//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Intermission (The Truth Revealed) // Story: Spikes Journey // by That Drunk Pony //------------------------------// A purple unicorn who was busy helping with the repair of her home suddenly feels a shock and a tear falls from her cheek. Twilight, now confused, looks towards Canterlot as if that is where her pain came from. Something important has just broken the final bonds. She tries her best to ignore it and continue to work still confused at what just happened. Twilight doesn’t remember the last time she worked so hard with physical labor. She was glad her friends came to help, but even with her friends helping it still proved to be a very troubling task. All except Pinkie was there to assist her since she had other things to take care of. Most of the library was burned and even a lot of the surrounding buildings were still damaged. Only the places on the outskirts of the town of Ponyville were kept truly safe such as the Apple Family’s farm, the Carousel Boutique, and Fluttershy’s Cottage. Rainbow Dash was lucky she lived in Cloudsdale and Pinkie’s house was amazingly the only house in the area that was also nearly untouched even though it was in the central area. Twilight kept having random gazes at Canterlot. She stared at it for a few moments and then continued. It quickly got the attention of her friends, but none of them had the courage to really ask what was bugging her. They assumed it had to do with Spike. It was silent mostly until Pinkie came around... “Howdy, everypony” Pinkie came with her usual smiling face and with AJ’s hat. Applejack put her hoof on her head and noticed her hat was missing “Pinkie, why or how do you have my hat. I just had it.” In a cheap thug like voice as to make a movie reference, she replied “I’d tell ya, but I’d have to cupcake you.” Right after she said that, she went into her usual chuckles and snorts. Applejack just sighed, “Just give me my hat back Pinkie.” After Pinkie returned the hat, she saw Twilight with a frown. Normally she would solve this with a song, but the writer who writes this can’t do songwriting or rhyme very well so sucks for you guys if that’s what you were expecting. Instead she asked the question that everyone was so afraid to ask. “Twilight, what’s got you look-in so down.” Pinkie said in a concerned voice. Twilight looked at her Pink friend. “I don’t know. I felt a sharp pain through my heart, it felt like something important was just taken from me. Now every time I look at Canterlot I get a lesser, but still painful feeling. I even felt tears start to form” “Well Twilight, don’t hide your feelings. Bottling them is a big no no. You should just cry it out and then things will get better from there” Pinkie said seeming so sure of herself. Twilight then tried to let her tears flow, but without a reason to cry it just seemed like she was looking more depressed. She just feels sad and doesn’t know why she was crying or getting those pains from Canterlot. Twilight’s friends were eavesdropping the entire time while seemingly working. They stopped only to surround her to try to reassure her that everything will be better. As they all hugged each other, some powerful magic had slightly blown them back. The light it brought out could be seen from most parts of Ponyville. The ponies in the area had no idea what was going on and just ran away. The mane six all waited huddled together. Princess Celestia had emerged from the blinding light. The six ponies realized this when Twilight had jumped from their huddle. “Princess Celestia!” Twilight said in an excited voice. She then bowed her head and the other five behind her did as well. “Rise my little ponies” Celestia said with her usual regal voice. “Princess, why are you here?” Twilight said, but then started going into a hysteria. “Did we miss an event, is this a surprise visit, Did Discord ESCAPE! DID WE MISS YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!?” Twilight went on and on with endless possibilities until the Princess put a hoof over her student’s mouth. “No, I am not here for any of those reasons” the princess said before coming to a slightly more serious look. “I came here to ask a question.” The six ponies then gave confused looks at the princess. “What sort of question?” Twilight asked. Just then Rainbow Dash came in front of the Princess with an excited look on her eyes. “Is it another adventure? Do you need us to vanquish some foul beast, or defeat a rampaging dragon?” When Rainbow said that, she was lassoed by Applejack and she put a hoof in her mouth. Applejack then whispered into Rainbow’s ears, “Now why would you talk about rampaging dragons after this whole mess that we are still trying to fix.” The two ponies then turned back to the group. “Well getting back to the matter at hand” Twilight stated turning back to the Princess. “What is the question you wanted to ask?” Princess Celestia then went back into her serious mode. “What happened here in Ponyville and why wasn’t I alerted about this?” The ponies then looked at each other then looked back at the Princess. “It was Spike” Twilight finally said almost forcing her answer out. “He rampaged and burned Ponyville. We didn’t want to tell you because Spike was already banished by the end of it and alerting you wouldn’t have changed much.” The princess then raised her eyebrow. “Did any of you see Spike rampage through Ponyville?” The ponies then looked at each other again and returned their looks at the princess. They answered together “No.” Rainbow added, “But there was a green magical fire everywhere. Also his foot marks were at each location. That’s more than enough evidence.” The princess then sighed and gave another serious look. “Did you even get his side of the story or give him a fair chance to defend himself?” They all