There were countless dragons flying towards the caldera of all shapes and sizes. If there was one thing this world was good at, it was creating a diversity of physical appearances within species, and dragons were no exception to this. One could argue that there were more body types and colorations of dragons than there were in ponykind.
However, of all the types of dragons flying to that famous volcano in the badlands, only one had wings of smoke. He, a purple dragon the size of a typical late-adolescent, was flying high and fast above the rest of the incoming drakes and dames. Having spent so long animating his own body through sheer force-of-will (with a helping of magic on the side), the addition of a working cardiovascular system had given him quite the boost in speed and strength.
Soon enough, the blazing caldera, smoking profusely from both dragons and ash, comes into sight. As he approached, a fun little idea occurred to Thorn. Deciding to act on it, he ascends higher instead of gliding down like the rest of the dragons.
The moment he was directly over the caldera, he pulled his wings in tight and semi-stiff, but not fully closed. In that position, they offered no lift, but prevented him from careening out of control as he entered an extremely steep dive.
Down, down, down he fell, faster, faster, and faster still. The wind whipped past his body. The ground shot up to meet him. Closer and closer it came, but still, Thorn did not spread his wings.
And then, at the last possible instant, he snapped his wings open for a full stop. Most dragons would have ripped their flight membranes and dislocated their wing performing such a move; luckily for Thorn, the smokey membrane of his wings was made of tougher stuff, so he merely dislocated his wings.
And even then, he still plowed into the ground with impressive force. It was enough to kick up a cloud of dust and rock. But, as it cleared, Thorn couldn't be more proud of himself.
He'd stuck the landing.
His wings shuddered and then popped back into place as the magic in his body went to work fixing him. After all, Shining Armor wasn't the only one Thorn's mom had improved.
Thorn looked at a nearby group of adolescent dragons and flashed a winning smile. "How'd I look?"
The other dragons just looked at him, slack jawed. One of them shouted, "Dude! That was fucked up! Alright!"
"Thanks," Thorn replied.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Thorn," a large, pink dame said as she lumbered over. "I'd recognize those wings anywhere."
Thorn turned to get a good look at her. The dame had pink scales and pink hair, and blue eyes, horns, and belly scales. However, Thorn saw her soul as her most prominent feature, and recognized her instantly. "Mina? Looking good, I see!"
"Haha! It's good to see you, too," she said as she shrunk down to a more manageable size. "Hey, about that message you left me with, I think I figured it out."
"Oh? Do tell..."
"'Dead dragons do tell tales.' You're an undead," she stated.
"Ding! One point for the little lady," Thorn said with a smile. "But can she go two for two? What kind of undead?"
"A lich," Mina replied. "Or a wight. I'm not sure which."
"Meh, I'll take it," Thorn replied. "Lich was correct, though I do have similarities to a wight."
"Ok. Hey, just to be clear, you're not going to suddenly eat my flesh or steal my soul or something, right? 'Cause I'm kinda attached to them."
Thorn waved a razor-sharp claw dismissively. "Nah, I already ate before I got here."
"So what brings you - what?" Mina was interrupted by Thorn. For reasons unknown to her, the lich had spontaneously started glowing orange. "What was that?"
"Mom winning."
When Thorn provided no more information, Mina shrugged and let it pass. "As I was saying, what brings you here?"
Thorn shrugged. "I was curious about dragons, so I came to observe."
"Well, shall we observe together?" Mina asked.
"That sounds nice."
A beat of silence passed between the two of them before Mina asked, "What's the deal with that pendant?"
Thorn looked down at the gold, triangular medallion on his neck. "It belonged to a gargoyle named Scorpan at one point. I never met him myself, but I want to find him. By this time, it's more likely that I find his grave.
"I'm actually looking for a specific dragon who might know him. I don't know much about that dragon, just a vague description and a name," he said. His eyes scanned the countless dragons occupying the caldera, as well as those still flying in. "He's got the same shortened name as my brother, Spike. Should be about one and a half thousand years old, has a purple body, pink belly, and green spines. That's all..."
