Time to Wake Up
“Will I see you when I awaken?” A deep, rumbling voice asked. A billowing cloud of smoke gusted through enormous golden fangs, and tongues of emerald flames flickered through the haze.
“No, Spike.” Twilight said, looking up into the dragon’s huge, green eyes. They were so different from the wide, innocent stare of the whelp he had been for all of their friend’s lives. Now centuries old, Spike’s eyes had morphed just as much as the rest of his body, narrowing, with the pupils sharpening to reptilian slits. “Or, at least I’m not sure if you will. I don’t know if I will be able to manifest as a corporeal entity once I’m in the dream. If I can, then you should be able to see me, no problem. But if not…”
“You needn’t follow this course.” Her growled, and her emerald eyes flashed a sudden scarlet. “You needn’t subject yourself to such torment.”
“What do you mean?” She took several steps away from the angered dragon, cocking her head to the side. If she had to, she knew that she would be able to defend herself if Spike’s more primitive nature took over, but she hoped it would not come to that.
“I have dreamed for years, Twilight. When that,” He hissed. “Imposter, came to Ponyville, she cast me into slumber for a decade. As well you know.” The dragon’s great head suddenly swooped down, turning on the long neck until he was in profile, and one massive green eyes glared at Twilight.
“Of course I know. We were all so worried about you, Spike.” Twilight addressed the eye, backing further away. The eye flashed again as her blind retreat caused her to stumble on a pile of golden bits, a portion of his draconic hoard. “All of us, even Angel Bunny.”
“Hm?” He hummed, halting his slow advance on the unicorn. His head lifted from the floor, halfway to the high ceiling of the cave as he sat on his haunches. “The rabbit?”
“Yes. Fluttershy never let Angel out of her sight, remember? He even gave you a hug.” What Twilight didn’t mention was that Spike had chosen that moment to snore, singing Angel’s fluffy white tail. The bunny had glared at the sleeping dragon, and given him a sharp kick, before hopping away.
“I… miss them.” He rumbled, and something else flashed in those alien eyes. For just a moment, as Spike sat back in the middle of his cavern, Twilight saw the whelp who had been her assistant, her messenger, and her best friend. In the next moment it was gone though, and the inscrutable dragon was back. “In that time though, I was much as you seek to become. Freed of my body by her black magicks, I roamed. Creatures sometimes exist only in a single cave, where the water falls swift and cold. They are unique, for in all the world, there is only one cave, with one waterfall. Just so, dreams themselves are unique. Once experienced, that experience becomes memory, and can never again become real. You seek to live a dream of life.”
Twilight didn’t immediately reply, thinking about the reptile’s words. Ever since he had awoken from his first sleep, forced to age rapidly while he slept, his mind had developed to a frieghtening degree. While before he had been susceptible to the odd bout of introspection, he woke with the aspect of one of the classical philosophers. Twilight thought she understood what he was saying though, and nodded. “More or less, yes.”
“And what of life itself? Would it not balk at so abrupt a divergence? TO be at once alive in a world apart, but irrefutably conjoined, and yet without a living body is something that I cannot believe will not be resisted.” Spike hummed. He had always enjoyed their arguments, and that was one of the few things that had not changed while he slept. “Even if such resistance might be overcome, at what cost to you, or to the realm you have entered?”
Twilight again paused, cocking her head to the side. She regarded the dragon shrewdly, speaking slowly. “Spike, tell me something. Do you object to this course because you truly do not believe it is possible. Or are you merely upset at the thought that it might not work, and that I will die?”
Spike growled, and more flames burst from his maw. Again his head swung down to glare at Twilight, but instead of retreating once more, Twilight conjured a shield to stop the hear, and glared right back. Spike was her friend, the only one of her friends still alive. She had waited until he was ready to enter his centuries long sleep, where he would mature from this form into his adult body. It had been almost a century since the last of their friends had gone to rest in peace. A few decades later, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had followed their sisters into oblivion, and Scootaloo had joined them soon after. There was nothing left for either of them, nopony to call friend, no great work that needed to be done. Spike would sleep as he grew, and Twilight would pass on, into her endless slumber even as her friend did.
