Spike couldn’t help but feel worried as he made his way to Ponyville. For all he knew, his nightmare might actually come true. Spike flew faster with that thought in mind, hoping he could arrive before the worst might happen. He was near the edge of town, he landed behind some trees. From behind the trees, he scouted out the area. Everything seemed fine, except for the fact... not a single pony was roaming the streets, which worried Spike. There was always a few ponies roaming at night.
I need to make sure Twilight is alright.
Spike made his way to the library, making sure not to be spotted. He opened the door and entered. He wanted to yell Twilight, and watch her run down the stairs, happy to see him. He wanted to give her a hug, wanting to see his only family member. He knew deep down he couldn’t yell out her name, it would give away his position, and possibly lose Twilight forever, or lose his own life. He slowly made his way into the bedroom, keeping as quiet as possible. When he opened the door, he wasn’t happy with what he saw next. There were signs of a struggle. The bed sheets and pillows were scattered everywhere, books all over the floor, the candle holder was knocked over, broken… with red stains. Immediately, Spike’s head was filled with pictures of Twilight assaulted, beaten and even… dead. Spike just stood there, tears flowing down his cheeks. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t do anything, he was stuck there, thinking of the worst case scenario. He almost truly believed that Twilight was dead, that he was too late. He fell to his knees, crying even harder. Soon he heard a familiar voice in his head.
Spike.
“Who’s there? Show yourself!”
It’s me Spike, Thorne.
“Your majesty? How are you communicating with me?"
I'm your conscience Spike, but right now I need you to something
"What is it your... majesty?" Spike felt weird talking to himself.
I need you to be strong right now.
“How can I? I lost my only family member, and for all I know, all my friends are dead.”
You don’t know that for sure. Besides, you may still be able to save them.
“You’re right, I should check my other friends’ houses, in case they might still be here.”
Spike made his way to the Carousel Boutique first. He entered without knocking. He knew it was rude, but he had to make sure Rarity was alright, he didn’t have time to spare. He ran to her bedroom, only for his fear to come true, she was gone. He ran out and looked at all of his friends’ houses, but all the residents of Ponyville were gone, every house showed signs of struggle. Spike clenched his fists in anger.
“Celestia… you will pay for this… You can count on that... no matter what it takes.”
Spike flew as fast as he could towards the dragon lands, he knew he would need help to accomplish his mission.
Spike arrived at the castle in the dragon lands in record speed. He was stopped by the king’s guards at the entrance of the castle.
“What brings you here?”
“I need to see the king, it’s an emergency!” Spike panted, having lost energy from flying here at top speeds.
“Alright, it had better be important, the king doesn’t have time to waste.” The guard moved aside. Spike made his way in the castle, and ran to the throne room. Thorne noticed Spike.
“Spike, how did it go?”
“It’s horrible, my nightmare partially came true.”
“What do you mean?”
“All my friends... gone." Tears forming around Spike's eyes.
"My family, everypony I loved... gone. I wanted to give up, I just broke down. Fortunately my conscience convinced me that I might still have a chance to save my friends."
"How do you plan on helping your friends?"
“Well… I was hoping you could help me exact my revenge on the pony I believe did this. Please your majesty, this mission is too big for me to do alone. I want to see my friends again.” Tears sliding down his cheeks.
“I will help you Spike, I would help you with anything… son.”
“Wait… you’re my… dad?”
“That’s right Spike, I am.” Tears of joy flowed down Spike’s cheeks.
“Dad!” Spike hugged Thorne, to which Thorne returned the hug.
“I’m so happy to see you! I’ve been wondering where my real parents were, and if they were even alive.”
“I missed you so much Spike.”
“Is mom still…” Spike asked, but was interrupted by the sight of his dad crying tears of sadness at the subject.
“No son, she passed away a few years ago.”
“What happened?” Spike was now crying as well.
“I… I can’t explain right away, you have a mission you must accomplish first. I will explain everything afterwards, I promise. Right now however, you need to help your friends.
“You’re right dad. We’ll need some help.”
