Pony POV Nightmare World: Spike The Dragon

by Alex Warlorn


Pony POV Nightdrake World: Spike, Sequel 2/4

"What the hay!" Trixie yelled as the citadel shuddered under the attack. "Trixie wants to know what is going on!"

"It's them," Luna said, snorting as she raced back down the hall towards the room they'd eaten in. The others followed her. She reached it just as the ceiling caved in. A pair of ponies entered. At first glance they both looked like pegasi, but then Twilight recognized the palomino.

"A-Applejack? What are you doing here -- YOW!" She barely raised a shielding spell in time to block the blast hurled at her. Even so, the force of impact sent her crashing back into the wall.

With a whoop of joy, Lightning Dust stooped on Luna, her armor and weapons so heavily magical that they made her a physical match for the alicorn princess. The two mares met with whinnies and neighs of sheer fury. Rarity, Twilight, Trixie and Seabreeze barely noticed. Their eyes were on the new threat.

"Hi there, 'friends'," Applejack said venomously. Rage burned in her eyes as her crimson aura boiled around her. She stomped forward, the stone and wood floor cracking under her hooves as she did. "Ah need ta talk with ya, 'bout just what sort o' crazy full o' yourselves flankholes y'all are!"

"Applejack, we're not mad!" Rarity flew above her old friend, dodged a magical blast, and in return hurled a cage made of diamonds down on her. "We're trying to save Equestria, save Spike!"

She went sprawling, and the cage on top of her exploded into fragments.

Applejack snorted down at her. Her horn seemed like a blazing sword, with crimson energy dripping from it.

"No. Y’all ain’t. This stops now!"

...

Along and atop the walls, armored pegasi and Moon Tribe ponies battled each other. The pegasi flew at each other, with the Moon Tribe trying to go three or four against one raider at a time. Occasionally one of them drove a lance or hoof axe through the golden barding of the attackers, sending them crashing to the ground, but whenever they did?

"OW! Spike, heal me up, here!"

"Spike! Gettin' a little tired here!"

"Spike! I broke my lance on that one loser," Score pointed at a Moon Tribe pony, who was gasping in agony for air. "Make me another one! A GOOD one! With a ruby-studded shaft and a head made from a diamond! Twelve feet long! And plus five to hit!"

Score smirked as the empty-eyed dragon breathed green fire and his hooves filled with the weapon, magicked to be unbreakable and to pierce everything. He thrust with it at one Moon Tribe flier and sent her tumbling with a scream and a spray of feathers. "Now THAT'S a lance!"

"Hey, you compensating for something?"

"Huh?" Score turned and blinked doltishly. "Naw, I can get all the mares I want, whenever I --" His eyes went wide. "What the hay are you?"

A clawed fist smashed into his jaw, sending him reeling.

"Take a guess!"

Score rose snorting, but he realized something was wrong. His helmet had disappeared, and he placed his fore hooves into his face, realizing his head wasn’t there anymore. Instead, it was turned into a pane of glass. It cracked a little, and he began trying to scream, but none got out. In his muffled panic, he began randomly trying to thrust anywhere, hoping he’d hit the pony responsible for this.

"He noticed," Fluttecruel said, rolling her eyes. "He can still learn, even after a thousand years of being a professional dimwit. Miracles do still happen."

Score hadn’t realized that if the glass broke, he wouldn’t die.

“Wait, for it.”

Spike could sense his distress and his desire, but he couldn’t hear his wish, so he sent an avatar to him. It was promptly hit by one of Score’s random thrusts.

Spike thought that was his wish.

"What an idiot." She looked at the citadel, seeing and hearing blasts of magic from inside along with wild neighs and whinnies. "If I was smart I'd stay away." She sighed and entered. "It sucks to be loyal, sometimes."

...

"Applejack, stop!" Twilight used another shield, not bothering with stopping one of AJ's wild blasts, but rather deflecting it towards the walls. She winced to see the smoking hole it left in the marble. "You're destroying Luna's home! You'll kill somepony!"

"Kill somepony? Nah. Ah didn’t came here ta kill ya." Applejack grabbed Twilight with her telekinesis and began dragging her close. “Ah’m goin’ to <b><i>break</i></b> you!”

Nearby, a groaning Rarity was slowly healing herself from a blast she hadn't dodged swiftly enough, flesh and feathers and hair all regrowing. Past her, Trixie aided Luna, casting illusions to distract the raider commander Lightning Dust as the two mares battled.

Twilight tried to think of something to use, but Applejack just hoofed her in the throat, hard. Twilight gagged and fought to remain conscious. Applejack picked her up with magic, and hurled her to the floor.

Twilight shrieked as she felt something break inside.

"Look at ya," Applejack snorted, giving her a kick. "Ya want ta destroy Paradise an' ya can't handle a little pain? What do ya think it'll be like for all a' those other ponies, the ones that ain't alicorns, if ya ruin everything?" She stepped on Twilight's neck. The purple mare gasped as she felt something grind inside her. She felt more than saw Applejack lean her face down by hers.

"Ah am <i>sickened</i> to know that Ah ever called you 'friend'."

"Right now ya ain't doin' me much good either, blondie!"

Applejack whipped her head up, her eyes going as wide as Twilight's. "FLUTTER --"

Her cry turned into a scream of pain as Seabreeze hurled the pot full of hot sauce from dinner right into her eyes. She shook her head wildly, trying to clear her vision. At the same moment a giant wad of bubble gum enveloped her wings, sticking them together. Out of the corner of her eyes Twilight saw a clawed hand snap its fingers, and a crayon scrawled a square marked 'TRAP DOOR' on the floor beneath her. Applejack dropped out of sight with a shriek and the door vanished.

Twilight looked at her rescuer.

"Thanks, whoever you..." Her voice trailed off as she took it all in. Faded yellow coat. Cyan eyes with slit pupils. One feathered wing and one batlike one, a normal pony foreleg and a scaled and clawed one. Rarity came close, staring in mingled shock and disbelief. Trixie and Seabreeze just looked on, curious. Twilight worked the name out somehow. "F-f-fluttershy?"

"Not quite."

++++++

After falling through the hole that monster wearing Fluttershy's face had made, Applejack looked around. She'd been dumped outside Princess Luna's palace, seeing the idiots in costumes, and what they were doing.

This was crazy. Spike always respected everypony's wishes, when desires conflicted, they simply canceled each other out. As a general rule, everypony wanted to live, and nearly nopony wanted to get hurt. So askin' Spike to hurt somepony was pretty much impossible.

