> If Only I Had Time
>  by FamousLastWords
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Rosecrance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ugh...”

Celestia slowly cracked her eyes open. Her room was lit only by a few streaks of moonshine through the window. She rolled her head to the other side of the pillow, making sure to keep her body still snuggled under the covers. She laid there for a few seconds, staring at the distant ceiling. Her eyes ached as she continued to lie there, pondering what evil spirit in the world had been preventing her from getting anything close to a good night’s rest. Three days of almost no sleep was long enough.

Releasing a drawn-out sigh, Celestia slowly pushed the covers off herself. She may as well have been trying to lift a three-hundred-pound dumbbell. She eventually found success and crept out of her bed. She decided to throw caution to the wind and slowly craned her neck to view the clock hanging on the wall. The disturbing placement of the hour hand immediately made her regret that decision.

“Ermm, three in the morning…”

It was too early to justify staying awake but it was too late to get a complete rest if she were to fall asleep again. ‘Twas a genuinely despicable time of night… Maybe she could pass some law to get it removed?

She gave her thoughts a quick shake before she levitated her favorite robe, the extra puffy blue one; and her bunny slippers from the closet to prepare for the long trek downstairs. On a night like this, she wasn’t going to be sleeping again without assistance. It was simply not a happening thing.

She needed her tea.

It indeed was an arduous trek down the stairs. Then again, merely going to her bathroom when she was half-asleep was the equivalent of a foreign affair. Luckily, she was so caught up in her mind that by the time she returned to her senses, she had taken the final step down the jewel-encrusted staircase and was only a few steps away from the royal kitchens.

She trotted down the hall for what was seemingly an unthinkable amount of hoofsteps until she arrived at a pair of giant oak double-doors with a picture of a rather elaborate banquet was engraved into them. She couldn’t help but giggle a bit every time she saw it. She was still of the opinion that all the extra detail in the castle was unnecessary, but it was cute nonetheless.

She pushed them open, revealing the kitchens. There wasn’t much to look at, though. A square room with a long table in the center, various appliances encircling her. The only two things she was interested in, however, were the tea kettle and stove. These were the instruments of her possible redemption.

“Good morning, Princess!”

“Ah!” Celestia jumped in the air.

“Oh, I apologize. I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

Celestia’s gaze darted around the kitchens. It wasn’t long until she caught sight of one of the castle maids: a smaller unicorn with light-green fur and a bouncy orange mane that curled over her ears. She was wearing the traditional maid garb of a palace employee, which was a light blue gown with a pink apron.

“I apologize,” Celestia stated, regaining her composure. “You surprised me, that is all. How has your morning been, Miss…?”

“Missy. Missy Angel, ma’am.” She bowed briefly. “I am quite well, ma’am. Thank you.”

“Well, that’s good to hear, Missy.” Celestia felt a little guilty. She rarely associated with the overnight staff at the castle.

“Do, um, do you need anything, Princess?” She questioned, looking at the Celestia with wide, curious eyes. “We don’t usually get to see you in the kitchens at this time. Not, um, not that you don’t have the right to do as you please.”

Celestia shook her head. “No, it's quite alright. I'm just simply wanting to make some tea, is all. Even Princesses need some help with sleeping at times.”

Missy immediately darted across the kitchen and retrieved the tea kettle. “I can make that for you, Your Highness.”

“Oh, please, don’t concern yourself with me,” Celestia stated, waving a hoof. “You may return to what you were doing. I can get the tea.”

The mare set the kettle down. Missy cautiously stepped away from the counter. “Um, yes ma’am. Of course. I’ll go ahead and begin sweeping the main hall. But please, call me if you need anything.”

“Of course.” Celestia chuckled. “I promise not to make a huge mess.”

After a final curt bow, the mare grabbed a broom she had left in the corner then disappeared out the double-doors. Celestia let out another half-hearted sigh and returned to her mission. She filled the tea kettle with water from the faucet and placed it on the stove. What seemed like ages waiting for it to fill, she finally was able to put it on the stove. A quick blast of magic was enough to ignite the burner. She then quickly opened a nearby cabinet and grabbed a packet of her favorite tea.

“Oh, Orange Sunrise, don’t let me down tonight.” She provided the small packet with a hopeful look and placed it in a small cup she had captured.

Now she played the waiting game.

For whatever reason that was unbeknownst to her, she came up with her best ideas for the country when she was half-asleep, or when she was in the shower. The tariff on exporting toiletries? Yeah, that was a midnight idea. The peace treaty for the Great War of the Everfree? One in the morning.

But alas, she cared not tonight. All she was concerned with was enjoying a cup of her tea. She would then be able to get back under her covers with great haste.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the loud squeal of the teapot signaling it was ready. She almost jumped with joy as her eyes met with the stream of steam stemming from its spout. She took no time in pouring the boiling hot water into her cup, followed swiftly by the tea packet.

The sight of the tea herbs mixing in with the water was possibly the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. After a few painstaking moments of letting the tea seep into the water, it was finally time. She wrapped the cup up in her magic, placed it on her lips and…

Crash!

“Oh, for the love of…”

Celestia set the cup down with a whimper. She wasn’t quite sure what the crash was, but she was sure it came from the main hall. The maid must have knocked something over.

Celestia rolled her eyes for a moment. It took no small amount of effort, but she put on her best Princess smile and walked into the hall. She didn’t want to appear as cranky as she was, of course.

She allowed her eyes to venture about the room. It was mostly empty as it should be this time of night. The massive marble pillars supporting the ceiling seemed to be the only objects decorating the bare floor. Of course, that was until she heard a distressed mare.

“I’m so sorry, Princess!” Missy was standing near a bookcase where a few books had fallen from the shelves. “I was trying to sweep behind it, but I knocked a few off. I’ll make sure they’re not damaged.”

“No, it’s quite alright.” Celestia smiled politely. “I’ve done far more damage to this castle in my time here, so worry not. Just put them somewhere on the shelves and nopony will be the wiser.”

Missy’s distraught demeanor shifted to a smile. “Thank you, Princess. I appreciate it.”

Celestia finished off their conversation with a nod then returned to the kitchen. She eyed her tea from across the room as if it were some ridiculously attractive stallion. You can bet they were going back to her place by the end of the night.

She raced as fast as her bunny slippers would take her to the cup. She looked it over once more, got it in the perfect position for drinking...

“What the?” Celestia took another sip to verify what had just happened and sure enough, the tea was cold. Strike that. It was ice cold. The swirling winds of Cantarctica replaced the tea in her cup. “No, it… it just isn’t fair! It’s only been two minutes!”

Celestia pouted at her cup of disappointment. Cold tea. Not just any tea, but tea she desperately needed. She needed to check the air ventilation in the castle when she had the chance.

She continued pouting until she noticed the kettle still sitting on the stove, the sight of which caused her to clap her hooves with glee. There’d be plenty of hot water in there to make up for it! She quickly poured the water into the cup, took a quick test sip and—

“Blegh!” It wasn’t just cold. It tasted like it had been sitting out for days. “You’ve got to be kidding me! First thing in the morning, I’m sending one of the guards to get us new teapots.”

She brought the dishes over to the sink and poured both out, grumbling all the while. The universe wasn’t playing nice today. How tea could get cold so fast, she didn’t know. But, some nights were just like that.

Celestia turned the gears in her mind for a moment. It was honestly possible she just daydreamed the whole thing. Maybe the water was never heated, to begin with. She’d done stranger things in her sleep in the past. She didn’t need to remind anypony of the cereal incident. It was rumored they were still finding oat cereal bits in Appaloosa.

Maybe I should bite the bullet and have her make the tea. Heh, she’d probably bring it to my room for me in everything!

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” she said aloud, determination in her eyes.

She trotted out to the main hall in search of Missy. “Uh, excuse me, Missy! I do need your help after all!” She shifted her eyes around in search of the mare, but all she found was an empty room.

“Huh, she must've finished up already.” Celestia stomped her hoof into the ground. She then dropped her head, her mane now dangling over her eyes.

Thus, began the tealess trek back to her room to try and get a couple of hours of sleep before she had yet another stressful day of being a princess. Celestia didn’t like being so negative. That said, being cheerful enough to put on the customer service face isn’t anypony’s top skill, especially in the middle of the night.

As she slowly shuffled across the polished castle floors to the stairs, she heard a bit of shifting going on behind the kitchen doors. She perked her head up scanning her eyes over them for a moment. She didn’t remember seeing anypony go in or out, but then again, she wasn’t exactly on her game, either.

She shrugged but kept cautiously alert as she gently pushed the doors open.

Tossing her head back and forth, she quickly noticed the culprit behind the shuffling. This mare was causing all kinds of mischief tonight.

“Oh, Missy, I didn’t see you—”

“Ah!” She squeaked, turning her full attention towards the Princess. “Oh, uh, good morning, Princess! I didn’t see you there.”

Celestia cocked her head to the side. “Oh, it’s quite alright. I’m sorry, I went out to the Main Hall to take you up on that tea offer, but I didn’t see you there. I’m glad I found you, though. Do you think you could—”

“Tea?” The mare asked with a raise of her eyebrow. “I’m sorry, did you need me to make you some tea, Princess?”

“Uh, yes, if you could.” Celestia couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but something didn’t seem right. “I tried making some myself, but it didn’t come out very well. The tea kettle should still be in the—”

Missy had already traversed across the kitchen and retrieved the tea kettle… from the cupboard?

“...Sink.” She rapidly shook her head. Things were just weird tonight.

“I'm sorry, what was that, Your Majesty?” Missy filled the kettle with water; her head turned to acknowledge Celestia.

“N-Nothing.” Celestia wandered a bit farther into the kitchen, inspecting things up and down. Everything seemed to be the way she left it, apart from the empty sink. She must have been imagining things. She needed to get more sleep.

“It’s not very often we get to see you this time of night, Princess,” Missy said with a cute smile as she ignited the burner.

“Wait, wait, wait…” Celestia rubbed her forehead. “Didn’t we just… weren’t we just… We just talked about this a couple of minutes ago, didn’t we?”

Missy shook her head. “Um, no, ma’am. I don’t believe so. I just started my shift. I always start with cleaning up the kitchens.”

Celestia felt her heart skip a beat. The situation just went from weird to downright baffling.

“I could’ve sworn we were talking a minute ago. You offered to make me tea, I insisted on doing it myself, then you knocked over some books in the main hall, right?” Celestia's eyes fixated on the now shivering mare.

“I, uh, I’m sorry. But, I promise I just got here to begin working.” She nervously sunk back. “My shift started at two o’clock.”

“But that doesn’t make any… wait a second. Did you say two o’clock?”

She bobbed her head. “Yes, ma’am. I work two to eight. I could show you my name on the sign-in sheet. I promise I wasn’t late!”

Celestia immediately scanned the room until her eyes locked on the clock hanging from a nearby wall and sure enough.

“Two o’clock.”

Missy rose up a bit. “Is… Is something the matter, ma’am?”

Celestia’s mouth was held agape for a moment. She shook her head once more and rubbed her forehead. “N-No, dear. It’s okay. Please carry on. You can forget the tea. I need to get some rest.”

“Okay. Sleep well, Princess.”

Celestia turned around and walked through the double-doors, trekking back toward the stairs. She had no idea what just happened. It must be her tired imagination playing tricks on her. That’s the only thing that made any sense.

She was going to forget everything, get some sleep, and let everything get back to the way it was supposed to be.

At least she hoped she’d get back to sleep.







“Ermph.”

Celestia’s head ached as she once again forced herself out of bed. Given her poofy mane, baggy eyes, and heinous scowl, it was safe to say she hadn’t gotten much more sleep at all. But, as it was with the universe, it waited for no mare.

She stretched out and released a bellowing yawn before sauntering over to the balcony she had connected to her room. She would typically make a showy display of beauty and elegance with her raising of the sun, but not today.

“Alright moon, get going...” With a swoop of her horn, she shot the sun into the sky, followed quickly by the descent of the moon. She grumbled a bit under her breath as she returned to her room.

She was in no mood for the stresses the day would surely bring her, but she had a job to do, regardless of much as she just wanted to stay in her bed and sleep all day.

She went about her morning routine, washed up, put her crown on, the usual. She looked herself over in the mirror quickly to not prolong her disappointment and opened her door.

As she started to trek down the stairs once again, the memory of the night’s events washed over her. The cold tea, time confusion, the maid she may or may not have had a conversation with; this had been a weird night.

“I need to see a professional about my sleeping habits…” She rubbed a bit of sleep out of her eyes upon reaching the bottom of the stairs. “Hopefully a good breakfast will help take my mind off things.”

As cruel as it was, the universe at least always let her have a peaceful meal in the morning. That was one thing she enjoyed it couldn’t take away from her. What would be on the menu this morning? Maybe there would be pancakes? Toast with jam, perhaps? Or perhaps a beautiful, heaping plate of—

“Sister!”

“Huh… what?” Celestia forcefully took her eyes away from the kitchen doors and noticed Luna galloping towards her at full speed. “What is it, Luna?”

“You must come quick!” Luna’s eyes were wide with panic. She was practically gasping for air. “There is an emergency of some kind that we must address! I need your help!”

Celestia whimpered as she longingly gazed at the kitchen doors one more time. “Alright, sister. What’s the issue?”

“The townsponies!” She yelled. “They’re lined up at the doors to the throne room! I tried to speak to one of them, but they were rambling about strange happenings and making little sense whilst doing it! Please sister, we must hurry!”

Celestia nodded. “Of course.”

The two sisters dashed back to the throne room. Luckily, they had their entrance from the back so that they could avoid the mob outside the door. The guards were doing their best to hold everypony back, but they were quickly losing the battle.

Upon arrival, the two sisters both took their respective seats. There was one very nervous looking guard on the inside of the room, guarding the door.

“Okay,” Celestia said once she composed herself in her seat. “Guard, please, let one of them in.”

The guard gulped and cracked the door open. As he did, the loud sounds of far too many angry ponies echoed through the room. Celestia and Luna both looked at each other for a moment.

“You weren’t joking,” Celestia stated.

“As I told you,” Luna replied.

They both returned to their regal pose as a mid-sized pegasus stallion trotted in. His brown mane was a wreck, and his gray fur didn’t appear to be in much better shape.

Celestia decided to take the plunge once he approached them. “Good morning, sir. What can we assist you with?”

The stallion took a moment to bow respectfully. “Your Highnesses, I’m… I’m not sure what the problem is.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow at him. “I’m sorry?”

The stallion lifted his head back up and took a deep breath. “I mean, there’s a problem, but I don’t know how to explain it.”

It’s going to be one of those days.

Celestia cleared her throat. “I apologize, sir. Perhaps you could tell us what happened. Afterward, we could go from there?”

“Alright then,” he said with a nod. “It happened last night. I’d just gotten home from workin’ down at the train yard, and then something strange happened.”

“How do you mean?” Luna asked.

“Well, I got home, hopped in my chair to relax with a cold beer, but when I took my first sip, it tasted like the beer had been sittin’ out for days!”

Celestia’s heart stopped. “A-Are you sure you the beverage wasn’t expired?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “I checked the dates myself. I figured it was a misprint or somethin’, but then other weird things started happening.”

“Other strange things. Like what?” Celestia felt a lump in her throat when she asked.

“Well,” he began. “I checked my mail for the day, you see. I had bills that were dated and signed for already, but they were from next week! Then, I kid you not, when I went to set my alarm for this mornin’, my clock went off three different times! What’s more, none of them were the time I set ‘em for. That’s when I decided to come down here; I wanted to see if either of you knew anything about it.”

Luna gently rose a hoof. “Perhaps all this is purely a strange coincidence? I have had issues with our mail carriers from time to time.”

“I don’t think so, ma’am,” he replied. “One or two weird things, sure. I’ll chalk that up as having a bad day. But all that stuff combined? There’s something rotten about all this. I swear on my father’s honor that I’m not making this up.”

“Well, it could be—” Luna was cut off by a raised hoof from Celestia.

“Don’t worry, sir. We believe you.” Celestia nodded. “We will be looking into this immediately, I promise.”

“I appreciate that, ma’am.” The pony darted his eyes between both of them. “As I said, I don’t know what’s going on, but something ain’t right about it. I wanted ya’ll to know in case anything else happens.”

The two sisters nodded as the guard led the pony out of the room. Once the pony was gone, the guard approached the throne.

“Shall I escort another one in, ma’am?”

Celestia waived dismissively at him. “No, something tells me they’re all here for the same reason. Please, tell them the matter is known and will be investigated immediately..”

“Aye, Princess.” The guard turned around and exited the room.

Luna shook her head. “What do you make of this, sister? Do you think he was merely intoxicated or something of that nature?”

Celestia violently shook her head. “No, I don’t think that at all. Luna, let’s go to the meeting room, shall we? There is much we need to discuss.”
> Empires Erased
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia and Luna trod into the castle’s ready room, the former making sure to slam the door shut behind them. The room itself was very simplistic by design: four barren walls, a long, rectangular table with eight seats around it, and a single counter with a coffee maker on it.

Luna, whose eyes were still wide with confusion, was the first to take a seat. Celestia followed suit and sat directly across from her. The elder sister could feel her muscles tensing and shaking more violently with every second that passed. She was no stranger to potentially catastrophic situations, but they never got any more comfortable to handle.

Celestia closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. The steady rise and fall of her chest served to clear some of the fogginess building in her mind. It wasn’t much more than a stop-gap solution, but it helped. After one final exhale, she slowly opened her eyes and addressed her sister, who was patiently waiting for an explanation.

“Luna,” Celestia stated, leaning over the table. “I’m sure you can tell, but the situation at hoof is not a simple fantasy or coincidence, as much as I wish it were.”

Luna nodded. “Yes, you did say as much. But, sister, outside of Discord playing the occasional trick on our citizens, I’ve never heard of anything quite like this happening before. The way they had described their issues to me made it seem that the state of matter itself was changing.”

“It would appear that way,” Celestia replied. “Shifting clocks, food spoiling, mail from the future; it’s all quite difficult to grasp, I agree. But, I do have a very valid reason for believing that something serious is happening here.”

“Besides the multitude of ponies experiencing the same issue, you mean?” Luna questioned. “Frankly, I’m unsure of what to believe at this point.”

Celestia nodded. “Yes. Well, I have a compelling argument to support these stories. I experienced something of a similar nature last night.”

Luna rose an eyebrow. “Last night? Pray tell, what happened?”

“I’m still trying to figure that out, myself,” the elder sister replied, shaking her head. “All I wanted was some tea to help me sleep. I had a conversation with a lovely young maid, uh… Missy! That was her name. She was sweeping, so I made the tea myself. I leave for no more than two minutes and come back to find the tea is completely cold and stale! As if that wasn’t strange enough, I leave again and find Missy. This time, however, she claims we hadn’t even spoken that night, and I kid you not, the clock was set back by a full hour.”

