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you!” I have to get out of here, I need to find Spike!
“It’s… ouch! Quite alright, your Highness. Wait, what are you doing?!”
Twilight summoned her magic, feeling it burning within herself like an eternal furnace. Except, it no longer felt like a simple spark, but rather a bolt of lightning arcing through her system, filling every cell to the brim with unfathomable strength. This spell wouldn’t even require a fraction of the wellspring she suddenly had available.
“Princess Eos, wai-!”
The rest of Blueblood’s exclamation was cut off as the unicorn-turned-Alicorn teleported away.
With a shimmering pop, Twilight found herself standing in a large hallway, with no windows or other landmarks with which to judge her position and direction. The vaulted architecture of the castle gave the walls an illusion akin to looming trees, branches hanging high above and hemming her in. The glowing purple crystals spaced evenly down the hall, clearly meant to provide light and comfort in this place, only served to accentuate that this was not the palace of her childhood.
After a moment of indecision, she chose a random direction and began to walk. Or trip and faceplant painfully, as it were.
“Ouch! Ugh, that hurt…” Here we go with the tripping again! Faust above, it’s like I’m on stilts!
After several minutes of painful meetings with the marble floor, Twilight felt like she was finally beginning to make progress. Maybe I’ll get the hang of this after all. Maybe this is why Celestia hardly ever walks anywhere…
The lavender mare’s ears pricked at the sound of casual voices drifting towards her from farther down the hall, echoing around a nearby corner. Looking around in a slight panic, she couldn’t see any real cover; it was just one long hallway, nothing that could possibly… there!
She let out one quick “eep!” that would have made Fluttershy proud, before enacting her master plan of stealthy evasion. With as much haste as her clumsy legs would allow, Twilight half-trotted, half-tripped towards a large potted plant sitting against a wall. She did her best to huddle behind it, despite being several hoof lengths bigger than it was.
After a few seconds, she could hear the voices gradually getting closer, accompanied by the soft clip-clop of hooves on marble and the occasional clank of what must have been armor. Judging by the rhythm of the steps, she judged there to be only two, clearly a patrol of guards.
They continued to get closer, stopping right about where the corner must have been, before…
Uh oh…
“Shhh. Hey, is that…” One whispered, apparently directing his words toward where she huddled in a ball of purple fur.
No no no! It was foolproof! Just stay still, maybe they can’t see you if you just-
“Yeah, I think that’s her.” Shoot! “c’mon, let’s go get – agh!”
The sound of clanking metal sounded as a brief struggle seemed to break out. “Are you insane?! Spike just told us to leave her alone!”
“Yeah, but Blueblood said-“
“Forget what Blueblood said! Who are you gonna listen to? The Captain, or a Dragon that could gobble you whole and still have room left over for seconds?”
There was a brief pause in which Twilight remained as still as possible, curled in her fetal position of stealth.
“… yeah, you’re right. Let’s get out of here.”
“Well alright then, fellow guard! Let us be off down this hallway, away from this place. Yep, I sure hope nopony is hiding right now, because with us walking away, this would be a perfect opportunity for her, I-I mean… THEM to get out of here!” Twilight could hear the two guards trotting away. “Definitely no Princess here! Nothing to report at all!”
After a few minutes of waiting, the sound of their steps and exaggerated voices faded to nothing. She got unsteadily to her hooves and continued her arduous walk down the hall without further ado. It did not take long, before the cold walls gave way to glass windows, and Twilight could see by natural sunlight once again. Based upon the view outside, Twilight must have been very close to the castle garden. She even thought she could hear more birdsong, reaching her ears from far down another twist in the hallway.
Quickening her pace, she finally reached the entrance to the palace garden, warm grass replacing marble floors beneath her hooves. Feeling the soreness in her legs melt away as she walked on top of the soft earth, Twilight was taken back to her fillyhood for a moment, to her time as a student studying in the castle. Celestia would often take their lessons out into the garden, where her sun could shine down on them both.
The purple unicorn Alicorn took a moment to sit down, being particularly careful to tend to her new wings. They were still very prone to random acts of movement, but at least they weren’t flapping all over the place anymore.