This was impossible. Even if a pony asked Spike for an invincible sword, the victim's desire to live should have canceled out ANY attempt for them to be hurt. It was just how things worked. Spike was a lot of things, but in all these centuries, AJ had never seen him once bend the rules.

This made no sense. So why was it happening?

It was almost like somepony had twisted things just so there would be something to prove beyond all doubt that Spike was obviously evil and had to be stopped and all of that. What these idiots were doing should have been impossible.

These weren't mindless constructs, these were living ponies. As an Earth Pony, AJ's earth pony magic had a connection to life as truly as pegasus magic connected to the weather, and now that she was an Alicorn, the magic she had been born with had expanded in detail and in force exponentially.

This should have been impossible. It didn't make sense. And she had seen a monster with Fluttershy's face that looked a lot like a certain some-horror that made a business out of things not making sense.

The only other explanation was ... AJ was disgusted and horrified at the same time. "<b>YOU IDIOTS!</b>" She bellowed in the Royal Canterlot Voice. She clapped her front hooves together and stomped them into the ground. Red electricity zoomed along the ground, touching the bat ponies and healing them of their often grotesque injuries. They weren't the enemy.

A bat pony looked stunned when her wounds healed and the spear that was inside her a moment before disintegrated.

"WHERE DO YOU GET HEALING THE MOBS?!" Hoops shouted.

"And where do you get off calling us idio-"

"I wasn't calling <i>you</i> idiots, you incomprehensible flank-holes!"

That shut them up for a second.

"Spike can make Simulacrums that are just as able to give you a fight as the real thing! Heck! He can make them so they remember every fight so you have to keep improving, always a challenge, but you losers just want to feel big and powerful, well fine, but there's no buckin' reason to hurt other ponies over it! It's the whole buckin' point of Spike's world!"

Dumbbell and Hoops looked at each other genuinely confused.

"It's just a game," Dumbbell said in sincere honesty.

AJ snorted, and grabbed their heads with her telekinesis, and smashed their heads into the ground, then used her magic to heal them up.

She looked at the bat ponies who were all staring at her confused.

"What?! Well?"

None of the guards were eager to go toe to toe with an Alicorn who wasn't attacking and had just healed them all.

"But aren't you one of Nightdrake Banneret's minions? Why didn't you tell us to ask him for help?"

"You ponies have been told packs of lies! Spike never FORCES anypony to accept anything from 'em! These idiots don't work for anypony but themselves! Why weren't YOU askin' Spike to heal ya?!"

"... We've vowed to Princess Luna that we would accept nothing from Nightdrake Banneret, that we'd do everything ourselves, by ourselves, so our accomplishments would be our own."

"Then stick that spear back inside ya."

"WHAT?"

"Ya heard me! If ya don't want help! If it's so evil, stick that spear back into yer gut and get back to bleedin' ta death cause that's what Princess Luna wants! I got my ascending triggered from Spike! So in a way that means you could say he's the reason ya just go healed!"

"And those psychopaths are invincible BECAUSE of Nightdrake Banneret too!"

"That's because Spike is that good a dragon, he's willin' ta respect yer pride ta bleed ta death cause it's want yer Princess wants."

The bat ponies all gasped, some lookin' ready to attack Applejack then and there for bad mouthing their Princess.

"Go ahead, if that's what ya want, if that's yer choice. But don't go doin' just cause Luna went and TOLD YA TO! ... Ya know? The only thing Ah asked fer that Ah can't say Ah earned from Spike was ta be immortal like Dashie and the rest of Mah family. The rest? Ah just asked for stuff to go and do it mahself. My family's barn's been destroyed a dozen times, and me, Cheerilee, Big Mac, their foals, we've rebuilt it with our own hooves time and again. What? Ya thought just cause Ah accept HELP means Ah can't appreciate doin' somethin' fer myself? But that was my choice, and those of my family. We weren't hurtin' anypony by 'em. ... Sorry for ramblin'. Ah've got business ta get back ta, so Ah'm gonna come out an' say it.

"When Ah ascended, it hit me, Ah get why Celestia always made herself act like a clown for everypony once a night a year after she lost Luna for a thousand years, cause she got it ... pride is stupid. Ah nearly killed myself over pride. Me and mah family nearly lost our farm to a couple of con ponies cause of our pride. It ain't the same as self-respect or love... acceptin' help, ain't the same thing as not doin' anythin' fer yerself if yer dumb pride means that much to ya. If yer pride means more to ya than yer families losin' ya, then go ahead and run yerself through with that spear again, Ah won't stop ya or heal ya this time. Now ya'll excuse me, Ah gotta put a stop to some ponies, Ah wish Ah never called ‘friends’ ta being with."

===

Fluttercruel thought, <i>Like almost everything about my existence, my birth wasn't conventional nor was it intended. Dad created me by accident on a very chaotic day when Mom wouldn't play along with one of his games. I spent the first few hours of my life controlling Mom's body and fulfilling the purpose Dad had given me: I acted cruel to help drive a wedge between Twilight and her friends so that they couldn't use the Elements of Harmony. Didn't work of course, and Twilight used her magic to bring Mom back, but that wasn't the end of me. I went dormant, sleeping in the back of Mom's mind...</i>

Twilight stared at her, mouth hanging open. "I--This--You--WHAT?!"

"Yeah, I imagine that this is a bit much to take in," she said. "You probably have a few questions--"

The ground behind them exploded and a roar of pure rage pierced the air.

"--which will have to wait until after the angry alicorn is dealt with."

<i>Eventually I woke back up as just a voice in Mom's head. By that time, Dad had reformed and he and Mom had become best friends. When I reemerged, they really didn't know how to react. Well, Dad did, he wanted to erase me right on the spot, seeing me as a mistake of a past he'd rather leave behind, but Mom stopped him. They eventually decided to keep me a secret from the others until they figured out what they were going to do with me and thus began what I'd easily call the happiest time of my life… And wish I had appreciated it at the time...</i>

Applejack pulled herself out of the hole, her entire body radiating with energy, burning the gum off her wings. "You--you," she spat at her attacker. "JUS' WHO DO YA THINK YA ARE!? Makin' yourself look like Fluttershy, completely disrespectin' her memory like that!"

"Oh no, it's actually the opposite. I made myself look like her to honor her."

<i>For the next few months, I was raised in secret by my parents, and from my relatively short time with them I learned some lessons I would never forget, and wouldn’t let myself forget. From my mom, I learned the importance of being kind and to always lend a helping hoof where I can. From my dad, I learned how to think on my hooves… well, on my one hoof and my one claw, and how to use brains over brawn. It was a good life and--and sometimes I wish I had appreciated the time I had with them a little more, but I did grow to love them. Towards the end, they planned on revealing me to their friends and were going to see if there was a way to separate me from Mom and give me my own body. Dad even promised to show me how to use a little chaos magic, starting with mind alteration. But of course, they never got the chance...</i>

"Whoever you are--<i>whatever</i> you are, Ah hope ya realize what yer gettin' yerself into by standin' in mah way," Applejack snarled.

