It has been a very brief death for him. He was very sad for not being able to achieve all the goals he wanted while he was alive but, at least, he made some good friends. He wasn't sure what would happen to him now that he was dead, especially considering that he wasn't a human being, and he was sure that whatever happened to humans after death wouldn't happen to him. He even wondered if he would go to some sort of heaven or hell considering what he did during his whole life, he hoped to not lose his memories for he really cherished his moments with that young dumb prince and that blond dwarf. Maybe he should've taken the prince's offer, but he didn't regret his choices in life, being king of the world is a very tempting choice after all.
As he was about to accept fading out of existence, he noticed that he wasn't on his planet anymore. Wherever he looked around, he saw himself surrounded by white lights everywhere with a huge door in front of him. As he watched the door in front of him, he noticed a white sphere which only recognizable feature was a mouth, other than that, it didn’t have anything remarkable that he could point out as important. Regardless, the white space was more important to him, he heard many stories about it from his father and he always wanted to know how it looked like, especially considering the door being guarded by the white sphere and what it could mean for him.
“What are you looking at?” - He asked. The white sphere just looked at him and smiled with its mouth before responding.
“I’m looking at you.” - He spoke with a soft but echoing voice that was impossible not to hear. - “You were born out of your father but you became independent of him. Instead of following his motives or desires, you decided to become yourself and oppose him. You’re especial.”
He took those words and decided to respond with pride:
“Yeah, father was an obstacle so I decided to help stopping him. That way I could become the king of the world.”
The white sphere started to laugh, he new it was laughing at him and that made him mad.
“What is so funny?!”
The white sphere stopped laughing and decided to respond him with the same tone it has been talking to him but with a weight that felt judging.
“You know that wasn’t the true reason you decided to help them in the end. Both you and I know what you really wanted from the very beginning and that’s why you’re here instead of facing your judgement.”
His face changed its expression to shock now, this wasn’t what was actually going to happen to him? Then, why was he here?
“Then why I am here? You wanted to hear my life and crack a few jokes about it?”
The sphere only kept a straight face.
“You’re here because you’ve been given the option of having a second chance” -. It let him take the information in before continuing. - “Since you died on your world, you cannot return to it. But you can be given a second chance somewhere else to see if you can go where your friends will be in a few decades”.
This was a very tempting offer for him, if he was going to die again, then he wanted to go where those kids where going to be, but this sounded too good to be true.
“That’s it? I thought you were going to give a cake for trying to be a good guy? Or is there something else?”
The white sphere’s response shook his being.
“Your other option is to face your judgement and be sent where your father, brothers and sister are and will be until the end of times."
As he heard the other option, it was quite clear that there was an obvious winner.
“Well, you got me there. I would rather have this second life in a world of rainbows instead of going with my father. Send me there!!”
As he said this, the sphere smiled once again, showing his white tooth, and proceeded with the next step for his redemption.
“Good choice, now, since you lost your body, you’ll have to wait until somebody accepts you, but you will have your second chance.”
As it said this, the huge door behind it started to open, revealing a huge gray eye with seven different tone shaped irises in the middle of a black background that started to create dark arms which took him into the door. He was surprised by this, was his second chance behind that door? He wouldn’t have a body? What was going to happen to him now? He turned around and looked at the white sphere one last time as it was smiling to him.
“Wait!” - He said with a hint of fear. - “Just like that? No goodbye party, cake or celebration for choosing to be a good guy?” - The sphere kept its smile and simply said as the door closed and he was surrounded by darkness:
“Don’t worry, where you're going, there will be lots of cakes and party for you”.
Celestia’s bright sun shone all around Equestria, its benevolent rulers where having one of the best moments in their life as they were preparing a celebration in Canterlot. This was going to be a special celebration for the princess of love, and Celestia’s current niece, was about to marry to the general of the Royal Guard, something that would help the nation a lot in its near, middle and long future. This would be a very important celebration for Equestria and the princess of the sun wanted all the ponies close to her being there, she now was having a debate regarding how she should invite one of her most important ponies and faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, to this celebration since this wedding was one that she shouldn’t miss.
Perhaps she should make this an informal invitation informing her about the details of why she wanted her there or she could make it as formal as possible. She wanted to show how close she was to her faithful student, but Celestia was sure that Twilight was going to feel weird out if she wrote something informal after so many years of correspondence between teacher and student, so she wrote a formal letter informing her of who were going to be the ones marrying and what she wanted her (and her friends) to do in the wedding so they could feel more involved. The letter was going to be sent in a few days and it would give her enough time to prepare, both herself and the wedding, for the beautiful couple marrying.
So it was decided how Celestia would write to her faithful student and, thus, she started to think what kind of jobs both her and her friends could be doing on the wedding. This was how Celestia was preparing everything to bring Twilight into the celebration that would make both of them closer, even if she was now miles away in Ponyville, living in a library and with the company of her dragon Spike. This separation wasn’t one that Celestia minded, after all, Twilight was living in Ponyville to be with her new friends whom have shared with her multiple adventures, defeating Discord the most important achievement of all, and all of this friends were having a nice life in Ponyville as well.
