Two Weeks

by NotARealPonydotcom

Stories of Old

Stories of Old

____________________________________________________________________

I'm still on my bed but I know I fell asleep, so I sit up and suddenly everything crystallizes. It's still my room, but everything seems... fragile. Like I could push my way through the walls. I look over to the window near my bed and look out. The town is awake, and everypony's out and about, enjoying the spring sunshine. It looks so perfect out there that I feel like joining them.

Wait a second. There isn't a window in my bedroom.

"Do you recognize the memory?"

I jump and spin around. Luna is there, sitting on the other end of the bed (which has lengthened considerably, I notice) and smiling at me.

"Sorry?"

"I asked if you knew what memory you were looking at."

I glance back out the window and get a nice look at a certain pair of purple figures walking through the town. One of them is holding a list in his hands and has his face buried in it. The other is trotting beside him, staring straight ahead with an impatient look on her face. Dirt covers her mane and coat, and her companion glances at her every few seconds and snickers at her. Nostalgia washes over me as I watch the duo approach a pavilion being decorated by a certain purple-maned unicorn. Just as Spike looks up and sees her for the first time, I turn to smirk at Luna.

"Am I really that sappy, or are you doing something that's making me dream about every memory of Rarity I have?"

Luna rolls her eyes innocently. "I fail to see how these are any different from the dreams you normally have."

I hiss, grinning, and say, "I see your sister is starting to rub off on you."

Luna gives me a scrutinizing look. "How do you mean?"

I chuckle, and sit over on the edge of the bed.

"Never mind. It's not important." I stretch and stand up.

"I see you're feeling better about this whole situation."

"Mm. Like you said, I'm prone to extreme emotional outbursts while I'm in the same universe as the other Spike. Guess I'm feeling a little positive outburst." I clap my hands together and face the Princess. "Anyways, I'm not just here because I'm tired. I wanted to ask you something."

"Of course. Now, if it's about how much control I have over your dreams, then I'm afraid—"

"It's not that," I interrupt. "It's two things, actually."

"Yes?"

I take another look at the window before speaking again: there we are in Rarity's shop, Twilight and I. I'm drooling over her for the first time. Again.

"Why are you so invested in my relationship with Rarity?"

I look back at Luna in time to see her smile flicker.

"And your second question?" she asks, shifting in her seat.

"Will you answer the first?"

"O-Of course," she stammers.

"Alright then." I sit back down on the bed. "Why did you stop time for me?"

There. Now her smile's gone.

"Is there a problem?"

"...No..." Luna looks down at her hooves, frowning now. There's a blush on her face. "I'm just... a bit embarrassed..."

"By what?"

"Your question," she mumbles, "or its answer, at least."

"Why?"

Luna chuckles nervously and shifts on the bed again.

"Luna?"

"Please, Spike. A moment." So I give her one. Then, once she looks ready to speak again, she says, " You must understand, Spike: there isn't a way to say it that does not sound childish at best."

"Hey, I'm used to sounding childish despite everything I'm saying. Shoot." When she gives me a confused look, I tell her, "It means 'go on.'"

"Ah." She nods. "Well, I'm afraid I have to pin the blame for my time spell on my own nervousness. I... I panicked, I suppose, when Celestia went flying after you at the Expo. Left with your friends, I tried to think things through on my own: what was going to happen; how the world would respond to this incident; how it would affect you, your friends, my sister and I; whether or not you were going to be alright in the end."

"I can tell you how that one turned out," I interject.

"Mm. Unfortunately, the chaos around me was too distracting, and I realized that events were occurring too fast for me to do anything to assist. After I heard you crash through the roof of the castle and felt Celestia being knocked unconscious, I—"

I interrupt, "You felt Celestia getting knocked out?"

She simply states, "The sun and the moon are connected, Spike." Her eyes are shut in concentration now. "I realized something terrible had happened, and by the time your sister had located you, I knew I did not want her to see what had happened to you. That, coupled with the fact that I did not know what I was going to do when the dust settled and an official, most likely myself, was asked to take action on the situation, prompted me to freeze time." She looks at me sheepishly. "I suppose you are not the only one who has overreacted during these past few days."

I shrug. "Hey, if I had the option of freezing time to get my thoughts together, I'd do it too."

