Back at Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle, the all-powerful unicorn, had been studying in peace. Twilight wanted a short break from her studies, deciding that she would take a glass of water from her glass cup at the other side of her library.
With a moan, Twilight arose atop the bookfort she built about a week ago, sore after not moving her hooves around for so long. As she exited her bookfort, Twilight noticed the deafening silence that descended onto her room. She was even more surprised that Spike hadn't come and asked her to eat at all. In fact, he hadn’t asked her of anything in the past couple of days...
“Strange”, Twilight muttered to herself as she walked towards the kitchen. She looked around the library, the dust starting to pile atop her books like a sand mound.
Twilight, baffled by the state of her house, called out for Spike. But there was no reply from the dragon, so with a mumble she trotted towards his room, she was thinking of asking for an explanation but when she stepped towards the door however, she noticed that it was unlocked and slightly opened.
She pressed her ear towards the door as she tried to hear any form of life. Silence had greeted her. The unicorn was confused and slightly disturbed by the fact that no form of life was inside Spike’s room, ’what if he had committed suicide!?’ she thought her eyes opening wide.
So she pushed open the door with a hoof and the door creaked open slowly, so she peeked inside the room, what she saw terrified her towards the core that she would be having nightmares in months.
inside the room was a strange stallion sitting in spikes bed, blood splattered all around the room and the smell of gore filled her nostrils. her face had turned pale as she turned to run away but as she turned her head, he was there, standing in front of her, staring into her eyes with his soulless cyan eyes, the eyes of a corpse...
“Time? Was it really that time again?” the stallion asked in a deep and raspy voice as he tilted his head slightly. Twilight was so terrified she wanted to scream but no voice came out, she tried to run but she can’t move, she can’t even move her own eyes or cast a simple spell! like she was frozen in time.
The stallion began to say in his deep voice with an emotionless tone, ”the right mare in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world,” the world had flashed white the black, as she realised she was in a different place, it looks like a campsite in a forest…
“And you twilight sparkle, had been at the wrong place when a broken dragon needed you the most... Instead of giving the illusion of free choice, I will take the liberty of choosing for you…” ‘friend’ started altering her brain into a different arrangement,and altering her decision making, memories and thoughts in the short term future…
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“I do apologise it has come to this, but it is for the greater good. So wake up MRS Sparkle. Wake up and smell the ashes…” He faded away into thin air like he was made of dust being blown away by a non existence wind, and the world exploded into a blaze of white and black again…
Twilight snapped open her eyes as she grasped for air, the hints of cyan left in her eyes. She was inside a pile of books again, she looked around furiously taking in the environment. Twilight shot up and galloped towards Spike's room. Spider webs and dust littered the place.
When she reached the dragon's room, she rushed inside and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no blood, or anything of the sort. and instantly snapped open her eyes again, ‘spike was gone…’ sure there is no blood or corpse on the room but spike was gone, his bed was untidy and dried tear stains littered across his pillow.
“Spike? Slike!? SPIKE!!” twilight called out as panic took over her again, she looked around the room, looking for any trace of the dragon lost dragon, slowly forgetting what she had just seen…
---
Spike woke up inside his makeshift camp with a yawn. After all that had happened, he's not mad at his friends anymore. There is no point to it; in fact, he would like to return to them to set things right again. After all, he had been lost inside the everfree for a few weeks now.
So Spike packed up his tools made out of sticks and stone, and put them into his bag made out of sticks and leaves instead. With the tools packed up and a few stone water bottles he made by molding them like clay when they were red hot, and finally grabbed the two artifacts.
He began to walk out of his tent and began walking with the sun on his right, which means he is facing north, then started walking towards his destination. He assumes it is the direction of Ponyville on the map Twilight had him memorize when he was two years old…
“Heh, being the assistant of a nerd had it’s benefits after all.” He began to walk a little more, one of the magical gems he had with the chest of the artifacts had been eaten for survival. Each gem according to ‘friend’ can make a fully grown dragon last a whole day… since spike is a baby, he can last a whole month with just one gem… Only 7 left he counted to himself…
After what felt like three hours, when in reality it was just one and a half, he tripped on an uneven stone. Now, unlike normal pebbles on the ground which would be shattered by big creatures like manticores and stuff Spike just so happened to forgot at the moment since he's in a big dangerous forest…
So, he looked down at the rock he just tripped over. From what he could tell, it isn’t a rock, not even close. Instead, it was an ocarina made by the finest lapis lazuli with a golden ring at the tip. He picked it up and found wood splinters all across the area and four gems embedded IN the ground as if someone had been doing a horrible job at burying the gems…
And with that he would assume that it’s an artifact made by the all knowing Star S-whoever it was… Spike rolled his eyes as he dug up the gems and put them into his bag. It means he can survive in the everfree for a whole year without food. Now all he needs is water...
And without anything to do other than walk and walk all day, he bring the top towards his
mouth and blows out a note; and as expected, the forest became silent as soon as he blew into the instrument. A royal purple unicorn mare with a sharp horn, a messy purple and royal blue mane and tail, gold slit eyes, brick red hooves stepped into view behind a tree...
“Aww, was it really that time again” She whined as she looked around her surroundings as if she was looking for something. Unlike ‘mad’ or ‘friend’ he can move and breath, but there is a circle of light that circles his feet. As Spike soon finds out he can’t pass through the light line on the ground.
The mare mare in question then looked at Spike as if she just noticed him the first time “Hi, purple dragon, what are you doing inside a forest?”, she asked with an innocence similar to two friends chatting.
