Role Reversal

by JaketheGinger


Dreams and Memories

Spike stood in the middle of green field devoid of any plant life except grass. It seemed to stretch off into the horizon endlessly and he could see nothing else around. In all his life, he had never seen an area so bland. He actually didn’t know where he even was or how he got here.

The lack of clouds in the blue sky or wind made the land feel very devoid of life despite the grass that carpeted the land. There was no sound at all, which created an eerie silence. It felt ominous and slightly ethereal.

Spike examined his limbs, finding out that they had returned to their original stumpy size. This revelation did not help to reveal where he was exactly. If anything it made it more confusing. He wasn’t in his wish world but this definitely wasn’t home either. So where in Equestria was he?

“Spike.” Called a voice from behind Spike. He turned around quickly, startled. There she was, in all her adult glory.
Twilight Sparkle.

Her appearance did nothing to quell Spike’s doubts. It only raised more questions.

She was standing solid, a neutral expression painted on her face. Her cutie mark had also returned to its rightful place on her flank.

“Why?” she queried but with her blank tone it sounded much more like a statement.

“Why what?” Spike shook his head, “Stop it Twilight, you’re scaring me.”

“Why did you wish my life away?”

Spike gulped harshly at this question, starting to become agitated. “I...I...” he stammered.

“You don’t know?” Tears began to stream from the mare’s eyes but she remained still.

“I...I’m sorry!” Spike cried out, starting to grovel to Twilight for forgiveness.

Twilight paused and slowly turned her head downwards to peer at Spike. Her glare seemed to pierce right through the dragon’s scales and into his heart. He slowly became paralysed with fear.

“You’re sorry.” She said simply enough but then she began to furrow her brow and grind her teeth harshly. “You’re sorry?!” she screamed, the sound deafening Spike.

He tried to run but his legs wouldn’t allow it. Whenever he tried to move them, they didn’t respond. He knew that he had to face the truth, no matter how terrifying it was.

Before he could speak, Twilight yelled again, “Sorry isn’t good enough!” Her body began to tremble with unbound rage and her mane and tail suddenly transformed to flame. Her body had turned a very pale white as well. Perhaps the most horrifying change of all was the fact that she was now taking slow steps towards Spike. He could feel the burning heat radiating off Twilight and it intensified with every step she took.

The grassy field began to wither and die. The sky became covered with a ceiling of dark clouds. A strong gust of wind now relentlessly attacked Spike.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your issues Spike?!” she interrogated, her yells echoed throughout the land.

“I don’t know! Please Twilight, stop!” Spike pleaded helplessly, managing to find the strength to cover his eyes with his hands.

She was right next to him now. He could feel her flames frying his scales without even touching them. He could feel her fury and also her sorrow, rolled into one.

“Why Spike?! WHY?!”

_____________________________________________________________

Spike shot his eyes open. He breathed heavily and rapidly, his body in shock. He darted his head around, once again confirming where he was. He was still in the wish world but at least he was safe here. The whole library was dark save for the tiny glow that Peewee emitted. The only sound came from Twilight’s breathing as she slept peacefully.

Since a good night’s rest was an impossibility, Spike decided he’d take a walk to clear his head. Once he had successfully crept outside and closed the door behind him, he sighed deeply.

As strange as the nightmare where, he couldn’t deny that it had some truth in it. Why didn’t he tell Twilight about how he felt? She would’ve understood after all.

He slapped himself on the head several times, “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!” he thought. He had no one to blame for this but himself. He started to become bottled up with anger which he had no one to take it out on other than himself. The frustration didn’t blind his judgement though. If he started beating himself up, ponies would ask questions. Questions that he couldn’t answer.

He knew the answers all too well. He knew what they would do to the others. They would hurt them deeply. All of this wasn’t meant to happen; all of their lives were forfeit.

Yet he wanted to tell somepony so badly. He wanted to let it out. These secrets were slowly killing him on the inside. He had nopony to confide in. Twilight was always there to make him feel better. Now? Now she depended on him more than ever. Even with having six best friends, he felt more alone than ever.

Spike didn’t mind the night-time cold. It felt refreshing after the heat in the nightmare, which seemed to follow him when he woke up. He gazed up at the stars that shone brilliantly just as they always did. Alas, none of them had decided to rain down upon Equestria so making another wish was out of the question. For the time being at least.

He ventured to the bench that he had sat on when he met Pinkie Pie in this realm. To his relief, everypony seemed to be in bed so he’d remain undisturbed. The street lamps had been switched on a while ago and continued to light up Ponyville. He could hear the chatter of a few insects in the undergrowth. Crickets, no doubt. The sweet aroma from the nearby flowers made their way into Spike’s nostrils. All these senses combined made for a natural atmosphere, which he had sorely needed after that terrible nightmare.

He reclined on the bench and began to think of his experiences with Twilight in the old world.

_____________________________________________________________

Twilight stood on the library balcony, watching over Ponyville. It was night and ponies around the town were getting ready to go to sleep. Twilight had been here for a week now, yet she still continued to be amazed by the friendship and love this town possessed.

