//------------------------------// // Parole // Story: Spike's Shadow // by DraconequusMaximus //------------------------------// Spike the dragon had changed much over the years, and not just in maturity. He now stood a full head taller than Discord, even when on all fours as he had become accustomed to doing. Spike's wings were to come in any day now, though his back hurt greatly at times as they developed. The spines running from the top of his head all the way down his back had become larger and sharper, forcing him to dull them frequently or risk destroying furniture. Spike was actually pretty fond of his new stature, but aside from ponies that didn't know him well steering clear of him, it forced him to change his diet. Pony foods such as veggies, fruits, and sweets of every variety were certainly edible to Spike, but didn't do much of anything for him as far as nutrition was concerned. Meat and gems were now his primary sources of nutrition, but Spike always ate some vegetables, sweets, and things of that nature for variety. Luckily, along with his enhanced physique, Spike's senses had sharpened as well. Spike was now an excellent hunter, in terms of both creatures and treasures no creature but a dragon would find appetizing. Though Spike made sure to only track predatory creatures that were known to go after ponies. Eliminating potentially deadly creatures helped Spike rationalize his need to feed on meat a little. Up until the point of starvation Spike had stayed a vegetarian. That, and the bones, claws, scales, feathers, and various other parts of many monstrous creatures were in high demand for potion making and alchemy. Spike cashed his supplies in once a month to an apothecary in Ponyville, making a generous sum each time. Which was fortunate, as most workplaces weren't built to accommodate creatures three and a half times the size of Celestia, the largest pony in the country. Spike was currently sneaking up on a particularly plump cockatrice he had managed to find all by it's lonesome. But right as he was about to pounce Spike felt a familiar sensation in his gut. With a loud belch of magical fire, a letter bearing his mother's personal seal dropped to the ground. Try as he might, Spike had never been able to make receiving letters much quieter. The cockatrice was immediately alerted to Spike's presence and looked upon the vastly larger predator. It fled as fast as possible, squawking loudly to alert others of the danger. Game would be scarce in this particular corner of the woods for a week, if not longer. "Dammit Mom! The one day this week I decide to eat something freshly caught!" Spike shouted in annoyance, his voice reverberating through the woods, scaring away all the birds in nearby trees. This type of thing tended to happen at least twice a month, usually right when Spike was trying to restock his freezer. Spike snorted smoke as he often did when annoyed but opened the letter regardless. Before he even started reading Spike took notice of the ink color. It was mixture number six of his mother's private ink stores, the color she used for emergencies or particularly unsettling news. Spike doubted anyone other than himself could tell, and he wasn't even sure if she realized she did it. This wasn't going to be good, whatever it was about. Dear Spike, An unexpected situation has arisen at the castle. The other princesses, Discord, and Shining are already here with me. It isn't quite an end of the world situation, but still rather serious. Please bring the gag gift Rainbow Dash got you for your last birthday, as we'll be needing it. I fear that Equestria is going to have to ask a hefty favor of you, and would understand if you declined. All I ask is that you listen to the situation. We're in the study on the fifth floor. See you when you get here. Love, Mom Spike read through the letter twice, unsure what to make of it. His mother was notoriously bad at making jokes, so Spike doubted it was some kind of prank. Still it was confusing, mostly because of the part about the gift. That and something about a favor to Equestria. The only favors Spike ever did for Equestria as of late were things like cooking for the princesses from time to time, or maybe sit in on a meal and eat a ton of meat to scare a noble that had gotten on Celestia or Luna's nerves. Regardless of the odd and unclear letter Spike knew he needed the item in question. After making sure no one was watching Spike sucked in some air and spat a hefty fireball into his hand. Once the flames cleared Spike was left holding a leather band that brought up a number of mixed feelings. Spike placed it on his wrist so he could walk on all fours better and went on his way. Spike found himself kind of looking forward to whatever lay ahead, as it had been awhile since something interesting had happened. Almost as if the world had run out of ancient evils or disgruntled monsters to throw at Equestria. Even though Spike knew that wasn't true, even if most other people believed it. Though hopefully this new situation would be something Spike could easily handle. Maybe some suitor was bugging his mother again. Spike always enjoyed scaring off those that wanted to take advantage of his mother's status. Unless of course this is about that. Then things would get heavy fast. I don't think Mom could handle it. She can't even watch me eat meatloaf. Spike silently worried. Doing his best to be optimistic, Spike continued on his