“I figured that you would come here.” With a gasp, Twilight looked up to see a massive dragon head resting upon the hedge in front of her. His voice was like the rumbling of a volcano, a reverberating bass so deep that she felt it coursing through her entire body. “You’ve always loved these gardens, after all. I guess being so close to nature helps to deal with the stress.” A claw rose above the hedge, scratching his chin. He gazed into the distance as if in deep thought.
It can’t be… it just can’t be!
“S-Spike…. I… I-I just can’t, it can’t b-”
“Shhhhh. It’s alright.” Coming from the dragon, the shhh sound was like the hissing of a bellows. He moved around the hedge to come face to face with Twilight, each thundering step reminding her of a great heartbeat. “Don’t worry about anything right now. Just sit with me and relax…. Or at least, try not to faint again.”
The entire ground shook as he laughed. Given a relatively calm moment to examine the dragon, Twilight could see that he truly was enormous, with glimmering purple scales that shimmered and refracted the sunlight in all different directions. Where he had stepped, a clawprint was left behind easily as large as Twilight in her current body. His head sat upon a long, sinuous neck, roughly a third of his total length. The other two thirds were taken up by his body and tail. The upright spines that ran from his head down the neck were long, green, and curved back toward his midsection. Folded across his sides were a pair of immense draconic wings.
Twilight had seen a dragon of similar body composition just a year ago, when it had chosen a mountain near Ponyville as its next place of hibernation. This Spike could easily look that dragon in the eye.
“So you really are Spike?” Twilight reached out a hoof and touched his scales, noting the distinct difference between the diamond-like hardness of these ones and the far softer texture of Spike’s back home. As a young dragon that was constantly growing, Spike was frequently molting sections of his scaly armor and getting fresh layers, which took a while to harden. It was one of the more… gross, features of the dragon species which Twilight had become accustomed to.
The expression on his face was that of genuine love. “The one and only, sis.”
~~~~~~
Spike lay next to Eos in the Castle Gardens, where he had been awaiting her arrival for the past couple hours. She had come here, just as he had known she would. She always came here when she was stressed. I knew the Doctor wouldn’t be able to hold onto her, Spike thought. Delirium or not, no one likes to wake up in a hospital bed, and Eos isn’t exactly in an agreeable mood. I just hope she didn’t accidentally hurt the poor stallion, that old coot would probably shatter like glass if a crazed Eos so much as looked at him funny.
“Are you going to quiz me on my favorite gemstones too?” Spike let a jovial smile play across his face, noting how strange Eos looked without her regalia on. She seemed so vulnerable now, very much different from her normal air of persistence and fortitude. He gave Eos the closest thing to a whisper he could manage, “you know I’ve always been partial to emeralds.”
He gave the Alicorn of Dawn a moment to collect her thoughts as he bellowed another hearty laugh. She seemed genuinely stunned by his off-claw jest, to his mild surprise. She spoke with little more than a whisper, “so it truly is you, Spike. I just… don’t know what to say.” Good one, Eos. As if the ‘Goddess of Dawn’ will ever run out of things to say. I can see the cogs in your brain turning right now; the factory of the mind never stops. Humph, not my best analogy, but whatever. She’s is the one who usually bothers with this stuff… As Spike lapsed into more rumination, Eos’ face lit up as an idea floated to the surface. With sudden excitement, she said, “Princess Celestia! Oh, how could I have forgotten Princess Celestia all this time! Spike, you’ve got to tell me, where is she? What does she know about all of this?”
You’re not making this easy for me, sister. “Eos… this isn’t the first time today that you’ve uttered that name, but this is where I am the one who lacks understanding.” It certainly wouldn’t be the first time, Spike thought. “I’ve never heard of a pony named Celestia, and there are certainly no Princesses by that title in the known world.”
Eos seemed to visibly blanch at this statement. It took her a few moments of opening and closing her jaw before she became capable of speech once again. “What?! No, no no no no NO! This isn’t fair! How could you not know of Princess Celestia? What have I done?”