Luna smiles. "I'm glad that you understand. Now, as to your first question—"

"Wait," I say, holding up a hand. "There are a few things that don't add up."

"Hm?"

"If you cast a spell that stops time, how did I get sent to this world? Wouldn't time have frozen before my wish could take effect?"

"The magic of a shooting star is old," she replies. "Older than both my sister and I, in fact. Even though I am the Alicorn of the Stars, I am not controller of their power. I merely represent it. Interfering with the energies of the stars would be similar to, say, trying to swim up a river. It is easier for me to simply move with the current. In your case, you had already made your wish before I could cast my spell, so instead of trying to stop it, I merely made sure that you were sent somewhere where you would be safe. In the process, I created a link between us, which is what we are using to communicate right now."

"I think I get it," I say, rubbing the spines on the back of my head. "You couldn't override the magic of the wish, so you just pushed it in the direction you wanted it to go."

Luna nods. "Exactly."

"Seems like the stars have a lot more magic than you do."

"Collectively, yes. However..." She hesitates. "I should have been able to cancel out your wish with the power of my time spell. One shooting star's power is not enough to stop me."

"So what happened?"

"There was more magic present than that. Something else granted your wish." She looks up at me with dark eyes. "Perhaps even somepony else."

The accusation is crazy. "What, you think somepony wanted my wish granted?"

"It is a possibility. There are still many things I do not know about this situation we are in. Hopefully, we can uncover everything there is to know once time resumes its regular flow."

"'We?'"

"Naturally. I presume you would want to help me, once you return."

Actually, I'd like to put this whole mess behind me forever, I want to say. What actually comes out of my mouth is, "Sure. Sounds like a plan."

"It is indeed a plan, Spike."

"Alright. Next question: Isn't it a little convenient that your spell happened to take effect right as I slipped into a coma?"

At this, Luna smiles. "It would seem that way. I assure you, though—it is purely a coincidence that my spell coincided with your departure."

"Really," I deadpan.

"Really. Magic is the science of coincidence, Spike. Or, the science of coincidence is a part of magic, anyway."

I give her my best flat look. "That's one way of putting it."

She retorts with a smile. "Indeed. Now, is there anything else?"

I hold up a finger. "One little detail."

"Go on."

"How are you still casting your spell? You froze along with everypony else when you showed me the castle yesterday."

"That is where you are wrong, Spike. I am not frozen."

"You were standing in exactly the same spot, though. In the same exact pose, with your horn glowing."

"I am maintaining the spell that keeps time frozen. I am still temporally thawed, but the focus it takes to keep the spell going requires me to devote all of my attention to it. You are very lucky to be able to communicate with me at all right now. It took me the first few days to maintain both a steady level of concentration on the spell and a connection to your subconscious."

The first few days of this mess come back to me. I think of the blue world I'd fall into whenever I fell asleep.

"That's why you were everywhere those first few dreams."

"I'm afraid I don't understand—I was everywhere?"

I look up at Luna; it occurs to me that I mumbled to myself instead of talking to her.

"Uh, never mind." I glance absently at the window—through it, I see myself falling through the air and grabbing at a heart-shaped gem just out of reach. "So, you're not frozen, but you can't move and keep time from starting up again at the same time?"

"Yes."

"Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of freezing all of time except yourself?"

Despite the fact that she smiles at me when I say this, Luna looks sad as she says, "The spell wasn't ever fine-tuned by its creator."

"What stopped him?"

Now even her smile disappears. "A bad heart. He died before he could finish his work."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"There's no need to apologize." She sniffles. "May we move on?"

"Yeah. My—Well, I guess this isn't really my second question. More like my"—I count on my fingers—"fifth. Or something."

"Mm." She seems relieved to move to another topic. "You said I was 'invested' in your relationship with Ms. Rarity."

"I did. You certainly seemed that way yesterday."

"How so?"

"You spent most of our time together trying to convince me that Rarity actually loved me. That she still loves me."

"Does it surprise you that I care?"

"To that degree? A little bit, yeah."

She glances out the window, saying nothing. I follow her lead; the picture has returned to that first day in Ponyville. I watch the little purple dragon in the center of the frame follow the two mares ahead of him, his tail working like a propeller and allowing him to hover above the ground. I still don't know how I did that.

