The Origin Chronicles Vol. 2

by SmokeShadow95

Ch.11 Champion of Madness

Spike stood before a pony that nobody would ever suspect of being an evil, power hungry, Madness inducing, witch of a mare. After all, who was more adorable than the little filly Sweetie Belle? But there was only one problem Spike was having with this whole situation. The little filly standing before him. That was not Sweetie Belle. That was not the filly he knew. Rarity was not as convinced as Spike was about her mistaken identity.

“Spike, get away from her. Get back,” Rarity yelled at him.

Twilight did her best to hold her back, but Rarity was more than determined. This was about her family, or so she thought. She would soon find out that her family has some dark sides about it. Not really. Sweetie Belle was safe and sound in Ponyville waiting for her big sis to come home.

“Why, Spike, how did you see past my disguise? No pony has ever seen past my disguises,” Sweetie Belle asked with an sinister smile.

“You can change your outward form, Ebony, but I can see past that,” Spike said as his eyes glowed, “I can see your soul. Your dark, twisted, tainted soul.”

“That old thing? Still here is it? I swear, it has been dragging me down for years now,” Sweetie Belle replied playfully.

Rarity paused at that moment. She was halfway between Spike and Sweetie Belle, and Twilight and Cadance. And just what was Sweetie Belle saying? This was not like her at all.

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity tested the name carefully, “Sweetie Belle, what is going on?”

The Sweetie Belle that stood there looked over at her. She rolled her eyes and they began to glow. A sinister, evil red that also came off her horn. A trail of red light engulfed the little filly before quickly dissipating, leaving another pony in view.

The tall and slender mare with a black coat and straight, red mane was a familiar sight. A nightmare in the flesh that stood before Rarity now. She remembered well the last time she saw her. Rarity's expression grew dark. She grew dark. Her eyes got a look of anger and hatred in them. She was close. Too close, to going Mad. Spike had to do something.

He held his hand out towards her and called her name, “Rarity! Go now into peaceful slumber, and rest your soul.”

Within a second Rarity was teetering on the edge of falling. Both asleep and to the ground. Twilight's magic caught her as she nearly hit the crystal. She pulled her back in close and kept her safe. Then Spike turned his attention back to Ebony Thorn, and hers never left him.

“Well, Spike, I must admit you are a sight to behold when you use your magic,” She teased, “And I would absolutely love to stay and study you closer, but I must go now. Fret not, for I am leaving my newest champion to entertain you.”

Ebony Thorn flashed her horn brightly and a portal opened in the crystal at her hooves. Her champion rose up from the portal. A very large Darkmare came up and rested her hooves on both sides of the portal. With her hooves firmly planted Ebony closed the portal, and then opened another one. This one was right next to her. She walked about halfway through before turning around and whispering something to the Darkmare champion.

“Destroy him, my dearest Applejack,” Her vile tongue hissed.

Spike's keen sense of hearing picked up this little whisper. His eyes returned to their normal colors as he powered down from his Mystik mode. Ebony disappeared beyond her portal and it faded into nothing. The crystal ponies of the city were all collectively silent for just a moment. Then the panic set in. Cadance flew out into the fray to try and restore some order. Meanwhile, Twilight and Rarity had to watch as one of their friends battled another.

Applejack's eyes burned with a red light of fury and rage. It was like nothing Spike had ever seen before. Not even in Galeek himself was this level of rage present. It was hard enough to see Applejack like this. Her coat was dark and dirty. Her cutie mark was barely visible against the dull color her coat had turned. Her mane was a mess, and she didn't care. And when she looked at Spike she did not see the little dragon baby that she used to give apples to. The only thing she saw was the next target.

She charged Spike with surprisingly fast moves. Especially for such a big pony. Spike wasn't sure what to do about her. He could not simply beat her. Not just because she was a real, living pony. That was part of it, but it was just a small part. She was his friend. How was he supposed to hit her and live with himself after? So he did the only thing he could think of then. It was stupid. . . and painful. He took the hit.

Applejack's head had gotten even harder with the Madness set in. She ran full on into Spike's chest and it didn't even stop her. He was expecting the hit, but not even he could have prepared enough for it. Applejack still had a hard hit.

The breath was forced out of him as she impacted his exposed mid section. She carried him for a few steps before stopping abruptly and launching him off. She pushed him off with her head as he was already in the air. Spike collided with a crystal pillar, again. A huge dent was left where he hit and small chunks fell down onto him as he lay on the floor and tried to recover. He groggily made his way back on his feet and leaned against the weak pillar behind him. Applejack was already on the attack.