He should not have been so perturbed by these utterances. They were the ravings of a madmare, still dealing with the severe effects of magical exhaustion-induced Delirium. But as much as Spike had wanted to ignore his better judgment, the fact of the matter was that Eos was clearly not delirious. Not anymore, and perhaps not even earlier today. I can see it in her eyes. He thought. That look of true confusion, of fear and amazement all mixed together. Why, Eos? What did you do?
Eos continued in the face of Spike’s silence, “how can you say that you don’t know who Princess Celestia is?! The elder Eternal Sister, raiser of the sun, and sovereign Diarch of Equestria! She’s my teacher, my mentor, the wisest pony in the world! And I’m her-”
Suddenly, a wisp of sparkling smoke snaked down from the sky, curling to form a ball in front of Eos before bursting into a curled scroll. Spike extended a single massive claw to catch the tiny message, unfurling the scroll in an impressive display of dexterity. He read the first couple lines before looking down at Eos where she lay watching the scroll with an unusual level of fascination. He gave her a confident smile, far more confident than he felt. Here goes nothing, sister.
“It seems, Eos, that your brightest and most faithful student has sent you a letter.”
~~~~~~
Twilight sat upon the grass of the garden, looking at Spike with an expression of apprehension which barely concealed the rising panic quickly growing within her.
My… what?
“My… what?” Way to go, Twilight. Your linguistic abilities are without match. “Did you say… s-student?”
“Both of them, actually. Sunny wrote the letter, of course, you can tell just from the wingwriting.” Spike continued to hold his smile, in spite of Twilight’s nearly complete mental shutdown. “Would you like me to read?”
Twilight managed a barely perceptible nod. With a sound not unlike an avalanche, Spike cleared his throat and began to read:
Dear Princess Eos,
Midnight Star and I have had another great week here in Ponyville. We spent much of the weekend continuing our work on the dragonfire mail system you were so interested in during our last correspondence. This message was sent as our first field test. Midnight has certainly outdone herself this time, neither of us can wait to begin full-scale implementation. Once again, we’d like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Sir Spike for his generous gift of dragonfire; it has made this entire project possible.
Our friends have been doing well, I’m happy to report. Rarity has been very busy, working on this year’s dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala. Despite last year being less than stellar, I think we’re all very excited to see what we can make of the party this year. You always said we did a great job of livening things up, after all (and don’t worry, Fluttershy is bringing Angel Bunny this time so that she’ll have someone to hang out with if things don’t work out with the garden fauna). Perhaps I can come early so we can catch up together, there’s just so much to talk about!
Midnight is getting really impatient now, waiting for me to finish this letter so we can get on with the test, so I guess now would be a good time to conclude. Next chance I get, I’d really love to show you my progress on the photovoltaic energy experiment I mentioned last month. Until then, farewell for now!Your Faithful Students,
Sunny Skies and Midnight Star
Once Spike was done reading, he gave the scroll to Twilight. She took it in her hooves and held it there with as little motion as possible, not daring herself to move lest the act cause the last of her sanity to shatter like glass. The… wingwriting?
Spike held something else in his claws now, and was currently looking at it with great interest. “Ahhhh, it seems that Sunny provided a picture in her letter. Quite a nice one, in fact. Here.” Once again, Twilight found her hooves grasping something, this time a small picture. With barely concealed trembling, she held it to her face and gazed upon the colorful sight it captured.
There were two ponies in the picture, standing in front of what looked like the Golden Oaks Library. One was a light blue, silver-haired unicorn mare, who stood slightly in the recess of the doorway where the shadows were thicker. The other was a white, pink-maned pegasus, who held a huge smile on her face as she stood next to her friend. The Pegasus’ personality seemed to hold an innocent radiance all its own.
By the stars above….Celestia? Luna?
Twilight looked back at Spike, who was carefully reading her expression. She began to shake her head, and continued to shake it as she spoke with a waver in her voice, “Spike, this isn’t right. I don’t think I belong here at all…”
“What?! Nonsense! What gave you that idea, Eos?” Oh, I don’t know. I’m in some kind of alternate reality where my mentor has become my student and is sending study reports to me, my little brother is now a really huge dragon, I’VE GOT WINGS…
Also, one other thing… “Please, stop calling me that! I’m not your Princess, and my name isn’t Eos! My name is Twilight Sparkle!”
