Crystal Tears

by Fillis

Chapter 1

A/N: I've been obsessing over Spilight, but one thing about the pairing bothers me; age difference. Spike is like, what, 5-7 years younger than Twilight? No big deal, really, when you think about it. My step-mom is 10 years older than my dad, after all. However, the thing is, the Mane Six have jobs, Rarity owns a boutique shop, is looking at marriage, etc etc. In the main story line the Mane Six are probably in their late teens, early adulthood, something like that. Where does that put Spike?

About age, I'd say, 12-15 by pony standards(though obviously still a baby by dragon standards). Either way he's still underage and a baby dragon. So technically, even if he and Rarity actually got together, it'd still be wrong. And, though I'm assuming here, dragons live for like a couple thousand years, so he probably wouldn't be "of age" until like... 500 years later. Twilight Sparkle and Rarity would both be dead by then. Which is sad. Because I support both pairings. I just happen to support Spilight more.

So this story is twisted so that Spike is about the same age as Twilight... like... 500 years into the future. Don't worry, it starts with present day to explain just what the hay happens.

Note, the beginning chapters are a little angsty. Also, there will also be a mention of AppleDash in the future but it's only one and it's very small, so if you don't supprt AppleDash you can easily ignore it.

This story is based off my personal philosophy; "Wishes do come true. They just happen to be the wishes you never meant."

Summary- Twilight Sparkle and Spike have a fight, and Spike says something he doesn't really mean. Angry, Spike leaves for the night to calm down and comes back the next day-only to find his wish came true.

--Chapter 1--

"Honestly, Spike, you're just going to end up hurt in the end."

"Am not!" The dragon crossed his arms defensively. "I'm sure she'll return my feelings!"

"Spike, you're a baby," Twilight Sparkle sighed. "Rarity is a full grown mare who is looking for Prince Charming in a full grown stallion. She'll always love you as a friend-but I'm not going to lie to you, Spike, she won't fall in love with you anytime soon."

"Says who?" Spike retorted childishly.

"Says everyone," Twilight answered. "Rarity has her eyes on that new stallion in town, Spike. "She's not looking outside of her species. Besides, even if you were a pony, you'd still be too young-just a colt."

"You're being very unfair, Twilight! You're saying just because I'm a dragon she'll never love me!"

"Well it's the truth!"

"I won't believe it until I hear her say it!"

"Why don't you move on to somepony else already, Spike?! She doesn't love you! You'd know that if you paid attention!"

"I don't care what you think, Twilight! Honestly, you can be so annoying! I wish you'd just leave me and everypony else alone!" With that, Spike turned and ran out the door, leaving a shocked Twilight Sparkle behind.

She watched the place Spike had been standing just minutes before, his words echoing through her head. With a small sigh, she lowered her head and used her magic to close the door. She silently walked into her bedroom, jumped up onto her bed, and lay staring out the window. Silent tears ran down her cheeks, upset with herself for upsetting Spike.

There was a sound of steps on the floor. She looked over her shoulder. "Spike?" Twilight knew it wasn't Spike, though. These were hoofsteps.

"A wish to fulfill..."

"What?" Twilight stared at the shadows. The... whatever... had started moving again. "Who are you?"

"Diamonds and crystal to reprimand- his wish is my command," the voice sang out.

"What?" Twilight stared to where the voice came from.

"No rubies, emeralds, or peridot-you must reap what you did sow."

"What are you saying?" she murmured, staring in the voice's direction.

"Colourless and clear to bone-five hundred years to spend alone."

"Stop!" Twilight tried to cast a spell, but found her magic wasn't working.

"Abandoned by thought, stray from reason-on your friends you do treason."

Twilight tried to stand up, but couldn't move.

"Bound by magic, stopped by fear-this is your end, my dear."

Twilight felt the tears fall. She was crying in fear, yet she couldn't move. Then she realized with a start that she couldn't move her legs.

"It's often the wishes you don't want that come true... Look down," the voice whispered and the hoofsteps faded away to silence. Fearfully, Twilight Sparkle looked down. She could barely see through her tears, but what she did see made her want to scream. She couldn't.

