It was impossible. Absolutely, positively, one-hundred percent impossible.
Twilight couldn't have brainwashed him. Princess Celestia couldn't have brainwashed him. Nopony could have brainwashed him. Spike knew for a fact that he loved them and they loved him, completely free of any magical influence whatsoever. There was no question in his mind about it as he was pushed across town by Celia.
The shaman had to be lying.
That was the long and short of it, really. The shaman had to be lying in order to keep Spike here with Celia.
But why?
He had never met this shaman before his inspection. The shaman had no prior interaction with Spike to make him go and lie to keep him here. It made no sense whatsoever.
Or did it just make no sense to him because he was still brainwashed to love Twilight and the others?
Spike quickly sent that thought packing, horrified that his brain had even allowed it to manifest. There was simply no chance that his feelings for them weren't genuine.
And that was exactly what someone who was brainwashed would think.
Spike let out a yelp as he caught himself thinking about that possibility.
"Are you awake now, my sweet little whelp?" Celia asked.
Spike had spent the better part of the last hour and a half pretending to be asleep, although his stress levels had made it difficult. Celia had wanted to take him to the park to meet some children his age, but he was in no mood to meet them under these circumstances. He was missing an opportunity to actually meet dragons his age by faking sleep through the entire stop at the park, but he didn't care. And apparently Celia didn't mind much, either. After all, from the looks of it, he would have plenty of time to meet them in the future.
"Uh-huh," Spike responded, not looking up.
The Dragon Code of Honor had officially made Spike's bad list, as had his lack of impulse control. Both of them had collaborated to put Spike in this terrible situation. As little as he wanted to stay, he had made a deal with Celia, and even though he still didn't believe the word of the shaman for a moment, he felt an awful obligation to abide by his side of the deal. Although that didn't mean that he couldn't try to convince Celia otherwise.
"We're on our way back to the shaman," Celia told him. "Soon you'll take that potion, and all those nasty fake emotions for those ponies will be gone." Spike took a breath. It was now or never.
"Celia, look," Spike said. "I know we made a deal, and I know it looks like I should live up to my part of it, but I just know that the shaman isn't telling the truth. I swear that Twilight and Rarity and all the other ponies truly love me, and I love them. You're taking me away from my family. How is that any different from what those egg thief ponies are doing? Please, if you really care about me at all, you'll let me go home. I'll still come visit! You can even treat me like a kid when I come visit! But please, just believe me and let me go home."
Celia was given pause by this plea, so much so that she even stopped pushing the stroller. She stared down at Spike, looking pensive. Spike might have been young, but he held the advantage of being particularly persuasive when he really needed to be. In the past, he had really only used this persuasiveness to talk Twilight into letting him have cookies before dinner, but there was far more at stake this time. Although Twilight's chocolate chip cookies were tasty enough that Spike could practically consider having them taken away as a life-threatening situation.
"My child..." Celia finally said. "I do care about you, and that's why I can't send you back to them. All of this you're feeling is manufactured by the evil magic of those ponies. The shaman is trusted by the community to be truthful and forthright. He would never lie to us, especially in an event of such importance. And it hurts that you would compare me to those despicable egg thieves..."
Spike bit his lip. Just because he wanted to go home didn't mean that he didn't care for Celia in some fashion.
"I didn't mean to hurt you," Spike said. "I like you. Honestly, if I didn't have a family to go back to, I'd be happy to stay and be your whelp. You're really nice and a good mother. But I do have a family to go back to. I'm begging you, just let me go!" Spike tried his best to stay firm and strong during his pleas, but tears were starting to form in his eyes. At this point, he was willing to make just about any bargain to get what he wanted. "What if you come to live in Ponyville too? So you can see how much they love me, and you can be nearby to see if they're doing anything bad?"
"Absolutely not," Celia said, shaking her head. "I refuse to live around those who would harm us dragons so."
"You're like a million times bigger than them!" Spike shouted desperately. "Even if they would want to hurt you, do you really think they could?"
"They bullied my friend out of his sleeping place," Celia answered. "And he's a bit larger than I am."
"But the smoke from his snoring would have blocked out the sun for a hundred years!" Spike cried. "They didn't just kick him out for the heck of it!"
Celia hummed lightly to herself, looking like she was actually thinking this part over.