Spike was taken aback by Twilight’s sudden outburst, especially considering the slight hint of insanity which had crept back into her tone. “Eos, you know I can’t just accept that-”
“You see these two ponies?!” The crazed Alicorn held the picture up to Spike, as close to his eyes as she could reach, magic forgotten long ago. “They’re supposed to be the princesses! That one there is Princess Luna, and that one… that one is Princess Celestia, my mentor! I’m her student, not the other way around!” The spilled marbles had given way to actual anger now. “This is some kind of reverse world, everything is flipped!”
“…” He doesn’t even know how to respond. Would I know how?
Twilight couldn’t hold it in any longer. She buried her head in her forehooves, letting her burst of mania give way to distress. “Oh Celestia, what have I done? I never even said ‘I wish’…” as she lay trembling, Spike’s long tail coiled around her, pulling the distraught mare closer to her dragonish companion. His scales felt warm to the touch, comforting like a hearth fire.
“Eos, or Twilight, whatever you want me to call you… don’t worry. Just explain things from the top, and we’ll figure this out, I promise.”
Twilight took a few moments to calm herself. After taking a long, deep breath, she said, “My-name-is-Twilight-Sparkle-and-I’m-a-unicorn-librarian-who-helped-Princess-Celestia-save-her-long-lost-sister-with-the-power-of-friendship-and-because-of-that-I-got-to-stay-in-Ponyville-and-study-the-magic-of-friendship-with-my-really-good-friends-but-now-in-this-universe-Celestia-is-the-one-who’s-just-a-normal-pony-and-somehow-I’m-the Princess-and-oh-Faust-what-am-I-going-to-do-now?!”
Spike blinked a few times before continuing. “Sorry but… I’m not sure I caught that last bit.”
“Ugh!” Twilight pointed at the picture. “I’m supposed to be her!”
“You’re supposed to be… Sunny Skies?” Spike scratched his head with a claw, turning his entire neck slightly sideways in concert with his quizzical expression.
“No! I’m supposed to be the student, she’s supposed to be the Princess!” Eureka! He finally got it! Twilight thought as the realization seemed to hit home.
“But Eos…” Darn, not Eureka! “What you’re proposing stretches the limits of believability…”
Twilight’s gaze locked with Spike’s, seeing her own lavender reflection in the slit pupils of his massive eyes. “Please, Spike, look into my eyes. I promise you I'm telling the truth, I'm not just being crazy." She tried to give him a reassuring look. At that, he hummed and tweaked a scaly eyebrow. "Ok, I know it looks really bad, but you just have to trust me."
After a moment longer of deliberation, Spike finally relented and Twilight sighed in relief. He seemed resigned to follow the tale Twilight had given him. “Alright 'Twilight'. For now I'll believe this tale you've spun, that yesterday you were a unicorn and now you've awoken as a Princess. I made a promise long time ago to always support you. We'll work together to find out what has happened so that you can get your Celestia back and I can get my Eos back.”
They sat in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of birds as they flitted between trees. A gentle wind blew through the garden, and the plant life sung a beautiful chorus of bent stalks and rustled leaves as it passed. The immediate section around them was covered in strange half-shadows and dancing colors, as Spike’s scales reflected the sunlight and left it splashing across the wavy hedges. It truly was a beautiful location, the only place so far that seemed unchanged from how she remembered it. Even as Twilight lay there, coiled in a giant Spike’s tail while her own wings itched with inaction, she could imagine her times here as a little filly long ago.
Spike finally broke the silence with a question. “I’m curious, Twilight. If you’re from some kind of alternate universe, where you live down in Ponyville, what about me? How do I fit into all of this?”
Twilight gave him the first genuine, playful smile since she arrived here. He’ll love this.“Well, you’re my assistant at the Library, just a widdle baby dragon. You turned twelve years old last month.”
