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Broken

Verse 4

"…So you're saying that…you've already spent Hearth's Warming Eve and Day…in Canterlot…in the company of Princess Celestia?"

"Yep, I guess that pretty much sums it up…though, if what you're tellin' me is true…I really can't make heads or tails of it."

Twilight and Cadance turned to each other, the same look of utter puzzlement upon their faces.

Twilight looked ceiling-ward and rubbed a hoof against her chin in thought while Cadance turned back towards Spike, who was resting his belly in bed.

"But…that can't be!" Cadance replied. "Hearth's Warming Eve is tonight!"

"Heh, you're telling me." Spike smirked, looking wearily away as he shook his head. "I'm tellin' ya, though, I really did spend the last two da…or…the next two days in Canterlot. I just…don't know what…" Spike's words drifted off into more clouds of confusion. He shook his head again in disbelief and slumped over to rest himself across the cushions and the large trunk at the foot of the guest bed. Some tears welled in his eyes and fell in small, single droplets.

Cadance and Twilight could do little to console him. Twilight, distressed over seeing Spike this way, was about to ask just what was hurting him so, but, she was promptly but gently stopped by Cadance. She soon whispered into Twilight's ear, "…It's…personal…I'll tell you later, if I can."

Twilight huffed a breath through her nostrils and left it alone.

The day had passed into the early afternoon hours and the three of them were trying to plot out exactly what was going on with Spike. He sat, droopy and shattered, about something he wasn't exactly talking about. He laying across the guest bed like a dying ox, with Cadance and Twilight sitting at the foot of the bed, probing him with questions, as gently as possible…which was difficult, because, there wasn't much leeway to probe gently in the first place.

They sat for what seemed hours in silence, contemplating what to do or say about this situation, until Twilight finally perked up a question. "Wait…can you tell me what happened before you left for Canterlot? You said you were called by the Princess to talk about something that happened."

Spike's eyes lit up. A good sign for sure. "Oh, yeah!" he said, sitting up in excitement. "That morning, I wanted to know if there was more information on…uh…whatever I am, so, I went looking through some books. I think I found some kind of…I dunno…secret scroll? It did something that knocked me out."

The ladies were intrigued to say the least.

"Could you show us this scroll?" Twilight asked, beginning to get quite excited, herself.

"Sure! Well, I could try. I need to find it, first…oh…wait." Spike slumped back down and rested on his belly. He folded his arms and sulked again. "If I recall correctly…it burned itself up, after casting the spell."

Twilight and Cadance soon followed Spike's example and dropped to rest on the floor. It seemed they were stumped again.

After another long while in dismal silence, Cadance broke the mood in the room. "Well, I don't know if it'll help, but, maybe there was a point to seeing if there was anything on what Spike might be." she said, feeling that, even if their search was fruitless, it at least gave them something to do.

"…Yeah," Twilight replied, "and we just might find something of use, too."

The princesses got up to leave for the castle library, but, Spike didn't look like he wanted to move.

Twilight and Cadance looked at each other in distress. "Spike?" Twilight called, "You coming?"

Spike continued to rest on his side, across the bed. "I'll…join you later." was all he said.

Cadance and Twilight simply glanced at each other with a troubled smirk and then moved on, closing the door behind them.

The room was now silent. Spike was alone with his thoughts. And he was grateful for his privacy, for he now had room…to mourn.

He recounted now, from finish to start, rolling the film backwards in his head, of a seemingly endless symphony of flowing, filling, flying, heavenly time of lovemaking with one of the most graceful and magical mares in all the land…Princess Celestia. Spike began sobbing as he recounted the feelings that swam through his mind, body, and soul, how he had brought himself and the Princess to a place where they were on level ground, as common folk, wanting to join in even the deepest bonds possible…marriage. And it hadn't happened…none of it…of all that filled the glorious night and the sweet, sultry run of Hearth's Warming Day…none of it had happened at all.

