Wings
The next few days passed by relatively slowly and without incident. Lyra and Twilight's research had gone as far as possible with their current resources, but it was pending continuation as soon as Cadence and Shining Armor wrote them back about something.
Spike had continued his training while Zecora had briefly instructed Sombra on the basics of meditation once he was mobile again.
While it was something of an adjustment to Sombra he found it somewhat relaxing. Sombra did as he was told and made sure to meditate at least an hour each day. Zecora promised to further instruct him as soon as she thought Sombra was ready.
However there were more important matters at hoof.
Zecora returned a couple days later to tell everyone she had discovered the location of the next gem was only accessible by air. This meant that Spike needed for his wings to come in as soon as possible. Spike's wings were for all intents and purposes fully developed, but they had yet to emerge of their own accord just yet.
Zecora told Spike he could release them himself, though it would be painful.
Knowing that he would need time to recuperate, Spike set in motion a number of plans.
Spike paid all the bills early, fully stocked the pantry (and liquor cabinet), and notified everyone that the flame-mail would be out of the question until Spike was back to full health. Spike even went so far as to make several nights worth of meals and put them in the refrigerator in case he wasn't in any shape to cook for the next few days.
Once all the necessary preparations had been made, Spike, Lyra, Sombra, Zecora, and Twilight gathered on the lawn. Though at Lyra's insistance the group waited an additional hour for another pony to arrive.
A cream-colored mare with dark blue and bright pink hair in a semi-curly fashion. Upon her flank was three pieces of candy in a triangle, giving anyone that could see the cutie mark a good idea what her special talent was. At her side was a rather large, black bag.
Lyra was unable to contain her enthusiasm and practically bowled over the mare once she came into sight.
"Bonny! You made it!" Lyra yelled enthusiastically as she darted over to the mare.
Lyra quickly wrapped the mare into a hug, making her blush. With a quick peck on the cheek the mare succeeded in melting Lyra off of her. The mare looked over to Sombra and smiled at the former tyrant. A reaction which Sombra wasn't quite used to receiving from anyone other than Spike, or Lyra who was always rather upbeat.
"You must be Sombra. I'm Bon Bon, Lyra's marefriend. She talks about you and Spike all the time. It's good to meet you." Bon Bon introduced herself, offering Sombra her hoof.
Sombra did his best to reciprocate with a mildly uncomfortable smile and shook Bon Bon's hoof.
"Er... Likewise. I hope Lyra was kind enough to debunk my, ... Prior reputation?" Sombra attempted.
"She had nothing but good things to say. My Lyra's a wonderful judge of character you know."
Spike smiled at seeing Sombra making an effort. Lyra and Bon Bon had been together awhile now, and Spike was fairly certain one of them was going to pop the question to the other before too long. Or at least get a place together.
"Not that you aren't welcome or anything, but what are you doing here Bon Bon? Aren't you kinda squeamish? This is probably gonna be a little... graphic?" Spike wondered, not wanting to traumatize the mare.
Bon Bon pulled the bag off of herself and pushed it towards Lyra.
Lyra eagerly eyed the bag and used her magic to unzip it. From the bag Lyra pulled a camcorder and tripod, which she left aloft in her aura for the time being.
"Lyra wanted to borrow my video-camera for this. She said it was the event of a lifetime. 'See a dragon get his wings'. I asked if I could stay, and she said you'd be fine with it." Bon Bon elaborated.
Spike shrugged, fine with it as long as Bon Bon wanted to stay.
"I'd like a copy of the tape. Mom's probably gonna want it for her ongoing study on dragons." Spike agreed.
"And you'd be right. Though I've got some equipment of my own to set up." Twilight concurred.
With a quick flash of her magenta mana Twilight summoned up a metal briefcase which gently floated down to the ground in front of the group.