She darted up to him like a speeding train and stopped. Just before reaching him she stopped. But she never stopped moving. With a quick twist of her hooves and a slight shift in balance she was up on her front hooves. Her back hooves swung through the air in a smooth arc until they found their mark. She pulled in her hooves just before the strike. Spike barely saw it coming. It was hard to know which of the three ponies he was seeing was doing it. But he sure felt it.

He felt the immense pain in his chest as he was bucked again. This time he went through the weakened pillar. The rest of the pillar collapsed and fell onto and around him. Spike lifted himself up off the ground a little bit.

“I will not fight you, Applejack,” He said strongly.

Applejack ran up to him on the ground and tried to stomp her hooves on him. She lifted them up and crashed them down on Spike. However, he was able to roll out the way just in time. He lifted himself up onto his feet and saw her coming in close for another attack.

She swiped with her hooves at Spike. She was aiming for all of him. His face, his chest, his arms, his tail. Anything that she could possibly hit or grab or bite. She was on a complete rampage. Spike had to dodge and duck. He was constantly moving back as he avoided her swinging blows. He moved back until he was backed into a corner. Applejack could see this and she slowly lined up to finish him.

“I am sorry, AJ,” Spike said sadly.

Applejack took off in one last charge at him. Spike stood there, with his back to the wall. Darkness had fallen over Applejack. He was determined to set her free of this. So he got an idea. It was a crazy stupid idea that he did not want to do. He did not want her to suffer from this, but he had no choice.

Applejack's charge brought her right to him. She lowered her raised head to hit him again. He was expecting this. Spike's eyes glowed and shone brightly. Applejack got in close and Spike's hand made impact.

He raised his hand above him and slammed it down on her head. He held her head in his claws. She tried to push her way past them, but he held firm. With a small shout of effort, he pushed her away and cast his spell on her. She slid back on her hooves until she was in full view of the crowd again. She tried to move to attack again only to find that her hooves and her legs would not move. A small current of green electricity traveled across her coat.

“Soul Lock,” Spike said with a heavy breath, “You cannot move. You cannot attack. You are stuck. I do what I have to do.”

Spike recovered the energy he used on the Soul Lock spell. And then he charged Applejack. He walked up to her, each step was faster and faster. Until he came up to her in almost a run. He gripped her head tightly. He looked deeply into her red eyes. There was still some part of her old self still in there. Locked away, somewhere.

He took a deep breath. In a move that looked like he was about to breath fire, he opened his jaws. Something magical did come out, but it was not the dragon fire breath it seemed. A light, radiant and pure and brighter than anything the ponies had ever seen before came from him. This light washed over Applejack's darkened form like a cleansing bath. Spike himself seemed to glow from every scale as he cast this light onto her. And for a few moments, all was silent. The panicking ponies of the Crystal Empire stopped moving. Silence filled the air until it was deafening. After what seemed to be forever, the light faded. Spike closed his jaws and the light receded back into him. In his hands he held the form of a pony. This pony did not have a dark coat. This pony was a normal sized mare. This mare did not have evil red eyes. Spike looked down at the pony he held. With a smile he saw that he was holding his friend, Applejack.

“Uh, Spike,” She mumbled, “Canya please let go of mah face now?”

Spike did as she asked. He released her face from his claws, but did not for a second stop smiling. Twilight's joy couldn't be contained any more than Spike's. She ran up to her apple friend and gave her the biggest hug she could manage. Applejack returned the hug and smiled at Twilight. All Twilight could do was smile as tears of joy welled up in her eyes. Those would be the only tears she shed that day, even as more bad things happened to them.

While every pony was celebrating the return of dear Applejack, they all seemed to forget about the other pony of the day. She went unnoticed as she slipped back into the confines of the Crystal Palace. Rarity trudged back to her room, alone. She was glad that Applejack was back, of course, but she could not shake the feeling that Ebony Thorn was right. When she spoke to her as Sweetie Belle. Rarity did still want this pain to stop.

“Regretting your decision to not come with me, dearest Rarity?”

Rarity lifted her head to see a mare on her bed. Ebony Thorn. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, sifting through all the remains of the dresses and hats and other things with her magic. Some she really liked. Some she tossed to the side like the garbage Rarity thought they were when she shredded them.