So many things had happened to her in a short space time, it all felt like it had been a dream rather than an experience. Things were starting to slow down now however and she finally felt like she was fitting in.

She felt happy here. Granted she was content at Canterlot but she was ignorant of the joys of friendship. Now that she had been enlightened, she preferred Ponyville. She had six best friends here, why would she leave? Although if she did leave, one of them would always follow her: Spike.

Speaking of the dragon, he came out from the library to see Twilight. He should’ve been asleep by now as he kept yawning but he wanted to see if Twilight was okay.

“Twilight?” he called out, trying to overcome tiredness in order to seem invested.

Twilight blinked and looked back at her companion. She had expected him to be asleep though she didn’t mind if he was awake a little longer. “Yes Spike?”

“You okay? Normally you’re reading around this time.” Spike stated, covering his maw to hide an impressive yawn.

“Yes, I’m fine.” She answered, turning back around to look down at the town again, “Just thinking.”

“About what?” Spike joined Twilight in looking at Ponyville, standing right next to her.

“About the past week. So much has happened. Almost too much. I’ve never really had the time to think it through before.”

“Uh-huh.” Spike said tiredly, rubbing his eyes.

“I’ve done so many things recently. Met new ponies, made new friends. I even saved the whole of Equestria for Starswirl’s sake!” Even now she was still in disbelief over her actions against Nightmare Moon. However, she knew she couldn’t have done it without the help of her new friends, “With help, of course.”

“Twilight?” Spike asked again, poking Twilight’s leg.

“Yes?” she turned to face Spike so he’d stop the prodding.

“I’m happy that you’ve made new friends but...” he was interrupted by yet another yawn. Twilight couldn’t help smirking at this. She kept quiet though. “But you won’t forget about me, right?” His anxiety about being forgotten could easily be read by Twilight, who knelt down so that they were at eye level.

“I’ll never forget about you Spike. I’ve known you since you hatched. We have so many memories together that the others will never experience.” She smiled comfortingly at the dragon, who returned the gesture.

“Come here and give me a hug!” Twilight said, spreading her forelimbs out wide so Spike could attack her with a cuddle. As soon as he did, Twilight warmly returned the embrace.

“Thanks Twi.” Spike struggled to keep his eyes open, losing the battle to stay awake. Twilight soon felt Spike’s steady breaths brushing against her body. She looked down at him and smiled fondly. Now he definitely needed some rest. Twilight gently used her magic to place Spike on her back and headed to their beds, a small smile remaining on Spike’s face.

_____________________________________________________________

Waves of nostalgia swept over the dragon as he remembered all the good times they had. Although he couldn’t ignore how stupid he had acted. Twilight had always loved and he just...he just had a slip up. The memories had helped him deal with his own mistakes and improved his mood considerably.

There was no doubt about it though; he desperately wanted to go home. Sure, he’d be abandoning yet more responsibilities here but in the grand scheme of things, this world only existed because he had wanted it to. If anything he was trading responsibilities which seemed justifiable enough.

There was a problem with this though. The only logical way to get back was to make another wish. Shooting stars were rare occasions and weren’t easy to track. He certainly couldn’t do this himself so he’d need help. Perhaps Twilight knew how to? Yes, she definitely would be able to.

His train of thought was interrupted by a new arrival in his midst. He hadn’t expected anypony else to be out at this time yet there were always exceptions. It was especially odd that this certain pony was in a place so blissful. The mare was none other than Vinyl Scratch.

“Hey.” Spike casually greeted, waving slightly. Vinyl stopped in her tracks and eyed Spike. She had her classic shades on, which explained why she didn’t spot Spike before.

“Hey.” She replied, in an equally nonchalant way.

“Didn’t expect you to be up at this time. You’re not even partying.”

Vinyl chuckled lightly, walking closer to Spike. “I don’t always party dude.”

The two didn’t interact much; they just simply went to the same parties from time to time. Still, why pass up the opportunity to have a relaxed conversation?

“You’re DJ-PON3, right?” Spike mused, mistakenly pronouncing the three.

“Well yeah but that’s just my stage name. You’re meant to pronounce it ‘Deejay Pony’, by the way.” She corrected Spike. “My real name’s Vinyl Scratch.”

“Oh, right. Well I’m Spike if you didn’t know already.” Spike gave Vinyl a polite nod.

“Heh, how could I not know your name? You’re the Saviour of Equestria after all!” She snickered.

Spike had almost forgotten that in this world, he had saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon. He needed to be more on the ball with this memory game...

“That I am!” Spike poked a claw into his chest proudly. “What are you doing out here anyway?”

“Could ask you the same question.” Vinyl retorted.

“I asked you first.” Spike smirked, enjoying the little battle of wits they were having.

“Fine, fine. I’m just walking.” She answered smugly.

“What?! That’s way too vague!” Spike protested, flailing his arms in the air.

“You have to say what you’re doing now.” Vinyl grinned victoriously.

Spike sighed in defeat, “Okay okay. I had-“he paused, quickly retracting the word ‘nightmare’ from his sentence in his mind. He didn’t want to seem like a baby. “I had sleeping issues. So I needed time alone really.” He finished.