In the end, Twilight lay her head down, not even trying to stop her tears. She stared out the window, watching as everypony in Ponyville rushed to get inside before darkness settled over Equestria. Briefly she wondered where Spike was. Maybe, she decided, it was better that he was gone.

--Elsewhere--

"Thanks for letting me stay here, Fluttershy," Spike thanked.

"Oh, it's no problem," Fluttershy smiled, putting her animals to bed. "Though I don't understand what you and Twilight fought about."

"Don't worry about it, Fluttershy." Spike sighed to himself. "I've just got to calm down a bit. I'll go apologize tomorrow." His tone suggested he didn't want to apologize but he knew he needed to.

"Well then, goodnight Spike," Fluttershy smiled shyly, preparing a bed for the small dragon. She then flew off to her own room.

Spike sighed and curled up into his bed, thinking about his and Twilight's conversation from earlier. He didn't really understand why Twilight had gotten so defensive about it. Rarity was beautiful and gentle and kind... Spike couldn't so easily get over her, even if she would never love him.

He sighed again and snuggled down into the bed, frustrated with himself. "I'll apologize tomorrow," he promised himself. "Tomorrow.... is a good day... to... apolo.....gize..."

--Later--

Spike walked into the library and went straight for the kitchen. Yes, he'd had breakfast, but Fluttershy didn't keep a stash of gems, and he desperately wanted a gem salad. So he grabbed a couple of gems-a ruby, a few sapphires, and an emerald-and began crushing them to make his "salad".

"Twilight!" he called as he crushed the gems. "I'm back!" He waited for her to call back. When she didn't, he shrugged, supposing she was still miffed about what he'd said.

He grabbed a glass bowl from the cabinet and grabbed a spoon. Pouring the gems into the bowl, he glanced around to look for a sign of Twilight. He noticed their bedroom light was on, so he assumed she was in there studying.

The dragon picked up his bowl of colourful gem shards and began walking towards the bedroom. "Twilight, I need to talk to you!" he called, opening the door. He looked around for her. "Twilight? Come on, Twilight, I came to apologize!" He sighed, going towards the stairs to get to Twilight's bed. "Twilight?" Spike couldn't help but notice how quiet it was. "Twilight?" He felt scared.

He reached the landing Twilight's bed was on and looked at the bed...

And he dropped the bowl.

The bowl shattered, sending colourful shards flying everywhere. Spike paid the shattered bowl no attention. He stared at the bed in shock. It wasn't a good shock either.

"T-Twilight...." He quickly shook his head and laughed nervously. "Good one, Twi, I almost fell for it! Hahaha! You got your revenge, come out now.... Twilight?"

The figure on the bed didn't move.

Couldn't move.

Statues can't move-and that was what lay on the bed. A crystal statue of a unicorn, gazing out the window with a barely discernable expression of sadness.

Something told Spike that statue was Twilight. No matter how his mind denied it, he kept coming back to that one thought-that was Twilight laying still and clear as crystal. He didn't want it to be, but something told him it was.

"T-Twilight..."

----

Princess!

Something's happened and I don't know what it is! I waited an entire day just to make sure I wasn't jumping to conclusions! Something's happened to Twilight. She's been turned to crystal! Or diamond or glass or something! Please help!

-Spike

Princess Celestia frowned as she read the letter. She stood up and looked at her sister. "Luna, I'm going to Ponyville to check on Twilight Sparkle. Spike sent me a letter and I don't like the sounds of what has happened." Luna looked at Celestia and nodded in understanding.

Celestia smiled and gave her sister a hug before teleporting herself to Ponyville, right outside the library. She opened the door using her magic and strode inside.

"Spike?" She called, looking around. She heard footsteps upstairs and, at the top of the stairs, the familiar dragon appeared. She began walking towards him. "Hello Spike, I got your letter. I came to check the situation myself."

