Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

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Spike sometimes marveled at the library in Twilight's palace. The outermost bookshelves were recessed into the very walls.

In itself it's somewhat impressive, the work needed to do so would have been immense and required countless hours of work from many talented craftsponies to carve the countless shelves. All level, all even and fit for all but the largest of tomes.

None of that had happened.

This room had come, brought forth from the soil itself, finished and waiting to be used. Magic had made in moments what would have taken weeks, if not months, to be finished.

That was what astounded him. That single act of creation, inspired by forces he could not comprehend, had created this... This...

He hesitated to call it home.

Whatever magic had forged this palace had expected him, a seat to fit him set at the shoulder of Twilight's throne. Small but distinct.

He didn't like putting a lot of stock in destiny. It, if he ruminated upon it too long, made him question his own choices and their merits. Made his decisions feel... Flat.

He walked by various artifacts kept within the room. An imitation of the crystal heart, an old, decaying book in a glass case sitting upon a pillow, a mirror and the broken remnants of a staff, twisted and vile magics warping it even as it had acted as nothing but an empty vessel.

Some would consider them trophies, and at least two of them would qualify. They were, however, mementos. Reminders of grand adventures and friendships forged.

He missed Golden Oaks.

"Spike!" Twilight hollered from a few stacks over. "The girls are here!"

"Coming Twilight!" He was also missing his dragon body for a simple reason. He couldn't exactly hold out a hoof and drag the blunt of that, being that it didn't have a 'blunt' side, across the spines of books as he walked down the aisles.

"-so we're just going to work on the basics here. Just see if we can identify the magic from the basic expression first and go from there." Five mares stood in a semi-circle before Twilight, each nodding in acceptance of their roles.

Spike was a touch conflicted. On the one cl-hoof, he'd enjoyed the quiet moment between Twilight's tutoring and the current experiment. On the other, he'd have liked to know the details of what everypony was going to be doing.

"And break. Spike, with me. We'll get you hooked into the thaumatic spectrum analyzer and see what's going on." He tried to puzzle out the name for a moment before they reached the center of the library. A helmet with light bulbs, various machines attached to various tubes with fluids bearing names he couldn't pronounce.

He'd tried.

"Is that what you're calling it this week?" She dropped the helmet on his head, harder than necessary he was sure, and began tightening the straps to it.

"I've always called it that." He knew her tone. She didn't want to talk about it.

"I think you were calling it your auric magic discerning device back when you hooked Pinkie Pie to it, weren't you?" He dropped his hooves into the straps in front of him.

He'd thought it looked uncomfortable when Pinkie Pie was in it, he was right.

"No, Spike, I've always called it my magic spectrograph- nevermind! Just, try to levitate this book-" She pulled a Daring Do novel off a nearby shelf and let it drop to the floor. "-and we'll see what the machine says."

He dropped his rump on the floor and gave the alicorn a deadpan stare.

"Twilight."

"Yes Spike?"

"I don't know how to levitate a book."

"...Oh. Right." She brought her hoof up to her face with a quiet smack, facehoofing at the obvious. "Alright, just um... Just push out your will and think 'Up'. The magic should do the rest."

She stared for several moments as nothing happened. Her machine drawing a straight line.

"Alright, maybe I need to be more specific. Spike, you need to want to lift the book. You need to look at that book, realize it's not going to move without you doing it and recognize something important." She stepped closer, purple eyes boring into green. "If you don't move that book, you can't have one of Pinkie Pie's chocolate cupcakes."

"Are they... Are they sprinkled?"

"And there's a full dozen of them. If you don't move that book Spike, I'm going to eat them. Right here, in front of you, while you can't do anything." Pinkie Pie dropped down from the ceiling on a rope, a tray of freshly frosted chocolate cupcakes, with sprinkles, in hoof. "I... Thought you'd be coming from the kitchen. How did you even?"

Twilight stopped herself. No good ever came of that. One does not question Pinkie Pie without a large amount of time set aside.

"Silly Twilight!" The needle on Twilight's machine scratched off to the side. "I have ziplines rigged all over Ponyville in case of zipline emergency!"

The needle jumped to the other side, red following in it's wake.

