“Pinkie… I can’t believe it… S- She’s a wiser mare than this. She should be!”
Geuse shook her head in disbelief and devastation. “I thought it would all be better once we have her by our side again.”
Kanipha merely stroked the pegasus’s leg due to his height. “I can’t imagine what she was forced to do under Sunset Shimmer’s control. It’s fortunate that she doesn’t… um…”
Geuse rubbed her teary eyes. “One is too many! If Pinkie also, also…”
Pisacan pat the back of the pegasus in consolation, and bit her lips resignedly. “This can’t be good to her mental health. At the very least, if what Spike told me about her sentiments are true, she would feel incredibly bad about hurting so many yaks with her own invention, at the very least. Now everything came back to her, it must be a horrifying shock.”
Kanipha tutted. “And look at that railway gun. If that thing is used anywhere else in Equestria… Hoo boy.”
The yellow crystal pony wondered. “Besides, she was explicitly made commander of this relief force. If the orange witch is in any way uncertain about her loyalty, she would not do something so foolish. That means she must have been her obedient weapon-master for some time now, and she might even be part of her propaganda for what I know. It’s rather strange that if her control was flimsy enough that it can be negated using a simple anti-magic crystal. Doesn’t seem to add up.”
“That’s because the black pillars are not your run-of-the-mill anti-magic charm. Not even the anti-magic stone gifted to the white wolves by the new shadow herself might compare. It’s natural that she would mistakenly think that she would be safe in her thrall. But even with its help, Frigg, the Firstling Vala, did struggle at first when she was to break open the curse with them, a testament to its scary strength.”
The three looked back to the entrance to their tent. Yolana, who was in full ceremonial gear, walked into the tent. She was wearing a large headdress with chains of decorative feathers, coins and beads. A black veil dropped down from the tip of the conical hat, partially obscuring her face. She was also wrapped with a black dress with minimal embellishment.
She continued. “The black crystals are called two-faced stones in our native language. It does not carry the connotation of treachery like in Equestrian. Rather, they are prismatic stones that can be oriented in two ways, representing its ability to connect tangible dualities as one… Light and dark, fire and water, expansion and contraction, magic and anti-magic, mesmerization and clarity. This is why this stone can restore balance to minds who are forcibly swayed from their inherent reality.”
Kanipha mulled. “… Hmm. I see. So Yolana, why are you…?”
“The battle is over. Lion Muzzle had fooled the invading forces using rather clever tactics and inventive traps. The Crystallians had been summarily disarmed and herded to the main square, awaiting their fate by the hooves of the Villians.”
A grim look came up on her face. “And now, within our coalition, I must do my part as the Qam Qatun. There must be repose for the soul, perished and lost in a land so foreign.”
“You mean Suologievra…” Geuse sighed.
Pisacan shook her head. “Even though the white wolves’ loyalty have always been somewhat suspect, she seemed like a good leader who cares for her own people. It’s simply so needless. She had never acted against our interest even once.”
“That matricidal son of a b- I… I mean, basta- no, ugh! Where’s he anyway?” Kanipha spat.
“His brother went to see him, I heard.”
“You sure about that? That sounds fishy. After all, they’ve been partners in crime, or rather, in coup.”
“Spike said to allow him, and I trust his judgment.”
The zebra colt bit his lips. “Well, if it’s Spike…”
“Vala Frigg and I would be holding a brief ritual when Spike is better available and Puuska had finished his talk with his brother. She and I might have differing beliefs, but we’re united in our well wish to honor Suologievra’s memory.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Brother, it’s been some time.”
“Puuska.”
Laske, a muscular specimen of white wolf, drawn out his brother’s name as if he heard it the first time. Bounded with ropes, he wiggled towards the entrance to the small tent where his sibling abruptly entered. “Shame. This is not exactly how I picture our reunion.”
Puuska slightly narrowed his eyes. “You don’t seem bothered by the fact that I now stand on a side that fought against you.”
“Oh Puuska, you know who I am. Am I some pup who dwell on every small thing like you? It’s all good if it leads me to you.”
The gaunt wolf frowned and said bleakly. “So why exactly did you kill mother?”
“Puuska, Puuska, now you moralize before me, but you do remember that you have your paws in the decision to ostracize her in the first place? If not for the sheer coincidence that she was picked up and fed, she would have died in the harsh wilderness anyway. Not that I would shed a tear for it.”
Puuska looked pained. “This… this might be true. But why did you do it in such a dishonorable way? This will be a major stain when it comes to the decision of the fate of you and your followers by them.”
“Have you suddenly developed an honor code during your re-bonding experiences with mother?” Laske sneered.
Puuska looked unamused. “I don’t need you talking down to me. I just want to know what exactly you have got against mother so much that you need to use trickery to take her life.”
“H- Heh- Hehehahaha!”
Laske began to laugh wildly, causing Puuska to frown even more. “Brother-”
“Puuska. None of them matter to the slightest. Not mother. Not the orange unicorn who thought me to be a fool begging her for life. This plan of ours will proceed.”
“What? What can be still done? We are at best their new allies and at worst their unwilling drag-along! Isn’t it about time we give u-”
“Puuska, I think now is the time you’re made aware.”
Puuska knew this tone. His brother always raised his voice when he was about to do something out of bound. “You see, I’m determined to see to the completion of our ancient fate.”
“And look at where it brings us!”
“We’re at the right place, and the plan has already succeeded by a half.”
“What are you talking about, brother? You don’t make sense to me at all!”
“I don’t make sense, you say? Heh, mother used to say that to me all the time.”
“I don’t mean to-”
“Now, now, Puuska. There’re only us here, and we don’t need to be all formal...”