"He does have a bit of a snoring problem..." Celia said, contemplating. "Well, either way, I don't trust them. They brainwashed you, the shaman said it himself. And as the head of our town, the shaman would never lie to his people."
"But I'm not brainwashed!" Spike yelled.
"Then why are you so afraid of taking this potion?" Celia asked. "He said the potion would remove your brainwashing. If there isn't any there, then it would have nothing to remove, wouldn't it?"
Spike thought this over for a total of three seconds. For the first two seconds of that, Celia's logic made sense. A potion that was meant to remove something couldn't remove that something if it didn't exist. It was in that third second that logic won out. The shaman had lied about the brainwashing. Who was to say he wouldn't lie about this potion too? It wasn't just a possibility, it was incredibly likely.
"Here we are!" Celia said with a smile as Spike was pushed back into the opening of the shaman's cave. Spike struggled, trying to pull out of the stroller in a last-ditch effort. Unfortunately, the restraints were made to withstand struggling, and his efforts were in vain. He stared in defeat at the blank cavern walls as he was pushed along, frowning at the light at the end of the corridor that he knew to be the shaman's room.
"Ah, you're just in time," the shaman said to Celia as the two entered his chamber. "I can tell how much you care for this whelp and his safety."
"I do," Celia said. "I really do." The shaman chuckled softly, smiling down at Spike.
"You're very lucky to be gaining a mommy who loves you so much," he said.
"She's not my mommy," Spike insisted. "Twilight is." He paused. He'd never referred to Twilight as "mommy" before, but the more he thought about it, the more it fit. She loved him, cared for him, protected him, educated him...sure, she could be a pain at times, forcing him to do chores and the like, but that just made her fit the role even more. If he ever got out of this, he would make sure to let her know all that.
"I'm sorry the ponies have forced you to think that way," the shaman said, shaking his head. Then he looked up to Celia. "Please pass the child to me."
Spike attempted to escape as soon as his restraints were removed, but Celia was too quick and far too strong for him. He found himself held securely in her arms, limbs held tightly against his body.
"Perhaps I'll hold him instead," Celia said. The shaman nodded and reached up towards the nearby shelf, taking hold of a small vial of blue liquid.
"Now, open your mouth like a good boy," the shaman said to the struggling Spike. "I promise it tastes good. Like fresh-cut sapphires."
Spike did like sapphires quite a bit, but not anywhere near enough to give in. Instead, he took a deep breath, waited for the shaman to get close to his face, and spit on him.
"Small Scale!" Celia exclaimed. "That's very rude! I'm terribly sorry, shaman."
"No need for apologies," the shaman responded, wiping his face clean. "A child like him doesn't know any better." One claw came out and pinched either side of Spike's mouth, forcing his lips open. Before Spike could stop him, the potion was quickly poured into his mouth, the claw moving to hold his mouth shut. The potion did indeed taste like delicious sapphires, but that didn't make Spike any less resistant to drinking it. The shaman slowly and carefully tilted Spike's head back, ready to stop if he began to choke. Thankfully, there was no choking to stop, as Spike unwillingly swallowed the concoction down.
Celia watched the shaman's slightly rough treatment of Spike with an odd mix of disdain and relief. She didn't feel good about seeing him treated like this. Part of her even wanted to pry the shaman's claws away from Spike, her motherly instinct kicking into overdrive as she watched her whelp struggle. It was a heartbreaking sight, but she knew in her heart that everything the shaman was doing to him was done for his benefit.
Spike shuddered as he realized he'd drank the whole thing, then tried to pull away from the shaman's claws. This proved to be easier than expected, as the shaman seemed to have no interest in restraining him any longer now that he had drank the potion down. He wanted to gag himself and try to cough the potion up, but Celia still held his arms tightly. The potion felt warm in his stomach, and he could feel his arms and legs warming up a bit from it as well.
Then a weird feeling came over him. As he glared up at Celia, her warm smile began to get to him. Something about that smile warmed his heart. Why did it warm his heart? He tried to look away and focus on something else, but found that somewhat hard. His pony friends sprung to mind, and he tried to focus on thinking about them, but one by one, their faces started to fade. He desperately tried to grasp at them, but each one seemed to just wink out of existence. With each fading face, he felt a wave of unnatural calmness wash over him, until only Twilight's face remained. By this point, he had been mostly placated, but the fight in his mind and body kicked up once again, trying desperately to keep her from disappearing too. Try as he might, though, the effects of the potion were too potent. A tear came to Spike's eye as Twilight's face vanished from his mind. All that was left was the face of the dragoness above him.