He felt like he spent a lifetime with Celestia, these past few days, and it was well enough that it was all a dream, a moment of wishful thinking, from a young soul who barely knew how to fall in love. The dam broke open then. The walls within a masculine soul that were constantly telling him to hold it all in were simply broken, not nearly strong enough to hold back the ocean of emotions that he was feeling, and he broke hard. Spike tried his damnedest to keep himself from screaming in pain, as he rolled about, clutching at the covers of the bed and wallowing in sheer, slamming and crushing walls of sorrow. He hoped to gods unknown that the ladies were far enough down the hall and away from the door so they couldn't rush back to hear him scream and wail. And he did so, despite the fact that he occasionally bit into his arm to muffle his cries, despite the fact that he rolled off the bed and crashed mercilessly onto the floor, despite the fact that he had to aim his mouth towards the open air of the window or the center of the room because he was uncontrollably huffing fire, and it was all despite the fact that he tried to hold his metaphorical guts in, all the while that his body was attempting to throw up something that wasn't physically there. In a moment of full, desperate gloom, he fought back the urge to hurl himself out the open window. He didn't want to feel this way anymore…but better judgment and self control…THANKFULLY, got the better of him. A thought towards his friends and how tortured they might feel, mulling over his mauled, broken, lifeless body after striking the ground at full force, gave him pause and worked to calm him down. It deflated his episode of heartache to a softer, less violent one.

The storm within Spike's soul had quelled itself to a mere, shuddering squall. He came to his senses, somewhat waking from a haze, to find that he had rolled himself onto the floor and was resting his head and folded arms upon a pillow, while the rest of his rather large body was swathed in various blankets and sheets. It wasn't exactly as if he blacked out and didn't recall doing it. It was as if he was another person. More accurately…he was possessed by a spirit of pure anguish.

With a major spew of gravity and emotion taken out of the equation, he felt a weight had passed from his body. Still, he felt he was weighed down by what felt like a wraith of sorrows, hovering upon his bones like a curse. The subject of cursing at hand, he rued and cursed the moment he found that blasted scroll. He didn't know exactly what it had done, but, if he had never found it, he wouldn't have felt compelled to report his misfortune to the Princess. With the same line of reasoning, he would have never met up with her on Hearth's Warming Eve, never would have had these long, writhing moments of lovemaking, and, thusly, would never have had such a pain within his heart. He cursed his fortune and cursed the very fibers of the scroll and the words thereof, damning it that not a single soul would find it ever again…

"…!...Twilight!"

Time slowed to a crawl. All sorrows were set aside and adrenaline began shooting through his veins like a charge of nitroglycerine as he nearly shot up and clawed open the door. Spike's wings burst open and grabbed at the air as he propelled himself forward like a bullet down the barrel of the hallway, pumping and pumping his wings, as he collided with the walls and rode them downstairs.

Twilight was searching, physically and intellectually down the very vein of logic that led Spike to the cursed scroll that put him in this mess, and he was certain that she'd find it even faster than he did. He dared not wish his situation on even his worst of enemies…and he didn't even know what was wrong with him.

He breached the archway to the library and had arrived to the horrid sight of both Cadance and Twilight entranced by the very scroll he hoped to hell they wouldn't find. The spiraling stormclouds had already formed and were charging their fury with quickening might, making every cell in Spike's body nearly burst with terror. "nnnnnnNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed and lunged with wings and limbs at full force, torpedoing his large, hefty body straight into the bodies of the imperiled princesses…with naught but a millisecond to waste, as, at the very next moment of time, the tip of his tail was stricken by the telltale lightning bolt that had sent him to his emotional hell. There was a crash of breaking wood and falling books, as the trio of bodies collided into the desks, chairs, and bookshelves behind them. Then, as swiftly as all had come to pass…it was silent.

Spike was huffing and puffing…Twilight was huffing and puffing…and Cadance was huffing and puffing, all three of them trying to drag their breaths back into their bodies, with Spike in the lead.

"Huhhh…huhhh…Ssspikehh!" Twilight nearly screeched as the three of them began poking their heads out of the mountain of books from which they were buried. "What in Equestriahhhh…huhhhh…'s going onnuh?"

Still huffing as a clatter of sliding encyclopedias and dictionaries came to a halt at the foothills of the librarian mount, Spike could figure nothing more to say, other than, "Hhehhh…youhhh…hhuhh…huhh…found…ithh…"

"…Though time to all abide…for thee…um…"

"…It thus shall…

"…Swirl." "Swirl!"

"Thy mem'ries hold but…behhold…I think…Life shall not unwhirl…"

"…Unfurl."

"Yeah, that's it."

"…Are you guys sure you've got it?"

"We're doing our best, Spike! Besides, it's not like we had long to actually memorize it."

"Uh, yeah…sorry. Please…continue."