He was about to say that that was all he knew, but from the look on Mina's face, he knew that she recognized the description. "That's my great grandfather! I flew in with him!"
Mina grabbed his forearm and dragged him across the caldera. "Come on!" she yelled as they barreled forward, dodging around dragons, lava pools, and mounds of precious gems.
Soon enough, the pair found themselves facing a massive drake that fit the memories Sparkle had stolen from Tirek, albeit much bigger. "Great granddaddy! Hey!"
Lifting his head from his resting spot, the great dragon rumbled, "Ah, Mina, my darling. Are you enjoying yourself? I see you made a friend. Who might you be, young drake? I am Spike, just Spike."
"Thornecrovitar, sir, but Thorn for short," Thorn replied politely. "I have a question for you." He held up the amulet. "Does the name Scorpan ring a bell?"
Spike's eyes went wide and his body stiffened with shock. "Scorpan! You know Scorpan? You even have his amulet! Please, if you can tell me anything about my friend, please..."
"I don't know him, not personally. I don't even know if Scorpan is alive. I was raised by a powerful unicorn, who was attacked by Tirek. He had the amulet on him."
"Tirek did?" Spike asked. "How? He was in Tartarus, the last I heard."
"He escaped, and when he tried to attack my mom, she killed him instead and took his memories. When she started looking through them, she found out how important this amulet was to Tirek, simply for having belonged to Scorpan. It turns out that Scorpan gave it to Tirek just before he betrayed him to aid the ponies that were suffering under Tirek's rule. Tirek didn't know what happened to him after that."
For a long time, the elder dragon sat silently in thought. "I suppose a thank you is in order. I see now, it was Scorpan who saved us back then, and your mother who saved us now. I know that I am in no position to ask this of you, what with I being in your debt, but would you do me a favor? I would gladly part with much of my hoard for this."
Thorn's eyes, like most dragons' when given a chance to earn a small mountain of treasure, lit up with excitement. In Thorn's case specifically, it was a bit more literal as his eyes actually glowed with a sickly green. "Sure, name it."
"Would you find Scorpan, and tell him that I am looking for him? And if you can only find his grave, would you tell him to wait for me in the great beyond?"
"Consider it done," Thorn agreed.
The elder dragon smiled and then lowered his head. "The sun feels so nice on my scales, and my chest feels so light. I wonder if the Nightbringer will grace me with pleasant dreams?" He closed his eyes and murmured, "Perhaps..."
Mina grabbed Thorn's arm and dragged him off again, citing that they should let the old drake sleep. However, once they were far enough away, Mina's inner fan girl exploded forth. “This is so cool! You’re probably going to go on some grand quest all over the world, fighting monsters and baddies until you find Scorpan! It’s so exciting! Just like a comic book!”
Thorn chuckled. “Yeah, I bet you’re right about being an adventure. I just hope I don’t get sucked into anything else... and by that, I mean literally sucked into something.” Mina looked confused, so Thorn explained. “I found an enchanted Power Ponies comic book once; my mom, her student, and I all got sucked inside and turned into some of the characters.”
“Really? No way! Who were you?”
“I was... Humdrum,” Thorn replied, disappointed.
“Oh... That probably sucked,” Mina replied. “But what about the other two?”
“Cobalt was Filly-Second, though still a stallion, and my mom got to be the Mane-iac.”
“So cool! I’d do anything to find one of those comic books!” Mina squealed.
“Why would you want anything as namby-pamby as a comic book?” a new voice interrupted. The red and orange adolescent dragon swaggered over to the two of them and looked down at the currently small Mina. “Everydragon knows that comics are made by pathetic little ponies. Are you really going to waste your time on that junk?”
“Garble, I don’t care if we’re second cousins,” Mina growled. “You insult my comics again, and I’ll crush you.”
Garble, for some reason, found that extremely funny and burst out laughing. Mina seethed, while Thorn lept to her defense. “She’s not joking. She really will squish you.”
“Oh yeah?” Garble asked. “The two of you together probably weigh less than me. How are you possibly going to squish me?”