Spike nodded both his greeting and understanding. He quickly led the princess into the bedroom and up the stairs where Twilight's bed was. "We had a fight the other day," he said, "and I stayed the night with Fluttershy. I came home and she was like this. I-I thought she was just playing a prank, to get back at me, b-but..."

"What was your fight about?" Celestia asked, observing the crystal pony. Spike averted his eyes. "Spike? I need to know what words were exchanged. If this was caused by a spell, maybe-"

"It was about a certain pony I like," Spike mumbled, then quickly apologized for interrupting. "I-I'm sorry."

Celestia smiled at Spike. "It's alright, you're worried for your friend." She turned to look at Twilight again. "I know what spell was cast on her. It's irreversible."

"What!"

"Calm down, Spike," Clestia looked back at the dragon, who looked panic stricken. "It's irreversible, but temporary. It'll wear off in five hundred years."

"Five hundred years?" Spike felt like his heart had stopped at hearing that. That was at least an entire uarter of his life gone, maybe even a third. Was he really expected to grow up without Twilight there at his side?

"Yes, five hundred years." Celestia gave Spike a sad expression. "The question is who cast it. Nopony can cast this specific spell on his or herself."

"You mean... Twilight was attacked? While I was gone?"

"Yes. But it wasn't a hard attack. She'll live again."

"Live again? What do you mean? She's still alive-!"

"No she isn't, Spike." The princess sighed. "Twilight Sparkle's life has been frozen in the crystal. She is nothing more than a statue right now." She paused. "Spike, do you know if any strange shadows have been around?"

"Strange shadows? I never noticed any," Spike answered distractedly, staring at the Twilight statue. He couldn't believe she was technically dead, and would be for five hundred whole years.

By the time she woke up, he wouldn't be a baby dragon anymore. He wouldn't be full grown, but he'd be around the same age as her by dragon standards... Spike couldn't get his head around that. Sure he knew ponies' lives were a lot shorter than dragons', but he never expected to have to spend so long without her...

"Spike, in your anger, did either of you say the words 'I wish'?" Spike looked at Celestia and bit his lower lip.

"I... I think I did," he answered, glancing back at Twilight. "I said... 'I wish you would just leave me... and everypony else alone...' Why? Does that have some kind of significance to this?"

Celestia's eyes had darkened slightly. "I know exactly what-and maybe who-cast the spell. Finding her won't be easy, though. And still the spell will be irreversible." She looked at Spike. "Spike, if the crystal is destroyed, so is Twilight Sparkle's soul. You are her assistant. As her assistant, you're the first person I must offer to become guardian to her crystal. She'll need protection."

"But... I'm just a baby dragon."

"And a baby dragon with magical flames makes a better protector than a pony," Celestia explained gently. "You won't be a baby much longer, and Twilight Sparkle really needs someone who can protect her. I dare not bring her to Canterlot or the castle, in case the new palace ends up in ruins like the old castle. It would be too easy for someone to break the crystal."

Spike turned to look at Twilight again. Five hundred years was an awful long time... but... he felt responsible for her temporary... enchantment? Entrapment? ...Death?

He turned back to Celestia. "You can count on me, Princess!"

Comments

[Tast]

This is... Different. We like it. Please, continue while we enjoy it some more.

[Lium]

Rainbow has a job, she's a weather pony. It's only Fluttershy who doesn't have a job.

[hyourei]

Interesting

[Somebody]

I'm a big fan of grimdark, and sad/tragic stories. Normally, I absolutely despise pony romance/shipping stories. The only ships I read are all extremely uncommon ones that most people find to be rather unusual, like Pinkie and Discord, Twilight and Spike, etc. I don't read them because I think they're "hot" or because they're such a "kawaii OTP", but because I want to see how well the author can create such an unlikely relationship between a pair, while keeping them in character, alongside the other characters and their reactions to the pair within the story. This premise looks really interesting, so I hope you manage to do well with this.

The story has a lot of potential as a great coming-of-age story for Spike, and a role-reversal story for him and Twilight as well. Looking forward to seeing how you handle how Twilight's friends are going to react to never being able to see her again, and how Twilight will react to waking up five hundred years in the future and finding out that with the exception of Princess Celestia and Spike, everyone she ever loved is dead. Like, maybe they'll all be really angry with Spike at first, and then gradually come to forgive him or something.