Fluttershy, the kind pegasus, was living on a shelter for animals that she personally cared, proof of her cutie mark and connection to the element of Kindness.
Rainbow Dash, the daring pegasus, was bold, capable of facing any danger in front of her just to protect her friends, as she was the most loyal of all, and that cloud house made her very efficient to move quickly wherever she wanted.
Pinkie Pie, always laughing and trying to make everybody happy with her parties and jokes. It wasn’t so surprising to have her living on a giant cupcake.
Rarity, the most generous unicorn, capable of making the finest clothes on her tailor shop just for a needed foal. She was, truly, one of a kind.
And, finally, Applejack. So true to herself and never letting lies being in her way of thinking. Celestia was sure that living with her family was what made her who she was, a hardworking mare capable of doing the best for others. That barn, built by the apple family decades ago, was truly something incredible. Built on the foundation of Ponyville, it managed to withstand the test of time and it was the place Twilight was leaving right now to go back to her library. She have finally managed to arrange a picnic with her friends in a few days and she wanted everything to be perfect.
Twilight have finally made her checklist and she was now going home to see how long it would take Spike to prepare everything for tomorrow. Twilight was wondering what she could do that could make the picnic a good day for her friends, perhaps she could bring Spike with her, he would love to be with them from time to time.
As Twilight was making her way towards Ponyville, she noticed in the border to the Everfree Forest a small, round red gem that was somewhat pulsing with magic. As Twilight looked at it, she couldn’t ignore the amount of magic it contained. She really wanted to investigate it now, but she was aware that it would make her forget about her friends for tomorrow’s picnic. As she debated whether or not she should be taking the gem with her, Twilight realized an easy solution, she would only have to ask Spike to guard the gem and she would give him a nice reward.
With that settled, Twilight levitated the gem and introduced it into her saddlebag but not without noticing how it reacted to her magic. It pulses when they both touched and, for a brief moment, Twilight felt as if her magic was stronger. Definitely something worth investigating.
It didn’t took her too long before getting back into her library and, once she entered, she found her loyal assistant Spike ordering the library’s book quietly. It didn’t take her too long to decide whether or not he could come with her to the picnic with the girls after seeing him working so diligently. He turned around and looked at her, saluting her and asking her how it was her day.
“Hi Spike! I’ve been talking with the girls and we’ll be going to a picnic on a few days and I would like to know if you would like to come with us.”
Spike’s face went shocked for a brief moment.
“Really?”
“Sure Spike, you’ve been helping a lot and I’m very sure the girls wouldn’t mind. I think you should get some rest after helping around the library so much.”
Spike’s face couldn’t make a bigger smile in that moment.
“Wow! Thank you Twilight, I’ll help you out whoever I can.”
And, as Twilight started to take out her stuff from her saddle, she took out a very small red gem that grabbed Spike’s interest, Twilight noticed Spike’s new interest once she saw what he was looking at.
“Oh! This is a strange gem I found near the Everfree Forest when I was coming back. I decided to take it with me to study it since I managed to find magical properties in it.”
As she was talking, Spike couldn’t stop from looking at the gem and how delicious it looked like. He was already wondering how it tasted and he couldn’t help but feeling as if the gem was actually calling him to be eaten.
“Spike!”
Twilight’s voice woke Spike out of his zone and he soon realized how close he was to actually take the gem, once he realized what he was about to do, he moved away his hand and apologized to Twilight.
“Sorry Twilight, I don’t know what happened to me. It’s just that it looks so delicious.”
Twilight couldn’t stop noticing how Spike was looking at the gem so, hoping that it would stop him, she offered him a deal.
“Spike, look, tonight I have to go to Applejack’s Barn with the girls to have a slumber party, so I have an offer to you. If you don’t eat this gem while I’m out, I’ll let you eat three gems of your choosing.”
That offer managed to, once again, wake Spike out of his fixation towards the mysterious gem and, very eagerly, accepted the offer. Twilight, ever so careful, still decided to hide the gem somewhere in the library to make sure Spike didn’t feel any temptation of eating it.
That way, as the day passed, Spike proceeded into helping Twilight to get ready for her slumber party at Applejack’s by giving her all the preparations Twilight needed (including a checklist of all the things she would do at the slumber party) and making sure that she wouldn’t forget about anything. At the end of the day, a very excited unicorn was ready to spend a great night with her friends and a young dragon was happy to have a night for himself. After a very brief goodbye, they both departed into their personal desires for the night.
Spike decided to pass the night by reading comics while eating some food that Twilight rarely let him eat (like cookies) and playing alone imagining that he was one of his favorite super heroes defeating the evil villains once again. As Spike fought the bad guys, he started to move around the library while avoiding the attacks of the evil doers trying to stop him from rescuing his beloved princess Rarity. So focused was Spike on his world, that he failed to notice how he went from the main section of the library to his and Twilight’s bedroom and how he was picking the stuff placed on the room to defend himself of the magic blast from the evil Darkside and his ability to move his attacks on midair. So enthralled he was on this fight, that, when he decided to jump from the bed, he ended up hitting a bookshelf containing some of Twilight’s favorite books, making said books from falling over.
