The Legend of Spike: Discord's Mask

by DiabloGuapo


Denial Cycle: Day One

Dawn of the First Day- 72 Hours Remaining

Spike squinted his eyes as he met the morning light when he opened the doors. After his eyes adjusted to the light, Spike was amazed at what he saw. At first he thought he was in the middle of some sort of elaborate prank. He half expected for Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash to pop out and laugh at his expense. Ponies that he knew from Ponyville were busy running around, and they appeared to be preparing for a celebration of sorts. Spike wondered how could they possibly be here in another world, and then he reflected on how he was just turned into a Unicorn by Nightmare Moon not too long ago. Perhaps Trotina was some sort of alternate dimension of Equestria. Spike was suddenly thankful for his collection of comic books that he had hidden in the library. Twilight Sparkle scoffed at the fact that Spike enjoys reading them, so he kept them stashed away and only pulled them out when she wasn’t around.

Okay Spike, let’s review what’s just happened so far. You were rejected by Rarity, chased by Timberwolves, fell into a parallel world, turned into a Unicorn colt by Nightmare Moon, and now you have to find her somehow. Spike reflected on the absurdity of the situation as he walked over to a nearby pool of water. He studied his new features in pool’s reflection, and sighed in despair as realized that this wasn’t an elaborate dream. He turned his body a little to confirm a suspicion he had. Not only was he a pony, but he was also a blank flank. At least he was a Unicorn. Being Twilight’s assistant for years, he had watched her perform many spells. He concentrated as hard as he could. He grunted and gritted his teeth as he focused on his horn, trying to conjure as much magic as he could. However, the only amount he could muster was a few sparks. Great, I’m a blank flank Unicorn colt who can’t even do magic, just great. Now I know how Sweetie Belle feels.

After studying his new image in the pool, Spike began to look up to the sky. I wonder why that merchant was so insistent that I retrieved that mask in… three… days… “Sweet Celestia’s Technicolored Mane! What is THAT!?” What caught Spike’s attention was the fact the moon was looming dangerously close over the town. The only thing Spike could do was to sit on his haunches and drop his jaw to the floor as he stared helplessly up at the moon. The moon also had the image of the Mare of the Moon imprinted upon it. The image of the shadowy mare seemed to be mocking him.

“Rose! Rose!” Spike yelled as he ran up to a mare as she ran about with party supplies.

“Huh? Do I know you?” the mare asked confused.

“It’s me…uh,” Spike stopped himself as he remember that this Roseluck wasn’t his Roseluck. “Never mind that for now, but what’s going on with the moon!?”

“The moon? I don’t know what you mean. Anyways, I can’t stop now. I have to help to prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration.” She trotted off, leaving Spike dumbstruck. How could she not notice the moon? It was filling up the sky! Now I know why that pony is in such a hurry to leave! But how am I going to do this? Three days, how can I possibly find and stop Nightmare Moon in three days? Even if I don’t sleep, that only leaves me with seventy-two hours!

The watch, a voice said in his head.

The watch? The watch! Spike clasped the watch that was still around his neck, grateful that the dark Alicorn didn’t take it too. Twilight said that it could be used for about two weeks of time travel. Let’s see… with three days… that’s about five uses. Well, at least two weeks is better than three days. Without wasting another moment, Spike pressed the button on the side of the stopwatch. The watch chimed and glowed a little bit, but otherwise appeared to be unchanged.

Well, the first thing I should do is try to get some information. Maybe I could try to find Princess Celestia. Yeah, surely she could help! Maybe she can even take on Nightmare Moon! Spike looked around the square. He saw various ponies running about, different stands in the market, the clock tower he just came from, but no indication on the location of the Solar Princess.

“Excuse me,” the former dragon called out to a pony that was passing by. “Excuse me, but do you know where I could find Princess Celestia?”

“The Princess? I think she’s staying in the shrine in the north part of town,” the pony answered, pointing down the street. Spike thanked the pony and then ran off in the direction the pony pointed out.