Rarity did not scream. She did not panic. She looked up at Ebony with her big eyes full of sadness and her heart still full of pain. She walked up to the edge of the bed and stood beside her. She stood there for a moment before telling Ebony Thorn what was on her mind.

“Not anymore.”

Spike and Twilight were walking with Applejack back into the Crystal Palace. They were all eager to talk, and Applejack was real curious about what had happened since she was gone. But first she had something to say to them. To all of them. Spike, Twilight, Rarity, Cadance, Celestia. Only two were there now and she could not keep it in.

“Hold up a second,” She said, “Spike, Twilight, I wanna say something, to the both of ya. I'm sorry. For just leaving the way I did.”

Twilight smiled happily at her friend, “You don't have to explain yourself, AJ.”

“N, I do. I don't know what came over me. I saw Braeburn laying there and Appleloosa was burning to the ground. Bloomberg had been destroyed, killed. And I didn't know if you or the girls were okay or not. When all that happened, I- I- just got so angry,” Applejack confessed.

“It's okay. Really, it is. You are here now, and it is all okay,” Twilight said.

“No it isn't, Twilight! No, it isn't,” Applejack's eyes teared up as she spoke, “At some point when I was Mad, I wanted it. At some point I chose it. I chose to be the Champion of Madness.”

Twilight wasn't sure what to think of what Applejack just laid out before her. It was a lot for anypony to take in. But she did not have to respond. Spike took the attention away from the awkward situation they were in.

He listened to Applejack's words intently. He wanted to hear everything. But he didn't. There was something inside of him stirring. He looked at the environment around him carefully. Something was close. Something dark. He could feel it in his scales. Shadow Sense. That was what his mentor had always called it. His unnatural ability to sense and see the things around him that no other being could. Except for Luna, of course. She had it too.

Spike was experiencing this feeling, this instinct that something dark was near. Then he was hit by it. That same instinct, only a thousand times stronger. It hit him like a hard strike to chest. He stopped and gasped for air. The breath had been knocked clear out of him. Twilight and Applejack looked back at him. He was kneeling on the floor and breathing heavy.

“Spike, what is it? What's wrong,” Applejack asked worriedly.

“It's Rarity,” Spike said with a breath, “She is gone. Again. She went with Ebony Thorn. She went willingly.”

Half an hour later, and the girls were in the throne room with Cadance. Spike had to repeat the news to her. She had barely even spoken to him since he arrived. It was because of Shining Armor. He knew that. It was because of his absence that he was now Mad. While Cadance put on a blank face, Spike knew that she blamed him. He knew that she wanted to scream at him the same way Flake did. But she did not.

Twilight and Applejack had very different reactions. Applejack sat down not to far from Cadance. She sat there with her head low. A few tears escaped her and fell to the floor.

Twilight's reaction was more. . . expressive. She was furious. Not at Spike. Not at Applejack. Not at the Madness. She was angry at everything. She stomped around the throne room and vented.

“AAAHHHH! We lose you, Applejack. And then we get you back. And then we lose Rarity. And in the middle of this, Spike goes away for a month,” She angrily vented out her rage for the world, “Why?! Why can we not get a single break? Huh? Just one. That is all we want. Just one break! Why do we have such bad luck?”

Twilight's rant ended with her on the floor. Cadance watched her from upon her throne. She could sympathize with Twilight. The one she cared for most was lost to her as well. And now the crystal ponies that she is supposed to watch over and protect were all scared and full of fear. And she could do nothing to stop it. That's when she noticed a distinct absence in the room. A certain purple and green fellow was nowhere to be seen. Just as she was about to ask where he was a guard rushed in.

“Your Highness! Your Highness! I have urgent news,” He said quickly, “It is Spike the Dragon. He asked to see Shining Armor, and then he locked himself in the cage with him. He was unlocking the chains when I ran to inform you.”

Cadance jumped up at he guards words. She immediately moved for the door that led down to the dungeons. Both Twilight and Applejack were hot on her hooves. The guard pony followed behind them as all four went deeper down. Much deeper than any of them had ever been before. Except for the one time Twilight was brought here to see her brother.

They found Spike exactly where the guard pony said. He was locked in the cage with Mad Shining Armor. The chains that had bound him were all unlocked and tossed away. Shining Armor was at one end of the cage. Spike was at the other. It was then the girls noticed the way Shining Armor was not trying to tear Spike to small bite sized pieces of dragon.

“Spike musta used that same Soul Lock thingy he used on me,” Applejack said.

