You can't blame anyone but yourself [edited]

It was a cold night in Canterlot. The air was rigid, as if it held insidious intent. A tall woman with bright blue hair and eyes to match stood at the entrance of the hospital, This woman was a doctor, as her uniform and silver label on her chest indicated.Her body trembled as a stray breeze blew past her, but she stood firm, playing with the red crystal shard on her necklace before she drifted to her own thoughts.

'She is taking too long in getting here, I hope she isn’t trying to set something up against me’'.

After a few minutes,she finally arrived. She approached from the distance, her signature tiara with encrusted diamonds and pink attire making the young lady easy to recognize as Diamond Tiara.

'It took me two months to get enough evidence to blackmail her. If she really cares about her father, she will do everything she can to keep her dad's affair a secret'.

Diamond Tiara saluted the tall woman, failing the trembling out of her arm. the woman signaled Diamond to follow her inside.

"Now remember, if you screw this up, your parents will get divorced, your dad will lose his reputation, and most importantly, your mother will be the one keeping you" the woman whispered to Tiara while the two of them made their way through the corridor.

"I'll do anything, but please don't tell anyone" Diamond pleaded in a low volume. Noticing they stopped near a door which had a medical report hanging from it, "Spike T. Drake" was the only thing she managed to read from the report before the woman took it.

The doctor pulled her phone from her left pocket and nodded to the young lady before opening the door. As the two of them walked into the room, Diamond tiara became increasingly uncomfortable as she realized she'd interrupted the conversaton between a group of friends and the patient. The young adult seemed content, even though his head and his broken left arm were covered in gauze.

"Sir. Drake, eighteen years old, severe concussion to the head, a broken arm and some broken ribs" the woman read from the report in a cheery manner. "Nice to meet you, my name is Pure Sapphire, a psychologist."

"A Psychologist?" another woman asked, "Oh, excuse me, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm a close friend of Spike just like everyone else in the room."

The others proceeded to introduce themselves; the most remarkable of the group was the mayor, and mother of the patient, Celestia.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all, and it’s an honor to be the one that will take care of your son, Mayor," Sapphire said with a smile, earning a confused look from the whole group.

"I don't understand," stated Celestia, "Why my son needs mental health care? Did the shock in his head-"

The doctor hushed the panicking mother with a finger, "Wait," she paused and started to search through the phone files, "before I tell you anything else, you need to see this," she declared while giving the phone to Spike. Everyone gathered around to llok at the phone's screen.

The group collectively gasped at the images that they saw. There, in the video, were Spike and Diamond Tiara in a dark avenue, Spike was gripping and restraining Diamond's hand while he crudely pressed his face into her hair, inhaling her scent.

Spike held his mouth while tears flowed from his eyes. "I- I don't remember any of this..." Spike muttered, his hand clamping harder against his mouth in a vain effort to suppress the disgust of his own act.

The video continued, displaying Spike forcing the jacket of his victim to open, The young lady screamed for help while Spike shove her to the ground. Just before Spike could stop the video, it ended on its own.

"It was captured by one of the security cameras. After that, a group of five unidentified people appeared on the scene to help Diamond" explained Sapphire, "those were the ones that harmed you."

"Spike, I knew that something was wrong with you back then,"Diamond said to the distraught man, his eyes were shimmering because of the tears that now drenched his face, "so I talked with the police before they brought you here for a medical evaluation, I told them that I will not hold a case against what you did because I knew that the pervert who attacked me wasn't you" Diamond Tiara lied, her extra hours in the drama club paid her well for the occasion.

'Good girl' Awarded the doctor,'I almost believe it myself. If not because those morons almost get my dear Spike death, I would have forgotten the fact that the video is edited with magic and that I paid some jerks of my world to beat the hell out of Spike'.

Silence took over the room. the tall girl with pink long hair, Fluttershy, was sobbing quietly while her friend— who's pink hair was puffed some minutes ago— held her in a tight hug.

"Unluckily for the young sir, the state has enough evidence to track him and bring him to prison for his acts against Diamond Tiara" commented Sapphire, "That's why I'm here. If I have the permission of him and one of his relatives, I can put him in the psychiatry, once there I can make a proper analysis of his current mental condition"

"I don't know..." Spike said with a lifeless tone, "I mean is so weird for me to act like that... but maybe that is part of the problem" He looked at the doctor while cleaning hiw tears, "You have my permission miss Sapphire, I will gladly go with you".

The blue haired woman smiled, "Perfect, now I will need you to firm some papers, that's of course if your mother here present also approves your decision," she explained while taking her leave with Diamond at her side.

Once outside, she approached tiara's ear and whispered to her: "You did good little girl, your secret is safe now."

Back at the room, the girls and the mayor weren't so eager to accept the proposal of the doctor.

"Spike maybe you could think this more through" Twilight commented with a worried look on her eyes, "I mean, I can make some test on-"

Spike dismissed her words with a gesture, "Twilight, you just heard her, sooner or later the police will have to put the case by themselves, they can't leave me run freely after what I did" he said, his eyes turning down as he gritted his teeth, "and... truth is, I don't want to lose myself like that again and hurt one of you in the process".

Celestia approached his son's side and gave him a tight hug, "I'm really proud of knowing how much you care about your friends, Spike," She sighed, "I feel so impotent right now, I'm your mother, but I don't know what could have caused you to act like that" She tightened the hug on him, ever so careful to not harming his broken arm in the process,"What I do know is that you are strong enough to withstand against this. Don't worry about the permission, I will sign the papers too".

"Thanks, mom, I'll do my best to get better" Spike looked at the group with a smile, "can I count on you to visit me while I'm on it, right?"

"Don't worry sugarcube, we will take turns to visit you and see how you are handling it," Applejack commented while dusting the dust on her hat. The others nodded in agreement to the farmer proposal.

"I'll make sure to bring you my best pastries!" Exclaimed Pinkie before lowering her tone of voice,"Even if they don't admit pastries inside the building" she winked at the young man.

"Thank you, girls, I promise to get better as soon as possible" He smiled before being tugged into a group hug. "mind about the bones though," he gasped before going out of breath.

From outside the room, Pure Sapphire was hearing the conversation play out, her smile growing grimly as joy overtook her.

'Oh~ I can't wait to see how your friends will react after I put my hooves on you' She thought, her hands shaking in excitment, 'hands, remember Pure, you have hands now'.

The tall woman looked at the red gem in her necklace. it shined ever so slightly... the red bright color made the psychiatrist drift off for a moment while admiring its appealing features.

'I don't think I could have got this far without this gem augmenting the almost nonexistent magic in this world' she thought before returning to reality, her hand grabbed the knob of the door slowly while she composed her look into something more professional.

A week later

Pure Sapphire walked throughout the corridors of the psychiatric hospital, the sounds of mumblings, ramblings, shouts, and screams echoed through the walls while she made her way to the room of her favorite patient.

After two minutes she was in front of the door of Spike's room. Once she opened the door, she was welcomed with a smile from the young man, a smile that remained as the only thing that looked normal in him; the rest of his appearance just faded, his previous shining eyes were now somber and oblivious of reality, his spiked hair was now deflated, like if water had been pouring into his head for days to no end, his mouth was dry and mild ripped, product of his own teeth tearing his skin off.

"How is my favorite young man?" The woman said in a sing-song tone before injecting him a shot of anesthesia. After fifteen seconds the substance took effect on him and his smile faded away, the only thing indicating that he was still alive now was his constant breathing, "Oh, Spike, my Spike the brave and glorious~"

Spike looked at her with disdain, her words had no meaning in his head, and every second that passed was a second that his brain struggled to comprehend. Pure Sapphire got in the bed with him and caressed his face, "I have to admit, I was hoping to get you in this state after the third day; seems like even in this weak world you are still resistant," she explained while moving her hand to his neck, "such a strong dragon with the face of a cute and handsome foal."

The psychiatrist rested her head on Spike's chest. Taking some threads of her shining blue hair with her hand, she started playing around Spike's chest and stomach with her long hair.

"You can't imagine the things that the others crystal mares will do to be in my position right now," she chirped before purring into the warm of his chest, "oh~ too think that I was about to lose all hope when you rejected me back then at the Crystal Empire. I was so frustrated, seeing how you were already with those seven mares. What harm would do another one? besides they never showed their true intentions, instead, they just bragged how your heart belonged to them to the public, and most importantly to the crystal mares."

Spike's body unconsciously hugged the woman as a reaction towards the heartwarming sensation, Sapphire accepted the hug with joy.

"But that is in the past. Now, thanks to this gem, I found out how to travel between dimensions, shatter the minds of others, create illusion spells that were out of my grasp in the past. First, I used it with the ones running this building, convincing them to hire me without even showing my legal papers, then, after you signed your papers, I had a talk with your mom in private, let's say that she isn't your mother anymore, or at least, that is what she remember."