Spike found a pleasant little park in the north part of Clock Town. He noticed a filly trying to pop a balloon with a peashooter. He ignored her for now and made his way up the path to what appeared to be the shrine. When he entered it, he found himself in a beautiful fountain. There were beautiful white pillars, candles, and a clear pool of water. Spike wondered where the guards were. If the princess was staying here, then why were there only birds fluttering about?

Spike came to a stopped when he noticed the unconscious form of the white Alicorn sprawled out on the base of the altar. “Princess Celestia!” He rushed over to her and raised her head up.

“W-who’s there?” she mumbled as she regained consciousness. She looked about and then turned to the colt that was holding her. “Who are you?”

“I’m Spike. I come from Equestria.”

“Equestria?” she said, slowly rising to her feet. Spike helped her to maintain her balance. After regaining her composure, she studied Spike. Her horn glowed for a moment. “You seem… foreign. Is Equestria… another world of sorts?”

Spike explained to her on how he came to be in Trotina and what Nightmare Moon has done to him.

“It would seem that you are yet another victim of my wayward sister’s wrath, just like us.”

“Us?” The Alicorn nodded and motioned to the birds that were watching them.

“Do you see those birds? They used to be my guards.”

“Oh. What has happened here?”

“I knew this day was coming. On the thousandth year, near the Summer Sun Celebration, she would escape from the moon. I thought that I could try to reason with her, but she was just as resentful as she was on the night that she was banished. I thought that she would try to bring eternal night, but she did something I didn’t expect. That mask, she just had to find that mask. She used its power to attack us. She turned them into birds and drained me of most of my power. She told me that she scattered it to the four corners of Trotina so that I would be powerless to stop her plans of revenge. Now, she’s using the power of the mask to send the moon crashing down onto Trotina!”

Things were looking bleak for Spike. “So, you can’t stop her?”

“I’m sorry, but I cannot.” Spike looked down and tried to think of something. An idea came to him.

“The Elements of Harmony, where are they?” he asked fervently.

“The Elements!” Celestia exclaimed with renewed hope. “Of course! After I used them to banish Nightmare Moon, I lost my connection with them, so I placed them… in the four corners of Trotia! I bet if we could find them, we will also recover my power! Spike, listen to me. I’m afraid that I’m too weak to leave this place. You’ll have to be the one to find them.”

“Me?” He was shocked by her request. “But, I’m just a dra… er… colt!”

“I know, but we have no other option, and no time. You must do this for me.” Spike felt overwhelmed by the weight of the situation. “Have faith Spike. Remember, you have that watch, and the Elements will give you the power to stop her.”

“If you say so,” he sighed, and then inhaled deeply to fortify himself. “Okay, where do I start?”

“The first element is here. The other four are in the southern forest, the northern mountains, western coast, and the eastern canyon. The sixth can only be found when the others are present. They can only be obtained when somepony embraces the Element and face the challenge that comes with it.”

“What’s the first Element and where is exactly is it?”

“Honesty, but it is atop the clock tower. It is only accessible on the night before the celebration in two days. ”

“Two days, sheesh, cutting it kind of close. Alright, I’ll do my best.”

“Before you go, I do believe that I can help you in way.” Her horn glowed and a comforting wave of magic washed over Spike. After the spell had ended, Celestia looked drained and laid down. “There, I know it isn’t much, but I did what I could with the little I have left. I’ve unlocked your Unicorn magic.”

“Really?” Spike focused and his horn glowed green. “Wow, thanks!”

“You’re welcome, now go!”

Spike rushed out of the fountain, excited that he could use magic now. He wanted to try it out. He looked around and saw the balloon. He smirked, charged up his horn, and shot a blast at the balloon. Pop! The filly that was shooting at it jumped at the sudden noise and looked around for the one who had popped her target.

“Hey, you!” she called out in a gruff accent when she spotted Spike. “Did ya pop my balloon?”

“Um… yes?” Spike nervously answered as the dark orange Earth Pony with the dark pink mane walked up to him. He didn’t want to start a fight, but he relaxed when he saw her smile.

