Broken: Life

by Knackerman

From Water

Spike Struggled under the weight of the many packages, bags, and books that towered above his diminutive form.

It was shopping day, and Twilight insisted on Spike going out into the town and visiting the shops in Ponyville in person. Unfortunately, Twilight didn't insist on coming with her assistant, and had sent him with a very thorough and extremely long list of the various materials she'd need for the week ahead. Spike knew full well that Twilight's time was precious to her, and that the hours spent in her library studying were for the good of Equestria, but he thought it was kind of suspicious how she always seemed to get really busy right before chores needed to be done.

Well, unless it was something to do with staying in the library, like re-shelving day.

The purple dragon wasn't as bitter as he might otherwise be, however. For once he was not alone in carrying out his assigned tasks, and had an assistant of his own. Of a sort...

"Here Spike, let me help you with those," an aura of turquoise colored magic enveloped the various packages as Starlight Glimmer took some of the weight off of Spike's hands. Indeed, a small nimbus of bags and items floated around the pink unicorn. Where another pony might have struggled as much as Spike under the weight of the many supplies, even when using their magic, Starlight seemed to handle the task effortlessly. Not for the first time Spike found himself thinking how very glad he was that she was on their side now.

"Thanks Starlight!" he said brightly, "Those rolls of parchment are murder on the lower back." He added as he leaned backwards, popping his spine painfully.

"It's no trouble at all Spike, I'm glad to be of help." replied Starlight with a smile. And she was glad too. Starlight had been in a really good mood since their last trip to the Crystal Empire. "So what's left on the list?"

"Well, lets see," Spike grabbed a particularly over stuffed saddlebag from the nimbus of supplies that floated around Starlight. As soon as he touched the satchel, Starlight's magic faded from the bag and it fell heavily onto the dusty road, dragging Spike down with it. He giggled a bit self consciously, before rummaging around inside the bag and pulling out a roll of parchment that was extremely long once unfurled. He traced a single claw down the margin of the shopping list, "I think that's just about everything but new quills. We'll probably want to stop by the ink shop on the way there. If we're low on quills now we'll probably be low on ink by the end of the week and-"

Before Spike could finish his thought something swooped down from the sky with the heavy burlap sound of a parachute popping opening, and scooped him up without another sound. Starlight had almost no time to react before Spike and the creature that had taken him were already wheeling back up high into the sky. "Spike!" she called, letting the shopping bags and packages fall all around her, ignored and forgotten.

"H-he-help!" called Spike, his voice already dwindling into the distance. Starlight's horn flared as she fired a beam of magic. The beam struck home, but bounced off of the well polished armor of the flying creature. The spell ricocheted into the thatch of a nearby house, coating the roof in a layer of frost. It had been a miracle that she had managed the shot, as the dwindling pair, snatcher and snatchy, were already moving far out of range.

"Oh no you don't!" some of the old fire came back to Starlight's eyes as her entire body was enveloped in the glow of her magic. She exploded like a bullet from a gun, sending up a cloud of dust from Ponyville's dirt road as she rose into the air like a firework. As she levitated herself, she started firing a hail storm of magic beams, filling the air with sizzling magic that streamed around the fleeing creature like shooting stars. The kidnapper swooped and dived, dodging the beams that it's armor couldn't deflect, and soon all of Ponyville was in chaos from the sheer amount of magical mayhem in the sky above.

However, the creature couldn't dodge forever. A glancing blow caught one wing, causing the appendage to freeze mid flap. The kidnapper did their best to stay aloft, but lost altitude quickly, crashing through the roof of the Ponyville Bowling Alley. Starlight hovered in the air above the smoking hole for a moment, before lowering herself down into the buildings interior. Inside all was pandemonium. The usually somewhat lazy bowling pony's were running back and forth, trying to find the nearest exit. The owner of the bowling alley was angrily shouting some choice words about his roof as a trio of regulars were trying their best to kindly lead him out.

Spike lay dazed on one of the abandoned lanes, the creature crouched over his prone form as if guarding a treasure. As Starlight watched the dragon, as now she could see the beast unmistakably was, shook the ice from her wing with a mighty crash and glared across the dust filled bowling alley at Starlight. "How is it that you fly without wings?" the dragon asked with a rasping growl, clealy only barely holding her anger in check to ask the question.

"It's a lovely story, involving the combining of an ancient levitation spell with a translocation spell, and more than a little manipulation of my surroundings with simple telekinesis," replied Starlight conversationally. "I'd love to tell you all about it over a nice hot tea and maybe some scones, just as soon as you get the buck away from my friend!"

