Hello! We are finally back to the Darkness Saga with the sequel to Darkness of Love. It’s fun to come back to this universe. It has so long since I did the original story. It’s so silly and stupid, it pretty fun to riff. If you haven’t read the original story, you can find it here. Read that first before reading this story. That way you can understand Ditzy’s venom towards this story.

In other news, I have added a mirror on fimfiction. You can find it here. It is unpublished unfortunately, but it will provide a nice little place for comments. There you can flame me and tell me just how unfunny I am! I have also found several new stories that I will be doing. Kingdom of Monsters by hielispace,  Equus is Dying by Silver Nightshade,  Book 1:Changing Patterns by Natis120, and  Rarity's 5 Spikes by trahzo. In what order I am not sure yet. Fellow riffing twow443 has agreed to help me riff Rarity’s 5 Spike, and boy will I need it. You’ll see. Anyway, on with the fic!

If anyone is interesting in editing Doctor and Ditzy’s Science Theater, please PM me on my fimfiction account. It would be so nice to actually have an editor! Then you all don’t have to deal with my downright embarrassing grammar and spelling!

If you have a fanfic recommendation, comments, or criticisms please leave a comment or PM me at my fimfiction account or my blog on Tumblr. Please NO clop or fanfiction with extreme violence. I am not going to do those. I want to do a more family friendly series and it is going to be relatively clean. Besides everyone else does them. Okay, I might do one for a special occasion. But otherwise no clop or extreme gore fics. Ok, enough rambling. On with the fic!

Special thanks to The Grimm Reaper for letting me do his story. You are awesome!

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Doctor and Ditzy’s Science Theater

by Rixizu

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sat on a boat relaxing lazily while Diamond Tiara’s butler Randolph paddled the boat behind them. It was a pretty little pink boat with an umbrella on the top. The two fillies were sipping lemonade as Randolph paddled them to school. Last week the town somehow got almost completely flooded. Most of the water was gone, but the water level was still too high for two fillies to go through safely. Relief efforts could be seen throughout as the town as ponies tried to rebuild, clean, and waterproof the destroyed town. Many ponies were still using boats to get around.

        Diamond Tiara sighed. It was so annoying to get around town like this. She couldn’t wait for everything to get back to normal. She was even a bit relieved to get back to school. It beat an entire week of pretty much nothing to do. She was glad to have her faithful butler to help her get around. In the corner of her eye she thought she saw somepony familiar. She turned to look. Her best friend Silver Spoon followed her gaze. She saw who she was expecting. It was the Apple Bloom and the other Cutie Mark Dorks. It looked like they were closing on another boat with stupid grins on their faces. Diamond Tiara squinted to eyes to see who it was. It was a Dinky, and she noticed the frown on her face when she saw the Crusaders.

        “Ugh, are they trying their stupid pitch again?” Silver Spoon moaned. “Don’t they like get that nopony wants to join their stupid club!?”

        This didn’t surprise Diamond Tiara one bit. Those three dorks were amazingly thickhead. “They’ll never learn. Why do you think they are still blank flanks?” The two fillies had a laugh at this. Diamond Tiara found it quite astounding that despite everything they have tried, they were not even close to finding their cutie marks yet. She bet they would stay blank flanks for the rest of their miserable lives.

        It looked that the Crusaders were showing Dinky something on a projector they somehow got that was connected to a laptop computer. Dinky tried to watch politely while it was obvious she wanted to be elsewhere. Sweetie Belle was holding the projector screen while Apple Bloom worked at the computer. Scootaloo was gesturing wildly trying to explain something. She was apparently the one giving the presentation. Being stuck on a boat surrounded by water, Dinky couldn’t slip away like she did last time. It impressed Diamond Tiara how easily she did that without anypony noticing. She felt sorry for the besieged filly and decided to rescue Dinky. She seemed ok in her book. She commanded Randolph towards the crusaders.

        “At it again?” Diamond Tiara mocked. The three crusaders turned and glared at her

        “But out this!” Scootaloo yelled.

        “Yea’, this don’t concern ya one bit!” Apple Bloom chimed in.

        “It does when you torture poor innocent fillies.” Diamond Tiara responded.

        “Don’t you see she doesn’t want to watch your stupid presentation?” Silver Spoon scoffed.