Twilight flickered her horn and the case popped open, revealing a strange panel with a number of knobs, switches, and blinking lights. It also had a small screen that was currently black. Beside the panel was two rows of seven, white-crystals in brass housings, meaning fourteen in total. Each one had a spike at the bottom of it's housing.
Twilight lifted the panel out of the case, revealing it had two bracelet mounts which she opened and attached to her front-left leg. The screen lit up, but it was still black.
Next, Twilight levitated the crystals from their form-fitting slots and maneuvered them into a slowly-rotating circle. The circle hovered high into the air, widening as it did. Once it was large enough to cover the majority of the yard the crystals slowly stopped rotating and dropped to the ground, firmly planting themselves into the ground.
The display on Twilight's wrist-device began showing complex series of numbers and equations likely no one but Spike's mother could understand. The data feed changed every few seconds, but Twilight seemed able to keep up with it.
"There, my new sensor array is designed to comprehend even the most complex magical activity perfectly and translate it into code. In theory I'll be able to compare what I learn today with pony-magic readings and learn all sorts of new things about the nature of all magic! I'm ready whenever you are." Twilight told Spike, brimming with anticipation.
Spike laughed, enjoying his mother's ever growing thirst for knowledge. Still, Spike knew the time was approaching. He was understandably worried, though Spike couldn't say he wasn't looking forward to being able to fly.
Zecora gave Spike a reassuring smile, telling him that it was time to get the show on the road.
Spike looked down to see Lyra and Bon Bon urging him on, while Sombra looked rather worried. Spike patted Sombra on the back, assuring him that he would be alright. Though Sombra smiled back he wished that Spike had looked more confident.
Spike got into what he thought was the middle of the array of crystals and Zecora stamped her hoof on the ground three times. Her eyes became yellow, and the ground shook violently for a few seconds.
A circle carved itself through the yard around Spike, and stopped a few seconds later. Once it was finished the circle lit up briefly, then became nothing but marks in the dirt once more.
Spike reached his right arm out past the line, but was met with resistance from an unseen force. Spike was suddenly aware of a tremendous presence that seemed to be looming over him, closing him off from everything. Zecora was powerful in terms of spirit, enough to pressure much more powerful creatures into a state of fear.
Spike had trained with Zecora and felt it first hand on a few occasions.
This new pressure was something in an entirely different magnitude of power. Spike new instantly that it was Dramaal lending his own spiritual power to Zecora. It was somewhat oppressive, but not overwhelming.
"The wing ceremony can be violent. Should you lash out in pain you could maim those you love. I have made sure you cannot harm them." Zecora, or possibly Dramaal explained.
"Uh... Alright. Thanks." Spike replied nervously.
Twilight was frantically checking her display, though she didn't seem to be getting any abnormal readings. Much to her chagrin.
Sombra on the other hoof seemed to be barely able to conceal his apprehension. Spike could tell he was a bundle of nerves, feeling the weight of Dramaal's presence just as much as Spike.
Spike worried that Dramaal's spiritual power was adversely effecting Sombra due to Dootha's influence, but it was a bit late to stop now. Spike couldn't stop now. Zecora was already pulling out all the stops.
Spike saluted Zecora, signaling his readiness to begin.
"Gather the magic inside of you in your belly, infusing it with fire. Boil the magic, as if it was water in a vessel over a great, roaring fire. Let none of it escape your hold on it, and fear not the heat of your power. Nor the effect it would have on the others were it to go unrestrained."
Spike instinctively separated himself from the world, focusing only on Zecora's altered voice.
Spike did as instructed, gathering up all the magic in his body and shifting it into his stomach.
It was a rather difficult task, but Spike had been asked to focus his entire mana pool in one point before. His previous experiences made the difficult task more doable, but it still took several minutes for Spike to complete.
Boiling the magic itself was likely an odd concept to anyone that wasn't a dragon, but it was so natural to Spike it felt odd to need to think about it. It was part of the fire-making process dragons use on instinct, but this was on a much grander scale. Spike was trying to withhold a maelstrom of power akin to an explosion in a confined space for a long time.