"Why no!" said the half-pony/half draconequus innocently, clapping her hoof and claw together. "Pray tell, <i>what</i> am I getting myself into?"

Applejack roared and fired a blast of magic at the newcomer, who simply sidestepped the blast, causing it to impact the wall behind her. "Ah, I see," she said. "Haven't been an alicorn for long have you? I can tell; your aim is frankly terrible."

Bellowing, Applejack lowered her horn and charged at the annoying interloper.

"Nope!" At the last second, the hybrid jumped over Applejack, leaving the alicorn to impale the back wall.

"Hmm, so much for that Apple hospitality I've heard so much about," she said as Applejack wrenched her horn from the wall. "Well, at least you have a nice hat."

Applejack's hoof shot up to her now bare head and then she whirled around to see the stranger wearing her father's Stetson.

"You. Get. Your. Filthy. Claws. Off. That. NOW!! JUST WHO IN TARTARUS DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

"You already asked that once and I suppose I should answer that."

<i>When Nightdrake Banneret came to power, Dad immediately opposed him, saying that giving everypony everything they've ever wanted would lead to widespread stagnation and they fought. To make a long story short, Dad lost and was turned back to stone. Banneret then asked the people what they wanted to do with Dad and the near-unanimous choice was to get rid of him, so Banneret sent him to the center of the planet and I haven't seen him since.

Mom kept quiet about me; she was afraid that the ponies would've had Banneret do to me what he did to dad. She would spend the last two centuries of her life trying, in vain, to get ponies to not rely on Banneret so much and to do more stuff on their own. I tried to learn mind alteration so I could try to help her, but I never managed to pull it off. And as the years went by, the ponies got lazier and fatter until even some of her friends just gave in and went along with the hedonism. That really broke her heart when that happened. I'd like to think that's why she chose to not become immortal, just to give a final 'Screw you!' to all her friends that had given up, but I know she was never that vindictive.

Before she died, Mom called for Spike--the only time she ever called on him--and had him give me my own body. Then she told me to go live my life however I wanted. I decided to do so following her and Dad's examples. I had Spike make my body look like a combination of them and then I set out into Equestria to spread some kindness by usurping the status quo.</I>

"Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Fluttercruel, daughter of Fluttershy and Discord. How do you do?"

===

--

In Caketopia, Celestia opened the bag given to her by the two flutterponies, currently in the same room with her, and greeted Minty with a warm little smile on her face.

"AH! CAKELESTIA! DON'T TURN ME INTO A CAKE AND EAT ME!"

"WHAT?! NO! Who gave you that idea?!"

"Well ... that's what I heard."

Even in a world with no want, Celestia couldn't escape the lies of the tabloids.

"Spike."

The avatar appeared.

"Please make me a little bit more presentable."

"As you command." The green flames enveloped her, and Celestia regained <i>most</i> of her figure. Now that she didn't have to pretend to be a perfect goddess, she was happy to show some meat on her bones.

" ... Let's starts this again from the beginning. I'm Celestia, I used to be Princess Celestia, but I raised a wonderful filly who I knew could do a better job than me and trusted her with being Princess instead. Do you know who that filly was? Your great-grandmother Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

“We’re sorry about how we brought you here,” One of the flutterponies present said.

“But we didn’t think you would have come here otherwise.”

“Who are you?” Minty said, clutching the bag with the Elements of Harmony harder.

“Spike, change us back.”

“As you command.” The avatar enveloped the two flutterponies in his green flames, presenting Queen and King of the flutterponies, Cadence and Shining Armor.

“Great-grandaunt and Great-granduncle?” Minty said surprised.

Cadence looked at the bag Minty was holding, and as the Concept of music and harmony, she recognized what was inside. Then she looked at Celestia “You know what’s in there, right?”

“Yes, I know.”

“Good. Now, we’d love to stay around and chat, but we have to get the preparations ready, so we’ll leave you two alone.”

“Prepare for what?” Minty said.

Celestia responded, “Listen, the reason we brought you here is that we need your help to keep your great-grandmother from making a horrible mistake."

--

"... It's a pleasure to meet ya then ... Fluttershy was a wonderful mare ... Ah was sorry ta see 'er go, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Dashie even more so, but that was her choice ... Ah hate ta do this ta any youngin' of Fluttershy's ... "

The hybrid was caught off guard when AJ didn't blindly change her <i>again</i> but showed the ability to adapt and learn and grabbed her with her telekinesis and SLAMMED HER so hard into the floor it left an impression. "BUT. THAT. ISN'T. YOURS!!"

AJ placed her hat back on top of her head.

===

"Applejack, listen, please," Twilight stepped between her and Fluttercruel. "Whatever you think of us for wanting to stop what Spike's doing to himself and Equestria..."

"Ya mean makin' sure everypony gets whatever they need ta survive an' be happy? Makin' sure that nopony ever HAS ta do without, well, anything? Or get sick, or old, or get so hurt it don't ever heal?" Applejack stomped up to her former friend. Twilight trotted back a pace, looking away from the literally burning fury in her friend's eyes. "'Cause Ah really want ta know how what y'all are plannin' ta do is gonna make Equestria better than that!"

Then it was Applejack's turn to step back as Seabreeze flew in close, grabbed a hoof-full of her mane, and stared her in the eye. "It von't be place vere evil-crazy ponies KILL odder ponies for FUN!" It made Applejack try to swat him away, but suddenly something in his gaze held her, something familiar. Reflected in her eye, he said, "Dis is not about ponies getting food or medicine or a nice stable to live in, dis iss about ponies like de vuns outside, and yoo know it! How many ponies just sit on fat flank and get fatter, or play nasty games like de vuns outside doo! How many just be selfish pigs all time? Dey haff hurt my breezies, and Moon-butt's ponies..."

"Thank you so much for that new title," Luna said, her voice acid.

"And vat happen to ponies that once make pretty things and machines and such? Nopony make dem any more, nopony even know HOW! Just ask dragon! Vat happen ven Banneret iss gone? Vat happen then?" He let her mane go. "Ve must stop dis now, before everyone is using dragon to get everything dey vant."

"He's right, ya know," Fluttercruel said, rising slowly. "I've seen it myself. So has Luna, and Twilight, and Rarity there. Nopony, almost nopony, MAKES anything anymore. No art, no science, no nothing. Most of them don't even remember how to, or why they should. I heard about you from Mom, goldie. Do you WANT to live in a world where ponies don't CREATE any more?"

