Today was the day. It was still early in the morning and Spike was headed to Carousel Boutique, his heart racing. He finally worked up the nerve to confess his love for the mare of his dreams, Rarity. Though the dragon thinks his crush is one the best kept secrets of Equestria, most ponies already knew. It wasn’t like he was discreet about it. He stood at the front door, his palms sweating. Taking a breath, he knocked on the front door of the boutique. This was a formality, since the place was opened to the public because it was a store.
“Come in!” a voice called from inside in a singsong tone. Spike made his way inside and saw the white Unicorn with the violet mane. Spike was about to talk, but then he noticed that she was gathering suitcases.
“Hey Rarity, what’s up with the bags?” he asked little crestfallen. He had hoped to be able to have her undivided attention, but she was busy packing for a trip.
“Oh, hello Spike,” she greeted cheerfully. “I’m preparing to go to Canterlot to meet with Count High N’Mighty. We’ve met the last time I was in Canterlot. He said he wanted to meet with me again, and now he’s invited me to his mansion! Oh, this is too exciting! I can see it now! He’s inviting….”
As she began to go on about her dreams of courting the Count and her possibility of becoming Countess N’Mighty, Spike’s heart sank. He started to doubt whether he should tell her or not. Maybe he should just go home to Golden Oaks Library. No, I came this far. I can’t turn back now!
“….and we’ll have a grand wedding in Canterlot Palace and….”
“Rarity.”
“….my gown will be….”
“Rarity.”
“….and my bridesmaids will wear….”
“Rarity,” Spike spoke a little louder, finally getting her attention.
“Oh, yes Spike?”
“I have something to tell you.”
“What is it, Spike?” she said, coming down from her high.
“I….I wanted to tell you that….I….”
“Oh,” Rarity said with a serious face. “Spike, I think that I know what you are going to say.”
“You do?” Spike said surprised. Rarity sighed and nodded.
“It is pretty obvious, dear.” Spike mentally kicked himself. “I’m flattered, I really am, but you must understand, I’m going to meet somepony in a moment. He seems really interested in me. Besides, you’re a few years younger than me. I really think you are nice, but I’m a Unicorn and you’re a dragon….”
“Oh, I see,” Spike said bitterly.
“Oh, darling, I didn’t mean that….”
“No no. I get it,” Spike said as he headed to the door. “You’re a Unicorn and I’m just a dragon.”
“Spike, I….”
“I’ll let you get back to your packing. I’m sorry to bother you.” He opened the door and started to head out. Rarity watched with a concerned look as she watched the young dragon leave. Before he closed the door, Rarity heard him say to himself, “I never should have fooled myself.”
Spike’s tail dragged as he walked back to the library. His thoughts were consumed with his disappointment. He was going to pour out his soul to the mare of his dreams, and she rejected him before he even told her. As he opened the door the tree-house, he saw his caretaker, Twilight Sparkle, pacing in the main room of the library. Spike noticed she looked upset.
“Hey Twilight, what’s wrong?”
“It’s not a big deal. I’ve promised to go to the spa with Fluttershy today. She normally goes with Rarity on this day of the week, but she’s going out of town today,” explained the lavender Unicorn.
“So, what’s the problem? It’s not like Fluttershy wouldn’t mind missing the spa date.”
“Yes, but they had already made reservations. She doesn’t want them to go to waste, so I volunteered to go with her. The problem is that I was going to deliver this amulet to Zecora.” As she spoke, she levitated a necklace that looked like a watch. “I’ve just received this from Canterlot University and Zecora wanted to take a look at it.”
“What does it do? It looks like stopwatch to me,” he observed.
“That’s because it is. This watch has been enchanted with time spells. Supposedly, it has the ability to allow you return back to a certain point in time.”
“You mean you can travel back in time?” Spike asked with an idea forming in his head. He could travel back in time to prevent himself from embarrassing himself in front of Rarity.
“Not quite. You see, you press the button and that sets the return point. You press it again, and you return to that point, but the spell is limited. The spell only allows for about two weeks’ worth of time travel.”
“Oh, that’s cool,” he halfheartedly replied, his new idea deflated.
“I was going to lend it to Zecora, but I don’t want to be late. I guess I could always deliver it after going to the spa.”
“I’ll deliver it for you,” offered Spike. “After all, I am your number one assistant.”
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked with uncertainty. “I mean she does live in the Everfree Forest.”
“It’s fine, she doesn’t live that far in. I’ll be careful,” he reassured.
“Well then, if you say so.” She passed the amulet to Spike and gave him a hug. “Just be careful, there’s a lot of dangerous creature in there.”
“I’ll be fine, what’s the worst that could happen?”
Timberwolves, that’s what could happen. Spike was walking down the path to Zecora’s hut, playing his pan flute in an attempt to cheer himself up. Despite his efforts, it wasn’t helping. What it did was attract a pack of the enchanted wooden canines to him. The wolves had surrounded him on the trail, and he ran into the forest since the trail was blocked by the predators. Spike could smell the foul breath of the creatures as they closed in on him. He looked over his shoulder to see how far away his pursuers were, but he should have remained looking forward. If he had, he would have seen the hole in the ground.
Spike fell down the hole and the Timberwolves stopped at the edge, snarling in anger that their quarry had escaped. Spike bounced against the walls of the hole as he fell down the winding tunnel. The tunnel finally ended and Spike found himself falling into something worse. Now he was headed down an abyss. He screamed in terror as he fell into the bottomless cavern. As he fell, he saw a light coming from the darkness. The multicolored light was spiraling up to meet him. Spike shielded his eyes from the blinding light as it enveloped him.
When he opened his eyes again, he wasn’t falling anymore. In fact, he was sitting on the floor of a cave. He wondered how he could be in one piece after a fall like that. As his sight recovered, he looked around the cave. He quickly noticed the dark figure that was standing before him. His heart nearly stopped as he recognized the figure as Nightmare Moon. The black alicorn glared down at the frightened dragon. Spike noticed that her helmet covered her entire face like a mask and it had two mismatched, glowing yellow eyes.
“You!” the Mare in the Moon growled in anger and surprise. “How many times must I kill you!?”
“What….” Before he could ask what was going on, the alicorn’s horn glowed with magic and Spike felt a strange power take hold of him. It was pure agony, and he was paralyzed by the pain. His bones twisted and shifted. His scales felt like they were burning. His claws and feet felt like they were being crushed. A splitting headache developed as he felt something grow out of his forehead. Finally, the curse was complete and Spike collapsed. He could hear the dark mare laugh as he gasped. He noticed that her laugh sounded strange, and yet familiar. Even though it was her voice, the laugh sounded like it belonged to someone else.
“There, try that one on for size,” she mocked. “That will teach you to meddle in my business.”
“W-what did you do to me?” Spike struggled to speak.
“See for yourself,” she gloated as she pointed to a pool of water. Spike crawled to the pool and yelled in alarm when he saw his reflection. A purple Unicorn colt with a green, spiky mane stared back up at him. The only thing that remained the same was his eyes. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must find a more secure lair. I can’t have one where dragons, or should I say, Unicorns can walk in uninvited.” She turned to leave, but she stopped. “I think that I’ll take this with me.”
“Hey!” Spike shouted as he saw the mare with the starry mane levitating his flute beside her.
“This will serve as a nice little reminder of the time we shared together,” she mocked as she transformed into a swirling cloud of indigo magic. Spike gathered his strength and followed the cloud as it whisked away down a tunnel.
Normally, Spike could walk either in a bipedal or quadrupedal stance as a dragon, but his new Unicorn form forced him to walk on all fours. It felt odd to him to walk on hooves. As he did his best to make his way through the caverns, he noticed a strange tree in one of them. He stopped to observe it. It seemed to be shaped to resemble some being. Its branches stuck out like hands, and the hollows seemed to form a face. The “mouth” was formed into a scream, and the “eyes” were squinted. The face on the tree looked like it was frozen in anguish and despair. It looks all dark and gloomy, almost like it could start crying any second now.
Spike decided to move on and continue down the path. Soon, he heard a sound. It sounded like churning water and gears. Spike found himself in a room filled with cogs. He looked around and saw stairs that led up to a set of double doors. Spike headed up the stairs, but he then heard a chuckle coming from behind him.
“You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?” a voice asked him from the shadows. Spike jumped in alarm, but he saw a pony emerge from the shadows. The Earth Pony wore glasses, a strange cap,and styled his mane in a braid.
“Who are you?”
“I’m a traveling merchant. I deal with mystical and strange artifacts. However, it would seem like that you are not from around here.”
“I was chased by some Timberwolves and I fell down a hole. There was a bottomless pit, a bright light, and then I was here,” explained Spike.
“Hhhmmm, where do you come from?”
“I live in Ponyville in the Kingdom of Equestia.”
“I am not familiar with those places, and from your explanation, I would guess that you somehow stumbled upon a portal to this world.”
“What is this place, anyways?”
“You are now underneath Clock Town in the land of Trotina,” explained the strange stallion.
“Do you know where Nightmare Moon went? She has my flute, and she changed me into a Unicorn.”
“You know of Nightmare Moon? Is she in Equestria too?”
“Well, kinda. She was changed back into Princess Luna on the Summer Sun Celebration by the Elements of Harmony.”
“How strange, it would seem that your world is quite different from mine.”
“What do you mean?”
“In Trotina, Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago and was banished by Princess Celestia to the moon, but she has escaped recently. The Elements of Harmony haven’t been seen in a long time,” the merchant explained.
“No Elements, no Luna,” summarized Spike.
“Precisely. Now, she has stolen a powerful mask from me. If you can get it back for me, and your flute, I can help you return to your actual shape,” offered the merchant.
“Really!? You got a deal,” Spike eagerly agreed. “Wait a second, she could easily clobber me! How do I get them back?”
“You’ll have to use your brain,” the merchant shrugged. “But, you’ll have to hurry. In three days….let’s just say I have to leave in three days.”
“Well, okay,” Spike conceded. He then turned towards the doors and called back as he headed out them, “Wish me luck!”
“Good luck. You’re going to need it.”