“Well?” She demanded, matching the dragon stare for stare. She was far more powerful than Spike, and they both knew it. Over the last two centuries, even if Twilight’s body showed little wear from the passage of time, her skill had grown immensely. Now she held a formidable array of magic, from the collected learning’s of the greatest mages in Equestrian history, to spells that she herself had created. Had she wanted to, and were she to draw on the well of magical power she had been collecting all this time, then Spike would leave nothing but a large, dragon shaped shadow on the wall.
Spike looked away first, snorting. The jet of fire erupted from his nostrils, shimmering green the color of growing grass. His eyes softened once more, and he sighed, a gentle exhalation that was not accompanied by more pyrotechnics. “I do not want to lose you, Twilight. You are… You are all that reminds me that there is more than possessions, more than gold and jewels.”
“Oh Spike,” Twilight said, and she felt her eyes sting with tears. “That’s the problem. You will lose me, eventually. I age slowly, but I still age. I will die in time.”
“But at least I will know when your time draws near. Like this… I do not want to wake, only to find that you are vanished from my world.”
“Spike, I have to do this. I have waited so long, but I have never stopped wanting this.” Twilight said, and she could see the dragon’s resolve begin to waver. Ruthlessly, she pressed her advantage. “At first, I only wanted to do it because then I… then I could be with Princess Celestia. I love her, Spike, you know that. I loved her enough to give up the rest of my life. She helped me see that I should wait though, not only for you, but for my friends. There was no reason that I shouldn’t be a part of their lives. It isn’t like I was pressed for time.
“That gave me time to think though, about why I wanted this, and whether or not it was something I would live with. I’ve been experimenting, with Luna’s help. I can create a physical body if I want to, and I can do things with magic that are mindboggling. But more importantly, I can feel things, Spike. I can feel it when somepony is upset, or in pain or danger. I can be anywhere in Equestria in moment’s, and I can help them. I can help everypony, from now on. I can, I will, become Equestria’s Guardian. Isn’t that something that is worth risking what will happen in time? Death is inevitable, but not for me, nor you, nor the Princesses. You three are gifted with immortality by your birth. I… I have been given a chance, a means to attain that same longevity for myself. I can do so much more as a dream, than I ever could as a pony.”
Spike sighed, suddenly looking extremely tired. He shook his great, scaled head, and refused to look at Twilight. Instead, he lay himself on one of the high piles of golden coins that littered his cave. “Very well, Twilight. But promise me one thing first.”
“Anything.” Twilight promised, beaming. She had finally won. After spending decades convincing first Luna, then Celestia that her plan was what she wanted, she had convinced her last opponent.
“Remember to visit an old dragon, as often as you can. I wouldn’t want to forget what it means to be kind.”
“I will, Spike. I will.”
“Then sleep well, Twilight Sparkle. Dream of a better world, and help make it.”
“Thank you, Spike.”
“And,” He rumbled, drifting off to sleep. “Love your Princess with all… All your heart.” The last words were barely audible over the dragon’s deep inhalations.
“I will.” Twilight whispered, crying silently as she watched her friend. Lighting her horn, she readied the spell she had been perfecting for centuries. It was time to sleep. It was time, finally, to wake up.
Fin
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Konseiga · 44k words · 545 18 · 11k views
- Davesknd · 83k words · 1,165 32 · 22k views
- Aynine · 401k words · 871 81 · 20k views
- Dark0592 · 16k words · 638 83 · 12k views
- Mint · 139k words · 372 33 · 7.3k views
- NeonEclipse · 33k words · 862 23 · 14k views
- aquilerafroot · 40k words · 996 24 · 23k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.174 seconds
Total duration
747 users online
1,100,443 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.®
So, is there an epilogue, or are you going to leave this open ended?
Either way, this was a great story.
what does FIN mean?
Huh. Fin, yet marked Incomplete. Very little resolution. Guess time will tell if there's an actual epilogue or not.
2808159
Derp. Thank you.
2808148>>2808159
Fin means it is done. And whatever you think it needs, well, who's to say that isn't what happened? I, for one, am not following Twilight into her dreams.
*drops lofty demeanor*
IN all seriousness though, I can't think of a better way to end this story than by leaving it up to the reader to decide what they want. The story is as much up to you as anything, if you think that Twilight's spell will fail, and that she will simply die, then who's saying that isn't what happened? I, personally think that Twilight's spell worked, and that she spent the rest of history guarding over the country, and the pony, she loves.
2808174
I figured you were leaving it open for reader interpretation, but the Incomplete tag (I did double check it!) made me unsure. And, I am of the same mindset as you. Not the route I was hoping it'd go, but it is still, technically, a happy ending if one interprets it as such.