“Like this,” both Thorn and Mina answered, each growing to a massive size. Despite the fact that their bodies now awkwardly pressed against one another, the pair still managed to look quite fierce.
Garble squeaked, unable to form any real words. As the two giant dragons loomed over him, he quickly scrambled away. Thorn shouted, “Oh, no you don't!” From the lich’s body, a black blur shot out and struck Garble, vanishing into his skin without pushing him. In the short instant that it was visible, Mina recognized it as the same thing Thorn had used to teach her how to grow and shrink at will.
When it struck, Garble froze. It wasn’t by choice.
“You really should apologize to her,” Thorn said. “And me too, but I’m not expecting any miracles.”
“W-what did you do to me?” Garble asked. The muscles below his neck still refused to answer to his brain.
“I made you a puppet,” Thorn replied. “Apologize, or dance. Your choice.”
“I’m not takin’ it back. Comics are stupid, and the ponies that make them are even stupider.”
Thorn commanded the Specter to spin him around and force him into a bow. “Wrong choice,” the lich replied.
A claw gripped Thorn’s arm. He looked over at Mina, who had a strange look in her eye. “It’s not worth it,” the dame said. “Let him go.”
Thorn looked at her, then at the forcefully genuflecting dragon, and then back at her blue eyes. He sighed, releasing his control over Garble. The red dragon quickly turned tail and ran away. “Why’d you stop me? I had him; I could have made him apologize.”
“Because he’s not worth it. Garble’s just a stupid bully; there’s no point in hurting him. Even I was just bluffing when I said I would squish him,” the pink dragoness replied. She started shrinking again, returning to her normal size.
“Aww... I was looking forward to squishing him,” Thorn replied as he too began to shrink. “It would have been funny to see his blood spurt everywhere. I wonder what he tastes like.”
Mina took a step back, perhaps realizing for the first time what it meant for Thorn to be a lich. Fear welled up inside her. “You really are bloodthirsty in there, aren’t you?”
“Extremely,” Thorn replied proudly. “I’m a monster, Mina; I always have been, and I always will be. Everyday's a struggle not to kill everything in sight, to devour everyone. I’m alwayS sO HuNgRy.” He blinked, and then shrugged. “Meh, but that’s unlife. Want to go swim in the lava?”
"You're insane," Mina realized.
"Never said I wasn't," Thorn replied.
"No funny business, alright? I'm not afraid to slay a monster," she declared.
Thorn laughed, finding Mina's statement funny in a condescending way. But, if only for her sake, he promised. "Cross my heart, the end is nigh, stick a spear point in my eye."
"Morbid, but I'll hold you to your word," Mina said.
"Of course you-AAGH!"
Thorn suddenly doubled over in pain. All across his face and body, his skin suddenly cracked. Bright, pale blue light erupted from the cracks.
"RRRRAAAGGGHHH!!!"
Unbeknownst to Thorn, nearly eight hundred miles away, Cobalt collapsed at that exact moment. His body violently convulsed and his voice screamed, but it was not his mind that was pulling the strings. His target was getting away, and all Cobalt could think about was that he was now trapped in a body that seemed determined to beat itself to death, and he had no idea why.
And, unbeknownst to both males, their common companion's sister had also collapsed in her own timeline at the exact same instant. Twilight, like Thorn, screamed in pain as her body cracked, with light pouring out of each fissure.
And then, just as suddenly as it had come, it was over. Thorn stood from where he had fallen, his body swiftly pulling itself together. Cobalt stood from his spot on the sidewalk, hissing as his raw, bleeding skin stung. And Twilight stood from her spot on the picnic blanket, blood dripping from her cracks, as her friends and son rushed to help her, wedding invitation forgotten.
And, within five seconds of standing and assessing the situation, all three of them came to the exact same conclusion: Something had happened to Sparkle.
Thorn, still damaged, turned around and launched himself into the air with his powerful wings, leaving behind a confused and scared dame without a goodbye. Nothing else mattered to him except for finding his mom...
... Or what was left of her.
Darn, looks like Sparkle took a blast of love energy straight to the face.