It was like keeping an armory's worth of explosives going off all at once inside of a tea kettle.
After a few minutes of intense focus Spike had accumulated every vestige of magic in his body and essentially lit it on fire. Twilight's devices glowed an electric shade of green, barely maintaining their functionality in the overwhelming atmosphere of heat and magic.
Twilight herself, along with Lyra, Bon Bon, and Sombra were all forced to back away from Spike even further for fear of getting burned by Spike's now broiling presence.
Even as the ground around the circle's outer rim turned to lava Zecora stood her ground. She seemed to be completely immune to Spike's incredibly potent powers, as she had yet to even flinch or sweat in the least. Even the ground she stood upon was resisting the heat, leaving a small island in the small, molten river.
"The magic is now ready. Send it throughout your body and into your wings. Give your new limbs the strength to break free of their prison of flesh and taste the air for the first time!" Zecora commanded.
Spike struggled, but managed to funnel the wild, burning magic into every inch of his body before pushing it all into his back, and eventually concentrated it into his wings. It was the single most painful event in Spike's life.
Spike's body was naturally saturated with magic, but now it felt as though he was burning and boiling from his own power. As a dragon, these sensations were normally things Spike was immune to. This instance, was one of very few exceptions.
Spike now felt as though he was a normal pony or griffon, only on fire.
Spike roared from the pain, every single cell feeling the burn.
Spike's tail lashed out instinctively, only to bang against the invisible barrier of spiritual force. Spike's hands tried to grip the ground, but the earth melted away in his overheated grip. Thankfully the barrier of spiritual force was far stronger than even Spike's spastic rage.
Twilight wasn't even aware that her sensor crystals were exploding because she was too horrified at seeing Spike suffer so.
Everypony present for the event watched in abject horror as Spike's body steamed and rippled from the roiling magics inside. The worst of it was Spike's back behind his shoulders. The flesh actually ignited, emerald jets bursting forth as the skin ripped open to release Spike's wings and magic that had built up.
With a sickening series of cracking and squelching noises, two bat-like wings ripped forth from the fire, each bathed in the crimson ichor of dragon blood.
They were beautiful and horrid all at the same time, larger and more powerful than the wings of any other creature on Earth.
As the continued magic flow coursed through them, the wings were cleaned of the blood as it boiled itself away to nothing.
With that, Spike let out a final roar much weaker than the first.
Spike's form fell to the ground, a heavy thud resonating through the ears of all assembled. His now fully formed wings fell to his sides limply, striking the sides of the spirit barrier. A second later the circle flashed yellow and the wings continued their descent to the ground.
Twilight tried to spring into action, but Zecora jumped in front of her and stopped her from charging ahead. She had apparently returned to her normal state while everyone else was distracted.
"He will be too hot for you to handle for a while yet, but on his safety you can bet." Zecora informed Twilight in her natural voice.
Twilight was more than willing to handle a few burns, but Zecora drew her attention to the ground directly beneath Spike. The first two feet or so of earth all around Spike had been reduced to boiling magma.
Lyra had recorded the whole event, even though she herself had needed to look away and comfort Bon Bon. Sombra was outright in utter shock, not sure what to think. Spike was now a steaming mountain of meat on the lawn, and there was absolutely nothing that came to mind that Sombra could do about it.
Sombra was rather lost, as it seemed there was nothing able to be done to help Spike. Spike was something of a comfort to Sombra that Sombra hadn't really realized how much he depended on. Sombra quite nearly panicked until he realized that Spike's mother was essentially a demigoddess.
"Princess, are you familiar with any cooling or ice spells that might rid us of the molten obstacle?" Sombra asked Twilight.
Twilight smiled, knowing precisely the spell for the job.
With a quick magenta flare, a frigid breeze began blowing about and focusing itself at the point of Twilight's horn. A white ring of wintery magic formed after a few moments of charging the spell. Though Twilight took it a step further and funneled a good portion of her mana into the spell, as much as was possible while keeping it stable.