“Shoot, Twilight’s book! I better put them back into place, I’m pretty sure Twilight would be mad at me if she finds out that I disorganized them.”
And, as Spike was picking the books back into place, he found on the floor a weirdly round and small shaped gem. In the moment Spike saw the gem, he immediately remembered Twilight’s offer as a way to deter him from eating the gem. Spike saw no problem in this, he has always obeyed Twilight when it came to not eating the gems without her permission, most of the time, so the idea of not eating this small gem in exchange of three gems of his own selection was an ever better deal that he could even dream off but, the more he saw the gem, the more he couldn’t stop from looking at it. When he picked it up, he tried to refuse the temptation of eating that very good looking gem.
“I should be putting back this gem where Twilight hid it, that way she wouldn’t suspect I found it but, where it was hidden?”
Spike repeated to himself as he looked around the bookshelf, he started to inspect the gem with his claws. He started to move it around to see how round it was, how smooth it was and how nice it felt to touch it. Spike found a place he thought it was where the pony he cared about the most hid it and, when he was about to put it there, Spike couldn’t stop from seeing the gem and his eyes couldn’t stop themselves from noticing how round it was, how vibrant and colorful was that red color and how much it felt as if the gem was calling him.
Spike tried to put the gem back but he didn’t want to, he wanted to keep looking at the gem, praising it for its magnificent beauty and how precious it was. The more Spike saw it, the more he wanted it for himself, he could understand what was Twilight’s interest in the gem, it was perfect, but Spike wasn’t so sure about letting Twilight study the gem and potentially harm it. This gem was so perfect, so beautiful, Spike wanted it more than three measly gems, this was the perfect gem and there was only one place where it would be safe from Twilight and her dangerous experiments.
And, as Spike swallowed the gem, he felt a huge burning sensation crossing through his body that forced him to shout with all his strengths. He felt as if his body was about to erupt from the excessive energy caused by his perfect snack. His body started to burn from the inside and begun to break itself, Spike felt as if his body was fighting a foreign entity that was trying to take him over. The library started to fade and it was being replaced by red, before he could even realize what was going on, the library disappeared and it was replaced by a red world with strange faces screaming on a tormented tone that was always close to destroy Spike’s ears but it never crossed the mark needed for him to stop hearing the laments of whoever this were and, as he felt close to lose himself, he saw a figure being formed from the hellish red that was torturing his form.
The more Spike saw this figure, the more he wanted his life to end. All it had was a huge face with no recognizable features except two huge tooth (one on each extreme on the lower side of his mouth), red marks going through his face, no eyelids and going around with an expression that made him feel awful while it was inspecting him with its right eye.
“Well, what do we have here? A chimera dumb enough to swallow me?”
Spike could barely listen, somehow, he could just understand him well enough in that chaos of screams and shouting. He could feel its smug and condescending tone and how much it annoyed him. All Spike could do was shouting.
“I’m not a chimera! I’m a dragon!”
“Oh! A dragon! And it can talk. Tell me, didn’t your parents teach you to never eat gems? They can cause you a stomachache.”
Spike couldn’t stop feeling angry towards it.
“Dragons can eat gems and if you don’t shut up, I will vomit you!”
“Well, would you look at that! This kid has some nerves. I’m starting to like you, so let’s do this: If you let me in, I’ll grant you whatever wish you want.”
Spike, already weakened mind could barely keep up with the conversation. His mind was too eroded by the chaos that he was starting to consider this offer from this strange being.
“Whatever I want?”
As Spike was considering this deal, he started to remember his beautiful Rarity and how many gems he could eat is he had the bits the buy them. The face smile deviously.
“Yes! Whatever you want. Money, fame, women, power, anything you want if you only let me in.”
As Spike considered this, his body started to grow, his claws became sharper and his teeth grew larger. His eyes stopped being emerald green and started to have a light violet tone.
Spike’s mind couldn’t resist the temptation provided by this being and started to see how good of an offer he was getting.
“Yes, I accept. I want it all.”
The face started to laugh at his new body.
“Excellent! You made the right choice kid. Now, it’s time to finish this.”
And as the face started to consume Spike, his body now had the height of Princess Celestia, his claws were sharper than knifes and his jaw started to smile happily. But there was something Spike needed to know before letting in his new host.
“Wait! Who are you? Why do you want me?” - His mind could barely stay awake. - “What will... happen... to...”
The face decided to give one answer to the dragon that saved his life, responding with limitless joy.
“Listen to me kid, because this is the name of the great partner you made today.”
Spike could barely keep up.
“My name!”
His eyes started to fade.
“Is”
All he could do was listen to the name that would be haunting both him and his friends for a long time in Equestria as he lost his conscience.
“GREED!”