//------------------------------// // rediscovery // Story: Ponyville Generations: Spike's story // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// rediscovery It was a sight to behold from Canterlot, as the great Ponyville dome come tumbling down. It had been a common sight the current generation of ponies were use to seeing on the countryside below them, and the cracks that had formed along it's surface had raised concern among some circles. But when the quarantine bubble shattered completely... that was a cause for alarm and panic among the populace! Princess Luna had just returned from a hard battle in the Ponyland republic- both her battalions and the republic's forces had put up a valiant fight, indeed. But the tide of the war had turned against ponykind, and Tirek's forces had taken the capital. All Equestria could do now was open it's borders to the steady stream of refugees from the republic, pouring into the country... and try to find a home for the ragged, embittered survivors. "Hmmm.... perhaps another town to the north, on the Equestria side of the Greyvale pass!" Luna thought to herself, as her chariot soared over the Equestria Valley. "Yes! That would be the perfect solution to-" And that's when the Princess saw the open scar on the landscape... the exposed, wrecked town of Ponyville under the light of the open sky, for the first time in centuries. "My word! Ponyville...exposed again!" The princess yelled, her eyes going wide. "Drivers! Back to Canterlot, full speed!" ... "Minty...Skywishes...no..." The ponies all trotted in towards the center of town, past the broken buildings and shattered remains of the deactivated bait ponies. Every pony, from Rainbow Dash to Fiesta Flair, trotted in towards the now smoking crater. "Our little darlings...." Rainbow Dash sobbed, staring down into the scorched pit. "They're gone..." "I tried to stop Minty... yes yes yes..." Razaroo cried, coving her eyes with her hooves. "But she had to be brave, oh no no..." Spike and Whimsy landed near the ponies, and looked down into the abyss. "Oh no, not Minty..." Spike tried to choke back his own tears. "Great Celestia, this is all my-" "Look!" Puzzlemint cried, pointing towards the sky. "It's a Pegasus!" All of the ponies present looked skyward, and saw a slighly scorched Thistle Whistle come in for a landing. "Thistle!" Kimono yelled, as Pinkie Pie and Fiesta Flair galloped in to help her. But when they reached the injured blue Pegasus, thry found a familiar green form she had been clutching in her hooves. "MINTY!" Pinkie Pie shrieked. "SHE'S ALIVE!" "Holy Horsemaster!" Fiesta shouted in surprise. "Thistle musta swooped in an' grabbed her before the star fell! She one brave little Seniorita!" "How are they, darling?!?" A panicked rainbow dash asked. "Will they be all right?" Kimono looked the two ponies over. "I’ll have to leave the final diagnosis up to Spring Fever... but I believe they'll both live." The ponies all crowded in around the two injured mares, as Spike and Whimsy looked on. "Don't worry, Spike..." Whimsy said, reassuring him. "It looks like everything's gonna be ok..." "I sure hope so Whimsy..." Spike replied, as the weather whyrm wrapped her talons around him. "I sure hope so..." ... It was several hours later, that Luna's chariot swooped down from Canterlot, and landed amongst the wreckage of Ponyville. The initial unicorn and Pegasus recon teams had determined that there was no threats from plagues or savage ponies, and Luna wanted to examine matters firsthand. The Princess had braced herself for many things... but what she actually saw, caught her entirely off guard. Ponies were cleaning up the streets, clearing away the debris and moving gradually starting to tear down houses that were smaller than they were. A bunch of tiny flutter ponies were swarming around everywhere, helping with demolitions and rebuilding throughout the town. It was all so confusing to Luna, who had no idea about the battle that had just occurred. "W-what is going on here?" Luna asked, totally dumbfounded. "Allow me to explain, your highness." A bluish purple dragon exclaimed, walking up to the alicorn princess. "My name is Master Kengrowth Gilspottum Heathspike, but you may simply call