Once Twilight deemed it ready the winter-wind spell flowed in a circle over top of the molten earth, cooling it into a dark-gray stone that steamed slightly. It would be walkable soon, and that meant Spike could receive as much help as they could give him.
Zecora went into the house and retrieved a bag she had stored inside and returned a few moments later. Zecora began mixing together components from the bag into a large jar. Even Twilight who was an accomplished alchemist didn't recognize the vast majority of herbal ingredients Zecora was using, and the non-herbal ingredients sent a chill down her spine.
Once it was finished, the jar help some sort of blue paste that vaguely smelled of cinnamon and death. Lyra almost thought she heard it whisper something obscene, but Zecora assured her that it was extremely unlikely that she had accidentally created life.
"Now that the salve is complete, someone must climb atop Spike and apply it to the areas in need." Zecora instructed.
To everyone's surprise, Sombra stepped forward faster than anyone else could.
Zecora smiled, affixing a strap around the rim of the jar. Once it was ready, Zecora hung the jar over Sombra's neck so that it hung at a height Sombra could dip his hoof into, but not so low that it would ever hit the ground. Once satisfied it would hold, Sombra trotted up to Spike and observed him closely.
It made the void where Sombra's soul should have been hurt just to look at Spike in this condition. It was as though Spike had been felled, or defeated. Just about all the confidence Sombra had had for a future beyond the next eleven months or so seemed dimmer as he stared at Spike's unconscious form.
However, Sombra had been cared for by Spike during his recovery time, and Sombra was determined to do his best at repaying a small amount of his self-imposed debt.
Sombra ventured up Spike's tail, finding the dragon's body a bit softer at rest than when he was awake. Despite having a veritable suit of armor for skin, Spike was strangely pleasant to the touch. Even though Spike was still very warm it wasn't unbearable, but Sombra stepped as lightly as he could in case Spike was sensitive.
Sombra was somewhat disgusted when he reached Spike's shoulders. The scales around the points his wings had emerged from were ripped. There was the noticeable red of meat, but there was a strange layer of pinkish-white, semi-transparent underscales having been made visible around the wings where the old layer of scales was peeling away. It appeared as Spike's body had prepared for the event, already preparing a new layer of scale.
At least the fire got rid of the blood. Sombra grumbled.
"How's it looking up there? Things look alright?" Twilight yelled up at Sombra.
Sombra took another cursory glance before answering.
"I am not a dragon specialist by any definition, but I suppose it looks about as good as one could expect. It is not exactly a wound, there is truly very little exposed flesh." Sombra responded about as nicely as possible.
Twilight frowned, but didn't fault Sombra. Truthfully, the only one that knew much about dragons was Zecora. It was the main reason that Twilight had taken to compiling everything she learned about Spike, in addition to the guilt of being unable to help Spike with questions as a child.
Sombra reached into the jar and acquired some of the mystery salve in his hoof.
Sombra begrudgingly began applying the goop, amazed by how disgusting the strange paste felt on his hooves.
"I was led to believe that selflessness felt better." Sombra complained to himself.
"G-give it time."
Sombra immediately stopped his work, making sure that he had actually heard what he thought he heard.
"Spike?" Sombra asked aloud.
"Yupp. Although I almost that I was gonna die. I'm like, bone dry on magic here. Also, I'm in some serious hurt. Whatever that gunk is is making my back numb though. It's kinda nice." Spike joked weakly.
Sombra smiled, relieved that Spike was conscious at least.
"I recommend you save your strength for the time being. Let us attend to you for a change." Sombra insisted.
Spike gave a rather wheezy laugh, but didn't object. There was very little Spike could move at the moment, making it impossible to stop his friends or family from doing much of anything. That, and Spike didn't get waited on by a rather good-looking stallion all the time either.