"It is why Trixie let the cockatrice turn her to stone," the blue mare said, her voice sorrowing. "What use is a professional magician to a world where every wonder imaginable is available on demand? Nothing, but as a joke." Her horn glowed, and she appeared in a jester's motley before turning back to her old cape and hat.

Applejack winced at their words. They were wrong and stubborn and foolish, she knew that, and Fattybloom created at least a dozen new devices every day, even if most were mere toys, yet...

<i>"Say, Pinkie, Ah brought ya some o' ma best apples from this year's harvest. Ah was kind o' hopin' that we could bake a pie together. Ya know, for Granny an' her highness?"

"Oh, sure, Applejack! Just let me get one of the Spikes and..."

"No, no, I mean BAKE one. Make the dough and slice the apples with our hooves and mix in everything else. Ya know, like how we," Applejack swallowed, hoping she'd hear the answer she wanted, "Like how we used to. Before Spike."

Pinkie just looked at her, nervously. And then she smiled and tousled her mane.

"Sorry AJ, I have silly games I have to get back to in Partitopia. I made a Pinkie promise. That's what I like about you, Jacky. You're such a silly fiily! But if you still want that apple pie- hey Spike! Use these apples to make a really sweet and yummy-nummy pie!"

"As you command."</i>

"No!" Applejack reared and snorted, crimson lightning shooting from her nose. "It still ain't nopony's right ta take away everything ponies’ve been dreamin' about havin' since forever! Ponies used ta think they'd have ta die ta be happy, now we got everythin' we need right here an' we can have it forever! If, if it means that ponies are gettin'... kinda slow and lazy and not dreamin' or thinkin' so much, then that's just the way it has ta be. And Spike wants ta do it, and I want him ta do it, and YOU AIN'T TAKIN' THAT AWAY!" She almost snarled at them all. "An Ah will stop y'all maself if need be!" She glared at Fluttercruel. "Startin' with you, ya, ya phony pony!"

She started forward, head down and scraping the ground with one forehoof... And leaped with a yell as a flung spear embedded itself in her side. Fluttercruel snapped her claws just before another spear hit her, turning it into a peppermint stick.

The ponies and one breezie turned to see 'General' Lightning Dust and the three jocks by the hole in the wall, their armor and weapons looking not gaudy but coldly functional now.

"Guess what, you dumb blond," Lightning Dust said. "We don't care about those losers," she pointed at Twilight, Rarity, Seabreeze and Trixie, "or the Batmare, right now." Luna snorted, insulted, as they pointed first at Fluttercruel and then her. "But that weirdo's been a pain in our flanks for years now, ruining our fun. Just like you tried to do. So guess what?" She held out the lance in her hooves. "We asked Spike for weapons that could hurt freak ponies like you two."

Applejack rose, snorting with pain at the effort, barely managing to stand with the spear stuck inside her hip.

Lightning Dust and her flunkies flew forward, her eyes glittering with wicked glee.

"And guess what?" She parked her lance, ready for a charge and the shock of impact.

"The dragon delivered."

===

In Caketopia--the famous castle made entirely out of cake and home to the former Princess Celestia--a young unicorn paced a room with a confused look on her face, and tightly clutching a bag around one of her legs. Unbeknownst to her, she was being watched by a pegasus-turned-griffon and the ex-regent herself.

"So, that's her, huh?" said Rainbow Dash. "What are you going to do with her? And what is in that bag she’s carrying?"

“The Elements of Harmony are there.”

“What? Then what are you waiting for, we can just-”

"No,” Celestia said firmly. “I am convincing her to help us talk down her great grandmother, which I don’t think I will be able to do if I try taking them by force," said Celestia. "She's not entirely sure yet, but I believe I can win her over eventually, and hopefully get her to give up the Elements to us."

"Ah, good. I was afraid that you were going to turn her into a cake and eat her."

Celestia gave an exasperated groan. "Ugh! Why, WHY do ponies think I would do such a thing?" Celestia telekinetically yanked a chunk of the cake wall and shoved the whole thing into her mouth.

"Well, you did try to eat that Spike avatar that one time."

"That was an accident!" Celestia said around a mouthful of cake. "How was I supposed to know what it was underneath all that frosting?"

"Celestia, is there a reason you called me here? I should be out there looking for Twilight and her cronies."

Celestia swallowed. "Yes, Rainbow Dash, there is. Right now, Applejack is facing Twilight at Moonshine Valley. And she is going to lose."

"WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash hovered in the air "Like hay she is! I'll head over there right now and give that purple nag--"

"No, Rainbow," said Celestia, pulling Dash down by the tail. "Even if you used Spike, you would be too late to help."

"So...what? We're going to stand around doing nothing while Applejack gets the oats kicked out of her?"

"No, we're going to make preparations." Celestia produced a scrap of paper. "I know who Generosity is. Twilight and Rarity have assembled five of the six Elements together. Only he remains." Celestia hovered the paper towards Dash. "This is who that pony is and where they currently live at. I want you to go there. I'm going to invite Twilight to Caketopia to see if I can reason with her, hopefully they can’t activate the Elements without her. If nothing else, at least I can stall her for time. But if I fail, I want you to set a trap for them.”

“Do you have any ideas?” Rainbow Dash said.

“I do. But first, did you put the anti-teleportation runes like I asked you to?”

“Yes, I did. Though, I couldn’t get out so I had to ask Spike to make a tunnel out of there.”

“Did you block the entrance?”

“Well, duh. I wasn’t gonna let Twilight and her group enter!”

“Good. Just what we needed.” Celestia rang her bell, “Spike?”

The avatar appeared.

“Yes.” Spike said.

“Extend the tunnel leading to you and make it lead to a dead end instead.”

“As you wish.”

Far away, the tunnel from where Rainbow Dash came from setting up the runes began rumble as it changed. And so it was done.

Celestia turned to Rainbow Dash “Now when you get to Ponyville, I want you to rally as many ponies as you can to our cause and place some of them inside. Once you have done that, put a sign on it saying that the tunnel leads to Spike, and place some of our recruits inside to stop them from leaving the tunnel. We’ll rush them from the entrance once they’re distracted fighting the one inside.”

“So, we’re going to corner her?”

“Yes. Best case scenario, we have all of the Elements and their bearers caught. Worst case scenario, Twilight escapes from here, but won’t make it in time to activate the Elements, won’t have anywhere to fallback to and reformulate her plans. Can you get this ready for me?"