Sure enough Spike had used the Soul Lock spell on Shining Armor. Just as he did on Applejack, but it was different from when he used it on her. For a number of reasons the spell was not having the same effect as before.

Spike was tired. More tired than he had been in a long time. More tired than the three days he spent awake at his latest Anniversary Party. Shining Armor was strong. He was stronger than AJ. His madness was more unstable than hers was. That made him much more dangerous. And he was also starting to move now. The effects of the spell were not lasting nearly as long as before. Bad news for Spike, who was charging up to reach into his soul as he did Twilight's.

And he was free. Shining Armor was free of his chains, both of the physical and magical varieties. The Soul Lock had faded away and he locked onto Spike. He was standing at the other end of the cage. Shining Armor loosed a Mad shout and charged at him. He got about halfway to him when he was hit by something else. Something caught him right in his face. A small, but annoying blast of magic. Shining Armor turned his big head to see Cadance glaring at him from her place across the bars of the cage.

“Stay away from him,” She said strongly, “He is going to cure you and you are going to let him. Am I clear?”

For a second it seemed like Shining Armor was actually going to listen to his wife. He stared at her for a moment. His eyes had a flicker of life in them, but it was gone as fast as it was there. Then he shrieked again and turned back to face Spike. However, Spike was given all the time he needed. Cadance had seen to that. Her little blast distracted Shining Armor just long enough. When he turned to face Spike he didn't like what he saw.

Spike was standing tall on his side of the cage. He had stepped away from the bars and was now closer than he had been before. Just steps away from the Mad colt in front of him. Shining Armor turned back from Cadance and Spike was there. His eyes glowing the fiercely intense green as his Mystik powers swelled up inside of him. And inside this green was a small circle. A circle of glowing white. Just like with Twilight. And just like with Twilight Spike reached out and plunged a hand into Shining Armor's chest. Then the other.

He could feel the soul of Shining Armor. It was strong. Noble. A good soul. That all made sense. And yet he was Mad now. Where was the Madness? Spike could feel the cold of the hatred the Madness brought on. He could feel the heat of the anger the Madness caused. And yet, he could not find it in his soul.

Spike searched for it. He found the love that Shining Armor had. It was deep. Hidden away almost, but Spike saw it. His love for his wife, Cadance. His love for his little sister, Twilight Sparkle. His love for the Crystal Empire, of which he called home. Spike had to go deeper than that. He had been like this a while. Maybe it was deeper than he thought. So Spike took his claws, and he reached even deeper into the soul of Shining Armor. Until he found him. Found them.

Shining Armor himself was deep in his own soul. He had retreated there in a last ditch effort to stave off the Madness. It had not worked. For the Madness found him even there. And now it was simply having fun with him. Shining Armor was a bruised and bullied plaything for the Madness, which had taken on the form of the body it was in. A red transparent form of Shining Armor was now beating the real one.

“You have fought well, pony, but you can't win,” The Red Armor said, “In fact, you have already lost. Don't you know that? In the real world you are just a Mad, shrieking, ever violent pony who wants nothing more than to tear other ponies to pieces.”

“Yeah, I know that,” Said the real Shining Armor, “And I know something else too. I know that my wife will never let me hurt another pony of the Crystal Empire, or beyond. I know that she will get Twilight over here. And she will bring Spike. One of them will find a way to rid me of you. I believe that.”

“Shut up! Enough of all your talk on what you believe,” The Red Armor said, “How can you still believe, after all this time has passed? Why haven't you broken?”

“Because I can see what's behind you,” Shining Armor stated, “And I have been waiting for that for a month now.”

The red version of Shining Armor hated to hear this. It hated hearing such words of hope and faith. Then something clicked in it's mind. He said something about behind him. What could that be? It couldn't be a trick. He had already tried that, a dozen times. It never worked. So the Red Armor cautiously turned his head. He started screaming as he saw a huge pair of transparent green hands coming for him. He ran the other way as fast as he could. But the real Shining Armor blocked is path. As he ran the real one raised his hoof and landed a tremendously hard hit to the Red one. He staggered back and right into the hands of Spike. His claws closed over the Red Armor as he withdrew his hands from Shining Armor's soul.

Spike's hand came out Shining Armor's chest one after the other. First was his left. He took it out and placed it on the neck of the pony he was standing next to. He used it as leverage to pull his right hand out. As he withdrew his hand the other ponies saw that he was dragging something out with it. At the end Spike yanked his hand back and held the red representation of the Madness that was in Shining Armor.