All the emotion comes back to him like a solid brick wall. He frowned, sighed, and said, “Can’t you read memories like the necklace or the torch?” He looked away and crossed his arms.
“Necklace? Torch? Oh, oh, oh… do you mean that red charmer that looks tough and deep as a rabbit hole?” she tilted his head and smiled, as she tilted her head cheerfully looking at Spike with her golden eyes.
“As for the necklace, I don’t know what you're talking about… there are only four artifacts aren't there? The twins ,red and me!” She asked and then her body began to falter and fizzle.
“Oh, looks like our time is up, call me after a few hours! hope I can stay longer but the first time usually is the shortest”, She chirped as she completely faded from view and the light circle faded. Spike shrugs, then brings the instrument back to his mouth and blew a melody called “lon lon ranch” he read a few months back when he was done cleaning the whole living room by himself.
When he finished the song the sun was in a different position. Sure Spike can lose the sense of passing time, but from the looks of the sun, it’s 4 o'clock. “Heh, I’ve been walking for quite some time now. Better take a rest”, he grumbled.
So Spike sat down, took a sip of water out of his stony bottle, and laid back. Since he had found ‘mad', no animal dared to approach him. He once saw a manticore wonder near his camp, but just as Spike was seen, its eyes turned cyan and fled away whimpering…
And Spike wastes no time using the artifacts power to help him survive inside this forest; while he was sitting by himself, he closed his eyes and listened to his surroundings, the wildlife making all sorts of noises,taking in the environment about this pony-free forest and what makes this forest so feared.and started thinking about his old life and how he can change it,
And after what felt like a few hours had passed spike opened his eyes ,move to a more comfortable position took and out the necklace of reason and stared at it, now being a librarian, it’s job was to organize books and keep track of them, and after years of being one himself, his sense of perception was not bad for dragons
then he summon friend, now if there is anything different,it would be the fact that he can fade into view out of thin air unlike ‘mad or ’happy’ that lives in the ocarina,time slowed as always and forest became dead silent.
“Time? is it really that time again? it feels like just a day had passed since you found me, you had done a great deal of things in a short period of time, glorious work you’ve done over there about finding the artifacts, I am proud of you…so mr spike, what do you ever need me for?” the ever grey stallion said with little to no emotion.
“friend,I’ve got to ask you a question, what does it feels like, being inside an artifact?” spike asked mentally since ‘friend’ can read minds according to him, and tilted up his head to meet his eyes once he had heard a tapping sound from the stallion
And with that question ‘friend’ for the first time let his full emotion showed on his face, he frowned, sighed and closed his eyes as he lowers his head “it’s cold, it’s so cold and lifeless, trapped alone in the dark,inside an object sealed inside a chest forgotten forever... some can't keep track of time and I am not one of them, I feel every second,every hour of every day..”
Pity… spike thought as he open his mouth to reply, just then friend spoke up again,this time back into his emotionless mask ”but this is not about me, it’s about you, mr spike, you must know that loneliness does not come from being alone,but being surrounded by people who can't understand you... in the meantime… this is where I get off”
‘friend’ turned away from spike and walk away and slowly fading away as the forest resumes like nothing had happened at all. So spike stood up after the rather short meeting and started walking again and picked up the ocarina and began playing some more songs to entertain himself…
---
After walking for quite some more time, he found out more and more landmarks,there are dirt roads on the floor again and the sound of wild animals grew more quieter the longer he walk north, and then he saw a clearing and buildings, spike then brighten up and starting to walk towards it when a something stopped him cold.
Twilight sparkle, the one he trusted the most, was sitting on a mountain top, having a picnic with the elements of harmony, laughing and telling jokes, and having a fun time, like spike was not there in the first place...like he wasn’t even needed in their lives to be happy or function…
“oh hey purple dragon” ‘happy’ walked up from behind him and a circle once again lit up around spike,and looked towards the group of ponies,that’s chatting
“something big was going to happen soon in their future, and I am sure you want none of it...:” the mare said to spike as she turned her head back to face spike, and he looked back towards the forest and asked the mare…
“why, why does it have to be me…” spike asked with a teary eye
“sometimes life's not fair,and you have to face it” the mare said sadly as she moved to comfort the dragon but once her hoof touched the dragon, her hoof passed through spike
like she was a ghost and she began fading away
spike saddened, began to walk back into the forest with his head hung low just when ‘happy faded from view with fizzled sound.he spare them one last glance and they are are talking to a gray mare with gray and white mane...strange but spike was too sad to notice anything...
---
spike’s camp was built under an hour, this time near the temple of the two sisters, he then sat there outside his tent staring at the night time sky, spike had realise that he was alone all this time, he can’t be understood by the ponies that raise him since he was a baby…
inside his head he was thinking about his purpose inside his life, he was not made to steal things from others that one incident at ponyville had proven that, now he just don't know what to do in life, all those time he spent with the ponies, can be forgotten in just a week...
Spike had a lot to think about…
---
Within the depths of his tomb five gems embedded in the walls suddenly lit up, and the beams of light hit the coffin at the center of the room. A groan busted out as a skeletal pony hoof punched a hole through the lid of the coffin sending wood flying all over. Liquid silver started flowing upwards around the skeleton hoof, and said hoof returned back into the lid.
The coffin busted open and inside rested what looked like a healthy pony stallion. He stood up, looked around and started walking towards the exit, his vision tinted blue with words scattering across. The words read: “find all the artifacts and terminate all who stands in unit’s way”.