Rain poured from the dim-grey clouds with the ferocity of a waterfall as thunder rumbled overhead. Not a single ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds... it fit how everyone felt perfectly, as a small yet important source of joy had been taken from Ponyville.
'Even the heavens are weeping...' The white unicorn thought as she walked into the church. The moment she entered her ears were assaulted by the sounds of pained sobbing from ponies that had already arrived. Tapestries depicting a bright green flame surrounding a heart-shaped ruby hung from both sides of the room, while others depicted the event where the young creature-now known as a hero by many-throwing the Crystal Heart up to Princess Cadence.
As she walked down the aisle, she could make out several familiar faces among the crowd, the Cakes, Derpy and the Doctor, the Spa Twins, Lyra (although Bonbon was noticeably absent), Trixie(having abandoned her trademark hat and cape in favor of proper funeral attire), Cranky and Matilda, the Flower Trio, Zecora, even several citizens from the Crystal Empire had arrived.
"Rarity." She heard someone whisper, turning to her left she saw her friends sitting in the front row. Fluttershy was holding onto Pinkie as she sobbed, constantly whispering "Why?" over and over again as Pinkie gently stroked her mane.
The party pony wasn't doing so well either, her entire coat had gone dim and the vibe she gave off was that of complete depression. Her mane was no longer poofy and full of energy, but flat and lifeless, as if if all the joy had been sucked out of her.
Beside the two were Applejack and her little sister, who was doing her best to keep a straight face and not start crying herself. Applebloom on the other hand was crying her eyes out with her face buried in her hooves, her big sister place a comforting hoof around her and held her close.
If Rarity needed any proof the the farm pony cried on the inside, this was it.
"Rarity." The voice called out, slightly louder this time. Looking past the three she found Rainbow Dash, holding a sniffling Scootaloo close.
"Sis?" Rarity looked down at her own little sister, who was on the verge of tears herself. "C-can I sit with my friends?" She sniffed.
Rarity noticed the vacant seat between both Scootaloo & Applebloom, she nodded in confirmation, at a time like this, those three would need each other. Sweetie Belle mumbled a small 'thank you' slowly trotted towards the empty seat. Rarity seated herself next to Rainbow Dash.
"I still can't believe this..." She heard the cyan Pegasus grumble. "If... if I had-"
"Don't you dare start blaming yourself Rainbow Dash." The fashionista whispered harshly before turning her attention back to the altar. "None of us could have seen this coming..."
Rainbow Dash scowled, a lone tear escaping her eye. 'That doesn't make me feel any less guilty… I should've been faster...' She mentally berated herself, remembering that night…
'I can't bucking believe this!' Rainbow Dash mentally snapped as she flew across the night sky, their argument from earlier still fresh in her mind. 'How could she do this to me?! After everything I did, everything we've been through?!'
All her life her dream had been to join the Wonderbolts, to soar with the best of the best, those that were considered elite flyers. And when they came to Twilight for her opinion and conformation... she stabbed her in the back.
"'To stubborn and headstrong' she says... Who the hay does she think I am, Lighting Dust?!" She grumbled as she landed on the cloud overlooking the town. "Guess that's what I'm the Element of Loyalty and not her."
"Some Princess of Friendship you turned out to be." She snarled, glaring at Castle in the distance, as if trying to mentally set it ablaze. "I'd love to see you have that same attitude if you lost something important to you."
She then sighed as she turned away. "I need a bucking drink-"
"SPIIIIIIIIKE!" Rainbow Dash froze as Twilight's pained scream echoed throughout all of Ponyville.
"What the-?!" Was as far as Rainbow Dash got as she turned towards Canterlot...
*BOOOOM*
...just in time to see it engulfed in a massive explosion, the cyan Pegasus let out a gasp of horror as a large plume of smoke erupted from the castle.
"TWILIGHT, NO!" Rainbow Dash screamed in terror as she darted towards the city as fast as her wings would carry her, all the while mentally screaming. 'I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it, I DIDN'T MEAN IT!'
The cyan Pegasus was brought out of her thoughts when she saw her friend approach the altar, a blue-maned and yellow coated Royal Guard by her side.
Twilight herself looked absolutely terrible, her mane, tail, and wings were all a mess, and while she couldn't outright confirm it, it looked like she hadn't bathed for who knows how long, her eyes were all swollen and puffy and her face was red and lined with tear tracks.
'Twilight... I'm so sorry... no one deserved this...' Rainbow Dash thought as the Princess of Friendship prepared to make her speech.
