• Published 25th Aug 2014
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The Price of Failure - Humanity



What lengths would you go to in order to undo the worst mistake of your life?

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Chapter 9

I hardly spoke after I got home. And Spike knew something was wrong right after I walked in the door. Everything just felt like one long blur. Was I dreaming? I wish I was. What a gloomy day…

Hours went by. I skipped lunch. It wasn’t until around dinnertime that I felt something tap my shoulder. I had lost myself in a book of poetry… What was the name of the author? It was all just to distract me anyway. When I turned to look, I saw him. Spike was holding a tray with a teapot and a cup on it. “I got you some tea, Twilight. I thought some lemon and mint would help.”

I sometimes wonder how I would have ever gotten by without him. I gently lifted the tray with magic and poured myself a cup. “Thanks, Spike… I could really use this.”

That taste of lemon and mint was really refreshing. I felt so tired, but it helped me feel like I could get through the day. But then… Spike asked a question I had been hoping I could avoid. “Twilight… Are you sure you’re OK? You haven’t said ten words since you got home this morning.”

“You wouldn’t understand, Spike…” I was too tired to really talk much at all. Too much crying. But instead of leaving me alone, I felt Spike rest his hand on my hoof when I reached for the next page of my book.

“Twilight… You’re kinda scaring me. I know I’m just a kid, but I’ll try to understand. I’m here for you, OK?” I could tell he was trying to comfort me the best he could. And I have confided in him numerous times before… Perhaps one more thing to entrust to him would not hurt, although I had no way of knowing if someone as young as him could comprehend loss or death.

“Thanks, Spike… I’m just… I’m just in mourning right now… And I don’t know when or if I’ll ever get better.” I did not want to worry him, but… This ache in my heart… It feels like it will never leave.

Spike continued to constantly look at me with that worrisome expression. He is usually so diligent and happy, but he more than anypony could see something was wrong with me. “Twilight… What happened yesterday? Why couldn’t you come home? I know you wrote that something horrible had happened, but… You all came home safely, right?”

“All but one of us… One of us won’t ever be coming home now.” I finally lost my nerve and lightly slammed my face into the book in front of me. “He’s… James is dead, Spike… He’s gone and I could’ve been there for him…”

His reaction was about as much as I expected. I do not believe Spike has ever even attended a funeral. But still, he did show a small degree of sorrow. He frowned and bowed his head. “He… James is…dead…?”

Spike has never been one of James’ closest friends. But even so, they always got along well. He looked up at me, almost like he was not sure of how to react. “He’s…dead? As in…I’ll never see him again?”

I decided to be honest in my words while I looked at him. “You’ll have the chance to see him one last time. His funeral will be held here in one week…”

“OK… I’ll… I need to go find something…” He ran off pretty quickly. I wonder what he was thinking…


I was so tired that night that I left my journal out without really finishing. I felt so alone when I went to sleep. I think I might have cried myself to sleep again. But I was awoken by a sound. Was Spike having a nightmare? It sounded like he was muffled. I cast a spell to light a candle on my nightstand and looked around. It was very dark, but I could see some movement in Spike’s little bed right next to mine.

I climbed out of bed and walked over to him. He was turned away from me and kept groaning while squirming under his blanket. “Spike? What’s wrong? Come on, wake up. You don’t sound too good.”

The strange thing is that he seemed like he was trying to look at me over his shoulder. Was he awake? I used the levitation spell to rotate him until he was looking right at me. But what I saw shocked me. He was indeed awake, but he was covered by some strange dark green…membrane from the jaws down.

“What is this…?!” I tried touching the bizarre substance. It was soft and flexible, almost like latex. But it almost seemed…familiar. Almost like it was…produced by an insect. But…wait…

I froze as I felt a presence behind me. A powerful sense of dread caused my heart to nearly stop as a familiar distorted voice spoke from behind me. “We need to talk.”

Before I could even turn, some sort of…force shoved me right off the ledge and hurled me across the room before pinning me to the wall. My legs were held apart, billowing green ‘shackles’ holding me up. I saw something tall jump down from where I had been standing in the shadows and began to approach me. As it drew near, green flames began to ignite and float in the air. And soon, I saw those big green round eyes gazing at me from several inches away. The Changeling queen.

“You… Why now?! What do you want?!” I was helpless. Spike was being restrained. And if I even tried to get out of her grasp by using the teleportation spell, she would probably intercept me. I could see them somewhere behind her being illuminated by the flames. Several more Changelings gazing at us with their blue insect eyes. They must have jumped Spike in his sleep.