It was squirming and writhing as Spike's claws were dug into it's transparent neck. Spike looked at it, and squeezed. His claws came together and cracks formed along the red body. Finally, the Mad soul stopped moving and shrieked one last time. Then the cracks split the pony like glass and it faded away as the shards fell to floor with one last shimmer. It was done. The Madness was gone. But Spike was not able to see that. As his Mystik soul power faded away, so did his consciousness.

Spike's eyes slowly drifted back open. His eyelids felt enormously heavy as he pushed them up and open. He was nearly blinded by the flashes of light that gleamed off the crystals of the Crystal Palace. As his eyes adjusted to the light and his vision returned to normal Spike heard something. No, not something. Somepony. More than one. At least two. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he could hear them whispering. He tried to sit up, only to find that he couldn't move any if his limbs. He could not even move his tail.

“Spike, you are awake.”

The voice cut into his thoughts. He didn't care. It was a sweet, kind, and familiar voice. It was not one he was expecting to hear, however. She had not said much to him recently.

“Here, let me help you with that,” Cadance kindly offered.

She walked over to his side of the bed. He could only hear her before as his head was another part of body he could not move. But she entered his field of vision one step at a time until Spike could clearly see her. She was radiant. She had a glow about her that Spike had not seen in a long time. As he stared up at her smiling face she used her magic to raise him and put him into a somewhat sitting up position.

“There. That better,” She asked him.

Spike weakly opened to his mouth to speak, “Yes. What happened?”

“You happened, Spike,” Twilight stated as she reentered the room, “You literally pulled the Madness out of Shining Armor. You gave me my brother back. You gave Cadance her husband back.”

“I cannot thank you enough, Spike,” Cadance shouted happily.

She nearly leaped on top of the bed to give Spike the biggest of hugs. She wrapped her hooves and her wings around him and squeezed. And she squeezed, and squeezed. For the Princess of Love she had a mighty strong grip. Spike was helpless before her grip until she heard a loud crack come from him. She immediately released him from her hug and stepped back. Spike remained motionless for a moment before anything happened.

His body was still where Cadance left it. His back was straight, but his other limbs were limp and useless. The only thing he could moved was his eyes. He looked around and pushed a flow of magical energy into each of his limbs. One limb after the other they all returned to their normal functions.

His arms were first. Then his legs. The cracking and popping came next. It descended down his body. From his shoulders to his elbows to his wrists. Each of his joints cracked and popped sharply. All the ponies in the room cringed a bit as each one was louder than the last. His back cracked twice more, and then his legs. His knees, his ankles, his toes. All of cracked. He flexed his fingers as they all cracked and formed them into small fists before extending them again.

“Ya feelin' better now, Spike,” Applejack asked, “'Cause yer cracking and poppin' more than the popcorn at Sweet Apple Acres on movie night.”

“Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Just the after effects of using Soul Magic too much in one day,” Spike said back to the group.

Just then another pony walked into the room. Spike had a feeling he would show up at some point. And he knew what was going to come next as well. He smiled slightly to himself as Shining Armor came in.

“Shining Armor, you're supposed to stay in bed,” Both Cadance and Twilight said in unison.

He just walked by the both of them and came up to Spike. Spike had moved to the edge of the bed by that point and Shining Armor came up to him.

“I just wanted to say thanks for saving my tail again,” He said to Spike.

Spike smiled and Shining Armor Smiled. Then he gave Spike a small, but still forceful hit to the arm with his hoof.

“But you gotta stop saving my tail. You're making me look bad,” He said with a laugh.

“Enough with that. We have to talk,” Twilight said very seriously, “We got Applejack back, and lost Rarity. Ebony knows you can do soul magic now, and she is targeting us. The Madness is spreading, and you can only cure three times a day. What are we going to do?”

“Fight, Twilight,” Spike replied, “We are going to get out friends back, and we are going to fight back.”

Cadance was on her way back to her room. It had been a long day for every pony and dragon alike. Since Spike returned he had been given a room of his own. Cadance made sure to put it close to the others. He didn't even have to ask her for that. She just knew. She had a way of telling these things, but every time he asked her about it she just made a comment about being the Princess of Love. And right now, she was thinking about the stallion she loved so much. Shining Armor. Tonight was to be the first night in a while she would not be sleeping alone. She was looking forward to the warmth of her husband when she stopped in her tracks.