Spike started to cry, his mind was founding a way to process everything enough to be sad about it, but after some seconds he found himself adrift, outcasted to the world that surrounded him. The pain in his heart was the only thing that remained intact.

"Don't cry honey, I'm the only woman that you need, all the others are weaklings that can't be honest about their feelings," she assured him before pulling some pills out of her pocket, "speaking of which, one of your friends is in her way here, I'm sure that she must be at the entrance by now, let's get you ready to see her."

Sapphire took a glass of water from a bench and proceeded to force Spike into swallowing two pills. Spike fell into the pillow again, the sedative still present in his body.

"Now, let's see how... What was her name?"Sapphire scratched her chin in thought, "Oh, right, Fluttershy. Let's see how Fluttershy reacts after the drugs take effect on your mind," She chuckled before leaving the room.

A good amount of time passed in the blink of an eye for Spike, but just when he was starting to really take a hold of the world around him the door of his room opened, a slim girl of pink hair entered the room wearing a bright green dress, she made her way quietly inside while she played with the front section of her hair.

Fluttershy sat on the chair near Spike's bed. Taking her time to appreciate the changes in her friend's appearance.

"Oh... dear, Spike you look so... sick... I'm sorry if that didn't help," Fluttershy squeaked, noticing later that Spike's hand was trying to move upwards. She took his hand and caressed it with her cheek, "Stay strong Spike, we are all counting on you to get back in our lives."

Spike rubbed gently the soft cheek of her friend, a part of his brain was able to understand the happiness he felt for seeing her after so long. He wanted to speak with her, ask her about anything...

But found it impossible, his mouth didn't respond, even his own thoughts were a mess.

'Shy... color... time...' he mumbled in his thoughts while his hand kept itself rubbing against the soft skin of her friend. Fluttershy hummed in delight at his touch, enjoying his ministration and the soothing silence inside the sealed room, 'good... feels.. good... more...'.

Spike started to rub one of his fingers against Fluttershy lips, the shy girl mumbled some words of discontent before her inner thoughts assured her that everything was fine, he would forget all this in the future, and she could have this little moment for herself. Spike went a step forward after noticing how his friend was actually enjoying the caressing of her sensitive area and introduced the finger in her mouth.

'tickles... good... more'

Fluttershy was lost in their little act, slurping sounds caming from her mouth as Spike's fingers slittered in and out of her. Even while unsure of everything that was happening, she was happy to have this little moment alone with him... that was until.

"More..." Spike mumbled, his body founding the strength to move upwards.

"How good to see you are able to move Spike" Fluttershy chirped in a quiet tone after releasing the digit from her wet confinement, "miss Sapphire told me that you were..." she recalled the last word that the psychiatrist told her before going inside the room, "were... under anesthesia... so you could not-"

"More!" Spike shouted, wich made his friend jump back and fall to the ground. Spike tried to get to here but only got himself to fall too, hurting his broken arm even more in the process. He screamed in pain, alerting Sapphire in the process, who was waiting at the other side of the room "just in case something happened" as she told Fluttershy previously.

"What is happening here!" exclaimed the psychiatrist while shooting the door open, "Oh my goodness, are you fine miss Fluttershy?" she asked while helping the lady in distress to get up.

"Yeah, It was just an accident, Spike loosed himself for a moment. But now he is the one who needs help" she said while pointing at the distraught young man, "I don't understand... what is happening to him?".

Pure Sapphire proceeded to help Spike to get into his bed again, once there, she strapped his body with the security belts of the bed,

"He has a severe case of personality disorders, he can be a Schizoid and then turn sadistic in the blink of an eye, I hope that he did not do anything that could have harm you."

"Uh... no nothing," she said while cleaning the remaining saliva in her lips, "more importantly, is he going to get better?".

The blue-haired woman smiled wickedly while rubbing the gem in her necklace, focusing her inner magic for a moment before turning to face the lady behind her, "Oh, poor dear, I must tell you that his case could be really severe, if not by the shock in his head, he would have been out of this place in a couple of weeks, but now..." she paused, her eyes locked on Fluttershy's. Sapphire's eyes turned into a deep green color as her magic traveled to the young mistress's mind, "I think is better for you to just forget about him. And don't worry about your other friends, I will give them the same message, you only need to tell them to come here and I'll do the rest."

"Yes, miss Sapphire, I'll be on my way out to tell them," Fluttershy said in a slow tone.

"Perfect, now go" she hushed her, waiting patiently for her to be as far away as possible before she glance towards her prize once again.

The young man was currently crying on the bed, "What have... I done..." he struggled the words out,"what... what have you done... to me?"