        It appeared to be a particularly bad PowerPoint presentation. It wasn’t like the simple and sleek ones she has seen her father use. It used animations for every picture and piece of text, different slide transitions for each slide, ugly color choices that often made the text hard to read, pictures everywhere, pointless graphs and pie charts that didn’t appear to actually say anything, and way too much text on each slide that used a tiny font. It was a complete mess, and this didn’t surprise Diamond Tiara one bit. She turned her head away from the eyesore.

        “You won’t know a good presentation if it bit you on the butt!” Scootaloo countered.

        “Yeah! You think it’s great, don’t you Dinky?” Sweetie Belle turned to Dinky expectantly. The other Crusaders did as well. Dinky squirmed under they’re gaze.

        Dinky finally found her courage and spoke her mind. “No, it’s awful.” The Crusaders gapped.

        “Wha did we do wrong?” Apple Bloom asked.

        “Maybe we didn’t have enough color?” Sweetie Belle speculated.

        “I think our pictures weren’t cool enough! I told you we didn’t add enough pictures of Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo commented.

        Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. “Like that would have helped.”

        “Hey! Rainbow Dash makes anything better!” Scootaloo said offended.

        “See, they can’t do anything right.” Diamond Tiara snickered.

        The Crusaders glared at the two fillies. The bullies just smirked in response. “Anyway, even if the presentation was a dud, you should have a good idea why you should join the Crusaders!” Scootaloo pitched.

        “The Crusaders give great benefits to all members.” Apple Bloom said.

        “What, like getting covered in icky tree sap?” Silver Spoon snarked.

        “It’s amazing just how often that happen to you.” Diamond Tiara responded in kind.

        “Get out of here!” Yelled Sweetie Belle.

        “We’r tryin’ to d Crusader business.” Apple Bloom said.

        “Get lost.” Huffed Scootaloo.

        “Um, I don’t want to join the Crusaders.” Dinky said interrupting the fight.

        The Crusaders balked at this. “Why not?” Apple Bloom asked.

        “I tried the Crusader thing, and it didn’t work out.” Dinky responded. “I’ll find my cutie mark on my own.”

        “But it would be so much easier if we helped you!” Sweetie Belle argued.

        “No, I’ve seen what your help can do.” Dinky growled.

        “Smart girl.” Diamond Tiara commented. She was starting to like this filly. She had surprising backbone for somepony so quiet and shy. “So how about you leave her alone already? It obvious she wants nothing to do with you.”

        “That would be really nice.” Dinky responded.

        The Crusaders seemed unsure of what to do. Before Apple Bloom opened her month, Dinky started rowing away as a way to finally get out of this conversation.

        “That could have gone better.” Sweetie Belle said as she saw Dinky row away.

        “Later losers!” Diamond said as she commanded Randolph to row to school.

        “Yeah, losers!” Silver Spoon said mimicking her friend.

        “Blank flanks, blank flanks, blank flanks!” They mocked and gave a cruel laugh leaving the Crusaders fuming.

        As she waited for her butler to get to school, Diamond Tiara went into deep thought.

        “Can you like believe those three?” Silver Spoon said.

        Diamond Tiara shook her head. “So hopeless.” The two gave out another laugh. In the distance she saw Dinky. She pointed to her butler to meet up with her. Silver Spoon piped up in curiosity.

        When Dinky saw the two coming she said in an exasperated voice, “What do you want?”

        “Oh, nothing.” Diamond Tiara responded. “Just wanted to say it was cool how you handled the Cutie Mark Losers.”

        “Yeah, you like really showed them.” Silver Spoon complemented.

        “Uh, thanks.” Dinky said unsurely.

        “We should really hang out sometime.” Diamond Tiara suggested.

        Silver Spoon nodded. Dinky looked both surprised and confused. “But, I’m a blank flank. Doesn’t that bother you?”

        Diamond Tiara waved a hoof dismissively “I just say that to get on Apple Bloom and stupid friend’s nerves. You’re cool.”

        “Yeah, it like isn’t really something we actually care about.” Silver Spoon clarified.

        “Oh, I see.” Dinky responded and was quiet for a while. The two fillies looked at her expectantly. “Well, sure.” She said reluctantly.

        Diamond Tiara smiled in success. She couldn’t wait to see the Crusaders’ reaction. She knew this would really drive them up the wall.

