//------------------------------// // Time to Wake Up // Story: Is Immortality Really Worth It? // by Nadake //------------------------------// “Will I see you when I awaken?” A deep, rumbling voice asked. A billowing cloud of smoke gusted through enormous golden fangs, and tongues of emerald flames flickered through the haze. “No, Spike.” Twilight said, looking up into the dragon’s huge, green eyes. They were so different from the wide, innocent stare of the whelp he had been for all of their friend’s lives. Now centuries old, Spike’s eyes had morphed just as much as the rest of his body, narrowing, with the pupils sharpening to reptilian slits. “Or, at least I’m not sure if you will. I don’t know if I will be able to manifest as a corporeal entity once I’m in the dream. If I can, then you should be able to see me, no problem. But if not…” “You needn’t follow this course.” Her growled, and her emerald eyes flashed a sudden scarlet. “You needn’t subject yourself to such torment.” “What do you mean?” She took several steps away from the angered dragon, cocking her head to the side. If she had to, she knew that she would be able to defend herself if Spike’s more primitive nature took over, but she hoped it would not come to that. “I have dreamed for years, Twilight. When that,” He hissed. “Imposter, came to Ponyville, she cast me into slumber for a decade. As well you know.” The dragon’s great head suddenly swooped down, turning on the long neck until he was in profile, and one massive green eyes glared at Twilight. “Of course I know. We were all so worried about you, Spike.” Twilight addressed the eye, backing further away. The eye flashed again as her blind retreat caused her to stumble on a pile of golden bits, a portion of his draconic hoard. “All of us, even Angel Bunny.” “Hm?” He hummed, halting his slow advance on the unicorn. His head lifted from the floor, halfway to the high ceiling of the cave as he sat on his haunches. “The rabbit?” “Yes. Fluttershy never let Angel out of her sight, remember? He even gave you a hug.” What Twilight didn’t mention was that Spike had chosen that moment to snore, singing Angel’s fluffy white tail. The bunny had glared at the sleeping dragon, and given him a sharp kick, before hopping away. “I… miss them.” He rumbled, and something else flashed in those alien eyes. For just a moment, as Spike sat back in the middle of his cavern, Twilight saw the whelp who had been her assistant, her messenger, and her best friend. In the next moment it was gone though, and the inscrutable dragon was back. “In that time though, I was much as you seek to become. Freed of my body by her black magicks, I roamed. Creatures sometimes exist only in a single cave, where the water falls swift and cold. They are unique, for in all the world, there is only one cave, with one waterfall. Just so, dreams themselves are unique. Once experienced, that experience becomes memory, and can never again become real. You seek to live a dream of life.” Twilight didn’t immediately reply, thinking about the reptile’s words. Ever since he had awoken from his first sleep, forced to age rapidly while he slept, his mind had developed to a frieghtening degree. While before he had been susceptible to the odd bout of introspection, he woke with the aspect of one of the classical philosophers. Twilight thought she understood what he was saying though, and nodded. “More or less, yes.” “And what of life itself? Would it not balk at so abrupt a divergence? TO be at once alive in a world apart, but irrefutably conjoined, and yet without a living body is something that I cannot believe will not be resisted.” Spike hummed. He had always enjoyed their arguments, and that was one of the few things that had not changed while he slept. “Even if such resistance might be overcome, at what cost to you, or to the realm you have entered?” Twilight again paused, cocking her head to the side. She regarded the dragon shrewdly, speaking slowly. “Spike, tell me something. Do you object to this course because you truly do not believe it is possible. Or are you merely upset at the thought that it might not work, and that I will die?” Spike growled, and more flames burst from his maw. Again his head swung down to glare at Twilight, but instead of retreating once more, Twilight conjured a shield to stop the hear, and glared right back. Spike was her friend, the only one of her friends still alive. She had waited until he was ready to enter his centuries long sleep, where he would mature from this form into his adult body. It had been almost a century since the last of their friends had gone to rest in peace. A few decades later, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had followed their sisters into oblivion, and Scootaloo had joined them soon after. There was nothing left for either of them, nopony to call friend, no great work that needed to be done. Spike would sleep as he grew, and Twilight would pass on, into her endless slumber even as her friend did. “Well?” She demanded, matching the dragon stare for stare. She was far more powerful than Spike, and they both knew it. Over the last two centuries, even if Twilight’s body showed little wear from the passage of time, her skill had grown immensely. Now she held a formidable array of magic, from the collected learning’s of the greatest mages in Equestrian history, to spells that she herself had created. Had she wanted to, and were she to draw on the well of magical power she had been collecting all this time, then Spike would leave nothing but a large, dragon shaped shadow on the wall. Spike looked away first, snorting. The jet of fire erupted from his nostrils, shimmering green the color of growing grass. His eyes softened once more, and he sighed, a gentle exhalation that was not accompanied by more pyrotechnics. “I do not want to lose you, Twilight. You are… You are all that reminds me that there is more than possessions, more than gold and jewels.” “Oh Spike,” Twilight said, and she felt her eyes sting with tears. “That’s the problem. You will lose me, eventually. I age slowly, but I still age. I will die in time.” “But at least I will know when your time draws near. Like this… I do not want to wake, only to find that you are vanished from my world.” “Spike, I have to do this. I have waited so long, but I have never stopped wanting this.” Twilight said, and she could see the dragon’s resolve begin to waver. Ruthlessly, she pressed her advantage. “At first, I only wanted to do it because then I… then I could be with Princess Celestia. I love her, Spike, you know that. I loved her enough to give up the rest of my life. She helped me see that I should wait though, not only for you, but for my friends. There was no reason that I shouldn’t be a part of their lives. It isn’t like I was pressed for time. “That gave me time to think though, about why I wanted this, and whether or not it was something I would live with. I’ve been experimenting, with Luna’s help. I can create a physical body if I want to, and I can do things with magic that are mindboggling. But more importantly, I can feel things, Spike. I can feel it when somepony is upset, or in pain or danger. I can be anywhere in Equestria in moment’s, and I can help them. I can help everypony, from now on. I can, I will, become Equestria’s Guardian. Isn’t that something that is worth risking what will happen in time? Death is inevitable, but not for me, nor you, nor the Princesses. You three are gifted with immortality by your birth. I… I have been given a chance, a means to attain that same longevity for myself. I can do so much more as a dream, than I ever could as a pony.” Spike sighed, suddenly looking extremely tired. He shook his great, scaled head, and refused to look at Twilight. Instead, he lay himself on one of the high piles of golden coins that littered his cave. “Very well, Twilight. But promise me one thing first.” “Anything.” Twilight promised, beaming. She had finally won. After spending decades convincing first Luna, then Celestia that her plan was what she wanted, she had convinced her last opponent. “Remember to visit an old dragon, as often as you can. I wouldn’t want to forget what it means to be kind.” “I will, Spike. I will.” “Then sleep well, Twilight Sparkle. Dream of a better world, and help make it.” “Thank you, Spike.” “And,” He rumbled, drifting off to sleep. “Love your Princess with all… All your heart.” The last words were barely audible over the dragon’s deep inhalations. “I will.” Twilight whispered, crying silently as she watched her friend. Lighting her horn, she readied the spell she had been perfecting for centuries. It was time to sleep. It was time, finally, to wake up. Fin