“I will assemble my best soldiers, and I will meet you at the entrance of the Everfree forest.”
“I will meet you there dad.” Spike made his way to the entrance of the Everfree forest. He didn’t wait too long before his dad and ten other dragons showed up.
“Are you ready son?”
“Before we go, I want to discuss something.”
“Sure, what is it?”
“I want to discuss my plan right now.”
“Alright, what do you have in mind?”
“I think your soldiers should distract the guards, and kill any that are changelings. While they are distracted with that, you and I will enter the Canterlot Castle and find the one who caused all of this.”
“That sounds good to me son, now let’s go, before we’re too late.”
Thorne and the other dragons followed Spike. They made their way behind Canterlot Castle and landed, far enough that they wouldn’t be spotted.
“Alright, I want you guys to distract the guards so dad and I can enter the castle with little resistance. If you notice any of them are changelings, I want you to terminate them, in any way you see fit. I want them to suffer. They cannot get away with what they caused easily.” Anger filled Spike’s voice.
“Understood!” The dragons made their way to the castle. They started to throw fireballs at the walls, causing the guards to call reinforcements to the back. While they were doing that, Spike and Thorne made their way around, keeping their distance from the castle, until they reached the front. They were stopped by a few guards. Spike and Thorne’s immunity to magic revealed them to be changelings. They both used their fire breath to let them burn to death.
“That’s what you get for what you’ve done, you pieces of filth!” Spike yelled in anger.
They continued their way into the castle, killing all the guards blocking their way to the throne room. When they arrived, Spike powered kicked the doors off the walls. To his surprise, the room was mostly empty, except for one pony… Celestia.
“You… you bucking piece of filth. You will pay for what you have done… DO YOU HEAR ME!?” Spike yelled, his anger taking over any logical thinking, as he slowly made his way to Celestia. Celestia was slowly walking backwards, scared for her life, knowing Spike’s potential.
“Wait Spike, it’s the real me.”
“Yeah right, like I haven’t heard that one before.”
“I am, if I wasn’t, you’d see it with your immunity to magic. Please you need to believe me!” Celestia begged for her life.
“You’ve found a spell to hide your true form, you impostor! I wasn’t born yesterday.”
"Honestly Spike. They want you to think it was me, they want you to kill me."
"LIAR! You're an impostor! No matter how much you beg, no matter how much you plea for your life, I will kill you."
Celestia saw a door in her path.
I just need to make it past that door, and I will be home free. All I need to do is lose these two, and teleport to get some help. Celestia ran as fast as she could, but Thorne saw what she was looking at and blocked her.
“There’s nowhere to run you impostor, just accept your fate.”
“No Spike, listen to me…”
“ENOUGH, NOW, TO BE DONE WITH YOU!” Spike grabbed Celestia’s head.
“Game over Celestia…” Spike shoved her onto the ground. He then used his flame breath, but just enough to set her on fire, he wanted to make sure she suffered, as much as possible. The room was filled with screams of pure agony. Celestia could feel the flames slowly burning her skin off, eventually starting to eat away at her flesh. She was in intense pain. The flames continued to consume her, eating away at her organs, until the room fell silent, and all that was left of Celestia, was a pile of bones on the floor. Spike felt relieved… it was finally over. He ran up to his dad.
“Dad… it’s over… everything is going to be alright now. Let’s go find my friends.”
“Lead the way Spike.” The two made it to the doors. To Spike’s confusion, the doors he kicked down were back up. They were magically locked as well.
“Who’s doing this? SHOW YOURSELF! COWARD!”
“Well, well, well Spike. I must say, that I really enjoyed the show. It was excellent, and to think I got front row seats for free."
Spike turned around he noticed two figures were hiding behind the curtains covering the windows.
“So it was you two behind this the whole time.”
“Indeed it was. I want to thank you for taking care of Princess Celestia for us, she was only getting in the way of our plans.”
“You mean… I killed the real Princess Celestia…?”
