The ReIncarnation AU: From Space

by SweetToothTheUnicorn

Creatures

Spike glares up at the sun as though it has wronged him. The young dragon has situated himself into the the brightest part of the castle and was regretting it immediately. The stained glass windows, as always, are blindingly beautiful during the daytime. Seeing the many arcs of his friends’ lives always gave a feeling of peace that helped throughout these past two years since their lives have made an upheaval. Today, however, there is no real ease filling him in this moment. His eyes feel dry and the bags underneath them feel heavier than usual after pulling another all-nighter with Twilight. Two in a row can be common when in the Sparkle household, but the increased meetings the past couple days have really cut into study time. This had, of course, lead to a long back and forth between the two on Twilight backsliding into some of her bad habits.

“It won’t happen again, I promise.”

“Are you sure? You said that before and we somehow broke a record this time!”

“Yeah, I know, but I definitely mean it this time. Promise!”

“Uh huh. Is that a Pinkie Promise?”

Twilight stiffens at the mention of the most sacred promise to ever exist. He can see a small bead of sweat form by her twitching ear and the evasive movement of her eyes. Almost as suspicious as when they met her strange, overthinking future self.

“Well?”

“Ah... I... Uh... Sure, totally! It’s been great talking to you, Spike, but we really gotta get to bed before our first meeting! See you later,” Twilight’s mouth moves so fast that Spike can barely catch what she’s saying. Especially when he’s this exhausted.

“Wha--,” he goes to ask but, by the time his eyes turn focus back in, Twilight is gone. He blinks once, twice, and then groans into his hands, “Celestia, help me.”

Spike sighs at the memory as he rifles through a small bowl of rubies that an attendant had brought him. He takes out the biggest one that he can feel and takes a moment to admire it in the villainous, traitorous sun’s light. All of them are a beautiful deep red that has him salivating at the sight, but this one had an almost candy look to it. Flicking his wrist, the gem does a few twirls as it takes to the air and promptly lands on the dragon’s forked tongue before it can come crashing down. As he crunches through the hard exterior, Spike can’t help but laugh at the joy that bursts through him as the flavor hits his tongue. It’s so much sweeter than any of the apples or even the apple treats that were made from them. With almost complete certainty it could be said that this beats out anything that’s ever come from Sweet Apple Acres but he is smart enough to never let Applejack hear him say that. Not again, at least.

“Are they really that good?”

Spike is so ready to jump out of his skin at this new voice that his inability to leads him choke immediately. He hacks and coughs intensely, body convulsing like a cat struggling through a hairball. His eyes widen and tear up as he feels the shards shift against the thick, slimy coating of his esophagus---thank you dragon anatomy. Finally, after a build up to his saliva breaks down the small clusters of the ruby, Spike forces it all down.

The voice calls out again, “Oh my goodness! Spike, are you alright?”

Spike feels a cool hoof gently thump him on the back as he finally takes in deep, desperate breathes. Shakily, Spike wipes away the stringy drool that pooled between his fanged teeth. He turns to find a familiar yellow pegasi peering down at him from behind a thick mane of pink hair.

He croaks, “Fluttershy? W-What are you doing here?”

“Twilight asked me to come by to check in on you. Something about pushing you too hard and spending the day together so that you relax,” Fluttershy explains as her wing scoops up his glass of water from the table. She passes it along to him as she continues, “I’m sorry for startling you like that.”

He gulps down the entire glass and flops face first into the high quality carpet that lines the hallway. The cool floor feels like a relief after his body temperature spiked during his panic. Fluttershy, realizing that the younger was in a state, says nothing as Spike recuperates. It takes a moment of basking beneath the colorful warmth of the sun but Spike finally finds his brain catching up with him and turns to the pegasi with a confused look.

“Wait, you’re here to babysit me?”

Fluttershy’s brow furrows ever-so-slightly, “No?”

“You said that like a question,” he squints at her suspiciously.

“I don’t believe that’s what Twilight has in mind. She knows you’re not a baby anymore, but she did say that you needed a chance to relax.”

Indignation fills him for a moment, leftover feelings of inadequacy and being looked down on. Things he hasn’t thought of in so long but managed to worm their way in when he was half-awake. It’s only his delirium that keeps him from getting swept up in the negativity that he spent so long growing out of. This isn’t about being a kid or about how he needs to handle himself to not be treated like a baby again. So, Spike sighed heavily, letting the weight of exhaustion settle into his bones and ground him in this moment. Fluttershy's presence beside him was a calming presence, her gentle demeanor a stark contrast to his own frazzled state.