Are you going to cover anything significant that happens while Twilight is in stasis? Such as Twilight's friends hearing about what happened, and maybe some interesting personal growth experiences that Spike has during the time he has to watch her?

[Rennes le chateau]

Perhasps a way to big and convenient Des ex machina to begin the story, but the premise is good. I really like Spilight ship and I'll be looking foward to read more.
But was was that abot "Canterlot may become ruins in the next 500 years"? I mean, come on. Buckingham's palace was built 300 years ago, Machu pichu was made 1600 years ago; Hell! The Roman Coliseum was made almost 2000 years ago, and they're all still there
I'm sure a kingdom as prosperous as Equestria can survive another 500 years.
Anyway. hope to know more about this soon.

[Obalie]

I like this so far. I am expecting more.

[Fillis]

1192875

Thanks for your comment I generally try to tone down on romance, but try to have it there nonetheless..

And yes, I do plan on covering significant happenings during Twilight's stasis. I think the story would be rather bland if I just skipped five hundred entire years, but I'll avoid dragging it out. Reactions and angst and life lessons, etc etc, will be included.

[Fillis]

1195314 Thanks. And yes, that's true, but none of these places have dragons, Discord, changelings, griffons, magic, etc etc. But the fact that Equestria is so prosperous and it's so unlikely that it will fall is why Celestia said "if". Of course we also don't know just how old the castle in Canterlot is, but we do know the castle from a thousand years ago in the Everfree Forest was ruins.

Thank you for your comment, and thank you for expressing your thoughts. I should have explained it better in the story. I'll remember to next time!

[Fillis]

1191999 Ah! Right! I got the two mixed up. Darn. I'm gonna go correct that now. Thanks for pointing that out!

[ALSilvertongue]

Hmmm, not bad technically speaking, I await more.

[Somebody]

1196634

Don't worry. I do realize what I'm getting into here. As long as this doesn't suddenly turn into some crazy, full on clopfic, I'm actually quite interested in seeing how well you can pull off a romance between these two.

[Fillis]

1203355 Ahahaha don't worry, I don't do clop I never liked those kinds of stories.

[Inferno demon Dash]

1196634 YES!!!!! My favorite pairing of all time, I myself really deslike Spike/Rarity so you'll never see me reading nor reveiwing that pairing but what I like most about this is that it's honest love and trust, not watered down or shallow or need for payback, you know for a fact that I'll be reading and awaiting for more of this, + = FOREVER!!!!

[Fillis]

1218959 I agree with the honest love & trust I will never like Sparity as much as Spilight, personally. Thanks for reading and commenting!

... Heeeey I think I know you on Fanfiction! Heheh

[Inferno demon Dash]

1219927 *High hoof* Buck yes, so glad to find another fan of the best pairing ever, I'll do whatever it takes to protect this pairng, want to help? And I always despised Spike/Rarity pairings, never a problem and yeah....name's Heartless demon wolf, but I'm not anything special

[Fillis]

1220140 Sure thang! I see

[Inferno demon Dash]

1220199 Bad ass.....hopefully you like my stories and are able to look them over and review if you ever have the time.

[Fillis]

Hey guys, just want to apologize for the delay! I don't know when I'll get the next chapter up, I'm just really overloaded at school now between marching band, one-act, AP Chemistry, and Advanced Mathematics/Trig/Pre-Calc...

[MLP BRONY 27]

GIVE ME AN M, GIVE ME AN O, GIVE ME AN A, GIVE ME AN R. what does that spell? NOW!!!!!!

had to do the cheer thing. hahahahaha... but seriously, moar now!!!!!!!

[Fillis]

1284144 I couldn't help but laugh at your comment :D

I've been trying to think of a way to do the next chapter, what with their friends' reactions but it's hard. I'm trying, but there's tons of stress in my life right now

[MLP BRONY 27]

1288709 well, i'll be waiting

[quentintin]

neat, cant wait to see what happens

[Inferno demon Dash]

1288709 Honestly can't wait for more of this, though it will be sad to see five of the Mane Six's lives end But that's life. 1284144 You again? DAMN IT!!! jk!