“Indeed you did Spike. We were going to dispose of her ourselves, but instead we thought, why not make it look like she was behind it, and let you kill her. The one dragon and friend she trusted the most, even more than Twilight Sparkle.”
“No… how could I… I’m so sorry princess, please forgive me. I only wanted to save my friends.” Spike said, sadness in his voice, if only he would have listened to her, he could have helped save the kingdom.
“Oh don’t worry, your friends aren’t dead.”
“Enough of this, show yourselves!”
“Where are our manners? Let us formally introduce ourselves.”
The two figures walk out, in front of the thrones.
“You know my good friend Queen Chrysalis of course, and of course I am the powerful Nightmare Moon.”
“Luna! How could you do this to your sister? She took you back after all you’ve done, after betraying her, after what you did to Equestria. After all she’s done, you go behind her back and betray her. How could you?”
“I held that grudge ever since I returned. How could she send me to the moon for one thousand years? Her own sister. She knew the pains I was feeling, and she did nothing to try and help. All she did was continue to rule and raise the sun. She never gave me any moments of glory. I deserved at least one, but it never happened. She just continued on, as if I wasn’t important anymore. So I decided I would exact my revenge when I got back.”
“Why did you wait all this time? Why not get it over with faster?”
“Because, if I would’ve done it any sooner, I would have had the same fate happen again, or worse. I found Chrysalis here in a cave in the Everfree forest recently during one of my nightly walks, and she explained to me what happened to her. Seeing we both wanted the same goal, I proposed we join forces. Her changelings could use their transformation abilities to take out the guards, but remain posted at the stations so my sister wouldn’t suspect anything. Part of the promise was I’d let her rule Equestria with me, and get her revenge on Cadance afterwards..”
“When did you become Nightmare Moon?”
“I did it the day Twilight was told that you had to leave for heritage reasons. That Celestia was me in disguise. As for the Celestia that came to send you away, that was Chrysalis.”
“How come I couldn’t see past her magic?”
“I taught her a spell that is powerful enough to trick the dragon's magic barrier."
“So you used the heritage trick so you could kidnap my friends, without me being there to interfere?”
“Exactly. Also I made sure Chrysalis left enough clues so that you would end up here, in our trap, which you are in right now.”
“That’s what you think!” Spike started to charge his fire breath, wanting to release a huge fireball.”
“I wouldn’t advise you do that.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because as soon as you kill either one of us, your friends die. Bring them out Chrysalis.”
“My pleasure.” Queen Chrysalis brought out six tables with her magic. Each one had one of Spike’s friends shackled. He noticed Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s wings were missing and so were Rarity and Twilight’s horns. Also everyone had a mouth gag except for Twilight.
“I apologize, I removed the wings and horns… I didn’t want them to have any hope of escaping or get any bright ideas.” Nightmare Moon laughed.
“Twilight!” Spike ran up to Twilight.
“Spike… is that… you?”
“Yes Twilight it’s me. I’m glad you’re alive!” Spike hugged her. Tears flowing down both their cheeks.
“I’m glad you’re alright Spike, I was worried about you.”
“I was worried about you too Twilight! Thorne can you please come here.” Thorne walked over to Spike and stood beside him.
“Twilight, I want you to meet my dad. Dad this is Twilight, she was the one who raised me since I hatched from my egg.”
“It’s nice to meet you sir.”
“Please call me Thorne. It’s nice to meet you Twilight.” Both were smiling.
“Awwwwwwwww, isn’t this a touching moment. You guys are making me sick.” Nightmare Moon interrupted.
“Oh be quiet, just because no one loves you, doesn’t mean you have to ruin the moment.”
“HOW DARE YOU!” Nightmare cast a spell, hitting Spike in the chest, knocking him back.
“That really hurt, but you haven’t won yet.”
“That’s what you think. Now Chrysalis.”
Queen Chrysalis used a powerful binding spell on Spike and Thorne, binding them to the wall, facing his six friends. Almost like they were watching a demonstration.
