• Published 13th Oct 2021
  • 6,265 Views, 157 Comments

Ruins - TheMajorTechie



A thousand years is plenty enough time to forget. Yet there remains a story of a dragon, who lives among the ruins of a town...

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The City beneath the Clouds

"Fluttershy!" Spike rushed to the pegasus' side. "Oh good, she's still breathing. Zipp--" he looked up to the mare hovering close by. "You take everyone else on tour. I'll stay back and watch over Flutters."

"And me?" Discord's face filled the dragon's vision.

"You just behave yourself. Capiche?" Spike pushed Discord's face away. "Do whatever. Just don't... well... do chaos things."

"Yessire!"

Spike raised a brow at the saluting draconequus.

"Are you sure you're fine with being left behind?" Sunny cocked her head. "There's a lot that you probably haven't seen before."

"Mm-hm. I've already seen everything up to smartphones and computers before in the human world. I'm sure things aren't too far off from that here after several centuries. Technology sorta lags behind here compared to the other side of the mirror."

"That's--" Sunny snorted a chuckle. "--Yeah. That's about it, actually. But don't you want to see the architecture at least? You came out here to sightsee, didn't you?"

"I'll be fine." Spike waved her off. "I've waited this long to leave Ponyville, I can afford another few centuries if I have to. Right now what's important is making sure that Fluttershy's safe."


Zipp pointed a hoof at the towering structure above them. "And here, we've got the royal palace! I know you and Izzy have been inside it before already, and I think Hitch as well, but this angle really brings out how big the whole thing is."

She gave a heavy flap of her wings, sending herself careening upward toward the higher levels. "My parents always told me that this place was passed down over countless generations! Said that it always belonged to the pegasi since it was built. But--"

The pegasus vanished through an open window on one of the upper towers.

A thundering thud of hooves-on-stone marked her landing upon return, wings still splayed. She dropped the roll of fabric from her mouth onto the ground. "When I found some dusty old banners deep in the basement, I sorta started doubting that idea."

Sunny's eyes widened. "Is that--"

"See for yourself." Zipp smirked, tapping the roll with a hoof. It unrolled partway; just enough to see the stylized forms of two alicorns.

"There's more?"

Zipp nodded, unrolling the tapestry further. Beneath the old Equestrian flag was Twilight Sparkle.

"The manufacturers told me that I had to change them all to pegasi before I could put it on a scarf," Pipp added.

Hitch rolled his eyes.

"Can... can I--"

"Keep it," Zipp nudged the edge of the tapestry with a hoof. "There's several more in storage just like it."

A dim, sputtering glow enveloped the tapestry. Sunny's eyes shot to the struggling Izzy beside her. "Izzy?"

Izzy shot a pained smile in response. Stray sparks shot off in every direction from her horn, lighting up the moonlit path around beneath them.

"Izzy!" Sunny gasped, eyes growing wide. She took a tentative step closer to her friend. "Izzy, your horn! What's happening?!"

"...Mm...hmm..." Izzy stammered. The light at the tip of her horn intensified into a brilliant pale-blue glow. "St-stand... back..."

"Wha--"

A solid beam of mana burst from Izzy's horn.


Fluttershy stirred.

"Fluttershy?" Spike nudged her hoof. "Is that really you?"

The mare kept her eyes clenched shut, curling her tail against her chest. She brought her wings up over her face.

A quiet whisper escaped her. "Did I do it?"

"Yes, you certainly did." Discord smiled, wrapping himself around her. "You finally found your body."

Fluttershy unfurled her wings as she stood up. She took a deep breath, keeping her eyes shut the entire way through.

One eye opened. Then the other. She peeked at Discord, then at Spike. "I did it!" A smile crept across her face. "Yay!" She peered at her wings, giving them an experimental flap. For a split second, a dragon's wing flickered into existence over her regular ones.

She frowned.