Luna blinked several times before cautiously opening her mouth to speak. “I see… Are you sure you’re not simply overusing those sleeping pills the doctor prescribed? Warning labels are there for a good reason.”

Celestia shot a glare at her. “Yes, I am sure, Luna.”

Her sister shrugged. “In that case, I see your point. But, what does it mean? Was time going backward? Or forward? What do you make of it?”

“I have no idea,” Celestia replied, rubbing her forehead. “For all I know, I could’ve been sleepwalking, and maybe I am just confused.”

Luna shook her head. “No, I would’ve noticed. You were dreaming about the Saddlestreet Colts, though.”

“I thought we talked about entering my dreams,” Celestia snarled. “Ugh, never mind. We’ll deal with that later. For right now, though, we need answers. Time can’t just change on its own. We know that much. Plus, I can’t ignore the fact that so many citizens experienced similar issues. To sweep it under the rug now would be extremely negligent.”

“Yes,” Luna replied. “I agree. And as far as what we know about time, it can only be altered when acted on by an external and potent magical source. Do you think that Discord may have a hoof in this?”

“I wouldn’t rule it out,” Celestia stated. “But if you remember, he and Fluttershy have been on some nature excursion for the past few days, and I highly doubt he’d leave her side for anything less than an emergency.” Celestia traced her hoof in circles over the table. “On top of that, we don’t even know if this is a magical time-breaking force, or if something else entirely is at play.”

Luna nodded. “Also agreed. Besides Discord, do we know anypony that possesses the ability to cast a spell of this magnitude? Assuming this is a more severe problem, that is.”

Celestia rubbed her chin for a moment. “Twilight and Starlight both know basic spells regarding time displacement, but nothing that could be this damaging and sporadic. Not to mention they can only cause tears on a localized level, much less across the kingdom. A spell this widespread would require a huge investment of magical ability.”

“As far as ponies we’re aware of, then,” Luna turned her eyes to the ceiling for a moment in thought before bringing them back toward her sister, “that leaves nopony else. It simply must be Discord up to his old tricks.”

“Either that,” Celestia tapped her hoof on the table a few times. “Or we could be looking at something much more sinister at play. I sincerely hope it’s the former, however.”

“A new enemy?”

“Perhaps. Or it may also be some magical force we’re not familiar with, yet.” Celestia leaned back in her chair, relaxing her muscles ever so slightly. “There are always new phenomena making their presence felt in our land, and I doubt we know everything there is to know about the world in which we live. This may be a simple act of nature, somehow.”

“That’s a possibility,” Luna agreed. “But there’s no way to be sure. What if the situation worsens? If a new enemy is to blame for this, then it won’t be long before our citizens start becoming victims of this phenomena. I do believe we need to bring Discord in and at least confront him about it. He is the most likely suspect in this.”

Celestia sighed. “It would appear that way.”

Silence took over the room for just a moment between them. Celestia always hated these war room meetings. Often, idle speculation and hopeful strategy were the norms. But this situation, this seemed far more dangerous than a prototypical bug bear attack, or a villain resurfacing for an ill-fated attempt at revenge.. Perhaps it was only because this wasn’t something Celestia had personally experienced before, but something felt exceptionally off about it.

She needed answers and needed them fast.

“You know what?” Celestia asked, rising to her hooves. “I’m not ready to bring Discord in, right now. If this is a magical issue, then we need an expert on the subject, not somepony who will talk in riddles and avoid the subject.”

Luna grinned. “Personally, I find his riddles quite amusing.”

Her sister nodded her agreement. “At times, I do too. But unfortunately, we simply don’t have the time for it.”

“So, what’s our plan of action, then?” Luna asked, rising to her hooves as well.

“Starswirl. He’s still in town, is he not?”

Luna bobbed her head. “Yes. I believe he’s staying at the Sunrise Motel while refining one of his latest theories.He’s preparing for his seminar this weekend.”

Celestia rolled her eyes and emitted a small chuckle. “That stallion never changes. Magic this, magic that. Anyhow, if there’s anything magical going on, he’ll be able to provide information about it. I’m going to send one of the guards for him, and we’ll get his opinion on the matter. Perhaps he can see something we can’t.”

Luna nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.”

“And Luna?” Celestia asked, her magic aura enveloping the door handle.

“Yes, sister?”

Celestia pointed a hoof at the coffee maker. “Please grab some hot water and get some coffee going. This is going to be a long day.”






“Yes, yes, yes, I’m moving as fast as I can.” Starswirl entered the meeting room with one of the guard ponies. He let out a huff. “I’m old. I can only keep up with you guards for so long.”

“My apologies, sir,” the guard said, pointing towards a seat in the room next to Luna. “But the matter is quite urgent, or so I was told.”

He nodded. “Very well, then. Thank you for at least guiding me through the copious amount of ponies outside. It’s like a war zone out there.”

The guard briefly bowed before exiting the room and shutting the door behind him. Starswirl, for his part, took his seat next to Luna and glanced back and forth between the two.

“Celestia, Luna. It is a pleasure to see you, as always. I take it you are doing well?”

Celestia shook her head. “If only that were the case.”

“Oh?”

Luna spoke up this time. “We shan’t beat around the bush. There appears to be a Magical disturbance of some kind overtaking the kingdom, Starswirl. We’re not sure what to do, to be perfectly honest.”

“We’re not even sure what it is, even,” Celestia stated, widening her eyes. “But, we’re hoping you might. You’ve studied magic more than anypony in existence, so we wanted your opinion, first.”

“I see,” he replied. “I’ll certainly do what I can to help, of course.”

“Thank you very much.” Celestia let out a sigh. “We have what we think is a magic-based phenomenon. However, we can’t be sure.”

Starswirl chuckled. “Considering all the terrors that you seem to run into in Equestria, I suppose it could be any number of things. But, tell me what you know about the phenomena, and I’ll see if I can make any sense of it.”

“What do you know about time magic?” Celestia leaned forward on the table.

“Time magic?” The elderly stallion raised an eyebrow. “I know that it’s nothing but trouble. I can tell you that much.”

“Please,” Luna interjected. “Any information you have could be crucial. How many ponies can use it? How powerful is it? My sister and I, unfortunately, are not trained or learned in it beyond the most basic of principals.”

“This is serious, I take it.” He stroked his famed beard a few times, casting a glance toward the ceiling. “Well, I know that it can be hazardous. Its effects range from cooking your food a tad faster to destroying the world itself, bit by bit.”

Celestia’s eyes widened to the size of a dinner plate. “But, nopony has the power to use magic that powerful, do they?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” he replied. “The only creature I can think of that would have magic remotely powerful enough to do such a thing would be Discord. But even he would know better than to unleash a power like that. And frankly, his magic is more chaotic than destructive.”

Celestia bobbed her head. “I can agree with you, there.”

Starswirl cocked his head to the side. “Something tells me you needed me here for more than just a magic lesson and idle speculation. What’s this phenomenon you mentioned? Do you have any specific details you could share?”

“Time distortions.” Celestia’s face was set in stone, a grave stillness in her eyes. “Time moving backward in some places, forward in others. They’re happening everywhere from what I can tell.”

The stallion sat back in his chair, his eyes remaining focused on Celestia’s. “So, that large group of ponies out there…”

“Are all here to express their concern about what appears to be the same issue,” Luna chimed in. “This is no small ordeal. Even my sister claims to have experienced something out of the ordinary. Isn’t that right, Celestia?”

Celestia nodded. “That is correct. Just last night I witnessed time seem to go backward, and at the same time, my tea grew cold in a matter of two minutes. Frankly, there’s something bizarre going on, and I don’t know what to make of it.”

“Hmm,” Starswirl leaned back in his seat. “This sounds like an odd case, indeed. If it were just the citizens claiming to have seen things, I’d chalk it up to simple nightmares. But since you’ve seen this alleged time distortion as well…”

“Do you think there’s any way you can help us resolve this issue?” Luna asked. “I know not of what other effects it could have on the kingdom should these events worsen.”

“I’m honestly not sure,” Starswirl replied. “Without having a direct subject to study, such as an item under the effect of the disturbance, my ability to resolve it is limited. However, I do know a few things based on what you’ve told me.”

Celestia and Luna both looked at him intently.

“Here’s what I know.” He leaned forward and darted his eyes between the two sisters. “Magic is the only known means of altering time and causing disturbances like this. However, very few ponies have ever been able to wield time-altering magic, and those who did could only cast it on local, specific areas. From what you two have told me, this is happening on a much grander scale. That’s what frightens me.”

Luna raised a hoof. “Could it possibly be a team of ponies or other creatures doing this?”

Starswirl shook his head. “Highly unlikely. Even the weakest time spell takes years of mental discipline to perfect, and they all take an immense mental toll on whoever uses them. If it were a group, you more than likely would have found them quite easily by now.”

Celestia crashed her hoof down on the table. “Then what could it be? What’s causing it?”

“I’m unsure.” He took a deep breath. “Even despite my interest in the subject, I was only ever able to learn the most basic of time-altering spells, none of which I could ever properly use on a larger scale.”

“So, you won’t be able to help us, will you?” Luna asked with a slight frown.

“I’ll tell you what,” Starswirl said. “I’ll look through my old tomes and see if I can’t learn anything about this particular kind of magic. I may be able to turn up some form of clue as to where this spell originated from or who may have the power to cast it. I can’t promise anything, but I shall return by nightfall with any findings.”

Celestia nodded. “Thank you. Hopefully, a few strange incidents here and there are all we’ll have to worry about in the meantime.”

“Indeed.” Starswirl stood from his chair and cautiously looked around the room. “It wouldn’t take much for a spell this powerful in nature to do serious harm if it hasn’t already.”

Celestia and Luna exchanged a worried glance with each other.

“But fear not,” he continued. “We’ve all faced our fair share of trouble and came out triumphant on the other side. This dilemma shall be no different. I bid you good day and will return post-haste.”

With that, he left the room, leaving the two worried sisters on their own.

Celestia shook her head. “The other evils we’ve faced were at least visible. Tangible.  But this… This isn’t something we can see, hear, or do anything about!” Her eyes fell to the table.

“Calm down, sister,” Luna said, reaching over the table to gently hold her sister’s hoof. “As you heard, Starswirl is bringing us more information. In the meantime, I do think it’d be wise to contact Discord. If not the cause of this incident, something tells me he’ll be able to narrow down our efforts a good amount.”

Celestia brought her eyes back up to meet Luna’s. “Agreed. Let’s get him over here.”

Luna smiled. “I’ll contact him immediately.”

Celestia leaned back in her chair, relaxing her muscles. “Something tells me he won’t be happy having to cut his vacation with Fluttershy short.”
> Open Arms
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord was indeed not happy.

“Not that it matters to you two self-serving creatures,” Discord said, arms folded and back turned to the Princesses, “but I’ll have you know, Fluttershy and I were enjoying a positively wonderful vacation before your little ‘emergency call.’”

“And we are very appreciative,” Luna said, trotting within his line of vision. “It’s quite admirable for you to come on such short notice.”

“Hmph.” Discord turned his nose to the air. “And I was just about to win Fluttershy and I’s game of Mythical Creature Bingo. Now victory will have to elude my grasp!”

“I’m sorry, Discord,” Celestia said, attempting and promptly failing to prevent an eye roll. “But, this matter is extremely urgent. And frankly, we need your expertise on the subject.”

Discord turned his head around in a one-eighty-degree motion to see Celestia. “Oh really?” He twisted the rest of his body around to face her directly and curled his lips into a devious smile. “Well that does make everything a little more interesting, doesn’t it? When I received your magic letter, it failed to state anything about my services being of use. Yet, here we are, you begging for my help. It’s quite the beautiful sight, isn’t it?” Discord poofed a box of tissues into existence and wiped a few tears from his eyes.

“Are you finished?” Celestia tapped her hoof on the ground.

Discord wiped one more tear away and vanished the tissues into thin air. “Okay, now I am. So, pray tell old compadre, what do you need Discord’s help with?”  He slithered over to Celestia and began walking in circles around her. “An old villain returning for vengeance? Or perhaps a swarm of parasprites has infested the royal washrooms? Or, hmm, maybe one of those dastardly red and black alicorns saw fit to will itself into existence again? Nasty business, that.”

“None of the above,” Celestia stated, her brow creasing as her patience ran down. “It’s something far more dangerous, I fear.”

Discord’s eyes popped open. “More dangerous than a parasprite infested washroom? Oh, my.”

“Very much so,” Luna cut in. “We’re dealing with some form of magic that’s causing time distortions across the area.”

Discord immediately stood up straight. “Time distortion magic, you say? This is quite peculiar. How long has it been going on?”

“Since last night, as far as I know,” Celestia replied. “I saw time move backward, my tea get cold and a conversation I had get wiped from existence.”

“I see, I see…” With a flash, Discord was decked out in classic detective gear that’d make Sherlock Holmes proud and began pacing back and forth. “So, it’s been one day, and you saw time move backward. And how far, exactly, did time go back? To the minute if you could.”

Celestia scrunched her brow in thought. “I’d have to say it was a little over an hour. Maybe an hour and five minutes? Why do you ask?”

Discord ceased his pacing and turned around to Luna, holding a magnifying glass to her face. “And where were you precisely when all this was taking place, last night?”

Luna rose an eyebrow. “I was assisting other ponies with their dreams as I’m prone to do as the Princess of the Night.”

“Hmm, likely story,” Discord said, stuffing the magnifying glass into a pocket. “Well, I’m afraid I have some good news as well as some bad news for you two.”

“Just give it to us straight, Discord,” Celestia said, an icy chill in her voice. “No games.”

Discord frowned and pulled a box of Marenopoly out of his jacket before subsequently tossing it into a nearby garbage can. “Very well, we’ll do it the boring way. The good news is I am familiar with magic like this. The bad news is that I have not the slightest idea of where it could be coming from or if it will get worse or not.”

“Ugh, another dead end.” Celestia through head back, emitting a loud groan. “Well, what do you know about it? Or, better yet, who do you know that could cast magic like this? We need something to go off.”

Discord levitated over one of the chairs from the table and hopped onto it, kicking his feet into the air, resting them on the table. “Well, that’s the real mystery, isn’t it? You see, any unicorn can learn time magic. Most can even learn to cast moderately effective spells. But nopony that I’m aware of can cast a spell that’s doing what you’re saying it’s doing. Multiple locations, freaky time hijinks, all that lovely stuff.”

Luna trotted a bit closer to him. “Well, perhaps it’s not a pony then? What about you, Discord? Do you have the ability to cast such a spell?”

Discord clutched his chest and gasped. “What? Are you accusing me of this magical negligence? I assure you I am nothing but innocent and pure! I was with Fluttershy the past three days!” Discord willed a holy book of some kind into existence and placed his claw on it. “I swear, under oath!”

Celestia grabbed the book with her magic and tossed it across the room. “We’re not accusing you, Discord. We’re just exploring all our options. But, if your species can create this sort of magic, then perhaps we’ll have a much bigger problem than a rebellious unicorn.”

“I see.” Discord cautiously reclined back in his chair. “Well, have no fear, although I do possess some of the strongest magic known to Equestria, if I do say so myself, not even I can manipulate time itself like that.”

Celestia shook her head. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve seen you completely fabricate dimensions and all kinds of things. You can also send ponies backward and forwards in time, can you not?”

“Well, yes,” he replied with a cool shrug. “But actively sending a pony backward in time or to a different dimension is completely different from actually destroying the fabric of time itself. And that, my dear Princess, is what’s happening here. This magic isn’t simply sending one pony through the time stream. It’s destroying time itself, and that is something I cannot and would not do.” He crossed his arms turned his nose to the air. “Not even I’m that mean.”

Celestia looked toward Luna, a hollowness in her eyes. “You’re saying that time is being… destroyed?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Discord said. “From what I know of this particular type of spell, it treats the timestream like a disease or a really pesky parasprite and attacks it, causing ruptures and all kinds of wild side-effects.”

“Like my tea going cold…”

Discord nodded. “Precisely. Unfortunately, I’m not entirely familiar with it beyond that. Rumor has it that it’s a spell that existed once long ago but was deemed too powerful and hidden away. But, of course, that’s here say.”

“So,” Luna spoke up. “You don’t know anything about this spell other than that it existed long ago?”

He shrugged. “Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I know everything. Remember, you trapped me in a block of stone for a better part of my golden years. Years I could’ve spent learning about time spells, mind you.” Discord made sure to waggle an eyebrow at Celestia who merely shrugged it off.

“Well, I’m not ready to let you go just yet,” Celestia replied. “Starswirl may come back with more information, and you may be able to work with him on a plan to help us. Hopefully.”

“Oh no, not him,” Discord said, bring his paw to his forehead. “You know we don’t exactly get along. He’s so… so… serious about everything!”

“Trust me,” Celestia replied. “He doesn’t exactly love you, either. But please, for my sake, try and get along. I need your help.”

“Oof, you had to make it personal.” Discord groaned. “Fine, fine, fine, I’ll help. But don’t expect me to be all sunshine and rainbows about it.”

“I would expect nothing less,” Celestia replied.

Their lovely banter was interrupted by a loud knock at the door.

“Yes?” Celestia said, her voice cracking with obvious agitation.

A guard opened the door. “Pardon the interruption, your majesty, but Starswirl re—”

“I have returned!” Starswirl announced, pushing past the guard who politely saw his way out.. “And I bring with me something I think will provide a bit of illumination on our issue. With any luck, we might even— Oh, hello Discord.”

He replied with a half-hearted wave. “Hello yourself, Starswirl.”

The two engaged in a temporary stare down for a few seconds before Starswirl finally broke it, pulling an object out of his cloak and setting it on the table.

Celestia, Luna, and Discord all stood around the object that Starswirl had brought. It was a small, white ball carried safely in a glass tube of some kind and was suspended within it. Motionless.

Discord looked from the object and up to Starswirl. “It’s a ping-pong ball.”

"Of course it's a ping-pong ball, you looney!" The wizard said, glaring daggers at the draconequus. "But that's not what's important about it!"

Luna politely cleared her throat. “What is important about it, Starswirl? I assume you had a purpose in bringing it here.”

“I’m glad you asked,” he replied. “Let me explain.”

Discord pulled a bag of popcorn out of the air and began munching away on it. “Well, this ought to be good.”

Starswirl grimaced at the snarky draconequus, before turning his attention back to the ping-pong ball. “You see, while studying, it’s become a habit of mine to toss this ball in the air. However, while researching today, as I promised I would, I threw the ball in the air, and it never came back down.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Never came back down?”