Rainbow Dash didn't look happy about this at first. But then she snatched up the paper in her claws. "Yeah, I can do that. I won't let you down--and I won't let them win!" Rainbow turned to the avatar present, “Send me to Moonshine Valley! And make sure I arrive <i>in style!</i>”

“As you command,” Spike said.

And with that, Rainbow launched herself upward, crashing through the ceiling and into the open air, sending bits of cake flying everywhere.

Celestia looked at the hole in the ceiling and sighed. Friend against friend, it should have never happened. She shouldn't have let it happen. Not after she had it happen to her, not once but twice...

Celestia felt a pang in her heart. <i>No, don't think about that now, focus on Twilight...</i> she thought as she started to walk away.

Then barely realizing what she was doing, Celestia used her magic to collect up the cake debris left by Rainbow Dash as well as more pieces of the wall and some of the cake furniture and began to stuff her face. Her belly groaned and creaked as it started to develop a sizable bulge...

===

Score, who had his head turned back to normal by Dumbbell, was thrusting his lance at a guard in mid-air, when all of a sudden he was somewhere else in Moonshine Valley. “Wait, what!? Where am I?!”

“HI-YAH” Rainbow Dash shot through the sky, aiming a flying kick at Score’s jaw.

He dodged and thrusted his lance on his hunting harness, and failed. Again. And Again. And again.

Rainbow Griffon dodged out of the way as Score blundered another thrust at her with the lance. He put too much force into it and barely avoided hitting the wall. Dash shrieked griffon laughter as she maneuvered carefully.

"Yeesh, Score, a thousand years to practice and you guys STILL suck at flying!"

"Shut up!" He flew back at her.

Dash sighed, rolled her eyes, and got out of the way, allowing him to collide with Dumbbell. The two knuckleheads dropped to the floor.

“Spike?” Rainbow Dash said as she stood back up.

“Excellent! An actual fight!”

“Take their weapons away!” Rainbow Dash commanded.

“Wait, what!?”

“As you wish.”

“Spike! Give me my-” He got a fistful of Rainbow’s griffon might before he could finish that sentence. Moments later, he was lying on the floor, cramping and aching from the beating in hoof-to-talon combat he got.

"Okay, this is even sadder than I'd expected. And you guys were supposed to be 'ancient pegasus warriors'?" She rolled her eyes skywards. "Commander Hurricane, be GLAD you're dead rather than around to see this." She looked around to see how everypony else was doing.

She saw Lightning Dust fighting it out with the healed Applejack. Dust was using her newly-empowered spear along with blasts of lightning. Apparently she'd gone after Fluttercruel first, but the weird pegasus-draconequus, draco-pegasus, whatever, simply curved her body out of the way of the thrusts -- as in literally curving to the sides, like forming a letter C -- and imitated Dash's trick, sending her flying into the still furious alicorn AJ. Snorting, her eyes blazing, Alicornjack was now hurling crimson lightning at the increasingly desperate Lightning Dust.

"Guess y'all shoulda tried askin' Spike ta make your fancy armor immune ta alicorn magic too, huh?"

Dash saw her former friends Twilight and Rarity beyond her grasp in horror. That little horsefly guy just slapped his head in dismay. Fluttercruel was too busy dropping what looked like a haycart's worth of tapioca pudding onto Hoops, trapping him beneath it. She said, "Being immune to my magic isn't the same as being immune to the <i>effects</i> of it, ya dope!"

Dust whinnied in glee.

"Hah! Boy are you stupid, blondie! But thanks for the reminder! SPIKE!" One of the dragon's golden-armored avatars appeared beside her. "Make me immune to alicorn magic, too!"

"As you command." Spike breathed his green fire. Lightning Dust whooped.

"Now I'll fix you -- OOOF!" She flew back against the wall and slid down, two horseshoe-shaped dents in her armor. Applejack looked grimly pleased until Dust began to rise.

"Okay, now Ah'm gettin' sick o' this. SPIKE!"

The avatar appeared next to Applejack and heard her wish.



---

Lightning Dust heard that blond hayseed yelling something to Spike, not that she cared. She just flew straight at her, spear extended.

Applejack glared at her, like Rainbow Dash, like Spitfire, like every pony who thought she wasn't as great as Dust knew herself to be.

"Ya think Ah'm scared o' ya..." Her voice trailed off in a scream as the golden spear drove right through her, disintegrating her. Leaving nothing, not even dust.

"Jacky! NOOOOO!" Dash flew at her, talons outstretched. That pitiful freak, ashamed of her own pegasus nature! Dust sneered and made another flawless thrust, turning the griffon back to an emaciated pegasus with no wings, no cutie mark and no color. Dash, now a barely recognizable husk, dropped dead on the floor. Not even a whimper.

She rampaged through the room. The pegasus wing blade spell cut through those other two meddlers, Purple and Whitey, engulfing them in a fiery explosion behind her. A kick to Luna’s neck sent that pathetic relic into a wall hard enough to destroy it. Luna didn’t get back up. Then finally she drove her lance through the Flutter-freak, pulled it out, and watched her fall on her knees, weakly trying to reach for her, until whatever life she had inside left her. Dust laughed wildly at the way her eyes rolled afterwards.

She flew to the throne. Her throne, won by her own sweat and cunning. What the game should have given her long ago. Her kingdom.

HERS!

---

"Okay," Rainbow Dash said, waving a talon before Lightning Dust's wildly grinning but otherwise blank face. She didn't even blink. "What's with her?"

"Ah told Spike ta make her and her cronies dream they'd be gettin' everything they wanted," Applejack said. She pointed her hoof at the weird, fleshy flower that had its tendrils wrapped around both her and the three bullies. All four ponies shared in the same blank but pleased stares. "Dunno what that is or where he got it from, though."

---

In yet <i>another</i> dimension:

"Now, Wonder Mare, feel the narcotic grip of the Black Mercy -- hey!" The massive yellow earth pony mare stared at her hooves in confusion. "Where did it go?"

She looked up just in time to take a hoof to the jaw.

"You're just getting senile in your old age, Mare-gul!"

---

"Well, that's taken care of," Applejack said, after tying Lightning Dust, Score, Hoops and Dumbbell up, like the rest.

“Okay, let’s take that thing off,” RD started trying to rip the black tentacled bouquet of flowers off Lightning Dust's chest.

Applejack noticed the other alicorn's injuries and the damage done to the citadel, along with the disappearance of Twilight and her meddling friends, then looked at Luna. "Sorry about everything, Princess." She said to Dash, "C'mon, we gotta catch those fools 'fore they cause more trouble. But first, SPIKE!" The avatar appeared and Applejack said, "Fix all o' this --"

"No." Luna limped forward, but her voice was steady. "I refuse this offer. I have refused it for centuries, I will not accept it now. And if there is nothing else?" She turned to her Moon Tribe as they began entering the room. "Please leave us in peace."