way to Ponyville. Spike did wish his wings would hurry up and come in so he could get around faster, but he still made decent time getting there on foot. Spike knew Ponyville like the back of his claw, even though it had grown a lot since the castle had sprouted up. Though now that Spike was many times the size of the average pony traffic was often conveniently scarce whenever he was on the streets. Spike took the stairs up to the fifth floor of the upper castle, thankful the over-sized castle could accommodate him. It was kind of annoying that his mother's private study was on the fifth floor though, considering how many stairs he needed to climb. If I had my wings, I could just fly here land on the balcony. Then I wouldn't need to walk up mom's replica of Sombra's gods-damned infinite staircase. Spike whined internally as he finally reached the fifth floor. With a quick walk down the hall, Spike came to the study door. His ear-fins picked up some muffled chatter, telling him things inside were relatively calm for the moment. Feeling prepared, Spike turned the doorknob and entered the room. As it turned out, Spike wasn't entirely ready for what he saw. Luna, Discord, and King Sombra were sitting at one end of the room. Sombra appeared to be asleep in Luna's shadow, while Luna and Discord were playing go-fish. They looked up from their game, waving a little polite wave at Spike. Spike waved back on instinct, a tiny awkward smile on his face. Turning to look at the other side of the room Spike saw his mother, Celestia, and Cadence sitting around a small table out on the balcony. Each of them had a glass of his mother's emergency-bourbon. Today had apparently been stressful. Spike walked up to the trio of alicorns, trying to think of exactly what to say about the situation. After having grown up around Celestia, Spike equated her to something like an aunt. Thus, Spike felt no need to bow. Which was probably for the best, considering bowing was a tad difficult when you were as big as Spike. Spike merely decided it was probably best to get down to business. "So, couple things. First off, Sombra's here and apparently not dead. I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that was what the letter was about. The next thing is obviously the how. I distinctly remember Sombra exploding. I had nightmares about that." Spike asked fairly calmly. Spike had developed a truly grand tolerance for weird, and as such he was now pretty good in these situations. Twilight looked to the other alicorns at the table. Both of whom made an obvious effort not to make eye contact, taking drinks from their glasses as if everything was normal. It was painfully clear Twilight was to ask her son to cover for them in the situation. Twilight sighed deeply and downed her own beverage before turning back to her son. "Apparently Discord made Sombra immortal some thousand and something years ago in exchange for his soul. A sample of dark magic I took back with us from the empire turned out to be an actual piece of Sombra. "It's been in one of the lab storage rooms for awhile, probably put there when we moved in after the Tirek incident. Apparently Sombra had begun regenerating recently. He probably took so long because of the intensity of the magical explosion." Twilight explained before stopping for a breath. As she took in her breath she took the opportunity to refill her glass and pour one for Spike. Spike accepted it, as alcohol was far less effective on his biology than it was to a pony's. It'd take well over a gallon of bourbon to get Spike tipsy, so no matter what Spike would still be ready for anything after one glass. Spike had been thirsty anyway, having not bothered to head home before coming. Spike downed the drink in one go, setting the glass on a coaster on the nearby table. Twilight seemed ready to continue so Spike nodded for her to finish. "I found Sombra in a jar, put him in stasis, then brought him here, called everypony, and here we are. Discord conjured Sombra an earth pony body and we agreed to reform him. Celestia and Luna seem to think you're the best pony to watch him for whatever reason." Twilight explained somberly. Spike let all of that sink in for a moment before looking over to the group in the other side of the room. Luna had Discord in a headlock, presumably for cheating at cards. Sombra was still managing to sleep through it however. Though it was quite possible Luna had cast a sleep spell on him. Sombra was indeed devoid of his curved horn, something Spike hadn't noticed until now. I suppose he's not much of a threat without his magic... But Sombra might have some kind of connection to him. The eyes aren't proof, but they're incriminating. Spike thought to himself as he looked the nearly powerless dictator. Although... Mom has used that kind of power before, and Celestia too. Although Mom had no idea what she was dealing with. Putting what he knew now aside, Spike had admittedly thought on many occasions that Sombra had gotten the short end of the stick. Instead of banishment, reformation, or even imprisonment, Sombra had gotten destroyed. Certainly a normal dragon would do something like that to those that wronged them, but it was something unthinkable for ponies. And Spike was no ordinary dragon by any definition of the word. Even though Sombra hadn't deserved his fate, Spike still had a few reservations about keeping the villain at arm's length. Seeing Sombra sleeping soundly