"Tell me," Luna says, "Do you think that you are the first dragon to ever fall in love with a pony?"

"I—It never occurred to me that I might not be. Are you saying I'm not?"

"Indeed." Another sad smile graces her face. "I've known a few dragons in the past who have found themselves attracted to ponies, and vice versa. One dragon in particular stands out in my mind..." She trails off, and suddenly I get it.

"Luna... did you fall in love with a dragon?"

The princess lets out a small chuckle. "No, no. The dragon was a dear friend of mine, but she was quite set on a certain stallion, not me."

"Oh." Now I feel stupid. Wonderful. "So, um, how did that go? With the stallion, I mean."

She sighs and scoots herself back on the bed until she's resting against the wall. It's odd, seeing a princess in such a casual position; her wings sort of limply splayed out behind her, her front hooves in her lap, her hind legs sticking straight out while she sits on her flank. I feel the discomfort from earlier beginning to descend on us again.

"There was not quite the... waiting period with them as there was with yourself and Rarity. In fact, there was hardly any waiting at all; the stallion was just as attracted to the dragoness as she was to him. They didn't begin courting immediately, of course; there is always that nervous first step to take. For them, it was the fact that the dragoness was a few centuries older than the stallion and that she would still have a few more to live after he was gone."

"I figured," I mumble. "That always crosses my mind."

"Yes, the dragon's lifespan is always a major factor to consider in this sort of situation. In a way, the stallion was lucky: not only was his partner a species of dragon with a shorter lifespan, but she was also the type of species that never grew larger than a couch. She was never too large for... well..." She coughs and blushes. "Anyway, it wasn't very long before they both decided that, lifespans be damned, they wanted to be together. Soon enough, she was asking me for advice on how to impress him, and he would come to me asking that I use my magic to cut a ruby into a certain shape for a necklace centerpiece. They were the two closest to me in the world besides my sister, and it warmed my heart to see them in love.

"And oh, how in love they were! Impossibly, madly, completely in love! Everywhere they went, they went together; if it was not absolutely necessary, they would not be separated. They gave off a glow when they walked together that seemed to brighten the world around them. It seemed as though they were invincible, so long as they had each other. They shared their days, their nights, their sunsets and sunrises. Every moment they spent apart was a moment they spent longing for each other. There were no secrets, no harsh words, no betrayals or fights between them. I almost became sick of them, the way they clung to each other so happily. They didn't care what others thought, or that they might be named outcasts for their love. They were together; that was all that mattered.

"This went on for several long, happy years. They married in their fifth winter together, and by the next they were preparing to welcome a child to the world. The dragoness gave birth to a beautiful, perfectly healthy baby filly, and they lived together that way for more than a decade. I wasn't as in touch with them as I had been in past years, but I will always remember meeting their little filly for the first time. She was still smaller than her father, but I could tell that once she was fully grown she would be closer to the size of her mother..."

Her voice had been getting quieter and quieter since she'd brought up the baby, and at this point she becomes completely silent. She has that same sad smile on again, and at first I wonder if snapping her out of her trance is such a good idea.

Eventually, though, I whisper, "Luna?"

She jumps and turns her head to look at me, a faint blush developing on her midnight blue cheeks.

"What happened to them?" I ask.

For a moment, she looks as though she has no idea who I'm talking about. Then she settles back into her oddly casual position and goes on:

"They had both told me they didn't care that their lifespans were so radically different. Of course, when the stallion said it, I'm sure he realized that he would not be as tormented by this sad fact as much as his lover would be. He knew what she would have to face, and I'm certain that if he knew any way to stop the inevitable, he would have done it in a heartbeat. Sometimes I think back on the day he came storming in demanding—and eventually begging—to be made into an alicorn, and I wonder if I should have done as he'd asked.

"She told me that she was ready, or would be ready, for the moment when she would have to let go of him. She often told me of how she would take care of him when he grew old and fragile, so that he could live as long as possible. I tell myself that I knew that she was lying and that I stood by and did nothing because I didn't care enough to help them. The truth is that I knew what would happen, but not what to do about it. I was as afraid of the end as she was, and I had hardly any time to think of a possible way to help her before he was taken from us."