She held her breath until she heard the flapping of two pairs of wings as Applejack and Rainbow Dash left.

---

"Okay," Fluttercruel said to Twilight and the rest. They stood on the edge of Moonshine Valley, brought there in a long-range teleport by Twilight's magic. "Where to now, Purple?"

"Now we go and find Generosity,” - She made herself ignore Rarity's wince at the mention of her old Element - “then I’ll give Minty the signal to send us the Elements."

“Minty?” Fluttercruel asked.

“My great-granddaughter,” Twilight said.

“The great and powerful Trixie believes we shouldn’t waste time with introductions, so Trixie proposes that we take off!”

Two alicorns, one draconequus, and a breezie all flew off -- with a blue unicorn chasing along behind.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie wishes to remind her friends that she does NOT have wings!"

---

It was all way more than Rainbow wanted to take in right now, along with Fluttershy's long lost foal. But there was a more pressing matter she wanted to tell AJ, “I couldn’t rip that thing off her.”

“What thing?” AJ said.

“That flower- Monster- Parasite- whatever it was, I don’t think we can undo that.”

“Yeah… Let’s not do that to Twilight or the rest of ‘em. Ah want ta stop them, don’t get me wrong, but… Maybe that’s too much.”

“Yeah… Wait, You did ask Spike not to do that to US, or anypony else, for that matter, right?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yep. Ah had Spike send a message ta mah family too while Ah was at it, telling’em to ask Spike the same thing for us. We’ll ask Spike to undo it to that mare later," Even with the collapse of the economy and most of the government, the farmers' voting numbers still held a powerful sway in Equestria. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck in some fake dream state. “By the way, any news from Pinkie Pie?”

Rainbow Dash started. She knew what had happened in Breezie Grotto. And so she told her.

“Gosh. Is Pinkie Pie okay?”

“I hope so… I told her she could sit this one out and take all the time she needed...”

Applejack stayed silent. She wanted to go there and see for herself if she was doing ok after hearing that Gummy died, but this couldn’t wait. The fate of Equestria was hanging in the balance, and she couldn’t let them win. Not without giving everything she could, because she believed that otherwise, she wouldn't be there when her friends needed her the most.

“We’re gonna see her when all of this is over, right?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Huh? Yeah, sure...”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t stand the awkward silence. She looked for something to break it, and it didn’t take more than a glance at Applejack’s new set of wings and brand spanking horn.

"So. Uh. You're an Alicorn now?” Rainbow Dash said, “You just asked Spike for it?"

"Yep. More like asked Spike to make it happen, not ta make me one."

"I don't get it."

"He didn't make an apple an orange, he just triggered ... triggered what Twili' and Rarity ... Twili said I was good and ready once upon a time ... I didn't want it."

"So ... why ..."

"Because, this isn't just about what Ah want. That's what Twili' isn't gettin'!"

"Calm down Jackie, I'm on your side, remember?"

"Yeah,... Ah know... Dash... thank ya kindly... fer stayin' loyal..."

"Least I can do Jackie. What do you think they'll do with LD and the others?"

"Ah don't know or care right now."

===

"Remind Trixie again, why can't we just teleport to the next Element?" asked Trixie as the group walked along the edge of a garbage strewn field.

"Because Spike can sense when we teleport," said Twilight. "It’s how Pinkie knew we were on Breezie Grotto. I'm certain that's how Applejack knew we were at Moonshine Valley. So from now on, we're going to be hoofing it whenever can."

"So...Twilight," said Rarity. "Just how far do we have to go until we meet my--my replacement."

Twilight frowned at the slight edge in Rarity's voice, but she again chose to ignore it for now. "It's still a few hours' hike away. Provided that nopony had Spike change the terrain."

"Nah, Spike doesn't do that around here," said Fluttercruel, hovering along in a reclined position. "There's a bunch of old Canterlot nobles that live around here and they hate it whenever somepony messes with the landscape. Distracts them from reliving their quote-unquote 'glory days'."

"Strap in, everypony," said Twilight. "This is going to be a long--" Twilight suddenly stopped, causing Trixie to run into her.

Standing in the middle of the road was a Spike avatar, patiently waiting, with its claws clasped in front of it and a blank smile on its face.

The group stared at it for moment. "Vhat is dis, some sort of trick?" asked Seabreeze from his perch on Trixie's hat.

"It's just standing there," said Rarity. "If it was going to attack us, it would've done so by now."

"Doesn't mean it isn't a trap," said Fluttercruel. "Lull us into a false sense of security then bam! Dragon chow."

"I'm going to get closer to it," said Twilight. "Everypony keep on your guard."

Twilight cautiously approached the avatar with the others close behind. "Twilight Sparkle?" it said as she got near. "Message for you."

The avatar belched up a rolled-up scroll. "Um, thanks," said Twilight, taking the scroll with her magic.

The avatar vanished.

Seabreeze fluttered up and examined the scroll. "Is dat...frosting?" he asked, pointing at something pink dripping from it.

"Then I know who it's from," said Twilight, unfurling the scroll. She quickly scanned the letter. "Oh no..."

"What?" asked Rarity, stepping forward. "What's wrong? Is it from Celestia?"

"Yes, she wants to meet with me and-and she has Minty."

Everypony looked shocked. "Oh my," said Rarity, placing a hoof to her mouth. "Is she alright?"

"It sounds like it. It says that she and Celestia have been 'having some talks' about what we've been doing. I don't like the sound of that. I need to go."

"What?!" said Trixie as Twilight walked past her. "But-but what about the Element?"

"You guys can go after him. I have to do this. I always knew I'd have to do this eventually."

"Twilight, wait a moment--" Rarity started to say, but Twilight had already kicked off the ground and was streaking off into the distance.

"I don't like this," said Fluttercruel, picking up the discarded letter. "Awfully suspicious that avatar seemed to know to wait here for us."

"What do you think? That Celestia knew we would be heading for the Element?"

"Pretty much, yeah. Mom always said that she was a crafty type." Fluttercruel quickly folded the letter into a paper airplane and tossed it into a trash pile. "At any rate, we probably shouldn't let Purple go off by herself. Do you want me to go after the Element and you follow Twilight or would you like to do the honors while I take a trip to Caketopia?"

...

In Caketopia, Celestia watched Twilight fly away on a large monitor created by Spike.