"Now now, Flutters, don't you worry if it's imperfect!" Discord exclaimed. A flash of light later and a giant talking eraser was standing in his place. "We all mess up sometimes. And besides, you're closer than you've ever been before!"

"It's definitely good enough if you're shooting for that pony look." Spike shrugged. "I wonder why you only managed to do it now..."

A quiet pop sounded from Discord.

"Eheh." The draconequus chuckled, placing the cork back in his horn. "My, is it just me, or does anyone else feel like a shaken bottle of soda?"

Spike raised a brow.

Fluttershy raised a hoof.

"Good, it's not just me." Discord stuffed another cork into his ear. "Excuse me for a moment."

He vanished with a puff of confetti. A distant explosion rumbled through the air moments before the draconequus returned, now thoroughly covered in soot.

"Well then," Spike stood up. "Now that that's done and over with, we should catch up with the others."

Fluttershy nodded, raising a hoof and... lowering it again. She cocked her head, letting her mane fall over her eyes.

Discord knelt down beside her. "Is something wrong?"

"I... can't turn back."

"I mean, you don't have to stay a draconequu--"

"I can't turn back." Fluttershy grew a little louder, relenting for a moment from her outburst as she shook her head. "Something feels... stuck, I think."

Spike glanced at Discord. A bright flash of pale-blue light shot through the room.


"Izzy!" Sunny caught her friend as she fell unconscious. "Izzy, are you okay?"

A stray spark arced from the unicorn's horn to the walkway beneath them.

"Okay, what is going on?" Hitch tore Timby off his head again, much to the chagrin of the terrified timberwolf pup. "In a single day, we've run into a dragon who was old enough to remember when magic disappeared, met a shape-shifting trickster and his absolutely ancient friend, watched said friend turn herself into a pegasus, and now this?"

He stomped up to Sunny. "How much more dangerous will this all get? Is this what the world's going to be like from now on?"

Sunny shrunk back. "M-maybe?"

Pipp leaned toward her sister. "Should we--"

Zipp shook her head.

"Sunny!" Spike's voice yelled in the distance.

"Spike?" Sunny turned her head.

"Sunny... phew!" Spike panted, "What happened? There was this flash of light, and--" he paused, eyes turning to Izzy. "--oh."

"Do you think it has something to do with magic coming back?"

"...Maybe? I mean--" Spike pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "--Fluttershy said after she woke that she wasn't able to turn back, so there might be something going on there, too."

Sunny looked back at Izzy. There were still occasional sparks of light shooting off the mare's horn, though not nearly as much as there'd been before.

"We should get her into a hospital."

"Er--" Zipp cringed. "I don't think anyone around here is all that willing to treat a unicorn yet. Y'know, history of the bad blood between everyone and all that. We should probably lea--"

"I'm awake!" Izzy gasped. "Wow, that was a banger of a spell, wasn't it? Everypony did get out of the way in time, right? Or did I fry some brains with my crazy unicorn magic?"

A smile returned to Sunny's face. "No, Izzy, you didn't fry anyone's brains. You sure you're okay?"

"I... think so?" Izzy did her best to stare up at her horn. "I don't think I'm gonna try doing that again though. I'll try medium magic instea--"

"Nope!" Hitch cut in. "Nopony is doing any magic until we figure out what's going on. Izzy, I know you said you aren't hurt, but what if you are next time? Magic only just came back, and almost nopony kno--" He paused, eyes turning downward. A small, leafy vine had twisted itself up a foreleg. "--uhhh, Sunny? Any chance you know a thing or two about earth pony magic?"

"Congrats." Spike snickered. "Not only are you a critter magnet, but you've got some very green hooves now, too!"

Hitch rolled his eyes. "Figures I'd be the one. Still--if we can, we should try to avoid using any kind of magic as much as possible for now. It isn't safe. The last thing I'd want is for one of you to get hurt."

Spike caught Fluttershy landing in his periphery.

"...Yeah."