Rediscovery

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

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The leaves had turned brown once fall came.

They dropped from the trees of their own accord, no stampede to shake them loose.

Birds were flying south of their own accord, squirrels gathered nuts and countless other animals did countless other things, all without help. Nobody told them what to do, made nests for them or intentionally bloated them before hibernation.

Spike thought it was amazing, fascinating that this world ran on its own hidden clockwork.

No magic to direct it, nopony to guide it.

Well, there was one Pony, but she wasn't exactly interested in the nature of the world she'd hidden in.

Sunset Shimmer.

Spike wasn't certain how she found him, he went out of his way to avoid her. It didn't matter.

"I'm going back." He had no idea why she chose to confide her plans with him. He certainly wasn't going to help her.

"Alright. Why?" Spike had a pretty good idea why. It didn't hurt to be sure though.

"Because somebody there stole something from me, and I'm going to take it back." She hadn't said Somepony this time, she'd gotten that out of her system a long while ago.

"What'd they take?" Spike thought it had something to do with the library. She always managed to find him on his rare outings to go to the library alone.

"They took this." She pulled a tiara out of her backpack and dropped it on the table.

Oh... She wouldn't...?

"The element of magic?" Watching her gape like a fish when he threw out some knowledge she was certain he couldn't have was hilarious.

"What? But how do-"

"Which would only activate for its chosen bearer after Celestia subjugated it and the sister elements to banish Luna."

"Seriously, how do you know this? Were you one of the scholars before Luna got banished or something?" Sunset slouched back in her chair in a huff.

"Nah, never had the horn for magic, y'know?" He leaned back with a grin, his arms behind his head and a cocky look in his eye.

"What? That doesn't even make sense! A slitted eye like that one you've got was a clear, commonly reported symptom of sensory altering dark magics. It's one of the few things that stood out best when Celestia was describing Nightmare... Moon." She trailed off, finishing softly as she looked him over, comparing his details to something in her memory.

"You aren't some illegitimate foal of hers, are you? Banished here by Celestia?" Her question ripped the grin off Spike's face.

It's wrong, absolutely wrong.

It would be kind of nice, though. Knowing his mother. Knowing he had a mother.

"Wrong. On both counts. Also not a changeling, in case you were wondering." He leaned forward on the table, wresting his elbows on it. The right one at least. The left one was resting on a thick book.

"Then how do you know stuff. You knew about Luna. You know about the elements of harmony. Next you're going to tell me the Schmooze is real." She looked about ready to burst into flames, smoke was, figuratively, pouring from her ears.

"It is, actually. One of Discord's friends. And it's disgusting." He drew out the 'U' in disgusting, grinning all the while as Sunset gaped at him. "Still, it's not so bad. Tirek was a whole other matter. You have any idea the kind of damage that guy can do when he's jumped up on alicorn juice? He makes Sombra look like a wimp, which is probably why he's all sneaky and uses that mind control magic."

"You what? How? What?!" That might have been a bit much, she looked like she shifted paradigms without hitting the clutch. "Those all took place hundreds of years apart! You'd need to be an alicorn, or-or a god or a dragon to have seen all of that!"

"Eh, it happens." Spike knew better than to mention that, for him, it all took place in the span of two years. She assumed he was a relic of the distant past.

He wasn't going to dissuade her of that notion.

"So I think you were talking about stealing the element of magic?" He tried to remind her of what she came here to talk about, hoping to reboot her after that mental breakdown.

"Stealing, right, I was going to steal-Reclaim! Reclaim the element of magic. Jerk." She was glaring at him. Glaring hard enough to set him aflame.

If she had magic.

"Is it really that bad here?" Her glare softened at his question. "I know there's no magic in this world, but does that really make it that bad for you? I already know you're popular, you won the crown at the last two events over at Canterlot High, right?"

She nodded, her gaze hyper-focused on him. He must have said something wrong there.

"And I bet you could have your pick of friends. Teacher or student alike, I'm sure all of them want to help you succeed here if you just ask. You don't have to do this, Sunset. I know if you just tried-"

"Get away from me!" She slapped away his open hand, her glare returned.

She wasn't upset with him anymore.

"You think you can patronize me? You think some magic addled freak like you has the right to tell me that I can do better. That I can be better if I just try hard enough?"

She was livid.

"The next time I see you, Thorn." She stood up, towering over him as he remained sitting. The menace in her tone set off something he thought he'd buried, the old desire to bow to her whims and be subservient to her goals. "You had best tell me the truth."

"Or else I'll rip it out of you."

Author's Notes:

Edit suggested by Radical Dishonesty, followed through because it was good advice.