in Luna's shadow made him seem much less intimidating than Spike remembered. Though to be fair Spike wasn't intimidated by much when he towered over most enemies that his friends and family had dealt with back in the day. Spike drummed his claws on the crystalline floors, thinking things over. Eventually Spike came to a decision, heavily weighted by the fact that if he denied the position that his mother might be forced to take up the role, or Sombra could end up imprisoned again. Neither option seemed appealing, so Spike wanted to do what was best for everyone. "Yeah, alright. I'll reform Sombra. It shouldn't be all that hard to make friends with the guy, right?" Spike agreed, being optimistic. Celestia, Twilight, and especially Cadence seemed quite relieved at the news. "That's great, Spike. No way we could take Sombra to the empire. And to be perfectly honest, I don't want the psychopath anywhere near my kids. I would castrate him if he laid a single hoof on one of your little cousins." Cadence told her nephew appreciatively. Spike nodded, understanding the situation. "How are Ram and Amy doing? I'd come visit more, but I can't fit a normal train-car, and my wings aren't in yet obviously. What are they, ten and five now?" Spike asked, already knowing the answer. Cadence nodded, delighted to see Spike keeping an interest in the family. It had been ages since Spike's last trip to the empire, and the crystal ponies and his cousins alike missed him. Every time Spike got an invitation he had politely declined, claiming to be busy with something or other. "Exactly right. Rampart made his first shield bubble the other day, and Amore' is trying to marry off her dollies to Ram's action-figures." Cadence gushed, squeeing with motherly pride. "As much as I'd love to talk about the next generation of crystal-royalty, we still have to discuss our plan to keep Sombra in Ponyville." Celestia interjected apologetically. Twilight nodded, using her magic to remove the leather band from Spike's wrist. A look of realization hit Spike, and he desperately grabbed for it before it could get to his mother. Unfortunately, even Spike's fast movements were no match for the miraculous innovation of the short-range teleportation spell. "You aren't seriously going to make Sombra wear it are you? How is that necessary?" Spike groaned. "I'm sorry Spike, but we need something to enchant so that he won't be able to leave town. It was the first thing that came to mind, and it's an admittedly convenient choice." Twilight replied reluctantly. Spike wanted to disappear right about now, as things were almost definitely about to get awkward. Twilight held the item in the air with her magic, unintentionally making it plain for all to see. It appeared to be a large, black-leather dog collar with metal studs around the length of it. Hanging directly bellow the center was a circular silver tag engraved with the name Spike, in an admittedly fancy script. "What in the world is that?!" A male voice Spike instantly recognized rang out from the direction of the door. Spike groaned as he turned to see his uncle, Shining Armor standing in the doorway. A half eaten corn-dog floating in his magic field. Shining was trying his very best not to laugh right now, though he was failing miserably. He regretted the outburst when Spike looked ready to rip his head off when he opened his eyes. "It was a gag gift from Rainbow Dash dammit! Every time anypony sees the damn thing I don't hear the end of it for weeks!" Spike practically roared, smoke trailing from his mouth with each word. Everypony in the room was a bit surprised at the normally remarkably well mannered dragon's outburst. The windows of the castle study actually shook from the sheer power of his voice. Luna was considerably impressed, while everyone but Sombra was a tad worried. Somehow the tyrant king was still slumbering peacefully. Rainbow Dash had indeed given the collar to Spike as a joke on his last birthday. Apparently she had remembered the story of him being a dog when he went through the magic mirror. Rainbow had even had it professionally made by an associate of Fluttershy's who raised big dogs. Somehow she had even managed to get the size perfect for Spike's neck at the time, something Spike didn't like to think about. Cadence sensed something amiss, and her curiosity and intuition as the alicorn of love told her to press the matter. "If you hate it so much why did you keep it?" Cadence asked politely, obviously meaning no harm. Spike was immediately silenced as soon as he heard the question, a shade of red noticeable even through his thick scales came over his face. He craned his neck down closely to the mare, not wanting his mother to hear him. "I... uh. I had a really weird coltfriend at the time, let's just leave it at that." Spike whispered to the pink alicorn who blushed a deep red. Twilight made a mental note to magically erase her memory of hearing what she had just heard as she prepared the spell for the collar. After a few moments of filling the collar with her powerful mana she used a rather simple spell to put it around Sombra's neck. Underneath Sombra's neck-armor it was almost undetectable, but the bottom of the black strap could be seen, along with the obvious tag. Next Twilight hit Spike with her magic, causing him to glow for a moment as well. Spike's dragon biology coupled with his frequent exposure to high level magic made him nearly completely