"I... I remember when I first hatched Spike his egg, he was so innocent... so curious about the world around him..." She sniffed, trying her best to remain composed. "As he grew, so did his desire to help those around him. He-he became the greatest assistant a pony could ask for, no matter what task he was given, he'd try his hardest to complete it." She bit her lip, coming close to breaking down. She turned away for a moment... looking at the casket that held her son: Spike.
His casket was adorned with several purple and green gems in varying sizes, inside was the dragon himself, wearing a small black suit that covered up the wound, his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyes closed, almost as if he were sleeping.
The casket itself was surrounded by flowers of various kinds, along with several pictures of him. Each one depicting their fondest memories, from the time they officially moved into Ponyville to the time she'd officially adopted him as her son. The look on his face when learned this was so precious...
And now here he was before her, dead and gone. All because of them...
A hoof on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts, she turned to see her personal Guard and secret coltfriend; Flash Sentry, giving her a sympathetic look, as if he was mentally asking her if she wanted to continue.
Twilight shook her head and turned her attention back to the gathered ponies, she would finish this... for Spike.
Flash however hadn't taken his eyes off the deceased dragon, mentally swearing that he would find who did this... and they would pay...
Sentry sighed as he left Joe's Doughnut Shop, most guards wouldn't mind a night off, it had been a slow, quiet, peaceful evening... and it was driving the Pegasus nuts.
He wouldn't have minded if he could spend it with Twilight, but she explicitly stated that she needed to be alone. Though Flash mentally disagreed, after that fight with Rainbow Dash he figured she'd need somepony to there for her...
...then again, Spike said that he'd comfort her. He didn't like leaving her, but maybe she just needed some time alone with her 'son'.
He had half a mind to just go home and get some rest, maybe get that special 'gift' he had been saving for her... it would be perfect. With all the crap those close-minded nobles were giving her, he could only imagine the look of joy on her face when she saw the ring!
He smiled with newfound confidence and quickly dashed down the street...
"SPIIIIIIIIKE!"
*BOOOOOM*
For a few seconds, Flash's heart stopped. Ponies everywhere were screaming in panic, but to Flash everything was mute. Slowly, he turned to see the flaming wreck that was Canterlot Castle...
...and darted towards it like no tomorrow.
'Please be safe, please be alive!' Flash prayed to Faust and ANY deity above her for Twilight's survival!
The moment he'd arrived, Flash could only stare in horror, everything from the doorframe up had been completely obliterated, blackened and scorched debris littered the surrounding area, he make out at least two corpses among the debris.
And in the center of it all was the heartbroken Alicorn, cradling Spike's body in her forelegs.
"Please Spike, please come back..." The Princess begged as tears streamed down her eyes. "Please... my son, don't leave me..."
"...Spike... my son, I'll always love you... and I hope your soul find happiness in the stars above... I can't think of a more noble, selfless, and pure dragon more deserving of that than you." Twilight finished, finally breaking down and crying right there.
Flash snapped out of his thoughts and wrapped his wing around her, leading her back to her seat. Eventually letting her go to confide in her family, she embraced her mother and father and proceeded to do the same to her big brother and sister-in-law.
As he watched he noticed Shining Armor lock eyes with him. The captain gave him a brief yet understanding nod before turning it into his attention back to his grieving sister.
Flash bit his lip feeling responsible himself. He'd been there first, if he'd been a little faster they'd have them all behind bars...
"They won't get away with this..." He heard the cyan Pegasus mumble. "I don't care how long it takes, or how many doors I gotta bust down." She growled with barely restrained rage. "I will find out who's behind all this..."
Flash held onto Twilight as she continued to weep, he didn't know how long they stayed there, but the moment he finally mustered up the nerve to say something, he heard a familiar explosion. Turning in the direction he heard it he saw an explosion of colors erupt across the sky. The telltale sign that a Sonic Rainboom had just been performed.
Sure enough, the cyan Pegasus herself landed right in front of them. "What happened?! Who did this?! Is Twilight OK-"
"Argh!" A groan of pain caught their attention, the three turned to see two stallions crawling out of the rubble, one a Pegasus and the other a Unicorn. "That damn bitch!" The Pegasus shouted as his partner glared at him.
"This wouldn't have happened if you all had just listened!" The Unicorn snapped in anger. "We were only supposed to-"
"Valiant Wind?! Gallant Heart?!" Flash called out in shock as the two stopped arguing and turned to face the Royal Guard. "What's going on? What happened here-"
"YOU!" Twilight screamed, before anyone could react both stallions were engulfed in her aura, hovering inches off of the ground. "YOU DID THIS! YOU'RE THE REASON HE'S DEAD!" She screamed as repeatedly slammed them against remains of the walls, tears streaming down her face. Unknown to her, dark purple energy seemed to crackle and swirl around her body and her eyes began to glow menacingly. "YOU KILLED HIM! HE DID NOTHING WRONG AND YOU KILLED HIM! YOU. KILLED. MY. SON!"