“Welcome ladies and dragons to tonight’s show. Please keep your applause for the end of the show. Tonight’s show, will require the help from six of my friends. Those would be Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Tonight, we will test if the elements of harmony can really save you. Our first contestant… Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter.” Nightmare Moon brought the table over with her magic.
“Well Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter. I would take the gag off, but I don't want a mouth full from you, you honestly talk too much. Now as for your element, it definitely suits you. I enjoy laughing at you, not with you. You're not great at anything else, except at making ponies laugh. Oh I'm sorry, you can throw great parties apparently. Well Pinkie, in the real world, you can't get by, by just being funny and throwing parties. Ponies are not always in the mood to laugh. In my opinion, you are the most useless of the group. Well it is time to say goodbye Pinkie." Nightmare Moon shot Pinkie in the chest with her spell, causing her to die instantly.
“It looks like your element couldn’t save you, how sad.” Nightmare Moon opened the shackles and tossed Pinkie’s body on the floor.
“Alright next, we have Rainbow Dash.” Nightmare Moon brought over Rainbow Dash’s table, and removed her mouth gag.
“Let me go you monster.”
“Rainbow this isn’t the time for compliments.” Nightmare Moon said, smiling.
“We are going to have fun, Rainbow Crash." Nightmare Moon laughed.
“That’s the best you’ve got?”
“Well Rainbow Dash, at least I accomplished something I wanted in my life, disposing of my sister. However you never accomplished yours, joining the Wonderbolts. How does it feel, to be loyal to the Wonderbolts, but never fully gain their respect, never let them join your team… let them betray you like that. How long before you become so bitter that you give up on being loyal to them? Even when you joined the Wonderbolt academy, they gave you the lackey role in your team of two. They had more faith in a pony that they knew less about. Yet you continue to put them high up on a pedestal. I’m starting to question if your loyalty means anything. It seems to me that you just give it to anyone that is famous. That kind of loyalty is worthless, it’s the equivalent of an empty promise… worthless. How you were chosen to bear that element will always puzzle me. It should have gone to someone like Spike, who actually shows signs of loyalty. He was loyal to my sister and Twilight, without any conditions, but he didn’t just give it to anypony. Un… like… you.”
Rainbow Dash laid there, mouth agape. She couldn’t respond to that. Words would not form, all she could do was make sounds, but not words. She knew it was true, and she couldn’t do anything about it. Words finally formed in her head.
“You’re right, that’s all I can say.” Tears flowed down Rainbow Dash’s cheeks.
“Now, to dispose of this trash.” Nightmare Moon shot Rainbow in the chest with the same spell she used on Pinkie Pie. She also released her from her shackles and threw her on the floor beside Pinkie with her magic.
“Rarity, you’re up next.” Just as previously, Nightmare Moon brought Rarity’s table in front of her, and removed the gag from her mouth.
“Well here we have the drama queen of the group. The fashionista of the group, also the bearer of the element of generosity. Always making dresses for your friends and outfits for Spike. However, that is where your generosity ends mostly. It seems that your generosity for your own sister Sweetie Belle always has to have a condition. The only reason you went to the sisterhooves social with her, was because you wanted to be a better sister than Applejack. Before that, you’d refuse to go. You see Rarity, you might be somewhat generous, but you’re also selfish. There always has to be something in it for you. Sure there were a few times that wasn’t the case, but there was also times that was the case. You are also a user Rarity, especially when it comes to Spike. How many times have you manipulated him and used him? You never even properly thanked him, or even acknowledge the hard work he did half the time. You would just give him a gem or make him something to eat, and then continue on. Spike was completely loyal, and you used him. That doesn’t sound very generous to me. Again, another waste of an element. It’s a shame honestly. Now it’s your turn to join the previous two.”
“Wait!” Rarity shouted.
“What is it?”
“I just… want to say one thing.” Tears were forming around her eyes.
“Make it quick.”
“Spike can you hear me?”
“Yes Rarity?”
“I’m sorry for the way I treated you. I’m sorry for using your loyalty and kindness the way I did. Can you please forgive me?”
