//------------------------------// // Part IV - Chapter 12: Attachment // Story: Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky // by PortalJumper //------------------------------// Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky Part IV - Chapter 12: Attachment * * * Hot breath steamed from Spike's massive nostrils, melting the snow off of Starlit's cloak as she stared up in awe at the being before her. "How are you here?" Starlit asked, her mouth trying to make words while her brain failed to. "You can't be here." "AND YET I AM," Spike intoned, his sonorous voice echoing through Starlit's mind. "MORE'S THE QUESTION; HOW ARE YOU HERE, SO FAR REMOVED FROM HOME, AND WITH THE MISSING PIECE OF ME THAT THE PRINCESS OF MAGIC PILFERED?" "Twilight told me you died!" Starlit replied. "She said you stayed behind in Canterlot during Chrysalis's assault, and you died to her changelings." "A COMFORTING NARRATIVE, I AM SURE," Spike replied. "YOU HAVE NOT YET ANSWERED ME; HOW DID YOU COME TO BE HERE, STARLIT SKY?" Starlit's mind kept running circles, not the least of which reason is that she was staring down a creature that she had always been told were myths. The Princesses she could at least accept as ancient history because they were ponies, but dragons, true dragons, were the stuff of children's stories. Even when she had first met the younger Spike's saved consciousness she had told herself that that was what all dragons were; the tales of winged beasts soaring over the land had been just that. It was finally the younger Spike that broke Starlit's stupor. He walked forward, juxtaposed against his much larger, wiser, and corporeal self. "You're me?" Spike asked. "AS WE SHOULD BE," Spike answered, lowering his head until he was eye level with his doppelgänger. "TWILIGHT SPARKLE STOLE MUCH FROM US WHEN SHE WRENCHED YOU FROM ME ALL THOSE MOONS AGO." "Okay, hold on, stop!" Starlit interrupted. "I have been having my suspicions about Twilight Sparkle for a while now, but this is just a flat out lie! She told me that you had died in Canterlot, so what happened?" "YOUR COMPANION IS IMPATIENT," Spike said, keeping his gaze fixed on his younger self. "PERHAPS YOU CAN ELUCIDATE WHY SHE IS HERE FOR HER." Both Spikes looked to Starlit, although the older one only had to turn an eye to see her, before turning back to face each other. "I can, but we don't have much time," Spike answered. "We need to get to Cadance, convince her to return to Canterlot, and maybe figure out what Twilight really wants." "WE ARE ONE AND THE SAME, AND SO WE SHALL BE AGAIN," Spike replied. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the great dragon pushed his head forward until he and Spike were within a hairs breadth of each other. With a nervous claw Spike reached out to touch his true body, and a spark of light ignited that threatened to blind Starlit even through her snow blind goggles. She felt a pulsing wave of force echo out between the two, sliding her backwards along the slick crystal as she shielded herself with her hoof. When the light subsided and the wave of force ebbed into nothingness, Starlit only saw Spike, the true Spike, knelt before her. Nothing looked different about the dragon in front of her, but the only remnants of her Spike was his opal necklace, resting on the ground in a puddle. "WE ARE JOINED," Spike said, turning his head to face Starlit. "I SEE ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE, AND ALL THAT THE PRINCESS OF MAGIC HAS DONE. MY THOUGHTS ARE WHOLE ONCE MORE." "But what about Spike, my Spike?" Starlit asked. "What did you do to him?" "HE IS ME, AS I AM HIM. WE ARE ONE AND THE SAME, EVEN SEPARATED ACROSS DISTANCE AND TIME. IT IS ONLY FITTING THAT OUR DISPARATE SELVES WOULD BE MADE WHOLE." With a cautious step Starlit moved towards the necklace, gingerly picking it up in her magic. She fed a portion into the stone, seeing if she could summon Spike from it, but she didn't feel his presence inside of it. "So he is a part of you now," Starlit said, putting the necklace back into her bags. "Does this mean that you'll help me?" "THAT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU REQUIRE ASSISTANCE WITH," Spike answered without really answering. "I need to find Cadance, I need her to return to Canterlot, and I need to figure out what Twilight is actually doing with her fellow Princesses in Canterlot. You and I were both done a disservice by Twilight's lies; I'd say your aid in this would help me a great deal." "THESE THINGS I CAN AID WITH," Spike replied, "BUT