I'd be really disappointed if the Crystal Heart did Sparkle in.
It would make sense, but dang, you'd think the inanimate object would at least be a little bit grateful.
ohhhh shit.
2m 24 seconds in. Sombra and Sparkle use the same kind of magic. So yea, that probably hurt, hopefully she gets to keep her body and magic, even if it takes a while to gather the pieces.
Da~amn, did not see that coming.
Wonder with effect this will have on Shining and Cadance in this verse? True love conquers all allegedly, sure, but killing somebodies sister after they saved an entire town again? Even if she gets better again?
Sounds like something of a slight marriage snafu, is all I'm saying.
be healed by love.
I'm tried of seeing this pop up in the feature box so much and me never read it. I think I'll change that very soon.
6233124
It's worth it.
Probably too close to the heart when it acactivated. If ahe for the last Dread Necroptia, though, it won't be a problem.
Oh shit.
I just broke the top 1000 for longest stories. Cool!
Fight it, Sparkle! Don't you go dying on us like that!
Huh. Do you think Twilight will go through the mirror for this? She probably should.
OH NOES!!!!
Oh man, I should have waited.
I dont fear for Sparkle, surely she can sew herself back, Shining got dark magical upgrades that should be destroyed by loveplosion.
6229734
You may attempt to justify it as much as you like and it is certainly your story to write, but I still strongly disagree. Not to mention this is not Sparkle vs. Back Street bully boy. Tirek is not new to this. Your proposals strain belief. Perhaps a bigger issue is that you seem to make all your villains out to be idiots, in which case it is unlikely they would have ever gotten as far as they did. Or, alternatively you make Sparkle out to be far wiser and more intelligent than her actions would otherwise suggest.
6233721
Wise? Please, Sparkle is stumbling along. And the villains/antagonists she's faced? Idiots? Really? Lets see:
Nightmare moon was defeated by two sets of mane 6 with two sets of elements of harmony. Sparkle was useless there.
Card Gambit? He won; Sparkle folded and ultimately did what he wanted, and it had major repercussions.
The Equestrian court? She was in debt because of all her legal fees and penalty fines. The only reason she's not in jail on murder charges is that she's had Thorn eat the bodies.
Discord? Took her leg and turned her against the mane 6. She nearly died, and would have if it were not for Death intervening. Ultimately, it was the mane 6 that sealed him and Thorn who retrieved the elements. And again, she folded and did what Discord wanted, though she subverted him in the process.
Sheriff Tesla? Thorn pinned him to the ground. It was a 2-on-1 fight and she nearly lost. Note, Sparkle has experience in an underground fight ring and teaching soldiers in her Defense class. She's not a combat novice.
Steeple? Sparkle assassinated him with a disease transmitted by Tesla, opting not to directly confront him.
Dusk? Toiled for a month in secrecy to prepare a weapon to use against them. They wouldn't have even appeared had Card Gambit died when he was supposed to. Hundreds died because of her.
Tirek? She used his own weapon against him, a weapon she could clearly see and understand thanks to her long established ability to see souls. Tirek was also much weaker (he'd only been out of Tartarus for a little over a week at this point).
Sombra? She used the weapon she stole from Tirek to down him, plus used her cursed prosthetic limb. She told Twilight that it was cursed the first time Twilight saw it, back in chapter 28.
The point is, Sparkle has either won by luck, by prior planning (and using established abilities) and deception, or wasn't the one who struck the winning blow. Was she a Mary Sue, the plot would have bent over backwards to make her the ultimate winner in every situation. She wouldn't get in legal trouble, and there would be nobody who calls her out on her actions. She would be portrayed as perfect (which she's not), and nobody would question it.
A Mary Sue makes the plot bend to her, a Mary Tzu is a "strategic genius" that can pull a win out of a no-win situation, and a god-mode sue is severely overpowered for the sake of showing off. I put a lot of effort into fleshing her out and making her not a Mary Sue.
Woops. So does this mean all of Shining's enchantments have been burned off now as well?