So, now that this is complete, I'm very much looking forward to [hopefully more of] Her Mother's Daughter.
I truly enjoy your writing.
2808174
Nearly every story i see with an open-ending like this doesn't require it, the story could stand to clear those extra few questions up before ending. This one, is one of the few, that i could probably count on one hand, that the open-ending fits better, and leaves one, if any questions about the story itself unanswered. The only thing i might even ask for would be the ceremony/spell itself for Twilight to start 'living the dream,' as i've come to think on it. Whether it works or not, basically. That is the single question i could ask this story. Since it's not going to be touched on, i'm in the same book, thinking the spell worked.
And so it ends. It was quite a ride. Thank you for writing this.
well that story was awesome
I was lost a few time during the last few chapters but a quick refresh was all I needed. I have to say this story was much longer than I anticipated when I first picked it up. The ending was abrupt but I see why you wanted to end it that way.
No.
Regardless of his increased intelligence, his vocabulary would not have quickly changed, especially if he spent all his time talking to twilight and avoiding ponies in a cave with a horde of gold. My main problem with this is that it looks like you are trying to use big, underused words as a sign that your character is intelligent. If there is just one thing I would like reworked in this whole fic, it is that.
Nicely done
I am not so smart apparently....can someone explain what happened in this last chapter? Twilight dreamed for a couple hundred years while her body went into some sort of stasis that slowed her ageing...what I don't get is what she is trying to do now?
I don't get why you had to suddenly make Spike turn into a thesaurus.
2811614
Twilight hasn't been doing much of anything for the past two centuries. Reading, hanging with her friends, researching and creating spells, that's about it. Now though, her friends are all dead, and have been for a while, it is just her and Spike. So this chapter is her saying goodbye to Spike if the spell fails, or works but he can't see her, or goodnight if it works and he can.
As for Spike's vocabulary, There was a storm. I tend to wax eloquent when I'm happy. If it makes you feel any better, I do actually talk like that.
2812447
Oh, I thought she already did the spell and was "dream" twilight. So she just lived a long time due to her tons of magic power? Ok, makes more sense now lol
2812488
Mhm. I was spending a long time thinking about the way magic would work, for another story of mine, and that kind of bled back into this. It makes sense though. By allowing somepony to tap into the magic of the world around them, another energy source basically, there is no reason to think that it would maintain cellular integrity, allowing longer, healthier lives. It would also explain the apparent immortality of dragons and alicorns, who act as essentially springs from which vast quantities of magic floods. IN the case of dragons specifically, the longer the dragon is alive, the more magic permeates their bodies. That is why Spike can be injured, though not badly from what we've seen, while the much older dragons are essentially impervious. The more magic in them, the harder their scales become, and the more mentally defended they are. The only real deficit to this increased durability is that the older a mind becomes, the less it can flex, new experiences become less common, and behavior patterns become more set. I was actually thinking about writing a story kind of as a textbook on magical theory, but I don't think that anypony would want to read how I picture the intersection between natural and anatomical philosophy, and how it would intersect with the logical pathways and functionality of magic.
It's over....
2813302
It's pretty obvious from the canon that she survives and her and Celestia make sweet love for eternity.
2813302
You underestimate the nature of many bronies. Any philosophical or theoretical thoughts are seen as a challenge to the status quo which allows for new growth and ideas to spring forth. The possibilities are forever interesting to explore in great detail, as are the ethics on how such varied information is used.
Excellent story by the way, I'm glad I finally got around to finishing it!
Yep my mind is just enjoying the possibilities.
choosing this as one of the two stories i caught up on first after my break from reading was definitely a good choice!
(going from 50 unread chapters to 200 in like 3-4 weeks almost makes me regret taking a break though...)
the only thing i find lacking with the story is that it is quite often a bit hard to fully understand what's going or what 'just' happened, painting the full picture in my head is simply hard, critical details go missing or things get misinterpreted (mostly the former though, simply making me unsure about certain segments from time to time); i could for the most part figure everything out by re-reading at a later time, so it's not that like the stuff that was needed wasn't there, i just had to think about it to fit everything together, and to be fair the last chapter did pretty much explain everything. anyways: this is most certainly one of my favorite stories ever
.
