Polygamy is Magic

by Ravenmane

5 - The Dark King

Rainbow gestured for Pinkie to come over as soon as she helped me back onto my hooves.

“Is something wrong Alley,” she asked in a surprisingly quiet tone.

I shook my head and placed a hoof to it, making sure to act as though I was dealing with a concussion. “I saw the sky flickering,” I said as I glanced upwards. “What’s worse, it’s starting to flicker more frequently. Twilight hasn’t found the Crystal Heart yet and I don’t think we can hold out much longer.”

Pinkie nodded. “Even with all my party skills, I can’t keep this up forever.”

“All the crowd has to do is look back and they’ll see the barrier fading,” added Rainbow nervously. “I mean, we’re near the edge of the Faire so it won’t be hard for them to notice the thing getting weaker.”

I nodded. “As much as they’d probably love knowing I want nothing more than their safety, I doubt I’d be of use to anypony if something like what happened to Shining happened to me.”

---

Twilight glared at the doorway swirling around her and fired in a dark rage at the crystal that capped the arch. The door shone with a brilliant light and she sped forward.

---

It had all happened so fast. First Rainbow maintained eye contact with the sky as I helped her back up once more. That caused me to look up, trying to look as unobtrusive as possible. All I saw was an acidic orange across the sky.

Rainbow and I exchanged looks, but a thunderous laughter squashed any idea we had for keeping it quiet. Cadance was out of magic and it took all of five seconds for a crystal pony somewhere in the Faire to scream. Our enthralled audience looked around to see who screamed and it became chaos. I tossed my helmet aside and went out to the main road, staring out to the encroaching darkness with nothing but contempt for what was on it’s way.

I never expected to be staring a unicorn capable of enslaving an entire empire in the eye. I spread my wings open and took to the sky, mindful to keep his focus on me and not the fleeing crystal ponies. “Hey Smokey,” I called to him. “Not sure how you acted around us before, but you won’t find me bowing down to you anytime soon!”

“Thestral,” he hissed before firing black bolts towards me from his horn.

I dodged them with a quick dive. I quickly pulled up, just as Rainbow taught me, and into a corkscrew along his trailing body of smoke. “Thousand years kill your aim or something?”

His head swiveled around, his face showing nothing but fury, as his “body” was hoisted by the wind I whipped around him. “You will kneel,” he roared at me as he began to fire bolts of magic in my general direction.

---

Twilight cautiously neared her mentor. “Princess Celestia?” The alicorn princess ignored her, paying careful attention to a stack of paperwork hovering near her. “I was in the Empire, but how did I get here?”

“You should leave,” Princess Celestia said as she refused to look in Twilight’s direction.

“But what happened? I remember opening a door in the palace but how did I get here?”

Celestia’s eyes turned from her paperwork to barely look at Twilight. “You failed your test Twilight,” she said coldly.

“But-”

“Not only did you fail your test, but you will no longer be my student. I’ve sent word to Ponyville, you will not return there.”

“Then where will I go?”

“I’m assigning Alexander to attend the Nocturne’s academy,” Princess Celestia continued, “Rainbow Dash will go to the Wonderbolts for further training. I have already sent Spike to live with his own kind. That aside, I don’t care where you go. Just leave and never return.”

“But-”

“Guards,” Celestia said plainly as her gaze returned to her paperwork, “remove her from Canterlot.”

Twilight felt like the life was sucked out of her. Spike was gone and she was exiled from not just Ponyville, but from Canterlot as well. There would be no more lessons from the princess. Would her friends go looking for her when she never returned? What about Alex, would she ever see him again?

Twilight’s eyes were unfocused as she went willingly with two guards past a large stained glass window that depicted her failure and the return of King Sombra.

“-wilight,” echoed a voice in her head. It was very faint, but it called out her name again louder. By the time the voice was practically yelling in her ear, Twilight snapped out of her inner fears. She quickly stepped away from the doorway and shook her head.

She was back at the base of the stairs under the crystal palace’s throne room, but why Spike was there eluded her.

“I know you told me not to help but I got worried and you were here,” Spike stood where Twilight was a moment ago, “and you were looking at-”

Twilight’s eyes widened as he showed her what he saw.

“What, but why am I,” Spike mumbled in a daze. “Ponyville? Twilight what do you mean I-”

Twilight cut him off by slamming the enchanted doorway shut. “I get it,” she said sternly. “It’s a door that shows you your deepest fears.”

“I was in Ponyville, you said you no longer needed me. That Alex was more than enough help.”

Twilight wrapped one of her forelegs around him and pulled the baby dragon into a tight hug. “Just because he’s my husband doesn’t mean I don’t need your help. I know nopony says it enough but we will always need you Spike.”

---

I managed to evade King Sombra’s wild assault of magic, even if only by a hair at times. At least until I found myself against the wall of one of the buildings not corrupted by his presence. As one of his attacks finally made full contact, I crumpled against the wall. Slowly everything was fading but deep down, I knew it wasn’t from the pain. The last thing I heard before everything went black was a scream somewhere off in the distance.

Comments

[the other sans]

Soo... Husband. I can't remember for my life if they were wed officially or unofficially.

Just because he’s my husband...

Doesn't mean Spike would stop being their future son who went back into the past and by doing so aged backwards thus gaining infinite life but forever forgetting their future together and thus begins the Endless Eight of The Melancholy of Spike the Dragon.

Edit of Emergency: Seems like the author of this fic somehow found my contact and corrected me about them being wed. I'm now scared for dear life if the author has contacts that we cannot see. That and I'm currently playing too much AC:B at the moment. Getting 100% Sync is real annoying for some missions

[Killabyte]

What.... I what it's been that long since I've read this can somepony tell me what's happened in the last few books?

[Ravenmane]

3895640 The Crystal Empire but reshaped with the events of the previous two stories (and a wedding that I couldn't write). More episodes, new content, and a few surprises, to follow. Back in Bronies I even had the connection to the internet tied to Alex's computer and I intend to explain why he would have passed when Season 3 has started but never able to find it.

[Killabyte]

3895957

okey dokey loki

[Ravenmane]

3902585 Fleshing it out. My plan for the next chapter is more challenging than you'd expect.

[The Slending Angel]

Welp. I binged on this series for a day and a half, and now I'm caught up. *sigh* Welp, On to more pressing matters.

[Eclair the Pegasus]

I hope to see a new chapter soon. I love your work and wish to read more.