[MLP BRONY 27]

1824837 HOW DO WE MEET EVERYWHERE!?!?!?!?!?! jeez you are the person i meet the most on here

[Inferno demon Dash]

1824851 Tell me about, I keep feeling a shiver up my spine when I read a story and have a feeling that I'll see your comment on it and be like, OH BUCK! Nah, I'm gladto see my writing brother still reading some very well made stories, such as this one, measn you never allow anyone to tell you what to read or like, you know? Such as this pairing....BEST. PAIRING......EVER!!!!!

[MLP BRONY 27]

1824858 i agree wiyh that statement

[Inferno demon Dash]

1824864 True that, anyway, we better get off this fellow Spilight fan's story comments before he calls the Royal Guards

[Author of MADness]

Can't wait for the next one!
Go bronies!

[Smurf]

interesting
i look forward to reading more

[XineLegacy]

Feels a bit rushed, but this looks interesting. I'll follow it to see where it goes.
Wouldn't Celestia express some sentimental concern over Twilight's condition? I mean, she practically raised her.

And about the age difference issue, here's my theory on the whole thing. Spike is around 20, Twilight is around 24. Now, to many it may sound ridiculous, but hear me out. During the flashback in 'Cutie Mark Chronicles', Twilight is younger than the CMC in the show, right? And according to [url=mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Apple_Bloom]this, Applebloom is 7 years old. I take Twilight to be 4 in her flashback. Why? Because most peiple start school when they are 4. Now, I'd say that all of the Mane Six are young adults (18-25 years old) in the show. I put Twilight in the upper range of that (23-25) because she acts as their leader, not to mention that she is now a Princess. So that would put Spike at 19-21. Even if you take Twilight to be 5 in the flashback, it would put Spike at 18-20. Now, most people would say that's absurd because Spike acts like a child at times. My reply: Who says a 20 year old dragon should display the same general maturity as a pony of the same age? If dragons live longer than ponies, shouldn't they also take more time to mature, both mentally and physically? Besides, Spike has shown that he's pretty intelligent;he often understands Twilight's scientific mumbo-jumbo when nopony else does and, as shown in 'Hurricane Fluttershy', is able to translate it into plain English for other ponies.
I'd also put Rarity in the upper or middle range (21-25) because of her self-establishment (i.e. She owns a house, has a job). Sure, both Twilight and Rarity are older than Spike, but a 4 year difference is by no means significant to the point where their relationship is not possible. I ship Flutterspike, Spilight, Rainbowspike, Applespike and Sparity (in order of least to most favourite Spike ships) on the basis of this.

If you don't agree wih me, I can respect that. I just thought this would be appropriate to bring up.

Dragons live for a long time. But I think it would be safe to assume that some species live longer than others, right? Spike could be one of those dragons that only lives for a century, or one-and-a-half centuries. I thought I'd bring that up just in case you felt restricted by it (and I find that many authors do).

1191999 Fluttershy is an Animal Caretaker.

[Wurd]

3541872 this is incorrect.In Equestria Girls, they are around 15-17.And Twilight is actually one of the youngest.Fluttershy is a year older than Pinkie.The Spike thing, well I imagine him as around 8-10 years old.Do dragons really live for 500 years?(I'm really asking.Do they?) If they do, 20 out off 500 does seem about a baby dragon.But Spike is around 4 years younger than Twi.

But let's not think of how old they are.Lets just love ponies! ^.^

[XineLegacy]

3808794 Equestria Girls was screwed up. There were so many inconsistencies with it; I think it's not a viable place to apply logic.
CELESTIA
Co-Ruler of Equestria->Principal of high school

LUNA
Co-Ruler of Equestria->Vice Principal of high school

SPIKE
Dragon->Dog (WTH?)

The list goes on.

[Wurd]

3813135 as I said, let's just love ponies!