The burns reminds me of the
defeatcomplete obliteration of Sombra in the show. I think since she stole his magic, the crystal heart being restaured, she took the shot instead of Sombra.PS: don't pay attention to the second part of the video.
Really
mina cool I hope we see her again in nicer times.
Yeep. I do hope Thorn and Mina can somehow meet again; Thorn nearly burned his bridges there with the way that conversation was going, and then he just took off while Mina was still freaking out. He had good reason, but. I thought their friendship was cute. :x
Well, things are about to get messy. I'd love to see Twilight enter Sparkle's timeline here in response, though.
6233983
Fixed.
6233077
I don't think it will be a problem for Shining and Cadance, but once one of them realizes that Sparkle was turned into a smoldering corpse by Celestia ordering her student to find and use a light-magical artifact--that should have been known to her as dangerous to any dark mages in the vicinity--even though she knew that Sparkle would be right there...well, that might result in some trouble.
In fact, if wille wouldn't have shown Celestia to be generally well-meaning (even if she seems to have problems seeing the pony behind the dark magical talent), I'd guess that this was her attempt at assassinating Sparkle. Really not her best idea.
6233027 Or maybe...she took it for herself? roundstable.com/forums/images/smilies/mlp_eek.png
i.imgur.com/B2GOcFn.gif
Purrrrfect
behind a confused and Scared dame
1. Extra capitalisation.
Sparkle saves an entire Empire, gets mortally wounded as a reward. Kinda. Tis the problem when magic on opposite ends of the spectrum collide.
6234977
Dammit, Cadence! Why'd you let the Elements trigger the Heart while Sparkle was in range!? And Trixie, why didn't you realize what would happen sooner?
6235127 I don't think Trixie really cares what happens to Sparkle in their world as how she was portrayed with all the encounters she has had with Sparkle.
She despises Sparkle because she's a necromancer not because of what she's done be it good or bad but because she's a necromancer.
Monsters are made, not born. In this case, would Sparkle be considered a monster? Personally, I hardly think so and would have to say that society made a monster out of Trixie. And the many others who also shun Sparkle because of who she is. Such is a sad fate with these ponies.
I'm also wondering but forgot to mention... With Sparkle's addition of Tirek's ex-soul weapon, could that date her hunger without draining souls? Or is that also another temporary measure?
6235300
Trixie doesn't care, you're right. But Cadence, Celestia, and Luna do; Trixie does care what those three think, thus by extension would never intentionally do anything against Sparkle, where there was a chance greater than zero that her intent could be proven. In other words, she cares about Sparkle to the degree she won't go to jail for murdering her.
6235333
I know, but for the sake of plot, it's easier to just ignore the minor ripples. I'm using a variation of "like reality unless noted," where instead of assuming that things in the story work like they do in the real world, I write it so that people assume that unless a change is explicitly mentioned, they can assume that the two timelines are identical in that regard.
6235533
The Death one is intentionally jarring, so it might not be the best example. He tends to show up randomly for a very specific reason.
Also, you left that comment at the tail end of the introductory arc, which is a bit more episodic than the later chapters.
And one last thing, the point of view mostly follows Sparkle. Things that surprise her will also surprise the readers.
From fear and foil the blood will boil, made of flesh the body may mesh, watch the skys for the end is nei.
The flesh will fade and fall away, while blood spills forth from the broken blade, beware beware for all your hope, for now it fade as you choke.
Now the loss is at hand, let you testamony stand, for as the fear and fire falls, down comes death to us all.
Oh god...
Well I guess that cliffhanger had left me waiting for more.
I suspect the culprit being Sombra's door...
6236016 I'm guessing Crystal heart
Nice to see Mina again, she's fun
Elderly Spike from a thousand years back? Neat.
Uh oh. I'm guessing that the acquisition of the last Book didn't go so well?
6235632
I don't know how to respond to this.
50% -what the flying fu-
50% - I love it
Okay, I've been staring at the cover for a while and I realised that sparkle's cutie mark looks like a crown as well as a skull.
Is this just me or...?
OH SHIT RIGHT THE CRYSTAL HEART D: