--—Shards of Hatred ----
---- Chapter II: Incipient ----
“See ya later, Moon Dancer!” The sound of his own voice made Spike wince as he waved back to the kind pony who had let him stay in her house while he recovered from the massive sugar-crash that still plagued his body, albeit to a lesser degree than last night.
“Be careful going home, Spike!”
“I will, don’t worry!” Spike turned away as Moon Dancer shut the door behind her, leaving him to walk unsteadily down the partially abandoned street with the echoing snap of the closing door following close behind. “Oh man, last night was great!” Images of last night’s party flashed through his mind, going from the beautiful-looking gems that had been lain out for him to the thousands upon thousands of ponies that had clamored for his attention to the sheer amounts of hot chocolate that he had thrown into his mouth over the course of a few hours.
“I hope Twilight isn’t mad at me that I didn’t go home without her.” The very thought of his best friend being unhappy with him made Spike shudder violently. “Nah, she said she’d never send me away. I think she’s fine.” He waved a claw through an air to dispel his troubles, but he couldn’t get rid of the slightly uneasy feeling that sat deep down in his stomach. “But still, maybe I should go home.” Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something to lift even the saddest of ponies’ spirits. “On second thought, I don’t think I’m gonna go home juuuuust yet.” Spike reached out and pushed open the door that served as a barrier between him and happiness.
As he stepped inside the bakery, the scent of freshly made donuts and coffee assaulted his nose, making his stomach rumble violently despite the food that he had devoured the night before. "Well, if it isn't Spike, my best customer!" Pony Joe leaned over the counter and smiled down at him as he rubbed a mug clean with a white cloth. "What brings you here?"
"Well, Pony Joe, I'm here to get the usual." Spike leapt up onto one of the many vacant barstools and laid his claw across the counter. "A mug of hot chocolate and a donut with extra sprinkles on it."
"You want that after last night?" The baker let out an appreciative whistle. "I figured you'd be done with that kind of stuff for a good week or two after how much you had."
Spike scratched the side of his head embarrassedly. "Nah, I won't ever get tired of donuts and chocolate. Hit me." He put his claw onto the counter top and slid over a shiny, golden bit.
"Sure thing, Spike. One Hot Choco and a Sprinkle Bomb coming right up." As the tan stallion walked into the back room to get his order, Spike looked out to one of the windows and sighed.
"Just one drink, then I'll go home."
Twilight Sparkle picked herself up from the ground once more, brushing away the soot that clung to her coat with a hoof for a few moments before giving up the futile task. She cast her gaze back over to the resilient black stone that still sat where she had left it, smoking slightly from explosion spell that Twilight had funneled into its core in a frustrated effort to get it to open. “I guess I can’t make you smaller after all.” She sighed before walking back over to the experiment table, picking up a magnifying glass with her magic along the way.
“All right, let’s see what you’ve got to tell me on that surface of yours.” She pulled up the round disk of glass and leaned in to look at the gemstone. After a few moments of silence she threw the unfortunate instrument of observing against the wall, where it shattered into a thousand shards of glimmering glass. “I… I don’t believe it! I didn’t even make a mark on it!” Snorting angrily, Twilight turned away and looked out of the window. The sun now hung nearly directly overhead, beating its rays down on Equestria. “Oh, I’ve been at it all morning!”
She jerked her head around at the sound of a door slamming upstairs in her precious library. A voice drifted down to her from above, followed by the plodding of hooves as somepony walked around in her home. "Twilight? Are you in here you silly filly?"
Half-gripped by the notion of remaining hidden, Twilight began to walk over to the experiment table before she remembered her frustration with her specimen. I'd better go let Pinkie know I'm here. Knowing her, she'd find me anyway. As if called (and much to Twilight's dismay), the excitable party pony poked her head into the laboratory.
"Hiya Twilight!" Pinkie Pie slowly hopped down the staircase and landed lightly before the unicorn. "What are you doing down here? Sciencey stuff?" In her usual method of information gathering, the earth pony hopped around the lab and began shifting aside nearly everything in sight, ‘ooh’ing and ‘aah’ing appreciatively as she looked at the different tools and gadgets that found their way into her hooves. Shaking her head, the librarian turned away to look outside into the sunlight again, wincing when the sound of a metal pan clanged on the ground.