"Twilight!" Flash called out, trying to snap her out of it but to no avail. And sadly, one of her would-be assailants decided to make it worse and-despite his injuries-laugh in her face! "Yes, we killed that bastard you call a son! May he forever burn in Tartarus for your sins you witch!" Valiant Wind shouted with a smug smirk.
"You son of a-!" Rainbow Dash tried to charge at him, but Flash immediately held her back. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that something big was about to happen...
"I only wish is that we could've sent you there with him, false Princess-AAARGHHH!" Whatever he was about to say was cut off as his wings were stretched and twisted in ways they were never meant to be. The magic continue to swirl around her body as she imprisoned Gallant Heart in a bubble before turning her full attention to the arrogant Pegasus, her fur becoming a darker shade of lavender as her own wings turned dark purple and began to grow bigger than before.
"You will die, slowly and painfully…" She whispered sinisterly, the magic swirled faster as her mane flared upwards, looking as if it had caught on fire. Valiant Wind's screams grew louder as his wings were slowly torn apart, his feathers being incinerated as his flesh was ripped out of his back at the very base.
Twilight's smile grew wider as her horn grew longer, the edges becoming more jagged as it glowed a bright blue. Then a similar-colorectal "mask" appeared on her face, two circular wing-shaped eyeholes with small flames at the tips. With a single movement of her horn, the sounds of bones snapping echoed throughout the room as Valiant Wind's screams of agony continued.
"Oh, don't think I'm done with you yet~" She smiled sadistically at the suffering Pegasus. "Now I'm going to rip off m your-"
"TWILIGHT!"
Whatever she was about to say was cut off by the sound of her mentor calling out her name. She briefly snapped out of her malicious state as the Alicorn of the Sun and her sister descended towards her. "Princess...?" She called out, slowly coming back to her senses.
"I heard the explosion! What happened?!" She called out before stopping in shock upon seeing her new form.
Luna, despite being equally shocked, approached her. "Twilight... what... what is this-" She was cut off however when Twilight rushed past her and into Celestia, hugging her as if she'd disappear any second.
"They... Th-They killed him... h-he tried to protect me, and they killed him!" She choked out through pained sobs. "THEY KILLED HIM!"
Celestia stared down at her student, then looked to Flash and Rainbow, who simply looked away in sorrow.
Then her eyes landed on Spike's corpse.
She screamed.
"Rainbow..." The cyan Pegasus turned to see Applejack holding her sister close. "It's time."
Rainbow Dash nodded as four Unicorn Guards-one of them being Shining Armor himself- approached Spike's coffin.
Cadence however, flew to the altar and cleared her throat. "When the ponies our Empire heard that their greatest and most cherished hero's light had been extinguished we all felt a wave of sorrow not felt since the ringing of the tyrannical King Sombra." She stated, wiping away her tears. "And so, to honor Spikes heroic actions, and with Princess Twilight's blessing, Spike is to be given a crypt in the Crystal Empire. So that his heroic deeds and his noble sacrifice shall never be forgotten." As she spoke, Twilight along with her family and the remaining Elements of Harmony, as well as the CMC, approached the altar as Shining Armor and the three Guards levitated his casket into the air.
Cadence and Twilight gave each other and understanding look before their horns glowed, enveloping everyone around the casket in a lavender glow. Afterwards that was a bright flash of light, and they were gone…
The entire group reappeared in front of the Crystal Palace itself, as the light died down they looked up to see Spikes final resting place.
Before them was a large crystal statue of the baby Dragon proudly holding up the Crystal Heart, standing about three times taller than Celestia herself.
Engraved on a plaque at the bottom of the statue was the following:
Here lies Spike the Dragon.
A Great and Honorable hero and savior of the Crystal Empire, his Brave and Glorious actions shall never be forgotten.
The four Guards approached the statue and gently placed the casket in front of the statue. With a flare from her horn, Cadence summoned several multicolored crystals to encase the casket. "May you rest in peace, young hero."
"I will never forget you." Twilight whispered as she turned away from the statue and trotted. "My son..."
"Twily..." Shining called out to his sister, causing her to stop in her tracks. "I promise we'll find out who's behind all this, and we will bring them to justice."
Twilight didn't turn around. "When you do..." She said as she gestured for Flash and her friends to gather around her. "...you know where to find me." And with those words she vanished along with her friends.
Shining sighed before turning to the three Guards. "You three are to guard this statue with your very lives, I'll be sending three more Guards to assist you later, understood?"
"Yes Sir!"