"I don't have time for this pony," the dragon almost spat the last word, as though ponies had given her some trouble before. "Spike needs to come with me, and he needs to come with me now! Stay out of our way or you'll regret it!" Her tail thumped on the bowling lane for emphasis, cracking and splintering the hard polished wood.

"I'm afraid I can't just let you swoop in and snatch away Twilight's assistant. Now why don't you just calm down and-" but before she could finish her sentence, a massive gout of flame shot from the dragons throat, sweeping across the bowling alley. Starlight got up a shield just in time, but as the flames drew closer they dissipated into a wall of smoke. Starlight coughed and her eyes watered as the smoke wrapped around her barrier. Though it was difficult to see, Starlight could hear the flap of the dragons wings as she took to the air again.

Starlight shot up out of the hole in the roof after her, and as tears cleaned the last of the smoke from her eyes she could see the armored dragon dwindling into the distance once more, Spike's unconscious body wrapped in her tail. "It's not polite to interrupt," Starlight yelled, sending a beam of magic into a nearby cloud. The cloud swelled and darkened as the magi fed into it, and though it was mid-summer, it began to sleet. Shards of ice rained down in the dragons path, pelting her armor and wings, coating her in ice and forcing her to the ground again.

This time she had landed heavily next to Town Hall, in the middle of Ponyville's town square. Pony's fled from the sudden crash, unsure if it was another monster attack, or who knew what villain invading Ponyville again. The townsfolk cowered in nearby shops and houses as Starlight settled down next to her fallen foe, the levitation spell fading gently.

The dragon was in an almost perfect statue of ice. Starlight paused to admire her work, before preparing the spell to heat up the frosted Spike. She needn't have bothered. With a thunderous roar of flames, the ice shattered.

The dragon within a cloud of steam that had recently been ice turned on Starlight, her eyes blazing with fury. "You just can't take a hint can you!?" The words thundered across the sky as they buffeted Starlight backwards. Waves of force tore through the air around her. Dust and stone tumbled into the wind, flagpoles bent and broke, and the statue portion of a nearby fountain crumbled and fell into so much broken stone.

Starlight was only spared from being sent flying into the distance by the timely intervention of another shield spell. "While it has been said I'm something of a slow learner, I think it's you that's having a hard time taking a hint," quipped Starlight, the magic of her horn flaring. "I'm not letting you take Spike without a fight!"

This caused the dragon to straighten her posture and adopt a more regal stance, "I am Princess Ember, Dragon Lord of the Dragons of Equestria!" and she looked every inch the regal monarch she claimed to be despite the rough treatment she had received so far, sunlight glinting like gold off of her armor. "Who are you to deny me!? Who are you to stand in my way!?"

"Oh boy," muttered Starlight to herself before answering, both because she was realizing now just how much trouble she was likely in and how this was obviously a misunderstanding that would undoubtedly turn out to be her fault somehow. "I am Starlight Glimmer, former pupil of Twilight Sparkle... And apparently fighter of Princesses. I don't suppose there's any way we could-?"

"Then have at you!" Starlight realized she had made a mistake when the dragons claws tore through her shield like tissue paper. She didn't know what spell or enchantment were on the metal gauntlets Ember wore, but it made mincemeat of her spell work. She dodged several swipes before putting another shield between herself and Ember just in time to intercept a gout of flame. The fire once again dissipated to smoke, obscuring Starlight's vision. She didn't see Ember's tail whipping around her shield until it was smashing into her face. "Stay out of my way!" Ember roared.

Starlight felt her hooves leave the ground, and found herself splashing into the nearby fountain. The cold water was shocking, but not as shocking as the pain that lanced through Starlight's side. She'd been thinking about just giving up and getting Twilight, but now Ember had hurt her. Starlight had been making a lot of progress keeping her temper under control, but just now she didn't care if she was in the wrong. She'd been hurt, and she planned on hurting the dragon back, Princess or no Princess. "In for a penny, in for a pound," she muttered to herself as she reached out with her telekinesis.

Chunks of the broken statue and splintered flagpoles rose into the air. Starlight allowed herself a cruel smile before sending the make shift missiles whistling through the air at her foe. It was Ember's turn to scramble and dodge. While it would normally take considerably more than sticks and stones to break her bones, with Starlight's magic propelling them, rocks and twigs became misshapen missiles that made up for their lack of accuracy with deadly force. They pinged hard off of Ember's armor and where they struck they left dents that bruised all the way through the armor and deep under her scaly hide beneath. Ember cried out, shocked that a unicorn could strike her with such force.