        The Doctor wiped his brow. He couldn’t believe he was actually looking forward to the experiment. It would give him a nice break from cleaning all the flood damage to the facility. Currently he was cleaning a wall in the bedroom with disinfect with a rag. Just last night all the water was finally removed and now the Doctor, Ditzy, and Pinkie were responsible to cleaning up everything. Luckily, not too much water got into the facility, but it was a hassle to get rid of it all. A lot of the non hologram things that Dinky got them were ruined. The bed and several pieces of furniture had to be thrown out. Dinky promised to get them new things as quickly as she could. The Doctor grumbled. He should be out seeing the universe, not doing this. He wasn’t a maid.

        The Doctor heard the door open. Pinkie bounced in while Ditzy followed behind her. “Time for the experiment!” Pinkie said in a sing song voice.

        “Good.” The Doctor said while pulling off his rubber gloves. He stretched while getting up.

        “A little hard work won’t hurt you Doctor.” Ditzy commented. Pinkie giggled.

        “I am not made for this. I’m…” Ditzy interrupted the Doctor.

        “For greater things. Yes we all know Doctor.” Ditzy rolled her eyes.

        “He gets so pouty we doesn’t get this way.” Pinkie observed.

        “You make me sound like a petulant child.” The Doctor said dryly with a hint of annoyance.

        “You are.” Ditzy said giggling.

        “Which is so strange seeing your so so so so so so so so so so so so so old!” Pinkie said. “You’re super anciently ancient!”

        “I’m not even middle aged for my race thank you very much.” The Doctor said trying to defend himself.

        “Ok Doctor, no need to throw a fit about it.” Ditzy said trying to placate the Doctor.

        “We don’t mind if you are super old!” Pinkie said trying to do the same.

        “Good to hear.” The Doctor straightened himself. “It looks like it’s about that time.” The Doctor gestured to the clock.

        “I can’t wait to see what they are going to show us!” Pinkie jumped up and down in excitement.

        “You won’t be saying that when you see the type of stories they send us.” Ditzy shook her head.

        The three started walking towards the main meeting room. “Oh come on Ditzy. Don’t be like that. The last one we did was so much fun!” Pinkie exclaimed.

        “It portrayed all three of us as idiots and made your best friend look brain dead.” Ditzy said bluntly.

        “I know! It was so silly!” Pinkie exclaimed. “That is what made it so much fun!”

        Ditzy sighed. “If you say so.” The group finally got the main meeting room and entered it.

        The Doctor shrugged. “I suppose you could find some enjoyment in that.”

        “Come on. It’s just a silly fanfic.” Pinkie argued. “You’re just being a grumpy pants.”

        “Hello everyone.” Dinky greeted over the view screen.

        “Hello Dinky!” Pinkie greeted with a wide grin.

        “How is everything on your end?” The Doctor asked. “Any problems?”

        “Everything seems to be ok.” Dinky answered. “All the electrical systems seem fine. There shouldn’t be any problems.”

        “Just make sure you make everything nice and clean.” Ditzy warned. “Mildew is serious business. You don’t want to get mold.”

        “I’ve made sure to take care of it.” Dinky said.

        “Yeah, by making me do most the dirty work.” Star Shot complained. “What do I look like a janitor?”

        “Silly Stary. Dinky can’t do all by her little old self.” Pinkie giggled.

        “And that means I have to it? As if.” Star Shot refuted. “What’s with this crazy town of yours? It’s just one thing after another.”

        “That is what makes Ponyville so much fun!” Pinkie cheered.

        “You would think after rebuilding the whole town for the tenth time, they would just get up and leave already.”

        “Ponyvillians are a resilient people. A little disaster won't stop them so easily.” The Doctor said resolutely.

        “Off their rocker more like.” Star Shot shot back.

         “Anyway, it’s time for the experiment.” Dinky interrupted to get the conversation on track. “Today we will be reading…” Dinky paused for dramatic tension. “The Spread of Darkness by The Grimm Reaper chapters one through three. It’s the sequel to Darkness of Love.”

        The Doctor and Ditzy groaned audibly. Pinkie looked at them confused. “What’s wrong?”

        “Come on really!” Ditzy growled. The Doctor just sighed deeply. Pinkie looked at them expectantly for an answer.

        “It’s a sequel to story we did a few months ago. Ditzy didn’t particularly like it all that much.” The Doctor answered.

        “Ohhhhhhhhhhh.”

        Ditzy grinded her teeth “Let’s get this over with.”

        “Enjoy.” Dinky gave out her usual evil laugh.

        “Have fun!” You could practically hear Star Shot cruel smile as she said this.

        The experiment alarm went off. Doctor, Ditzy, and Pinkie rushed to the theater.

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Pinkie: So what’s this story about?