“Pinkie…” Twilight’s voice held a note of warning as she directed back to the pink blur that flitted about her basement.
“Oh, what’s this? It looks pretty!” Feeling a jolt of fear run down her spine, Twilight turned just in time to spot Pinkie Pie slowly reaching for the black gemstone that was in the middle of the room.
Anger flared up in her as she lunged forward. “Don’t touch that!” Twilight grabbed Pinkie Pie by the tail and jerked her backward away from the table. Letting go of the tail as the pony it belonged to hit the ground behind her, Twilight whipped around to glare at the mischievous baker. “Can’t you go for ten minutes without messing everything up?” Everything held a slight tint of red to Twilight’s eyes and, unknown to either pony, the black stone behind them glimmered with an emerald light.
“I…I’m sorry, Twilight.” Tears welled up in the pink pony’s eyes as she sadly looked into her friend’s face and her mane deflated into a smooth sheet of hair. “I-I-I w-won’t do it again.”
The lavender unicorn blinked once, banishing the crimson color from her world. Realization washed over her, followed quickly by shame. Reaching out with her hooves, Twilight drew the distraught Pinkie Pie into a warm hug. “I’m sorry, Pinkie. I… I didn’t mean it.” Slowly the sniffles of her friend beside her subsided. “I don’t know what came over me.” Pulling back, Twilight smiled at the Element of Laughter and received the gesture in kind. “Can you ever forg—“ Her words were silenced by a wall of fluffy, pink hair being shoved into her face as a pair of hooves wrapped tightly around her.
“Of course I can Twilight! I know you could never really be mad at me!” The recent occurrence forgotten, Pinkie Pie circled around Twilight excitedly. “Oh, I just remembered what I came here for! The girls all wanted to hang out in the park again today and they said I should come ask you since I’m the best inviter-pony in Equestria! That reminds me!” The bouncing blur of pink leapt back and took a deep breath. “Thiiiiiiis is your singing telegram—“ A lavender hoof shut the rest of the song in Pinkie Pie’s mouth.
“I don’t think that will be necessary, Pinkie. Let’s just go meet up with them.”
Pinkie Pie talked around the hoof in her mouth, enunciating what sounded like “Okie Dokie Lokie!” Twilight rolled her eyes and stepped aside, letting the pink pony lead the way out of the laboratory. Glancing one last time behind her at the glimmering stone, she picked up a blanket and flung it over the table. “Twilight, are you coming?” Pinkie’s voice cheerfully descended down to her from the first floor.
Casting another uneasy look behind her, Twilight turned and began climbing the stairs into the library above. “Yeah, I’m coming!”
“Oh my, who made these absolutely marvelous Hors d'œuvres?” Rarity levitated another of the snacks into her mouth and chewed happily before speaking again. “They are simply divine.”
Pinkie Pie leapt up excitedly and hugged Applejack to her side with one hoof. “We did, we did!”
Applejack wiggled out from the other pony’s hoof and straightened her Stetson hat before directing an embarrassed smile at Rarity. “They ain’t anythin’ special. Just some fritters me an’ Pinkie here whipped up at the farm.” Applejack lifted one of the mentioned fritters and tossed it into her mouth. “Coursh, we had shome troublesh gettin’ the applesh, what wi—“
“Oh, Applejack please, don’t talk with your mouth full like that. It’s disgusting!” Rarity waved a hoof at the farmer and swayed dramatically. Confused, Twilight looked back between the two ponies who glared at each other from across the picnic blanket as the all-too-familiar situation began to get out of hoof as it usually did.
“Well, um, I think they are very nice too.” Fluttershy quickly stepped between the two bristling ponies and smiled to each of them. “Don’t you think so too, Rainbow Dash?” When the prismatic pegasus didn’t reply, Fluttershy and the others turned to look where she had been sitting. “Rainbow Dash?” After a brief moment of looking around, Twilight lead the others in a group shrug.
“I guess she isn’t here anymore, Fluttershy. She must have had something to do.”
“Some ponies, Ah swear!” Applejack stomped a hoof into the grass and stood up suddenly, tossing her head angrily. “Don’t know when to tell their friends where they’re goin’ or nothin’.” Without warning, the farm pony flopped back down onto the red-checkered blanket and grabbed another of the apple fritters, stuffing the treat into her mouth as if it was the head of Rainbow Dash. “Ain’tsh proper mannersh.”