This was no time for games. the Dragon Lord opened her maw wide, sending forth such violent flames that the splintered wood evaporated into puffs of smoke and the stones melted to slag. The air itself seemed to ignite as the ground was turned to a molten slurry. The wall of flame swept toward Starlight, and belatedly Ember realized she may have over done it. A molten tidal wave threatened to wash over Starlight, and the resulting immolation would more than likely spread quickly through the cottages of thatch and wood that lay behind her. Ember may have been in a rush, but it wasn't her intention to harm Ponyville or it's citizens. Truthfully, not even this frustrating unicorn that was doing everything in her power to stop her.

A look of panic seized Starlight's face as she looked up at the fast approaching doom. Fortunately, as she took a step backwards, her hooves splashed through the water of the fountain, reminding her of where she was standing. Concentrating, tendrils of water rose up around Starlight like tiny water spouts. Not just from the fountain, but also from the nearby stream that passed partially through the town square. The wave of flames was met by an equally massive wall of water. The two flashed into steam that blanketed the town square

The resulting fog obscured much of the rest of the battle, but beams of magic and flashes of flame still illuminated the cloud from within.

Spike groggily got to his feet. It took him a moment to get his bearings. One moment he'd been shopping with Starlight, the next he'd been hurtling through the air and into the roof of the bowling alley. Though the steam obscured his vision, it didn't take long for him to realize where he was. The hazy form of Starlight and a dragon silhouette, that looked suspiciously familiar, were still fighting not far from where he stood. The fight had moved from in front of Town Hall, to the bridge that spanned the now empty stream. The water that had been in it floated around Starlight, countering the dragons flames. The pair seemed to be equally matched. As a patch of fog drifted away in a gout of flame, Spike realized where he had seen that dragon before.

"Ember?" he asked out load. He ran over to the bridge, but the unicorn and the dragon were so intent on their fight with the other, that they didn't even notice his arrival. "Starlight! Ember! This has got to be a misunderstanding! That's enough you guys!" A gout of flame singed the top of his scales and Spike had to jump to dodge an errant beam of magic. His claws came down on a sudden sheet of ice, and he lost his footing, sending him crashing down onto his tail. Spike clenched his jaw in pain and frustration, and yelled, "I said... THAT'S ENOUGH!!!!"

If Ember's words had been a whirlwind, then Spike's were a hurricane. The fog cleared away instantly, exploding in every direction to form a ring of clouds high in the sky. Nearby buildings buckled and broke, swept off of their foundations and sent sliding into their nearby neighbors. Neither Ember nor Starlight had time to react, and both found themselves pushed off the bridge and into the muddy river bed below. Both Ember and Starlight completely abandoned their fight as they found themselves shoulder deep in stinking mud.

Truthfully, they had gotten off light.

Spike looked around. He was surrounded by a ring of destruction. It was a miracle that Town Hall still stood. Even as the thought crossed his mind, he could hear the structure creaking. It hadn't been long ago that they had finally gotten the old building repaired. The building collapsed in on itself like a house of cards.

Fortunately it was a Sunday, and the building would be empty of public servants. Even so, He doubted Mayor Mare would appreciate the serendipitous timing of Town Halls destruction. Spike's eyes widened not just in fear, but wonder, "Did... Did I do all of that?" He clamped his claws over his mouth, just in case any more of his words might wreak further havoc.

"Just what in the wide, wide world of Equestria is going on!" It would take a lot to rip Twilight Sparkle away from her studies. The battle between Starlight Glimmer and Princess Ember hadn't been enough. The thunderous echo of it's conclusion, however, wrought by Spike's destructive outburst had reached even her ears far off in her library in her castle at the edge of town. The Alicorn Princess hovered in the air, the sun silhouetting her shape against it's bright disc. Her shadow fell over Spike, and for the first time in a long time Spike felt like a toddler again. A disobedient, naughty child, who had no excuse for his actions and no hope of making amends for his deeds.

Even if his mind were not frozen in panic, it would have been difficult for Spike to speak in his defense with his hands pressed so firmly over his mouth.

As Ember gave Starlight a hand to pull her out of the muddy river bottom, she turned her gaze to the angered Alicorn and gave a sheepish smile from beneath a thick layer of mud. "I might be able to explain, Princess Twilight..."