Ditzy: It’s about a Spike that left Ponyville and became a huge jerk, but it turns out that he was really doing to protect his friends...somehow I don’t remember, and he angried the Gryphon King for killing some gryphons, even though it was in self defence and they attacked him first and wants him dead. Spike didn’t really like that idea so now the Gryphon King is waging war with Equestria because the king is nutso. Oh, and Spike and Twilight are in love I guess.

Pinkie: Eww. They're sibling pretty much!

Ditzy: Yeah, I know. I think I covered everything right Doctor?

Doctor: Pretty much.

Chapter 1: Infection Through Thought

Doctor: What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed - fully understood - that sticks; right in there somewhere.

        Twilight’s eyes were bloodshot as she examined her latest work.

Ditzy: She spend the whole night writing her fanfic.

The crystal Spike had given her emanated with impatience.

Pinkie: (Crystal) Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, can I go play now? Pleassseeee?

His soul wanted out and it wanted it soon.

Pinkie: (Spike) Get me out of this crazy thing!

It hadn’t done it until recently, on that fateful day; when her life seemed to be on the brink of ending. She shuddered at the mere thought.

Ditzy: It broke open and became a giant Kaiju monster.

        She went over the calculations one more time, determined not to rest until she’d succeeded.

Doctor: Which will naturally only cause her to fail due to exhaustion.

Everything seemed in check and she was ready to begin. The crystal was seated on a stone altar with ancient runes carved around it.

Pinkie: They seem to show a pony juggling while on one leg!

The runes glowed with a dark purple lining, stretching out from the base of the altar. Around the altar was a dense glass tube,

Ditzy: In case something goes wrong naturally.

barring access to the crystal itself. Four lines stretched out North, East, South and West, ending in runic circles charted with numerous symbols around the hemispheres.

        “Okay… thank you for coming, Cadence...

All: Cadance.

According to my calculations… the spell requires one member… of each pony race to perform.”

Pinkie: Great! Where are they going to get a flutter, bat, and sea pony at this hour?

Ditzy: Do you think it needs breezes too?

Twilight stumbled into one of the circles, her body wobbly and malnourished.

Doctor: (Twilight) I can sleep, eat, and drink water all I want when my work is done!

Her speech was fading and it was becoming hard to hear her.

        “Twilight, while I’m happy to help you out with this… I think you should recover your strength and get something to eat and some sleep.

Doctor: (Cadance) You can’t live off of just coffee and soda.

You’ve been working an entire week without food or rest, and… it’s showing, badly.” Cadence replied, sitting in the Northern circle adjacent to Twilight in the Southern circle.

Doctor: (Cadance) You been reading the exact same page for the last hour.

Ditzy: (Cadance) You read 50 Shades of Hay and actually liked it!

        “Yeah, Twi; you look like a gryphon’s eaten you from the inside-out and left the skin on the bones.” Rainbow Dash added within the Western circle. In the Eastern circle sat Applejack who had removed her Stetson and the red ties that kept her mane and tail wrapped up.

Pinkie: The spell said no fashion accessories!

Cadence had removed her regal attire as well as her diadem. Any immaterial objects that were inorganic would have ruined the spell.

Doctor: We don’t want a repeat of last time. It was impossible to clean out all that rice pudding.

        “No… I can’t sleep without… him.”

Pinkie: (Twilight) I can’t sleep without snuggles!

Ditzy: Wait, Spike is dead now?

Doctor: (Shrugs) I guess.

Twilight levitated a book over to her side and looked at the text.

Pinkie: (Twilight) Doh, stupid me! I forgot the 4 egg yolks and a teaspoon vanilla extract!

Doctor: (Rainbow) Um, Twilight. That’s a cookbook.

Pinkie: (Twilight) I knew that! I...was just testing you!

The others remained silent, having nothing else to say on the matter.

        “Now… this magic is really old; from like… before Princesses Celestia and Luna.

Pinkie: Woah, it’s even older than Fluttershy?!

Instead of using… pony magic. The spell requires words spoken in… dragon tongue.”

Doctor: (Twilight) It’s a good thing I took a correspondence course in dragonese.

Twilight rubbed her eyes which began to bleed, turning the whites of her eyes red.

Pinkie: Woah! Somepony call a doctor quick!

She looked terrible. Her mane was ragged and her tail was no better. Her coat had darkened after she’d begun to tamper in a more permanent dark magic that had changed the colours of her irises from violet to maroon. The blood in her eyes blended magnificently with the irises, giving her an even more evil appearance.