THE WEAVE OF YOUR FATE IS TWISTED AROUND THAT CITY. I CAN TRANSPORT YOU TO CANTERLOT, BUT NO FURTHER. I SEE THAT YOUR PATH THROUGH THERE IS ONE THAT YOU WILL TAKE ON YOUR OWN." "I'll take any help I can get," Starlit replied. "I think things will be made a lot easier with a dragon on my side." "DRAGONS DO NOT TAKE SIDES IN THE WARS OF PONIES," Spike corrected, "BUT TWILIGHT SPARKLE HAS DONE MUCH HARM TO THE PATH OF THIS WORLD'S FUTURE. WHAT HAS BEEN BROKEN MUST BE WHOLE, WHAT IS WRONG MUST BE MADE RIGHT." A deep, rumbling gurgle came up from the pool of water that Spike resided in, and Starlit reflexively stepped back as the great dragon dragged himself from the water. His hind legs were thick with muscle and the lashing of his tail knocked out several of the pillars holding up the roof of the Conservatory. As he stepped forward the heat radiating off of his body steamed and evaporated the water and snow around him, leaving a slick, clean path behind him as he moved. With grave solemnity Spike raised his head to the sky, letting the wind whip snow into the webbed crest along the back of his head. He appeared to relish the feeling of the wind and sky even as the snow melted off of his scales, and though Starlit couldn't read his facial expressions from how far away she was, she could feel that he was happy. With a great rustling sound he flexed his wings, letting them open and close as if to return feeling to them before slowly draping one to the ground, stopping just short of Starlit's hooves. "CLIMB ABOARD," Spike ordered. "I CANNOT FLY JUST YET, BUT I WOULD SURELY LEAVE YOU BEHIND IF YOU WERE TO WALK ALONGSIDE OF ME." Needing no further prompting Starlit walked up the taut skin of his bat-like wings until she crested the ridge of his back. She could see that his given name was appropriate; all along his spine was a ridge of bony spikes that were nearly as tall as she was. She swiftly grabbed hold of one, using a bit of her magic to anchor herself on, and gritted her teeth as Spike began to move underneath of her. Just as the pair of them reached the edge of the plaza a thunderous explosion sounded from the right. Spike flexed his neck muscles and turned to face the sound with swiftness belied by his size, and Starlit could feel a low rumble of breath escape from his lungs. "THE FIRST FIRE HAS COME FROM THE CRYSTAL PALACE," Spike intoned. "THE SECOND FIRE MUST MEET IT." With a gallop that sent Starlit's stomach into her throat and then back down into her hooves, Spike thundered across the slick ground, his claws finding purchase in the crystal even as his body heat melted the ice. Starlit could feel herself sweating in her heavy gear, but didn't dare let go as Spike trampled across the city towards the Crystal Palace. He left buildings collapsed in his wake, although Starlit had a feeling that this wouldn't be her concern for much longer. * * * Sun ran out of the building he had been hunkered down in, drawn out by a massive explosion and a wave of, of all things, heat blasting him in the face. The plaza that the Crystal Palace stood in was spotted all over with fire in a myriad of colors; blues, reds, greens, every color of the rainbow, and despite the constant chill none of it was going out. "Silence, you have anything on this?" Sun asked as he scanned around. "The fire, the explosion, or the massive structural damage to the Crystal Palace?" Silence asked back. Sun's gaze whipped over to the Crystal Palace, which true to Silence's word was missing one of its feet. The entire tower groaned in the wind, perched precariously on its two remaining limbs and barely being supported by a mass of crystalline rubble that sat under its third leg. "What happened?!" Sun asked to nopony in particular. "We were inside of that house for all of ten minutes and suddenly the tower starts exploding!" "Not the tower itself, no," Silence replied as Sun felt his neck muscles turn to the left. "Look over there." Off in the distance, near a melting snowbank, Sun could see a figure staggering out of the side street that the snow had been covering. The wind was still whipping snow and now fire everywhere, but there was no mistaking the shock of rainbow colored hair. "Rainbow Dash!" Sun called as he ran towards his companion. Rainbow's head darted around until their eyes locked, and she limped her way towards Sun. As Sun got closer he could tell that she was hurt, even more than when he'd last seen her; her goggles and head wrap were gone, she had a large scrape running down the left side of her face, her