//------------------------------// // 2) Phoenix // Story: Just a Thought // by Chinchillax //------------------------------// There were three red birds crying on Spike when he woke up. Their tears slowly washed over his whole body, each drop taking away the stone and replacing it with pristine purple scales. It was unnerving seeing them there. He couldn’t move, too much of his body was still stone, and bit by bit, his body was restored. Phoenixes. No. No! He wanted to thrash at the phoenixes, to attack, to hurt them, to make sure they would never revive someone like him again. But they probably didn't know any better. They didn’t know they were resurrecting a future murderer. They didn’t deserve to be attacked. Spike would just need to be patient and try another method of suicide in the future. “Key!” chirped a rather meticulous phoenix. It seemed to be putting forth the most effort into curing him. To Spike’s horror, the phoenix opened Spike’s mouth, sniffed, and then shoved its head inside. If the inside of his body hadn’t already been stone, he would have gagged and screamed. It must’ve noticed the smell of the cleaning potion. Spike could feel as the tears slowly went down his throat and dissolved all traces of the poison from his body. Spike laid motionless while they worked. It was a very odd feeling to be completely drowned in phoenix tears. This had to be more than a little excessive. And there had to be so many better uses for phoenix tears than on him. Spike realized how much they were doing though. He wasn’t tired anymore from all his time awake. He was completely whole, inside and out. If he had been blinded or suffering from any major illness, this would have cured it. It cured everything. Except his mind. “Why…” Spike asked, when his voice finally returned. “Why would you do this?” “Keewee,” chirped one of the phoenixes, gesturing toward the phoenix that had shoved its head in Spike’s mouth. Based on her head plumage, she must have been female. And the two others were both male. Spike stared intently at the phoenix that had worked so hard on him. “Peewee?” asked Spike. All three birds chirped in delight when Spike said the name, with Peewee himself jumping up and down on Spike’s knees. “You came back… for me?” asked Spike. The whole family of birds twittered excitedly, Peewee nodding his head. Spike felt like it was his turn to cry at this point, though no emotion came out. Only a dull feeling that this was a brief impediment towards his inevitable suicide. “I— umm… thank you,” said Spike, rubbing the back of his head. “Kree,” said Peewee’s father, bowing. Spike breathed in and out, assessing his situation. What would be the best way to die now? He would need a way to die that couldn’t be affected by phoenix tears. No, that’s a bad idea. The phoenixes would have to go. They would be sad when they found out Spike succeeded. “Now what, Peewee?” asked Spike. “Key,” chirped Peewee’s father and mother at the same time, gesturing with a wing to Peewee. “Uhh… Key?” said Spike. Peewee bobbed his head up and down enthusiastically. “I guess your parents should be the one to name you, huh,” Spike faintly smiled. The birds gave a simple coo of appreciation. “Umm… thanks for the help, Key,” said Spike. “I… guess I should go home now.” Key jumped off Spike’s knees and then went close to his parents. His parents wrapped their wings around Key in a tight embrace. And then they chirped a few times in whatever language phoenixes had and then they flew off, leaving Key behind. Spike’s eyes went wide when he realized what happened. “Peewee, you’re—“ "Key!” asserted Key, facing him and landing on his shoulder. “Right… Key. You’re staying with me?” asked Spike. Key nodded his head and leaned in close to Spike. He was so warm and full of life. Spike was practically already dead. Just the final arrangements had been delayed. He really ought to avoid being around living things. “Are you sure, I… umm… I’m sure your parents will miss you. You could stay with them…” Key let out a squawk that gave Spike the distinct feeling that he was saying: “I’m needed more here.” “Oh… alright,” said Spike. Spike finally stood up and then looked around the Everfree forest. After the hours spent randomly wandering, it would take a miracle to get out of here. Key flew up in the air, effortlessly weaving through the thick foliage. He was back again a moment later, keeping his wings spread, waiting for Spike to follow. Spike sighed and slowly began following the phoenix. The forest leaves crunched under his feet. How many days had passed? Was Twilight home already? How did Key find him? Now how am I going to kill myself? “Key, how did you find me?” asked Spike. From above Key started chirping a long stream of tweets that Spike couldn’t make heads or tails of. “What?” Key looked annoyed and then burst into flames. Spike’s eyes went wide and before he could jump back, a pillar of fire appeared on his shoulder and Key emerged unscathed. “You can teleport?” Key gripped Spike’s shoulder with his talons and began a lengthy explanation of something. Probably explaining the magic or something and the limits behind it. Or he could have been talking about the weather for all Spike knew. Spike frowned,”But you didn’t need to come all this way, I didn’t need any help.” Key’s intense eyes narrowed. “I mean— I guess… I…” Spike stammered. “Keer,” said Key. “I guess I didn’t want help.” “Kree?” “I mean— I—“ All the feelings of shame from before were boiling in the pit in Spike’s stomach. He shouldn’t be alive. Being alive meant that someday he would betray his friends. Somepony was going to die, perhaps many ponies, the future was uncertain. Just