Doctor: She also developed a tendency to make over the top monologues.

Ditzy: It also made it really hard to see.

Doctor: They never talk about these sort of things when the bad guys tempt you to the dark side.

        Um… not that Ah don’t mind doin’ this sugar cube, but if this is old dragon magic, then why are us ponies needed? Wouldn’t four dragons be better suited for the job?” Applejack asked,

Pinkie: (Applejack) Ther’ shoult least be somepony with ta right training!

scratching her head with her hoof. Twilight shook her head.

        “No, the species difference is irrelevant.

Pinkie: Wow! So does this mean spiders or bees could perform it? Though, it might be hard being so tiny and not having hooves!

What this spell does… is it takes our mental images of Spike…

Doctor: Wouldn’t that cause some conflict in the spell? Each one of you has a different interpretation of what Spike is like.

Ditzy: He’ll probably turn out like a Poncasso painting.

plus the magic that we each bare.

Ditzy: It good thing Twilight has magic basically coming out of her ears.

The book says both gryphons… and ponies were used to bring back their fallen comrades…

Doctor: This created the unfortunate side effect of war lasting centuries due to the fact that neither side could deplete the other.

in the off chance that a death occurred with one of… the four… whatever… I don’t know what they’re called.”

        “Wait, there’s the possibility we could die from this?” Rainbow Dash asked.

        Twilight shook her head. “No, not likely… there were never any recorded deaths when this spell was performed.

Pinkie: That’s just great! Now you made it 20 times more likely to happen saying that!

This spell… will take our unique abilities.

Pinkie: Spike will be the best dressmaker after this!

For example, an Earth Pony’s strength, a Unicorn’s magic, a Pegasus’ wings… and an Alicorn’s ability to utilize all three. These characteristics closest resemble a dragon’s.”

Ditzy: No, not really.

Pinkie: Aren’t dragon just big and strong and stuff and breath fire?

she was searching for air in the room by the time she’d finished.

Pinkie: (Twilight) Come out come out wherever you are!

        “And what’s this glass thing here for?” Cadence asked, knocking on the glass.

        “That’s got two purposes. It’ll prevent any draconic magic from scaping, as well as the regenerative liquid that I’m going to teleport into it.”

Doctor: Why can’t it be in the tube at the start?

Ditzy: Since when can dragons teleport stuff?

        “Regenerative Liquid?” Applejack asked.

Ditzy: She got it from Thyferra.

        Twilight sighed and nodded.

Pinkie: (Twilight) Gah, do I have to explain everything!

        “Yes…It’s something I concocted with Zecora. Some remedial… flowers unique to the book’s requirements. They’re easy to find in the Everfree… if you know where to look.

Doctor: (Twilight) They also go great with tea and biscuits.

Now lets’ get this spell started.” Twilight took a moment to catch her breath. With her magic, the aura around her horn darkened, she lifted the book and began to recite the words of the ancient draconic language.

Ditzy: Now it’s time for the author to pound on his keyboard and pretend it’s an ancient language.

Doctor: Maybe the author spent years researching langua- (Snorts) No, I can’t finish that.

        “Mrith nomeno raelgil, yth tuor wer sepa irsa ekess clax adon vur dronilnr ekess udoka hesi thurirl vur kiabil. Vrrar thurirli tepoha dryica zahae ekess tluog asta vers ekess wer sepa di wer darastrix.” as Twilight began the chant, the crystal lit up like a light source and began to pulsate.

Doctor: Hmm, it sounded like you just said you wanted to order a salad with a glass of water in Quilniese. Are you sure you’re using the right language?

        “Wer darastrix ui hesi thurirl, sia itov. Petranas, letoclo udoka. Majak jacion spical ekess udoka.” as Twilight finished the incantation,

Doctor: And now you’re asking for a piece of pie.

the crystal detatched into three small pieces. They rose from the altar and spun around each other in a ring. The four circles the ponies resided in lit up, each taking their own colours. North grew white, East grew red, South grew blue and West grew yellow. They pulsated like the crystal had before and began to force different energies into the altar. Each rune grew a rainbow of colours and formed a barrier that stopped short of the glass cylinder. The crystals stopped moving and took their positions that seemed random in nature. The barrier retreated in on itself, and began to take on the form of a dragon. The familiar outline brought a tear to Twilight’s eye.

Ditzy: (Twilight) He really need to work out and lay off the sweets. His flank is huge!        

