//------------------------------// // Loss // Story: Starting Over // by Twilight Nightmare //------------------------------// Spike wasn’t too sure about this, he wasn’t more than willing to admit he was afraid and annoyed at the situation he found himself in as he watched the chariot two pegasus had used to deliver the baby dragon to the mouth of a rather large cave. He would have preferred to have stayed in Canterlot, or the very least going back to Ponyville to take care of the library until Twilight came home. And Spike had to keep the belief that Twilight would despite Cadence’s words to him a few days before he left. *** “Spike, may we speak for a few minutes?” Cadence asked, poking her head through the door to find the small dragon curled up in his bed with the blankets pulled tightly around him. The girls had already been shipped back to Ponyville a few days earlier and for some reason Spike had been feeling sick ever since. Ever since they were gone, especially Rarity, Spike had been having chills badly off and on as well as uncontrollable shaking. Most recently he had been sick to his stomach as well making it difficult to keep anything down. He felt bad because Twilight was gone, hating himself for everything he had done to hurt her. Yet he didn’t feel this way about her, but he knew it was Rarity that was causing this. “Go away.” Spike groaned out, shuddering as light filled the room as cadence trotted in and opened the curtains allowing light to flood into the room. “Spike, I know Luna has set up a meeting with an older dragon and you in a few days. I want to talk to you about everything before you go.” Cadence said, her tone of voice conveying that there was no chance at all that she was going to go away without her talk. “I feel bad enough as it is, I don’t need you telling me it was my fault.” Spike snapped out before he could stop himself. It was yet another thing bothering him, he had never had a temper really until recently…but ever since Twilight ran and the girls left, his temper seemed to only grow a lot worse. “I imagine you are feeling pretty nasty with the withdrawals you are feeling.” Cadence said, her voice holding a little disappointment to it as she sat near Spike’s bed and used her magic to pull the blankets off the small dragon. “What are you talking about?” Spike asked sitting up and rubbing the sleep and tears from his eyes. His body was stiff as he stretched a little while trying to avoid looking directly into the alicorn’s eyes. “You feeling withdrawals over being separated from your hoard, or so Auntie Luna tells me.” Cadence explained, shaking her head as the dragon shook his head in confusion. “Tell me Spike, did you love looking at that sexy flank…those beautiful shining gems glittering from that glimmering snow white coat? Or those bright beautiful eyes that shone like gems?” “I…I don’t know what your talking about.” Spike said after breaking out of his daydreams of Rarity, that cutie mark that so resembled gems and those bright eyes that sparked something deep in the young dragon. “I think you do, Spike. Or I think you have an idea.” Cadence sighed, realizing that Luna was right. The young dragon had convinced himself that he was in love with rarity, but it was the part of him that needed to be surrounded by treasure and gems. Spike was one of the types of dragons that had a strong, a very over powering bred in obsession that was his very nature. True there were some types of dragons that didn’t, but Spike was not only a rare type of dragon, he was also a type that was cursed with the most powering greed of most of the other types. “I love her!” Spike growled out, wisps of green flame curling from the corners of his mouth. With a glare from Cadence he shrunk back a little, hugging himself. He loved Rarity! He did, there was nothing more to it. “Spike, there is another reason that Luna wants to send you to be taught by her old friend.” Cadence sighed, “She doesn’t want to worry you, but I feel you need to know. You need to know that while it isn’t exactly your fault, you did hurt Twilight very badly. She will forgive you, I know it, especially when she learns why you did what you did. You both need to understand this, and if you see Twilight first…you need to understand this.” “I…don’t deserve Twilight’s forgiveness!” Spike sobbed out before Cadence pulled him in for a hug and just held him as he cried. “Spike, out of all of you, you deserve forgiveness the most. Your body is changing in ways you don’t understand, and neither did Twilight. You are feeling the need to start your hoard.” Cadence explained softly after Spike stopped sobbing and she sit him back down nuzzling him. “Spike…you were obsessed with it and the first gem you wanted in your hoard was…Rarity.” “But…I loved her…” Spike said weakly, his voice so soft and full of confusion. “Did you Spike? Did you truly love her as much as you think you did…or did you crave her as a trophy? Did you want to make her yours…only yours to hide away from every pony else?” Cadence asked softly. “I…I don’t know!” Spike cried out unsure of what to think or feel. He wanted to believe that he loved Rarity, but thinking about what Cadence was saying he had to ask himself if he felt that way. He was ashamed to admit it, but he did feel more jealous around Rarity the more ponies were