"Thanks for checking in on me, Fluttershy," Spike said, offering her a weary smile.

Fluttershy returned the smile, her soft voice carrying a hint of concern. "Of course, Spike. Twilight was worried about you, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah, she's been on my case about taking breaks lately," Spike admitted, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "But I guess I can't blame her. I've been diving pretty deep into these scrolls lately."

Fluttershy nodded understandingly, her eyes reflecting a mixture of sympathy and understanding. "It's important to take care of yourself, Spike. You don't want to burn yourself out."

Spike chuckled ruefully. "Tell that to Twilight. She's practically the queen of burning the midnight oil."

Fluttershy giggled softly, a melodic sound that lifted Spike's spirits. "Well, she does have a lot on her plate. But I'm sure she just wants what's best for you."

"Yeah, she always does," Spike agreed, a fond smile tugging at his lips. "But sometimes I just wish she'd let me figure things out on my own."

Fluttershy placed a comforting hoof on Spike's shoulder, her touch gentle and reassuring. "I think she just worries about you, Spike. You mean a lot to her."

Spike's heart warmed at Fluttershy's words, a swell of affection blooming within him. "Thanks, Fluttershy. You always know how to make me feel better."

Fluttershy smiled softly, her eyes sparkling with warmth. "That's what friends are for, Spike. And if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always here for you."

Spike nodded gratefully, feeling a surge of gratitude towards his dear friend. "Thanks, Fluttershy. I really appreciate it."

The mare comes to sit beside him, letting him lea against her as he goes back to eating his rubies. Neither speak as Spike closes his eyes to protect himself from the light around him and just soak up the warmth around him. The idea of getting to rest is

“She wasn’t sure that you’d do that because of some book she showed you? She never specified what book that is, but I figured that we could still make time for it after a bit of rest,” she says absentmindedly.

He sits up with a gasp, “I totally forgot about the smelly book!”

“Smelly book?”

He snorts at the memory, “Oh, you won’t even believe me if I tell you how bad this book smelled. It was like, like--- Okay, so I can’t explain it without being super gross, but just imagine the worse smell ever times ten and mixed with maximum B.O.”

Fluttershy visibly cringes, “Oh my...”

“Yeah! Real bad, right?” His green eyes look towards the tall doors that lead to the library path that he’d been thinking of for days. He’d almost forgotten all about it after the three-day study session and the reworking of meetings to even make it work. Both of them had been so busy that he’d likely

“I’m not sure if that’s what Twilight wants you to do.”

“She technically said that she just wanted me to take a break from work, right?”

She nods slowly, “Right...”

“And I think that reading a good book is a perfect way to relax. Besides, I can’t read the book she was talking about anyway. Doesn’t mean I can’t read some other stuff,” he gives her the biggest smile that he can.

She nods again, even slower, “Other stuff?”

“Twilight had given me some extra literature that was supposed to give me more context for later. So, I was thinking, that why not do a bit of looking around on my own, right?”

Fluttershy watches as the young dragon begins to walk backwards, moving further down the hall towards a plain door. The mare wasn’t sure where it lead but she had a good idea. Her head bobs once more as she stares him down, voice low as she answers, “...Right.”

“Right! Plus, I won’t be there forever. And I have a snack with me so I’ll even be getting a full stomach so I can sleep after! I’ll get all the rest I need,” he insists as he pulls the door open.

Fluttershy says nothing. She stares into his eyes, green on green, before taking a slow and evened blink. He can’t quite figure out what emotion is going through her mind or even decipher if anything that he said has made an impact on her. It makes him feel like he’s being picked apart scale by scale until he’s nothing but skeleton and the fiery heart that beats inside him. The heart that skips until, finally, the pegasi smiles sweetly and replies, “You’re really excited about this. Just what is so interesting about this book?”

“Well---,” Spike finds that his tongue gets stuck to the top of his mouth and stops him from explaining.

He grunts and fumbles as his hands instinctively moving to pull at his lower jaw in terror. He can’t speak, he can’t speak, he can’t speak! Spike's panic intensified as he struggled to pry his mouth open, his fingers clawing desperately at his jaw as if trying to break through an invisible barrier. His breath came in short, sharp gasps, each one a painful reminder of his inability to speak. But just as he felt himself teetering on the edge of despair, a strange sense of calm washed over him, enveloping him in its soothing embrace.