“Precisely.” Starswirl’s eyes were wide, a mixture of excitement and fear plastered on his face. “I turn my head up, and what do I see? The ball, hanging there in the middle of the air. Almost as if— “

“As if it were frozen in time!” Celestia interjected. “And that means…”

“I was able to cast a protective spell around the ball and seal it in this capsule.” Starswirl held the capsule up for all to see. “In doing so, I was able to preserve whatever magical field or force was acting on it at that given time. That, in turn, allowed me to study it a bit closer and what I found…” The elderly stallion sighed and shook his head. “It’s not ideal, to say the least.”

“Right, right, right,” Discord said, waving his arms. “This is all very lovely, but let’s save the exposition dump for Rainbow Dash’s Wonderbolt fanfiction and get to the point. We don’t necessarily have the time for it right now, hehe.”

Celestia shot Discord a warning glare before turning back to Starswirl. “Please, tell us what you learned. Any new developments, no matter how foreboding, would be welcome right now.”

“Of course.” Starswirl set the object down and addressed the room. “This spell matches properties of one I studied far back in my early years of learning magic. The spell itself, Tyrannus Tempore by name, was a ritual spell created for the sole purpose of causing irreversible destruction. As opposed to a standard offensive spell which can destroy an individual or even a group of individuals; this spell was built to manipulate things on a much more dangerous scale. Killing a soldier is one thing but causing the entire army to have never existed in the first place? That is a much more terrifying thing entirely.”

Luna gently raised a hoof, her voice cracking ever so slightly. “B-But is such a spell even possible to cast? I’ve never heard of it nor seen it used before… until now that is.”

“And that is where things get a little more confusing,” Starswirl continued. “From what I learned of it at least, no pony was ever able to master this spell. The most it could ever do was cause an enemy to oversleep in the morning.”

“A spell nopony ever learned to master?” Discord questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Pff, I doubt it. Why would we have a record of it all if nopony ever learned to use it?”

Starswirl rolled his eyes. “If you’ll let me explain, I’ll tell you the reason why that is. You see, to properly cast this spell, the proper ingredients must be amassed and then a standard time spell must be cast on the ingredients. After that, its effects begin to take place. But, for the spell to do any more than be a mild inconvenience, only the strongest time magic can be used, and very few ponies can use such magic.”

Celestia cocked her head to the side. “So, you’re saying somepony has initiated the spell in my land, and we’re beginning to see the effects?”

“I wish it were that simple.” Starswirl shook his head.

“It never is,” Celestia said, shaking her head.

“You see,” Starswirl continued, “the ingredients to create this spell have been extinct for over a thousand years. Nopony in this day and age could’ve cast this spell. It’s simply not possible.”

“Heh,” Discord cut in. “You might be getting ahead of yourself given we’re in a land of fire-breathing dragons and magical ponies.”

“Trust me,” Starswirl replied, “based on everything I know, this spell would’ve had to have been cast long ago. And judging by the structural aging on the magic field surrounding it, I can almost pinpoint the date.”

Celestia slammed a hoof down. “So, you’re saying that this spell was cast over a thousand years ago and is just now going into effect?”

“That is precisely what I’m saying.”

“How does that make any sense?” Celestia shouted.

Discord quickly waved a claw at her. “Take it from a god of Chaos: The easiest way to make sense of time paradoxes is not to even try. You’ll give yourself a headache, trust me.”

Celestia held her mouth open for a moment, before finally taking a deep breath. “Alright. For the sake of my own sanity, I’ll take it at face value for now.”

“I’m still confused, however,” Luna stated. “How would a spell cast so long ago only be revealing its effects now? Wouldn’t there have been some sign or something over the years?”

“It frightens me to say this,” Starswirl said, looking around the room, “but it’s quite possible somepony did it that way on purpose for the sake of destroying our present world.”

Celestia felt her heart rate pick up as she thought about it. “So, just to make sure I’ve understood you correctly, you’re saying a pony possibly set this spell up over a thousand years ago, cast it, and then rigged it to lay dormant somehow until now for the sole purpose of destroying us?”

“Or it could have just been a really unfortunate magic ritual mix-up,” Discord said with a shrug. “But, I’m leaning on the first. There are spells, much easier to learn, that delay other spells in a manner of speaking. It’s quite possible the time spell was cast, and then another was cast on top of it, so it’d release now, all those years later. It’s quite fascinating, isn’t it?”

Luna grimaced. “It’d be far more fascinating if it weren’t threatening all of us.”

“Oh, pish posh,” Discord replied with a wave of his claw. “For all we know, this whole thing could be one big false alarm, and the spell could disappear as quickly as it came. Right, old boy?” Discord playfully nudged Starswirl who responded with a grim frown. “Oh, well never mind then. Geez, if looks could kill.”

“As much as I’d like to agree with Discord here,” Starswirl continued, “I can’t be sure what the overall effects of this spell will be. However, if it’s this strong already, we have no reason to believe it won’t get worse as time goes on.”

“And, hypothetically of course, how long do you think it could take to reach its full power?” Celestia looked at Starswirl, her muscles tightening to retain her composure. “Are we looking at a timetable of a few days, a few years, or—”

The conversation was interrupted by a loud banging at the door. All of them turned their heads as Celestia used her magic to open the door, revealing a guard trying to catch his breath. His eyes appeared hollow, and the skin beneath his fur almost seemed to pale as he spoke.

“Princesses, please, I need your assistance!” He paused for a moment to take a few deep breaths. “We have an emergency, and a citizen needs an immediate audience!”

“I’ll handle it, sister,” Luna said with a curt nod. “Please, stay here and continue working on a plan of some kind.”

The younger sister cantered across the room and followed the guard out the door, shutting it firmly behind her.

“It looks like we won’t have to wait long to find out…” Discord exhaled a sigh.

“Anyhow,” Celestia said. “You mentioned that you pinpointed the date at which the original spell was cast, Starswirl?”

“In a manner of speaking,” he said. “I was able to safely identify that it happened one-thousand-one hundred and seventeen years ago. Most likely during the spring portion of the year. Other than that, it’s anypony’s guess.”

Discord raised an eyebrow. “You got all that from a ping-pong ball?”

Starswirl responded with a cocky grin. “I’m proud to say I took several advanced classes in magical study and origin. It’s rather simple really when one gets down to the basics.”

“Oh, very nice,” Discord said with a chuckle. “And here I thought you were just an old fogey with too much free time on his hooves.”

“Both of you, cut it out,” Celestia shouted. “We don’t have time for any arguing, no matter how humorous.”

“Fine, be that way,” Discord said with a frown. “Just trying to lighten the mood. My bad.”

“Starswirl,” Celestia said. “I’m afraid I already know the answer to this question but is there any way of containing the spell? I can accept we can’t stop whoever did it in the first place, but could we shut it down?”

“Given the sporadic nature of the spell, the only way to do so would be to put an anti-magic vacuum spell around all of Equestria and hold it there for eternity.” Starswirl rubbed his chin. “Discord may have a magic trick in his arsenal for that.”

The draconequus immediately faced the both of them at full attention. “I’m sorry, but not even I’m a miracle worker. A spell around all Equestria? Used specifically for putting the kibosh on other magic spells? That’d be a suicide mission, even for me!”

For once in her life, Celestia felt like collapsing. For once, she felt defeated. A dead end everywhere she turned.

“Then what are we supposed to do?”

The door flew open, revealing Luna. Despite only being gone for a few minutes, she looked like she had been through a battle. Her cheek fur was matted down from fresh tears, and rapid breaths and widened eyes replaced her ordinarily calm demeanor.

“Luna? What is it?” Celestia rushed over to her sister.

“We’ve…” Luna shook her head a bit, attempting to gather herself. “We’ve lost somepony. A child. H-Her father came to visit and… His daughter simply disappeared. Right before his eyes. And his wife did too, immediately after.”

There were no jokes to be had from any party. Only stunned silence. And the silence remained until Discord opened his mouth.

“Whatever we’re supposed to do, we should probably do it soon.”
> Abstract Art
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

If the air in the room were any more oppressive, the table would have broken into pieces and crumbled to the floor. Between the four who sat around said table, nothing was said.  Nobody knew what to say or what to do. How could they combat an enemy that they couldn't see or touch? It was a power they could only begin to understand, and do nothing about, allowing destruction to spiral out of control. What could one even begin to do in this situation?

"That's what we've been here for!" Celestia said, slamming her forehooves on the table. She grit her teeth. "I don't know what to do, so that's why you're all here! I..." Her voice faded as she saw the worried gaze of her sister. "Please, any of you, figure something out. Anything would be helpful at this point."

Starswirl stroked his beard, Luna stared intently at the ground, and Discord tapped his talons on the table. Celestia patiently awaited an answer of any kind for a few seconds before sighing and letting her head drop.

“Well, it’s not like there are many options on the table,” Starswirl stated. “Celestia, I’m not sure there’s anything we can do to stop it. As frustrating  as that is, we may need to face the truth and hope it stops on its own before too long.”

“With all due respect,” Celestia said, “I refuse to accept that answer. I won’t simply stand by while my citizens suffer, and my land implodes upon itself! As far as I’m concerned, that’s not an option.”

“But Princess,” Starswirl said, “forgive me if I sound callous, but there may not be a way.”

“How do we know for sure if we haven’t even tried!” Celestia shouted much louder than she intended to. “I apologize. I’m just rather flustered at the moment. This isn’t exactly something I’m used to. This type of villain, I mean.”

Luna leaned over to her and gently nuzzled her sister’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, sister, everything will be alright, I swear this to you. You’ve never failed Equestria and her citizens before, and I do not believe you will start now.”

Celestia raised her hoof and gently placed it on Luna’s. “Thank you, Luna. I know that this isn’t the time for all this negativity and fear-dwelling.”

“Well,” Discord spoke up, shrugging his shoulders. “Might I suggest that we start at the beginning? It’s as good of a place as any, or so I’ve heard.”

Celestia released her hoof from Luna’s and cracked the smallest of smiles. “Very well, go on.”

“Instead of focusing so much on what we don’t know,” Discord continued. “Perhaps we should think about what we do know and go from there? All this Negative Nancy talk isn’t good for my emotional wellbeing.”

“I can agree with that, surprisingly,” Starswirl stated. “What do we know?”

“Well, I’m glad you asked!” Discord grabbed a pen and paper from the air and began jotting down notes. “We can’t control it, we can’t find out who started it, we can’t keep it from getting worse, and at this rate Celestia will never have a warm cup of tea again, most likely.” Discord darted his eyes over the scowling faces around him. “So, long story short, we’re doomed!” He tossed the pen and paper onto the table, revealing a very poorly drawn caricature of Celestia eating cake.

“You, sir,” Celestia spoke up, “are not very pleasant sometimes. Do you realize this?”

“Oh, I know,” Discord replied with a smirk. “I tell it like it is, even if it ruffles every last feather on your lovely wings.”

“So, you truly believe that there’s nothing we can do?” Luna asked, her eyes tilting toward the floor. “We simply have to tell the citizens to accept their fate?”

“Unfortunately.” Starswirl released a deep sigh. “I don’t believe there’s much else to do. Whoever set this up did it without leaving any holes to poke through.”

“Not quite.” Discord once again butted in. “There may still be a way, if you all would let me finish for once.”

“You know something?” Celestia shouted. “For Equestria’s sake, tell us!”

“Well,” he began, “it’s not so much that I know that it will work, but my idea will give us a chance at not getting smothered into the depths of time and chaos.” Discord turned to Starswirl. “So, old pal, you said you were able to pin the time that the spell was cast, were you not?”

“Yes,” Starswirl replied. “One thousand and seventeen years. Why? Do you have some means of reversing the spell’s effects?”

“Hehe, no.” Discord shook his head. “If that were the case, we’d all be celebrating victory as we speak instead of discussing the finer points of magical destruction.”

“Then what is your plan?” Celestia said, her headache getting worse with each passing sentence being uttered from Discord’s mouth.

Discord looked over all three ponies. “Well, it’s quite simple. If we can’t stop this magic from destroying everything, why not keep it from ever happening in the first place?”

Luna cocked her head to the side. “Stop it from happening? What do you mean, exactly?”

“Exactly what I said, my dear princess,” Discord said with a smile. “We’ve come to accept that we can’t stop the spell now that it’s been put in place. So, by common sense alone, the only thing we can do is keep it from being cast in the first place! I didn’t think I’d have to spell that one out for you.”

Celestia rubbed her temples. “Wait, wait, wait… You’re suggesting we stop something that happened over a thousand years ago? Even with the time magic we have, there’s no way that—”

“He may be on to something,” Starswirl cut in.

“What are you getting at?” Celestia asked.

“Well,” Starswirl said, “it’s completely possible to use magic to send ponies back in time, correct? It’s been done before, even by ponies such as Twilight and that snarky one she lives with.”

“Mhm,” Discord nodded in agreement. “And since we know the rough time the spell was cast… anyone?”

“We could send somepony back to that time to stop whoever cast it!” Luna called out. “That’s a wonderful idea, Discord!”

The draconequus brushed some dust off his shoulder. “I try.”

“But,” Starswirl rose a hoof. “We are forgetting one major issue here. Even with the magic I’ve developed and learned over the years, the longest amount of time I could send somepony back with accuracy would be fifty, maybe one-hundred years. Anything beyond that wouldn’t be possible.”

“For a pony, maybe,” Discord replied with a scoff. “You underestimate my power. I can easily send anypony back that far in time; to the day, I might add!”

Celestia’s eyes popped open. “That’s it, then. That’s our plan! Discord, please, send me! Immediately! We haven’t any time to lose!”

“Hold your hooves there cowgirl,” Discord replied, raising his paw. “You’re forgetting one weensy, teensy detail.”

“What’s that?” Celestia replied.

“Well, as Starswirl pointed out, sending a pony back in time is quite the dangerous task.” He snapped his claw, and a chalkboard appeared on which he began scribbling pictures and diagrams. “It’s not just trying to get a pony from Point A to Point B that can be difficult. Merely the magic force needed to do so is quite powerful. Long story short, if I were to send a pony that far back, odds are they’d arrive on the other side as a pile of mush… and a pile of mush would not do much to stop anypony, now would they?”

“And we’re back to square one, I suppose,” Celestia said with a huff.

“Well, Discord,” Starswirl stated, “couldn’t you simply go back and stop this from happening?”

Discord shrugged. “I could, but then who would be here to help you all with damage control? I’m too valuable to lose.”

“Pfft, excuses,” Starswirl said, waving a hoof.

“No, he’s right,” Celestia replied with a groan.

“He is?”

“I am?” Discord scratched his head. “I was just trying to defer the option to somepony else. I suppose it’s the small victories, huh?”

“Yes, you are right.” Celestia cleared her throat. “I can’t imagine the odds of success on this mission will be very high, and it’s not worth the risk. We need you here to help us out in the event the mission doesn’t succeed.”

“I agree,” Luna replied. “But then, who can we choose to go back? If we can’t use a pony and we can’t use Discord, who else does that leave us with?”

“Nopony, it would seem,” Starswirl said with a sigh. “We need somepony with a high magical resistance that we can overall afford to lose should the worst come to pass.”

All four of them spent a moment rubbing their chins in thought. Their options were severely limited at this point, and there was no guarantee this mission would succeed regardless. The odds of success weren’t exactly in their favor, but regardless, they had to try. And they’d most likely have only one chance. Who could they send?

Celestia broke the silence with a loud thud as her hoof hit the table.

“I think I know somepony, err, somedragon, I should say.”





“Spike, get up!”

“Huh… what? Oof!” The dragon’s eyes were forced shut by the sheer force of a pillow slamming into his face. “Ergh, this is gonna be my whole morning isn’t it.”

Spike lazily sat up in his bed, his eyes adjusting to the light in his room. As the blurriness slowly faded away, he was able to make out the figure of a smirking Starlight Glimmer standing by his bed.

“Eh, what do you want, Starlight? I’ll have you know I was in the middle of an awesome dream involving a mountain of gems and a pretty mare that put Fleur de Lis to shame.” He folded his arms and stretched out his wings a bit.

“Oh, boo-hoo,” she replied. “You’ve had long enough with your dream world. You need to wake up and help me with all of these chores before Twilight gets back from her visit with Mayor Mare. We’ve already put off doing the dishes for three days, and I don’t want to face her wrath if we blow it off again.”

“Mmph,” Spike mumbled. “Can’t it wait until later? I wanted to sleep in, today.”

Starlight tapped her hoof on the ground and levitated a clock in front of his face. “Spike, look at this clock and tell me what time it says.”

The dragon turned his head away. “No way. You can’t sleep-shame me. We live in a modern society.”

“Please, do this for me. I want you to know what weekend laziness is like in its most pure state.”

“Fine.” The dragon rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Oh, this is what your worked up about?  It’s only three-thirty in the afternoon.”

Starlight deadpanned. “I’ll give you five minutes to get downstairs and help out. If not…” Starlight snatched one of Spike’s comic books off a nearby shelf. “…the comic book gets it.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“I would.” She smirked at him and began to trot out the door. “Remember, Spike, five minutes! That’s three-hundred seconds!”

Spike groaned and flopped back into bed. Spike loved that mare like the sibling he never had, but boy did she have his number, sometimes. He slowly crawled out of his bed and unfurled his wings, stretching them out and yawning the mightiest of yawns. He spent a moment twisting his slender body around, loosening his tight muscles and joints, a symphony of cracks and pops accompanying the action.

Right as he was about to release a second yawn, he felt his stomach begin to rumble before releasing a powerful burp. As per usual, a letter popped through the fire and flames that jutted out of Spike's mouth. The rolled up letter had plopped gently on the ground...

“Ugh, harassment from Starlight and a letter from Celestia, already?” He picked up the letter and turned his eyes to the ceiling. “Just another day in the life of Spike the Dragon.”
> The New Reign
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike swiftly stepped down the cobblestone paths of Canterlot. The train ride took a bit longer than he had hoped for, and the sun was already getting ready to set in the sky by the time he got there. He hated being anywhere at night. Nighttime was for sleep and comic book nights with Starlight. To put it bluntly, he wasn’t much of a night dragon.

He wasn’t much of a morning dragon for that matter, either. He really needed to take Twilight’s advice about figuring out more ways to be a productive member of society. However, the inner turmoil and self-discovery would have to wait for another day. Right now, he had more pressing concerns... like the one he was holding in his claws. It was a letter from Celestia, one that made his heartbeat pick up as he scanned over it. The words on the page gave him a deep-rooted crisis of faith he never knew he had. Even now, glossing over the words made his charisma and intelligence scores drop by two multipliers.





Dear Spike,

  	Please come to Canterlot immediately. There is a matter of grave importance that must be discussed in person, and I need to speak to you as soon as possible.

  	Sincerely,

  Princess Celestia

 

P.S.: Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, don’t tell Twilight about this.





“Yep, I’m screwed.” Spike rolled up the letter and put it back in the satchel he was carrying.

Sometimes you know when you’re in trouble. Perhaps it’s a look your parents give you. Or maybe it’s the tone of voice your teacher uses when she addresses you in front of the class. In fact, according to the most basic laws of the universe, anytime anybody uses any form of the term ‘we need to talk,’ it means you’re in big trouble and probably getting dumped after a living room argument that ends in heartbreak and overeating.

He wasn’t sure what he did, but he knew it must’ve been something serious for Celestia to want to talk to him about it in person. His fingers trembled a tad at the thought of what form of repercussion he might face at the castle. He did accidentally make a joke about the Yak gods on his last ambassador trip to Yakyakistan. And, of course, there was the time he managed to offend the sea ponies by saying he was allergic to their seaweed casserole in a poor dragon’s attempt to avoid having to eat it. Suffice to say, they saw right through his ruse. 

The list of possible offenses grew in his mind with each step he took toward the castle. He needed a fallback option to buy him some remorse.

He scanned his eyes around the town square. There was a surprisingly small number of ponies around for a Saturday evening. In fact, there were only two he could see, plus Daisy the flower mare about to close up sho—

“That’s it!” Spike darted over towards her. “Daisy! Please! I need flowers! It’s a national emergency!”

The mare looked around for a moment before she caught sight of  the dragon barreling towards her. “Oh, hello Spike. You caught me right on time.”

Spike panted, attempting to catch his breath. “Yeah… Thankfully. I’ll be quick so that you can get back home.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she said with a slight sigh. “Business wasn’t exactly booming today. You’d be my first customer in the last hour.”

“Really?” Spike looked around at the now completely barren square. “Yeah, it seems pretty dead today. I wonder why?”

Daisy shrugged. “I’m not sure. I heard some talk around town about weird magic or something like that, but that’s about it. Did you hear anything back home in Ponyville from Twilight about something going on?”

The dragon shook his head. “Nope. It might just be one of those weird things, no rhyme or reason. Anyhow, can I get like five white roses? Ooh, and put ‘em in a blue wrapper if you could.”

“Got it,” she replied, fetching the flowers immediately. “I hope these aren’t for Roseluck. We know it wasn’t your fault, but after you caught half of her mane on fire on your guys’ first date, she’s not planning on having a second.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Hey, fire burps are not something I could control at the time. Add in the spicy food we were eating; it was a losing deal all the way around. Besides, her mane grew back… eventually.”

Daisy chuckled. “Well, these are the best roses I have, so hopefully they’ll put a smile on some mare’s face.”

“I’m crossing my claws,” Spike said with a grin. “I’m about to visit Celestia, and I’m pretty sure she’s upset with me about something. These are her favorite flowers, so I’m hoping they’ll at least give me a head start before I start wallowing in disgrace.”

“They won’t hurt,” she replied with a smirk. “Anyhow, that’ll be five bits.”

Spike reached into his bag and pulled out the change, throwing a few extra on the cart. “There, that’s for staying late to put up with my nonsense. Wish me luck!”

“Will do.”

She waved goodbye as Spike resumed his course toward the castle. He wasn’t sure what awaited him, but there was no sense in delaying the inevitable. He was going to face his problems head-on and with dignity. He was an adult now. Heck, he even stood at least a foot over most ponies. He was mature and confident. He was a dragon!

He had this in the bag!









“Okay, look, I will give you thirty bits if you tell Celestia I got in a freak flying accident on the way here.” Spike shook the bag of bits he was carrying in front of the castle guard’s face. “You won’t get a better offer than that.”

The guard in question rolled his eyes as he continued to lead Spike down the corridors of the castle. “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.”

“Curses!” Spike let out a long-winded sigh. “Then can you at least give me a clue as to what she wants with me? This whole situation is giving me an anxiety disorder I didn’t even know I had! Is this what it feels like to go to public high school? Because it is not pleasant.”

“I’m sorry, Spike, but not even I know the details.” The guard was doing an incredible job of keeping his professionalism despite the onslaught of nonsense he was receiving. “I was just told to stand at the front doors and lead you back to the war room chambers whenever you arrived.”

Spike gulped. “War room? Oh, sweet baby Tirek! This is worse than I thought.”

“I’m sure the Princess has more pressing matters at hoof than to scold you about some trivial matter, Spike,” the guard said.

“What do you mean by that?” Spike asked with a raised eyebrow.

The guard shook his head. “I don’t have enough information to say anything, and it’s not my place. She will tell you everything you need to know.”

“Fine, fair enough.”

Spike continued to follow the guard closely as they weaved their way down the many halls and corridors the castle had to offer. Before long, they finally reached a large wooden door. The handle was made from sturdy blackened metal, as were the ornately shaped hinge plates and steel bracing. A room built for important business.

The guard reached under his armor and pulled out a large set of keys. He flipped through them briefly before he found the correct one and turned the lock.

Locked from the outside. That’s not a good sign, Spike thought.

“Wait here just a moment, please.” The guard cracked the door open and stuck his head inside. “Ma’am, Spike has arrived. Do you want to speak with him now?”

Spike waited a moment before tapping the guard on the back. “Am I good to go in?” 

The guard quickly flipped around. “Alright, head on in. They’re waiting for you.”

“Alright, here goes no— Wait, ‘they’?” Spike received no response as the guard shoved him into the room and locked the door.

Well, this is how it ends, I guess…

“Good evening, Spike,” he heard Celestia say. “Thank you so much for coming on such short notice.”

Spike had to compose himself upon entering the room. His eyes raced around, identifying the creatures greeting him. There were four of them. Four he recognized quite well. The princesses, Discord, and Starswirl. His chest tightened.

Under normal circumstances, he’d be entirely comfortable in this situation. He was quite close to the former three and associated multiple times with the fourth. But these were not ordinary times. No, these were troubling times, and now he felt like an insect under a magnifying glass that was about to catch on fire.

Play it cool, Spike. You can do this. Just be calm, mature and collected like you usually are…

“Celestia, I swear I didn’t know the Yaks would get offended when I said their God probably invented whack-a-mole!” He took a few steps forward, pulling the flowers from his bag. “On a separate note, I found these flowers on the way here and— AH!”

It was at this moment that Spike decided to give the laws of motion and physics a run for their money as his foot managed to collide with his tail, sending him faceplanting onto the floor. The flowers, on the other hand, separated from their wrapper and skidded across the table toward Celestia, leaving a trail of petals in its wake. By the time Spike rose back to his feet, and the flowers came to a halt, Celestia was gifted with nothing but barren green stems.

Discord let out a sigh. “And we’re trusting him to save the world? I can’t wait to see how this turns out.”

Spike gingerly dusted the shame off himself the best he could before addressing the now wide-eyed group sitting around the table.

“Well, we’re off to a great start…” he said. “On that note, I tried to give you flowers, Celestia, but well, you have stems now. So, you know, have fun with those.”

Celestia politely brushed the damaged goods off to the side and stared straight into Spike. “I do appreciate you bringing me my favorite flowers, or at least attempting to, but don’t worry, Spike. You’re not in trouble.”

“Sister, I told you that you shouldn’t have sounded so grave in the letter.” Luna looked sternly at her sister before turning to Spike. “Our apologies for the confusion, Spike.”

The dragon blinked a few times. “You mean I’m not in trouble?”

“No, of course not,” Celestia replied, a gentle smile on her lips.

“Oh, good!” Spike rubbed the back of his head. “And to think I got all panicky and stuff for nothing. I thought something important was going on and—”

“Can we please get to the point of this conversation?” Starswirl cut in. “It’s not as if we have all the time in the world to chit-chat.”

“Yes, of course,” Celestia said. She quickly turned her attention from Starswirl back to Spike. “You’re not in trouble, but we did bring you to discuss something of extreme importance.” She gestured to the row of chairs in front of him. “Please have a seat.”

Spike looked for any sign of relaxed humor or cheerfulness about the situation in the eyes of his supposed interrogators, but they all just watched him intently. Even Discord dared not blink.

This was serious.

Spike pulled out the closest chair to him, directly across from Celestia and Luna. “Okay, what’s up? Not gonna lie, you all are kinda making me worried.”

Celestia spoke up first. “Spike, something is happening to Equestria, and quite frankly we don’t know what to do. Therefore, we brought you here.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Something? Like a new monster or villain we’re destined to reform with relative ease?”

“No,” Luna replied this time. “‘Tis not the usual fare this time, I’m afraid. We fear it’s something far greater than a simple mon—”

“Let’s not sugarcoat it,” Discord cut in with a yawn. “Listen here, Spike, my boy. The world is about to break into a million tiny fibers and rip itself into pieces, and we need you to go back in time to stop it from happening.”

The dragon blinked. “Um… what?”

Discord released a drawn-out sigh. “Ugh. Remember the third arc of our last Ogres and Oubliettes campaign where High Priest Marky Mark and his Funky Bunch hoard cast that spell to remove the Land of Spiratica from ever existing, so we had to destroy his magic wand and bring order back to the realm?”

Spike nodded vigorously. “Oh, heck yeah! One of our finer adventures, I must say.”

“Well, it’s that.” Discord slouched back in his chair and pointed a talon at the dragon. “Except you are the only one that can stop it from happening.”

Spike remained silent for a second. “Wait a second. You’re saying a pony is trying to cast some time spell to destroy everything?”

All of them nodded, and Starswirl spoke first. “Yes, Spike, that is exactly the case.”

“Umm, okay.” He shrugged. “I guess it’s not that hard to believe given all the other crazy things that happen around here. But, just for the sake of my curiosity, why are you asking me? I mean, I’m flattered, but shouldn't you tell Twilight or somepony about this? She kinda has the market cornered on wrecking bad guys.”

“You see, that’s where things get a little more difficult.” Celestia shook her head.

“Oh boy, something tells me this isn’t going anywhere pleasant,” Spike said. “Give it to me straight. But wait, let me guess first. The bad guy is somepony I know and love? No wait, it’s a dragon, and I have to go on some self-discovery mission to take it down?”

“You’re not far off on that second one,” Discord said with a snicker.

“Unfortunately, it’s more serious than that,” Celestia stated. “Whoever cast this spell is already gone. They’ve been gone for over a thousand years. We need you to go back in time and stop it from ever happening in the first place.”

Spike’s jaw was held agape. “I uh… you see… just umm… huh?”

Spike had to take a moment to process what they were saying. A magical force destroying Equestria? He could believe that. It was a yearly tradition at this point. Having to go to the past by over a thousand years? That was a new one. And more specifically himself being asked to do it? This was uncharted territory.

“Look,” Spike spoke up again, shaking off his confusion. “I’m not even sure what to say about this whole thing. I believe what you’re saying, but with all due respect, I haven’t seen anything magical or whatever destroying stuff. Is it possible that there’s something else going on that’s much simpler to stop?”

Luna shook her head. “I’m afraid not, Spike. The destruction most likely just hasn’t reached your home yet, but we fear it won’t be long. In the meantime, ponies are disappearing, and our land, I fear, won’t last much longer.”

“It’s true,” Starswirl chimed in. “We’ve looked at all the possibilities, and there’s no other way to stop it than to keep it from happening in the first place. We’ve exhausted all other options.”

Spike scratched his head. “But… I don’t know. I’m honestly having a hard time understanding all of this. You want me to go way back in time to take down some guy from casting a spell that’s destroying stuff now. Do we even know who it is?”

Celestia shook her head. “We do not. All we know is it must be a pony with incredible knowledge of magic.”

“Oh, well that’s helpful,” Spike said with a sigh. “So, I guess that leaves one question. Why me? Wouldn’t this normally be a job for one of the Princesses or something?”

Discord held up a paw. “Please, let me field this one.” He slithered around the table and sat next to Spike, placing an arm around him. “Let me break it down for you, dragon to draconequus. When I open that time portal to shoot someone way back in time for what’s sure to be a doomed mission, not just anything can go through. A pony would die from the magical stress, and I can’t go because I’m too important for helping here in the event you don’t make it back alive.”

Spike pushed Discord’s arm off his shoulder and turned toward him. “So, I have to go because I’m a dragon and expendable.”

Discord winked. “You got it.”

“Well, it’s nice to know where I rank in the grand scheme of things, at least.” Spike leaned back in his chair and turned his eyes toward Celestia. “Is it true?”

She kept her gaze from meeting his the best she could before taking a deep breath and looking at him, her eyes baring a sorrowful look. “It’s true. Not only are you the only creature we know and trust that could survive the trip, but we also recognize how dangerous the mission is and the fact that it may not be successful. Because of that, to be perfectly honest with you, we needed to send someone that we could, well, continue without if we have to carry on fighting against this magical force.”

“And I fit the bill, huh?” Spike said, folding his arms.

“Yes,” Luna spoke up. “After exploring every option we could, you were the absolute best choice for an assignment of such importance.”

Spike felt a shiver up his spine as he saw the wide eyes and slowly growing frowns on the Princesses faces. “I guess I understand.”

“Please, Spike,” Celestia cut in. “We didn’t simply ask you to do this because we only see you as an expendable piece of the puzzle.” She paused briefly, carefully considering her word choices. “We trust you, Spike. More than any other creature we could think of, and we have the utmost faith that if anybody could give our land a chance, it would be you.”

Spike smiled ever so slightly. “It’s the small victories, right? But, please, be completely honest with me. What are the odds of success? Good, bad, ugly?”

“There’s no way of knowing,” Starswirl said. “Without knowing our enemy, we can’t possibly predict what could happen. Not to mention there’s the whole butterfly effect that could cause unimaginable changes.”

“The butterfly effect,” Spike said. “I paid attention when Twilight taught me about that back in the day. Even a small change can have crazy effect and consequences elsewhere. Something like that, right?”

“Precisely,” the wizard replied. “So, with the limited knowledge we have, we can’t even begin to answer that question. Frankly, it’s more than likely going to be extremely dangerous.”

The other three nodded in agreement.

“Well, this explains why you didn’t want Twilight to know,” Spike said with a chuckle. “I’d probably be tied to my bed right now. She’s just a tad protective of me, even these days. Heh.” He punctuated his sentence with a chuckle.

“That’s an understatement,” Discord replied with an eye roll.

“Will you help us?” Luna asked. “We would never force you to do something you wish not to do.”

“Exactly.” Celestia bobbed her head. “The choice is ultimately up to you, Spike. But, time is of the essence.”

Spike closed his eyes, the cogs in his brain twisting and turning. He’s been called on by the Princesses before, but never for something this big. Typically, he was just there to help or to protect the townsponies back home when danger struck. Now, he was being asked to take the lead and save his home. The home he loved.

Any time Twilight was called upon to help her fellow citizens and friends; she did it without a moment’s hesitation. Why was he even having to debate it like this? The whole ‘life on the line’ angle may have something to do with it, of course. But no, it was his time, and he needed to step up to the plate. He needed to help his land. His friends.

It was time to be a hero.

Spike sat upright in his chair. “So, a mission in the past with unknown chances of success against an enemy we don’t know in a land where I’ll be a complete stranger. Does that sum it up well enough?”

All four nodded.

The dragon shrugged, setting his jaw in determination. “Just another day in Equestria. Let’s do it.”
> Tomorrow We Die Alive
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike paced back and forth in the castle bedroom he was stuck with. Celestia allotted him to use one of the smaller guest bedrooms until he was ready to leave. It was true; there wasn’t much time to waste regarding this mission, or at least that’s what they told him. However, he was grateful they gave him until the following morning to prepare himself for the journey. He could use a full night's sleep before something like this.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason he was grateful. He did request a particular visitor before taking off. And, if the time specifications the guards quoted him were correct, she should be arriving in three, two, one…

“Spike!” The door to the room flew open, revealing a rather frazzled looking Starlight. Her mane was full of untended split ends, and her fur was in bad need of a brushing as well. “Is everything alright?”

The dragon turned around toward the door with a shrug. “Eh, kinda. Maybe. I have no idea if things are alright or not, to be honest.”

Starlight shut the door behind her and cocked an eyebrow. “Well, the way the guard made it sound when he practically dragged me out of bed and out the door was that it was pretty serious.”

Spike took a moment to look out the window. “Oh yeah, it’s pretty late isn’t it?” His eyes then drifted over to the clock hanging on the wall that read eleven-thirty pm. “Really late. Yeah, sorry about that.”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “He said you needed to see me immediately and I only had a minute to make myself look presentable.” Starlight tapped her chin. “Oh! And they said I couldn’t tell Twilight, either. That was when I knew it must be something serious involving you.”

“Oh geez,” Spike replied. “When I asked if you could get here as quick as possible, I didn’t know they would be that dedicated to their duties. Celestia runs a tight ship around here, I guess.”

“You think? It’s not like she’s a princess with over a thousand years of experience or anything like that.” Starlight chuckled to herself before moving a bit closer to the dragon who was standing near the bed. “So, all the chit-chat aside, what’s the deal? I imagine you didn’t ask me to come here just to have some coffee and donuts, right?”

Spike casually glanced at the tray on the nightstand containing a cup of coffee and one raspberry filled donut. “Well, no. They only brought enough for me, anyway.” Spike slowly sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to him, bidding Starlight to do the same. “I kinda just wanted to talk for a bit, if that’s cool.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “You had me wake up in the middle of the night and get escorted across Equestria wearing my birthday mane… to talk?”

Spike shrugged. “Yeah.”

Her eye twitched. “You sir, are one twisted individual. I want you to be aware of this. We can talk tomorrow back home. In the meantime, I’m going to sleep on this comfy bed, and you can sleep on the floor.”

“But Starlight!”

Starlight grumbled to herself, completely ignoring the dragon, and hopped onto the bed, practically throwing Spike off it in the process. “Crazy dragon… waking me up to talk and other stupid stu—"

“Starlight!” Spike turned his body around to face the now half-snuggled mare  directly. “There won’t be a tomorrow at home. At least not with me there.”

“Huh?” She popped open one of her closed eyelids. “What do you mean?”

The dragon let out a sigh. “I meant what I said. I’m not going home tomorrow. I won’t be going home for…” He took his eyes off her and dropped them to the blankets. “For a long time, let’s put it that way.”

Starlight sat up in the bed and stared at him. “Spike, you’re not making a whole lot of sense. Maybe it’s just the fact that I’ve completely checked out mentally for the night, but I really don’t get what you’re saying.”

He brought his gaze directly in line with hers. “I’m going on a mission, Starlight, and I won’t be coming back for a long time.”

“O-Oh.” Starlight’s jaw was held open for a few seconds as she tried to formulate words. “I, uh, I see. A mission? From Celestia, I’m guessing?”

“Yep.” Spike nodded. “I found out about it today, and I have to leave tomorrow morning. They asked if I could leave tonight, but I wanted a chance to sleep and talk to somepony before I left.”