"Ugh, stupid hero, why you can't just give up?" she asked while pulling a syringe and a flask from her pockets, "Now, let me do the rest and we can have our happy ending."

A month later

Today was a special day for Miss.Sapphire, or at least, that's what her coworkers will talk about through the corridors of the building, because of the beaming smile plastered on her face throughout the morning as she walked through the whole building.

Her joy seemed to be contagious too; because all the patient that dared to look at her were happy the second later. The workers of the hospital shrugged at the resident's antics, not being the first time that an emotion got to spread like a virus.

While the workers were on their mid-day ramblings, Sapphire ended his schedules for the day and was on her way to see her favorite resident, Spike T. Drake.

'Finally, after yesterday mishap, I can be sure that none of his friends will go back to see him' her thoughts paused for a moment in retrospective, 'now to think of it, I was lucky that the screams of Rarity and Twilight weren't heard by anyone else...' Sapphire thought deeply before giving a shrug to the memory and grabbing the knob of the door, 'who cares anyway. My plan is complete, Spike is mine now; I only need to get him out of this country to be sure that no one else will interfere.'

Two weeks After Fluttershy departure, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were greeted by an aggressive Spike that almost got the tomboy injured. Hypnotizing them was as easy as how it was with the shy girl. Another two weeks passed and Twilight came accompanied with Rarity to inspect what was going on.Knowing that convincing them that Spike was a lost cause was a difficult task, Pure Sapphire doubled the dose of drugs, that resulted in the young man going berserk and assaulting the poor girls. The results were counterproductive for Sapphire, which had to use more magic than she expected from the red gem in order to calm the duo before properly wash their brains.

"Now how my favorite patient is doing this beautiful morning?" Sapphire chirped in her way to strap Spike's body.

"You... Something... not right..." Spike mumbled.

"Oh, my poor hero, don't worry Spike, the brave and glorious, today is a special day" She paused to double check that the belts were tight enough, "You know why? because that you are good to go now, the illness that you knew as your friends are gone and I made sure that none of them could remember you," She explained while rubbing the necklace between her finger, her other hand shinning in a bright green bloom, "you don't need your treatment anymore" she loomed her hand around Spike's whole body, the effects of the healing spell making itself presents instantly.

"I... I- I can think again!" Spike exclaimed before glaring at the doctor, "You! You were behind my illness all this time, it was all a set up. i demand you to release me!" he shouted while trying to break free from the restraining belts, "Somebody, help! This woman is crazy!"

Sapphire laughed loudly at Spike choice of words, "Do you really think that someone is gonna believe those words in this place?" She intrigued before taking a seat on the bed.

"Why are you doing this? I don't even know who you are!"

"Oh you silly dragon, of course you don't know me here, but I do know you," She said before taking the gem out of its necklace socket, "you see... I'm not from around her, from where I came from there is another you. A brave, cute,handsome and little dragon that saved me and all the citizens of my land from the cruelty of our previous monarch."

"That sounds like I'm someone important to you then, but that doesn't answer the question, why are you doing this? aren't I supposed to be a hero?"

"You are taking this really fast from someone who just claimed that there are other dimensions."

"Really? I saw how your magic brainwashed all my friends and then how you healed me in less than a second," Spike explained bluntly.

"It seems like you are as perceptive as your dragon counterpart," Sapphire paused a moment to caress Spike's head, he tried to recoil back but found it impossible, so he resorted to his only option left, glare at the woman with anger, "will you look at that, your eyes are shining again with that bright emerald color that I love so much."

Sapphire's eyes started to turn green slowly, "now, to resume the events that brought of both together here," She paused and placed a hand on Spike's cheek, "After you saved the Crystal Empire, all the mares... and some stallions... were craving madly to get your tail and claws. I was one of the mares that tried to win your heart and love as well, but unluckily for us, your heart was already taken by six mare, well, seven" She shook her head, "That's not the point, the point is that you were selfish, you looked at all those mares including myself and dismissed us without even thinking about our feelings!"

"Wait, you were a mare? and I had a har.. no I think that the right word is herd" he asked before his face bloomed in joy, "awesome, I was like the dragon pimp in town!"

"Yes you were,"Sapphire whispered coldly," but they don't were as open as us. We were brave enough to expose our true feelings, but you dismissed them and decided to keep living with those cowards" She spat, the cornea of her eyes turning purple at the same time her pupils stretched into a slit form, "I couldn't hold my anger anymore, and just when I was in need of help, this gem appeared in front of me and pointed me in the right direction. Telling me where to go, how to cast powerful spells, giving me more power than I ever imagine in this pitiful world, this thing is like the holy grail for me."