"I-is he okay?" Celia asked, looking at Spike with worry. His initial struggles had troubled her, but his current utter calmness was almost more worrying.
"He is more than okay," the shaman said. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"
Celia looked down at the whelp in her arms. He stared up at her in response, his expression blank.
"Are...are you okay, Small Scale?" Celia asked.
"Uh-huh," he responded, a bit groggily. "I'm okay."
"Thats a relief," Celia said. Then she tilted her head. "Do you still want to go back to the ponies?"
"No!" Spike exclaimed. "Don't send me to the bad ponies! I want to stay here with you, Mommy!"
Celia beamed as she lifted Spike...lifted Small Scale up to her face, giving him a kiss on the forehead. It certainly felt like he had accepted her rather quickly, but that didn't matter to her now. She finally had her sweet little whelp.
whoa...
we need a dark tag here.
Why do I have the feeling that a certain Dragon God is going to kill a certain shaman?
HEY GUYS, LOOK AT THIS COOL SITE I FOUND!
http://listverse.com/2015/08/30/10-epic-ways-to-slay-a-dragon/
Well fuck.
To be fair, like 90% of the commenters called it.
Shaman gonna get so wrecked. I'm gonna enjoy that part.
I guess Spike will never know who his biological mother is...
This will not end well hope spike returns to normal and I really hope celia is punished for her actions what she did is unacceptable
I think I speak for everybody when I say, celestia, twilight, and bahamut better hurry the fuck up.
Oh Mister Shaman, you just made it to the LIST!
Is it too much to ask that Bahamut, Celestia and Twilight all skin the shaman alive; than banish him to the sun where he'll be flame boiled for all eternity.
Poor Spike
Hahahaha.... tragic.
"prepares for the shitstorm that is about to hit the fan"
Far be it for me to join in, but seriously, I am going to kill the shaman. I don't care if he's a dragon, this has suddenly escalated to Cult levels of "OH FUCK NO!!"
And it wasn't removing brainwashing, Spike would not FORGET about the ponies if that were the case. He would likely just see his experience in a different light, if anything. He would not suddenly decide that Celia was now Mommy, he would not REGRESS like that.
"Goes to look for every Dragon Slayer sword ever made"
6946773
Your comment and your avatar go together perfectly. I can't help but read it in an angry Pinkie Pie voice.
6946780
Okay then, you're going to need these... Give me a second... *Places swords on counter*
Here's Gram, a.k.a. Balmung, used to kill Fafnir...
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Sigurd_pr%C3%BCft_das_schwert_Gram_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpg/220px-Sigurd_pr%C3%BCft_das_schwert_Gram_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpg
the Sword of Truth that killed Maleficent...
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/9/95/Sword-of-Truth.png/revision/latest?cb=20140323160229
Dragonsbane and Erdrick's Sword of Kings from the Dragon Quest games...
dragon-quest.org/images/thumb/f/f4/Dragonsbane.png/160px-Dragonsbane.png
blog-imgs-56.fc2.com/k/o/u/kouboumirage/IMG_20120714_123629_convert_20120716143257.jpg
and here's Sir George's lance for good measure...
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Stgeorge-dragon.jpg
Let me know if you need more.
I started out liking this story but now? ...it better have a satisfying end or else it can freaking burn!!
As bad as it might be for whoever receives it, couldn't spike just use his dragon fire messaging thing on the potion just before he drinks it?
Twilight and the others are going to murder that shaman.
6946780 I give thee the dragonslayer katana from skyrim. Use it wisely.
And then the Shaman will get an execution or exile
When I'm through with dis shaman, 'e'll 'ave to pee sitting down like a little girl.
You know, Twilight's castle could use some sprucing up. Maybe she ought to install curtains, better lighting, a mounted dragon head above her mantle, maybe even a few throw rugs. Really make her house a home, y'know?