“Not bad,” she complimented with a nod. “My name is Babs.”

“Spike,” he introduced himself as they hoofbumped. She took a look at his flank, and he blushed a bit since a filly was checking out his rear.

“So I see you don’t have a cutie mark, like me,” she observed. She gave a whistle, and four other foals ran up to them. “How about you join us, the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“Well, I…”

“C’mon, what else do you have to do?” Spike immediately thought about the moon and the Element of Honesty, but he couldn’t do anything about it until another two days.

“Alright, I’m in.” The foals cheered and led him to their clubhouse, which was in the eastern part of town. They approached another colt that was standing in front of an alleyway.

“What’s the code?” asked the guard-colt.

“1-2-3-4-5,” Babs answered. The colt nodded in approval and moved aside.

“Seriously?” Spike sarcastically asked Babs.

“Yeah, we oughta change the code,” Babs sheepishly replied. The alleyway came to a dead end, but there was a hole in the wall that they entered. The hole led into what appeared to be a laboratory of sorts. There were books, papers, and star charts scattered about on the table. There was an adult brown Earth Pony with an hourglass cutie mark looking through a telescope. “Hey Doctor, what’s up?”

“Hey, Crusaders,” the stallion said looking from the telescope to foals. “Oh, a new member I see.”

“That’s the Doctor, he lets us use his observatory as our clubhouse,” Babs explained to Spike. “Doctor, this is Spike.”

“Nice to meet you, Spike. Hey, want to see something strange?” The Doctor motioned to the telescope.

“Um, sure,” Spike shrugged and walked over to the telescope. Spike was sure that the “strange thing” was the moon. He looked through the telescope and noticed that it was pointed at the top of the clock tower. What was standing on top of it made Spike jump. It was Nightmare Moon, and she was looking up at the moon. She then looked down in the direction of the observatory, the yellow eyes of the mask seemingly staring at him. Spike thought surely that she couldn’t possibly see him, but his blood ran cold as he saw the black Alicorn wave a hoof at him. Spike yelped as he scurried away from the telescope.

“What is it? Whatcha see?” Babs asked after seeing Spike’s reaction. Spike couldn’t quite find the nerve to answer her.

“I’ll have to catch up with you later. I have something to do,” Spike said as he ran out of the clubhouse.

“Aaawww, but we were gonna play Hide n’ Seek,” moaned Babs as she watched Spike run out.

Spike looked up at the clock tower from the entrance of the alleyway, but he couldn’t see the mare that was on top of it from that angle. At least I know where she is, but what am I going to do? The Element of Honesty is supposed to be up their too. Even if I do get the Element, she’ll just blast me to Tartarus! I need some help. The purple colt looked away from the clock tower and noticed that City Hall was nearby. Spike wonder if the city would be able to offer him support. He made his way inside and up to the receptionist’s desk, the mare sitting behind it looking at him as he walked in.

“Welcome, do you have any business?” the mare asked. “The Mayor’s Office is to your left and Madame Velvet’s is to your right.” Spike thanked her and headed to the left door. Even from outside the door, he could hear ponies arguing. Nether the less, Spike entered.

“Many civilians have already evacuated, without the mayor’s orders!” shouted a Unicorn guard. “We need to declare a state of emergency!”

“Bah, cowards!” scoffed an Earth Pony. “Do you really think that the moon will fall?”

“Excuse me…” Spike tried to interject, but he couldn’t be heard over the arguing ponies. He looked to the mayor and was surprised to see that Night Light, Twilight’s father, was the mayor of Clock Town. The blue Unicorn looked frustrated from the debate.

“You can’t be serious! Hasn’t a giant piece of rock caught your eye!? The celebration needs to be canceled!”

“Canceled!? The Summer Sun Celebration has always gone on as plan for the past thousand years! It’s tradition, and we can’t go against tradition! Madame Velvet would agree with me, right Mayor Light?”