“I forgive you Rarity. You will always be my friend. I’m just sorry it won’t be that way. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”
“It’s alright Spike, I’ll see again when the time comes.”
“Alright enough already.” Nightmare shot Rarity in the chest with the same spell. She also released her from the restraints and tossed her beside the other two.
“Next is Applejack.” Applejack was pulled to the front by Nightmare Moon, also removing her gag.
“Applejack, the element of honesty. Honesty is trait that is rare in today’s society. For once I can say you actually deserved your element, you were actually honest. However, you are so stubborn, that it almost cost you your farm. It took up to the point that you would never harvest all the apples in time before you would accept help. Everypony needs help Applejack, even me. To accomplish this, I needed Chrysalis’s help. You can’t get through life on your own, you’ll need help along the way, but no matter what, no matter how many times it gets proven, you ignore it, and continue to be stubborn. What happens when your stubbornness causes you to lose everything, the farm, your friends… your family? What would you do then? Just apologize? Apologies don’t bring back the dead, they don’t fix loses. Apologies doesn’t fix much, it’s just something we say to get rid of the guilt we feel. Now to dispose of you.”
Nightmare Moon went through the same process as the other three.
“Next we have Fluttershy.” Nightmare Moon brought her up to the front and removed her mouth gag.
“Fluttershy… the nice one, the soft one, the bearer of the element of kindness. To be honest, it suits you perfectly. However, it is poisoning your animals. With your kindness, now they won’t be able to survive on their own. They count on you to feed them, to care for them. They aren’t able to hunt for food, won’t be able to survive in their new environment. You’ve turned them dependant and soft like you. Worthless, can’t stand up for yourself. The worst part is that you’re content with being useless and shy. However when you decided to stand up for yourself, you become a whole different pony, you lose your identity. You never have a middle ground. You’re either a pushover or a bully. Will you ever become confident, I doubt it, not the way you’re doing things now. You can’t just rely on doing only the easy things, only the things you comfortable with, to be successful in life, you need to do things outside your boundaries, outside your comfort zone. You are never going to get that point, especially now. Goodnight forever Fluttershy.” Nightmare shot Fluttershy with her spell in the chest, killing her instantly. She then like the other, open the restraints and tossed her beside the others.
“Well we are now on our last guest today… Twilight Sparkle.”
Nightmare Moon brought Twilight’s table over. Twilight was barely alive, using all her energy just to stay alive.
“Now Twilight, the element of magic, also the one who ‘defeated’ me a few years ago. You see Twilight, you’ll never get rid of me unless you kill Luna. I will always be a part of her. I feed off of her anger, her sadness… her hatred. I stay in her subconscious until it’s time to emerge. As for you, your element of course suits you, you are great with magic, but not great enough to stop me forever. Now instead of giving you a whole speech like I did with the others, I’m going to let you spend your last breaths beside Spike. All you have to do is crawl to him.” Nightmare Moon released the restraints. Twilight fell onto the floor. She tried to get up on all fours, but she couldn’t. She didn’t have enough energy. She slowly crawled, each step was painful… each breath was weaker. She made it halfway there, when suddenly Nightmare Moon shot her in the back with her spell, causing her to die on the spot.
“I lied, you were the one I wanted to kill the most, for ruining my chances of ending this earlier.” Nightmare Moon grabbed her with her magic and tossed her with the others.
“Now here I have the book with all six elements of harmony. Well since they have no use anymore.” Nightmare Moon crushed them under her hoof, breaking them all. Spike’s last hope gone.
“Now Chrysalis your role is over, I only needed you up until now. I have no use for you, and I rule this kingdom alone.” Nightmare Moon cast the same death spell on her, killing her. Doing so, meant Spike and Thorne were free. While Nightmare Moon had her back turned, Spike rushed up to her, grabbing her.
I expected you to do this Spike, but I’m not worried, you’re too weak to kill me. Spike pulled off Nightmare Moon’s horn. Screams of pain could be heard in the room. Blood dripping down his claw and Nightmare Moon’s face.