“And you picked me over Twilight?” Starlight cocked her head to the side. “Not that I don’t find it sweet, but any particular reason why?”

Spike released a small chortle. “Heh, you think telling Twilight I’m going on a long, dangerous mission by myself would be a good idea? That’s a laugh. I love her to death, but the less she knows about this, the better.”

Starlight paused to rub her chin and savor the thought for a moment. “You know what? That’s a fair point.” She let out a small yawn and tried to shake off some of her tiredness. “So, I’m kinda intrigued by this whole mission thing. Usually, Celestia calls up Twilight or her friends for this kind of thing. So, you know, spill the beans. I want details!”

“Ugh, I figured you would ask.” Spike shook his head and leaned back in the bed, resting his head against the wooden backboard. “Sorry, Starlight. I can’t tell you.”

“Oh no,” Starlight said, shaking her head. “We’re not playing this game. Tell me!”

Spike zipped his lips shut with a claw. “Nope.”

“Look here!” The unicorn leaped onto the dragon, her face mere centimeters from his. “You drag me out of bed in the middle of the night, tell me you’re going on a dangerous mission, by yourself no less, and then you tell me you can’t say anything about it?” She pressed her face against his, eyes narrowed and noses touching. “I want details dragon, and I want them now.”

Spike was admittedly frightened at this point. Starlight was not one to be trifled with under any circumstances, much less when tired and cranky. Her previously criminal antics were proof of that. He had to come clean. Her deadly stare left him no choice in the matter.

“Alright, fine.” Spike rolled over, knocking the mare off him in the process. “I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone, alright?”

She nodded vigorously. “Of course.”

Spike propped himself up into a sitting position. “Okay, so here’s the gist. I’m giving you the short version. There’s some crazy magic stuff going on, and I have to go back in time like a thousand years or something to fix it.” The dragon smiled. “There, now you know so you can stop bugging me about it.”

She blinked. “Umm… well then.”

“Eeyup. Crazy right?”

After another brief second of processing the information, Starlight shrugged. “Eh, just another day around here, to be honest. I mean, there’s only so many crazy villains and whatnot you can see and still be surprised. Once Starswirl came out of a black void we pretty much saw it all.”

“Huh.” Spike scratched his head. “You see, this is why I wanted you to come over. You take this stuff way better than anyone else.”

“What can I say? I take things as they are. But on that note.” Starlight rose a hoof and smacked Spike across the face.

“Ouch!” The dragon cried out, clutching the now bright red scales decorating his cheek. “What the heck was that for?”

“For signing up on a mission that could get you killed without telling me before you did it.” She quickly wrapped her hooves around him and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Uh… okay?” He cautiously placed his arms around her and reciprocated the hug. “I’m afraid to know what this is for.”

Starlight’s voice came out in mumbles due to her face being shoved into his chest scales. “This is also for signing up for a dangerous mission that could get you killed.”

He cracked a small smile and tightened his hold on her before letting her go. “Well, thank you for that, I suppose.”

Starlight pulled away and immediately resumed her stubborn straight face. “You’re welcome. But you better not get yourself killed or anything. If you do, I probably won’t forgive you ever. I’m not sure if you dragons have any afterlife beliefs or whatever, but if you do, I’ll make a point of visiting you just to tell whatever elder god is ruling that you sucked your claw in your sleep until you were sixteen.”

“You, ma’am, are a cruel mistress, sometimes. You know that?”

“I know, and I don’t plan on changing.”

“Good, done.” He smiled at her before leaning back in the bed once more. “But don’t worry. I don’t plan on dying. And if I did, I’m pretty sure some time paradox would happen, and you might not even know I existed.”

“Don’t say that!” She shoved him in the side. “As much grief as I give you, a world without you in it wouldn’t be nearly as good as having you around.”

“Heh, thanks.”

There was a small pause in the conversation. Spike wasn’t sure how to respond appropriately, and Starlight had already said her piece and her confident exterior was being put to the test. This whole lone warrior mission thing was becoming a lot harder than he anticipated.

“I guess it’s a good thing you decided to do this, though,” Starlight said with a small chuckle, finally breaking the building tension. “I mean, saving us all is cool and whatnot, but it was about time you did something important again.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah,” she continued, a grin growing on her lips. “I mean, you stayed home for most of the big missions the past few years. I was beginning to wonder how you were able to stand without a backbone.”

“Pfft, hey, it’s not my fault the map never saw any use for me on those missions.” He released his own small chortle. “Besides, friendship problems and villains always seemed to attack on the weekends. You know those are my sleep-in days.”

“Oh, yes, of course. Celestia knows you need your sleep after a full week of reading comics and flirting with the local mares. I have no idea how you keep up with it, to be honest.”

“Same. Being this awesome is a full-time job. Not just anybody can do it. It takes a rare breed to— Ah!” The dragon had attempted to place his claws behind his head and lean back further, only to fall off the mattress in glorious fashion. He landed on the floor with a hard thud before popping back up. “That never happened, alright?”

Starlight stifled a laugh with her hoof. “Just quit while you’re ahead, okay Spike?”

He dusted himself off and let out a sigh. “You know, on a more serious note, you’re right. It is a good thing I’m doing this. I think I need to.”

Starlight cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean? I was joking about the whole ‘you never do anything’ part.”

“No, you’re right.” Spike sat back down on the bed next to her. “I’ve never exactly been the hero like the rest of you guys. Yeah, I helped save the Crystal Empire and some other stuff, but recently, I’ve honestly felt a little useless. You guys are going on these awesome friendship missions while I stay at home, hang out with Rarity or help Trixie with her magic shows that end up sucking anyway.”

Starlight placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Spike, don’t talk like that. You do a lot.”

“Nah, let’s not do the whole ‘feel better about yourself’ cliché here.” He lightly brushed her hoof off. “It’s my own fault anyway. I’ve spend so much time trying to figure out what I’m supposed to do or whatever that I’ve never really taken any chances to find the answer. I don’t have a cutie mark telling me what my gift is, so it’s always been a guessing game. Maybe… Maybe now I can finally do something for a change. Maybe I can learn more about myself through all of this, you know?”

“So, let me get this straight.” Starlight rubbed her chin. “You don’t know who you are, so you’re going a thousand years into the past to find yourself? Wow. I guess nopony ever said soul-searching was supposed to be easy.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Spike emitted a chuckle. “Especially when you’re a dragon living with a bunch of ponies. I don't know. I need this.”

“Well, I can’t pretend to know exactly what’s going on in your head, and I pray for whoever is unfortunate enough to know, but I’m glad that you’re doing something like this then. I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little nervous about it, being your friend and all, but if you think this is the right move, then you have my full support.”

“Thanks, Starlight.”

The two shared another quick but tight hug before breaking it apart and relaxing next to each other in a moment of silence.

“Well, I guess that’s enough deep talk for one night, huh?” Spike asked with a smile. “If I’m gonna be saving all of your guys’ hides tomorrow, I should probably get some sleep.”

Starlight released a loud yawn and stretched out her hooves. “That’s an idea I can get behind.”

“Would it be too weird for me to sleep on the bed with you or do you want me to call up some extra bedding from one of the maids?”

The mare rolled her eyes and snuggled under the covers. “Spike, not even last year you made me pretend to be your marefriend for an entire week to make Flitter jealous in that poorly construed plan you had to make her like you. You grabbed my flank right in front of her. I’m pretty sure awkwardness is no longer a thing with us at this point.”

Spike blushed. “Oh yeah. I still owe you for that one, by the way. I still can’t believe it didn’t work out.”

Starlight shook her head. “You’re an idiot, Spike. But I love you anyway. Now shut off the light and get some sleep, okay?”

He turned toward the nightstand and blew out the bright burning candle before snuggling under the covers himself.

“Good night, Starlight. Thanks again.”

“Of course, Spike. Good night.”










It was time.

Spike took a deep breath as he stood in the middle of Celestia’s throne room. His heart rate was picking up by the minute, pounding faster than a double-pedaled kick drum. His entire body felt like it was on fire and it seemed no matter how many times he tried to relax himself he couldn’t keep his claws from shaking.

“Are you okay, Spike?”

Spike snapped his eyes open at the feel of a hoof on his shoulder and turned to see Starlight standing right beside him.

“You look like you’re about to explode or something,” she said with a small chuckle.

“Oh, yeah, that’s a definite possibility,” Spike replied, a crack in his voice. “But, I’m alright. Just those last-minute jitters. I wonder if this is how it’ll be when I get married someday?”

“Oh, come now, Spike. Let’s be realistic here; there’s nothing to be worried about.” She pulled her hoof from his shoulder and shook her head. “I can’t imagine a world where any female will bother marrying you.”

The dragon scowled. “You couldn’t give me just one day without some snark, could you?”

“Of course, not,” she replied with a smirk. “If all that gloom and doom talk you were going on about ends up being true, I want our last exchange to be as filled with as much biting sarcasm as ever.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Spike rolled his eyes but followed the gesture up with a smile. “I suppose I wouldn’t want it be any different. Besides, it’s not like there are enough raging communists around for you to find a husband either, is there?”

She not-so-gently jabbed him in the ribcage. “That’s the spirit, Spike.”

“Are you two done flirting with each other, or shall we put the fate of the world off by a few more hours?” Discord slithered between them, darting his eyes back and forth. “Frankly, I love myself a good romance story, and I love tragedy just as much. So, please,” he poofed a bucket of popcorn into existence and threw a few kernels into his mouth. “Continue!”

Spike whacked the bucket out of Discord’s paw. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get the point.”

Discord looked longingly at the spilled popcorn before snapping his claws and sending it back to the magical depths from whence it came. “Just ruin my fun, why don’t you?”

The three of them heard a pair of doors swing open and turned to see Celestia and Luna trotting in, putting their most confident smiles on, clearly more for Spike’s sake than anything else.

“Alright, I do believe we are prepared for the spell,” Celestia said. “I wasn’t sure of the overall effects the spell might have, so I made sure the guards are keeping all civilians out of the castle for the time being.”

The two sisters strolled up to the other three in the room. Spike was trying to steel his nerves the best he could so the princesses wouldn’t see how nervous he was. Of course, that wouldn’t fly as well as he hoped.

“Spike,” Luna spoke up. “How are you feeling?”

The dragon released a hefty sigh and looked her right in the eyes. “I’m doing alright. I’m just glad I was able to get a little sleep last night. No thanks to Starlight’s snoring, I should say.” A hoof slap to the arm was all it took to make him regret his words. “Uh, yeah, I’m doing alright. Let’s leave it at that, heh.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Celestia replied with a warm smile. “If I were in your place I doubt I’d be holding up so well.”

The dragon nodded. “Well, to be fair. I think it helps that I haven’t had much time to process it. If we waited much longer I probably would’ve figured out a way to get out of it, already.”

“I highly doubt that,” Celestia stated. “You’ve always been ready to help those in need, ever since you were young. They don’t have a statue of you in the Crystal Empire simply for your good looks.” She followed up the sentiment with a wink.

“You see,” Spike said, turning to Starlight. “Charm like that is how you get into a position of power. You should probably take notes.”

“Don’t push it.”

Spike laughed for a moment before turning back to the princesses and Discord, who was now standing with them. “Well, I guess I’m ready to leave whenever. The sooner, the better, right?”

“Very true,” Luna said with a nod. “Best not to delay things any longer.”

“Yes, you are correct,” Celestia said. “However, very quickly, there are a few things we need to go over. A couple of rules, if you will.”

“Oh great. Now I have expectations and guidelines,” Spike said. “It was so much simpler up until this point.”

“I know, right?” Discord cut in. “Aren’t rules just the worst?”

“Don’t make me send you with him, Discord,” Celestia said, glaring the sharpest daggers imaginable at him. After watching the draconequus curl into a frightened ball, she put on a proud smile and turned back toward the dragon. “But yes, Spike, there are few rules we need you to abide by. We obviously won’t be there to enforce them, but we trust you to follow them to the best of your ability.”

“Yes,” Luna chimed in. “Please, you would do well to keep in mind that every action you make will have far-reaching and possibly dire consequences for thousands of others, including those you love most!”

The dragon gulped. “The pressure is on, I guess, hehe. Alright, lay ‘em on me.”

Celestia nodded. “So, as we briefly discussed before, you must limit contact with others as much as possible. Only converse with those who you must and do not mention anything about time travel or otherwise. And please, it may be alright to ask for assistance in your efforts casually but refrain from mentioning any specifics about your mission. It would have the potential of causing more trouble than we could imagine.”

Spike nodded. “Understood.”

“Yeah Spike,” Starlight cut in with a chuckle. “That means no flirting with any pretty mares you come across. Not that it would work anyway.”

He rolled his eyes once more. “Yeah, I get it. Now, what other rules are there, Princess?”

Luna took the lead this time. “Well, we’re not sure exactly how you will find this villain, but we strongly recommend you follow the list of ingredients for the spell we gave you last night. We hope you were able to commit them to memory.”

Spike scratched his head. “Let’s see here: Petals from the Cypress Orchid, dragon scales, an enchanted orange peel and one diamond. I’m still having some issues understanding how that stuff can help me find him or her.”

‘Well,” Celestia stated. “It’s no guarantee, but these are all rare items from that time that would require some effort to obtain. If you search out these items, it’s possible you may find clues about this villain or even intercept them in the process.”

“Oh joy,” Spike replied. “We’re cranking the difficulty up to survivor level, huh?”

“That’s an understatement,” Discord replied with a snicker. “You could be transporting right into a political fallout for all we know.”

“Discord!” Celestia slammed a hoof into the ground before turning back to Spike. “Don’t listen to him, Spike. We made sure to transport you to the correct time frame and the area in which you should arrive will be secluded if our coordinates are correct.”

“If?” Spike’s eyes grew exponentially more extensive with each sentence coming out Celestia’s mouth.

“Have no fear, Spike,” Luna cut in once more. “Discord is very capable with his magic. You will arrive in the past safely.”

Spike eyed Discord with a raised eyebrow. “You know, I’d have way more confidence in this whole thing if it weren’t resting on the claw and paw of a chaos god.” The dragon took in a deep breath and released a large sigh. “But I suppose I don’t have a choice, huh? Were there any other rules and regulations I needed to know about?”

“Nothing major,” Celestia said. “Avoid all political affairs and don’t speak your opinions about any major events going on. You don’t want to influence any possible change. Also, we can’t be certain what the lay of the land will be, but try to find a secluded area for making camp. Once again, you don’t want to associate with other creatures any more than necessary.”

“Aye aye, Cap'n,” Spike said with a mock salute. “Any more?”

Celestia scratched her chin for a moment. “None that come to mind imme—”

“Sister! The necklace!” Luna pointed at a small piece of jewelry hanging from Celestia’s neck.

“Oh! Yes! Of course.” Celestia levitated the necklace from around her neck and held it out in front of Spike. “Take this.”

It was a simple and unassuming necklace. A silver chain with a small, glass, diamond-shaped ornament at the center. There was some swirling smoke trapped inside, or at least that’s what it looked like.

“Umm, what is this?” Spike eyed it curiously before taking it in his claw.

“It’s a necklace, you dork,” Starlight said with a chuckle.

“I know that,” Spike replied before turning back to Celestia. “I take it there’s something special about it?”

“You are correct,” she said. “We were able to trap one use of Discord's time travel spell within it. We’re unsure exactly of how things will work out if you defeat the villain, but just in case, this should get you home.”

Spike cocked his head to the side, his eyes locked on the jewelry. “How?”

Celestia continued. “All you need to do is break the glass, and the spell will release, but it will only last a short time; just long enough for you to go through. I used a special spell I learned that should temporarily protect it from the effects of the time jump. However, I would be lying if I told you there wasn’t any concern on if it will work or not. We figured it was worth an attempt though.”

“So… You’re saying that if anything happens to this necklace, I’ll be stuck in the past forever?” Spike’s lips contorted into a frown. “That seems a little bleak.”

“Not necessarily,” Luna said. “It’s quite possible that if you defeat this evil creature, you will reset the timeline altogether and return safely.”

Spike scratched his head for a moment before a light flickered on in his mind. “Oh! I get it! So, if I defeat the villain and keep him from doing the spell, I wouldn’t have ever had to go to the past in the first place, so everything will go back to normal?”

“In theory, yes,” Celestia responded with a smile. “It will be as if nothing ever happened.”

“Oh great.” Spike let out a small chuckle. “My first major mission on my own and nobody will know about it. I didn’t know being a hero was such a thankless job.”

“Tell me about it,” the two sisters chimed in at the same time.

Spike looked at the necklace once more before placing it around his neck. At least it fit comfortably. “Well, I guess that’s it then, huh?”

“Finally,” Discord replied, now seated in an easy chair, a large book in his paw. “Have you considered boring this arch nemesis to death? It may be a plausible plan.” He poofed the items away and rose his claw. “Anyhow, I can tear a hole in the space-time continuum whenever you give the word, my dear Celestia.”

“Are you ready, Spike?” She asked.

The dragon turned to Starlight. “Take care of Twilight for me, alright? Tell her I’m on an ambassador mission or something.”

“Don’t worry; I’ll handle her. But first, I do need to do one thing.” Starlight reared up and pulled Spike into a tight hug. She held him for several seconds before planting the smallest of kisses on his cheek. “Be careful out there, okay?”

Spike nodded. “Of course, I’ll be back.”

She smiled, her eyes beginning to tear up just a bit. “You better. We’ve got a lot of comics to catch up on.”

“Oh, what’s that?” Spike asked pointing at a tear dripping down her cheek. “It’s almost as if you actually care about me or something.”

She wiped it away quickly. “Shut up. If you ever tell anyone about this, a time lord villain is the last thing you’ll need to worry about.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Spike smiled at her once more before turning to the princesses. “Any chance I can sneak a hug in from you two?”

“Of course,” they both replied.

The two sisters wrapped their wings around the dragon. He was tall enough to rest his head on Celestia’s and wrapped his arms around both of them the best he could.

“I won’t let you down. I promise.”

The three separated and Spike was greeted with two genuine smiles.

“I have full confidence in you, Spike,” Celestia said.

“As do I,” Luna stated with a firm nod.

“Yes, yes, yes, this is all very sweet,” Discord said, feigning a yawn. “But any chance we could get this ball rolling. Or have we forgotten Equestria is unraveling as we speak?”

“Very well,” Celestia said. “Open the portal.”

Discord snapped his talons, and a massive, swirling vortex appeared next to him. It was a deep grey color with a pitch-black center and roughly as tall as the dragon himself. It made a loud noise as if a hurricane’s winds were blowing through the room.

Spike gulped as he investigated it. There was no going back at this point. All or nothing. He didn’t even want to look back as he took a few steps toward it. The time had come, and that’s all there was to it.

