//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Catching Up // Story: Dragoon Wars; Seven Lords Rising // by Crystalis McCloud //------------------------------// The dull throb of a headache slowly brought Twilight back to consciousness. Eyes flickering open, she tried to pin down her pain-addled brain and get her bearings. She was laying flat on her back, and could feel her wings pressing against a soft bed. Her eyes squinted shut as a bright white light overhead beamed down on here. She was quick to recognize the sterile white light, and as her mind foggy mind began to clear, she identified that she was lying in a hospital ward. Clean white curtains encircled the bed she laid on, obscuring her view of the room around her. Twilight just lay there like that for several minutes, the pain in her head throbbing in and out weaker and weaker over time. She tried to recall what had happened. The last thing she could remember, she had been reading the tome Princess Celestia had sent her. She hadn’t even gotten past the first page before that freak migraine had knocked her out. When she felt the pain in her head had receded enough, Twilight tentatively pushed a spell through her horn. The curtains glowed with her familiar aura, and were slowly drawn open. At that same moment, four heads lifted along the wall to her left, all wearing relieved smiles on their faces. The warmth they expressed seemed to wash over her as she smiled back at them, the pain in her head fading away even faster. Let me go! “Huh?” Twilight blinked but had no time to focus on the strange sound as her friends stepped away from the wall and joined her at her bedside. The first to speak was Rarity, her voice a little shaken, “We’re so glad to see you’re awake, Twilight. How are you feeling, dear?” “Alright, I guess,” Twilight answered with a small nod. “I don’t even know what happened. I was just reading a book that the Princess sent me, when suddenly I felt enormous pain in my head. It felt just like it does when a really big spell suddenly rebounds back into my head, only about ten times worse. The pain was so bad that I passed out, but I wasn’t even casting a spell at all.” The mares at her bedside shared glances. Fluttershy was next to speak, her voice soft, but audible, “We were hoping you knew what happened so you could tell us. Oh, but if you don’t know then tha-“ “Yeah! Princess Celestia seems to know something, but she’s refused to say anything about it until you woke up!” Rainbow Dash interrupted, obviously frustrated with the situation. “Since everything happened, we’ve been waiting over a day with no word from anypony about what the hay is going on!!” “I’ve been out for over a day?” Twilight questioned. “Rainbow, we must be more understanding!” Rarity scolded, the inquiry falling on deaf ears. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen the Princess look so distressed and uneasy. I’m as worried as you are, but we just have to trust that she will take good care of Spike and tell us everything when she is ready to. Twilight’s eyes snapped wide open and she pushed herself up in the bed. “What happened to Spike?!” She demanded, her voice cracking a little. It was then that Pinkie Pie, who had been strangely silent up until that point, started hoping up and down in place. She spoke rapidly, and with the same infectious enthusiasm that she was always associated with. “Oh, you should have seen it, Twilight! When Spike came in, I felt a big doozey on the way! Biggest one I’ve ever felt! But the Doozey came way faster than I thought! There was this big flash of white light, and then it was all: BOOM! RAWR! BOOM! Thankfully the Cakes were out for the morning with their foals, but the bakery is one big mess now! I’m gonna be cleaning up for days!” The energetic pink mare’s explanation was far from illuminating. In fact, Twilight now felt even more confused. The lack of assurances from her friends was making her even more nervous, frazzled even. She wouldn’t know what to do if her little dragon was hurt or worse. Shaking her head, she simply implored to them again, “What happened to Spike? Is he okay? Please tell me he’s not hurt!” Please! “Ah don’t think he’s hurt none too badly, Twi,” a familiar country voice groaned from the corner of Twilight’s vision, off to her right side. “Still, ah don’t think ah’d call the state he’s in ‘alright’.” Looking to her right, Twilight gasped at the sight beside her. Applejack was lying in the bed next to her, face twisted in a small bit of pain as she shifted herself on the bed. Her signature hat hung from one of the posts of her bed, and her entire side was wrapped tight in bandages. The reason for these bandages was quickly apparent, as Twilight spied four thick red lines seeping through the bandages. Her side was gashed, likely pretty badly, given that the blood had stained through what looked to be a significant amount of bandaging. Slowly a hint of realization