around her. He felt an urge to…to…attack any other pony that got too close to Rarity at times. “Why are you telling me this!?” “Because, while I don’t really blame you like I did at first, I also feel that you need to know exactly what you did. You hurt Twilight by giving into your baser draconic instincts though you didn’t understand them. You wanted to stay as close to your…hoard…for as long as you could. What you needed was some pony to help you understand the way you were feeling and help you overcome the base nature of what you are.” Cadence explained, “You hurt Twilight and if you really want to make it up to her you will follow Luna’s advice and actually pay attention to this dragon. You will do your best to follow what he tells you and learn from him.” “But…I want to be here when Twilight comes back!” Spike shouted out. Cadence shook her head knowing what he was feeling and understanding him somewhat. A part of her was angry at him for being one of the ones that hurt Twilight the most…but she understood that it wasn’t completely his fault. Spike had been claiming he didn’t really want to go, that he wanted to stay in the palace or go with Twilight’s parents to take care of the library and Twilight’s home in Ponyville. Cadence knew that Spike was positive that the Unicorn would return, but the poor dragon was only in denial. Twilight wasn’t coming home…not unless they found her and convinced her that they were sorry. “Spike, if you don’t do this you could end up hurting Twilight even worse when she gets back. You need to learn the dragon’s techniques to deal with the obsessive greed that curses your species.” Cadence said softly, “If you don’t learn to control it…you WILL hurt Twilight again and…you might end up seriously injuring Rarity.” “I…I…” Spike tried to say, but Cadence finished for him. “You wouldn’t? Spike, when you get bigger…or if your greed takes control and your powers go out of control…you may kill Rarity trying to take her for your hoard.” Cadence said sadly. She may have been a little upset at the dragon, but she also knew he was hurting very badly. He was Twilight’s son in all but blood, and Cadence didn’t want the young dragon hurting himself or losing himself in the curse that plagued his kind. Cadence wanted Spike to get a hold of it and go back to being the Spike that Cadence knew was fighting with the obsession that was trying to take hold. “Please don’t say you wouldn’t, because if you lose yourself to the greed…you may lose everything you hold dear…” *** Spike knew Twilight would return to them, there was no doubt even though it had been over a month since she disappeared. Luna had kept her promise though and set up a meeting with an elder dragon to mentor Spike and teach him what he needs to know about his body. Luna had promised to keep him in the loop if any information came up as well as send a chariot to get him every other week so only half of his time would be spent here. He knew Twilight would come back and he wanted to get a hold of his basic instincts so they can go back to being what they were before Ponyville. He wanted…he wanted things to go back to him being Twilight’s number one assistant with no feelings of fear, hurt or betrayal hanging over either of their heads. Knowing this was for the best, though he didn’t want to be here, Spike looked around him. He was before a large, and when he said large he meant massive dark cave just before him. It was the most intimidating sight he had ever seen and was afraid to go any closer, yet he knew he had to. He took a deep breath trying to steady himself. “Hello!” Spike called out as he tentatively took a step into the cave before seeing a pair of glowing red eyes. Gulping he took a quick step back in shock until a pink cat a little smaller than him with a white tuft of fur and a dark stripe on her head was looking up at him curiously. The yellow ribbon on her head make her look even cuter yet for the life of him he couldn’t figure out where a cat got wings. “Awww, hello little kitty.” “Don’t call me a cat you stupid piece of crap!” The cat screeched out before jumping on his face scratching him over and over while hissing. Spike couldn’t help running back and forth flailing his arms around screaming. “GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! THE PAIN! OH CELESTIA THE PAIN!!!” Spike screamed until he hit something and fall back on his but, the cat falling off him and bounding a few paces away. Looking up Spike saw the largest, most intimidating dragon he had ever seen in his life. “Greetings child, I see you met my young granddaughter Ruby.” The dragon chuckled making Spike’s eyes roll up in the back of his head before falling the rest of the way backwards much to the amusement of the pink winged creature who burst out laughing. ~~~ Celestia sat on her balcony staring out across Canterlot, her body not really showing many signs of the abuse she had heaped upon it for over a month. Little food or drink as well as a lack of sleep actually starting to take its toll on her despite her brave front. She knew she screwed up, she screwed up in every single way when it came to the whole wedding incident. She knew better than to allow the wedding to go on with the impending threat to the safety of her kingdom. Yet she let her pride get in the way when cadence questioned her