“What do I want? I seem to recall telling you during our last encounter some time ago to take very good care of him.” She spoke with a distorted growl to her voice. What is her name again? Chrysalis? “And from what my scouts tell me, he now lies dead in Canterlot. Explain yourself, Twilight Sparkle.” The billowing green aura surrounding her crooked horn quivered and glowed more brightly, as if preparing to cast another spell on me if I did not cooperate.

It hurt to have to be reminded… I lowered my head and did not look at her. “Discord… He got free again and…”

Those words seemed to get her attention. She looked at me with a slight look of shock. “Wait… Discord? That lunatic? He was freed again?” I only nodded. Her look of anger seemed to fade just slightly while the aura over her horn appeared to weaken. “Go on…”

If I had to guess, she must have been intimately familiar with Discord’s madness. Even so, I proceeded to explain. “James… He came with us to help. We were separated in the castle’s labyrinth. One by one, he corrupted four of my friends. He found them, they hurt him, and it… He… He went mad with despair! He left the maze, tricked Discord into removing his immortality and… It was a bloodbath! He butchered Discord! But…he let himself be mortally wounded in the process. I don’t know if it was to spite Discord or because he felt he had nothing else to live for once that…‘game’ ended…”

I was once again in tears. It was agonizing to have to remember that day… But as I hung there, I heard Chrysalis let out a long sigh. “Curse you, Discord… You mad idiot.”

I felt my restraints release me just before I fell to the floor in a heap. I looked up at the Changeling queen before me, her predatory eyes gazing down at me in disdain. “Very well. You are off the hook. If that madman was truly involved in this mess, then you surely must have had next to no control over the outcome. Count yourself lucky, Twilight Sparkle.”

She sounded like she was too familiar with Discord’s madness. “Why are you… How do you know…”

She partially turned away from me. “You cannot tell by looking at me, but I have been around far longer than you can imagine. I have seen much during my reign. I have seen Discord’s descent into madness and what that madness wrought. His will was impossible to resist. If he decided to wreck someone’s life for laughs, then that person’s life would be wrecked. No questions asked.”

She then turned to Spike’s bed above her on the ledge that our beds rest upon and seemed to cast a spell. From where I was, I saw the sack that covered him ignite in green fire. At first, I nearly panicked. But I breathed a sigh of relief to see Spike sit up completely unharmed and unrestrained. “Well… Seems it’s back to the drawing board. Come, my brood. We must depart.”

I saw the window behind the desk next to me open while its panes were briefly coated by a green aura. The green flames that floated in the air began to dim. But I still had questions. “Wait! Why?! What did you want with him?! Why was James so important to you?!”

I saw her look directly at me. “What does it matter by this point? He is dead now, so he is of no further use to me.”

In flashes of green fire, I saw her minions suddenly transform into…bats? “I highly doubt we will ever cross paths again, Twilight Sparkle. This corner of the world has proven itself to be too troublesome to conquer. We will seek out other regions to suit our needs. Farewell.” In a flash of green fire, Chrysalis too became a bat and led her followers out of my home through the open window. And like that, they were gone.

Tears still blurring my vision, I used my own magic to close my window. I heard Spike call down to me from behind. “Twilight, do you think we should tell Princess Celestia about this?! I mean that was the Changeling queen herself! This could be bad!”

I sighed deeply. “No, Spike… I don’t think we have to worry about anything. I really don’t think we’ll be seeing her again…”

I slowly walked back up the steps to my bed, but Spike kept trying to talk to me. Those Changelings must have gave him a good fright. “You’re sure? I mean it could be a trick. Maybe she said that to…”

“Spike. Go back to bed. She’s not coming back. I know she’s not.” I really was not in the mood to continue the discussion with these wounds in my heart reopened. But before I got back in bed, I looked Spike over. “Are you OK though? That green fire… Did it hurt you?”

Spike looked himself over too before smiling reassuringly. “Huh? Um… No, I’m fine. I don’t think those flames even touched me. Besides, it wouldn’t have done anything. Dragons are pretty much fireproof, remember?”

“Oh, right... I forgot that about dragon anatomy… But still…let’s just go back to sleep. I’m not in the mood for anything else right now…” I climbed right back in bed and pulled the covers back over me.

“OK… Sweet dreams, Twilight.” Spike said briefly before he too curled up in his little bed.

Now I can wrap this journal up properly. It really has been helpful in making me cope with what has been happening. But still… In one week, I will be seeing him one last time… And Chrysalis. What was she… I suppose she was right. It does not matter now. Whatever it was she had planned for us, it was foiled when James died. But…was it worth it?

No… It could never have been worth it. I would rather have faced whatever she had planned with my closest friends by my side than foil her plans by losing one of them forever. Just…how are things going to go from now on? I… I am honestly fearing for the future. What is going to happen to us now?

I cannot keep writing. I need to sleep. My eyes hurt too much…