hair was completely blown back and still slightly smoldering, and her cloak was all but tatters. "What happened to you?!" Sun asked. "Were you caught in that explosion?" "I was that explosion!" Rainbow answered, far more cheerful than her physical state would suggest. "I chased all of those ghosts off of you, and then when they were about to gain on me I flew straight at the ground after you destroyed the barrier around the palace, and then I exploded and those suckers slammed full force right into the street! It was awesome!" "What? That was magic, you know that right? How did you cast that?" "I didn't really 'cast' it, it just sort of happened," Rainbow Dash explained. "I didn't feel it happening until I crashed into the snowbank, it just happened when I was going fast enough. I can't really feel my wings right now, they're probably numb from the strain, but that was awesome!" Sun quickly stepped around Rainbow Dash and lifted the remnants of her cloak to look at her wings. Much like her hair the tips of her feathers were still smoldering, but other than that they didn't look like they had been damaged. The only thing he noticed missing were the crystal shards embedded throughout her feathers. "Your wings look alright, but all of the crystals in them are gone," Sun said. "Maybe the speed and the fact that those crystals are magic might have had something to do with it." "What?!" Rainbow exclaimed. She quickly wrenched her wings out of Sun's grip and held them over the puddles of water forming from the fires that she had made. As sure as Sun had seen her wings, so too did Rainbow Dash, and her previous enthusiasm fell like a stone. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Rainbow swore as she picked through every one of her feathers. "What am I gonna do when I get home? These wings were all I had!" "Rainbow, this isn't the end of the world," Sun said, trying to be consoling. "Yes it is!" Rainbow snapped back. "If I can't fly, I can't be a guard! I can't help my home, I can't… I can't…" "What? What can't you do? Rainbow Dash, you have no idea how unbelievably lucky you were to grow up with wings that worked at all. Everywhere I've been, I've seen pegasi with limp and useless wings, unicorns with no magic, earth ponies without the strength to push a cart. You got to fly, unaided and unopposed, for so long." "And now I can't! I can't do the one thing that I've defined my life around, so what the hell am I supposed to do with myself now?!" Rainbow replied, tears flowing down her face. "You learn to do without!" Sun answered, stamping a hoof on the ground to punctuate his declaration, "You move forward. You remember what it was like, you keep those memories, you hope upon hope that someday you'll be whole again, and you move forward. I know this pain all too well, and I'm telling you that this isn't the end for you." "How?! How do you know what this feels like?!" "Because my magic is supposed to be green!" Sun answered back. Rainbow Dash backed away a scoot or two, letting the wind blow in between them and cool both of their tempers. "My magic isn't grey, Rainbow Dash," Sun continued. "It's supposed to be green, but when I left home I started to lose it, slowly but surely. The only reason I have any magic at all right now is because Silence loaded me up with hers before we got here. I'm operating on borrowed time, and when I lose all of that magic I don't know what I'm going to do with myself either." "But I'll tell you what I won't do," Sun continued, standing up and offering a hoof to Rainbow Dash. "I'm not going to lose my way because of a set back, even one as major as this. I'm going to keep doing what I have to until I'm done, and if a pony like me can find it in himself to carry on, then one as tenacious, forceful, and loyal as you will learn to carry on as well." Taking his hoof, Sun pulled Rainbow Dash up to a standing position, her hissing as she put some weight into her injured leg. "You'll be fine, I promise," Sun said, pulling Rainbow into a hug. "It'll just take some getting used to, that's all." "Right," Rainbow replied. "At least Scootaloo and I have something in common now." "Who's that, a sibling of yours?" "She may as well b—" Rainbow was soon cut off by a thunderous crashing sound, followed by the sound of hundreds of shards of crystal crashing into the ground. Sun felt the ground shaking beneath his hooves, and Rainbow Dash was fully thrown to the ground as the tremors got closer and closer. "What is that?! Another ice worm?" Sun asked, hoping upon