Rebirth

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

----

Spike stared straight ahead, the moon high in the sky above him.

It wasn't his. His moon. His sky.

His face burned, his body screamed in pain. Everything hurt but he felt too tired, too drained to do anything about it.

He thought- He felt he'd drifted in and out of consciousness a few times, he wasn't certain. Some small corner of his mind wondered at the grey blur in the corner of his vision but he couldn't quite pull up the energy to move.

He thought he heard someone speaking nearby but he couldn't focus on it, not with the shadows crawling in from the corners of his eyes. The moon blurred and grew cloudy even as he stared at it, unsure why he needed to keep some light in his eyes.

He wouldn't recall the crawling terror in his chest when he awoke as he realized he was failing.

----

Twilight stared at her broken reflection.

The mirror had shattered.

All the pieces were still in the frame.

"Here, give me your hand."

But the cracks spider-webbing across the whole of the face could not be disregarded.

"Folks here are going to think it's weird if you walk on all four."

She couldn't follow him. He'd let them go, and they couldn't get him back.

"Easy there, just lean on me. It'll take some getting used to."

The magic wasn't gone, Starswirl's mirror still held the potential to breach the barrier of worlds. She'd bet her tail on that.

"You'll need to watch that. This place... Folks here eat meat."

She picked up the rope, the end of it singed and hard.

"Figured you'd need a snack. Strange place, strange library in the dead of night? Your... pup could probably use some real food, too."

Green flames had done it. She could still smell the burning fur, hear his surprised yelp of pain. See the resignation in his eyes.

"Can only help you so much with the decorations, Twilight. Popping in between classes doesn't leave me much time to help you. I'm sorry."

Her friends were each rubbing welts that were severe enough to show through their fur. She knew her own marks were sore and burning as well.

"No idea how Sunset Shimmer did it, actually. Probably just smarter than me."

"What has happened here! Twilight, are you alright?" Luna looked across the chaos, her eyes, though bloodshot, were wide in worry.

"Different school, actually. I just know a shortcut to get here."

"Sugarcube? Did you get hit on somethin'? You're bleedin' pretty bad." Applejack's voice was soft, she was shocked as well. Or maybe somber, over the sudden and unexpected attack? Activation? Of the mirror? Of failing?

"Never tried talking to her. Even when she dropped out of the portal she had a mean look in her eyes. Back then, I don't think she was looking for friends."

"Rainbow Dash, give the poor dear some room. This whole matter has been terribly distressing." A few wingbeats pushed approaching hooves further away.

"I've tried to go back, Twilight. Every month since I woke up here, under the light of the full moon. The mirror over there pulled me through, it hurt a lot of friends of mine doing so. I didn't step into it like you did. It doesn't want me to go back."

"Twilight? I need you to say something. Anything." Luna stepped in front of her, between her and the mirror and waved one hoof in front of her eyes.

"I don't know. I didn't naturally have magic like yours, I didn't gain it willingly. I tried to learn how to use it after I got it though. I did it near the mirror and I guess... I don't know. I hate how often I have to say that."

"Rainbow Dash! Go to the hospital now, tell them it's an emergency!" Luna was shouting, Twilight wasn't paying much attention. She hadn't noticed it, before, just how terrible the odor of blood was.

"I know exactly what you want, Sunset. To drag mindless, innocent children into a war, throw away their lives like meat to show you were never an adequate student, to keep feeding your grudge! I'll stop you here if I have to! You won't get past me!"

Why were all the colors going away? Her library was a vibrant panoply of colors, she was sure she didn't have so many books with brown and gray bindings.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I don't like doing that, fighting. I suppose you're probably going to think I'm just another of the monsters Starswirl banished here."

She felt Luna's wing cover her, she'd never noticed the alicorn was so blisteringly hot before. Distantly she felt the instant of a magical charge before her world went dark.

"Twilight, I'm sorry.

----

The first thing he really noticed was the taste. His tongue was fuzzy and the only thing on it he noticed was sour.

The second thing was the light, he couldn't really see it but there was an uneven brightness here. It took some doing, but he broke the crust over his eyes and opened them.

Everything was so bright!

He brought a cl-hoof up to block the light streaming through a window to his right and sat up. His ribs flared with pain, disagreeing with the motion, but he continued regardless.

He immediately regretted it. Not just the pain, but dizziness left his head reeling. He brought a hoof down to soft sheets to steady himself.

Soft?

Hooves didn't really register that kind of sensation. His head lulled slightly to the side as he looked down.

A hand. Fingers!

Manual dexterity was once more his!

Or he was dreaming again. He had a feeling, though he wasn't sure, that he'd been doing that before he woke up.

"Ah, you're awake." He turned his head to the left, uncomfortably so, to see a woman in a white outfit with pink hair, a red cross on a jaunty white cap atop her head. "How are you feeling?"

"...Thirsty." He swallowed dryly. "A lot of things hurt too, but I'm really thirsty."

Author's Notes:

Some folks pretty much knew I was going to be going in this direction. We'll get to some more exposition of what's actually been happening next chapter.

Maybe.