There was something there. A light. It was shining from withing one of the rooms. It poured out from under the door and spilled out into the hallway. If it were any other time she would have been alerted by a guard pony, but not at this late hour. But it was more than the light that made her stop. It was the feeling she got when she moved closer. Love. Unbridled, untainted, unbelievably strong love. Now who could that be coming from? She stepped up and opened the door as silently as she could. She found exactly who she thought she would find.

Spike was sitting at a table in the center of the room. Cadance glanced over at the bed. It had not been touched. She looked over at Spike again. He had his back to the door and was oblivious to her being there. He was working on something, but she could not see what. His hands moved around it like he was weaving a song out the air and building the lyrics up in front of him. Whatever light she saw was coming from him, and whatever was in front of him. That feeling of love she got before was even stronger now. She had not felt such a strong bond between two beings since her wedding to Shining Armor. The fading of the light brought her attention back to Spike, and back to whatever he was doing.

“I knew you'd show up at some point.”

“I would ask how you knew I was here, but what would be the point? You would just give me some dragon magic answer I don't understand and be done with it.”

“Actually, your tail hit the lamp on the nightstand on the way in. Surprised you didn't notice.”

Cadance had nothing to say in response to that. She had a witty retort lined up, but that fell away the instant he said that. Now she was left there with nothing to say and her mouth slightly open. Then she refocused her attention back onto the original reason she came in here.

“Spike, what are you doing,” She asked.

“You promise to keep it between us,” Spike asked.

Cadance nodded. Whatever it was, it was very important to Spike. He shifted in his chair a bit before sliding it back and away from the table. Cadance had no words for what she saw on that table. It was certainly not what she was expecting. Spike blushed a little as Cadance walked up and inspected the object. It was a flower. A flower unlike any she had ever seen before.

It was beautiful. It had a long and seamless stem that rose up tall and straight. The petals that grew were big and long. They were soft to the touch, yet firmer than most flower petals. They unfolded from the center with a slow grace. Each petal curled up at the ends. And then there was the color. The flower was colored with a deep darkness at the very center. A blue that was only matched by the hue of the nighttime sky rose up from this dark center and reached out for the tips of the petals. Each tip was touched by a white that almost made it glow. Similar spots of color dotted the interior of each petal. The whole thing gave off this low, almost imperceptible glow that shone in the moonlight.

Spike moved behind the table and stood in front of the window. His tall form blocked the light of the moon that was shining in. Cadance watched as the flower's petals all shivered and wrapped themselves up around one another the a way a rose does before it blooms. Spike stepped away from the window and the flower petals flowed outward once again.

“I call it Luna's Grace,” Spike said while still blushing.

“Spike, this. . . this is beautiful. Did you create this,” Cadance said.

“I have been working on it for a while,” Spike told her, “It started with a flower I saw when I was out in the desert for a month. This flower only bloomed at night, and only truly shone when the moon was at its brightest. It reminded me of everything I love about Luna, and I haven't been able to get her out of my head since. The way she always smelled like the scents that the nightly breeze blew in. The way her legs moved when she walked. The way her eyes looked when she glanced over at me from afar. It can be hard to focus on the Madness with her on my mind.”

Cadance stared at the flower. This more than just a flower. She could tell. A little tear rose up from within her as she thought about Spike and Luna. She never really spoke much to Luna, but she could always sense it when she was there. That one thing that everypony tries to hide or bury deep inside. Love.

“Cadance, can I ask you something? A favor?”

“Anything, Spike.”

Spike retrieved a letter from backpack, “If anything goes wrong, I -”

“Stop it, Spike. Nothing is going to go wrong.”

“Cadance,” Spike said seriously, “If anything should happen to me, I want you to give this letter to Luna with the flower. Please, can you do that?”

Cadance was now staring at Spike. She could see into his big green eyes. She could see deep into him. This was him as he truly was. He was more than just the dragon hero most of Equestria knew him as. He was still quite young, and he was in love. Cadance could see it all in his eyes. She nodded and took the letter from Spike. He looked like a great burden had just been lifted from him. Relief took him over and so did drowsiness. He stumbled over the bed and crawled in, leaving Cadance standing there with a letter in her mouth.

She set it down by the plant and noticed the name on it. Spike had written 'Luna' in some incredibly fine writing across the envelope. Cadance swept the letter a bit under the flower's pot and walked out of the room. But not before making a silent promise to Spike. She would deliver that flower, but only if he was unable to do it himself.

Comments

[Love able chaos]

Luna is going to love the flower