Unknown to them, Luna watched from afar with a pained look on her face... before vanishing into a wisp of smoke...
And several ponies worked to put out the fires around them, Luna could only watch as Celestia cast spell after spell on the deceased Dragon, but she knew it was all for naught.
Spike was dead.
She shot a harsh glare at the guards responsible, both of whom were contained within special teleport-proof bubbles conjured up by the currently grieving Princess. She then turned her attention to the badly charred corpses, what little remained of their bodies was barely recognizable, The only thing she could make out was their armor, One belonging to the Solar Division in the other belonging to the Lunar Division.
The Princess of the Night scowled. 'So there's corruption even in my own forces...' She thought to herself as she glanced back at the weeping Princess as she held Flash for support, then back to her older sister as she finally broke down herself.
"You bastards!" The voice of Rainbow Dash caught her attention, she quickly turned to see the Element of Loyalty slam her hoof into the bubble holding Gallant Heart. "You murdered an innocent child, A BUCKING CHILD! AND FOR WHAT?!" She screamed, continuously slamming her hooves into the bubble. All the while Gallant Heart refused to meet her gaze.
Luna was about to confront the Unicorn before a new voice caught her attention.
"Valiant Wind you idiot!" The Unicorn mare coughed as pushed the rubble off herself. 'This was NOT how things were supposed to go!' She thought as she crawled to her hooves. 'That bitch was supposed to die, not her stupid pet! All because that idiot just had to go the extra mile and kill the child first!' "I swear if that idiot survived I'm gonna-GAH!"
Whatever she was about to say was cut off as blue blur nailed her in the side, sending her flying across what remained of the room into the wall.
"So there's one more left, huh?!" Rainbow Dash said as she slugged her across the face, drawing blood. "When I'm done with you you'll be BEGGING for the guillotine!" She shouted as she drew her hoof back to deliver another blow, only to be repelled by a magic shield she'd conjured up. The Unicorn quickly dashed away from the enraged Pegasus, and towards her captive comrades. One of which was slowly regaining consciousness.
"Moon Blade! Get us out of here!" Valiant Wind shouted from his prison. Flash immediately bolted from his lover's side and charged the Unicorn head-on.
Moon Blade however quickly teleported out of the way and reappeared behind him, leaving him to crash right into Rainbow Dash.
She was a hair's breath away from the two, only to be intercepted by Twilight herself. "You..." Twilight whispered as she advanced upon her like a lion that had cornered it's prey. Moon Blade froze as she saw look in her eyes, she wanted blood, she wanted revenge. "You took my son away from me... you will suffer..."
"Twilight stop!" Luna shouted as she teleported in front of her. "We must keep her alive for question-AGH!"
In the span of a few seconds, there was a blinding flash of light.
A loud crack as a shield shattered.
And a scream of pain.
The moment the light died down, Moon Blade was gone along with Valiant Wind. The only thing remaining was a small pool of blood where Valiant Wind once was and a scorch mark not too far from the pool.
"So close..." They heard Celestia whisper, smoke rising from her horn. "I was so close..." She choked as her tears continued to flow...
Twilight screamed in rage as she slammed her hooves into the ground. "THEY. WILL. PAY!"
As Luna re-appeared on one of Ponyville's rooftops, she saw Twilight trotting away from her friends through the rain with Flash by her side and a shield hovering above them to keep them dry. The ponies gave her a wide berth, none daring to stand in her way.
Luna sighed. "This power, this anger... Twilight, how can you contain such malice without losing yourself as I did?" She mused to herself as she glanced at Canterlot, then brought her, attention back to Twilight. "Whatever you're planning to do Twilight, please don't shut yourself out. You have your friends, you have us..." She whispered to herself before turning back towards Canterlot and flying off, it was time to face her sister.
Down below, Twilight stormed through the town not stopping for a second. They would pay, they would all pay for what they'd done! They wanted to take someone precious to her? Well, they'd see how dire a mistake they'd made! 'When I'm through with these murders, their blood that soon shall flow no storm shall meet the task to wash away!'
"Twilight..." Flash called out, snapping the Princess out of her thoughts. "We're here."
The Princess looked up and stopped, the two of them stood in front of Everfree Forest, the very place where their adventures began...
'...and where my new reign shall begin...' She mentally added. However, right as she was about to enter the forest, something caught her eye.
As Twilight gazed into the night sky, a lone green star shimmered into existence before being joined by many others...
A lone tear trailed down the Princess's cheek, and as they entered the forest, Flash couldn't help but notice a small smile on her face...
Author's Note:
The events of this story are an alternate version of "The Assassination Of Twilight Sparkle" & "Aftermath of a Fallen Star" by Rated Ponystar.