me-" "Spike?!? Beith that thou?!?" Luna asked, her eyes going wide in shock. "Thine appearance hath changed! What hath befallen thou?" She looked around at the rest of the town. "What hath befallen Ponyville?!?" "It is a long story, my Princess." The dragon replied, gesturing back towards several other ponies. "And I have several other ponies, who can help tell the story better!" Luna followed Spike over to the gathered group of equines, and began carrying out introductions. "Princess Luna, I am pleased to present Princess Wysteria of Ponyville, Princess Rarity of Unicornia, and Lady Zipzee of Breezie Blossom!" "A pleasure to meet you, your highness!" Wysteria bowed to her politely. "From one Princess to another, I welcome you to Ponyville!" "Cool! A pony who has both wings and a horn!" Rarity grinned. "Wanna play sometime?" "Wow, you're just like the storybooks say you are!" Zipzee exclaimed, zipping around the Princess's head. Princess Luna shook her head in bewilderment. "I doth believe we have a lot to talk about..." ... "So what... what will happen to all of you now?" It was several week later, and Spike and several of his pony friends were watching the construction crews that Luna had sent from Canterlot. They were helping the Breezie and Ponyville teams demolish the bait dwellings, and restore the Ponyville to the glory it had been. "Rebuild our town the way it was, and try to get back to our lives." Princess Wysteria replied sadly. "Princess Luna has allowed Rarity and I to keep our titles as regional princesses, under her authority. Though I doubt anything will ever be the same again!" "Of course it won't, silly!" Pinkie Pie whinnied. "We have a whole bunch of new ponies who want to see what Ponyville looks like, and we have a whole bunch of new friends to make!" "Blimey, she's right." Puzzlemint noted. "Our unique situation will bring curious tourists from all over Equestria... I fear our isolation here is at an end!" "But that doesn't have to be a bad thing, Darling!" Rainbow Dash said with a replied. "That means there will be a bunch of new ponies to try on my outfits, Darling! A bunch of new ponies to wear my fashions!" Spike shook his head, utterly mystified. These ponies had just had thier town destroyed, just lost Skywishes and several other of thier friends... yet they were alread laughing and smiling again, a few weeks later... they were already starting to move on. Oh, they still mourned thier fallen friends- Spike had heard enough sobbing coming out of the refugee shelters at night to know that- but they were trying to put on a happy face, deal with thier losses, and move on. "What about Minty?" Spike asked, recalling how miserable she looked during his visits to her in the clinic. "Will she be all right?" "Si, senior Spike." Fiesta nodded. "Spring Fever say she will recover, but it'll take mucho time. Dat girl was really brave in what she did!" "And what about the surviving conspirators?" Spike asked curiously. "They will be kept in seclusion, until they are ready to return to Pony society." Kimono told him. "We hope to have Starsong and Sparkleworks back among thier friends someday!" Spike nodded, then noticed Thistle Whistle flying by with her things packed, ready to leave Ponyville. Noticing the distraught look on her face, Spike ran over to talk to her. "Why Miss Whistle, wherever are you going?" The small dragon asked her. "You look like you're packed for a trip!" "Dream Valley -tweet!-" She whispered sadly, not even bothering to look over at Spike. "Princess Sapphire has invited me to settle in her -tweet!- mom's kingdom, so I accepted." "But why?" Spike asked. "Whatever would make you want to leave Ponyville?" "By 'what would make me want to leave', do you mean Skywishes being dead, or do you mean 'Being cutt off from my friends forever'?" Thistle began to sob. "Having feelings hurts too much, Spike! If I have a daughter some day -tweet!