He loosened his shoulders by moving them around. “Seriously, even though we’re brothers, we’re only really living by each other in the last few years. We were never too close, mainly because in truth, we had no chance to know each other. And there is something that I never told you about.”
“… What is it?”
“I have dreamt of the Sielulintu, who whispered to me affairs of the mortal realm ever since I was very young.”
Puuska paused for a while to process that sentence, and then widened his eyes. “Y- You’re a prophetic dreamer?!”
“See? If mother was like you, recognizing the potency of the soul-bird at first mention, then all would be well in the world, and I would not be urged to bloody my paws.”
“Wh- What… I… you- what?” The younger wolf was in complete confusion.
“Mother had always been afraid of me. That’s why mother and I never got along, and you got to take on a prestigious post to Ursia and have her arranged with you as soon as you became an adult, while I stayed in Isojoki, practically under house arrest all day.”
He bared his teeth, his expression a mix of grin and exasperation. “I ask you, Puuska. What’s your impression of me the few times we saw each other in our youth?”
Puuska spluttered slightly, but he said. “Y… You were friendly enough. You greeted everyone that came across you by name and with impeccable manner. You were like the perfect heir. That was why I was somewhat bemused to see you become a bit… eccentric after I came back from Ursia.”
“Ah… but that’s problem though. That Laske you had seen was never the real me.”
“… Huh?”
“Mother never believed me when I told her of those visions I saw in my dreams, even though they came to pass eventually. She blamed me for cursing father to his demise at the seas, while I was a mere messenger. To make my presence less troubling to the peace of her mind, she fed me with concoctions she procured from the mysterious lands to the east. It softened my resistance, allowed her to manipulate my psyche to her whim. That’s why I might finally fit her conceptions of how an heir should act in the public, because I was little more than her little wolf puppet. More importantly, it severed my connection to the dreamscape, therefore I would not be able to bother her with my nonsensical talk of the grim future anymore.”
Puuska froze. He did not at all expect his somewhat distant but generally just mother could do something like that to her own son.
He had joined in his brother out of a plethora of different reasons – his brother’s heartfelt appreciation for his ability, the readiness in returning the wolf-whistle to him, and the very fact that Laske had treated him like a long-lost brother with all his devotion. His experiences with Suologievra was never a reason, because at the very least, she had treated him with proper care like any mother would have done, and he had never felt too comfortable siding with either in the conflict.
Seizing the shock apparent on his brother’s face, Laske continued. “But though I have never managed to dream the soul-bird again, even after I wriggled myself out of her tyrannical paws, I did have one very specific vision, one that should change the world as we know it. And my gut feeling told me that the she-wolf called Suologievra would never be part of it… I would never allow it.”
“You…”
“Listen up, Puuska. You saw the sky, alright.”
“… Yes, the sun and the moon are no longer moving across the sky. So?”
“The soul bird had told me, before you’re even born, that this would happen.”
“…!”
“And you have misunderstood me as well, brother. The ancient prophecy I pursued was not bringing about the downfall of the Firstlings or the southerners. No, that would be inconsequential in the big picture. The prophecy that I was promised is far greater and would change the world as we know it. And you, Puuska, are my equal centerpiece.”
“B- Brother…?”
“The expedition to Deermark was actually not as much an exercise to cleanse the remaining Firstlings, as an excavation to find clues for my visions. Even though we lost the battle, my private scouts did recover something interesting from Firstling ruins on our way there. It’s a legend that foretold a mythical danger to their civilization, and guess what, my brother, we’re supposed to be the danger!”
After a pregnant pause, he grinned. “The sun and the moon have until now been forced up and down the horizons with by the pony princesses down south. Because of the treachery of the orange unicorn, they have been casted off to somewhere unknown. And it is our destiny to finish them off and bring about the downfall of the cosmos itself. Success and failure on the battlefield might mean a slight issue for logistics, but so long as we’re together again, it’s all good. Now, with mother out of the picture, I figure that it’s about time to tell you the truth-”
“T- This is madness! I had known you to be a bit unstable, but-”
Laske’s grin dropped, and he looked like as if he had been slapped. “… Not you too, Puuska. That’s what mother used to say about me always.”
Puuska’s derisive outburst was abruptly doused. Laske had been forthright so far. From his brother’s own standpoint, he was the one who left and turned against his elder brother, yet Laske did not seem to dwell on that fact at all. Perhaps Laske deserved at least some patience and attention?
The younger wolf sighed and said. “I misspoke, brother. I’m just still very conflicted about mother.”
“… It’s fine.”
Laske’s grin returned, as he retold the story with a murmuring voice.
“There used to be an age, when the wild nature gives us plenty of bounty by itself, the sun and the moon coursed through the sky unhindered. Then a cataclysm happened, and that cataclysm was the advent of wide-spread magic. Like a blanketing mist, it seeped into every fabric of the world. It disadvantaged old races like us, who thrived in this world with our physical strength alone. Our grey brethren adapted well, but we were forced to the corner of the world, living on barren, frozen lands.”
“But brother… we’ve turned out well eventually as a nation, haven’t we?”
Laske huffed. “Yes, but the affinity to magic is the great unfairness can never be eliminated, unless the world is thoroughly remade. It just so happened that the vision brought to me by the soul-bird told me of a way to do it. A way to redo history and rewrite destiny herself.”
“And that would be?”
“The sun mare and the moon mare… They are our very prizes. At this time between light and dark, we shall seek them out, and we shall nourish our innards with their flesh and blood. Once we devour them whole, I the solar pony, and you the lunar pony, then the Firstling legend will finally come to pass. The sheer release of magic would rend the earth in twain.”