Sometimes it was nice to be the one getting doted on.
Upon getting back down to the ground, Sombra did his best to wipe the pasty salve off of his hooves on a patch of grass. He was disappointed to find that all that succeeded in doing was to cover his hooves in grass, in addition to the persistent paste. Sombra grumbled his annoyance aloud to himself before heading over to rejoin the others.
Twilight was drawing an extremely detailed sketch of Spike's wing structure, while Zecora was grinding something in a small mortar she had taken from her bag while surrounded with several open containers of herbs and the like. Lyra was strumming her namesake instrument, playing a tune for Bon Bon who had calmed down a great deal since Spike's wings emerged.
Near the couple was a cart with warming trays, which Sombra had seen in the house on a few occasions. Apparently Lyra and Bon Bon had run into the house and fetched a number of the pre-made meals and brought them out so that Spike could eat as soon as he felt able. Likely a prudent decision.
"Spike is awake, albeit very weak at the moment. If you were planning to feed him things to anesthetize him, now would be the time." Sombra informed the mares.
Within a mere hoof-full of seconds, Sombra found himself alone with Bon Bon while the others tended to Spike. Sombra found it somewhat humorous to see Twilight and Zecora attempting to get Spike to down alcohol and Lyra trying to get him to smoke joke.
"Lyra, what are you trying to give my son?" Twilight asked with a critical gaze at the enormous joint Lyra held.
Sombra was somewhat delighted to see that Lyra froze up, suddenly hit with the realization that Twilight Sparkle wasn't just Spike's mother, but one of the highest authorities in the country. Fortunately, Zecora saw fit to come to the rescue.
"Poison joke has medicinal properties when taken as smoke. Spike discovered it relieves aches and pains, so long as you can avoid it's childish games. I myself advocate it's use, as it is not a drug that one can truly abuse." Zecora explained.
"What she said." Lyra quickly agreed.
Twilight looked a little uneasy about the idea and Sombra saw her look up to her horn for whatever reason.
"Joke sounds good about now, if my opinion matters." Spike whispered loud enough for his mother to hear.
Without hesitation, Twilight took the joint from Lyra and jammed it between Spike's lips.
Spike wasted no time in inhaling the joint, letting the leftover ash fall to the ground. Not a second later, Spike opened his mouth as much as he was able in his condition and grabbed hold of the bottle of vodka Zecora and Twilight had been trying to anesthetize him with previously. Within a minute it was gone, Spike was ready for more.
After depleting the house's joke supply, as well as the vast majority of it's liquor Spike felt a bit of relief from his aches and pains. Being so big was proving to be a decided disadvantage when it came to pain management.
"That's a little better, but I'm starving. I could eat a hydra." Spike implored.
"I can't help you there, but I had Bonny heat up everything in the kitchen for ya. In return, she wants your peach cobbler recipe." Lyra replied happily.
"Deal." Spike agreed without hesitation.
Lyra began feeding Spike with her magic, going relatively slowly.
While Spike was being fed, Twilight took Zecora aside.
"So, exactly how long is Spike going to be incapacitated?" Twilight asked in concern.
Zecora momentarily looked back at Spike, who was being fed by Lyra while Bon Bon watched in morbid fascination as the food just kept disappearing.
Zecora took notice that Sombra was staying close to Spike, but doing his best to stay unnoticed under one of the tents formed by Spike's wings. The shadows and Sombra's coat melded well, making him seem invisible, like he was merely a part of Spike's shadow from most angles.
Zecora couldn't help but smile at the comparison before turning back to Twilight.
"Spike will be mobile by tomorrow night, though it will be a week before he returns to his former might. In a week and a half he will be able to give magic a try, and in two he should be able to fly. Though I'd wager your son will surprise us, but we will just have to see how soon he rises." Zecora explained.
Twilight gave an appreciative nod before returning to Spike's side to inform him.