"Your great-grandmother approaches," she said to Minty. "It won't be long until she gets here. Then we can try to reason with her."

Minty looked up at Celestia. Despite having slimmed down only a few hours ago, the ex-princess had managed to regain most of her former girth. Perhaps even more. "Listen, I just want to be clear that I haven't made up my mind yet. I want Great-Grandma Twilight to give her side of the story. I don't want you to hurt her or anything."

Celestia looked hurt. "Do you really think I would do that?"

"I-no, it's-- I just want to let you know that I don't want there to be any fighting, that's all."

"Don't worry, it won't come to that." <i>Or at least, I hope it won't.</i>

===

Twilight settled onto the ground outside Celestia's citadel with a shudder. It was a monument to gluttony, literally made out of cakes of all sorts -- layer cakes, fruit and candy and frosting-decorated walls. The sheer smell of sugar from it was overpowering. She walked forward under a gate with the legend WELCOME BACK TWILIGHT in purple frosting on a white background.

It had a smiley face at the end. Within were statues of ponies in various poses, many of them her and her friends as they were a thousand years gone. As well as ones of Luna and Celestia when they'd laid their rulership down by the popular demand of the ponies. Every single one was made of sugar and had edible sequins for the eyes and cutie marks.

And every single one had a few surreptitious bites taken out of it.

Twilight shuddered.

"Either my teacher has lost her mind, or she's really gone evil, or the only sense of taste she has left is in her mouth."

"Princess Twilight!"

Twi froze, horn down and glowing. She relaxed after seeing who stood before her. A pair of stallions in armor resembling aprons, with helmets made to look like cook's hats and broad-bladed polearms like oversized spatulas. One walked forward, its eyes showing the emptiness of Spike's lower-order created ponies, the mere constructs. It lowered its head in a bow and said, "Please follow us. We will lead you to Princess Celestia of Caketopia."

"And my great-granddaughter Minty?" Twi asked calmly. She didn't react to the fear within her. Even if it would have done any good, these beings were like the rest of the constructs rather than actual living beings Spike made, lacking any responses other than those implanted at their creation.

"And your great-granddaughter Minty," it parroted back at her. It turned and walked off down the hall, its movements slightly jerky like a wind up toy.

Twilight followed through walls of cake and chambers made of sponge cake, decorated with what would have been paintings elsewhere but here were made from marzipan and royal icing. Here and there she saw more Cake Guards repairing damaged and partly-eaten ones. More sugar sculptures stood everywhere, with the bitten away parts leaving them looking oddly unsettling.

"I think I know why some ponies think Celestia turns them into cake and eats them," Twi muttered. She said to her guide as they reached a pair of open doors that looked like the front of an oven, "How much longer will this take?"

"No longer," a once familiar voice answered her. "Welcome, Twilight, my former-student. I believe there's somepony here who wants to see you?"

<i>Okay,</i> Twilight thought, steeling herself. <i>Now remember, be calm. Forget that she was once your teacher and a second mother. Forget all the stories she shared or how she used to let you wear her tiara when we were alone, or how we took care of Spike when he was a hatchling. Forget how we laughed together and how she wept for joy when we saved her sister and that night she flew little filly you up so high it felt like we could bounce the stars on our horns...</i>

<i>Because now, she's the enemy who kidnapped your great-granddaughter and wants to stop us from saving Spike and Equestria just so she can indulge in her own sloth and gluttony.</i>

So Twilight thought, and so she tried to make herself believe. She held her head high, her face serene, and she stepped towards the doors.

"GREAT-GRANDMA!"

"Minty!"

The next thing Twilight knew, her great-granddaughter was hugging her, still carrying the bag with the Elements inside.

"Honey, sweetheart, are you okay? She didn't," Twilight gulped just to think it, "hurt you?"

"I would never do that!" Twilight pricked her ears up at that labored and grief-thickened voice. "Twilight, have you forgotten me that much?"

Twilight turned away, setting herself between her great-granddaughter and what she saw on that throne, more like a pile of cushions, on the dais before her. Multi-colored Corinthian columns, once more made of sugar -- <i>and she criticized Discord for the chocolate milk?</i> -- rose around her to support the gingerbread ceiling. Again, all showed signs of having chunks bitten out of them.

And in the center of it sprawled an immense white blob of a pony. Not just fat, but morbidly obese. Twilight wondered if she could only barely make out the legs and head. A multitude of pastry stains showed on that once flawless snowy hide and against the ethereal mane. Nearby stood a seven-layer chocolate cake, half demolished. Her eyes, sunken amid pouches of fat, were filled with tears at the look in Twilight's eyes.

"Do I really look that horrible to you?" She turned and sank her muzzle into the cake, lips smacking as she ate.

Twilight stared in shock.

"Princess Celestia?"

"Twilight, come here." Celestia patted the dais. "Why are you trying to take all of this away from me and everypony else?"

===

Twilight cautiously approached her former mentor. "C-Celestia? You--you--you're--"

"At peace? Giving you a chance to explain? Free of a thousand years of burdens?" asked Celestia, shoving more of the cake into her mouth. "Looking out for my ponies?"

<i>Actually, I was going to say "as big as a house"</i>, thought Twilight, but she chose not to say this. Instead she said, "I got your message and here I am. You said that you've been talking with Minty."

"Yes, Great-Grandma," said Minty stepping forward. "Celestia says that you're doing the wrong thing by trying to stop Nightdrake Banneret, but I wanted you to give your side of the story."

"And I agreed to give you this chance," said Celestia, licking some frosting off her hooves. "So I ask again: why do you want to take paradise from everypony so badly?"

"Have you seen Equestria recently?" asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow. "Everypony has become lazy do-nothings. They don't do anything for themselves, they rely on Spike for almost everything--even for stuff they could do themselves!"

"Not everypony." Celestia nibbled on a nearby painting she'd ripped off a wall. "There are still a great many ponies who choose to do things without Spike's assistance. And even with the ponies that do, is it really such a bad thing? They're not hurting anypony with what they're doing."

"But there are ponies who are hurting others with what they're doing! I just met some in Moonshine Valley. These ponies go around to the breezies' grotto and to the bat pony cities and torture them just because they won't accept Spike's help!"

"Hmm, sounds like an easily solved problem. I'm certain that there are ponies who'd be willing to help deter these ponies. Why throw out all the good with the bad?"

"It's more than that. Everypony has creatively stagnated! Nopony makes anything anymore, they just have Spike do it for them. And the ones that do, there's no point since nopony cares! Like my mom, she spends all her time writing, but I'm the only one who reads them since nopony else wants to! How do you think everypony who once aspired to anything is doing compared to her!? What's the point of things like dreams, inspiration or improvement if it can't reach out to anypony!?" Twilight stopped as Celestia grabbed another slice of cake. Then she angrily slapped it away with her magic. "And could you stop stuffing your face for ONE SECOND, YOU FAT NAG!?"