"Ha, like its gonna work forever, the second I got myself free from this place I'm gonna show your true face to the world and go back with my friends," Spike exclaimed with conviction.

Sapphire’s rage started to boil after the young man's comment, "you little brat, do you really think that I will let you do that?" she laughed, "I just gave you a glimpse of time so you could hear the truth. Now that explanations are over, you will go back to be my lover, just like It was meant to be since the beginning".

While casting her next spell on her hands, the woman’s hair started to get darker, shading into a purple tone, her mane flowing seconds laters, the movement of her mane reminiscent of a scorching flame.

"Wait a moment there little mare" a somber voice spoke from within Sapphire's mouth, "I think that you missed something in your explanation, let me be of your assistance with that problem."

Spike was previously terrified by the mistress appearance alone, but now he was openly shaking in fear after hearing the demonic voice coming from her mouth, he tried to muster some words but his mouth got dry while trying to to do so.

"Let me introduce myself to you, young man..." the voice paused for a moment, "I used to be called King Sombra in the past, truth is that I just adopted that name. In reality, I'm but the simple and unholy embodiment of the element of evil" he explained with pride, "Now that I have this new body, I think that Queen Umbra is a more settling choice, what do you think?"

"I thought that this couldn't turn worse... Murphy's law always find its way to screw things up even more, huh?"

Umbra Laughed at the joyful way of the man to take this whole situation, "Oh, what a joy to see my enemy once again in such a pathetic state. The first time I witnessed your form as a little dragon I thought that you were nothing but a pet trained to serve ponies" Umbra glared at him coldly, "that was until you proved to be immune to my magic, somehow my dark crystal magic couldn't get near you without stopping midway, your other self had something that disrupted my magic, but that is not the case here."

Umbra got near Spike's face, smeling with gusto his neck before she tasted it with a long swipe of her tongue, "here, you are just a sentient creature without any kind of hold in magic, and from now on, you will be the fuel that will give power to my new vessel."

"What are you planning to do?" he tried to ask with confidence, but just found that joking was easier for him than being brave.

"Nothing much just the usual, you know? Conquer the world, watch every living thing agonize in pain," She paused to steal a quick kiss from Spike's lips, her burning mane erupting like a volcano afterward, "and you are going to watch everything by my side. By the way, don't worry about your friends and mother" She smiled, "I will make sure that you got the best view while I make them suffer."

Spike's started to fight the tears and rage while fighting against the straining belts around his wrists, but found himself incapable of breaking free, "Stop. We have nothing to do with what happened to you, this dimension does not deserve this!" he exclaimed while his tears flowed freely to the bottom of his face.

Umbra took a hold of Spike's chin and looked at him with pity,"Don't blame me for my actions little dragon, it's in my nature and I can't do anything against it. If you want to blame someone, let it be you, for not sealing the deal when you fought against me!" The self-proclaimed queen exclaimed with joy before charging a spell in his right hand.

Umbra conjured a dazzling spell on the young man, making his body unable to move, "Now wait for me here, my new lover, a new army is waiting for me to command it!" She shouted with vigor while making her way out of the room.

Just before she closed the door she turned at the distraught man in the bed and smiled once again at him, "you know?" she said, "I would have never guessed that a mare in love will give more energy than a mad king thirsty of power. Love is a powerful weapon after all, now I understand how it served to beat me not once, but twice in the past," she explained before closing the door.

Some days later

Spike stood at the top of a mountain, sitting in a Wheelchair. His puffy red eyes witnessing the horrors of the city down below. People were working against their will to destroy the city or construct statues for their new Queen. The screams echoed all the way up to the mountain, screeching sounds that sounded like someone whistling inside his ears.

"How do you like the view, my love?" Umbra asked while making her way up the mountain.

"Please just kill me... just kill me and my friends... I beg you," he pleaded in a raspy tone.

"Hush hush, don't even think of that, my love," She responded before giving him a soft hug," I will not give you the easy way out of this, you and your friends will serve me until the day this whole world kneels before me," she explained, "after that, maybe I would think of killing your friends and putting their suffering to an end, what do you say?"

Spike looked with a slight smile of hope to the Dark Empress, "I'm okay with that..."

Author's Note:

Why do I bring pain to the one I love?
I couldn't hold myself to the premise of the contest, making a fic in which Spike could really end up suffering was a challenge that I couldn't refuse.