The Cryssaling

by storm the castle

the Plan

Ch 2 the plan

Twilight Sparkle, newly crowned princess of Equestria, was now privy to many new things because of her station. She could go anywhere in the kingdom, she could eat the finest of cuisines, and she could enjoy the most diverse of company from around the world.

As she walked down the streets of ponyville surrounded by her five friends, the other Elements of Harmony, all she could think was how scared she was for her adopted little brother. Walking with her snout almost in the dirt, her wings not quite so lucky as to avoid such a fate, the lavender mare was the very picture of depression and fear.

Unable to look at her in such a state, Rarity came up to her friends’ side and offered what assurances she could. “Twilight, please darling you must have faith.” She said soothingly. “He’s with Princess Luna, who seems to know more about dragons than any-pony else in Equestria, and who is arguably just as magically capable as Princess Celestia!” she began to walk chin-up, strutting confidently as not only an example for Twilight but as a visible source of strength.

Rainbow Dash too offered her own words of confidence, albeit with less grace than he fashionista counterpart. “Yeah Twilight!” she exclaimed from her flying-reclining position, the very image of relaxation. (It should be pointed out that on the Wonderbolts grading scale for tricks, this act rated an eight out of ten for difficulty; it took effort to relax this hard.) “Spike whines a lot, but he’s a tough little guy. Sure Luna’s probably killed, like, dozens of full grown dragons and she’s always been a bit hard tempered, but I don’t think she’d really hurt him.”

“Sugarcube, ah really don’t think that’s the way ta go about cheerin’ her up.” Applejack admonished, though Rainbow actively ignored this comment. Rolling her eyes at her somewhat oblivious friend, AJ turned her attention to the Alicorn they were all there for. “But she’s got a point, Twi, ah don’t think the Princess would hurt Spike. Seems to me like this is just part of a growin’ dragons’ life. Ah find it unlikely she’d do any harm to ‘im knowin’ that.”

Pinkie, though still a bit of a wild card, understood the seriousness of the situation for Twilight, and mustered this week’s entire reserve of serious mode to say “Yeah! He’s just growing up is all! So don’t be worried, cuz I bet he’ll become the biggest, healthiest dragon ever!” Fluttershy shivered visibly. “He might not even need you to take care of him anymore!” Twilight looked like she might cry, and those of her friends that weren’t outright glaring were facehoofing hard enough to leave marks. What? Sometimes serious mode took its job too seriously.

Fluttershy, still reeling a bit from flashbacks of Spikes Greed Growth, plucked up the courage to ask “Um, I don’t mean to be rude by changing the subject, but where are we going?”
Twilight, still down but nonetheless a bit more reassured thanks to her friends, explained. “Princess Luna says this should be done in a dragons cave, or its den, and the area is usually filled with a portion of the parents gem horde as a sort of inheritance, as well as a visual guide for their inherent greed. But since Spike lives with me in the library, we had to find a cave in the rock quarry to do this in. And not only do I not have any gems to give him, but we don’t want greed to rule him, so it’s going to be empty. Princess Luna wants to walk us through what we will be expected to do.”

They continued on their way then, still making idle chit-chat to keep the mood up, until they found the first lunar mark that Luna had left for them to follow to the cave she had chosen. They followed the simple path nearly to the back of the quarry, to an area filled with large boulders and small holes all over the ground.

Rarity spoke up when the holes were brought up in conversation. “I think those are gem cubbies that have been dug up. This area must not have any of the natural gems the quarry is known for anymore.” She quickly applied her gem finding spell, which immediately tried to lead far to the rear of them, confirming the area was barren of any valuable minerals. “The Princess must be taking the ‘no gems’ idea quite seriously to have searched this far back for such an area.” She commented to the others, but started when she received a response from within the cave.

“Indeed, it is quite crucial that the child not be shown any valuables at this stage if he is to remain himself in the future.” Luna emerged from the darkness, sans her regalia as an absolute proof of her statement. She smiled warmly to put the six at ease as best she could. “Apologies, friends, it was not our intent to drop-the-eaves, nor to startle thee.” She gestured to the large cavern. “Tis’ merely an unintended trait of our surroundings.”

Applejack chuckled a bit. “Guess they don’t call echo-y places ‘cavernous’ for no reason, huh?”