Twilight Sparkle covered her mouth with her hooves in a gasp at her own words, looking at Celestia. Celestia's eyes shimmered. Minty trotted back at her ancestor's outburst. Even the cake guard constructs looked shocked at Twilight.

"If that's true, then why haven't you stagnated?"

"Huh?"

"Why haven't you? You live in Equestria like everypony else, so why haven't you stagnated?"

Twilight was left without words. Her great-granddaughter intently watched her waiting for an answer, but Twilight didn't want to answer the question, because she was rather afraid of the answer. Centuries ago she would have put the safety of an entire empire over her fear of disappointing her mentor, but now? She didn't know, and the world she lived in now didn't help one bit.

"Well?" Celestia said.

"... I'm sorry... but I see now that this was a mistake... You loved to see ponies grow and learn and be able to stand on their own four hooves, you didn't cram cake down you throat all day. You're not at peace, you've just given up. I'm leaving. My friends will have reached the next Element by now."

"Actually, Twilight, they probably haven't."

Twilight turned back. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that... I'm sorry, Twilight." Celestia shook her head sadly. "But I can't let you take away the happiness of so many ponies just because you think it's wrong. I made some arrangements before you arrived."

Twilight went wide-eyed. "What... kind of arrangements?"

--Earlier--

"So ya sure that Twilight will be headed this way?" asked Applejack as she and Rainbow Dash flew over Equestria.

"Yeah," said the ex-pegasus. "Before I came to bail you out, I met with Celestia and she said that if we didn't catch them at Moonshine Valley, they'd be going this way to collect the Element of Generosity."

"Ya didn't bail me out, Ah could've handled those bozos--" Applejack broke off as she started to recognize the landscape. "Hey, this is around where Ah live. Jus' who is the new Element now?"

And so Rainbow Dash told her and what she said made Applejack's jaw drop.

"WHAT?!"

---

"If you wish, I could clean that up for you."

"Eenope."

"Sir, I insist. I would be able to do this in a fraction of the time--"

"Eenope. Ya do enough for us. For everypony. Ya deserve a break every now and then."

"...Very well then. If it is what you wish."

The Spike-avatar bowed and vanished, leaving Big Macintosh alone in a roomful of Apple Bloom's discarded inventions. He really needed to talk to Apple Bloom about leaving these things lying around. Well, no sense wasting any time, he picked up a broom and went to work.

===

Twilight Sparkle tensed herself, ready for an attack on her and Minty at any moment. None came.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Twilight said.

Celestia sighed. "I have no intention of fighting or hurting you, Twilight. And I have no intention of holding you here against your will, my former student. I ask again, why haven't you stagnated? Is this about YOUR moral indignation? Why must everypony else give up their happiness for YOU?"

"Are YOU happy?"

"This isn't about what I want, Twilight. I can't decide for everypony else how to live their own lives, and you can't do that either. I can't put my happiness above everypony else's."

Twilight looked down in silence, unable to respond to her former mentor's display of selflessness. Much like Minty, she was beginning to doubt if she was doing the right thing.

Minty, however, was expecting Twilight to say something. She asked that Twilight could give her side, and so far, she'd only gotten a portion of it. Minty knew this, so she didn't speak -- she waited, clutching the bag with the Elements of Harmony even harder.

Celestia broke the silence, "I'm very very very very proud of you. When you were crowned Princess and ruler of Equestria, you became the pony I hoped you'd grow up to be, and MORE. I knew Equestria would be safe with you. I can tell that you don't want to answer my questions, and I won't force you. But Twilight, please, I beg you, stop this crusade. I don't want to see you get hurt. Everypony's unhappiness or your moral indignation isn't worth that."

===

Twilight had to make sure she wasn't making a mistake, so she closed her eyes and thought about this. But then she started to think about certain other things. Everything she'd seen happen ever since Nightdrake Banneret first appeared. In particular, her mother in her pocket dimension, constantly writing her books and becoming more and more bitter as less and less ponies read them, causing her to react with venom to even the slightest criticism. She thought about the ponies who abandoned their foals in favor of a more perfect duplicate, Diamond Tiara in particular stuck out in her head. Even after Spike set her up to have eternal tea parties with her best friend, she still bore the psychological scars from being rejected by her own parents. She thought about Spike, alone in his cave, wasting away to a skeleton...

"I can't," said Twilight. "Being a leader does mean respecting the choices of those under your rule, but that doesn't mean you have to stay out of the way while they make choices that end up harming themselves. In my travels, I've seen ponies taking the opportunity to hurt each other with impunity. I've seen thousands of parents treating their foals like they were distractions, and then abandoning them in Partitopia once they got bored with them. I've seen friendships being destroyed over Nightdrake Banneret's existence, mine just being a few of them. I've seen the work of every pony I ever met amounting to nothing, not just yours or my mother's; everypony's. And that isn't to say anything about the fact that the changelings had nowhere else to go besides The Crystal empire, or the ponies who killed themselves, when they realized that Nightdrake Banneret couldn't make them happy... Whose fault do you think this is?" Twilight looked at Celestia, "I let this happen. I've made Equestria a worse place than it was before. I've failed you, my friends, and worst of all, I've failed Spike... Just look at him now..."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Celestia took a piece from one of the pillars with her magic. Attempting to share it, she placed it next to Twilight. "Can't they all just wish for something different? My friend, Jade Singer, when she gave up writing, she wished for a young body and wished to read every book ever written in Equestria. Last I checked she was up to the Ms I think."

Twilight noticed the piece of cake, enveloped in Celestia's aura, and looked at her for a moment. She appreciated the gesture, but she couldn't accept it, not if it came at Spike's expense. Twilight gently moved it out the way. "It's not that simple. Ponies aren't just their hobbies or the things they consume. They all have problems--deep personal problems that they need to address. They can't ask Spike sweep it all under the rug, they already tried that. All it did was cause more problems for themselves and for others. Just go to Partitopia and talk to the children. They may be laughing and playing, but if you talk with any of them, you'll see that they're all hurting. Some of them are in denial and think their parents will come back for them. Others are just angry at them. When they grow up--if they choose to grow up--they'll often have Spike arm them to the teeth so they can go take revenge on their parents for abandoning them."

Twilight turned away. "I'm leaving now. I'm going to end this, I just hope you don't hate me when all of this is over. But I just want to say one last thing. You haven't been happy in a long time."