Spike was right in front of it, only a few inches away. He rose a claw and waved it, holding true to his affirmation and not looking behind him.

“Goodbye, you guys. I’ll see you soon.”

Without waiting to hear their farewells, he clutched the necklace and stepped in. He could feel the suction immediately and then…

…everything went black.
> The Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

...Spike’s head hurt. A lot.

He could barely feel anything besides the pulsating heat running from his scalp to his temples. He attempted to move a claw to his head but it barely budged an inch. It was as if every time he tried to move, his brain misfired and shot his nerve-endings point blank with a blast of unbridled magical fury.

He let his body rest for a moment before trying to move again, this time focusing on just his arm. If he just took it nice and slow, one body part at a time, it might not end so painfully for him. Just like dance practice with Trixie!

This time, he was finally making some progress. As he waggled his claws through the ground a little more, he could finally start to feel something. His claw was met with the sensation of soft soil and leaves.. Where was he?

As his senses slowly started coming back, he began to feel small droplets of liquid sprinkling his face. He needed to get some semblance of where he was so he slowly cracked his eyelids. However, his eyes saw nothing but a gray blur before being pelted by several drops of water falling into his eyes, forcing them shut once more.

He slowly but surely stretched out one of his legs, grimacing as he did so. Every muscle in his body had been tied into an intricate knot that would make the most seasoned colt scouts envious. It rendered even the slightest of motions horrendously painful. But there would be time for self-loathing and misery later. He knew he had to get up and figure out his surroundings.

He closed his eyes as tightly as he could and braced for impact right before he forced himself up into a sitting position. His stomach tossed and turned in response. It felt as if a bolt of lightning shot up his spinal cord and burst in his head. He grimaced but forced open his eyes to take in the scenery.

The sudden flood of bright lights and colors had his head screaming in agony.

“Ugh!” Spike began furiously rubbing his temples and slowly stretched out his wings, which were in just as much pain as everything else. “They weren’t kidding when they said the jump would be rough. No wonder they couldn’t send a pony. They’d get melted into some kind of ponified liquid or... something.”

Spike twisted his neck a few times, which sounded like a symphony of snaps, crackles, and pops. The blurriness in his eyes crept away, and they refocused when he started to look around himself.

He was in a forest. A dense one from the looks of it. Tall, lush trees were all he could see in any direction. It was also raining. A consistent pitter-patter of raindrops was the only sound to be heard.

He looked down at the ground before him. It was peppered with dead leaves and patches of wet soil and grass. From what he could tell, it was Springtime and the time teleportation sent him exactly where they aimed: in the middle of nowhere.

Spike gasped. “Oh no…”

He frantically brought his hands up to his neck and let out a sigh of relief at the feel of the metal chain hanging around it. The necklace was safe. That was a great sign. If nothing else, he had his return trip home safe and secure. Of course, it’s not as if there’d be any home to return to if he didn’t get the job done.

He took a few deep breaths, taking in the chilly yet refreshing air. Every ounce of common sense in his body was begging him to lay back down and sleep until all the pain vanished, but he didn’t have that luxury. He had a job to do and even more so, he didn’t need to get found by some random pony, or any other creature for that matter, and create a panic. Even though the culture was probably far different in this period, stumbling upon a dragon in the woods was generally a bad thing no matter when you’re from.

His first order of business would be to find a place out of harm’s way and preferably wait for his strength to come back. Then, he’d simply find a town and start asking for clues about his mission. It seemed simple enough, right?

Spike took one last look around himself and let out a sigh. Trees to the left, trees to the right. Trees, trees, trees. When they agreed to send him to the middle of nowhere, I guess they didn’t put much effort into calculating how far away he’d be from civilization. He couldn’t so much as see a single cut-down tree or even a hoofprint anywhere.

He was going to have his work cut out for him trying to get anywhere on this journey.

The dragon curiously flexed his legs, one at a time, to get a feel for his allotted range of motion. If he was ever going to do time travel again, he was going to make sure to pack some painkillers or something because this level of agony and discomfort was not in the job description.

After steeling himself one last time, Spike clenched his teeth and forced himself onto his feet. He almost immediately crashed back down to the ground again, but by the graces of a deity he was becoming more and more disappointed in, he was able to maintain his uprightness. His legs felt as if they were asleep and every motion was like a thousand ticklish pinpricks into his calf muscles. Still, he was able to chalk this up as a relief. At least he was feeling something, and with a few steps, he would surely cure it.

He took two steps and fell to the ground.

“It would appear my confidence was horribly misplaced.” Spike dragged his palm across his face and stood back up to try again.

This time, he was able to make it three steps, and over to a nearby tree, which he immediately latched onto for balance. “Okay, we’re off to a bit of a rockier start than expected, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy… or so Twilight always told me.”

Spike spent the next few minutes at war with his body, trying to get adjusted to moving around, but eventually, it seemed that most of the time-travel sickness wore off, and he was getting comfortable with his legs again. It took a lot longer than he ever would’ve imagined, but at least there was nobody around to see it. His dignity would remain at least somewhat intact.

While Spike had dealt with his battle of stability, he hadn’t remotely bothered to soak up his surroundings. He didn’t have a watch or anything, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that it was getting late, the overcast skies were growing darker by the minute and the rain, of course, didn’t seem to be letting up any time soon.

Spike began to lose confidence in his abilities to live out in the wilds with every second that passed. Caught in the middle of the woods, in the dark, by himself, in the rain and with no knowledge of where to go wasn’t his idea of a good time.

He made a split decision that it was high time to find a place to hide and sleep for the night, and he needed to do it quick. He was already exhausted from the trip, so getting some extra rest out of the way wasn’t the worst idea he’d ever come up with. Now came for the hard part: he needed to find a place to do so.

He scanned his eyes over the immediate surroundings but couldn’t find anything off first glance. There was a promising tree or two that looked climbable, but on the risk of cutting his life into pieces by falling off a branch mid-sleep, he was going to save that as a last resort.

He maneuvered his way forward a bit more through the branches and foliage before his eyes locked on to a viable target. No more than one-hundred feet in the distance, there was a small, rocky cliffside visible through the gaps of the trees. Although it was dark, he could see a small space at the base where an indentation had formed. A Spike-sized indentation from the look of it.

The dragon waltzed over as quickly as his beaten-down body could carry him to get a better view. When he finally arrived, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief. The indentation was a bit shorter than he was tall, but it had a rocky outcrop over it, forming a shallow cave of sorts with stone walls and ceiling. It was wide enough, however, that he should be able to lay down comfortably without his feet being restricted. The ground itself was littered with dirt and patches of rock, so it wasn’t the most comfortable of conditions, but he’d find a way to survive.

He took one last look at the forest behind him. The rain and wind had begun to pick up as the sky darkened, making almost anything impossible to see. He also had no idea what kind of beasts inhabited these woods at night, and he wasn’t keen to find out. It appeared he found shelter just in time.

Spike hunched over and slunk into the small cave that would serve as his home for the night. He plopped onto the ground, resting his back against the wall and spreading his legs and feet out. He hadn’t been roaming around for more than half an hour, but his body felt like he’d ran a marathon. He really should’ve read the ‘Pre-Time Travel Stretching and Exercise’ guide Discord supplied him with.

It was a little dark for his tastes, and now that he was stationary, his body began to shiver intermittently as the occasional droplets of rain bounced into him. But as fortune would have it, there were a couple of sticks and some dried leaves that had escaped the storm in his small shelter. He still had about five feet of space left over, so he slid to the back and put the materials in the open area near the entrance. With a small blast of fire breath, the leaves and sticks were set ablaze, providing some light and warmth to the dragon.

Spike relished the heat on his scales. He could feel his body soaking it up, soothing his muscles and melting his physical stress away. The light was excellent, as well. He generally slept with a lantern lit at home in his room, so this was a decent enough substitute.

He cocked his head to the side and looked past the flames to the outside world. As if a switch had been flipped, it was completely dark outside now, and the rain was getting progressively heavier. Where was he? Where was he even supposed to start looking to find this evildoer? And what’s more, how would he be able to survive if he was truly stuck in the middle of nowhere without any towns nearby?

A large white flash illuminated his entire field of view for but a moment before—

BOOM!
 
The stone walls shook and vibrated at the sudden explosion of noise. Spike shuttered back into the corner, his spine-tingling and on edge. Thunder was quite loud without any doors or windows to shield the ears.

The dragon tilted back his head against the wall and emitted a lengthy yawn. All his questions could wait until tomorrow to be answered. For now, he should just be grateful he made it to what seemed to be the past in one piece and found a place to stay for the night to boot. As far as he was concerned, this was a pretty great start to the mission.

He closed his eyes and let the warmth of the fire massage his scales once more. Tomorrow though…

Tomorrow was when the real work would begin.
> So Close and Yet So Far
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I hate everything…”

Spike groaned aloud as he trekked through the woods. He’d been walking for at least a century at this point and every step was torture on his calves. Well, it was probably more like an hour or two, but the sentiment was the same.

He really needed to work out more.

Save for an occasional clear patch of grass, the forest seemed to be never-ending. No signs of roads, houses or towns of any kind. For all he knew, he’d been walking in circles. He just needed the woods to end so he could at least get a clear view of his surroundings.

Unfortunately, his stomach decided to suffocate even the faintest flame of hope that he had burning inside him as it let out a mighty growl. He clutched his abdomen and frowned. He was very hungry. And thirsty. Actually, he was a lot of things and most of them were unpleasant. He needed to find a town and fast.

They said he’d be transported to a remote location but surely, they weren’t putting him eons away from civilization, right? There’s no way Discord would do something like that intentionally. Possibly. Maybe. Perhaps.

Spike shook his head in a fleeting attempt to erase the negative thoughts from his brain and focus again on the task at claw. Moping wasn’t going to get him anywhere faster and time was of the essence.

He continued to trudge through the woods, his body fighting back against him with every step, but still, he pressed on. After about thirty more minutes of walking, he finally saw it. The first sign of hope and grace all morning.

“A road!”

A few hundred feet off in the distance Spike could make out a well-trodden dirt path through the trees. This could only mean something good as far as he was concerned. He raced toward it as quickly as possible to ensure it wasn’t just a mirage. And sure enough, it was real.

Although he still seemed to be in the thick of the forest, he knew he couldn’t be far now. Tracks were impressed into the dirt that resembled hooves and wagon wheels. Given that the ground was still wet from last night’s storm, these tracks would’ve had to have been from this morning.

There was no doubt about it: he was on the right path.

Now he just had to decide to take a left or a right. He turned his head back and forth. Both directions looked relatively the same, but considering the newness of the tracks, he figured it’d be his best bet to go the direction from which the wagon came from. With any luck, it possibly departed a nearby village, and he wouldn’t have to walk for more than an hour or so.

Decision made, Spike smiled and started trekking down the road at a brisk pace. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if he ran into a pony on the road. There’s a good chance they’d be terrified and possibly try to put up a fight. But he’d cross that bridge when he came to it. For now, all he cared about was saturating his dry mouth with some fresh water and sating his hunger as quickly as possible. All other lines of thought were being put on the backburner.

He didn’t have to walk for very long, no more than fifteen minutes or so before the forest began to thin out. Patches of grass began popping up in the sunlit areas between the trees. The surroundings were quite beautiful. He only wished he could appreciate it more. Nothing really seems too amazing when you’re tired, thirsty and hungry all at the same time.

Luckily, to his relief, his gamble of which way to turn paid off and there it was: a clearing. But not just any clearing…

A clearing with a sign of some kind in front of it!

This had to be it. Spike raced up and examined the sign closely. It was a light colored wooden construct, just a few feet tall, with two simple words engraved into it.

“’Southwest Town’.” Spike grinned at what his eyes had laid upon… and then scratched his head. “They weren’t much for creativity back in this time, I guess. Then again, ‘Ponyville’ isn’t exactly a pinnacle of forward thinking either.”

The dragon shrugged and ventured forward past the sign. The dirt road led straight in front of him. He could see in the distance that there were some structures built up ahead on either side of the path. His hopes and dreams weren’t deceiving him!

Finally, this is exactly what he was searching for: civilization!

He had much more of a spring in his step as he traveled forward, getting closer to the town. He seemed to have cleared the forest for the most part as there was now a grassy meadow on either side of him, save for the dirt path he was walking on.

It didn’t take him long to finally arrive at the first building on his left. It was made of wood, just like the sign… and apparently every other structure here. It made sense considering they were just a hop, skip and a jump from an obscenely large forest.

The first building seemed to be very crude in design but was obviously functional. It was two stories with a large, covered porch. Attached to it was a small, three-step staircase. It was rather quaint, or so Rarity would probably say.

There was a sign hung up on the second-floor wall that read ‘Southwest Inn’. He may need to double-back to that place if he got help up in the area for too long. Getting to sleep on an actual bed sounded amazing. Or at least he hoped they had actual beds back in this time. He really should’ve paid more attention to Twilight’s history lessons.

As he gradually walked down the road, he saw a ‘General Store’, ‘Hoofinson Saddle and Cloth’, a jailhouse and ‘McCoy and Colt’s Tools and Trade’. He didn’t initially see any sort of housing, but a bit further up, off the road and into the plains, there were some simply built, one-story wooden shacks. He assumed those were the places of residence. There weren’t very many homes, but this seemed to be a small trading town more than anything.

Spike had ventured roughly halfway through the small town before he realized something:

There were no ponies here.

He shook his head and turned in a circle. Nope. The whole town was vacant. He closed his eyes for a moment and perked up his ears, but he couldn’t hear a single hoofstep anywhere. Everything appeared to be completely dead.

He felt a chill run down his spine. This place was beginning to give him the creeps. However, he wasn’t going to let his fears get the best of him. It was entirely possible that everyone was just either in their shops or homes, handling personal business of some kind… in the middle of a beautiful day. That made sense, right?

Spike steeled his nerves and decided he would check inside one of the shops to find somebody. Anybody would do at this point.

He first checked the saddle shop, but the wooden door was locked up tight and soundly. He backed away and then tried the Inn. Same situation. It was possible that both of those locations were closed, so he tried one last time at the General Store. Those things are almost always open.

Nope. Still locked.

Spike was officially dumbfounded at this point. Nopony was here, the shops were locked up in the middle of the day, and there wasn’t so much as an echo to be heard anywhere. Just the wind blowing over the grassy fields surrounding the town.

He walked back to the center of the road and sighed. He was thirsty… and hungry… and tired. But it didn’t look like any of his needs would be met here. For all intents and purposes, he figured he must’ve come across nothing but a ghost to—

“We’ve got you now, dragon!”

“Wha—?” Spike jumped out of his scales at the voice that suddenly cried out from behind him. Before he could react, however, he was tackled to the ground by three stallions.

“Think you can come into our town and cause trouble?” One of the stallions, a light brown one with a wavy black mane said. “We’ll see how much trouble you cause when you’re behind bars!”

All three stallions were younger, possibly early twenties. Besides the brown one, there was a gray one with a dark black mane and a pale red one, also with a black mane. They were also very strong, a fact which Spike was learning as he was unable to remotely move from their grip.

“Hey, Stone.” The brown one said, pointing a hoof at the charcoal stallion. “Tie him up good and tight with the rope. He ain’t going anywhere.”

“You got it, Brick,” he replied.

Before Spike could even fathom what was about to happen, a rope was forced around his legs and secured very tightly within a matter of seconds. That was quickly followed by one going around his back, restricting his arms and wings.

He continued to squirm around on the ground, trying to regain any ground in the ambush, but it was all for not. His limbs were completely immobilized.

“Cobble,” the one that was apparently Brick stated, pointing to the remaining red stallion. “Let’s get him on his feet and over to the station.”

Once again, Spike was unable to finish a thought before his body was jerked into an upright position, being balanced only by the stallions.

Now that he was off the ground and not being forced to hold still, Spike was finally able to formulate words again.

“Wait a minute!” The dragon shouted. “Could you please tell me what’s happ—”

He was interrupted immediately by Brick turning his back to him and facing the town. “Alright, everypony! You’re safe to come out! The dragon has been detained!”

An uproarious cheer echoed throughout the town as ponies of all sizes, genders, and ages ran out into the street. Some came from behind buildings, others from inside buildings, and there were even a couple that were apparently hiding in the occasional barrel on the sides of the shops.

Before he knew it, Spike was surrounded by roughly twenty-five to thirty ponies, all starting up at him with wide eyes. This couldn’t be good.

“Have no fear,” Stone spoke up. “We’ve got him good and tight here and we’re getting him over to the station right away.”

Yep, this wasn’t going to end well.

“Please feel free to return to your chores and businesses as usual,” Cobble yelled out. “You’re all safe.”

Another cheer rang out from the crowd. Spike had no idea what to do, but he knew he couldn’t go to jail. There wasn’t any time for that. He had work to do!

No, he’d need to rely on a tactic Twilight had taught him many times over. A tactic that always seemed to work in the wide world of reasonable, understanding ponies:

Respectful conversation and diplomacy.

Spike cleared his throat and began to address the entire crowd. “Hold on a minute!”

The entire crowd instantly turned back to face him, muttering amongst themselves. Some seemed fascinated while others were literally shaking in their boots.

“I think there’s been a big misunderstanding here, everypony,” Spike continued. “I’m merely a traveler that stopped here to get some food and water. I promise, I mean you no harm!”

The crowd began muttering with much more volume and confusion this time. If nothing else, at least he had their attention. He turned his head a bit more toward the three stallions that had tied him up in the first place.

“How about you guys untie me, and I can get out of your manes, okay?” Spike shrugged. “Like I said, I’m just passing through. I don’t plan on eating anypony.” The dragon let out a small chuckle.

The muttering stopped and some of the ponies began to look as if they were easing up. Even the three stallions holding him gave curious looks to one another.

Spike wore a bright, toothy grin. Yeah, he had this in the bag. Diplomacy and politeness always worked in good old Equestria. He’d be on his way in no time and this whole little shindig would be a thing of the past before he knew it.









SLAM!

The jail bars shut with great ferocity right behind Spike.

“Well, that was definitely a miscalculation.” Spike sighed. At least they had the decency to take his ropes off.

“Now you just wait here, okay dragon?” Brick said with a piercing gaze. “The sheriff will be coming back to town a bit later in the afternoon and he’ll decide what to do with you. So, you just hang around here for the time being and don’t try anything funny, ya hear?”

Spike looked the three stallions in the eyes through the jail cell bars. He’d given up on trying to plead his case at this point.

“You got it.”

The stallions walked off leaving him alone in his cell. Spike looked around to get a bearing on his quarters. It couldn’t have been more than 10 feet across in any direction. That was probably a decent amount of room for a pony, but when you’re a dragon… not so much.