He got more and more excited as he went on, his eyes glazed as if he was witnessing the scenes himself. “The land itself shall tremble, and all the spirits contained and fettered within it will flood the world. Fire will be rained upon the earth for forty days and forty nights, and then the seas would churn and cleanse the remaining ashes of its taint. The times of ponies and magic would pass forever, yet in their place a new age will dawn, one that the wolfkind could dwell in unprecedented prosperity and peace, and our children shall finally inherit the earth!”
After a laboring silence, Puuska said with a quiet voice. “… This is too much, brother.”
Laske’s thrilled expression froze. “… What?”
“I… I don’t want to be the one who destroy the world, however noble the goals are. There will be too much pain and suffering on the road to this renewal, and that is given if it is indeed true. M- Mother was already been killed because of it.”
The elder wolf’s voice turned chilling. “Are you speaking for her, Puuska? Are you saying that her treatment of me was but a fair punishment for my ‘unnerving eccentricities’?”
Puuska felt as if he was pinned to the ground by Laske’s dominating presence, even though the larger wolf was restrained. “I- No, w- what she did was wrong, very wrong. But we should perhaps try to talk first? Why shed her blood?”
He gulped and continued. “After spending some time with the new dragon champion of theirs, I found that perhaps even the deepest, the most ancient hatred could be ameliorated by dialogue. The Firstlings, once seeing us as their mythical nemesis, could be talked into fighting with us side by side… Ponies, with all their magic and advantages, might not be that-”
“Shut up!” Laske thundered with a face distorted by rage.
Puuska breathed in deeply, and looked incredibly sad. “I’m sorry, brother. I- I just can’t bring myself to do this. If this plan does work, and it goes through, so many would be killed and destroyed. And yet not every non-wolves, as I’ve learnt, are bad. Spike, for example-”
“It’s that pesky dragon, isn’t it? I knew him to be a trouble the first time I saw him with that white doe. He must have filled your mind with poisonous thought -”
Puuska interrupted with a shaky grunt. “B- Brother! I don’t need anyone else to tell me this plan of yours is too extreme!”
“It’s not just mine, it is ours! And it is not just a plan, it is a divine plan, a destiny that we must fulfill as brothers!”
The younger wolf’s stomach churned. He sharply turned from his brother, his thoughts a confused mess. He wanted some time to think alone. “I have to leave now.”
Laske, however, took his brother’s action as an outright rejection. He leapt up from his confinement and pinned Puuska to the floor, much to the latter’s shock.
“Brother!? Aren’t you tied up to the chairs?”
“You’re sorely mistaken if you think that weak ropes might bound me down. You’re also sorely mistaken if you think you might simply walk away from your fate.”
Pulling out a small capsule from between his sharp teeth, he emptied its white powdery content. He then bit into his own paw without a second thought, allowing his blood to drip onto the white powder. Strangely, it did not stain the powder, merely causing it to balloon in volume.
“I never thought it would come to this, Puuska. Though I always have this nagging thought that you might think like mother and reject my vision of a new world. I suppose I must take things into my own paws and realize the prophecy alone.”
Puuska struggled without success. He said with deep fear on his face. “W- What do you want to do?!”
“Perhaps my torment under mother is not completely futile after all, for it teaches me the way of utter desperation. Now, for the greater good of us all, you shall submit to my will and join me.”
The younger wolf gasped as Laske savagely clamped on his snout with his strong paw, and forced him to ingest the white powder. As his mental defense quickly slackened, he heard the last thing with his conscious mind.
“The dragon… he must be dealt with like mother as well…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike grimly moved away from the medic tent that held Pinkie. According to the assembled medics from all races, even including one Villian doctor who flew in, and a crystal pony specialist who had been plucked out of the PoWs, she almost bit her tongue off, and she almost choked herself with her own blood, if not for the prompt medical attention she had received.
Spike’s heart twisted like a dead knot. He did not know what exactly had she seen, experienced or done to cause such a previously bouncy and happy mare turned to this dark path once she was returned to clarity.
He needed answers, and he had half a mind to grab Marin or any other surrendered Crystallians to do a proper interrogation. But his vastly enlarged size made every mundane action prohibitively difficult. He could not even move around too liberally without the fear of accidentally crushing someone.
Thinking that his ‘greed’ growth at least did something useful for once, he sighed and walked to the elevated platform constructed by muskoxen and ponies, where a requiem for lost soul would soon be held.
“Respected Spike.”
Spike turned, and found Puuska leading Laske in chains and walking towards him.
“Respected Puuska, have you finished talking with your… brother?”
The gaunt white wolf at first gave no response, but as if jabbed by someone, he abruptly began with a glib voice. “I have, indeed. He had confessed everything, and he’s willing to submit himself to your judgment.”
Spike raised a brow. Puuska sounded somewhat… placid, displaying none of the conflict and concern he had before he went to his brother. But he shook his head to dismiss his seemingly unfound doubt and said. “Where are you bringing him to? The memorial to Suologievra would soon be held, and with all due respect, his presence does not seem appropriate.”
“He’s still a son of hers, and he has all the right to be there.”
“… If you say so.” Spike frowned slightly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yolana stepped up to the platform, and walked all the way to the edge. Dry north wind blew her black mane aloft, the bells in her headdress were the only sound in the silence amongst the a hundred or so loyal followers of the matriarch.
The arrows on the white matriarch herself was removed, and she was washed clean of her own blood, then placed in a wooden casket supplied by the Ville. Spike rested his large body behind it, guarding the casket with pained, watchful eyes.
The white wolves preferred to have her cremated and spread on seas as soon as possible, but given that the ocean was a mountain away, they agreed to put her ashes in jars after the ritual first, and only to release it back in Isojoki.