hope that it wasn't since he was in no fit state to deal with another one of those. Fortunately he was soon answered by a massive purple and green shape cresting over the rooftops and landing with an explosion of force that threw Sun to the ground and buckled the streets beneath the being's weight. His eyes were drawn to its face, reptilian and dignified, before running down the length of its muscular form to find a shape that was small in comparison clinging to its back. Letting one of its massive wings unfurl and alight upon the ground, the shape on its back slid down and tumbled forward, sprawling out onto the ground until it shakily got to its hooves. The figure scanned around until it saw Sun and Rainbow Dash, prone and terrified on the ground, and waved to them. "What was that explosion?" Starlit called to them. "Also, this is Spike, just so there's no confusion." * * * Spike's mind shifted and stirred in his ancient skull, collating all of the new sensations that he was shifting through. The splitting of his mind had robbed him of centuries of experiences, and the inrush of feelings, thoughts, and experiences was proving distracting. Below his towering frame the three ponies reunited, assessing each other's wounds and mental states. He would allow them this brief reprieve as his mind collected itself. With a thunderous quake he settled down onto his belly, wrapping his tail around him and nestling his wings into their accorded spot. Slowly he closed his eyes, letting his heavy, scaled lids bring him to the quietude of darkness. Only the wind whipping past his head was known to him now. A moment came before his eyes; he was small, and a pair of alicorns looked down upon him. He recognized them as Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor. Twilight had been excited that day, as she had been so many days before that, but this was special. Spike would come to know this excitement; it was the excitement of achievement, of success, of hard won victory over a problem magical or mundane. Another moment; Spike was taller now, but not by much. His wings had just come in through his last molting, and his fire had begun to burn hotter in his chest. War was besetting the land of Equestria, besieging Canterlot itself. He remembered this day too. The day that Twilight Sparkle had stolen his mind and left him behind, making a promise that they both knew she could not keep. He would never see her again, but she would see him again and again. Two moments now presented themselves, and this is where the collating began. The separation of two minds from one was a simple task, but the rejoining was far trickier. To be forced to live through two lives, see two perspectives, and form a cohesive whole from them would prove challenging. Spike was alone, surrounded by Changelings and confused about where he was. Spike was in a grand oak tree, and Twilight was thanking him for his sacrifice. He was wandering through ruined halls in Canterlot, smelling the death and decay of war. He was studying ancient tomes of magic and history with Twilight. He was molting, growing, experiencing loss and pain. He was stagnating, unchanging, and provided with every comfort he could ask for. Canterlot would prove too small, and so Spike would leave its hallowed halls and fly north to a land where he would be undisturbed. Nopony turned their eyes to the skies as he flew over, so focused were they on the destitution of their lives. Magic, which had once flowed freely from the throne of Canterlot, now pooled as blackened poison in the backs of their minds. Twilight had succeeded in her plan from all those ages past, and Chrysalis had sabotaged it expertly. The Oak would prove just big enough, and Spike wanted for nothing while in service to Twilight. He studied, he cooked, he cleaned, and did it all with a simpleton's grace. He never asked questions, for he did not know they should be asked. He did not disobey orders, for he did not know that they could be disobeyed. Life was calm and peaceable in those days, but it was a hollow and artificial peace. Finally the snow overtook him as Spike travelled north, and the gates of the Crystal Empire could do nothing to stop him. Twilight's Astral Conservatory would prove ample enough of a home, and it would be in this place, in the steaming waters he would create to cradle his broken mind, that he would see the first of his visions. Two unicorns, tasked by the Princess of Magic to achieve a great good, only for it to be snatched away and perverted for the Princess's own