I've been staring into the sheets of the bed this whole time, but now I look up at her. There's no nostalgic, sad smile this time; she just looks tired. And regretful.

"He was a Royal Guard, I should have mentioned. The dragoness was his greatest love; his second greatest was his country and princesses. Before they met, he would go off on month-long scouting missions, just to see if there was anypony threatening the safety of Equestria. He was particularly proud of one mission that had taken him a year to complete. Coincidentally, it was the day after completing this mission that he and his wife first met.

"Even after having their child, he did not stop being a part of the guard. He took on much less work, and when he did have to leave he always stayed closer to home, certainly, but the thought of conspirators plotting coups and sieges haunted his nightmares. He wanted to protect the world his daughter was going to grow up in—this he would tell me whenever we discussed his work. Before he had a daughter to protect, he said he did it for his lover; before her, he said it was for me. He was always coming up with different reasons for staying in the guard, but for some reason he never simply told the truth—he did it because he liked it. I never understood why, and I never had the chance to confront him on the subject."

She's tearing up. She coughs and wipes at her eyes. Then she takes a long, deep breath, and continues:

"He was sent to settle a dispute between two businesses in a new settlement just to the south of Canterlot. It was a silly little trade dispute that escalated into an all-out war between the two families behind the businesses. He was under the impression that the two clans would be easy to calm down once the Royal Guard came in to settle things; this was not the case. It took two days and an extra platoon of guards to control the warring families. They began negotiations on the third day, and he had only just taken his helmet off when he was struck in the back of the head with a stone. One of the families' children had thrown it, angry that they were not settling their dispute with violence." She grits her teeth in rage. "If he'd known... if he'd had any idea what he caused with that stone..."

Her hoof grips the bed sheets so tightly it looks as though they might tear. She says nothing for a while, only stares and grips and grits her teeth. Eventually, her snarl dissipates, and her hoof goes limp. Her head lowers. She mutters, in a toneless drone:

"It severed something in his head. He fell into a coma for several hours. In the middle of the night, he passed away, in his sleep. The next day, Tartarus came to the southern settlement."

She sighs, and looks up at me. Her eyes and cheeks are damp.

"We were told together, his wife and I. I was visiting when they knocked on her door. There were two of them. They told us they were sorry, that there was nothing anypony could do, that those responsible would be punished appropriately—an endless stream of meaningless words, to us. They had no idea how much it hurt us to hear them talk. They had no idea how much she loved him." A pause. "How much I'd loved him."

Here, she chokes off, leaving me with a moment to take in everything I've just heard. I already know where the story is going, have known since she mentioned how long they lived as a family. And still, I don't stop her when she starts up again:

"Do you know what they called it, Spike? His death?"

I shake my head slowly.

"They said it was 'a remarkable accident.' Then one of them chuckled." Luna sniffles again. "That was the last time I saw my friend. When she stepped forward and reached out her claw, I looked in her eyes and saw that she was gone."

I could see it, too: the slit pupils, the animalistic rage, the fire. I could see her reaction to the poor messenger's small chuckle, which couldn't have actually been out of malice. I could see him on the ground, and the other running as fast as his tiny pony legs could handle, and Luna in shock, not yet understanding what was happening and what was still in store for the unfortunate little ponies of Equestria.

"I was knocked unconscious before even a minute had passed," Luna says, "but that was enough time to tell the child to run. I was afraid that she might not, but she nodded to me and went sprinting out of the house. That was the last time I saw her, as well. I meant to go with her, but I the dragoness stopped me—she had already doubled in size, in that brief minute, and her tail slammed me into a wall. By the time I was revived, everything had run its course." Another pause. "Tell me, Spike: how many do you believe you killed, that night at the Fashion Expo?"

"Well, you said I didn't actually kill anypony, but if you mean how many died, then... I dunno, five, maybe six?"

"She annihilated the settlement her husband died in in two minutes. For centuries, the land it had been on was uninhabitable, until long after I was imprisoned. Even then, Celestia felt that it was haunted, or so she told me, and she prevented ponies from settling there until a little less than two hundred years ago, when a family of apple farmers received permission to start an orchard there."

Puzzle pieces fall into place. "You mean... she destroyed Ponyville?"