In that moment of clarity, the world around him seemed to shift and warp, the familiar surroundings of the castle melting away to reveal a vivid tapestry of images that danced before his eyes.

The library stretched out before him, its towering shelves laden with ancient tomes and dusty scrolls, each one whispering secrets of times long past. His gaze was drawn inexorably to a distant corner, where a single book lay nestled amidst a sea of forgotten knowledge.

As he watched, transfixed, the journal seemed to come alive before his very eyes, its cover adorned with symbols that pulsed and shimmered with an otherworldly energy. Stars, moons, and swirling mist swirled in a mesmerizing dance, drawing him ever closer with their tantalizing promise of hidden truths.

But just as quickly as the vision had appeared, it vanished, leaving Spike standing alone in the corridor with Fluttershy at his side. He blinked, trying to make sense of what he had just witnessed, but the memory slipped through his fingers like grains of sand, leaving only a lingering sense of wonder in its wake.

Fluttershy's voice broke through his reverie, her concern evident in the gentle cadence of her words. "Spike, are you alright?"

He nodded slowly, his mind still reeling from the intensity of the vision. "Yeah, Fluttershy, I'm okay," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. But deep down, he knew that what he had just experienced was far from ordinary—it was a glimpse into a world of magic and mystery, a world that he was determined to explore.

She tilts her head and asks, “Are you sure?”

“Yes! And I know exactly what I want to read! C’mon, let’s go!”

“Wait, what’s the rush?”

Spike makes no move to answer as he runs through the corridor to the library within. Eyes focused ahead of him as blue fills the area, but he’s staring down the corner he’d seen in the vision. It had to of been that corner. He quickly rummages through the files, books, scrolls, and dusty maps that are half-rolled up. He digs and digs until he finally, finally he pulls the book that he had seen in his vision.

---

Star Swirl the Bearded, a legendary figure in Equestrian history, loomed large in the annals of magic. He had been born to two earth ponies, a set of squash and onion farmers, and had not been allowed any form of education for most of his formative years. His unicorn birth having made him a social pariah in his predominantly earth pony town and colony, forcing his parents to keep him sheltered away. However, born with a large and prominent horn, magic came readily to the young Star Swirl.

Self-study and experimentation were all that Star Swirl had for many years. He developed many new spells and potions that were unlike anything that Equestria has ever seen. They helped his family’s crops flourish, they saved the colony from a terrible drought, and created spectacular sights that dazzled them all. Many sought out his skills for personal means and it is said that there is no spell or potion that he couldn’t craft. There were many who feared his potential and even more that envied his natural talents. Celestia, after witnessing one of the many showcases that the unicorn performed to attract new clients, took him under her wing.

Much of his time was spent studying the work of the Princesses throughout their various cycles. Things they’d learned and created in the hundreds of thousands of years; his days were spent trying to absorb these findings to the best of his ability. They allowed him to hone his craft to the best of his ability and ready himself to take up the role of King one day. Unlike many before him, Star Swirl cared little for royal life and had sought out allies to act as a council around him. Their names hold no weight to time but they took care of many matters while Star Swirl focused on much of the chaos that existed throughout Equestria.

Though he was not bestowed with the traditional horn of a unicorn, for his was longer and bore strange deep markings across it, his mastery of arcane knowledge rivaled even the most skilled spellcasters of his time. Alongside the Pillars of Old Equestria, a group of esteemed companions he had befriended and collaborated with, Star Swirl dedicated his life to safeguarding the realm. In an era before the last ascension of Princesses Celestia and Luna, Star Swirl and the Pillars worked tirelessly to maintain peace and harmony throughout the land. Together with Stygian, a once trusted ally turned adversary, they faced countless threats and challenges, utilizing their combined wisdom and strength to protect Equestria from the forces of darkness.

Yet, their greatest trial came when Stygian fell victim to the corrupting influence of dark magic, sowing discord and chaos in his misguided quest for power. In a desperate bid to save the kingdom from destruction, Star Swirl and his companions made the ultimate sacrifice, sealing themselves away to contain the spreading darkness.

---

With a sigh, Spike closed the book, feeling somewhat underwhelmed by its contents. "What's the point of reading all this again?" he muttered to himself, running a clawed hand through his spines.

But then, as he reached to return the book to its shelf, something caught his eye. A faint shimmer, almost imperceptible, danced across the surface of the pages. Frowning, Spike leaned in closer, his curiosity piqued.

