Purple Batteries

by Xutiepops

Harmony Between One

Only after another eight visions of the darling Rarity, did Spike finally find himself assisting Twilight again. He'd see in her in the strangest of places, and just after he saw her, he'd fall asleep in his own dream. Then, hours later, he'd wake up. He began to hate the pattern and decided that if he was with Twilight, then he wouldn't fall asleep so often. If he was assisting her, he would never see her again, and he'd go back to himself: The lonely dragon that simply found girls pretty when they walked by. His obsessions would stop and he'd be normal again.

Yet, he knew that couldn't be true.

As he dusted off a shelf with tired eyes, that's when he concluded he enjoyed the random acts of sleep way to much. Sure, he was one for naps, but not when they gave him three hours of the day. No matter his intentions to forget Rarity, she didn't leave. It wasn't her fault, it wasn't her magic.

It was simply the dragon that liked her, he liked her enough to where his mind took over his heart and dragged the silk unicorn into his obsessions. Which only meant one thing:

He'd never forget her.

He'd seen her everywhere, random books he flipped through, the reflection in his gems, the back of his eyelids. Of course, it only made him even more irritable than before. He believed that when dragons wanted something, they got it. But yet, he couldn't get rid of this mare.

So, as he cleaned books with tired eyes, he flipped one open and decided to try and get her off his mind by indulging in something else. Too bad for him, was that the book was just a big old theory and hypothesis over another myth mare.

Twilight ultimately refused to keep books she didn't agree with, so it was a surprise she kept the one Spike read. As he skimmed over the words -being to tired to read it- his mind ran with what Twilight would say.

"The fastest stallion alive would be strong and his wings would be huge to atone for his weight," the text said. Spike rolled his eyes, Twilight said mares had better body structures and she had imagined in a frailer pony with big wings.

"His eyes would be a dull green or gray, and they would creep around in the dark," the text read. Twilight would say any myth had a piercing color to their eyes, the mares was a red if Spike remembered correctly. And if he was a myth that would be bold and confident, then why creep around in the dark? Why not show off?

Even Spike became fed up with the books idiocy, at least Twilight applied actual logic and character to the myths. And she hated ponies! Well, hates a strong word, she just liked being alone with her assistant.

He was about to burn it for them both when he felt something on his shoulder.

He looked over and saw a small fairy-like pony. She had a light blue coat with rainbow colored hair, stabbing pink-red eyes and a proud smirk. She wore a red and black dress with red devil horns on her head. Her eyes narrowed on the dragon.

Before he could speak -being used to Rarity not talking- she put her hoof up and he closed his mouth.

"Sooo," she said with a sharp, masculine voice that even caught Spike off-guard. He was used to feminine girls, so seeing this one act so male-like surprised him. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance, "Oh come on! Your 'best friend' is just as masculine as me! Never seen the girl wear a dress once."

Saying as she was wearing a dress, it seemed that Twilight was more masculine than this pegasus whose wings stuck to her back. Soon, a cheeky smirk pulled on her face. Her eyes flickered with fire.

"Your a dragon, right?" She asked. He simply nodded, not questioning her. She only laughed at him. "Jeez! Some dragon! Don't even have wings!" She cackled and Spike brushed her off his shoulder.

"Dragon live for hundreds of years, really expect something as young as me to have wings?" He growled at her and she only chuckled as she flew up and sat on his shoulder again.

"Just kidding, wanted to see ya growl if I'm being honest." She smiled and he resisted the urge to push her off again.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" He asked as she flew in front of his face, a smirk still plastered on his face. Her wings weren't big and gracious as Twilight -or anypony- predicted, they were simply the size of every other ponies wings.

"Fastest mare alive! Would tell ya my name, but you don't need it. And I'm here to push you to your destiny! Fairy godmother and all!" She bowed and looked up at him to see he wasn't buying whatever she was going on about. She rolled her eyes and smiled. She mumbled, "at least you're smart."

"What are you really here for?" He growled, getting fed up with illusions and dreams and mares. He already knew he was asleep at the bottom of this ladder already.

She put her hooves up in defense, "Whoa there! Slow your horses! No need to go off and eat me." He just stared at her with slight fear in his eyes. She only howled with laughter.

"I-I'm not going to eat ponies ever, I'm a dragon but that doesn't mean I'm a monster," he said and crossed his arms, trying to ignore her laughter.

"C'mon, that's like, dragon code or something. Be the most vicious thing you can be! Hundreds of years and you're gonna sit by and eat gems? With how big you're gonna get? Please, now that's foalish." She said with a sly smirk and crossed her hooves like him. "I mean, dragons are awesome! Why give it up for a little few ponies?" Her eyes narrowed darkly.

"They've never done anything for you," she said sharply, only scaring him into silence to pay attention to her. Sadly, he couldn't help but say she had caught his interest. "They've called you 'cute' and 'adorable'. When you're supposed to be a big dragon!"

She threw her hoofs up and stood on her hind legs in the air, seeming like she was wreaking havoc. "We're the same, you and I. Thought as something lower than we are, thought as 'cute' and 'adorable', when we're stronger than the rest!"

Something inside him was telling him to agree. He was always called cute by any pony he came across, when he wasn't cute, was he? Or, at least, he wouldn't be cute for much longer. His teeth and claws were getting sharper by the day, his eyes became more and more reptilian, he was more and more angry with everything. Now, he was smirking in agreement.

Something appeared on his shoulder and bucked his neck.

"Ow!" He yelped and his claw flew to his neck, he turned to see a duplicate of the mare in front of him, only she wore a white dress and a yellow halo.

"Don't listen to her!" The angel cried before the devil scowled at her and she kept silent.

"C'mon Spike! Raise above the rest like the dragon you are! Destroy and control Equestria!" The mare flew up to his ear and whispered, "then you can have your Rarity."

As she flew off and next to the cowering angel his eyes widened in fear. Finally, he growled at the demon.

"If you think I would want to do that to Rarity then you're crazy," he growled. "She doesn't deserve to be taken and fearful of anything."

The demon stared in bewilderment and the angel next to her smiled.

"Look, Spike, as you see, I am my own downfall. So, I must ask something of you," the angel said as she finally got her turn. Spike only rolled his eyes.

"If it's to destroy you or something then no deal, I'm not a deadly dragon," he turned away.

"No," the angel shook her head and smiled at him. "You've proven yourself worthy of a lot of things. But the thing I ask is for me, as selfish as it is, I need your help."

She caught Spike's interest, "what is it?" He asked, wanting to get back to work after he woke up from the awful dream. It was a dream, what could it hurt to hear the silly pegasus-fairy out?

"Like I said, I am my own downfall. I need you and Twilight to free my from my curse," her pink-red eyes looked up at him and he could tell she was serious. This once strong and persuasive mare that made it look like she needed no one, was now admitting to something she couldn't do on her own.

"Dude, I need your help. Get Twilight to the Everfree, I promise It'll be worth your while, though if you want to prove you aren't a dragon, you would go without my payment," she said and her demon counterpart just cackled.

"Really? Gonna bribe him into the woods with that unicorn he likes? Please! She would never like a dragon like him, she's a scaredy cat, besides," the demon cackled. Her voice was a higher pitch and she batted her eyelids with an innocent look to her eyes, "I need a strong stallion prince who will protect me from the dragon!"

She turned to the two and just chuckled, attempting to get the words out. "She doesn't need the dragon!"

"Rarity exists?" He asked the angel who only cowered slightly, the demon laughed harder. She finally sighed.

"Yes, Spike. She's in the Everfree, I know you would go based on just that, but we need Twilight and you. And I didn't want to totally bribe you like that. But yeah, she's in the Everfree along with me.... how'd you know her name?" The angel asked and Spike was to lost on the idea.

One thing, he had no idea what the Everfree was. Then, he remembered it being the deepest, darkest part of Equestria. Just like how the towers in-between sat beneath Canterlot, holding the darkest parts.

He finally understood why she ran there, he finally understood that he needed to see her. But as he looked back at the now arguing angel and demon who claimed to be the other, he noticed his mind was just desperate. He swatted them away and growled at himself for believing something as foalish as that.

"Hey! He's getting away!" The angel cried and tried to fly off after him, when something pulled on her dress and she turned to see the demon with a serious face. "What are you doing?! You want us to suffer!?"

The demon shook her head and finally let got of the angel once Spike walked out of the room with a stack of books. "What I want is a price paid, not an early payment," she said numbly and watched the sun outside. A weak smile sat on her face. "Isn't that what we want? Nothing else to hurt?"

The demon turned to the angel who was staring at the sun. She extended her hoof to her counterpart. "We got ourselves, we don't need Twilight. We can see the sun without her! We can pay our debt!" Now her voice was desperate.

