//------------------------------// // Ch. 1: Awakening // Story: The Rocks And Water // by KingReptarAlmighty //------------------------------// His dreams were full of static. Spike typically didn’t dream at all, in fact, he slept like a dead man most of the time. The reality of the situation was, he worked hard for pretty much the entire day and, in terms of dragons, he was barely a fledgeling at best. His wings had only grew in about a year ago. Even Smoulder was almost six years older than he was. (Despite the fact that by pony standards he was literally an adult. He was 20 frickin years old.) Maybe I’m getting off topic. Point is, he worked hard, and he slept hard to reflect that. The static whispered to him. It spoke of power, indefinite and unbeatable. He’d stand over the likes of Discord, Celestia, and Luna. Twilight and Cadence would be nothing in comparison. They spoke of greatness, destruction, and creation. They spoke of sea and sky. They spoke of earth and stars. Of demons and gods. Phoenixes and dragons, snakes and birds. He dreamt of rocks and water. He woke up. He didn’t remember his dream. The dream. A dream of rocks and water. “Good morning Spike!” Twilight greeted him as he walked down the castle stairs. He yawned in tandem with his “Good morning Twilight”. He grabbed a few pieces of toast and prepared to leave out the door when he was stopped by an incoming Pinkie Pie. Or, rather than being stopped, he was sent flying back into the castle with Pinkie, and was knocked flat on his back. “Sorry Spike, I just really wanted to tell Twilight something and- Hey, are your eyes different colors?” He quirked an eyebrow at the inquiry. He shook his head and stood up. “Pinkie, not to be rude, but I think I would remember if my eyes had changed colors. Besides, even if they had, it probably wouldn’t matter that much.” Pinkie Pie shrugged, and immediately ran off to go talk to Twilight about whatever it was she initially wanted to talk to her about. Spike sighed, and grabbed the map he’d been given to find his way to the Changeling Kingdom. He had a long trip ahead of him, and he was not looking forward to it. Okay, maybe just a bit, but that was just because he was going Thorax, who, despite any and all teasing on Twilight and Starlight’s part, he did NOT have a crush on. Okay, maybe a little, but that’s besides the point. As soon as he stepped outside Spike found himself with what he would have described as a minor headache at the time. It was a consistent buzzing in the back of his head, a deeper version of the sound you get when you turn the TV on an empty channel. Static with a lot of base. He rubbed his temples for a brief moment before continuing on to his walk towards the Train Station. He never noticed the puddles that occasionally formed where he stepped. Or his left eye as it got progressively more blue as the day went on. The gems that trailed him as he trekked through the badlands. Or the right eye that became a bronze color that shone in the bright light of the desert. He was supposed to meet up with Thorax outside the Changeling Hive. “He-ey! Thorax, I’m here!” He cried out from the field that was left to grow after Chrysalis’ defeat. He looked around, and saw the many bushes of a peculiar looking fruit that he’d never seen before. It was red with blue spots, and slightly ooblong, with some flowering buds having a purple flower. He picked one up, and was about to try it when Thorax himself landed in front of him. He promptly dropped the fruit, and ran over to give the changeling a hug. Spike would be, in the midst of any normal sized pony, happy to have grown an extra foot in height over the past year, but in the presence of Thorax, who was slightly taller than Celestia herself, he wished he’d had a couple extra inches. Even if it was just his spines, so at the very least those were past Thorax’s chest, unlike the rest of him. “Sorry I’m a bit late Spike, a minor disagreement cropped up between few changelings over what type of vine was growing in the hive. I managed to sort it out for now, but it might start back up later,” He shook his head and sighed. “Those two are really stubborn…” Thorax trailed off as he noticed the bushes. “Those… were not here before.” Spike turned to see what he was looking at, before realizing that he was talking about the bushes. “Huh… They were here when I got here.” Thorax levitated the fruit up to his face and hesitantly sniffed it before taking a cautious bite, ready to spit it out at the first sign of issue. “It tastes… like nothing. Literally nothing.” He swallowed, before handing the fruit to Spike, who proceeded to take a bite… from the exact same location Thorax had. Spike’s face scrunched up for a second before he threw the fruit off into the bushes. “I don’t know what I was expecting. You’re right. It tastes like nothing.” He hadn’t noticed it at the time, but the persistent static in the back of his mind grew stronger. “Anyways, Spike I had meant to ask if you wanted to come with me to the Crystal Empire for a week or two? I got the invitation from Shining Armor a couple days ago, so I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come with.” Spike noticed what seemed like a faint dusting of purple on Thorax’s cheeks. “Why not just ask in the letter you sent?” “...I wanted to ask you face to face. I haven’t seen you in a while so…” Thorax started looking intently at one of the bushes, and the purple on his cheeks got slightly deeper. Spike smiled, and cheerfully replied, “Sure I’d love to go with you!” Thorax turned back, slightly startled, but still, he smiled back. Neither of them noticed the bushes becoming trees, and the fruit changing color as they walked back to the hive. Spike ended up staying the night, after they had decided to go to the Crystal Empire in the morning. Unlike the night before, Spike fell into his usual, dreamless sleep. One changeling, somewhere in the hive, dreamed of static and waves. Of rocks and water. And when he woke he saw the shadows as they moved and contorted. They spoke to him. He listened.