I do believe this won't end well, yeah I had the feeling that Spike is actually brainwashed, I mean, he's practically Twi's butler and somehow he stays as a child all the series. But anyway, I also think Twilight is not aware of that
I find myself honestly curious what the shaman's reason are for this. Not that anything he says could excuse it of course. If Bahamut and Celestia don't stop her, I'm fairly certain Twilight will skin the shaman of his scales, freeze the flesh underneath to absolute zero, then send him careening of the side of a cliff. And while that maybe be a bit excessive, the shaman would have brought it on himself for a crime this heinous. I'm just interested in what the testimony would be at his trial.
Thanks for warning
...
....
........
(Yes i am infact, mad. Maybe it's my own morals screeching in indignant rage at the thought of loosing your own free will, to be forcefully made to forget. Now that i think about it, the shaman didn't 'brainwash' Spike, so much as he completely 'wiped the slate clean' as it were. Honestly though? I can't imagine which is worse.)
It's going to end up that there is no counter hex and the only thing they know how to do is a potion to make them hate ponies, and that's what happend
6946808
The potion erased actual memories, and instilled previously nonexistent feelings of mistrust and fear though, in what way is that undoing brainwashing? This shaman is either a fraud or extremely incompetent.
If the shaman doesn't die in the next chapter I'm giving the story a thumbs down.
Yay! Hypocrisy all the fucking way! Let's scream that ponies brain washed Spike so let's brain wash him! This story is just getting...worse and worse
6946800 "stuffs it into the cannon along with Excalibur, Kusanagi, Balmung, and others and prepares to fire it at the shaman"
Yeah ... I thought the shaman was a crook before, but I wasn't quite expecting him to stoop this low. Remember how I said Celia doesn't deserve the Tirek treatment and I hope things can be resolved peacefully between her and the group (mostly Twilight)? Well, we just found someone who certainly does deserve the Tirek treatment.
Let the alicorns and the dragon king at him
At least on the plus side, we know that Twilight (ironically enough) is fairly well versed in mind magic (the "true, true self" spell she used to dispell Discord's influence from her friends sounds exactly what the doctor ordered for this situation) and Celestia has dispelled Twilight's mind-magic shenanigans from other ponies before as well. Between the two of them restoring Spike to normal shouldn't be an issue.
After a certain shaman is done being flayed alive
6946749 i prefer to kill dragons with the bones of their own kind... and i woul wear dragonbone armor if daedric armor wasn't better
Wow... I thought that the shaman would give the potion to Spike and nothing will happen but this... holy hell this is something... I'm going to sit here and wait for the next chapter, this is getting good.
..................I'm with basically everyone else
MURDER THE SHAMAN GDI
So this story is about to end?! NOOOOOO!!!
Shaman needs to burn.
I would say the story is slightly mistagged, any kind of brainwashing is very very dark. However I cannot say that it wasn't set up properly it was most of the focus of the story and the audience was introduced to the concept very early on. So yeah I can't fault you for that from a writing perspective.
I don't really like this latest chapter as I think it paints a bad image of the dragons in general(I was holding out for some sort of connection between Spike and the other dragon, like spikes egg was the one stolen from her or something since their colors kinda match up). I'm not even sure I really want to read the next chapter or not, I can't see very many ways that it will end and not be wholly unpleasant in some way.
All I can really say is that I hope you planned something out for the ending and you aren't just playing it by ear, I can't see that going well at all.
All, right, when the ponies come, let's see how the shaman's innocence fares with Spike's current lack of memory?
6946838 I agree completely with your post!
6946850
We literally DO know they were erased.
6946850
He can't remember the ponies faces......
The memories were either wiped (in which case then nothing can get them back) or suppressed
Why do I get the feeling that the shaman has more than spike brainwashed?
6946841
oh gods yess!!
s3media.247sports.com/Uploads/Assets/300/120/1120300.jpg
Oh god this has bad end all written over it.
I hope Bahamut kicks the scaly ass of the Shaman. And whatever is left be kicked by Celestia and Twilight.
Also, wow. Amazing way to stay out of the Darker zones of mind control but also showcase how absolutely creepy and vile it is. I applaud you.
pre14.deviantart.net/9983/th/pre/f/2015/050/9/3/spike_rarity_splash_by_hillbe-d8iq6be.jpg
WHO DID THIS TO A ROYAL WARD!
MY PRECIOUS SCALES ROYLITY ?
Wow, what they did is so wrong on so many levels, brainwashing a Child because they were afraid he was brainwashed?
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!