The Qam Qatun of the muskoxen tribe reverently held up a bowl of warm milk. Muttering words of peace under her breath, she then stood up on her back legs and swayed in a half circle with her first hooves outstretched, sprinkling the milk onto the brown soil before her.
After Yolana, Frigg walked up to the platform. The white wolves murmured among themselves at the sight of the priestess of their former enemies leading the rites for their own leader, but the silvery mare merely did her part in silence.
She drank a draught she brought with her, and spilled the rest of it on the ground, mirroring what Yolana did. She then sang a sad dirge in Old Firstling. None of the wolves knew what she was saying, but the emotion seeped across the language barrier, and quite a few mourners cried aloud and howled.
The dragon then rose from his position. He was about to raise the casket and bathed it with scorching flame in his own claws, when Puuska suddenly walked up to him, dragging Laske, who seemed to be disheveled and miserable, along.
Spike raised a brow. “Puuska? What is the matter?”
“Respected Spike, I have some words to say to you before you cremate mother. It’s about me, brother and her.”
“… Speak away.”
Puuska blinked. “I need you to lower your head and ears to me, for this matter is sensitive.”
Spike complied, and lowered his head to ground height, just in front of the younger white wolf.
Without warning, the victorious voice of Laske suddenly boomed from behind. “Goodbye, ‘white titan’.”
“What-”
Spike suddenly felt an intense, paralyzing pain at his right eye, and its vision abruptly went black. He yelled out and looked back with his remaining good eye, and saw, to his horror, Puuska holding a ceremonial dagger in his paw, face reddened with his own blood but did not betray any emotion.
The white wolf gave it another thrust, this time planting the knife deep into his head. His paw dug deep in the bloodied eye hole, and straightly into his brain. An intense disorienting sense immediately came and washed over him.
Blood squirted out liberally, as Spike drew up his remaining strength and questioned hoarsely. “P- Puuska, why?!”
“Save your last breath, wretched dragon. Puuska’s my loyal little brother, and he would listen to me and me alone.”
Spike huffed and breathed difficultly. He could not believe Puuska’s actions up until this point were but an act. If the white wolf wanted him dead or betrayed him when he was vulnerable, he had plenty opportunities to do so.
The dragon bled out helplessly on the ground, this time without the grace of the healing white particles. The assembled mourners were confused and outraged, and Yolana and Frigg were both ready to sprint forth to tackle the wolf brothers.
Laske merely grinned, as he called out some more commands aloud in Susian. The two priestesses were then shocked to see those white wolf captives who should be chained up somewhere else, were somehow free of their bounds and swarmed into the venue. The mourners were quickly rounded up and subdued.
As the main part of the army was still halfway across the battlefield, and others unknowing this sudden development within their own camp, it was a shockingly successful decapitation operation with Spike as the target.
Puuska was standing behind his brother woodenly. Spike looked on with drooping eye, the debilitating pain already numbed down to nothing. He squirmed on the ground gracelessly like a dying worm, but he remained stubborn. He did not believe that Puuska was a traitor. Something wrong must have happened to his mind, likely the fault of his brother. The dragon decided to bet on his suspicion once more.
He clawed out another scale on his belly, this time failed to do it in any elegant way. A number of trinkets fell out onto the ground, and he just grabbed them up with his weak shaking claw surreptitiously.
Just when the two brothers were looking away from the dragon, assured that he was on his way out. He used his remaining strength and flicked the trinkets towards Puuska’s head.
A few of them fell onto Laske’s head as well. A dragon’s strength was overwhelming, but it was also severely weakened by his injuries. Laske merely turned back with clear annoyance. “Can you just bleed out quietly and stop playing pup’s tricks?”
A sloshing sound came from below his neck. Laske blinked with a pregnant pause, the dragonblood-soaked knife was now firmly lodged in his chest, penetrating his body from behind.
He slowly turned and looked with disbelief. Puuska was holding the knife with a look of betrayal, anger and sadness.
His heart and innards torn and sliced, blood began to seep from Laske’s mouth as he fell onto the ground.
Expecting some sort of shocked retort at his betrayal after his control somehow slipped, Laske merely smiled peacefully, which made Puuska even more shocked. The crazed glint that had always been present in his blue eyes had disappeared for the first time since Puuska reunited with his brother.
“… I… guess I deserve this as much.”
“…?!”
He coughed out some blood locked in his throat and continued difficultly. “Now that it comes to this… I guess what I’ve seen in m- my dreams might just be what mother said… a mad wolf’s hallucination.”
“B- broth-”
“I’m glad that you *cough* *cough* still consider me brother after I so callously take away your free will… You’re magnanimous, much more so than me.”
The knife in his paw shaking, tears streamed out of Puuska’s eyes as he slowly took in what he had done.
“I’m sorry for everything, Puuska. I led the white wolves onto this path of destruction, causing so much *cough* bloodshed pursuing the distant goal of world renewal. In the process I killed mother out of nothing other than *cough* petty revenge, and I manipulated you the exact way I so despise mother about. I don’t begrudge you a bit,”
“Brother!”
Laske’s breath became short. “Thank you for giving me clarity at last… I- I don’t suppose my death would solve everything, but at least a life taken away is now repaid… P- Please, as the solitary leader of the white wolves now *cough*, m- make us-”
Light went out in his eyes before he could finish his last words, as Puuska dropped the knife to the ground, and howled to the grey overcast, completely heartbroken.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Facing the uncomfortable and uneasy crowd, composing of almost all his companions and friends, around his bed, Spike attempted to liven up the mood.
“Hey now, at least I look like a pirate captain now, don’t I?”
However, no matter in any of the several languages he rendered the joke, the reaction was at best lukewarm.
He sighed, and turned to the Villian army mage. “Thank you, lieutenant-major Pointed Release, I thought few unicorns are versed in the dragon lore enough to revert a greed growth, and I was prepared to trek back to find the only one I knew who did it once for me, but you did it with such style and ease. If not for your prompt attention, I could not have been shrunk small enough to be treated normally by medics and doctors. I offer you my sincerest thanks.”
Pointed Release, a blue unicorn with a tidy goat beard, stroked it gently. “Ho, ho. You’re welcome, Commander Spike. We Villians prided ourselves in our Unicornian roots, and magical art is our bread and butter. Despite what Equestrians at large like to think, we certainly haven’t forgotten about that, even though we’re now Prench first. And I’m proud to use my elite training to assist in someone who had offered great assistance to this beautiful city of ours. I trust that you’re no longer feverish, correct?”
“Yes, I’ve largely recovered. And you’re welcome as well, it’s the soldiers and everyone else who did the hard work. I’m just happy that I can now fit through a door and talk normally with all of you.”
The mage eyed Spike curiously. “Ah… a civilized dragon, commanding hordes of foreign ponies, yaks-”
“Not yaks, we’re muskoxen.” Yolana promptly corrected.
“Apologies, mademoiselle. Yes, muskoxen, and white wolves. I wish I could keep you here for a longer period of observation…”
Octavie-Fontaine, who was the other Villian accompanying the mage, groaned. “You mages and your obsession with research. Commander Spike, despite his diminutive, cutesy look, is still a foreign dignitary!”
Pointed Release winced. “My bad, my bad. I’m sorry.”
Spike said. “It’s fine. Tell Director Muzzle I will meet with him as soon as I can get off and walk. And thank him for allowing all of us to come inside the city as well. It must’ve been a burden.”
Octavie-Fontained thinly smirked. “A burden, yes. But it is a worth it, I suppose. So long, then. On behalf of the Prench Republic, I bid thee well.”
After the duo left, Kanipha muttered. “That mare…”
“Is your type?” Spike finished his sentence.
Kanipha did a spit-take. “Goodness forbid, no! She reminds me of how I use to talk all the time, makes my skin crawl with shame.”
Spike decided not to comment on the strange look on Geuse’s face. His glazed silence prompted Kanipha to ask in worry. “H- Hey, are you okay? T- T- The knife… I mean, it went right through your eye and lodged in your brain! H- Have you forgotten anything? Quick, tell me who am I!”
“Uh… hmm… you certainly look familiar…”
Geuse rolled her eyes up. “Please, for the love of all that is mighty, quit screwing with him. He, as well as all of us, are worried sick of you.”
Spike put out his tongue. “Look, I’m sorry. I’ll try to not die-”
“Shush, da! Don’t say that word so casually!” Rainga blurted out.
Spike offered a helpless smile. “Geez, I don’t know I have a list of banned words, but I’m still here largely thanks to everyone’s prompt help. Speaking of which, care to give me a mirror?”
“What for?” Kanipha asked.
“Everyone’s looking at me funny. I want to know why.”
Geuse nodded. “Don’t worry. You haven’t been disfigured or anything. But if you want to have a look, here you go.”
Spike took over the mirror, and immediately raised his brows. With an understanding sigh, he said. “I look like a scoop of yam and vanilla ice cream.”
Suppressing an inappropriate snort, Kanipha asked. “Do you know why the healed wounds are now white?”
Spike closed his good eye. “Can’t be anyone other than him…”
Rainga gasped. “Da, you mean, like Nid-nid?”
Spike mulled, before being interrupted with a strong sensation. “… You know what, my right eye… or whatever is left of it, suddenly itches terribly. It’s driving me crazy.”
“Wait, no!”
Several by the bedside wanted to stop Spike, but he tore down the eyepatch and the bandage altogether. They immediately averted their eyes, too afraid or pained to see the horrific wound to his seeing organ.
“Huh.”
Spike pulled a face, and then said to the averted eyes. “You guys don’t need to look away. It appears that my eye is no longer something out of a horror story.”
Kanipha was the first to turn his head back, and he gasped aloud. “… How? We all saw it…!”
Spike’s right eye seemed to have grown back, even though it’s still red with veins and glazed. Most egregious was still the color of his eye, which went from the original bright green, to green with a band of bright gold running from bottom left to top right.
“T- That eye…!”
Rainga covered her mouth. “It’s the eye of Nid- I mean, Nighthewer the dragon!”
“I think by this point, it’s pretty clear, isn’t it? I’m still living thanks to him, at the cost of slowly turning into him whenever I am mortally wounded.”
Frigg and the other two pony commander talked with each other in a few hushed exchanges, and then the silvery mare said difficultly in accented Equestrian. “Brilliant Spike. This must be the will of Nidhogg. He wishes to protect you, his worthy heir, in times of danger.”
Spike was visibly delighted that these ponies were grasping Equestrian pretty quickly for complete novices, even though the grammatical structure and vocabulary overlap certainly helped. Still, he scratched his head. “I am grateful for him as always, of course. Though I’m used of being a purple dragon with green eyes.”
“If you don’t want to feel weirded out, don’t throw yourself time and again to fatal situation.” Kanipha puffed.
“Right.” Spike grinned.
Pisacan chuckled. “I’m so glad for you, Spike. A good sight is a priceless thing.”
“Pisa… I will definitely try to find a way-”
The yellow mare smiled. “Goodness gracious, Spike, you’re a responsibility hoarder, aren’t you? I know you want to help anyone you meet, but it is exactly because of that you go into danger’s way so often. The most you can help now is by resting properly. If you get stabbed in the same place twice, I’m not sure it would magically heal again.”
Spike winced as he thought about the perpetrator. “Heh. So how… is Puuska?”
Yolana softly sighed. “He is still pretty unstable. He saw the death of his mother and brother in one single day. And he is still quite traumatized about his brief episode of being controlled mentally.”
Rainga, however, was visibly angry. “He stabbed da in the eye!”
Spike sighed. “Yeah, but he’s not himself at the time. It immediately reminded me of how Pinks was not herself. I heard their exchange before and after I threw my remaining stash of two-faced stones at him, and he must now be an emotional wreck. Laske was an extremist, and he killed Suologievra, but he’s also himself a tragic figure. It’s tragedy all around for the white wolves, and I can only feel for them.”
He looked up to the silent crowd. “So… how are the two wolves now…?”
Yolana said. “They’ve been cremated already. Puuska took the two jars of ashes, and he wished to think alone first. He also said he was very sorry about his action, and there is no excuse for any punishment you would hand down.”
Rainga pouted. “Tsk, he’s gonna exploit da’s soft heart and kindness again.”
Kanipha could not help but agree. “Yeah… It’s not like we would ever hear from Spike that he demands bloody vengeance from anyone that crosses him.”
“He’s innocent of his action even if he did slice my head into ribbons. If we start blaming mind-controlled individuals of their actions under control, then Cadance, Shining Armor and Pinkie would also have to implicated, and it’s ridiculous.”
The two royals shifted uncomfortably at the back, but the alicorn gave the dragon a wordless but appreciative look.
“Now, you all should get a rest. It’s been some time that we’ve had a proper place to sleep under, and proper meal to have.”
He added half-jokingly. “The lack of a day-night cycle is also wreaking havoc on our sleep quality. Now that the city lights help with that a bit, we should take full advantage of it, shouldn’t we?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spike was lying on the bed, holding the mirror up high and examining every white stripes he gained inadvertently, and then he stared into his green-gold eye quizzically.
At the end, he was a bit tired, and he also realized he must have looked like a narcissist staring into a mirror for so long, so he put it down and nurse on the bed again.
With a creaking sound, the door to his personal ward opened. Thinking it was the Prench nurse again, he called out without raising his head. “So early tonight, Madame Florence? I promise I’d be sleeping soon, my eye is quite tired anyway.”
“Spike…”
Spike abruptly raised his head. This was not the voice of Nurse Florence.
“P- Pinkie?!”
The pink mare hid her face behind the wooden door like a fearful fawn. Her mane, frazzled yet straightened, hanged listlessly from her drooping head. When Spike’s gaze burrowed into her own blue eyes, she quickly turned away as if in immense shame.
The dragon had already jumped off the bed. He stumbled for a bit, but he quickly sprinted towards the pink mare. Pinkie flinched, but Spike gave her a long and passionate hug, restraining her from running away.
“Don’t you… Don’t you dare running away from me again!”
Pinkie let out a squeak, but she did not speak. Spike half-begged and half-dragged her into the ward, and sat her down by his bedside. Then he asked worriedly. “Can you still speak, Pinks? Don’t tell me…”
“N- No, I’m fine! T- The Villian unicorn medic helped stopped my t- tongue from bleeding, and it’s been healing fine now, even though I speak with a lith-p some time…”
“Thank goodness… Pinks, why did you…? I have looked for you for so long!”
“I’m so sorry… B- But I just couldn’t stand t- to even see or talk to you anymore. I have become a terrible excuse of a friend, a marefriend, an Element-bearer… and a pony. I’ve broken goodness-know how many Pinkie Promises in the past months, I might as well-”
“Stop that nonsense at once, Pinks! Seriously, even if you cause the end of the world as we know it, I know you’re never the mare to intentionally do something like that. You’re just too much of an adorable dolt to wish harm on anyone. You’ve been brainwashed by Sunset Shimmer, haven’t you?”
The pink mare began to shake, and she burst into tears. “S- Spike, I- I’m a terrible pony! It happens all because of me!”
The dragon stroked the downcast face of his marefriend. “Now, now. We have all the time in the world, with only you and me. Tell me, and I promise I’ll never judge.”
Pinkie cried into the chest of the dragon until she had tired herself out, and in his gentle cradling, she began with deep wistfulness.
“Shim- She… knows about us. Shortly after she became First Consul, she had sent spies to Ponyville to investigate the Element-bearers and their relationships. She knew from the first day on we’re going to cause trouble for her plans, and she wanted to divide us.”
With an ashen, wry smile, she said. “And I am the weakling she had picked out. Because I am a joke of a marefriend.”
“Pink-”
“I have doubted our relationship, I am a jealous little filly, and she knew it. I jumped right into her trap, and she used my emotions against me. When I realized it, I was already under her thrall.”
“It’s not your fault… I- I have neglected to maintain our relationship in the past few months as well. I should reach out to you more, instead of telling myself that you’re probably busy.”
He frowned with pain apparent on his face. “I am the drakefriend that is terrible. I know that multiple relationships are hard to maintain. I should have put more of my heart into it to make sure that none of you feel insecure. But I went off on some adventure on a critical junction, and for that I have a responsibility that I can’t escape as well.”
He sighed and said. “It’s a first step to face square with the past to make peace with it.”
Pinkie caught what Spike implied, and began to look incredibly distressed. She turned her head away from the dragon, seemingly uncomfortable.
The dragon sighed quietly again. “If you don’t feel like it, then don’t tell me for the moment. Instead, why don’t you hear my side of the story, hmm?”
Despite the cutting guilt in her heart, her curiosity was piqued. The dragon was suddenly the commander of a strange army, bringing with him so many new friends and so many mares-
Pinkie winced and almost slapped her cheeks hard, her mind had drifted to the poisonous pit of jealousy again. She then looked at Spike with watery eyes. The dragon received her wordless request, and began to tell the pink mare his exploits up the wild north.
A shocked look hanged on the pink pony’s face, and it became especially egregious ever since Spike mentioned his meeting with Nighthewer and the subsequent mind-meld.
“… You look silly with that face, you know.” Spike commented.
Pinkie shook her head quickly, and asked with a shaky voice. “S- So Spike, y- you have mind-melded with an ancient dragon in the north?”
Spike felt slightly curious that out of all things that he had told her, this was the thing that she was apparently most interested about. He figured that it was probably from a similar fear like with Kanipha, a fear that he was no longer himself.
He quickly comforted. “Don’t you worry, Pinks. Even though I have all the ancient memories of Nighthewer, I’m still demonstrably, absolutely, positively the Spike you’ve known and loved.”
Pinkie gazed at the dragon with a conflicted expression, her mind seemingly in great turmoil. At the end, she showed him the ashen smile from the beginning again. She closed her eyes and said. “Spike, I think it’s no longer fair to withhold this bit of information from you, now that you’ve definitely shown that you’re mature enough to handle it.”
Spike frowned slightly, and he straightened himself. “… What is it, Pinks? You sound so grave.”
Pinkie drew in a breath, as she thought back to Twilight, and whether she would approve of her breaking the secret to him without consulting them. But then she saw the weathered, concerned look on the dragon’s face, she shook her head again and began.
“Remember… Remember the time you walked out on us on Dashie’s ship? Because we’re being all secrety-secret and you suspect that we have hidden something from you that is on the QT?”
Spike looked up to the ceiling as he struggled to recall things that seemed to be quite a while ago. But eventually, it clicked. “O- Oh, right. Wait, a- are you telling me… the big secret you girls were hiding from me the whole time?!”
Pinkie slowly nodded. Spike gulped hard and said. “Well, shoot.”
“The very same thing happened to Twi before she even came to Ponyville, and it changed her greatly.”
Spike went quiet, as he looked at Pinkie steadily and without any hint of movement. A protracted silence ensued.
Just as Pinkie was about to say something out of sheer discomfort, Spike said with a bemused voice. “What? You mean, Twi also somehow met with Nighthewer? There isn’t such an episode in his recollections.”
The pink pony did a mini-spittake and facehoofed. “I’m such a silly pony! I phrased it a little bit too vague… What I meant was that she met with a separate ancient entity, and something similar happened with them.”
Spike blinked several times, and asked with a low voice. “A… Are Twi… still Twi?”
Pinkie gulped, and answered slowly. “She is no less Twilight than you are Spike.”
Spike then smiled brightly. “If so, that’s no problem by me.”
Before Pinkie said anything, he quickly added. “… I… always have this nagging suspicion of Twi’s changes in the few months before we moved to Ponyville. No wonder she suddenly changed from a bookworm recluse to a pony who got around with even the castle maid and the gardener.”
Pinkie’s face scrunched up, seemingly an acknowledgement of Spike’s words. He then asked with a frown. “So… who’s that entity? And why does what happened to Twi matter to the other girls at all?”
“It has no name. We all merely call it the tome, or the ancient tome, because it’s a knowledge collector and storage made by a civilization beyond our world.”
“Holy guacamole, it’s alien? That’s, like, ten notches more intense than an ancient dragon! No offense to Nighthewer.”
Pinkie weakly smiled at Spike’s joke. “It’s very old. So old that it had heard when the first sentient beings came to the Canterlot hills, even though the tome had not grown a sapience by then, and it only heard their murmuring voices.”
“Canterlot hill, again…”
Spike sighed. “You know, Nighthewer was born under the mountain rocks in Canterlot hills too.”
“Dragon born in the Canterlot hill…? Hmm… it might be a bit tricky. The tome would certainly heard his movement, but solitary dragon almost never speak. Without hearing words, it would never have been able to pick him out from all the ambient noises.”
“I can confirm. Nighthewer never had another soul to speak to, before he was disgusted by the mass annihilation of the greys by Trefoil and left for the north-”
“P- Pardon?”
“I said, he witnessed Trefoil casted the accursed spell that did the grey wolves in, and turned them all into timberwolves. I promised the white wolves, who are their northern cousins and hated ponies because of it, to right that wrong at the first opportunity.”
“… Whoa… S- so that’s what happened to the timberwolves… Twilight’s worries were not unfounded after all. So many ancient ties were churned out of the soil in one single trip…”
“Yeah… So, Pinks, so Twi’s part-tome, I understand. I… I would really want to talk to her over this ourselves once her memories are recovered. But that aside, why would it involve you and others?”
“Her meeting with the ancient tome had caused her essence to be colored with that of the tome itself. It was like she was two ponies at once. There can’t be an Element of Harmony that is tied to two ponies at once, while all the others have one single owner. So it was a big problem.”
“Hmm, so what exactly did she do?”
“In order to bring balance to the Elements when we first activate them, she casted an incredibly strong mind-melding spell on all five of us. So strong, it left enough of her vital essence in each of us. This makes us equal, so that we might all claim the Elements to fight the Nightmare Moon.”
“Holy, is it… voluntary?”
Pinkie shook her head. Spike narrowed his eyes, and huffed heavily after a long pause. “… Even if it’s Twi, this kind of behavior is unacceptable. A mind is a sacred thing. Time and again we see people temper with it with nasty results. This is no less mind-control when the ‘good guys’ did it.”
Pinkie spluttered. “S- Spike, Twilight is not-”
Spike cut her off. “But hang on, something doesn’t add up.”
“E- Eh?”
“How in Equestria did she know that you five would have become Element-bearers in the first place? She isn’t Nostradamare.”