Cadance and Twilight were settled upon a desk in the guest room, desperately trying to remember and fight down all the words they could remember from the scroll, before they lost everything to the haze of forgetfulness within their adrenaline swept minds. They levitated their quills and scratched madly at the parchment before them, recording the all the words they could recall, so they could be analyzed in detail. Spike, on the other hand, was pacing back and forth behind them, hoping the words they recovered from memory could buy him a way out of his predicament.

"Fffrom this day of thy dismay…I kinda liked that part…" Twilight said, light heartedly, with a hoof to her mouth.

"I know, heheheh." Cadance replied, bubbly, causing them to start giggling like little schoolgirls.

"…A-hemmmmhh?" Spike criticized them, reminding them that this was serious business.

Twilight and Cadance immediately winced, feeling his tight-lipped scowl upon their backs.

"Er, right, sorry…" Twilight replied.

"Uhmm…henceforth…" Cadance came in this time.

"Hhh…enceforth shalt thou return!"

"Right!"

They were a bit silent then. This caused Spike to react with a look of horror. "N…nno! Y-you can't stop now! You've got to remember!" he began groaning.

"Calm down, Spike!" Twilight tossed her words over her shoulder.

"Being hysterical won't help anything, so, please…" Cadance said, turning towards him with a look of annoyance at first, but then, her expression washed over with a look of gentleness, urgency, and concern.

"…Y…yeah. Sorry. Please…" Spike said, much more calmly, and pushed forward with his hands in a gentle gesture that said, 'go on'.

Cadance nodded with a polite smile, before she turned back towards the desk.

The silence returned, both of them intense with thought. "…Oughh…what was next?" Twilight groaned, looking upwards in blind frustration and a furrowed brow.

Cadance, on the other hand, was on the verge of something. She looked downward, broodingly. Then, "…Oh! Wah…wasn't there a…something about day and night…and two…"

"…Yes! From day to night shall be thy plight…the measures shall be two!" Twilight replied, with frightful precision. "It's so clear that I can practically see it on the page!"

"Get it down!" Cadance grumbled happily with a bright sense of enthusiasm…also because it was the only sentence either of them had recalled whole.

…Then…silence again.

After a good long while, with Spike sitting behind them and restraining all his emotions, he saw Twilight silently write something on the page. Of course, this was after her shoulders seemed to shrink a few inches. Spike became much more worried then. She looked…defeated.

Cadance, on the other hand, was excitedly watching Twilight struggle to write whatever it was she was writing. Then, just as Twilight put the quill down…Cadance too seemed to have her spirits crushed.

Spike was absolutely antsy now. "…What?" he called, "…What is it?"

Twilight sighed, tiredly. "So cast the spinning blast…life shall never end…" she began. Her voice, however, trailed off into hesitation…then outright refusal capped her lips and her legs shuddered with hesitation.

Cadance took it upon herself now, to finish the words of the spell. "Eternal life…with all its strife…is thine…from cosmos…send."

"I…is that the end of it?" Spike sat up, so excited that he looked as if he was receiving a present.

"…Yeah." Twilight replied.

"So…what's it mean?"

Twilight turned around slowly, as the weight of such terrible news was nearly impossible to bear. Cadance seemed to turn with her, fearing the look in her eyes. "From what I can gather…it seems to mean that…you're stuck in some kind of two day time loop."

Spike still didn't get it. Perhaps it was the complexity of the situation that blinded his understanding…or perhaps it was denial and disbelief.

"That means, the last two days really did happen…for you…not for the rest of us."

Cadance's eyes went wide. "So, when those two days are up…"

"…He'll end up back in the library…like the day he cast the spell."

The blood seemed to drain from Spike's face. The lower extremities of his body felt ice cold and his vision blurred, making everything look as if he was staring through water. "…Hhuhh…how do I…stop…?"

"I…I don't know, Spike." Twilight said, suddenly looking away. She literally felt as if she had sent her best friend to the gallows…and had pulled the lever.

"Ssspike?" Cadance called, worried. She came forward as she saw the large but very, very vulnerable beast stagger and wobble.

All at once, Spike's mind engaged in a haze of sensory overload. All of his experiences with Celestia…they really happened…yet they didn't. One of the most wonderful days in his life…it really happened…yet it didn't. And now, he had to reckon with the fact that he was doomed…doomed to an eternity in prison. Not of walls, but of the short yet endless measure…of two…solitary…days.

"N…No…" was all Spike could say, before his eyes rolled back in his head, and everything…again…went black.