Rainbow, who had a well-documented fear of being buried alive, as most pegasi do, merely gulped and asked “Just to be clear, we don’t have to stay here the whole time he’s doing this, right?” She got an incredibly sour look from some of the others, Twilight especially. “What?” she responded haughtily. “I like the kid as much as any-pony, but I really don’t do well with places that are deep underground.”

Before an argument could break out, Luna chose to answer Rainbows question. “Quite the opposite, in fact, miss Dash.” The others gave her curious expressions. “Perhaps we should explain thine role in this, hm?” she questioned rhetorically. “For the duration of both the anaphase and telophase of his cryssaling, we must ask that thee, even miss Sparkle, stay away.”

Twilight jumped in alarm, a minor fear that Luna might be taking Spike away from her suddenly gaining strength. “B-But why not?!” she asked. “I’m like his big sister, even his mom! I’ve got to be able to see him! It might help!” she practically pleaded, but Luna would not budge.

“No, Twilight Sparkle, it is imperative he be kept separate from all others, not only to assure his chryssaling goes smoothly, but for thine own safety. Only we shall remain, and only in a supervisory capacity, to make sure he does as is needed of him.”

Fluttershy had latched on to one part of that statement that stood out in bass relief in her mind. “Our safety?” she asked unsurely, “but Spike wouldn’t hurt us, would he? He’s our friend.”

“Most assuredly, fair Fluttershy, he would do thee no harm if he were in his right mind, but he shall not be in his right mind for this.” She explained calmly but firmly. “He shall resemble more of a wild animal than the youngling thou hath come to know these past years.”

Even Rarity’s usually unshakable demeanor began to crack at the thought of her little Spikey-Wikey acting like some kind of monster. “Surely, darling, it can’t be that bad?” At Luna’s raised eyebrow prompting her to explain herself, she continued “Regardless of what mind he’s in, it’s hard to imagine little Spike as anything but the loving and kind being he is.”

Luna’s face grew stern, and after seeming to mull it over for a bit, she gestured for them to follow her, crossing a line of runes none of them had noticed. As soon as they were across, it was clear the line was a sound proofing barrier meant to keep them at ease, or at least keep any questioning passerby’s none-the-wiser.

There was an un-earthly wailing and growling coming from within, causing them all to clump together in fear, and Twilight to turn sickly pale. “No doubt thou hath become quite close to young Spike over the years, and have a rather set image of him in thine minds. Perhaps of a kindly child, or of a young pony that happens to bear scales in furs stead.” They turned a corner and came to a glowing chamber, from which the noises emanated, and they all went weak in the knees, leaning on each other for support.

“But make no mistake, girls, he is a dragon, through and through, and must always be treated with the respect inherent to that title.” Within the chamber was another glowing line of runes, this one casting a sickly green pallor about the space, within which sat Spike. He was spinning and snapping at some phantom, spitting gouts of flame every which way and frothing at the mouth. His claws left furrows in the stone beneath him, his spines had taken on a deadly sheen, and his growling left the impression of a feral animal, a vicious beast. Worst of all were his eyes, which had taken on a mysterious and frightening draconic glow, and his pupils had contracted to thin slits, his eyelids wide, leaving him to appear as he was in this moment; a violent animal.

Unable to bear the sight or the idea that he truly was some vicious beast now, Twilight teleported to just outside the barrier, placing her snout within centimeters of its edge and called out “Spike!”, successfully getting his attention. But instead of a grinning, cherubic whelpling waving at her, he swung his head sharply her way like a prowling hunter hearing its prey, and he crouched low, growling and dripping slobber, an obvious hunting stance. “Spike, please, it’s me!” she called, pleaded. “It’s Twilight! Don’t you recognize me?”

His response was to pounce at her and snap his jowls at the barrier, leaving a splattering of spit behind. He continued to assault her from behind the barrier, setting home the hard truth of the situation. Not only did he not recognize her, he didn’t even know her. She was just something to eat to him.

Luna sighed, knowing the full weight of her words were only now setting in, Rarity fainted, Fluttershy passed out, Pinkie crouched down to her belly and whimpered, and Rainbow and AJ just gawked. Twilight stumbled back on unsure hooves, collapsed, and began to cry for all she was worth.