"No. The settlement that she burned was known as Haystone. The title Ponyville was coined, I believe, by a member of the Apple family. And Haystone was not the only thing destroyed that day: she burned down her own house, a number of farms along the way, and a sizable piece of the Everfree Forest. She killed even more ponies: her husband's entire platoon, his commanding officers, both of the families that had begun this whole mess. And, of course, everypony in Haystone." She seems finished, but before I can say anything she adds, "Their daughter was never found."

"Holy shit." I cover my mouth, but Luna doesn't reprimand me for cursing this time. In fact, she smiles.

"Yes, Spike. Holy shit." She wipes her eyes again. "I saw her one last time, at the edge of the Everfree. I was looking for her daughter, thinking that she'd gone after her mother to try and talk some sense into her. As I said, though, I never saw the daughter again. Her mother told me, when I met with her, that she blamed a vast number of ponies for his death, including me; she didn't kill me, she claimed, because she knew how much I loved him. She renounced her way of life as a 'pony-lover' and fled, flying into the mountains to the west of the destroyed settlement. When the guards questioned me about her whereabouts, I claimed that I hadn't seen her since the day of the incident."

She looks me dead in the eye. "You must understand the dangers of being in love with a pony, Spike. Especially in your case, being so young, you must understand and accept the fact that you will live for centuries, perhaps even millennia, after Rarity dies. I have seen the alternative, and I refuse to let history repeat itself. Now..."

She leans in, and I notice that the bed, once extended to dreamlike proportions, is once more the twin bed that can barely fit me as it is—her muzzle is inches from my face.

"Have I answered your question thoroughly enough?"

Nod. "Yes, ma'am. I understand."

"Good." She leans back, lying down on the bed and sighing. She looks absolutely exhausted, and for a second I wonder if she might fall asleep right then and there. I wonder if you can actually do that, fall asleep in dreams. With her eyes closed, she says, "I think I'll be leaving you, now. You must want to get some actual rest."

I'm not the one who needs it, but I agree anyway. She gets up and makes her way to the stairs (I've forgotten that we've had this whole conversation in my bedroom), but before she can start up them I think of something and call after her:

"Wait! One more thing!"

She turns, and I'm expecting a despairing, even angry expression. I'm treated to one of quiet patience instead.

"Yes?"

"What were their names? The dragoness and the stallion?"

Luna's sad smile reappears, and I'm treated to the worst feeling of déjà vu. She opens her mouth to answer me, but her shivering stops her. And I don't mean shivering like you're cold; she shivers in the air the way a projected image does whenever somepony walks in front of the projector. She frowns and turns, looking around her. After a moment of awkward silence, she turns back to me and squints at something.

She says, "The dragon's name was Rose

and that's all I hear because in the next moment something smashes my nose and there's not even time to say goodbye because everything shivers like a projector except it all vanishes afterwards and I'm back under the covers of my bed with a sore nose. I've just been woken up.

I yank the covers off me and sit up, ready to yell at whoever hit me. I don't even get the first word out, because I'm not expecting to see who I see. It's not Spike, or Twilight, or Luna (yes, I admit it—I was expecting her to be there, for just a tiny moment). It's not even Pinkie Pie.

It's Rarity.

Author's Note:

Dear Readers,

First, let me say what I forgot to last time I posted: I hit 100K words on this story! W00T!

Okay, now that that's done, I can get to the business-y portion of the notes. I'd like to say that I've really thought about where this is all going to end, and I feel that what's coming up is gonna cheer you all up a bit after these past few chapters of heartbreak and castle-break and etcetera. Of course, that's my thought on it, and seeing as I'm the one who actually wrote it, I don't know how much integrity you'll find in that statement, but I'm happy, so that means it's going up whether you like it or not (but seriously, judging by how you've liked this story so far, I don't think it'll make you too upset). Now, as to when you'll see the next few parts...

Under normal circumstances, I'd tell you guys this'll be over by the end of February. Real Life, as I'm sure you've all realized at some point during your time on the Internet, likes to take those circumstances and brutalize them like the Seahawks did the Broncos (hahaI'mnotsorry). So it might be a while before the end actually comes, which brings a question to the discussion table for you all: what are your thoughts on getting the end of the story in one big bundle of chapters all at once? I'm not saying its a done deal, but it'd be nice to know your opinions. Discuss and comment, por favor!