"At least you brought the cupcakes." The needle was screaming back and forth. "Now Spike, you need to... Lift... The... Book. Oh." Spike wasn't lifting 'A' book. He was lifting a stack, every book between him and the signed, singed first edition of the first book of the Daring Do series.

With an acid green aura burning off his horn.

"That's not good."

"The cupcakes will be mi-" His magic cut off along with his proclamation of victory, Twilight's machine going preternaturally silent.

The plinking of a sewing needle striking crystal would have been heard as the instincts of everypony present went haywire.

Cower!

Flee!

Hide!

Still!

Run!

The needle began moving back and forth with such frequency it painted the paper red.

A crack resounded through the library, a great gust of wind blew through the ponies present. Except one.

Spike.

He was bodily ripped from the contraption, straps still attached to his hooves and pulled into a bookshelf.

"Twilight!" A pained gasp ripped its way from his throat, though it was not he who screamed. Rainbow Dash flew from her perch near a window from where she'd been prepared to practice her namesake and evacuate the fine folk of Ponyville should anything have gone wrong.

The bookshelf began to tilt, Spike sliding up shelves until he hit the one behind it, already tilting as the one he'd been stuck to fell like a domino.

"Hold on, Sugarcube!" Applejack sprang from the doorway, leaping across falling bookshelves and latching on to the purple unicorn.

She dangled in midair, her hooves around his neck.

"Whoa nelly! Twilight, what's goin' on!?" A rope, encircled in periwinkle blue, wrapped around his barrel and neck.

Pinkie Pie was no longer dangling, no, she and Rarity both were holding onto the ends of the rope she'd been on, their hooves lacking enough purchase to slow his movement. An instant later Rainbow Dash dropped from her hesitant confusion and added her own strength to it.

It still wasn't enough.

"Twilight! Help!" Fluttershy, meek as she may be, could stand idly by as a friend was harmed. She could, but she refused. With four ponies pulling against whatever force held Spike in it's grip, it seemed to slow.

For a moment.

Cracking could be heard before the force redoubled, pulling Spike into the next bookshelf, dislodging Applejack's grip. She shook her head, taking no time to regain her bearings before she, too, grabbed the rope.

It stopped.

These five would stand against the world for their friends if need be, they refused to budge.

The sound of shattering glass roared and pulled them harder, knocking over the final bookshelf between Spike.

And Twilights mementos.

The mirror, Starswirl's mirror, was shining with an intensity that paled Celestia's sun.

His hind hooves met glass and sank.

Purple hooves gripped rope as well, rejecting the pull. Slowing his terrified motion.

He was still sinking.

He grabbed the rope harder than he'd had, certain his bones would pop with the force on them and pulled. He didn't move away from the mirror.

His friends were just pulled towards him.

His hooves stilled, a quiet clarity filling his mind. He looked behind him, to the mirror, and saw cracks spreading in from the edges. Countless lines marring the once perfect surface. He looked ahead, at his friends. Doing their very best to stop his being dragged into the world of humans.

He saw the rope digging into them, burning their skin, tearing open their flesh.

The mirror cracked once more, books began flying towards him and bouncing off the mirror. It was pulling harder, his friends weren't winning.

"Twilight!" He shouted, unsure he could be heard over the chaos.

"Spike! Just hold on, we've almost got you!" He could see it from here, see it with greater clarity than the books he'd read or the smiles from just hours before.

Their blood staining the rope.

It must have hurt them, so much, just to try and save him.

What a fool he'd been for leaving.

"Twilight." His voice was more quiet now, still a shout though lacking in the panicked volume. "I love you. I'm sorry!"

It had struggled, against the magic binding it.

But no magic can truly tame a dragon's flame. Dark or otherwise.

His throat burned. His face burned. Green flames licked at rope, separating he and they. He heard the tinkling of glass striking the ground and saw... Panic, fear, hurt. So many things.

The last thing he saw, before black claimed his vision and mind, was Twilight Sparkle crying.

Author's Notes:

I've a whole story arc planned around this. Kind of.

This scene was planned from the beginning. A few others as well. For the most part though, I'm just winging it.