“Fair dues man.” She replied respectfully, “I don’t normally sleep until around this time anyway.”

“Seriously?” Spike asked, taken aback by the mare’s statement.

“Yeah. All the partying bucked up my ‘body clock’ as Octavia calls it.” Spike was a little taken aback by her language though he didn’t show any signs of it. Twilight had always told him that the word ‘buck’ should be only used in reference to apple trees. Anywhere else and it started to become a little foul.

He also wondered who this ‘Octavia’ was but he didn’t want to get off track here.

“Is that why you wear the glasses?” Spike grinned, pointing at the aforementioned item.

“Nah, that’s just for style. Gotta keep up my image y’know?” Her horn started to glow blue as she lifted her glasses up so that rested above it. She blinked a couple times, not expecting the area to be as bright as she imagined. Regardless, her eyes were not bloodshot as Spike wrongly assumed.

“Do you do this every night then?”

“Pretty much.” She replied bluntly.

“Don’t you get a little lonely?”

“You ask too many questions dude.” Vinyl scoffed, “Sometimes I do. At the end of the day though...or should that be night...” she started to trail off but quickly recovered, “Basically! I know that I always have friends to go back to.”

Vinyl’s words rung true with Spike. In this world he still had friends, which was a huge positive. On the contrary, they didn’t feel the same as his old ones. Especially Twilight.

Then another thought knocked him on the noggin. If he ever returned to the old world, Vinyl would never remember this conversation. It felt bizarre knowing that any actions he did here would be all for naught in his true home. So why did he keep helping Twilight? He figured it was guilt and furthermore, he couldn’t sit and do nothing whilst he waited for another shooting star.

“Vinyl, have you ever made a mistake so bad that you couldn’t tell nopony else?” Spike may as well acquire advice from Vinyl while she was here.

“What is it with you and questions?” Vinyl was started to get aggravated by the dragon’s constant interrogating, “Anyway, of course I have. Nopony’s perfect.”

Spike opened his mouth to ask another question but Vinyl raised a hoof, already knowing that he’d ask for more information on the subject. “I lied about it. Eventually it all revealed itself. Bad times man.”

It was a simple explanation yet Spike was able to gather the answers he needed from it. Essentially, lies were very likely to reveal themselves and it’s always better to tell the truth. This was simple moral code for Spike.

How then, could he explain to Twilight that all of her life was his doing? Vinyl was probably talking about something so small compared to a wish changing the entire world. They weren’t relatable at all!

“What, have you made a mistake or something?” Vinyl inquired.

“Like you said, nopony’s perfect.” Spike answered flatly.

“Well, it’s been fun but I better get some sleep.” Vinyl wrapped up the conversation and began to walk off back home, “Nice talking to you Spike.”

“You too Vinyl.” Spike waved at her carelessly. He took Vinyl’s exit as sign that he should head back. He was getting tired and he was afraid that Twilight would wake up and worry about where he was. He slipped off the bench onto his feet and returned back to the library.

_____________________________________________________________

The sound of Spike shuffling back into bed woke Twilight. She slowly rolled her eyelids apart, spying on Spike’s movements. He hadn’t noticed her awakening and instead climbed into his bed, covering himself under the bed sheets. She heard him snore only minutes later.

She didn’t dwell on where he had gone for long though because she had awoken from the strangest dream.

She had seen herself in Ponyville and everything there had seemed perfectly normal. Except she was an adult. It felt weird to admit but she thought she looked quite pretty as a fully grown mare. True, Twilight never fussed with appearances but it was nice to see herself looking fine.

She knew she had a cutie mark but the dream never allowed her to fully distinguish what it was. It was always blurred.
Stranger still was the fact that she was best friends with Spike’s friends. It was if she was now at the centre of attention and Spike had been pushed out of the limelight. It didn’t explain if she still did her daily tasks though; the dream didn’t encompass their lives day by day.

Twilight knew the difference between dreams and reality. She found it hard to believe that she could ever be like how she was portrayed in the dream. It was merely a series of events that pushed beyond the realms of possibility.

She kept tight-lipped about it though; she had troubled Spike far too much recently. She’d let him have his rest, which she thought was well-deserved. Besides, the sooner she slept the sooner she would see Fluttershy again.

She closed her eyes once more and began to conjure up ideas of what she, Spike and Fluttershy could all do tomorrow. Maybe they could have their own picnic? That would be a serene occasion, if they found a private place anyway. Twilight still wasn’t ready to fully interact with random ponies just yet. Despite this, she was amazed at her social progress that she had achieved so far.

The ideas in her head soon gave way to more thoughts about her dream. Why couldn’t she stop thinking about it? She did admit that for a dream, it felt very real. It was as if the dream wanted to push past the boundary of reality and fiction. She’d have to consult with Fluttershy about it later.

She cuddled Smarty Pants tighter, hoping that he’d provide a ward to protect her from more unusual dreams. All she wanted was a gentle one. Or at the very least, a one so outlandish that she knew for sure it had no meaning at all.
Before long, all the sounds in the library were the peaceful breaths of Spike and Twilight, snoring in almost perfect unison.