Zecora herself let her mask slip a bit, breathing a tired sigh. Though her body was relatively young, her soul was unbelievably ancient. She silently looked over the others from afar, watching them as a grandmother might watch her grandchildren play nonsense games with one another. After countless eons watching over unknowing creatures and trying to guide and protect twelve different dragons she was quite tired.
In a way, Zecora loved continually guiding the young with her timeless wisdom and magical cures.
But a greater portion of Zecora's consciousness was relieved that once Spike finished his trial she could finally have her eternal rest.
But for now, she would continue to watch over the younger creatures, all the time thinking them as if they were her own foals. No matter how tired she became, Zecora wouldn't leave the world she had watched change and grow undefended. Until Spike was ready to bare such a torch she would just need to be patient.
Woo. Didn't think I'd get this one edited in time. I've had to be away or off the computer the vast majority of this week, but luckily the content of this chapter had been gone over a number of times before I released the story. 
I'm not really happy about the transition into this chapter at the beginning, but I need to set the ball rolling. As you heard, the next gem is in the air. Before anyone asks, it is not in Cloudsdale. 
I'm finding that even though I had a lot of this story already written it's easier to find and touch up errors or continuity problems with my self-set deadlines. Gives me a bit of drive I suppose. 
And as always, thank you for reading and taking time out of your day for my story. Seeing people enjoy my stories is one of the very few things that keeps me going. Things have been kind of hard for me lately, at least from an emotional standpoint and I really find the confidence-boost helps me day-to-day. 
Anyway, I intend to keep my schedule for Fridays, though if anything major is going to happen I will try and notify my followers that there is a problem beforehand. 
Thanks for reading as always, and just know that I love you guys~! 
Stats
Page generated in 0.032 seconds
Total duration
1,081 users online
2,001,254 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
After you said it was in the sky I got just a Legend of zelda feel to this story, throw that's more DiabloGuapo's specialty.
I really liked this one, wings are always a pain for poor Spike. An less you go the wingless, energy wings or cocoon route.
What i really like best is the whole Twilight acting all mommy and we see Sombro almost Sombrofriend . Also seeing Twilight reaction to smoking joke.
6111797 I love Legend of Zelda! Though I wasn't very fond of the chicken-people in Twilight Princess, even though they had a cool floating city.
The whole gem fetch-quest is kinda Zelda-like, but I actually have a minor zelda reference planned within the next four of five chapters.
I really hope people will enjoy Spike learning to fly. I hate putting him through hell, but it's not much of a story if there isn't conflict and growing experiences.
Anyway, thanks for reading! New chapter next week!
yay another chapter! i love this story so much, you creating your own lore that seems to fit the plot very well and the way sombra's character is developing is just to good!
D'awww. I love how Spike always has such a loving, supportive group of family and friends in your stories. And Sombra starting to feel for Spike is a nice touch.
Spike's shadow, huh? Love the title drop there. Very nice!
Well done!
6114368 Lol thanks. This isn't an overly fluffy story, but I wanted the title to be kinda cutesy. I spent ages trying to come up with a good one, but in the end simple fit best.
Always a pleasure to hear what you think of my stories. I was so sad when I read your recent story Minnkandi Stjarna, but I still really enjoyed it.
6115251
Have to agree with you there. Sometimes simple is better.
Always a pleasure to read your stories as well! And I'm glad you liked my latest one! Though I apologize for the feels, lol.
6115291 Feels are what I live for. I watch Steven Universe religiously. Constant knife to the feels.
6115455 Steven Universe for the win, I bet if Rebecca was an mlp writer Spike would have better episodes.
6118927 True that.
That's a rather... odd scent combination. Don't expect to see that one in the candle section of Bed Bath & Beyond anytime soon.
I think you accidentally the verb. (Should be something like "I almost thought that I was gonna die.")
Really enjoying this story so far. Really doesn't deserve the dislikes at all, but I guess it's to be expected from any M/M fics.
you can use Grammarly to see if you have an error in your story