abilities as well as her faith in Shining Armor to do his job and protect the kingdom. Now she knew better, she knew it was Chrysalis masquerading as Cadence and was manipulating Celestia the whole time. The truth really bothered Celestia as she realized that she was manipulated which once again brought Twilight’s personal thoughts from her journal up. Celestia had personally read and reread the journal numerous times and it hurt to know that Twilight believed that Celestia had manipulated Twilight. What hurt the Princess even more was the fact that the young unicorn was right. For years Celestia had planned and schemed to get her sister back, Twilight becoming a major player in all of her plans. Yet, no matter how many plans she had made, Celestia loved the little filly. Twilight was like a daughter to her and Celestia had every intention of bringing both Luna and Twilight home when Nightmare Moon was defeated. Yet upon seeing how happy Twilight was with her friends in Ponyville, Celestia couldn’t take the young unicorn away from them. Twilight had never had friends before and after seeing how happy the ones she managed to make, Celestia just couldn’t tear her away from them Instead Celestia let Twilight remain in Ponyville to learn how to be friends. She had let the pony that she felt was a daughter to her have a life away from her and the stress being at the palace as her personal student. She had seen what that stress did to another unicorn not long ago and she didn’t want to repeat the same mistake with Twilight. She lost a sister for a thousand years and lost a prospective daughter, Celestia did not want to lose another. She had done exactly that though, she had lost yet another student because of stupid mistakes and pride. She couldn’t help wondering if maybe she should step down as ruler and let Luna rule by herself. Of course Celestia would be around to help her sister, but maybe Luna would be better to rule. “You know dear sister, I miss Twilight just as much as you.” Luna said as she landed next to Celestia on the balcony startling the solar princess a little. She couldn’t help feeling a little proud at her sister doing much better with the way she talked. Over the last month Luna had devoted all of her time to not only searching for Twilight, but also spending a lot of time with Cadence who helped the lunar princess settle in to modern times a little more. “I know you do.” Celestia sighed as she relaxed against Luna’s side when the darker alicorn pulled her close with a wing. “We will find her and return her home.” Luna said softly. “What if…what if she doesn’t want to come home.” Celestia asked, a little afraid of the answer. “Then we try and convince her that she is loved and wanted here. Worse case…we leave her wherever she is the most happiest and do our best to visit her often.” Luna said, knowing that Celestia would be hurt over thinking Twilight may not wish to return, but knowing it was a very real possibility after all the pain the poor unicorn had suffered. ~~~ Rarity sighed as she finished feeding Fluttershy’s animal friends since she had to do it herself today. Fluttershy was going with Applejack and Pinkie to her doctor appointment and while Rarity also wanted to be involved with it, she knew she was needed here at the moment. She had made a promise to look after the poor animals that were hurt as well as they few who did make the pegasus’s cottage a full time home. She may not have to live here to care for them, but she was spending a lot of time here that her business had suffered a little. Not a lot, but enough to see a noticeable decrease in income. She couldn’t blame the poor pegasus for that though since Rarity herself had even entertained the notion a few times. Of course Rarity quickly pushed those thoughts from her mind since she had a little sister to take care of since their parents weren’t around to do it. Not that they would take care of Sweetie Bell if anything happened to Rarity as their parents were a joke… Gypsy ponies…Rarity was ashamed to admit that her parents had joined a gypsy caravan and more or less abandoned Sweetie Bell. Of course when it happened Rarity was still young also, but she was old enough to take care of herself. If it wasn’t for Rarity, Sweetie Bell would have ended up in an orphanage or dead. If she hated any pony, it was her parents… It was why she was so upset with Trixie when she came into town that one time. It was also why Applejack and Rainbow was mad at her as they knew the truth, Pinkie just going along with them not knowing the reason behind their distaste for the show pony. When Trixie ran away though rarity couldn’t help feeling bad for the poor mare when everything she owned was trampled by the Ursa. Not much was salvageable, but Rarity did manage to recover Trixie’s hat and cape and restored them. She still had them in the boutique, put up safely. “Heya Rarity.” Rainbow said as she landing quietly next to Rarity shocking the unicorn a little. It was hard enough to believe that Twilight had now been gone for over three months. In that time they all had changed so much, including both Rainbow and herself. Rainbow had quieted down a lot and become a lot more responsible. Of course that could partly be because of what Zecora told them and what Celestia had charged the once overly brash pegasus