one thing seemed clear, Spike needed to die in order to help everypony else. “Scraw,” squawked Key. “Oh… sorry… I kind of… umm… I’m sure what to say.” “Twee.” Spike sighed. “I like you, Key. But… I… there’s something I need to do to protect my friends.” Key’s head tilted a little. “No, I can’t tell you.” Key gave one of Spike’s ears a small peck. “Ow! Sorry, I just can’t! Okay!” “Kehm.” Spike head drooped. Peewee was one of the greatest friends he had ever been with, even though he had only gotten to be around him for less than a few weeks before he gave him back to his parents. This adult phoenix was more annoying than anything else. How dare something love him and want to keep him alive. Spike’s eyes closed and he shook his head as if he was trying to knock the thought out of his mind. “Scrawk?” “Sorry… I just— I… well… just— thought that umm… uhh…” Spike couldn’t really talk today. Nothing came out clear. But did it really matter if it came out clear? Key was just a bird. It wasn’t like he could understand everything Spike said. It was more… feelings than anything else. “Just a thought… that umm… that shouldn’t have been there,” Spike finally finished saying. Spike felt as Key nuzzled against his head again. They both fell silent for a long time as Spike winded his way through the forest. Every so often Key would fly up, survey, and then come back down to guide him. Dark thoughts continued to swirl around Spike’s mind. Where were the monsters that could kill him? Perhaps a dragon and a phoenix were enough to sway most monsters away from them. Unfortunate. With a phoenix by his side, Spike was practically immortal. How could this have happened? This was a tragedy waiting to happen. The evil dragon terrorizes everypony. Brave ponies keep dying to try to stop the dragon terror, but the dragon is practically immortal. The best way to prevent that worst case scenario would be for the brave knight to kill the dragon while it was still an infant. Slay the dragon. Slay the dragon. Slay the dragon. I just wish I wasn’t the dragon. As Spike’s breathing began to speed up, Key began to chirp at him. He always thought it would be cool to be a knight. But now that he thought about it more, knights slay dragons. He filled the role of both the knight that slays the dragon, and the dragon that dies. He wished he was only the knight. That would be nice. Unfortunately he was both. He needed to be brave like the knight and slay the dragon. Channel the inner knight. Just don’t think about the fact that you’re the dragon too. Just be the knight, just slay the dragon. Your friends are counting on you to die. Be the knight. Slay the dragon. Slay the dra— “OW!” Spike yelped as Key bit deep into the frill of his ear. Key squawked at him. Spike hadn’t noticed how much Key had been trying to get his attention. “Ohh… sorry…” said Spike. I’m so sorry I’m still alive is what he wanted to say. No one would have had this problem if he had just died like he was supposed to. Stupid cockatrice. Stupid phoenix. His death had been absolutely ruined by two different birds. “Scraaw?” asked Key, who shoved his face in front of Spike’s eyes. His brilliant red feathers almost made Spike trip over some exposed tree roots. Spike shook his head and tried to remember what he was thinking of… “Kaaah.” Spike breathed in and out. “I’m just not feeling very well,” said Spike. “Kree?” Spike shifted his eyes left and right before settling back on Key. He really was just a bird. It couldn’t hurt that bad to let just him know. In reality, it was really just Spike talking to himself. “Key, can I trust you?” “Key!” he nodded enthusiastically. Spike continued to walk, staring down at the forest floor below as the words started forming. “I… I need to die. I’m a dragon. Dragons always do horrible things to ponies. I’m the odd one out of my group of friends. I’m not a pony. I’m not a girl. I can’t do magic. I’m not an Element of Harmony. I don’t belong. And not belonging is what happened to this other pony that betrayed his friends and went on a rampage. The pony of shadows killed other ponies. That’s going to be me someday, I just know it. So I… I need to die. I need to protect everyone by stopping that villain—myself—before he even starts. The best way to defeat a villain is to make sure they die before they even know they’re a villain.” The more Spike spoke, the more Key tilted his head, narrowing his eyes. “See… I know you don’t get it. You’re just a bird.” “SKRAAAAA,” said Key. “What?” “SKRAAAAAAAAAAA,” said Key. “I am doing the best I can! Okay! I’m not like my friends. I’m way worse than them. I have too much potential to hurt ponies. I’ve got to die so I can protect them from myself." At this, Key began to aggressively peck at Spike. “OW! Stop that!” “KREEE!” said Key, continuing to peck at him. “I have to help any way I can, okay? And the best way I can help is by not being there.” Key finally stopped pecking at him. “Y’see?” “Kehm.” “Uhh… is that a yes?” “Keh.” Spike shrugged. “It’s okay, you don’t understand. Just… well… don’t revive me the next time you see me close to dying okay? It’s what I want. It’s what’s best for my friends, okay?” Key began to cry, healing all the pecks that he had made on Spike. More than the pecking, more than anything else Key had done, Spike felt so… sad. Earlier all he had felt was relief that he was going to die… but now a new thought had entered his mind: What if my death isn’t the best for my friends? Spike stopped walking and slumped down to the ground, holding his arms against his chest as Key cried. Spike began to sniffle as well. And they sat down together and let their emotions take hold for a while.