“Wha… but… A baby dragon?! I’m over a thousand years old!” The indignation in his voice was so thick that Twilight could very nearly taste it. “I’m as old as the stones this castle is built with, how can I be nothing more than a whelpling?!”
Twilight was laughing so hard she doubled over, rolling along the ground as she attempted (and failed) to contain her mirth. “Baby or not, you’re still the same old Spike!”
At first, it seemed that he would have a retort to give, but thought better of it and stopped. The thought seemed to fascinate him. Finally, with a shrug he said, “Mmhm, and you’re still Eos.”
Twilight had finally stopped rolling, laying on her side within the ring made by Spike’s coiled tail. Feeling secure and at least partially content for the first time during that morning, she immediately began to feel drowsy. She had one last request to make before the sleep took her, though.
“Describe her to me, please.”
“You mean, Princess Eos?" Spike seemed rather surprised by the request. It certainly wasn’t what he had been expecting. Twilight, too far gone to say anything, simply nodded her head in confirmation. With a quick shrug, Spike said, “Well, I must admit it’s not something I actively think about how to describe. In a word, I suppose, she’s inquisitive. Always curious about everything, always pursuing the answers to questions and the solutions to problems. She’s beautiful and brilliant, with intelligence beyond peer.” He was really on a role now, even as Twilight was barely processing the words being said. “Though, if there’s one thing that tends to be a recurring problem, it’s that she becomes very obsessive about her projects. Eos often gets kind of… manic, when an answer eludes her. Also, I – uh, ah, you’re sleeping. I see. That’s… that’s alright, I guess I was done. I guess.”
The lavender Alicorn had indeed heard what Spike had said, even as her drowsy body was pulling her into a deep, contented sleep. As she felt her consciousness leave her, she thought about what Spike had said about the Princess. “Sounds familiar, hehe.” She faintly remembered the question that had started this, the query so piercing, the multi-verse itself must have been obligated to answer it. Perhaps she would get an answer to her question after all. “I guess I do get to be just… like…... her………”
~~~~~~
Spike lay upon the grass, watching as Eos, no, Twilight, slept soundly. He had his tail wrapped around his sister, and one of her wings had unfurled itself to drape across her head, shielding her from the sun above. Considering how taxing the Alicorn’s morning had been, he didn’t doubt that she would sleep very well.
What am I supposed to think, Eos? Even in a life as long as ours, such a situation is beyond my experience. The most likely explanation is that you are simply suffering from amnesia and delusions. And yet the possibility remains, what if this 'Twilight' has been transplanted here from another world? Or could our own reality have been altered somehow? If there is even a small possibility of this being true, it must be investigated and verified. Until then, I will simply have to trust Twilight on her word.
Just then, Spike saw a couple guards walking through the garden in his peripheral vision, and turned his head to face them just as they rounded the nearest hedge corner. The two quickly spotted Twilight as she slept soundly within his coiled tail, and were looking at each other with surprise on their faces. Before they could do anything more than stare, however, he gave them a long, low growl. In any case, the doctor and the Guard can wait; Twilight needs a decent moment of rest. He did not need to vocalize these words to them, his growl did the talking for him. To Spike’s mild disappointment, they turned tail and ran before he even had a chance to properly display his teeth for them.
The elder dragon looked back down at Twilight. It felt so strange to see her acting like this, like an entirely different person. As much as Twilight matched Eos’ mannerisms, the two carried themselves so much differently. Beyond the most immediate factor, of little Sparkle simply being out of her element, confused and bewildered by circumstances outside her control, there was something about her… this little one was strange. I will do everything in my power to get you back to your proper world, Twilight; I promise, on my word as a dragon, you will return.
Spike gazed far into the sky, past the clouds, past the sun and the stars, farther than everything. I wonder what you’re doing right now, Eos. He chuckled quietly to himself. How could you survive a day without me?
******
Earlier that day, very far away from the elder dragon, a purple unicorn slept on her bed in a library carved from a tree. She woke with an abnormal crick in her neck and a strange soreness in her body. All at once, she seemed to notice herself and her surroundings for the first time, studying each closely before saying, quite simply:
“So this is what I get for taking an early night’s rest.”