“You won’t be needing this. Not after what I’m going to do to you. For what you’ve done to my friends.” Spike placed her on one of the beds, and placed the restraints on her.
“How does it feel to be on this end?” Nightmare Moon was fearing for her life.
"Now let's discuss you. Nightmare Moon, unable to do anything right. Again, your plans are ruined, this time, by an average dragon. You've become weak, before only the elements could stop you, now all it takes is me. You couldn't win one thousand years ago, what makes you think you could now? Now to make sure you don't get another chance to try this again."
In a quick attempt to try to escape, she transformed back into Luna, using up almost all of her energy.
“Spike… it’s me… Princess Luna.”
“Nice try Nightmare Moon, but I wasn’t born yesterday. Don’t worry I have a surprise for you.” Spike dug his claw into her chest, and pulled out her beating heart.
“Just as I expected, purely black. Look at it, I want you to remember this as your dying!” Spike threw the heart on the table beside her head.
“Consider this as payback for what you did to my friends.”
Spike ran over to Thorne.
“Are you alright dad?”
“Yes I am, how about you Spike?”
“I got my revenge, but it doesn’t feel like I’ve accomplished anything. It’s all my fault, I could have saved them, I should have never left. I should have stayed with Twilight… This may have never happened.” Spike walked over to his friends’ bodies. Spike was crying, he was responsible for this in his mind.
“How could that monster do this? These ponies saved her, helped convince people to accept her. Yet after everything they did for her, she does this. At least her reign of terror is over. She will not hurt anypony else now… never again. As for me, what can I do now? I have nothing left, all my friends dead, my foster mom… dead. I have no one that truly loves me.” Thorne interrupted Spike.
“I love you Spike. I always have…” Spike interrupted.
“Lies! If you truly did, you would have tried to contact me earlier.”
“You know I couldn’t do that Spike.”
“I’m sure if you spoke to Celestia, she would have made some kind of arrangement. Instead you decide to do nothing. You don’t love me. Now leave, NOW! I never want to see you again.”
“I’m sorry Spike. I’ll leave, but in case you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
Thorne left the room and met up with the soldiers from earlier. They made their way back to the dragon lands.
“What are you going to do now Spike? You have nothing left. Well I might as well make sure the others are safe.” Spike made his way into the dungeons, where he found the rest of the citizens of Ponyville. He opened the cell door.
“Alright, you guys are free. Please go back to Ponyville. Everything is back to normal.”
“Thank you Spike!” They each spoke. Three of them stayed behind however.
"Are you alright Spike?"
"I have something I need to tell you three. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash... are dead."
"What!" All three cried.
"Rarity is dead..." Spike hugged Sweetie Belle, comforting her. She returned the hug.
"I'm so sorry Sweetie Belle, it's all my fault. I could have saved her."
"I don't blame you Spike, it wasn't your fault."
"Apple Bloom, I'm sorry about Applejack." Spike hugged Apple Bloom, to which she returned the hug.
"Thank you Spike, I don't blame you either."
"Scootaloo, I'm so sorry about Rainbow Dash."
"Thank you Spike." Spike hugged Scootaloo, to which she returned it.
"Spike we're sorry about Twilight." Sweetie Belle spoke.
"Thank you. Now you three head along home. Take care of each other."
"We will, but what about you Spike?"
"I've got some business I need to take care of."
With that, the three made their way back to Ponyville. Spike went back to the throne room and gently picked up the bodies of his friends. He made his way to the Canterlot royal cemetery. He did a proper burial for all of his friends, making a special grave stone for Twilight.
“I’m sorry guys, I could have saved all of you, if I would have never left. I hope you guys can forgive me.” Spike stayed there for a few hours, tears flowing down his cheeks, remembering all the good times he had with them. Eventually he flew to the Everfree forest, to live out the rest of his days, being haunted with the thought that his friends were dead because of him. Always being haunted that he could have saved them… if only he never left. Each night, he would relive his friends’ deaths in his nightmares.
As for Thorne, everyday he hoped Spike would return. To which he never did.
The End.