Before Rarity could explode with the apparent anger that painted her face, Twilight spoke up. “So, how’s everything going in the boutique, Rarity? Get any interesting orders or make any new dresses recently?”
Her unconvincing smile was wiped away by the look of sheer incredulity that Rarity directed towards her. “Twilight, we just returned to Ponyville merely last afternoon. How am I supposed to garner customers in such a short amount of time after being gone for so long?” Dramatically waving her hoof through the air, the white unicorn let out a heavy sigh. “I haven’t even been able to unpack! Oh, it was so much easier when Spike was helping me fit all those scarves into my suitcases!”
“Where is that silly little dragon anyway?” Pinkie Pie stepped over from where she had been idly jumping after butterflies, much to the dismay of Fluttershy. “I thought he was coming back after the party in Canterlot!” A hint of disappointment and regret leaked into the pink pony’s voice as she passed over the word ‘party’, no doubt still miffed that the others didn’t let her stay for it.
As each of her friends looked to her, Twilight felt the small heat of slight shame rise to her face. “Hm, I don’t know… he was supposed to be back by now. I guess I was so wrapped up in my experiments that I didn’t notice he wasn’t home.” She kicked the ground for a moment before standing suddenly. “I should go write him a letter and see if he’s okay. The last I heard he was staying with his friend, Moondancer.”
With that, she turned and began to gallop home, worry eating at her insides and making a small nest in her stomach the closer she got to the library. Oh, I hope he’s all right.
Author's Note: Please don't expect me to be releasing these chapters as often as I have been. This is solely because of the weekend's free time. That will end starting tomorrow (most likely). More writing of this will commence, but at a slower rate.
First?
1603836 Y'know... saying that on a fic is a bad idea.... you're probably gonna have a bad time.
This is good so far. Faved and I can't wait to see where this goes.
1604019 Thank you kindly, I hope to earn that fave!
Time for me to be the grammar nazi...hehe..."I hope Twilight isn't mad at me that I didn't go home without her." I think you meant 'with her.' But I definitely find this interesting.
Ooooh, this is ominous... there seems to be a lot of anger and resentment lying just beneath the surface of the Mane 6. Looking forward to seeing where this goes, and whether Spike manages to find out just how much hot chocolate he can take
1604053 Spike's a baby dragon, not meant to be the most grammatically correct.
1604113 I hope you like where I'm going to take it.
This seems intersting. And you got it out so fast, I am surprised. It feels a little rushed in places, but I am keen to see how it develops.
1604234 A bit rushed in some places, yeah, I can see that. Unfortunately I don't feel like fixing said rushed situations.
I hope I can keep your interest with the coming chapters!
1604252
Oh its fine, don't feel obligated to work on it if you dont want to–it is a solid introduction either way. I was just pointing it out so you could try to avoid it in the future.
And I am sure I will remain intersted throughout.
Hmm interesting premise so far. Favorited to see where this leads.
1604324 Thank you kindly
I'm hoping I enjoy where this is going, but it did pick up my interest so that's a good sign. Faved it to keep track of it.
Hmm, so far, very interesting. I'm intrigued to see where this will go next.
A King Sombra inspired fic.
You know I actually found him to be the worst villain yet, very one dimensional, can't even truly speak, and his intentions simply seem to be "do evil". That is far below the standard of the show
1604684 By "Nightmare" they mean the door. Y'know, when Celestia was an evil pony and etc?
Somehow I get the feeling there's going to be a lot of these kinds of fics popping up. Also, two chapters in and my feels haven't even been threatened yet? What are you up to Chaotic....
1604733 Of course there's going to be tons of these fics. Luckily mine was one of the first
Also, this isn't going to be focused on sad like I usually am
1604748
I figured. You've built quite the reputation as feel sniper my friend, but you haven't gotten my tears yet! (The only fic to have that honor is My Little Dashie) But I have the feeling if you really wanted to invest the time, that could make one of the saddest fics ever written. EVER. Just don't give it too depressing of an ending if you try.