"There's something... off about this," he murmured, flipping through the pages again.

“What’s wrong?”

Spike turns to see Fluttershy peeking over from the edge of the bookshelf, a small book balancing on her wing. From what he can tell it is filled with remedies and identifications of different herbs. It wasn’t too dissimilar to the types of books that Zecora had leant her in the past from what Spike could tell. He turns to show her the book in his hands.

“Can you come look at this?”

Fluttershy maneuvers around the stacks of papers till she comes to stand beside the dragon. Her eyes scan over the page quickly before turning back to him in confusion.

She asks, “What’s wrong with it?”

Spike taps at the pages insistently, “This is just the normal tale of how Star Swirl and the Pillars dealing with Stygian. Just in different wording. Why would it be added onto this retelling of his life?”

“A lot of history books do that, Spike. They’re written and rewritten by different ponies,” the mare explains.

“I know, I know. Just... This seems so weird when I...” He looks down at the book once more with a saddened grimace on his face as he whispers, “There’s more to it. I know it. I wanna know more. I wanna know the truth!”

“Well, maybe-- Oh my goodness!”

The book lights up in a blinding light and the pages from before begin flipping rapidly back and forth. A hum fills the air as the sentences begin to shift, meld, and change before their very eyes. The two lean in close as the light slowly dims into nothing and they are greeted to a whole new segment. It seems almost like the after thought from how it’s placed at the back of this book.

---

Ponies of Equestria had long since begun to develop strangely as they became more ingrained in the magic that Celestia and Luna brought. Pegasi were given the ability of flight in not just their wings but in their bodies, allowing them to manipulate clouds and the weather as they went. Earth ponies found themselves with impressive strength and stamina that was unmatched by all others, uniquely attuned with the elements to an almost extreme extent at times. And, of course, unicorns were blessed with the strongest magic that was not limited to their normal abilities but instead their imagination. Many ponies intermingled and found love after a time and their children began to show signs of minor mutations that worried Celestia greatly, worried that the magic was turning on her people. She had requested that Star Swirl look for a way to fix these missteps in his journey so that upon her next life would be a chance for new hope. Ever the faithful student, Star Swirl did as he was told.

He traveled high and low for years, trying to achieve this while also working to protect Equestria from the evils that seemed to pop up every few months. He was unsuccessful. The sisters returned to their positions to find that more of these strange hybrid ponies were popping up across Equestria with strange and unstable magic. Pegasi that could not live in the clouds because their bodies could not rest on the clouds or could not tame the storm clouds that wandered through the sky. Some had micro wings or even thicker bones that made them too heavy to take to the air. Unicorns with strange horns that either could not correctly direct their magic or made it impossible to utilize it without dire mistakes. Earth ponies so weak, sickly, and fragile that they were bedbound most of their lives. It all seemed so cruel and strange to happen. Celestia and Luna did their best to reassure those who were living in these ways. Provide aid to their towns when damages happened and offer different tutors/instructors to help make transitioning into a different lifestyle easier, one that is away from most of society. Anything to keep people safe. To keep Equestria safe.

Unbeknownst to all of Equestria, Celestia had begun taking her own precautions and conducting her own experiments when not going about her duties. Utilizing the council Star Swirl had created for the first decade and a half her return. In this time she had been secretly channeling magic to empower unicorns throughout their lands. It was meant to make them superior in not only body but power and that it will pass on to their children. Stygian, while a lesser conduit of the Pillars, had been one of the many unicorns that she had chosen for the inner power he had. She had not learned from her past dealing of tinkering with ponies and the levels of magic that they had (see Crystal Kingdom and Changelings). Stygian's power was great and it created a heavy manifestation and this corruption grew until it threatened to unravel the very fabric of reality. The rest is history, as they say.

As the last in a long line of royals who had studied under Celestia and Luna, Star Swirl bore witness to the rise and fall of monarchs, his steadfast commitment to duty and honor guiding him through the tumultuous ages. And though the sisters would eventually return to reclaim their rightful place as rulers of Equestria, Star Swirl's legacy would forever be enshrined in the annals of history, a testament to the enduring power of magic and friendship.

---

Spike turns to see Fluttershy once more and whispers, “She was giving them more magic...”

Author's Note:

This took a bit but I’m glad to finally have it posed! I’ll be doing another soon! Let me know your thoughts below