Remember, I love it when you tell me I bucked up somewhere! Show me my mistakes in the comments, and I'll get 'em fixed as soon as possible!

—NotARealPonydotcom

P.S. This might not mean anything to anyone, but I'd just like to say Rest in Peace, Philip Seymour Hoffman. I know we've had a lot of deaths this past year that probably have a bigger impact, but this one hits me hard personally. He was (still is) a huge inspiration of mine, and I consider him one of the greatest actors of this century. It pains me to see him go right in the middle of his career. I'm really gonna miss you, PSH.

Okay. That's all.

Comments

[Fury of the Tempest]

Hmmmm... feels a little filler-y to be honest. However, it does important some very important facts into the story. Luna's motivation and reasoning behind her actions in the story, as well as the fact that there is a chance that somepony... or someone helped the wish along.

And another cliffhanger ending.

[The Dragon Warlock]

Got to say just wow at how Ponyville is where a town used to be. It's also very sad to hear what happened to the couple and how the dragonness died. I do wonder though, does this "daughter" make an appearance later on?

Anyway, very nice chapter and hopefully real life doesn't hinder you from completing this story.

[TheMessenger]

"The dragon's name was Rose

and that's all I hear because

It seems a little awkward leaving those lines like that. I'd suggest adding dashes at the end of Luna's dialogue and before Spike's narration.

"The dragon's name was Rose-"

-and that's all I hear because

[Monkey3000]

I'm calling it right now......... The daughter of Rose is spikes mom!!!!!!!
Which may or may not be a certain 'extra magical source'......

Also...... WOOO!!!! MOAR SPARITY SOON!!!!!!!!!

I need clarification on the whole "big bundle of chapters". Will you be writting them all out in a bundle FROM THIS POINT FORWARD or after a few more chapters? Cause that cliffhanger is horrible........

Do I also smell some VERY subtle hints of possible future Spike x Luna.........
Or has my crazy imagination decide to play Cupid again........

[SageBrony07]

I love getting the stories in chapters spaced out. It helps me remember the story and allows me to think the author is working. When the stories are in one huge bundle they take forever to read and worse, you don't know if the author is working on them or has quit the story. Best of luck with future chapters.

[Pyro The Reader]

Shit dude, that dragoness was R-U-D-E!

[DragonPony]

3889537 I think that would be cool. Heck what if it was in the same story but years after Rar is gone and Spike is older and things have changes around him lol.

[Angelus Alvus]

3889537 I also think she will be related to spike, somehow.
I loved this backstory and I can't wait to see what Spike and Rarity will talk.

[Path_of_cloud]

Well, damn, what horrible timing and not the most pleasant wake-up call either. It's got me pining for more though How can you expect us to waits!?!

[NotARealPonydotcom]

3889428

I understand how that's probably a bit confusing. It's simply a style choice that I wanted to try out. Sorry to cause you discomfort.

—NARP.com

[Pia-chan]

Oh gosh! I really expected anypony but Rarity! Now i can't wait!!

[Ignaltus]

Valla con Dios, hermano.

[sorenxoras]

Rarity.... hit him again.

[Comet Tail]

I would like the rest as a big bundle of chapters.
Obseessed with this story is what I am

[Pyriel]

3889580 BUDDER PONY... Wait, wrong fic... dangit.

[tsunsu]

i can't waite to finsh reading it it so good :D also a bundel would be a good thing but i wouldn't stress urseolf to much with that. There alot of storys that havn't finshed yet and it still getts populer comments and reads so i don't think u should worry to much but keep up ur good work.

[DarkChiyo]

I run out of chapters....
This is the worst possible thing!
Really can´t wait for more.

[Pencil Lead]

If the story ended now and Spike went home because of the time limit than each chapter covers about 1.4 days. Just some math for ya.

[IMN]

what are your thoughts on getting the end of the story in one big bundle of chapters all at once?

After spending the last two days reading this, I have to say that one big bundle of chapters all at once seems like a great idea, I hate cliffhangers and I'd like to see as little of them as possible.

A great story like this deserve to be ended in STYLE.

[eregonlover]

wait so did the daughter die?

[TwibraFlattercordlover]

"Yes, Spike. Holy shit."