//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Intermission IV (Twilight's Suffering) // Story: Spikes Journey // by That Drunk Pony //------------------------------// Chapter 10: Twilight’s Suffering Twilight Sparkle, honored student of Celestia, was out with her friends having a picnic in the park on the outskirts of Ponyville. They were all having a joyous time. Rainbow Dash was having fun with tank in the skies above. Fluttershy was readying the snacks along with Applejack. Pinkie Pie was sneaking around, trying to get away with eating some of the food. Rarity was laying under the tree’s shade and taking a nap on her ‘Drama’ couch. She felt so happy being around all her friends. Giggles and laughs were thrown all over the park. They pulled random pranks on each other. They had a water balloon fight, but it was an unfair match since Twilight and Rainbow Dash team were a powerful combination. Even for Pinkie Pie and Applejack’s team. Rarity of course didn’t want to take part in it and Fluttershy was well… Fluttershy. As Twilight and Rainbow Dash took an offensive lead, they were halted by Celestia and Luna. Twilight began frantically panicking and asking why she had come. Twilight grabbed her chest in pain. The other ponies had stopped what they were doing as well and waited as Celestia stared down Twilight. Instead of an answer, Twilight got a water balloon to the face by Celestia herself. Celestia and Luna began chuckling before the battle continued, but to make things fair they had Luna with Fluttershy and Rarity with Celestia. After things settled down with the water fight, they all began snacking on the food that they had prepared. Before they began to eat, Twilight felt another sharp pain to her chest again. The pain however, as quickly as it came, had vanished. She looked around for a second, but then shrugged it off and began eating. They began to tell jokes and reminisce in memories, but with each memory they talked about, Twilight could feel a presence. It grew stronger with each story. Twilight then noticed something was staring at her and her friends behind the single tree on the hill they were eating at. Twilight went to investigate, but didn’t see anything there. She then heard rustling in the bushes just beyond the tree. She teleported to it just to see a shadowy figure run away. She chased after it as if it were something important. Without realizing it, Twilight ended up in a new area. She found herself in the Crystal Empire inside the castle. She was confused at first, but then saw the shadow figure again. She chased it down the stairs of the throne room. It felt like an endless spiral, just like last time she was there. Soon the darkness cloaked the shadow figure so Twilight made a light source, but as soon as she did the figure had disappeared. Last time she was there in the bottom of the staircase, there was a door, but now there was only a mirror and nothing else in the room. Twilight inspected the mirror, but was confused. It didn’t show her reflection, but it did show a reflection of the room she was in. Just then she saw the shadowy figure within the mirror entering a door behind her. She first tried to enter the mirror, but failed. She then turned around, but saw no door. She looked back at the mirror. She noticed the light emitting from her horn was still visible so she backed slowly into the door that was still open while using the mirror as her guide. She passed through the wall onto the top of the Crystal Castle. She was confused on how she got there, but then saw the shadow was in the middle of the floor. She sprang up to catch it, but she just phased through it and then was surrounded by a cage of dark crystals like before. This time however, the crystals began to make a dark aura that shrouded Twilight and engulfed her slowly. She sank into a dark cave, surrounded by crystals. Twilight didn’t see a way out, but then saw the shadow figure once more inside the reflection of the crystals. She then began blasting at each crystal until a tunnel was revealed and the shadow began running away once more. As she gave chase to the shadow, she yelled things like, “Stop! I just want to talk!” and other things, but of course the shadow didn’t stop. They reached a door which the shadow had phased through. Twilight opened the door to find herself in the throne room of Canterlot Castle at night. She was confused once more, but she excused it from her mind and continued to chase the shadow into the next corridor. She chased it into various rooms around the castle. Each room however, held a memory from her past. She constantly found herself in a past memory with her bro in the castle or with her sitter. Sometimes even with Celestia teaching her a new trick, but each time something was missing. She finally cornered the shadow in the hall of the elements. The shadow was backed into the wall where the elements were stored. She slowly stepped towards the shadow figure. She noticed how it looked a little scared of her. Before she could get close enough to identify the figure, the seal that protected the elements before had once again been activated. The doors began to open and a powerful light shone through. The shadow had continued forward and Twilight was not going to let it escape so easily. She gave chase into the next place, wherever it took her. She found herself walking out of the Rainbow Factory in Cloudsdale. She was confused and scared since ponies normally can’t walk on the clouds without a magical spell, but for some reason, she seemed fine. She then gave chase to the shadow around. Jumping from cloud to cloud and sometimes teleporting just to keep up with it. Somehow the shadow had sprouted wings and flew around each place. They rushed past the wonderbolts facility, beyond the weather control facility, and even past Rainbow Dash’s home. They finally stopped at the huge Cloud Coliseum where they hold most of the Pegasus flying contests and events. Twilight thought she had the shadow cornered on the stage where the fliers began each event from. The shadow