looked down and said together, “No.” The princess then continued on. “Spike visited Canterlot after leaving Ponyville.” All of them replied in shock, “He DID!?” The princess then added, “Yes, he was there for a full month. He made quite an uproar while in town.” The girls all were thinking of different ways Spike might have destroyed Canterlot. Rainbow thought of the general scenario of a Dragon burning everything, Applejack thought how he would be destroying every building with his sharp claws, Rarity thought about how he would destroy the rich cultured ponies and burned all the dresses, Pinkie was thinking how Spike would crash a party, and Fluttershy is just too much for the viewers. Twilight however couldn’t think much, since she was feeling more worried about how other ponies might have reacted to him. Their attention was then brought back to the princess. “Yes Spike had gained a big reputation in Canterlot, even Fancy Pants and a few other noble families were now friends with Spike. He is somewhat of a hero on some level.” The princess gave a small grin at the pony’s faces. All of their jaws just dropped upon hearing this. Rarity’s was even further dropped considering he got to be friends with Fancy and the other upper class ponies. “I was watching over him, although I was confused why he visited without his companions unannounced. He seemed sad at first and just as I was about to invite him to the castle, I noticed something. He was starting to feel happy and was living at Joe’s home. Seeing his smile brought a tear to my eye.” The princess had then changed from her grin to a more serious tone once again. Before she could continue, Twilight interrupted her. “So Spike was happy then.” Twilight’s face began to frown. She was worried and was glad he was doing fine, but was sad because he didn’t need her to take care of him. The princess then continued, “Spike only was happy for the moment, but I could still see in his eyes that there was a deep wound in his heart. I especially took notice when he visited me on the day that I would hear to all the ponies. He asked me for something that shocked me to my very core.” The group then got in closer to make sure they didn’t miss a word. The princess took a deep breath and finally said, “Spike asked me to... actually I rather just show you all.” Her horn lit up and a light surrounded each pony showing the memories of the Princess. ----------------------------------------------Transmission back to Palace-------------------------------- “Ok Spike. It is done. You are no longer bound by the contract we have. We can no longer send messages nor can I track you any longer.” The Princess said in a very sad way. “Thank you Princess,” Spike said as he was now ready to leave the pony race behind. He turned to walk away. Before he left however the Princess asked, “Spike, why did you want this?” “Because I am no longer Twilight’s assistant nor am I a resident of Ponyville.” Spike said with his back still turned to the princess. “What happened? Tell me everything... or rather allow me to see it.” the Princess then slowly walked to the dragon. Spike turned slowly only to be met by the princess’s horn to his forehead. She had saw the memories of everything that had occurred. All the recent memories and all the emotions he felt, she felt as well. When the spell broke, Princess Celestia couldn’t stop her tears from flowing. To know the pain he felt and how he was still standing there without crying was truly amazing. She couldn’t stop crying until Spike had hugged her. “Do not worry for me princess. If I am not crying and I am still a young dragon, then you shouldn’t be either being many centuries older.” Spike added to comfort the still crying princess. She slowly stopped crying and tried her best to regain herself. “Spike, I am sorry.” “Don’t be. It was not your fault nor was it anypony else’s fault. Just the one who caused the trouble and framed me” Spike had said in quick reply to the princess. The hug then broke and both the dragon and the princess had regained their composure. Spike then turned around once more as to leave, but was stopped by the princess yet again. “Spike, before you leave.” The dragon turned only his head towards the princess. “Will you do I a favor and go to Cloudsdale to deliver something for me?” Spike then replied in a confused way. “How do you expect me to do that if I can’t really fly there or even stay on a cloud?” “Do not worry Spike. I have this potion that will give you temporary wings for a few days. Maybe a week at max if you don’t overdo it” the princess said as she levitated a potion from a table near her throne. Why it was there no one knows but the princess. “Why can’t you send a guard or the Wonderbolts to handle this? They can do it faster.” Spike had pointed out. “The Wonderbolts are performing in Baltimare and my guards are short at this time. Please do this favor for me.” The princess pleaded with cute begging eyes. “You just need to deliver this to Spitfire. She hasn’t been feeling too good and this package should be just what she needs.” “Hmm fine, but after this I will leave to live with the dragons. Where is the Package I need to deliver?” Spike said with a slightly annoyed attitude. As Celestia levitated the package she also added, “Make sure you use the potion when you are as close to Cloudsdale as possible.” She then also levitated one ticket for Vanhoover. “But this ticket is to Vanhoover that’s like after Cloudsdale?” Spike asked the princess. “There is no station for Cloudsdale directly, so you will have to make a special stop. I wish you well on your journey Spike.” The princess concluded herself with that. Spike then started making his way out of the castle. “See you later princess.” When Princess Celestia got to her throne she whispered to herself, “See you later. Spike.”