-, I'll teach her not to feel anything at all! From now on, my descendants will operate on cold logic alone!" Spike moved to stop the blue Pegasus, but she stubbornly flew on. The wind seemed to whistle through the trees, as if Ponyville was saying a final, sad goodbye to the blue Pegasus. "She left because she's hurting, Spike." A sad voice behind him whimpered. "Or is your dragon skull too thick to get that?" Spike spun around, to see the sad form of another pony. "Twinkle Twirl? What are you-" "Skywishes... Loop de La...Applejack..." Tears streamed down the mare's face. "So many of my friends are gone, because of your stupid dome breaking! Are you happy now, Spike? ARE YOU!?!" The dsitraught Twinkle Twirl galloped off crying, and Spike moved to go after her. But he quickly flet a hoof on his shoulder, stopping him. "Let her go, Spike." Cheerilee told him. "She's in a lot of pain right now, and she just needs some time alone." "Ah, miss Cheerilee!" Spike said with a smile. "So the unicorns will be staying around, I take it?" Cheerilee shook her mane. "I'm afraid not. While I've decided to give up my position as Rarity's advisor, and move permanently to Ponyville, as Sweetie Bell did. The other unicorns have decided to seek Canterlot's help in use magic to dismantle Rainbow Crystal Castle, transport it, and reassemble it outside of the Equestria Valley." "Oh, well..." Spike tried to hide his disappointment. "I can't say I'm surprised, given all the trouble being here has caused them." "And where will you go, Spike?" Cheerilee asked him. "Well, Whimsy and I are moving into her cave together... I will still visit Ponyville from time-to-time, of course." Spike looked up over their heads. "Hey, is that a swarm of... butterflies? But, it looks like they flew in from the sea!" Cheerilee looked up in the sky, and saw a brilliant swarm of many colors flying over thier heads. "Hm, it seems a certain white Pegasus is letting us know Butterfly island will be all right." The unicorn said with a smile. ... Far across the sea, Star Catcher watched as the butterfiles retuned home, succsessful in thier mission to Ponyville. Now the others would know the Pegasus were all right, and could stop worrying about thier friends. "And how are the earth and unicorn ponies faring?" The gentle Pegasus asked the butterflies. They whispered thier response in hushed tones. Star Catcher was pleased to hear most of the ponies are all right, but then the butterflies mentioned Skywishes. "Oh no..." Tears began to stream down the white Pegasus's face. Furious, she flew down to the tent where the Pegasus were keeping Cloud Climber confined. "There, are you happy now?!?" The normally calm and gentle mare practically screamed in the prisioner's face. "Sky Wishes is dead!" "Sky... Wishes?" Cloud Climber lowered her head. "Star Catcher... we were never going to blow the island up! It was just a bluff to get Skywishes to cooperate!" ""Well, the guilt over what she thought she did, drove her to make her sacrifice." The white Pegasus dried her tears with her hoof. "You are as responsible for her death, as much as if you had taken her life yourself!" Cloud Climber's head drooped. "What will you do to me?" "We're going to relase you, Cloud Climber." Star Catcher replied coldly. "Release you to live on an island of Pegasus who despise you for what you've done. You will spend the rest of your days alone... among former friends who will never have a kind word for you again!" As Star Catcher trotted back out of the tent flap, Honaloo Loo snuck in the back flap. "Aloha, Cloud Climber... why you trapped in here?" The Pegasus filly asked curiously. "Oh, I heard something happen to Skywishes... is she ok? I wan to play wit her again soon!" As she looked into the innocent little filly's eyes, a lump grew in Cloud Climber's thoat.... ... "But there is one thing I am worried about." Spike added. "Some of the unicorns from Canterlot, think that a few of those bait units could have been more autonomous than the ones that shut down with Twinkle Wish." "But that means those units could be running amok out there in Equestria somewhere!" Cheerilee said in a panic. "That's what we're afraid of." Spike replied ominously. “With their power cores, those baits could wreak havoc out there for years…” ... Out on the road to Manehatten, two small forms continued to chase a terrified red mare across the countryside. "Come on, miss pony!" The two baits called out. "Play with the newborn cuties!" "Sompony HELP ME!" Applejack wailed, galloping for her life. "AHHHHHHHH!"