with. After Rainbow had told them about her suspicions about them being enchanted, they argued over it for hours until decided to go find Zecora seeing how she was more knowledgeable with everything arcane. It turned out that they were enchanted by the changeling magic, which the Zebra was familiar with, and the taint was still with them at the time. The zebra had shocked them all with the claims and was awed at how she drained the taint out of them and into small gems, the amount filling three gems for from each pony. With a little work the Zebra turned the taint into tools to weed out the changelings. If a changeling was nearby the gem would glow brightly while if a pony was under the influence of one the gem would pulse with a light as if it was a heartbeat. When word about it was sent to Celestia, the princess came to look into it and thanked them for the tool they needed to warn them of any more trouble from the insect like ponies. Every pony was shocked when Celestia asked a certain pony to take up the mantle of sentry of Ponyville, to take the gem that was set in a necklace and protect the town, watching for any possible hints of trouble and report it to Celestia. Rainbow Dash had almost turned down the offer, but the princess had assured her that she was the best pony for the job. After all who else could fly as fast as the pegasus as well as already having experience with changelings. In the end Rainbow had accepted…which turned to other complications for the pegasus. Just two weeks ago Soarin had personally came to talk to Rainbow Dash to offer her a spot on their team since Fleetfoot was injured and would be out for awhile. It would of course be a temporary position that would most likely lead to something permanent. Every pony in Ponyville was more than ready to throw Rainbow a party congratulating her only to almost have heart attacks all at once. Rainbow Dash had turned them down… The pegasus’s dream had come true and she turned them down in order to be loyal and stay in town to protect it. Even though more than one pony tried to talk Rainbow out of it, to convince her they could watch for changelings, she would not budge on her decision. She said she would not be disloyal again and said she would keep her promise to protect Ponyville until twilight came home, and the rainbow maned pegasus meant every word. “So I heard Flutters is doing a lot better.” Rainbow said, kicking the ground with a front hoof nervously. Rarity had to sigh at the antics…even though the pair of pegasi made up, Rainbow still felt awkward talking to Fluttershy about what happened directly. “Yeah, she’s doing a lot better. The poor dear…I still can’t believe it came to that…” Rarity said as she looked up to Rainbow, the gem around her neck reflecting a little light from the sun. She had to admit, the pegasus really looked good with the necklace. So regal in a way…if only she could get the Pegasus to accessorize it a bit more. “I wish we never went to that stupid wedding.” Rainbow said, her voice low and full of the anger Rarity had come to know the pegasus for. All of them have had some problems despite becoming better ponies. Rainbow developed some anger issues though became aggressively loyal and protective. Fluttershy had become very depressed to the point of attempting suicide, yet she had also become stronger and no longer seemed to fear everything as much as she once did. Pinkie Pie still seemed as party crazy as always yet seemed to know better when to be more serious. Applejack had become even more honest to the point of being completely tactless, but she was also the pony who brought them back together and out of their wallowing in self pity. And Rarity herself had lost a lot of her self confidence yet she also became a more giving and generous pony taking a lot of her bits and paying for a building in Ponyville that was being converted into an orphanage. Not that there were a lot of orphans here, but she learned Scootaloo was and had been living on the streets. “We all do, darling.” Rarity sighed, enjoying the break after all the hard work. She did regret the wedding happening, but she had a bad feeling that Twilight running off may have still happened after being allowed to read the purple unicorn’s journal. “We meant well with her surprise party…but we didn’t take into account how little experience Twi had with friendship. We made her think that we were turning away from her when we tried to keep her birthday party a surprise.” “We messed up Rare, we were so uncool.” Rainbow sighed as her ears flattened. The way she was talking made Rarity actual smile a little as it reminded her of the rainbow maned mare’s old self. “We were darling, but we learned and we are becoming better ponies for when Twilight returns home. The Princesses will find her, they have the money and the pony power. They promised us that they would contact us so we can go see her as soon as she returns to Canterlot and we can convince her we love her and hopefully she will come home.” Rarity sighed, her mind shifting to another topic while she had her friends full attention. “Darling…we need to talk about something else…about Fluttershy.” “What about her?” Rainbow asked as she started kicking at the ground with a hoof nervously. “She misses you, Darling.” Rarity admitted, noticing the wince from Rainbow