then turned around the wings on the shadow had fallen off. The shadow began descending through the clouds. Twilight jumped after it, trying to save it for some reason. Just as she got close, a dark cloud had swallowed first the shadow and then Twilight. Leading it to the next destination. Twilight landed on a large pile of hay. She quickly surveyed the area and found herself now in Appleoosa oddly. It was still night, but she could still see with the full moon out. She gave chase to the shadow once more. Going around various parts of the town. There were no residents in the entire town, which struck Twilight as very odd. She eventually was led to the Apple forests made by the ponies of the town. The shadow had vanished from her line of sight within the forest. Twilight became frustrated at losing sight of the shadow after coming this far. She entered the forest in hopes of catching a glimpse of it. The forest began changing slowly from apples only to a much more dense forest. It had houses in the trees in random places. Twilight wasn’t familiar with this new terrain. She ran around aimlessly for what seemed to be hours until she exited the forest near some train tracks. Just as she lost hope of catching it, a shadow version of the Ponyville express, rushed on by with the shadow figure as the train’s engineer. She teleported onto the back of the train and began running through each section of the train. She then felt something odd happening. The train began accelerating. Twilight held on using magic around her hooves to make them attract like magnets to the floor. She slowly walked along slowly to the front. Just then she felt her car of the train wobble. It was derailing! Twilight quickly entered the next car and saw the cars behind her had flung off the track over an excessively large bridge. She was now only one car away from the fuel car and two from the front of the train. Twilight had climbed onto the top of the train. She then prepared a leap to the next car and then jumped. She landed on the coal of the fuel car and then made her way to the front part of the train. Twilight quickly noticed that nothing was there. She then felt the train accelerate more. The car behind her had latched off and she saw the shadow was in that car. She looked forward where a dead end was. She tried to use the brakes, but it was removed. The front car along with the fuel car had fallen overboard. A loud crash followed by an explosion happened. The car the shadow was in had stopped. It had looked over and saw the train ablaze. When it turned around, it saw Twilight right behind it. The shadow made gestures that resembled, ‘How is that possible!?’ Twilight answered the shadow, “I bet you are wondering how I escaped! Well I am a unicorn that can teleport.” She felt proud of herself. The shadow had then tried to run again, but was ensnared by Twilight's magic. As she drew it closer, she saw it was a grey Spike. Her eyes were filled to burst in tears. Her magic stopped and her mind went into recollection overdrive. She then realized each of her memories of her assistant and how many times Spike was either there for her or wasn’t invited at all. The time he was kidnapped in Appleoosa, the time he saved the crystal empire, the countless hours of sleep he lost just to make sure she was alright for her tests and exams months ahead of time. She only now realizes that Spike was her first friend, her best friend, and after all the time they had been together. She now sees Spike as her own. She let him down. When she returned from her realization, she noticed the grey Spike had begun running again. The scenery had changed once more. This time they were in Ponyville. Twilight could see the sun was coming soon as half the sky had begun to get lighter. She chased after grey Spike yelling again, “Spike! Please stop! I’m sorry!” All the she got in return was a trail of tears that followed the grey dragon. She would not let him escape that easily. She tried to use her powers to focus her teleporting, but she was exhausted from chasing him all over Equestria and constantly using her powers to catch him. Her only chance was to corner him again. Spike ran around Ponyville in an odd order. He went by Rarity’s boutique, then past Sugercube Corner, then past Fluttershy’s home, then past the Apple Family’s farm, then ran past the library. Twilight was unsure of where the dragon was going. She then chased Spike up a hill to where a single tree stood. Spike stopped and turned to Twilight. Twilight stopped with tears in her eyes. Spike somehow seemed unusually fine with all the chasing that had just occurred. Twilight slowly walked to the dragon once more hoping he would not run anymore. She then got close enough to where she was now a hoof away. There was a silence among the two. Twilight hadn’t planned for this moment. She let her natural instincts kick in and embraced the dragon as hard as she could. She noticed Spike’s colors returning to him. It was truly a magical moment in time. Then Spike turned into dust right in her hooves. It was now just purple and green dust. She couldn’t even begin to react herself. She was confused, angry, sad, and lost all at the same time. She hugged the dust, using whatever magic she could on it, but nothing was working. Her tears flowed more than Neighagra Falls. She tried to ask ‘Why did this have to happen?’ but all that was heard was sad sounds and no syllables. The world around her had cracked and the dust then began swirling around her. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a hallway that was dimly lit and the light itself was flickering on and off. She heard voices coming from the room at the end of the hallway. She heard a heartbeat censor going off slowly. As she drew closer to the door she could make out some of the words. “We are losing him. Send in the special doctors.” The heartbeat censor was increasing the closer she got. When she reached the door, the censor was going really fast. Twilight entered the room and the heartbeat censor was flat lined. The sounds vanished and she entered the room where there was only one table lit. It had a white cover over something. Twilight was terrified at what it might have been. She walked closer to it only hearing the occasional bell toll. The bell noises that you normally heard at funerals. She slowly drew back the covers and then wakes up. Shining Armor then enters the room as he hears Twilight screaming in terror. “Twily! Are you alright!?” Her face was soaked in salty tears, her mane was worse than ever, and she was babbling to herself saying, “I’m sorry.” Over and over and over again. Rarity and Applejack then entered the room and saw Twilight in her wrecked state of mind. They finally snapped her mind out of it, by all hugging her and telling her that it was alright. That it was just a nightmare. She was still crying, but at least she was sort of sane again. Rarity asked, “What in Equestria happened?” Twilight looked down at her sheets and tried her best to recall the events, but unfortunately with many dreams and nightmares, we forget a lot of it. All she could really remember was that it was about chasing Spike. Shining Armor then had brought news to her attention. “Twily. I know you just woke up, but… our parents are here. They know about Spike already and wish to speak to you.” Twilight wasn’t happy at the news brought before her. Applejack did her best to try to reassure her. “Don’t worry Twilight. We will be there with you. It was our fault as well.” Applejack and Rarity hugged Twilight once more. Shining looked away, considering it wasn’t his fault. She then got out of bed and followed behind Shining down the corridors of the Canterlot Castle. They entered the throne room. Twilight noticed that it was late in the evening. Twilight’s parents were there with the Princess. Twilight wasn’t prepared for this encounter so soon, but she knew she had to. Her parents took notice of Twilight entering the room. The room quickly became quiet. Neither side didn’t know what to say. Just then Twilight’s mother had walked up to her daughter and hugged her. They both began crying as Twilight constantly apologized to her. The others tried to avoid watching until it finally died down. Once the waterworks ended, Twilight’s mother then began asking “Why? Why did you send little Spikey out into the world like that?” Twilight was still stumbling over words, but she answered, “I *hic* I didn’t want to. I just felt that Spike would be better off with his own kind, before anymore destruction happened. I thought Spike was finally having his instincts take over as a dragon. I didn’t want anypony to get hurt, but I was wrong. I falsely accused Spike for something he didn’t even do.” Twilight’s mother asked, “Why did you accuse him so easily? You have been with him since he was born!” Twilight had an answer for that too. “It’s because I was the only pony who saw the beast. It looked just like Spike. It had purple and green, it resembled when Spike had went into a greedy rampage through Ponyville before, and it appeared inside the library. I just figured it was Spike. I chased the beast until it disappeared in a cloud of smoke. All I saw was Spike huddled up.” Twilight’s mother and father were a bit taken back by this since they had not even heard of Spike’s rampage the first time. Twilight then continued with the second half of her explanation. “I then realized I was wrong, when Celestia showed me Spike’s memory of that event. Spike was taken by the monster. He even tried to escape, but it would not let go of him. Once it had stopped its destruction, it simply vanished and only Spike remained at the scene of the crime.” All of the other ponies were shocked at the testimony that Twilight had given. Twilight’s mother was about to speak, but then was stopped by her husband. He then said, “Twilight. Whether or not Spike did rampage through the town. He was still a child. He was still family, even for us. Even for me and I didn’t even liked the idea of keeping a dragon in the first place.” Twilight held her head down and replied, “Yes father. That is true.” She then rose her head, “But now I want to correct my biggest mistake. I want… no I WILL do whatever it takes to make Spike happy again and to bring him home!” With that declaration, Twilight’s parents stood back and smiled. They hugged together and even her two friends and Celestia joined in. Shining Armor tried to stay out of it, but got a glare by the Princess and he joined in. Twilight’s parents had then left the Castle. Celestia then led both Rarity and Applejack to their rooms so only Twilight and her brother remained. As they both headed down the halls back to where Twilight was sleeping before, Shining Armor had wanted to give a little talk of his own. “Say Twily. I’m happy you are going on to retrieve Spike and his forgiveness. Out of all of us Twilight, you should be able to relate to Spike the most.” Twilight let out a confused, “Huh?” She didn’t really know what he was talking about, but she let him continue. “Well, you remember my wedding. I falsely accused you, my own sister, for something because I was too blind and so sure that you were lying. I didn’t believe you when I should have listened to you the most. You saved me from marrying a changeling queen and letting Canterlot fall. After all of that I had begged for forgiveness from you and had to buy you whatever you wanted while you and Cadence had all the fun. Those were dark times, but well worth earning your trust and forgiveness.” Twilight smiled from listening to Shining, but he wasn’t finished yet. “It may be hard at first trying to get his forgiveness or even getting his attention, but just don’t give up.” Twilight and Shining then stopped at Twilight’s living quarters. “You know Twily. I forgot to say I’m sorry didn’t I?” Twilight thought about it for a second and realized he was right. “Well. I’m sorry sis for doubting you.” Twilight entered her room and said, “Apology accepted.” She then entered and went back to her sleep. She had a big day ahead for her. Hopefully no more nightmares would haunt her.