dawned on Twilight. “Oh, Celestia above! Applejack, what happened to you?! Those look like dragon claw marks!” she gasped. “Did Spike do that to you? Why would he do such a thing?” “Ah’m okay Twi, calm down,” Applejack said through clenched teeth, “The Princess has already sent for a strong healer from Canterlot, he should be here in not too long. And to answer your question, yes and no. Pinkie Pie said it was Spike, but I get the feeling he wasn’t really himself when he did this.” “What do you mean?” Twilight asked incredulously. Looking at the gashes on Applejack’s side, the claws were spaced pretty far apart, much bigger than Spike’s little claws should be able to spread. Could he have suddenly started hoarding again and hit another growth spurt? No, that didn’t make sense. There’s no way he’d grow that fast just from hoarding, especially in such a short time. “Well, we all heard some sort of big booming noise. I was out pedaling mah apples in the market, so I was closest ta Sugarcube Corner, and I saw that there bright light fall from the sky and cause the blast.” Applejack started to explain. “A light from the sky?” Twilight crooked her head at the explanation. “Yeah. Was the strangest thing. It fell right into Sugarcube Corner and after two big booms, a strange looking dragon broke down the wall of the bakery, roaring and kicking up a huge panic across town,” Applejack continued with a small nod. “Pinkie told me later that it was Spike, but he didn’t look like himself at all. Not even like when he was hoarding. She said all of the sudden, when the light burst in, it wrapped around him and transformed him into that weird form. Ah’ve never seen a dragon like it before in mah life.” “So ah ran out to stop Spike when he started to destroy a few carts and stands along the side of the road,” Applejack continued, “It wasn’t an enormous dragon, so ah thought ah could handle it until more help came, but ah only managed to knock him back once with a hard buck. That sucker was tough, he came right back at me and gave me these pretty claw marks on my side, then wacked me upside the head with his tail. Ah was out like a light.” “I showed up after that,” Rarity picked up the story, “I came running to see what all the noise was about and why everypony was panicking. I saw the dragon knock out poor AJ here, and then he looked straight at me. Spike seemed to come to his senses after a moment, but the Princess came only moments later with a whole bunch of the royal guards. They took Spike out to the edge of town, and Applejack to the hospital. Princess Celestia told us she’d take care of everything. Wasn’t long after that we got together and found you passed out in the library.” Twilight sat in silence, taking in their story. It didn’t really make any sense though. She didn’t know of anything that could change Spike in an instance and make him go wild. What in Equestria was going on? What was happening to Spike? And why did she pass out in exactly the same moment? She could vaguely recall hearing the blasts just as the pain started, and a distant roar before she blacked out. “Are you okay, Twilight?” Fluttershy mumbled softly. Please let me see Twilight! I have to make sure she’s okay! “Did any of you hear that?” Twilight’s ears perked up. “Hear what, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked, lifting her ears to listen close. “I only heard Fluttershy talking.” Twilight shook her head, trying to catch the sound again. “It sounded like a stallion, and he called my name. He sounded panicked.” “That’s very interesting. I didn’t expect this sort of development. It seems there’s much that even I don’t yet know about dragons,” a familiar, regal voice spoke. All heads in the room whipped on a swivel, seeing the grand figure of the tall and imposing white Alicorn Princess standing in the doorway. Wings held tight to her side, and stepping into the room, her expression was unreadable, except for a hint of worry that knitted her brow. “Princess, what is going on? I don’t understand anything that’s happening,” Twilight asked with a hint of hope in her voice that her mentor would be able to bring answers and make everything go back to normal. Celestia’s stoic look softened as she walked between the two beds, dipping her head slightly in acknowledgement of the younger princess. “I’m so sorry about this, Twilight, but this happened much sooner than I had expected. I fear there will be much trouble in the future, but I promise I will make sure to do everything in my power to take care of this.” “What about Spike? What happened to him, and can you fix it?” Twilight edged forward; a little uneasy with the vague answer. “I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do to return Spike to how he once was,” Celestia said somberly. “There is nothing that can remove the magic that has bonded with his soul now. He has become one of the Seven Lords, the White-Silver Dragon. Lord of Light.”