The angel eyed her hoof and almost took it before she turned away. "We don't deserve to be unhappy! We're smarter than this!" She cried. The demons expression softened and her eyes narrowed like daggers.

"Well, it really is too bad that despair seems to tear apart love and hope, isn't it? Don't you see! We have no harmony left, we tore ourself apart. Don't you want to be the same again? Try our way at harmony?"

The angel looked at her and turned away once again, tears streaming down her face. "You can't fit together puzzle pieces that don't fit."

The demon growled and pounced the angel, she disappeared.

Yet she didn't. The angel screamed as the demon who pounced on her was disappearing into her chest, as if it was a portal to someplace else. The angel cried as her dress turned half black and red, the other half was pure white. Her eyes were split, one was narrowed and the other was pleading. Soon, the dress flooded into black and red, her eyes narrowed and she smirked defiantly as the angel cowered inside the heart of disharmony.

"Lovely," she growled and chased after Spike. Once she found him, he was asleep underneath the window in the writing cabinet room. A pile of books beside him as the sun missed his body entirely. "Just like me," the demon said and chuckled evilly. "Only... still adorable."

She flew out the window, bashing it open and breaking the dragon underneath it out of his entranced sleep. He ignored it and shut the window, seeing the whole situation as a dream.

---

Twilight was suddenly proud as she finished a whole book on electricity. She smiled as she finally understood the painful basics that she could've just guessed on her own. She rolled her eyes and was determined to finally make a hypothesis or a theory over it in an empty notebook.

A notebook levitated onto the table in front of her, along with a pen and a ink holder full of ink. She smiled as she dipped the pen in ink and placed it over the empty, clean page. She stared down at the paper, about to finally do something with her life, she was about to create a theory and put it to use to further her education. But as the pen dripped ink onto the page.

Her mind went blank.

She slammed her head down on the table and groaned, worried to catch Spike's attention. Too bad for her, her best friend was busy cleaning dust from the shelves he had ignored in his sleeping frenzy. Twilight blamed it on his growth, even if nothing changed.

"What's wrong this time?" He asked, pretending to be interested. Yet he was still thinking about his dream from earlier, he had an unsettling feeling for the two duplicates of one. The angel seemed so desperate for his help, why would he dream something like that? And about a mare he's never seen? The pegasus clouded his thoughts.

"No matter what I do, I can read and read but for what? To build a super circuit that could light up all of Canterlot? That already exists, just with street lights," Twilight sighed, letting her friends words sit in.

Her life was hers, and he was right. She knew he was right. She should do what she wants to do, what she enjoyed. But something made it seem not so much fun. The idea that it wasn't endless, she could only do so much with myths before she contradicted herself and began to destroy her work. She sighed.

And feeling a ghost-pony around that only made her want to go outside didn't help.

She couldn't hide it from her best friend. With a year left, she didn't want to fight and fight with him. "What should I do? There's only so many myths I enjoy that I could go through. I could dig deep into every one until there's every question answered. I'm afraid that time will come before my time comes," she sighed and dropped her head back onto the table.

"I know you're right Spike, I know you are. I just don't want to one day regret this and realize how much time I've wasted," she breathed and turned to a tall bookshelf. She felt a hoof on her back push her towards the shelf, so she only went along and walked along with it. Spike only stared at her, waiting for her to talk some more and explain the situation.

As she looked over the shelf, she wondered what book she was looking for. But one book stood out from the rest, at the very top a book jutted out further than the rest. Spike made sure every book was pushed as far back as possible so that the ladder wouldn't get caught on them, even during his sleeping frenzy. Meaning the same hooves whom pushed her, had pulled out this book for her to read.

Instead of using her wings and alerting her metal shell, she used her horn and alerted her metal shell. She ignored it and the book dropped to the ground with a thud!

Even Spike was caught out of his trance to look down at it, even if he couldn't really see it from his place high up on a ladder. Though, Twilight knew the book.

A picture of a jagged tree with a white ribbon wrapped loosely around it stood on the green cover. The tree was a dark brown and the ribbon popped. The words, 'The Everfree Lies Beyond,' cut into the ribbon, blending into the general darkness of the book.

Twilight picked up the book and dropped it on the table. She didn't question what she was doing, though she wasn't thinking. She turned open the book a few pages and started on the first page she read. She became entranced and nothing would break it. Her brows furrowed in concentration and tried to battle a migraine as she used her magic to turn the page. She couldn't stop.