        Spike chuckled. “Well, it’s supposed to create a new body around it… but there’s a method needed to begin the process, which I don’t know about. That method was lost to even my kind long ago.”

Pinkie: It turns out it’s just vinegar!

Twilight felt the crystal grow heavy in her hoof.

Pinkie: Oh no, it’s growing!

        “Why are you telling me this?” there was a moment’s hesitation in him as he looked her in the eyes. It was then Twilight noticed he’d somehow gone blind in one eye.

Pinkie: Oh, don’t feel so bad. You can wear a cool eye patch now and pretend you're a pirate!

She remained silent as he was about to reveal all to her.

        “I…I’m dying, Twi.”Spike shifted uncomfortably.

Ditzy: Huray! Er, poor Spike.

Pinkie: That wasn’t very nice.

Ditzy: You would say that if you knew this version of Spike.

Twilight hadn’t moved an inch afterward. “It’s… the dark magic, Twi. I did something with it that caused my body to reject it.

Doctor: As I have said before, dark powers are stupid.

I’ve got about one week left in me before I kick the bucket. Like I said before, I was going to leave either way.

Doctor: Except now you’ll make excellent fertilizer.

Ditzy: Maybe Applejack can make some good use out of him

I’d hoped you’d never have to know about this. It’s the reason why I tried to distance myself from you all when I came back. I just wanted to… see you all again before I severed all ties to you

Doctor: You remember the last story hinting to this at all?

Ditzy: I don’t think so.

        Twilight began to cry as the news reached her. She’d just found true love and time was taking it away from her.

Ditzy: Cheer up, there are plenty of psychotic bad boys in the sea.

        The barrier began to take on a corporeal form. What looked like hellfire and ashes began to circulate around it and through the dense thick of the smoke that billowed from the flames, the skeletal structure of a dragon could be seen appearing as if it were rising to the surface of the ocean.

Pinkie: (Twilight) Should I tell Spike he has an extra rib?

With the bones in place, flesh began to morph into existence around them, followed quickly by thick skin, then scales.

Doctor: Then he starting growing gills.

Pinkie: And skin was pokadot!

        The owner of the body cried out in apparent agony as his body was forced together within a matter of seconds. The newly renewed form of Spike seemed agitated.

Doctor: (Spike) This constant unspeakable agony is so irritating.

The three crystal shards were embedded on his forehead, chest and abdomen.

Ditzy: (Spike) Gah! That wasn’t suppose to happen!

They gave off a slight purple pulse before going to rest. Twilight barely managed to avoid leaving the circle. Her willpower to make sure everything went correctly held her in place. With her magic, she teleported the regenerative liquid directly into the tank.

Pinkie: No wait Twilight! That was jam!

Spike squirmed for a few minutes, startled by the sudden increase in pressure.

        “Vdri, itov.” she said. Using the dragon’s language, she forced Spike into a state of sleep.

All: SLEEEEEEEEEEEP!

The dragon ceased his struggle and was drawn toward the altar, where the energy was slowly pouring into his body.

        “Okay, ten more minutes of this and we can all break away. Thanks again, girls.” she said, lying down in the circle.

Pinkie: Cake break everypony!

        “You really are amazing, Twilight. It’s this kind of stuff that makes me the proudest babysitter in the world.” Cadence began. But Twilight was already asleep.

Pinkie: (Cadance)(Snort) Some ponies.

Now she could dream of a bright future with Spike,

Doctor: Well, a shady day at least.

once the war with the Gryphons was over. But that wouldn’t be difficult, right?

Doctor: They only kicked the snot out of you with little difficult and the only reason you won was due to Spike’s dark powers. Easy as pie.

        Within the confines of Spike’s healing tank, he could feel strength and power coursing through him.

Pinkie: I have the power!

It felt nice, like bubbles rising beneath one in a warm bath. The collective memories he had returned slowly, with the aid of his friends’ perspectives filling in the gaps.

Ditzy: Won’t that make things more confusing?

Doctor: Again different perspectives.

An overwhelming sense of pride struck Spike as he realised the love of his life had done something the dragons couldn’t figure out in thousands of years. And she’d only done it in a matter of months since his demise at the hands of the darkness.

Pinkie: Don’t you mean the hooves of darkness?

Doctor: Or claws.

Ditzy: What is with this fic and using human terms?

That was a harrowing memory.

Doctor: One we are not going to bother showing.

Pinkie: It had car chases, explosions, double triple crosses, polar bears, zombies, parties, and a lot of jumping out of buildings in slow motion…..