There wasn’t a whole lot to look at, but it had a small wooden bed frame loaded with hay. There was also a barred window to get some measure of fresh air. Other than that, he was alone.

He released a deep breath and strolled over to the bed and took a seat. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the most comfortable he’d felt since arriving in this god-forsaken time period.

His mission wasn’t starting on the best note. Maybe he should’ve broken out into song or something to get those ponies to let him go. That kind of thing usually works with Twilight and her friends…

Spike turned on his side and let his body sink into the hay. This was gonna be harder than he thought.
> Storm In a Teacup
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“1023, 1024, 1025…” Spike stared at the ceiling, his face contorted into a quizzical expression of annoyance. “Or was that last one 1022 actually?” He had gotten so bored since being locked up that he decided to take up counting the individual stains on the wooden ceiling. He did his best to retrace his counting but the moment he lost focus it was all over. “Oh, screw it.”

He flopped over on his side with enough attitude to send Trixie running for cover on her worst days. He took back everything he briefly thought about the bed being comfortable. If sleeping on molding hay was comfortable then a bowl of rusty screws and evaporated milk was a well-balanced breakfast.

Spike let out a deep, breathy sigh. His mission was not off to a particularly good start. No, strike that. This start sucked. He finally gets put in charge of saving the world, and he ruins it in a couple of hours. It just wasn’t fair…

He knew he should have started singing some kind of friendship song when he was getting attacked.

He flipped around onto his back once more, just accepting his merciless defeat at the claw of the moldy bed. If nothing else, he may as well try and get some rest. It didn’t look like he was going anywhere anytime soon. Not unless the universe had some kind of miracle left in it, not that he ever benefited when those showed up.

“Look, I just wanna see him!”

Spike’s ears perked up at the sound of a mare’s voice just down the hall.

“Are you out of your mind?” Brick’s voice called out after her. “This ain’t no ordinary criminal. It’s a dragon! It’s dangerous! Your father would turn and  lock the door on me and throw away the key if I let you get hurt.”

“Ugh, just get out of my way, Brick,” the mare’s voice said once again. “I’m seventeen and can take care of myself. You’d do well to remember that!”

“Fine…” Brick said, his tone laced with the sound of defeat. “Have it your way. But if your father comes around, I’m telling him you snuck in or something.”

“Whatever floats your boat!”

Spike was now sitting up in his bed, peering out the caged door. He kept still, waiting for any sign of life to come around the corner. Whoever this mare was, she definitely had some attitude to her. Luckily, with how long he’s been friends with Starlight and Trixie, he was used to this kind of thing.

He heard hoofsteps grow closer the seconds weighed on him, before finally, an average-sized mare appeared on the other side. She was a unicorn and  had a soft blue mane that was tied up with a small ribbon, a pristine white coat, and deep pink eyes that peered at him from the other side of the door with… fear? Astonishment? Wonder? He honestly couldn’t tell despite putting all his focus into the matter.

Spike simply stared right back at her, longer than was socially appropriate of course. To his credit, this was the first time since his brief journey into the past that a pony hasn’t attacked him on sight. Not to mention she was rather, well, pretty… to say the least. Very pretty, actually.

Spike instantly shook the thoughts out of his head. No! He was here on one mission and one mission only. To save the world. Not to flirt with the first mare he came across.

“Wow…” was all the mare could say as she gawked at him.

Spike blinked a few times. He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. That being said, he figured he’d at least try and make conversation the only way he knew how.

“Hey.” He waved his claw at her and did his best to give a friendly smile, but it was to no avail. She was still staring straight at him in some kind of trance. Spike had to mentally poke himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming because there was no way in Tartarus he ever had this kind of effect on a mare before. Even though she was admittedly quite pretty, now was not the time for such trifling matters of emotional nonsense.

“Umm…” Spike looked around before he shrugged his shoulders. “Can I help you?”

After she, once again, failed to notice him in any capacity, Spike decided it was high time to make a move or this wasn’t going to go anywhere. He stretched out his arms and stood up from the bed. As he did so, he unfurled his wings and stretched them out the best he could given the limited room he had to work with.

This finally got a reactio0n. She shook her head and took a few steps away from the door, as if she were giving him more room to move, not really out of fear. Once he had fully risen and walked toward the door, she stayed put and began to eye him up and down.

“Wow!” she exclaimed breathlessly.

“Yeah, you said that already,” Spike said with a playful eyeroll. “So, uh, are you just here to stare or can I help you with something?” He didn’t mean to come off as rude to somepony he just met, but he also wasn’t in the best mood, given the days’ events up to this point.

The mare peered up at him, locking eyes for the first time. “I’m sorry, it’s just that… you’re actually a dragon!”

Spike deadpanned and tapped his claws against the iron bars of the door a few times. “Yep, that’s correct. I’m a real dragon. What could’ve tipped you off?”

“Well, it’s just that…” She cleared her throat and took a couple of cautious steps closer. “I’ve never seen one before. A… dragon, I mean. At least, not outside of stories my dad would read to me when I was little.”

That’s when it hit Spike with a resounding duh! This was the past. Ponies and dragon hadn’t become friends yet. He was so used to creatures getting along that he completely forgot it was only recently that dragons were able to change their image across Equestria and other nations. As far as these townsponies were concerned, he was probably just another monster ready to chase them out of town and eat their young.

So, it looked like it was up to him to change that tune, one new friend at a time.

“Well, I guess introductions are in order,” the dragon replied, doing his best once again to smile. “I’m Spike. It’s nice to meet you!”

The mare simply raised an eyebrow in response.

“You know, where I come from, when someone introduces themselves, the nice thing to do is to introduce yourself.” Spike shook his head. “Ah, forget it. This is gonna be my whole day, isn’t it?” The dragon released a smoky huff and sulked. It was probably better that he didn’t start up a conversation with a random pony anyhow. Celestia knows what kind of trouble that could get himself int—

“Ellidee.”

“Huh?” He turned around to see her standing even closer to the door… with a smile on her face. He walked a bit closer, making sure to be as slow as possible so as not to freak her out. “Ellidee? Is that your name?” To his knowledge most pony names were suspiciously relevant to their special talent and cutie mark. Things must be different in the past, or more different than he thought at least.

“Mhm,” she replied with a curt nod. “That’s me.”

“Oh, so you do know how to have a conversation?” Spike emitted a small chuckle. “For a second there I thought I might’ve been going crazy. Or that you were just here to throw rotten fruit at me and make fun of my shameful imprisonment. Either seemed like a pretty realistic scenario, to be honest.”

“Heh,” she said, letting out a small chuckle. “Look, Spike was it?”

“Yep. Spike Amadeus Dragon’s the name and being the coolest dragon around is my game. Don’t wear it out.” He chuckled on the inside because he was sure he was now the first creature to ever use that joke.

“Well, look Spike… Aladdinus Draconicus or whatever you just said,” she continued. “No offense, but you’re nothing like I expected a dragon to be. I mean, for my first dragon encounter, there’s a surprising lack of burning houses and screaming villagers going on.”

Spike rose a claw to protest and make the point that not all dragons were bad, but in this time period, who knew what dragons were like? Odds are they were just as selfish and cruel as they were when he first met them, if not worse. “That’s a fair point,” he said, putting his claw back down. “But, suffice to say I’m not like most other dragons. Let’s just leave it at that.”

“No kidding,” she replied with a flick of her tail. “I mean, every dragon I’ve ever seen in books and plays… they’re all, you know, dark and evil looking with some kind of self-assuming origin that tries to excuse their destructive power but ultimately fails in doing so. You know what I mean, right?”

Spike blinked. “That actually sounds a lot like a character in a Power Ponies fanfiction I wrote when I was a kid.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Fanfiction? What’s that?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” He mentally facepalmed. “Trust me, your civilization is much happier without it. Anyway, is there a particular reason you came to see me, Ellidee, or did you just wanna say ‘wow’ a few times and go about your business?”

“Oh!” Ellidee’s ears perked up. “I’m sorry, I probably should’ve told you earlier. I’ve just never seen an actual dragon before. I was honestly kind of hoping that you’d be like dragons are in the plays and try and like… eat me or something. Ugh, but of course the only dragon seen in this town, like, ever, is just a big softy. Just my luck.”

Spike took another step closer to the gated doorway and gave her a puzzled look. “Look, I don’t judge what other creatures do in their personal space or anything, but I kinda have to ask… why in the name of all that is good and sacred would you want to almost be eaten?”

She let out a huff and thrust a hoof toward where the exit to the prison was. “You saw this town, didn’t you? It’s literally the most boring place in the world! Before you came into town, I was literally getting excitement watching tumbleweeds roll down the street.”

“Ooh,” Spike winced. “Yeah, that’s no good. I think I see your point.”

“Yeah,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Just some kind of, I dunno, something new would be nice for a change as opposed to the same old song and dance every day.”

Spike shrugged. “Not to question your way of life or anything, but how come you just, I dunno, leave town once in a while? You know, get some fresh air, see some new things. I mean, back in Ponyv—er, where I come from, I try to get out of town at least once a week. I’d go crazy being cooped up all the time.”

“Heh, you’re telling me,” she replied as she began to pace the floor. “Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’d leave if I could, but I can’t.”

Spike scratched his head and turned his vision toward the ground. “Are you sure? I mean you’ve got four legs that seem to work, right? What’s stopping you?”

“My…” she cocked her head to the side. “Wait a second? Why am I telling you all this? I mean, we only just met, right? Isn’t that a little weird? Am I being too weird?” 

Spike shrugged. “Eh, long story short, I’m used to being around other creatures with no social tact. It’s no big deal.” 

“Heh, well, whatever. Let’s just say me and adventure aren’t exactly on a first-name basis at this current time in my life, as much as I wish that were different.” 

“You see, here’s the deal though,” Spike spoke up. “Too much adventure is also kind of a bad thing. Where I’m from, it seems there’s always something else to do. I would kill for at least a bit of peace once in a while.” 

Ellidee playfully rubbed her chin while looking around. “Well, to be fair, it’s kind of peaceful in here, wouldn’t you say?” 

“Ha, ha, ha…” The dragon shook his head and took a few steps back. “Maybe, but unfortunately this isn’t the best time for this to happen. In fact, this is like the absolute worst timing I’ve ever had with anything, and considering I once burped a fireball into a ma—er, a dragoness’s face on a first date, that’s saying something.” 

Ellidee couldn’t help but gigglesnort at Spike’s revelation. “Okay, yeah, that is pretty bad timing. But wait, so you’re saying dragons actually go on dates like ponies do? From what I heard, you guys are kind of just like, you know, fire and brimstone meet violence and irritability.” 

“I’m fairly sure we already established I’m not like most other dragons. But regardless, that’s not important.” Spike released a sigh. “Normally I don’t mind listening to creatures spout off about all their problems for a most likely endless amount of time but suffice to say it’s like… hyper important I get out of here.” 

Ellidee frowned. “Fine, I’ll shut up once you answer one last question, okay?”

“Was that your last question?”

“Pfft, no. It’s this: why were you in our town in the first place? You don’t seem like the kind of guy to pillage and torment like other dragons, so there must’ve been some reason you got yourself into this mess.” 

Without even thinking, Spike was about to break every cardinal rule and reveal exactly how he ended up there. Luckily, between the ideas of disappointing Celestia, unraveling space-time, and earning an endless amount of snark from Starlight in whatever afterlife existed out there, he was able to pull himself back from this unforgivable ledge. 

It was time to be extremely vague and make some stuff up! 

“Okay, so here’s the deal,” Spike said. He instantly began scanning his brain for any semblance of an excuse that made sense. It was exactly like when he tried to write: he had a beginning and an endpoint, but he was going to have to make stuff up in between and hope that it made sense. “I’m on a mission… of sorts.”
 
Ellidee raised an eyebrow. “A mission? What kind of mission?”
 
“Uh, well, you see…” Spike scratched his head. “The area I come from is in trouble! Big trouble. But normally, we are all way too prideful to actually do anything about it. But this time, yeah, it’s in trouble.”
 
“What kind of trouble?”
 
That was the exact question he wished she didn’t ask. He hadn’t prepared for details. “Well, there’s a… sickness going on. One specific to dragons. And, uh, I’m on a mission to get some ingredients to cure it.” Yeah, that was good!
 
Ellidee merely nodded, while still keeping a somewhat confused look on her face.
 
“But yeah, so, the longer I stay stuck in here, the more the disease is gonna spread. The reason I left to go get the ingredients, is, well, look at me. I’m probably the least offensive dragon in existence and I haven’t caught the disease yet. So, if I don’t get out, we may never get better, you know?”
 
Spike was actually impressed with himself. He was usually god-tier awful at coming up with ideas, but somehow this one actually made some level of sense! Now he just needed to hope that she believed him. Not that it could necessarily change his predicament, but having at least one pony on his side couldn’t hurt, right?
 
“That…” Ellidee finally lowered her eyebrow and looked him straight in the eyes. “That’s awful! I mean, dragons may not be the friendliest creatures, like at all, but you all don’t deserve to be sick!”
 
Spike breathed a sigh of relief. “Yeah, right? So, you know, if you could help me get out of here, I’d really appreciate it. I promise I’ll leave you guys alone and just continue my mission after this.”
 
Ellidee raised a hoof and winced ever so slightly. “That’s going to be the tricky part…”
 
“Why’s th—”
 
“Alright, what dragon thinks he has any business messing around in my town!” A gruff voice suddenly entered the fray as the door down the hall burst open.
 
Ellidee sighed. “That’s why.”

 


 

> Sink or Swim
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike gulped down what may or may not have been his last gulp as the older, stallion stared at him from the other side of the jail cell bars, giving his pegasus wings an aggressive flap. As much as Spike wanted to just take one last breath, abandon all ships and just burst through the closest wall to obtain freedom, he knew that wasn’t an option. For one, the walls were made of stone. The second, and possibly more important reason, would be that if he showed any sign of ‘dragon-ish’ aggression, he’d be screwed. Why? Because that would mean any chance at peace would be gone and his mission would be severely jeopardized.

He couldn’t let that happen. Everyone he loved was depending on him, whether they knew it or not.

His thoughts were interrupted as the older pony finally broke his menacing but silent stare and started talking.

“So, tell me dragon,” he said, a slight southern Equestrian drawl to his voice. “What brings you ‘round these parts? You here to cause trouble in my village?” He sniffled and wiped his hoof across his face. “I’ll tell you one thing, there ain’t no way I’m gonna let a dragon cause trouble in Onyx Twister’s town!”

Using context clues, Spike assumed that he was referencing his own name. He let out a nervous laugh. “Well, Mr. Twister, trust me. This has all just been a huge misunderstanding! I know you probably get that a lot from your prisoners, but­—”

“Ha!” Onyx Twister laughed aloud. “A misunderstanding? You mean to tell me a dragon just strolls into my village, causing all kinds of trouble for the good folk around here, and I’m supposed to believe it’s just a misunderstandin’?” He let out another hearty belly laugh. “I’ve heard it all now.”

Spike frowned. There was no way he could convince this pony to believe him no matter what he said. The dragon looked around but there was nopony there to help him this time. He was on his own, save for a stallion who already didn’t like him for contextually good reasons.

Well, Starlight did always tell him the first steps into adulthood are miserable and lonely. Turns out, she was right. She also said they could be awfully expensive, but that wasn’t super relevant here considering Starlight has never time-travelled her way into a cell before. Regardless, Spike was going to just have to figure this one out all by himself. After all, he had a job to do.

Spike clawed himself out of his own head and cleared his throat, making direct eye contact with the pony. “Look, I’m going to be completely honest with you. I’m not necessarily asking you to believe me, but at least hear me out. Please?”

The stallion rubbed his chin, looked him up and down, and let out a sigh. “Alright then. This oughta be good. Say your piece.”

“Thanks.” Spike took a deep breath and began. “I’m on a serious mission to try and save the dragons back home. There’s a really bad sickness going around and the only way I can cure it is by getting some ingredients from here in your lands.”

The pony continued to look at him with an unflinching stare. If nothing else, Spike at least had his attention, and that was better than nothing.

He continued, “I get it, dragons don’t normally seem like the type to care about other creatures besides ourselves that much. But, if it isn’t obvious, I’m not like most other dragons, and I don’t wanna see my friends and family get sick. I’m only here because I was stumbling through the woods and found myself here by accident. I had no intention of causing trouble for anypony.”

The stallion nodded a few times in response. Maybe, just maybe, he was getting somewhere!

“So,” Spike said. “If you could just let me go, I promise I’ll walk right out of your town and go on my way without ever looking back. I swear on my honor as a dragon, for whatever that’s worth around here.” Spike finally exhaled a deep breath. He managed to spit it all out. Now he just had to await a response.

“Ha… Ha ha!” Onyx erupted into a brief fit of laughter. “My goodness, that was quite the tale dragon, but I gotta admit, you had me convinced there for just a second.”

Spike’s wings drooped further than usual, along with his head. That was the most believable story he could think of but no dice. He was doomed. Equestria itself was doomed. There was no way he was ever getting out of here…

“You see, here’s the thing,” the stallion continued. “You had me going until you mentioned that you were different than most other dragons. In my experience, all dragons are the same: greedy, violent, and hungry. You’d sooner burn down a village than bring your momma breakfast.” He spit at Spike’s feet. “You’re no different than the rest.”

Spike chanced a glance upward and opened his mouth to try one last plea for his freedom but was interrupted by a new voice that decided to enter the fray.

“He is different, daddy.”

“Huh?” Spike and Onyx said in unison.

The dragon peered down the small hallway the best he could to see Ellidee standing there, her previously curious eyes now narrowed with determination.

Onyx immediately put on a scowl. “Darlin’, I told you to wait back at home while I took care of things! What are you doing in here? Don’t you know it’s—”

“Dangerous?” she asked, finishing his sentence for him. “Honestly, daddy, does he look dangerous to you? He’s literally just a big softy and you have him locked up in a cage. Besides, look at him.” Ellidee waved her hoof up and down at Spike. “He’s not exactly full-grown yet. In dragon times, he’s probably just a baby.”

Spike twiddled his claws against the cell bars. Just when he thought he left the baby dragon things behind, it rears its ugly head once more.

“Just sayin’,” Ellidee continued. “I don’t think we’re in any kind of danger right now.”

“Heh, is that what you think?” Her father said. “You must’ve forgotten that dragons can do all kinds of things. They’ve got teeth, claws, can breathe fire and who knows what else!”

Spike, meanwhile, just looked back and forth between the two of them, not knowing what to say. It was official: no matter the circumstance, it’s always awkward being around two creatures that are arguing, especially about him.

“Psh.” Ellidee dismissed her father’s rambling with a quick wave of her hoof. “Let’s be honest here. If he really wanted to hurt us, the whole village would be on fire right now! Or if he didn’t care about the law or making a good impression, he could’ve just flown through the roof already with those wings of his and left us in rubble. It’s only made of wood!”