Spike only smiled from afar and jumped off the ladder. He knew she wouldn't put it down until it was read or until she passed out. But he had never seen her this concentrated in the last few months that she tried and tried to get through electricity, only to finally finish one book. He smiled and left the room, happy she would finally go along to her happiness, even if it meant regret, even if it meant fear. She would do what made her happy now, the future was forgotten and the present was being lived.

Except that the second he left she slammed the book shut and rolled her eyes. Of course, Twilight could never think in the present, could any inventor, scientist, researcher really invest in anything but the future?

She had made the telescope after all, she had proved theories wrong with her own. Everything was about the future! The telescope was made to further science and to get ponies invested in renovating it. Her theories were made to be debunked as life followed on. She was a cog in a machine, working for a better future where they didn't have to worry of the future. How could she possibly care about her happiness?

She wasn't born for her happiness, she wasn't given a horn for her happiness, she wasn't given the ability to be the Princess Celestias student for her happiness. She was born for her parents continuation and the entrance to the new generation, she was given a horn from genetics, she was the princesses student to make something of herself, to show the princess she wasn't wrong to pick Twilight out of the class that one day.

None was for happiness, it was for others. Her life was for others, not hers. She even became a robot so she could help raise Spike.

Yet why did it sound so sour?

She was foalish, it only sounded sour because it was the truth, the truth always led to pain. She didn't want to believe that her extra chance was for her to raise Spike when they were the happiest years of her life. Yet they were, and they weren't.

She was unaware of a second chance, she just took up the Doctor's offer because of a old memory she didn't even trust. Then, she woke up to a dragon hugging her tightly and tears springing to one of her eyes and she hugged him back. Then she thanked the Doctor, and he stayed for a couple of days to help her get used to it.

Of course, she hated it, she hated being robotic and not being alive anymore. So, she distracted herself with Madam Future, which led to her love for most myths. And her interest in them.

Even if Celestia was proud of Twilight doing something for herself, Twilight wasn't. She felt guilty and her stomach churned at the thought. Once she confronted Celestia about this, the princess offered to make her research a book on theories, so it proved useful.

Twilight loved the idea, then she hated the idea. She loved it because it gave her whole year actual purpose. Then, she hated the idea of the criticism she would get, especially the judgments she would get. Then she loved the idea of the recognition, then she hated the flaws she saw in her writing.

Before she knew it, she woke up one morning with the book on her doorstep. She had to say, she loved it. It was exactly how she imagined it.

While being lost in her own thoughts and memories, Spike ran into the room, surprised and disappointed to see her not reading.

"Um, Twilight, you got a letter from the princess. That Doctor's wife is working the mail job again," he smiled and laid the letter on the table next to the book. "Saying as she didn't send it through me, I'm guessing it's official professional stuff."

He then left her to herself again. Something she didn't want. They had been so distant, and just for a second, she felt like they were normal. But hearing his distant, bored tone, she knew it wouldn't be the same unless she was the happy one.

She sighed and turned to the table and picked up the letter, using her magic to open it. She read over the letter and she cowered in fear as apprehension took over.

"Dear my faithful student, Twilight. I need to see you for an urgent meeting of Canterlot's state. I trust that no pony but you would be able to assist me in what I need. Please come by tomorrow."

There was nothing else, who knows how long with was in the mail? Especially with Derpy as the mail lady. Twilight looked to her window and saw the sun setting. She sighed and laid the letter next to the book. She turned away and trekked up the stairs, boredom and disappointment taking over. On her way up, she saw a book open to a picture of a pink mare with hot pink hair.

Twilight smiled slightly at the image. She shut the book and continued up the steps to the towers, to the kingdom, and to the fourth floor. But she sensed everything was okay and she felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Spike saw her smile, and he saw what made her smile.

A myth.

A myth that made Twilight start researching them, and a myth that would pull her back in.

---

Early in the next morning, Twilight awoke and snuck out past a sleepy dragon whom she didn't tell the details of Celestias letter to.

She flew down to the fourth and empty floor, destruction sat on her shoulder as she looked up at the books she'd never get to read. She hung her head in despair and let a tear escape her eye. She soon shook her head and sat up, she stood and started towards the entrance. She trotted down the stairs to a sight.

The kingdom was destroyed, papers were torn out of books and shredded. What once were houses were piles of papers topped off by book covers. Items sat across the room, an old bit, pieces of torn fabric, broken shards of glass sitting in piles of ink.