The bubbly feeling left as he thought about that incident. When he’d been turned to stone like Discord, but crumbled like the base of a cheesecake.

Pinkie: Pfft, only an amateur lets that happen!

Ditzy: He tried to die while making a macho pose, but he sneezed at the last second.

        Wanting to take his mind off of the subject, Spike drew his subconscious attention to the minds of his friends. He began to wonder what Twilight was thinking or dreaming about.

Pinkie: (Twilight) It’s raining books everywhere! It’s a miracle!

Using the connection with the altar as a medium for his intrusion into her mind, he saw her plans for the future.

Pinkie: Spike’s a stay at home dad while Twilight works at the Ponyville library.

He smiled as he saw himself sitting across from Twilight at one of the fanciest restaurants in Canterlot, sharing a table outside the front.

Ditzy: That doesn’t sound like Twilight at all.

Pinkie: Yeah, where are the hayburgers!?

Afterward, the fantasy would shift to a private room in the Princesses’ castle, where the two of them just slept on the giant red heart-shaped bed, holding each other in a loving embrace. She then imagined the two of them falling asleep in the middle of a kiss, making it last the whole night.

Doctor: Unfortunately, Spike had to endure every minute of it.

        Sadly, the dream turned to a nightmare as Twilight began to have doubts about the ongoing war. Her greatest fear was Spike’s second life coming to an end at the very creatures that sought it, led by the princess he’d disrespected.

Pinkie: He teepeed Canterlot Castle last Nightmare Night.

Twilight’s nightmare was Celestia having joined the gryphons in a ploy for revenge against the unexpected attack to her pride and face. The thought of betrayal from Twilight’s mentor burned deep within the mare, and it began to infect Spike.

Ditzy: He’s been infected with the T-Virus!

        The dragon awoke with a start. The thick almost gel-like liquid that covered his surface startled him, especially when he realised he could inhale it. It was a dark aqua colour, but the light from the runes made it easy enough to see through to the ponies. Twilight was fidgeting in her sleep. Spike dared not enter her mind in the state she was in now. He reached over to Rainbow Dash and entered her mind. It was fairly simple in nature,

Doctor: It was a crayon.

and a very predictable dream for her.

Pinkie: She a cool ninja and she fought off like 30 dragons singled hooved that all exploded when she beat them.

She was in the Wonderbolts, finally.

Doctor: Finally after 20 years.

And all her friends were watching her from the crowd that had gathered to see her special Sonic Rainboom, Even Gilda was cheering her on in a happy-go-lucky sort of way, which was out of character for her.

Doctor: She had a sign that said Rainbow Dash 3:16.

Scootaloo was hovering, able to remain in the air at least without moving her position.

Pinkie: If you looked closely, you could see the string!

        Then she too began to grow a nightmare. The gryphons had returned and were in so many numbers, you couldn’t see a lick of sunlight within the tidal wave. The nightmare concluded with Rainbow Dash hurrying to Celestia to ask for aid. But she refused to give it.

Pinkie: (Celestia serious) You didn’t say pretty please.

        Spike withdrew from Dash’s mind and waited a moment to calm down from the frightening scenes that ensued. As Spike cleared his thoughts, he thought he noticed the liquid he was in had turned a shade darker. Perhaps it was just his imagination?

Ditzy: (Spike) It wasn’t me!

        He went into Applejack’s mind, figuring there was nothing the farm pony could fear from her applebucking. He was wrong.

Ditzy: The trees came alive and attacked her!

While she and her family were tending the fields, both gryphons and Timberwolves appeared from the sky and ground. They’d joined forces, all under the symbol of Celestia who had desired the gryphons over her own subjects.

Doctor: (Celestia) Call me a useless cake obsessed nincompoop will they!

Spike drew away with a groan. Every nightmare involved Celestia somehow. Cadence! Surely Cadence couldn’t have a nightmare involving her own Aunt.

Doctor: Did it ever occur to you that you are the one causing this?

        To Spike’s pleasure, he saw she was dreaming about her family. She was lying by the fire with Shining Armour and their beautiful baby filly. But their smiles seemed hollow, as though the family were keeping up appearances even amongst each other.

Ditzy: (Cadance) I saw what you were you doing with that whorse Rarity! After everything we’ve done and been through. How could you!?