ends. He would aid them, sight unseen, for that is how time would unfold. Spike was overjoyed to see new ponies in the Oak, as Twilight had never had visitors before. He greeted Starlit Sky warmly, as Twilight had always told him to, and helped her in any way he could. Then Starlit brought another guest, Setting Sun, and so too did Spike help him. These were good days, where Twilight could teach her magic once more and Spike could serve new ponies. Some days they were wary, other days tired, but most days were good when they were all in the Oak. A screech of a windigo, followed by a clash of blades and two bodies falling. A whipping winter wind blowing through his intangible form. An exhalation of hot air, an influx of cold air. A long moment spent waiting for Starlit to rise from the dead again. The pulsing of Twilight's ancient spell, ensnared in crystal and hanging from Starlit's neck. The realization that this massive beast before him was what he was always meant to be. Spike's eyes opened, and he could see the ponies below him staring back up at him with nervous expressions. The pegasus he had not foreseen, but she was not unwelcome. Starlit Sky and Setting Sun took a step forward, through puddles of water he had created with his very presence. "Spike, are you okay?" Sun asked, his voice tremulous but not afraid. He could see a strong pull from the Changeling Queen in his mind, a deep pulsing blackness clinging to the back of the unicorn's mind like a tick. "BETTER NOW," Spike answered. "I HAD TO COLLATE MY EXISTENCES INTO ONE UNIFORM WHOLE. I THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE." "So does that mean that the Spike I brought up here is no more?" Starlit Sky asked. "WE ARE ONE AND THE SAME," Spike replied. "IT IS ONLY THROUGH THE MACHINATIONS OF THE PRINCESS OF MAGIC THAT OUR SENSES WERE EVER SPLIT, FORCED TO LIVE TWO LIVES WITH ONE FRAGMENTED MIND." Starlit cast her eyes away from Spike's as he slowly turned to face the remaining two legs of the Crystal Palace. The first flame ignited by the pegasus's stored magic, a final gift from Cadance before she froze her kingdom, had proven decisive, but it would take more fire than a pony could manage to remove the Crystal Princess from her tomb. "I WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU ALL LEAVE THE PLAZA," Spike ordered as he unfurled his wings, letting the water that had accumulated on them slide off. "Why?" the pegasus asked, her tone slightly more impetuous than Spike cared for. "I WOULD HATE FOR YOU THREE TO BE CAUGHT IN THE BLAST," Spike added, rising to his full height and churning the ancient magic in his gut. A gout of green flames escaped the corners of his lips, his nostrils flared with smoke and steam, and the clattering of hooves on crystal told Spike that they had all gotten the message. More dragon fire churned and roiled in his belly until he could store it no longer, and with a roar that ripped fissures into the crystal ground beneath him he unleashed his fire into the Crystal Palace's remaining legs. The ice that had accumulated around them vaporized on contact as his fire burned, green and hot as the sun, until it focused and solidified into a pillar of magical plasma that escaped from his maw. With a swipe of the head the beam tore through the legs of the Palace like his wings cut through the air, as well as cutting across several blocks worth of ancient homes that stood abandoned. As his flames abated, the magic powering them now used up, he watched with something akin to satisfaction as the Palace toppled over, falling away into a million shards and pieces until all that remained was an orb of ice that fell to the rubble like it was moving through water. The remnants of the Palace crushed a swathe of buildings to the north, sending ice and crystal spewing into the air like a fountain before they all fell back to earth with a cacophonous clatter. Spike rooted through the rubble until he found the sphere of ice, and slowly rolled it out of the ruins as the three ponies galloped up to it. With a scraping noise Spike rolled the sphere until it was placed directly in front of his charges, only a few feet taller than any of them. "YOUR PRINCESS," Spike announced, letting his heated hand rest atop the sphere and slowly melt through it. The fragments fell away as his hand cut through the ice, and as the last of the rime-borne shell dissolved into water Spike saw the ponies take a step back in shock. A long, low sob echoed on the wind as Cadance felt the frost touch her flesh. * * *