“Oh, about that… Maybe I should tell you more about how Twilight came across the ancient tome in the first place…”
“Oh?”
“In fact, the tome itself is not quite okay with the idea of sharing a head with Twilight, because it hated to steal her chance to live a proper life by herself.”
“Heh, at least it’s also someone who has moral qualms about taking over someone’s life.”
Pinkie smiled briefly, but then winced. “It is actually Twilight’s selfish idea to force it into her head. The tome explicitly wanted to be destroyed, because it was tired of life under the hill, but Twilight didn’t want a tome who’s clearly so versed in history, magic and mystical knowledge to be gone. So she extracted it and put it into her head.”
She sighed with a defeated look. “It would have been a precarious but doable arrangement. But the tome violently resisted, and it caused their minds to collide spectacularly. The sheer burst of magic tore a small hole in the fabric of space and time, and sucked Twilight into an in-between world, where she was briefly able to see into the future of herself – if she never came across with the tome. At the end, the tome spent its own integrity in a bid to extract her mind back to the real world. So the end result is quite similar with yours.”
Spike muttered. “Oh dear... So, what is the future like?”
“The visions were in scenes, and only went up until a point… about a few years in, when she became the alicorn Princess of Friendship.”
“Sounds peppy. Surely she did not become a princess of friendship through the brutal conquest of Equestria, did she?” Spike joked.
“O- Of course not! The alternate timeline is peaceful, and we solve every crisis that’s thrown at us quickly and neatly!”
“Pinks, what have stopped us from copying the proven formula of success and ensure none of this… do-do happens?”
“Unfortunately, Spike, ‘history’ already diverged by the time we failed to stop Chrysalis at Canterlot. Everything that happens afterwards have differed so much. Besides, Shimm- ugh, Sunset Shimmer had never been on our radar before. That’s what makes her so scary!”
“At least now Pinks, you know the inner workings of Crystal Empire under Sunset Shimmer’s rule, right?”
Pinkie looked crestfallen. “I- I do… I’m her enabler, after all. I am a war criminal-”
Spike patted Pinkie’s back forcefully. “Pinks! Tell me what you know, and we’re going to deal with this together! And if anyone would confront you after we strive to fight for the right cause, let them talk to me eyes to eyes, mano-e-mano first.”
The pink mare gulped. The dragon’s upbeat and encouraging words did mend her broken heart a little. But when she thought back to what she had done under the thrall of the orange pony, she felt burning guilt and sadness wash over her again.
“S- Spike, I have betrayed the girls, I have betrayed the ideals of Twilight, I have betrayed y-”
“You haven’t done any of those. That wasn’t you, plain and simple.”
The dragon sighed. “Also Pinks, if you continue to wallow in self-doubt, we can never begin to heal. We need you to stand up, not only against evil, but shadows of our past.”
Pinkie widened her eyes. She looked at the dragon’s placid smile, wondering when he had become so steady and mature.
She breathed in and out a few times, and then slowly began. “… I know you must be wondering why I was acting… that way, back when we meet in Y- Yakyakistan.”
“Pinks…”
“We five have each inherited Twilight’s knowledge, and by extension the knowledge of the ancient tome. Together with the visions, we have very dangerous knowledge that can… realistically destroy the world if fallen into the wrong hooves.”
Pinkie continued. “Imagine, Spike, the power of a thousand suns, concentrated into the size of a pebble. Entire city can be annihilated in one hit… Big Dora – the railway gun – is foal’s play in comparison.”
Spike took a sharp breath. “Y- You girls can make something like that-?”
“Not at will, but with resources and dedication, it’s not at all a mere fantasy. In a blink of an eye, Equestria will become a lifeless wasteland.”
She gritted her teeth. “That’s why even if I did become a mindless puppet, none of these knowledge must fall into her hooves. Sadly, I don’t have the means to cast an anti-magic spell, but I still managed to draw within the deeps of my mind, and pulled out a thread of leftover magic from when Twilight melded with me. From there I built a cage of ‘quarantined’ knowledge, where I hid the most sensitive information in case she might get me to betray the other girls. It’s not a complete success, as she still managed to exploit some of my deadly skills to prop up her conquering army.”
“H- Hey, that’s already quite a feat. Any other pony would just be meat on a chopping board.”
Pinkie looked pale, however, not at all soothed by his comforting words. “I have helped subjugate the yaks. I have helped suppress dissent. Crystallians should not have a weapon advantage, but they have killer cannons all because of me. I have been the willing accomplice to evil.”
She covered her face with her hooves, tears seeping through the gap. “I- I even go to the press and denounce the girls as t- traitors after they realized that she’s evil and rose against her! I am the worst friend ever! Like, in all the history of Equestria!”
Spike, however, was quietly simmering with anger. “That manipulative husk of a pony… How dare she does this to my dearest marefriend!”
He took away her covering hooves and gazed directly into her fearful eyes. “Pinks, tell me all about her. I swear that justice would be done, don’t you ever doubt it.”
Pinkie gloomily sighed, before slowly began again. “Thank you, Spike, but it’s not about justice. What I did was plainly terrible. I- I am sorry for s- scaring you back then. I let my emotion get the better of me, and for a moment, I really wanted to take the easy way out-”
“Pinks, I can’t imagine what kind of torment you have endured. But you’re never a quitter, you bring joy to people even at the darkest of times. Now is by no means the worst moment. Unlike a month or so ago, we have with us a band of brothers and sisters, all eager to fight against evil. Now we only need a bit of brains as well, to sketch our next course of action, and your help will be sorely needed. Don’t ever give up… for you and for me, please!”
“S- Spike…”
Pinkie slowly became determined, and she nodded. “I will tell you all that I know, I promise.”