Twilight noticed a lack of books and finally noticed how everything was coated in ashes. She shook her head as she sat in realization, less realization and more questioning.

What possessed her friend to do this? What could make him destroy what he worked so hard to build? What could make him set fire and tear things apart? And why hadn't she heard it?

She turned to the cave of books that sat at the edge of the torn monstrocity. She so desperately wanted to go inside and check on Spike, but she didn't have to, he walked out with an annoyed look as he stared at the ruins.

He stood next to her, both silent. Spike seemed more tired than anything and Twilight was wide awake with fear and worry and concern-

She felt his claw on her shoulder and she turned to look at him. His pupils were sharper and he turned away at the sight of her scared expression, his claw dropped from her shoulder.

"Why?" She asked and forced him to look at her, though he couldn't meet her gaze. "You loved this! You spent so much time building it! What happened?"

That's when she noticed the inside of his cave. The blue blanket he always used was torn to shreds, along with many pillows as feathers covered the ground. Crumbs of gems covered the feathers and she saw an empty bucket in the corner that use to hold all of the gems he saved. Only one thing laid intact.

A picture of a white mare with purple hair. Twilight felt Spike tense under her hooves.

"I wanted to prove that dragons could get rid of obsessions," he said and finally looked up at her. He looked so scared. "T-t-t-that thing! She won't leave me alone! I k-know she's just a myth, she's not real! Every time I see her, all I do is make her cry and I don't want to do that!"

He grabbed Twilights hooves desperately. "Help me, I-I-I can't take it! I'm gonna lose my mind!"

"I-I don't know what to do Spike," she shook her head and sympathy fled into her eye. Spike looked for something desperately, he gave up and slouched, turning away. "I would tell you if I knew anything. B-but I barley understand dragons."

"it's fine," he said finally.

"No it's not," Twilight replied firmly and turned to the chaos he wreaked on his precious floor. Now it was more the ruins than a kingdom. "Just because I don't understand dragons doesn't mean I can't try and help you."

He grabbed her hoof. "Yes, it does, Twilight. Go off to your meeting with the princess, it's more urgent than a growing dragon who saw something... pretty."

He didn't seem to believe she was pretty at all. Twilight didn't leave, so the two sat in silence. Both waiting for the other to do something, but when the other didn't, they continued to wait.

Spike was the first to break. "I wish I could see her."

"But she's only a myth," Twilight said motherly and put her hoof on his cold, scaly back. He only sighed in disappointment.

He looked up at her, "Then why does she feel so real every time I see her?"

Twilight's heart caught in her throat. "I-I don't know Spike. There's no way she is real, I mean... how could she even be here?"

"I saw something else too," he said numbly, void of any emotion. "She was the fast one" -he couldn't bring himself to play specifics -"said something about her being in the Everfree, said I needed to help her too."

Twilight looked away nervously, her wings strapped to her back. "D-do you want to go there?" She was so nervous and anxious for his answer. He could tell.

"No," he breathed and she visibly relaxed. "I'm just getting desperate and I hate it. Being stupid must be some part of growing." He sat down and pulled his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them, and burying his head in his arms.

Twilight only smiled and looked down at him. "Stupidity does come along with growing, along with regret and embarrassment. Though, I wouldn't call this stupid, Spike."

He glanced up at her, curiosity getting the better of him. "What else could it possibly be?"

Twilight started trotting off as she talked. "Sending yourself into a downwards spiral, not wanting to hurt it, wanting to get away from it, putting time off for it." She turned back to him and smiled, at the top of the stairs down to the towers.

"I'd call that what makes you happy," she turned and trotted down the stairs, sure that her word had made the dragon feel better in some way.

That night, she returned, her mind a frenzy of disbelief and the third floor in even deeper ruins.

The bookshelves were charred and the books that used to inhabit them sat in ashes or torn shreds on the floor or shelves. The blue walls showed through the dark, ash covered shelves. The walls were charred and the icy blue floors were almost not visible underneath the paper, ashes, scorch marks, and random items torn to shreds. She stared at the floor in bewilderment as a dragon stirred in the cave. The cave was just a bunch of scorched books that would fall to ash the second they were touched.

She shook her head and cried.

"Why does everything have to fall apart?"

Author's Note:

Please tell me what you think about this story so far! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Comments

[Herrzog]

[Herrzog]

Gotta say I'm liking this so far. It helps that you take the time to edit it. Its really irritating when authors never polish their work before posting.