at the mention. “I saw her just the other day.” Rainbow replied defensively. “Maybe, but she doesn’t need a protector when it comes to you. At least not the type you are trying to be Darling. Fluttershy loves you…she needs you as at least a friend.” Rarity sighed, watching sadly as a rainbow streak trailed away leaving the unicorn alone as a few drops of water splashed down on her which was odd as there was no rain clouds overhead at the moment. A few hours later after returning to her home and finishing a meal with Scootaloo and Fluttershy, Rarity was getting ready to turn in for the night since she had to be up early to go back and feed Fluttershy’s animals again. A knocking on the door prevented her from heading up the stairs, Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell and Fluttershy stopping behind the unicorn as they were following. Slowly she moved to the door opening it, seeing Rainbow standing there awkwardly holding a box of what the unicorn knew to be Fluttershy’s favorite chocolates. “Hey, sorry about coming so late.” Rainbow said nervously, “I was hoping to talk to Flutters.” “Rainbow!” Fluttershy cried out barreling past Rarity and into Rainbow’s hooves as the rainbow mare hugged her. “I’m so sorry, Flutters.” Rainbow sniffed nuzzling Fluttershy as Rarity quietly ushered Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo up the stairs to give the two some privacy. ~~~ “See me dominate, cause I’m powerful and great~” Trixie sang quietly to herself as she continued her task of stocking the shelves. She was in a really good mood lately, but today was promising to be perfect. It had been six months now since Twilight…err..Rose had come back into her life and while the mare was still scared to show her face, it didn’t keep her down. Rose and Trixie had gotten so close it was like they were brought up together and it made the showmare happy to have the family she always wanted. Even her father had been really nice the last two months. Now, tonight, her father had left to meet up with her mother and soon their family would be whole. Her father had promised to bring her mother home and then they would all share a huge group hug and be a whole family for the first time. All four of them under one roof being one big happy family. Yes, tonight was going to be perfect… With a jingle of a bell signaling a customer entering the store, Trixie trotted up front to greet them since Rose had been sleeping in the back. Her sister had been feeling a little bad today so Trixie was more than happy to cover for both of them so Rose could get some rest. She was going to be a mother soon and needed the rest because once the foal was born, the poor mare wouldn’t be getting much sleep for awhile. “Trixie.” A curt, sharp voice stated as soon as she reached the counter to see her mother standing there along with a black unicorn stallion with three drops of red for a cutie mark. Something about him sent chills down Trixie’s back as she looked between him and the cold, hard expression on her mother’s face. “Mother?” Trixie asked, a little hurt at the cold reception. The hard look in the older mare’s eyes the only thing keeping Trixie from running up for a hug. “Don’t call me that, you are no child of mine.” Dancer sneered as she looked over Trixie in contempt. “You and your entire family disgust me. I wish I just killed you when we took you from your family.” “Wh-what?” Trixie asked, tears spilling down her muzzle as she stared at the mare. “I shouldn’t have bothered coming, but apparently you can’t take a hint. Stop looking for me! Don’t you get it, I don’t want anything to do with you!” Dancer snapped as she spun around and left, the black stallion following closely behind. It would be some time before Trixie pulled herself together to notice the familiar book on the floor where her mother once stood. ~~~ Dancer sighed as the two hurried through the shadows of the night, tears falling down her muzzle. It had hurt her to say what she did to Trixie because despite whose daughter she really was, Dancer had loved her. She chose her family with the gypsies though all those years ago and she refused to bring Trixie into that life as it had gotten to be very difficult the last few years. She wouldn’t have even bothered to go see Trixie as she didn’t want the pain of seeing the young mare. She had to put a stop to Trixie looking for her, it was too dangerous for both of them…especially after what Dancer and her friend Blood Drop had done to protect Trixie and her sister. “If you don’t want them, I have no use for them…maybe I’ll sell them…” Nomad had told her sealing his fate. Dancer had her friend…and assassin…finish the fool off for daring to threaten children in such a way. If there was anything the gypsy’s hated…it was ponies who sold and abused children. It was an act punishable by death by the gypsy law and as one of the caravan’s enforcers, Blood Drop executed Nomad and they pair left him where the body would easily be found. Not that she was one to talk after how she was involved with Trixie’s kidnapping. Yet, at the time Dancer was sure Nomad would be a good father when she left to return to her family. If only she knew just what type of father he was going to be… “I’m so, so sorry Trixie.” Dancer whispered into the night as the pair made their escape from the city.