Spike altered his view of the dream and noticed a mantelpiece above the fireplace with some images of Twilight,

Pinkie: They made sure to display the most embarrassing ones.

first as a foal, then a growing filly, and then as she was when she’d made her first friends. The last picture of her was recent. She looked worn down slightly, but that came with age.

Doctor: She was yelling at foals to get off of her lawn.

She was smiling weakly. Spike couldn’t stop looking at that particular picture, until he noticed one more. It wasn’t a picture of Twilight, but as he looked closer, it was an image of her grave.

Pinkie: Why would you have a picture of a grave on your mantelpiece?

        Here Lies

        Twilight Sparkle

        D.O.B: 979 A.L

        D.O.D: 1013 A.L

        A Beloved Sister, Daughter And Wife

        Defied Princess Celestia

Pinkie: (Celestia) Twilight, change your mane back this instant!

Doctor: (Twilight) It’s none of your business get off my back!

        Spike read the grave stone and covered his incorporeal mouth. There were two more stones, one was his, with roughly the same text, but between them was a smaller stone.

        Here Lies

        Dawn Sparkle

        D.O.B: 1012 A.L

        D.O.D: 1013 A.L

        A Beloved Daughter, Niece And Cousin

        Killed Along With Parents

Ditzy: …. It’s a good thing this is just a dream.

        That image tipped Spike over the edge.

Pinkie: (Spike) They could've at least given me a cool statue!

He snapped his eyes open, seeing the tank was now shrouded in black. He flung his body around, hitting the glass, but try as he might, he couldn’t break it.

Doctor: (Spike) Ow, that was a bad idea

He could sense that the others had arisen from their nightmares.

Doctor: Luna finally did her job.

He heard hooves touch the glass, which reverberated through the liquid. Spike drew his attention toward the nearest light source. The altar omitted a faint glow as the last of the energy was unleashed. Spike threw his hand

Ditzy: Claws.

onto the altar’s top and a wave burst through the tank. The glass gave way to the condensed force and shattered, freeing the hyperactive and enraged dragon.

Doctor: Unfortunately, it gave everyone else horrible injuries from the exploding glass.

        Twilight and the others were thrown back, sliding along the ground as they were slicked with black gel-like liquid.

Pinkie: Weeeeeeeeee!

Twilight looked straight at Spike who was shrouded in a mist of blackness.

Pinkie: (Spike) I’m back baby and better than ever!

Ditzy: (Twilight) Really? That’s the line you’re going with for your triumphant return?

Pinkie: (Spike) Shut up! It’s cool!

The sounds were indescribable.

Doctor: It sounded like styrofoam rubbing together while an off key mare tried to sing happy birthday.

She tried her best to look through the blackness, but it covered him like drapes underwater. It was for only an instant that she saw a pair of white glowing eyes shine through the blackness.

        “Shit.” she whispered to herself.

Ditzy: Hey! That’s Spike’s catchphrase!

Author's Note: Okay guys, I'm making a few little changes to Spike and also some personality tweaks to the others because,

Doctor: (Author) It’s my story and I’m doing whatever I want!

let's face it, war does that to people.

Ditzy: (Author) Now I have the perfect excuse to have the characters act as OOC as I want and get away with it.

Spike will no longer be so much as a badass,

Pinkie: Now he will cry whenever he gets hit.

but ultimately insane.

Doctor: Get the Napoleon hat.

Instead of his dark magic resembling Sombra's, it'll remain true to ss2Sonic's design and resemble the picture shown.

Doctor: He’s using dark magic again after it killed him?

Pinkie: Bad Spike! No dark magic! Bad dragon!

The transition between light and Dark Spike will be somewhat like the Ghost Rider's, including a new personality when changed.

Ditzy: They will have drastic gameplay differences.

Translations to the draconic text are as follows in reading order:

Ditzy: Does it really matter?

With this crystal, we desire the soul within to take form and bring to us our friend and companion. Four friends have gathered around to lend their power to the soul of the dragon.

The dragon is our friend, my love. Please, help us. Give him back to us.

Sleep, Love.

Now then, Spike's resurrection/rebirth (I felt I was clever with this) is exactly like Spike's resurrection from Angel Series 5

Pinkie: (Author) Homage! It’s a homage! Not a ripoff whatsoever! Nope!

And the indescribable sound Spike makes will be the sounds the Rider makes in the newest movie.

That is all.

All: (Singing) And that's all I have to say about that! Next Chapter: Episode 17 - The Spread of Darkness - Chapter 02 Estimated time remaining: 14 Hours, 28 Minutes