immune to most pony magic, but Twilight's magic had birthed him. This made her's the exception. Even Celestia, Luna, and Discord would have had quite a time properly linking Spike to even a simple enchantment by themselves. Spike felt normal once his mother had finished. Maybe a little tingly, but that was to be expected. Spike looked to Twilight for confirmation that the spell had gone correctly. Spike received a confident nod in return. "That should do it. Sombra won't be able to leave Ponyville, and only you will be able to take the collar off of him, Spike." Twilight explained. Spike sighed and nodded his head. There was no going back now. His honorable dragon code ensured that. "I guess I should go get acquainted with Sombra then." Spike relented as he began making the short trek across the room. Shining took extra care not to draw attention to himself as he trotted off to rejoin his wife. He had obviously hit a sore spot and didn't want to make things any harder for Spike. Shining had sparred with Spike briefly on his last visit to Spike's home, and the young dragon was a force to be reckoned with if he got truly angry. Apparently dragons could claw through a mana bubble with little effort, which Shining had learned the hard way after calling Spike an overgrown gecko with a thing for shiny rocks. That had also been the last time Shining Armor went overboard with smack-talk. Spike stopped when he was directly in front of Sombra, looking at Luna. "You think Sombra's got connections to you-know-who? You know the eyes are one of his signs." Spike whispered. Luna gave Spike an uncertain look before turning her gaze to Sombra. "We cannot be certain. But Sombra is dangerous either way, especially since we know he is immortal now. We will investigate his unconsciousness tonight in his sleep. We will get back to you soon. In the meantime, he is your responsibility. We apologize for saddling you with this, but you know as well as we do that Celestia and I are too familiar with the power to combat it." Luna whispered back. Once she had finished speaking Luna's shadow seemed to dim and Sombra stirred. Sombra opened his eyes slowly, getting them used to the light in the room once more. The first thing that Sombra saw in his blurry vision was a mass of purple and green. At first Sombra's tired mind tried to figure out what it was and initially rationalized it as Princess Twilight. Though very soon Sombra's vision improved and he was proved wrong. Instead of Twilight it was a dragon. A very big dragon. Sombra was taken aback, but when he tried to back up slowly he found his passage blocked by Luna. Processing his situation Sombra believed he knew what was going on. "So, I let my guard down and you decide to feed me to a dragon. Well played, Celestia. Good to see your mind hasn't deteriorated as much as your looks in the last thousand years. Just keep on eating those cakes, they're doing wonders for you." Sombra said with pure venom in his voice as he looked to the eldest alicorn. Spike looked to the other ponies in the room to see their reactions while suppressing his own laughter. His mother, Cadence, and Shining Armor were all absolutely mortified. None of them seemed to be able to move a muscle, not even to pick their jaws up from the floor. Luna and Discord on the other hand were positively dying, pounding their various limbs on the ground in a futile attempt to quell the uproar of hilarity that had overtaken them. Celestia scowled at Sombra with actual smoke rising from her ears, but somehow resisted the urge to teleport Sombra into the sun. She had never actually tried to do it, but the idea was quickly becoming more and more appealing to her. Spike decided now was probably the best time to introduce himself, mostly because he didn't expect the situation to get any better. He craned his neck down and met Sombra at eye level. While Sombra was frightened, Spike's eyes relayed nothing but minor annoyance to him. Sombra eased up a bit, and Spike was rather relieved to see that there was no trace of green in Sombra's eyes, or purple miasma-vapor trailing away from them. They were the eyes of a normal pony, albeit the exact color of blood. Something Spike had never seen in the multitude of ponies he had met throughout his life. Once Sombra had been made more willing to listen Spike proceeded with the introduction. "I'm not here to eat you. I'm Spike, your new parole officer or whatever. We've met once before, when I was knee high. And if memory serves, you tried to kill me." Spike informed Sombra somewhat smugly. Sombra took a moment and connected the dots, using his very limited selection of memories. The lizard with the heart was actually a dragon, who is apparently the new, purple-princess's adopted son. Now a large fire breathing reptile is in charge of me, and the icing on the cake is that he most likely bares resentment towards me. Fantastic. Sombra thought grimly to himself as his hopes of getting free fell. Sombra was quietly fuming, trying to think of some way to get out of the situation. Spike however was quite possibly the only person in the room willing to help him, and luckily he had something of an out for the tactless stallion. "If you can apologize to Celestia, I'll get you out of here before my family collectively tries to test your immortality again." Spike whispered to Sombra. Sombra loathed the notion of apologizing to Celestia, but Spike's offer was admittedly his