“Let’s not bring my wife into this,” the mayor said agitated. Spike gave up on trying to be heard and decided to see if Twilight Velvet could help. Spike entered the other office and his heart leaped when he saw a very familiar yellow Pegasus. Fluttershy was having a conversion with a Unicorn that looked very much like Twilight Sparkle, except she was silvery instead of lavender. Spike was about to run up and hug Fluttershy, but he stopped himself when he remembered that she wasn’t the Fluttershy he knew. His heart sank a little.

“I’m very sorry,” Fluttershy meekly said to Twilight Velvet. “But the Wonderbolts won’t be able to perform this year. One of their members has gone missing and they are really upset about it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” the Unicorn mare replied. “We also have a missing pony case here. You see… oh, it seems that we have a visitor.” The two looked at Spike as he stood in the doorway. “Come right in! You must be the investigator that I’ve sent for.”

“Actually…” Spike began, but was cut off.

“I’m Madame Twilight Velvet and this Fluttershy, the manager of the Wonderbolts.”

“Nice to meet you,” the yellow mare sweetly greeted.

“I’m so glad that you’re here. You see, my son, Shining Armor, has disappeared. He is the captain of the guard and the city is in turmoil over this celebration business. He is really needed here. Also, he is due to be wed on the day of the celebration! It would be such a shame if the groom doesn’t show up for the wedding. My daughter, who is the Unicorn Prince’s adviser, is even coming up from the south for the wedding! Oh, and that poor dear Cadance! I can’t imagine how she is feeling!”

Spike felt pity for them, but had to explain to her that he wasn’t the investigator, but he heard the voice in his head again.

Help them, it said.

“Alright,” he answered the voice.

“What was that dear?”

“I said that I’m on the case,” he said after realizing that he had spoken out loud to a voice in his head.

“Oh, thank you very much!” With a smile, he left the office.

Deciding that there wasn’t much else to do there, Spike left the building. As he walked away from City Hall, he thought that he should at least find a place to stay. It so happened that an inn was nearby. Spike shrugged and entered the door. Once again, Spike was shocked at what he saw; Princess Cadance was sitting in the lobby of the inn. After hearing that her fiance was missing, it wasn’t surprising that she was crying. Spike was going to talk to her, but a voice called out to him.

“Good afternoon.” Spike turned and saw a mare at the desk. “Welcome to our inn. Name please.”

“Spike,” he answered. As he expected, she looked through the book on the desk.

“Let’s see…ah! Here it is, one room reserved for Mr. Spike for an afternoon arrival. Here’s your key.” He was confused as she gave him a room key. He thought for sure that she was only looking for an open room, but somehow he already had a reservation.

Oh well, I’m not complaining. Spike turned back to the pink Alicorn to see that she was holding a letter. Before he could say anything to her, she went upstairs and she entered a room. The front door opened and an Earth Pony carrying a large pack walked in.

“Hello, may I help you?” the innkeeper asked.

“I have a reservation-goro,” answered the traveler.

“Name please.”

“Spike-goro.” She looked again in the book, but she shook her head.

“Sorry, but there isn’t a Spike-goro.”

“Really-goro?” the stallion asked, surprised at the news.

“I’m terribly sorry,” the mare earnestly apologized.

“Oh, well-goro. I guess I’ll sleep outside-goro. It’s a lovely afternoon-goro.” By the time the unlucky Earth Pony had begun to make his way to the door, Spike had already discreetly sneaked out of sight and up the stairs.

Ponyville- Day 1, 10:00 A.M.

“Goodbye, Fluttershy,” Twilight Sparkle said as she left the spa.

“See you later, Twilight,” Fluttershy said as she went her own way. “Thank you so much for coming to the spa with me.”

“No problem.” Twilight Sparkle made her way back to Golden Oaks Library. When she arrived, she didn’t see Spike there. “Spike, are you here?” She shrugged when no answer came from her dragon assistant. She figured that he was still out and about. However, a part of her was worried for him. The last time she saw him, he did say that he was going to Zecora’s hut in the Everfree Forest. She pulled a book from a shelf and began to read in hopes that it would suppress her concerns.