TMP Prompt #426 – “The Day It All Began”
Prompt: When Twilight and Spike met.
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The boat ran up against the sandy shore, and the princess and her student debarked.
“I don’t mean to sound as though I doubt you,” The filly said. “Goodness knows it isn’t that, but why are we here? And why take a boat when you could fly us? Princess?”
For a moment, the princess simply let her mane flow in the breeze. When she opened her eyes, the filly was struck by the weariness within them.
“Patience, Twilight.” She inclined her head, smiling slightly. “Now, you have a discerning eye. What do you see?”
The filly turned, taking in the vast expanse of the island. A small patchy forest of bamboo, mimosa, and other trees grew out of the sand and in the far distance smoke belched out of a purple mountain.
“Well, these trees are mostly varieties that grow swiftly…I see a few different kinds, but they’re just saplings. I don’t think this island could be more than a hundred years old. Maybe less.”
“Well-spotted. Now, a question: What is greed?”
“What is…?” Twilight tilted her head. “I’m sorry, Princess?”
“Greed. What is it?”
“W-well, it’s when you want something.”
Silence.
“When you, um, when you want something so badly you can’t control yourself? When you can’t stop thinking about it day and night?”
“Hm.” The princess nodded. “That works, yes. Twilight, have you ever wanted something that badly? So badly that it consumed you? So badly that the want became bigger than you and you got lost in it?”
“Princess, forgive me, but I fail to see what you’re driving at.”
“Sorry, I—“ The princess sighed. “This may be the best way to explain.” She scuffed her hoof deep, deep into the sand of the beach. “Look.
Beneath the sand, there was mud, as could be expected, and—
Twilight hesitated, then gritted her teeth and scraped the filthy, muddy mess away with her hoof, resolving to wash it thoroughly at first opportunity.
Green. Spots of green among the dirt, and when she drew her hoof down them, they rattled like…like…
And Twilight knew where she was.
“P-princess?”
“Do you trust me?” The princess amethyst eyes bored into hers. “Please.”
Swallowing the lump in her throat, the filly nodded.
“Thank you.” The princess raised her head. “SPIKE!”
“Lllleeeeaaaavvve….” The ground shook with the word. “Llllleeeeaaavvveee…mmmmeeeee….aaallllooonnne…”
“You know I can’t do that!”
“Gooo…!”
“Rarity’s gone, Spike! There’s nothing I can do about that! I know you blame me, but, please—“
“IIII…SAAAAID…LLLLEEEEAAAAVE!”
The ground roiled and the sea foamed as the dragon lifted his massive arm from the water.
“Twilight, duck!” The princess shoved her out of the way as the limb slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt.
“Princess Sparkle!!”
When the dust cleared, the princess stood in a bubble of violet force. She winced as the dragon’s arm slammed into her shield again and again.
With a great cracking and tearing, the mountain seemed to collapse. With a chill, Twilight realized that the dragon was bringing his great head and its all-consuming flame to bear.
I’m too young to die! Not like this! Not like—
And then to her surprise, she found herself taken not by terror, but indignation.
“How dare you!” Her voice squeaked.
For a moment there was silence. Desperately, she scrabbled for something else to say.
“We came to this—to you as guests! The princess is your oldest friend! All my life I’ve heard stories about how sweet and kind and-and noble you were supposed to be, and when I finally meet you, you turn out to be a-a common ruffian! Treating us in such a shameful manner, I’ve never been this disappointed in my life!”
Timbers and dirt long-encrusted on draconic eyelids fell away as Spike opened his eyes.
“R-Raaarrrrity?”
And suddenly the island was shrinking, shrinking, and all Twilight could think as she and Princess Sparkle ran was:
Oh, that’s what the boat was for!
***
The lanky adolescent dragon, dripping with seawater, took in in her orchid mane, her minty eyes.
“You’re not Rarity.”
“Well, you’re not her—what was it—‘cute little Spikey-wikey’.”
“This is Sweetie Belle’s great-granddaughter, Twilight Grace.” Princess Sparkle smiled. “Spike, don't you see? Life goes on. It’s okay to remember Rarity, but there’s no reason to hide yourself away from—“
“Gah! Sappy!” Spike cast his resentful glare upon the blot of mud and timber that took up a large portion of the ocean. “Can I go back to being an island?”
“Hey!” Twilight Grace stomped her hoof and Spike jumped. “You can’t talk to her like that! She may be sappy, and she may freak out when everything isn’t just so, and she may give me waaay too much homework—“
“Thanks, Twilight?” The princess blinked.
“—But she’s still a princess, and still my mentor, and you are going to treat her with the respect she deserves, or else.”
“’Or else’, what?”
“Or. Else.”
Two pairs of verdant eyes met, and the slitted ones looked away first.
“...Whatever,” Spike muttered. “Does she still snore?”
“Yeah, I had to cast a sound-proofing spell on her pillow.”
“Ha! I used to put bugs in her mouth!”
“Aw, no way! Gross!”
Princess Sparkle watched her two assistants chatter for a while, and then cleared her throat. “Spike?”
“What, Twilight?” He glanced at the white filly. “Um, other Twilight.”
“Welcome back.”