best option for the time being. Swallowing every ounce of pride he had, Sombra attempted to formulate an apology for the alicorn he despised the most. He understood the concept, but Sombra had never actually apologized to anyone before. "I'm sorry for commenting on your weight problem Celestia, that was wrong of me." Sombra attempted. Celestia looked from Sombra to Spike expectantly, barely containing the fury in her eyes. The temperature in the room was noticeably rising, as the temperature outside was likely doing too. Spike shrugged in reply, careful of saying anything that might agitate her further. "I'd say that's probably about as good as you're gonna get from him right now. Unless you want me to break some bones or something that is." Spike said sarcastically, cracking his knuckles for emphasis. Sombra's expression fell at that, an audible gulp accompanying it. Spike actually felt a little bad Sombra believed he would harm him to such a degree. Celestia was obviously taking the offer seriously too, but decided it wouldn't reflect well on her if anypony found out. "Just please, please get him out of my sight until he learns to behave." Celestia pleaded. Spike nodded and grabbed the irritating stallion with his powerful, dexterous tail. Sombra struggled once more but found Spike's tail to be even more powerful than the grip Spike had had him held aloft in moments before. With a quick flex Spike squeezed the wind out of Sombra a little, making him still. "You're only going to be wrapped up until we get outside, I don't want you stealing anything from my Mom's castle on our way out." Spike explained. Sombra nodded as he gasped upon regaining the ability to fill his lungs. Sombra was beginning to see that he was going to have to at least act reformed for the time being. If he didn't his so-called 'parole officer' might just put him out for another fifteen years. Spike bid his friends and family goodbye, as he had a lot of adjustments to make at home if he was to accommodate Sombra. After receiving a hug from Twilight and some words of encouragement from the others they were out the door. Discord and Luna watched them leave from the balcony, looking down at the main entrance. The very second Spike let Sombra out of his tail's crushing grip Sombra tried to make an escape. He made it about two feet before Spike grabbed him by the barrel, pulling him backward. Discord and Luna turned to each other with looks of mild amusement. "Is it just me or is there something off about Sombrero's life force? I mean besides my tampering?" Discord hinted at Luna. Luna nodded knowingly, as she had already been aware of it. The disturbance wasn't overly powerful, but noticeable to the godly beings in the room. It was something dark, but whatever it was it was hard to get a fix on. "I think you may be right, and Spike has some suspicions too. I peeked into his consciousness as he slept, his mind has been altered too greatly for me to view. I'm going to have to ask a certain someone to help." Luna replied. "Well there's only one being around here that knows more than us when we put our heads together. Please, say hello to the old gray mare for me." Discord said with his typical sly grin. Celestia joined the the others on the balcony as Cadence and Shining Armor left and Twilight began disassembling the containment tube Sombra had been in. "You know she doesn't mind visitors, Discord. You could always go yourself. Spike goes to see her quite often actually. She's been teaching him all about his people. After all she's the only one left that remembers how dragons used to be. She's the last being left alive that can remember seeing an unaided rotation of day and night." Celestia added. Discord frowned at the notion, an unpleasant look in his eyes, as if someone had offered him a kale and alfalfa salad. Discord obviously had some reservations about going to visit the mystery mare Luna and Celestia spoke of. He rubbed his temples with his mismatched hands at the mere thought of it. "She never falls for any of my tricks when she doesn't need to keep up appearances. She's seen so much that even my beautiful chaos is predictable to her!" Discord whined, "And besides, I get a migraine if I listen to her speak for too long. She's like the me I am to everyone else. It's positively infuriating." "Just as well. You need to go find Sombra's soul. It could be quite important if Sombra does have a connection to Spike's family. Or, you could tell us exactly how your first encounter with Sombra went. I'm sure Celestia wants to know just as badly." Luna retorted. Discord frowned, snapping his over-sized fang from his jaw. Using it like a thief's glass-cutter Discord proceeded to remove a circular section of reality. Anyone who looked into the void for too long would have went mad had they been mortal. But as this was not the case Celestia and Luna merely watched Discord snake his way into the opening. "I suppose I'd better get looking then. I haven't cleaned my room in eons, so it's going to take me awhile." Discord informed them before vanishing, along with the portal. After Discord had gone the royal pony sisters watched Spike and Sombra walking home for a time, but soon found themselves looking beyond the two. An ominous feeling was creeping on the horizon, and they knew who was bound to have the answers. But for once, it was not a pony's problem to solve if things were moving along the course they had been dreading.