1600102
These bouts of hatred will only get worse from here, I fear.
static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/peter_griffin_-_go_on_____2918.jpg
(the joke was old before I started. I'll stop now. )
1604964 Let me guess..... it was a gak image? (It doesn't work because image is broken.)
1604972
broken? well, for the best i believe. It was the "go on" image from family guy.
1604157 even if he is a baby dragon i think he is smart enough to see the diference between "with" and "without", after all he was raised by Twilight
Whoa!! This is really good- I love the dress ups you gave the story, with all the p's in the first chapter. I wanted to read it out loud!
1598952 actually, Spike helped Twilight many times. If he wasn't there, who knows how long she would have been in that trance. And the stairs upwards, he was wondering if it went up forever, which gave Twilight the idea of switching gravity.
Most of all, he really wanted to follow Twilight. He was loyal, he wanted to help (though he tried not to, b/c he knew of Twilight's test). If Spike wasn't there, like Twilight planned (she was going to go alone), she would have trapped herself (if she could have even got there in time herself), and no one would have been able to bring the crystal heart to Cadence. Spike was brave enough to do that. Yes, he did trip, but heroes aren't perfect!
but, yeah, point is, Spike did play a vital role I retrieving the heart.
Though I do agree with you in a sense that Spike and Twilight worked together to get the heart, so she should have been mentioned in the stained glass.
but Twi has been depicted in so much stained glass, to me, it's nice to see Spike get his own. ^-^
Pretty decent so far. The characters felt a bit... off... but it wasn't too bad, and that might be in-story a more subtle reaction to the crystal.
Anyway, looking good; I shall follow this eagerly!
1604520 One-dimensional?! You think Sombra was ONE-DIMENSIONAL?!!!!
You're giving him WAY too much credit!
He was, maybe half a dimension.
1605771
I see my assertion was shared by others, however you must know that dimensions can only exist in natural numbers.
However it is normally accepted that a dimension can also be zero, which is a point, a singularity with no extent, a black hole where neither light nor fun can escape.
This was perhaps what you meant.
I approve of this
1605796 When Discord is involved, there can 1/2, 2/3, and 6 7/8 dimensions.
1605809
Discord can bend the laws of physic not logic
1605757 That was my intent.
1605833 Alright; just checking to make sure!
1605351 I'd like to point out the fact that said dragon can't spell Precipice or Brink OR threshold.
I gave this story its 115th like....I am now expecting zomb-ponies for some reason.
1605812 And I quote: "Sense? Ohhhh, what fun is there in making sense?"
Clearly, you have not visited Wonderland before. Logic need not apply.
1606733 1605812 Okay you two, don't make me get out crazy pinkie on you guys.
1606741
Apparently, it's too late.
dl.dropbox.com/u/87357455/Reactions/Pinkie%20Pie/Iiiiits%20PONY%20time%21.png
1606684
I thought maybe that's what we were talking about, but I thought with season 3 everyone would be talking about king sombra. Thanks anyway
I love your stories and this one is no different. I eagerly await the next chapter.
I like this so far. It's an interesting idea that I want to see more of. Nice and professional with spelling, grammar, etc., though not quite perfect (who is?). My only complaint is some occasionally awkward wording. Like when, in an effort to avoid repetition of "magnifying glass" (admirable), you call it an "instrument of observing" which just sounds weird, in my opinion at least. And the adjectives/adverbs sometimes might be a little redundant, though never distractingly so.
Nitpicky? Perhaps. But that's only because I like what I see.
great chapter!
can't wait to see where this is going
That picture...was so sorry for Twilight for her having to see that.
1611275 This doesn't quite relate towards the nightmare door. Sorry
Hopefully Twilight will realize what is happening before she travels too far down the road of bitchyness.
1612828 You have no idea how much that comment made me lol right now.
I think you have the 'Lavender Unicorn Syndrome' mentioned in the FIC story creator.
1603836 thats very IMAGINATIVE, dont'cha think?
What's up with Spike, all of a sudden?
That's it, Twilight. Give in to your anger...
How could Rainbow Dash leave so fast?
Moondancer, eh?
1606085
Well yeah, but there's a difference between being able to speak correctly, and being able to spell correctly. Lots of morons can speak correctly, but you have to be intelligent in order to spell correctly. The level of intelligence that you need in order to spell correctly varies based on what word it is.