2813302
>Implying that we wouldn't want to read a story on how magic works
>implying we wouldn't read anything you write
>implying that you haven't already got something written down
2916486
I don't have anything written down, its all in my head.
Incredibly OOC from the very start. So off-putting I was unable to continue after the first chapter.
There's a difference between making subtle changes to show an established character in new light and blatantly raping her personality to make her fit a role in a story.
2941248
I never made any claims that this story was any good, nor that I have any idea how to write. Just because I post something, that doesn't make me an author, it makes me a writer. Personally, I agree with you. I despise this story, and the characters in it. None of them are interesting to me, and the plot could have been developed by a five year old. However, people seem interested in it, so it has remained posted, and shall remain so. In the future, I would take it as a kindness if you would at least show the effort of telling me what, specifically, you think I did wrong, and the ways you think that I might be able to improve the quality of my writing. As it is, your comment seems little more than an insult, and while I agree with your premise, it is still extremely rude to have said it.
3013963
Sorry, I really don't know what I was thinking when I started this. I would say that I regret unleashing this... thing, on the world, but it did get me into writing, which I do enjoy a great deal. I also like to think that my later stories are better.
It ended well, the start was really jarring though. For most of the story, Twilight just seemed really stupid and everyone seemed to have their emotional reaction nobs turned up to 11. The whole Applejack flying into a rage at Rarity was bad and pretty much said any relationship between them would be doomed since Aj didn't trust her at all. The two characters I found the most interesting in the story were Pinkie and Nolux, you wrote them both well and they did interesting things. I kind of wish the story focused more on them since they also had an interesting chemistry together, it seemed to flow more naturally then other character interaction.
This was a fantastic story. The beginning could use work, but otherwise, I loved it. I especially liked the bit about the crystals holding magic -- it's a real life phenomena, only with electricity. Whether you knew this or not, I thought that little bit added a note of plausibility to your story.
See you, pone cowboy...
Because I read stories on my iPod, I cannot comment on any story that I read. However, I actually found this on my computer so I could give my two cents. That alone is a compliment. When I first began this story, I had no idea where It was going; partly the reason I continued. When Twilight expressed her feelings, however, I REALLY had to read where you were going to take this. I was uber-excited and I binge-read this til the end over a period of several hours. I tend to do that when I really enjoy a story (another well-deserved compliment). Most of that excitement was due to the promise of a Twi vs Tia battle that would be written in the history books due to its sheer epicness. The plot points were strong and the story was believable: a combo rarely seen done for a "battle" genre.
Fast forward to the end and I can't say I'm not a bit disappointed. Not because of the writing; the story quality was fantastic. It was the resolution you chose for the story that kinda left me hanging. The final chapter was feelsy, enjoyable, and a good ending. But the fact that the Twi vs Tia action never happened and there was no dialogue as to why it never happened was a serious disappointment. That plot point is what sold me in the first place, and it never happened. It was a bit hard to believe that Twilight would risk her life and drop all of the work she had done to prove a point to Celestia, just to save her life in the end. All the anger and frustration and unrequited love just kind of... dropped?
You did a great job with this, and don't let anyone tell you differently. This was far better than anything I could ever hope to write. However I hope the direction of the story wasn't altered because you realized that someone in the story might get hurt in the end. I get this feeling that some of the writers on this site, while amazing, have a tendency to write things that work out for everyone in the end and no one gets hurt. It's a trap I think people should avoid, even if some readers get butthurt about it. I would have liked to see Twilight face off with her mentor, but that's just me I guess.
Regardless, you did a great job and I hope to see more of your work soon.
Rise and shine, Doctor Freeman, rise and shine.
is this ever gonna get a sequel?
6825223 my view has not changed
pp.vk.me/c638824/v638824743/daa/sUovKz6zOPg.jpg
Seriously thought, this quote is fabulous *writes the damn thing down*.
P.S. Oh, the fic was fine by the way.
scarily I have found a fic in the realm of awesomeness words can't describe. I am appalled.
9390830 What's left of Yakyakistan, it's a panel from the DoubleWBrothers if you haven't seen them they're a treat.
memestatic1.fjcdn.com/comments/Blank+_757ad81d7fa9391df93c59423cc1db4b.jpg
https://www.deviantart.com/doublewbrothers/art/Diplomacy-543551833
I'll be honest, this story was so far from my expectations. You've done a wonderful job with this, and I truly enjoyed every word! Hope yo see you around~