Spike took a moment to look upward, and he remembered… yeah, it was only wood. He honestly could have gotten out at any time if he wanted. Why didn’t he think of that? Great, now he felt awkward and dumb… Why did this always happen in front of pretty mares?

Onyx Twister let out a huff. “Well, that may be true, but I’m not gonna risk losing you over some dragon, no matter how much of a pansy he might be.”

Ouch. This was starting to get way too personal way too fast. But Spike took the fact that there was a slight lull in their argument to finally speak up.

“Uh, can I say something?” The dragon looked back and forth between the two ponies who were now looking right back at him. “I don’t mean to like, overstep my bounds or anything, but I can sense a lot of tension here. Let me see if I can make any sense of it.” The dragon turned his attention to Onyx. “First off, your daughter is right. If I wanted to, I could’ve burnt this place to the ground already. Please trust me, that’s the last thing I wanna do. You have a whole rustic thing going on here and it’s quite nice, actually.” He now turned his attention to Ellidee who had moved in front of his cell throughout the argument. “On the other claw, I’m sure your father just wants what’s best for you. I mean, he’s got a point about most dragons being, well, for lack of a better word, a lot of us can really suck sometimes. Trust me, I know. I live with dragons.”

Ellidee tilted her head to the side. “Suck?”

Spike mentally facepalmed. Of course, modern slang made no sense. “It’s a dragon term. It means we’re bad. Unpleasant.” She nodded in response. Whether she understood or not was neither here nor there. Regardless, Spike took her agreement as an invitation to continue. “Anyway, I promise, I just want to leave you in peace and be on my way.” He released a sigh and turned his eyes away, pointing them to the floor instead. “There are a lot of friends that really need me right now, and I’m the only one who can help them. Please let me.”

Onyx Twister rubbed his grizzled chin and opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly cut off by his daughter, who stomped a hoof down to announce her turn.

“Daddy, please come with me.” She gave her father a firm stare. “We need to talk… outside.”

Onyx once again opened his mouth to seemingly refute her point, but ultimately sighed and nodded his head. “Alright, fine. We’ll talk.” He then turned his attention briefly to the caged dragon. “Now you behave while I’m gone. I swear, if there’s one thing out of turn in this here building when I get back, I’m makin’ sure you never get out of there.”

Ellidee rolled her eyes and grabbed her father by the hoof, leading him down the hall. Spike followed them with his eyes as far as he could before he finally heard a door open, and slam shut again.

It was always an awkward feeling when you knew someone was talking about you while you’re not around, even more so when you knew that the conversation they’re having will change your life in an instant. It was enough to get any creature’s heart racing, much less a dragon that was already prone to unwarranted anxiety. 

Thanks, Twilight.

Spike remained as still and quiet as he could be, trying his best to hear even the faintest whisper of their conversation. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be heard but the sound of his own heartbeat thudding faster and faster by the second. He took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves before finally letting out a sigh.

There was nothing he could do. Nothing he could do… but wait.

He walked over to the makeshift bed and sat down on it, not caring a bit for his own discomfort. As he waited, he couldn’t help but think of all the awful things that could happen next. They could simply throw away the key to his cell and leave him there forever. In that case, he’d be forced to burn his way out and become the villain everyone already thought he was. Or worse, Ellidee was a unicorn. Maybe she was powerful enough to cast some kind of spell on him preventing him from even being able to blow fire and he’d just starve to death inside this cell, leaving behind only his corpse for future generations to laugh at.

The dragon shuddered, trying to shake off the negativity that was quickly taking over his mind. It wasn’t an easy task though, considering it just didn’t seem like there was any hope. Sure, Ellidee was on his side, but her father wasn’t, and he was the leader of the whole town. What he says goes apparently, and there was no love lost between him and dragons.

As thoughts raced through the dragon’s mind, he swore that hours must have passed. Even days! But, in all reality, it had probably only been like ten minutes at most. Right as he was about to collapse backwards onto the unwelcoming straw bed, he heard the front door swing open, followed by a single set of hoofsteps.

Oh no. It was just Onyx.

The dragon stood up and steeled his nerves. If Onyx was alone, then it obviously meant that Ellidee had no luck. Or who knows, maybe she was in on the whole ‘destroy all dragons’ thing, too. Regardless, he was going to take his sentence like a real dragon should: with dignity and resolve.

He closed his eyes and took a final breath as he heard the hoofsteps stop in front of the cell door. When he opened them, however, he was not greeted with a sight he was expecting. Not at all.

Ellidee used her magic to levitate a set of keys towards the cell door and quickly and efficiently unlocked it, swinging the door wide open.

“Well,” she said with a confident grin. “You’re free.”

Spike just stood there, dumbfounded.

“Why?”
> You're Welcome
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ellidee let out a small chuckle. “What do you mean ‘why’?”

Spike was still trying to gather his thoughts about how the universe had finally worked something out in his favor. After a few seconds he was finally able to muster up the ability to speak. “Well, um, I guess it’s just surprising and all. I mean, why’d you let me out of jail?”

Ellidee rolled her eyes. “You know, most ponies would just be grateful instead of questioning their fate. But, since you must know, I’m letting you out because my father said I could. Simple enough for you, I hope?”

Spike cocked an eyebrow. “Well, I guess that makes sense. That being said, why would your father let me out after just a ten minute conversation... or however long it was? He didn’t exactly make it a secret that he doesn’t like my kind.”

“He has his reasons, you know…” Ellidee said, a slight softness building in her voice as she trailed off. “Regardless, it wasn’t that hard really. Between the fact that you’re not exactly dangerous looking and the fact that I have my father wrapped around my front hoof, convincing him was easy. There’s nothing to worry about, Spike.”

Spike shrugged. “Alright, fine. I’ll accept it. But that does leave one last question.”

“Oh sweet merciful gods, here we go…” Ellidee shook her head. “Fine. What is it?”

“Why did you in particular even want to let me out in the first place?” Spike rubbed his chin. “I mean, you barely know me at all and your father isn’t exactly wrong about most dragons.”

Ellidee released a sigh. “I figured you might ask that. Look, this might sound a bit, I don’t know, weird… but I do believe you about your mission. Honestly, I just really felt like you didn’t deserve to be locked up. I mean, let’s be real, if you were a real dragon our entire town would’ve been burnt down by now.”

Spike frowned. “Hey, I’m a real dragon! I’ve got wings, sharp teeth, a somewhat obnoxious personality… I’ve got it all!”

“Sure you do,” Ellidee replied with a snicker. “Honestly, compared to the dragons that my dad talks about, you’re like my little sister’s dolls.”

“Psh,” Spike said with a wave of his claw. “Okay, fine. I’ll tell you what, when push comes to shove, I’m a fearless warrior without compare.” Spike crossed his arms and gave her his best fang-y, smug grin. Pretty much all pretenses of confusion at the situation were gone from his mind at the moment. His pride was on the line.

“Yeah, okay,” she said with a final chuckle. “Anyway, do you plan on just standing in that cell all day or are you going to, I don’t know, take a few steps forward and be free again?” She tilted her head to the side with a cocky grin. “Your choice.”

Spike looked around himself for a moment. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that part.” As he was bid, the dragon walked out of the cell until he was standing just a few feet away from Ellidee. “So, I guess I owe you the world’s biggest thank you, don’t I?”

“Heh, that’s a good place to start,” she said. “Thank you’s can wait for another time. Let’s get out of this place first. It smells like mold and disappointment in here. I hate it.”

Spike, in his infinite wisdom, took a moment to sniff his left arm. Yep, he definitely picked up a trace of failure. He was going to need to shower soon.

The two walked out of the town jail with Ellidee leading the way. As soon as she opened the front door, letting the evening sun embrace them both, it felt like Spike was reinvigorated. The sun was pretty far along in the sky at this point, but he enjoyed nonetheless.

He took a couple steps outside and stretched out his arms and wings as far as they could go, letting the sun’s light bathe them in the process. He felt like a new dragon, especially considering not even a few minutes ago he wasn’t sure he’d ever see the light of day again.

It was truly a beautiful feeling to be free.

“Now hold your horses, Spike,” Ellidee said, breaking up his peaceful thought pattern. “You’re not exactly free yet. There are still a few rules that got laid down you’ll have to abide by, okay?”

Spike quickly brought his wings back to his side. “Okay, that’s totally fair. What are they?”

Ellidee nodded. “Well, the first one is probably the most important. You’re not allowed in town. As my father put it, you ‘need to go back to the forest from whence you came’.”

Spike frowned and looked to the edge of town where that forest he was lost in was. “Ugh, fine. I guess that’s fair. What else?”

“Number two, you’re not allowed to, oh how’d he put it… ‘do anything dragon-ish’ on your way out of town.” Ellidee rubbed her chin. “I’m assuming he means not doing anything like eating anyone or burning stuff down our homes and crops. That shouldn’t be a problem for you though since you’re like ten percent dragon at best.”

Spike grimaced, but he didn’t feel like getting back into an argument involving his pride again. So instead, he just sighed. “I guess these rules will prevent me from getting to have any food or supplies on my way out of town, huh?”

Ellidee shook her head. “I’m sorry, but you were asked to essentially leave right away. I tried to make him see a bit of reason there, but it didn’t work out.”

Spike shook his head. “It’s all good. Trust me, I see where he’s coming from.” The dragon let out a small snicker. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but he may as well do what he can to make the best out of it. “So, are there any more rules? I’d say kicking me out of town pretty much covers anything inconveniencing I might do.”

“Well, there is one more, but…” Ellidee looked around at the few ponies that were starting to come outside of their shops and homes. All of them were giving looks that could kill. “I can’t tell you here.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Fine. Are you just gonna send it with me in a letter or something?”

“No, although I guess that actually makes sense.” Instead of just walking away like any sane pony would, Ellidee moved a tad closer to him. “Hey, I’ll walk you out of town, alright?”

Spike tilted his head. “Huh? I mean, I appreciate the offer but the forest is literally right over there. I know you guys think I’m a stupid dragon, but I’m pretty sure I won’t get lost in the next five minutes it will take me to leave.”
Ellidee stomped a hoof into the ground. “Ugh, why are you males all the same? Stallion or dragon, it apparently doesn’t matter. You’re all as dense as the next one.” She took a few steps in front of Spike. “Just follow me, okay? And act normal so you don’t scare anypony.”

Spike scratched his head. Her and her father had a gift for making him feel personally attacked. “Okay, I guess. Lead the way.”

Ellidee started walking away from him, leaving to it up Spike to get moving to catch up with her. It was mid-afternoon at this point, and thankfully it wasn’t overly hot or humid. Despite the circumstances, Spike found a small smile creeping its way onto his face. 

“So, do dragons get sick often?” Ellidee asked Spike, who was now walking at an even pace to her right. “I mean, I’ll admit I haven’t done a ton of research or anything, but I’ve always heard you guys are pretty tough.”

Spike shook his head. “Yeah, illness doesn’t come around very often for us. But when it does, it’s pretty bad, as you can probably tell.”

“Heh,” Ellidee said with a light chuckle. “I feel like all stallions say that when trying to get out of work. But, in all seriousness, it does sound pretty rough. How have you managed to stay healthy?”

Spike paused for a moment. Looks like he was going to have to further defend his lie. “Well, I’m honestly a bit more isolated than the other dragons. I kind of keep to myself quite a bit. Ultimately, I guess you could just say that I was really lucky. There were only a couple of us that didn’t end up among those down with the sickness.”

“Ah, gotcha,’  Ellidee replied. “On that note, how come they chose you for the mission?”

Spike shrugged. “I volunteered. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I do like to think of myself and the easiest to get along with of the dragons. I mean, if I were twenty feet taller and had a bad attitude all the time like my brethren, I doubt you would’ve given me the time of day.”

Ellidee quickly nodded. “Good point. You’re not exactly offensive as far as dragons go.”

“Yeah, I’ll take that as a compliment.” He said with a well-timed eye roll.

They were getting closer to their destination by this point but Spike wasn’t quite done asking a few questions of his own. He’d have to be quick though as once he left town, he most likely would never be coming back.

“So,” Spike said. “I couldn’t help but notice that you and your father have a different accent. He’s a bit on the, oh I don’t know, rough and tumble side and you seem to talk without much of a drawl at all. Did you not always live here?”

Ellidee shook her head. “Nope. I actually spent the first part of my life with… somepony else. That was in a different city and when I was younger. I guess I just never really picked up my father’s accent.”

“Somepony else?” As much as it should have, Spike didn’t quite pick up the hint that she wasn’t in the mood to discuss specifics. “I take it it hasn’t always been just you and your dad.”

Ellidee sighed. “Yeah, but, that’s neither here nor there right now. It was a long time ago.”

“Fair enough,” Spike replied. His mind drifted to his own circumstances, growing up without both parents around. “I know the feel all too well. But, anyway, I do have one final question if it’s alright?”

“What’s that?” Ellidee asked.

“Do you know if there’s another town within any kind of reasonable distance where I might be able to do some kind of shopping or searching for the stuff I need?” Spike smiled a tad. “Hopefully a town that’s not all torches and pitchforks about dragons?”

Ellidee nodded. “Yeah, that was something I needed to discuss with you. The capital city, Sprintdale, is just about a day’s walk from here in that direction.” Ellidee pointed her hoof to the south. “I can’t really speak on how friendly everypony will be to dragons over there as I’ve only gotten to go a couple times, but it’s a really big place. If anypony can help you, they’ll be over in Sprintdale.”

As much as Spike just wanted to fly upward and get a better view, he knew that wasn’t the best idea given the circumstances. There were no guarantees he wouldn’t be shot right out of the sky by an understandably scared hunter or some such. He’d just have to take her word for it.

“Alright, I’ll just head south I guess. Thanks for all your help.”

By this point, they had reached the edge of the woods on the town’s skirt. Spike looked up to the sky and noticed the sun was already starting to set as well. It wouldn’t be long before the night blanketed everything in darkness.

“Well, I should probably get a move on before it gets too late.” Spike released a sigh followed by a slight smile. “If it’s a day’s walk, then I could feasibly get there by tomorrow morning I suppose.”

Ellidee shook her head. “No, trust me, you don’t want to leave until tomorrow. I mean, you must have had an exhausting day. The last thing you want to do is stumble around half-asleep in the dark and get yourself hopelessly lost, right?”

“Nah, I’ll be just—“ The dragon’s sentence was interrupted with a loud yawn. “Huh, I guess you’re right. I am pretty tired. But, it’s not like I have too many options. I guess I could just take a nap first and… what are you doing?” Spike couldn’t help but notice Ellidee looking back and forth frantically, as if she was making sure nopony else was around within hearing distance. “You good?”

Ellidee scooted a step closer to him and began speaking in a hushed tone. “Okay, look, there’s a cave just a mile or so into the woods if you go straight from here. Go there and wait.”

Spike cocked an eyebrow. “Uh, excuse me? Why would I do that?”

The mare rolled her eyes. “Because, if you go there and wait, I can stop by later with some supplies for you. You’re gonna have an awful time without any and I’m not gonna let my father just send you to your possible death because of his stubbornness.”

Spike rose a claw in protest. “I appreciate the thought, but didn’t you say your father doesn’t like you doing stuff like, I don’t know, leaving the town and whatnot by yourself? There’s no way he’d let you help me out like that.”

“That’s why he’s not gonna know about it,” she replied. “I’ll just wait until the sun goes down and sneak out. It’s that simple, you know?”

Spike scratched the back of his head. “Well, no offense, but I feel like I’ve read about plans like this in stories before, and it never works out quite that easily.” He put his claw back to his side and shrugged. “But, that being said, I’m not one to look a gift pony in the mouth, so sure. I’ll wait around for you. But, you know, don’t do anything that’ll get you in trouble. I won’t pretend to know you super well, but I’d still rather not have you get hurt or something on my account, Ellidee.”

“Don’t worry about me,” she said with a shake of her head. “Trust me, I can handle my dad. Besides, remember how I told you there was one more rule about you leaving?”

Spike thought back to earlier in their conversation. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Well, it’s more of a favor than a rule, but regardless, I’m going to collect on that tonight, too, so you better follow my directions and wait for me, okay?” Ellidee gave him a strict stare that would send even the mightiest of dragons into submission. “I’ll be there about an hour or two after the sun goes down, so take a nap or something while you wait.”

Spike had no idea what the favor could be but he didn’t want to question her. “Alright, I’ll hang around. But if you don’t come around by tomorrow morning, I’ll have to leave, alright?”

“Deal.” Ellidee looked back towards town where off in the distance her father was clearly visible. “Anyway, I have to go. Remember, it’s about a mile straight in front of you.”

With that, she took off back towards town, leaving Spike by himself. The dragon watched as she bounded away for a moment before turning his attention back to the forest. A mile straight forward? No problem.

He didn’t see any point in wasting more time with idle thought, so he quickly took the first few steps back into the woods. He had a cave to find.





It had been some time since Spike arrived at the cave. It was more of a hole in the wall than an actual cave, but if nothing else it provided shade from the sun and kept him out of the way of sight of any possible enemies. He had tried to sleep like Ellidee bid him to do, but there was just too much going on his head. Would she actually show up or was he wasting time he didn’t have? Would he actually be able to find good food again? Would this whole mission even work out or was it doomed to fail?

So many questions and no answers to be found.

The sun had pretty much set completely by this point leaving only the moon to provide any kind of light. Light that struggled to exist given the dense foliage ceiling guarding against it. Spike was about to complain about that too before the approaching sound of hoof steps gave him pause.

He looked outside of the cave and could barely make out Ellidee’s figure in the darkness. But, he knew it was her by not only the large sack she was carrying on her back, but by her mane as well, tied up in a ribbon like it had been in town.

“Glad to see you’re still here,” she said with a half smile as she finally reached the cave.

“Of course,” Spike replied. “I told you I’d wait.”

“Nice to know you don’t go back on promises,” she replied. Without another word, she levitated the sack off of her back and plopped it onto the ground next to Spike. “Here you are.”

Spike didn’t need an invitation to start rummaging through. There was quite a bit bread, a couple canteens of water and some fruit. There was actually for more than he’d need for a one day trek…

“Are you sure this is alright?” He asked. “I mean, there’s enough for like two whole ponies in here. I don’t wanna eat your village out of house and home.”

“Hehe,” Ellidee replied with a smile. “You see, about that. Remember that favor?”

Spike simply nodded. “Yeah.”

“Well,” Ellidee said, pushing a stray piece of mane from in front of her eyes. “There’s a very simple reason as to why I packed extra food and water. I’m coming with you.”

Spike paused and once again was left with nothing else to say but…

“Why?”