Endurance

by Symphony

Return

If you find any stupid grammar/spelling errors, tell me and I'll fix it as soon as I can.

He was staring down at her, his gaze was colder than it ever had been. His enormous emerald orbs gave a shine of confidence, strength and respect. Nopony with his or her sanity would dare to question the dragon and walk away to tell the tale. His claws were shining in the pale moonlight, giving the black daggers a moonlit shine. He was the incarnated object of all the things a pony should fear.

The lunar princess stood before him in all her might, she was a power to be reckoned with. The night sky and the great lunar orb, who once served as her prison was now in her full command once again. Her power knew almost no limits, such did her lifespan. When the skies would fall, so would she. Her mane, who resembled a star-filled night flowed in a non-existant wind. The silence between the two was eerie. The tension between them was almost so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

Until Luna crossed her eyes and blew a raspberry right in Spike’s face.

Spike couldn’t control himself, he rolled onto his back while clutching his sides as he was laughing so hard that it was making them ache. Luna did the same, but she was flapping her wings and kicking her hindlegs into the air. Luna had come to visit him, without Celestia this time. They had decided to finish a stare contest that hadn’t been finished the last time she had visited.

‘You... You lost!’ Spike gasped between his thunderous laughter. He had calmed down enough to lay still, but his right leg still twitched from time to time.

‘That I did, but it was worth it.’ Luna said as she laid down with her forelegs tucked beneath her, still giggling.

‘Heh, yeah.’ Spike carefully rolled onto his stomach and laid his head down on his folded arms. The moonlight came in through the mouth of the cave, and was aimed right at him. Luna couldn’t take her eyes off him, it was almost binding to see the silver light reflect on his purple scales. Spike noticed that Luna was lost in thought and nudged her gently with his massive hand. She blinked rapidly and shook her head. ‘You alright, Luna?’. He asked, concerned.

‘Uh.. yes, I’m fine.’ She was a little embarassed that she had lost herself like that, and a soft blush appeared on her face. She was lucky that it was dark out and the only light inside the cave was a small fire that Spike had started when she first came there.

‘Alright, alright.’ Spike stretched his arms and wings before he would neatly fold the wings back to his side and fold the arms and lay them back under his chin.

‘Don’t you ever get sick of being in this cave and only this forest all day?’ Luna asked as she moved closer towards him.

‘Sometimes, yeah. But if I would leave it I would cause a panic amongst the ponies.’ Spike finished with a sigh.

‘You want to see Ponyville again, don’t you?’ Luna scooted closer towards him and leaned towards his massive frame for warmth. The cave wasn’t exactly warm during the night.

‘Yeah... But I would cause a panic if I would come there right out of the blue. This generation probably has no idea that a dragon used to live in Ponyville a thousand years ago...’ Spike wanted to go there so much, but all he would do is cause chaos.

‘You know, I could arrange so that you could visit Ponyville for maybe a week or so.’ Luna said as she nuzzled her head towards his massive head. Spike was in shock. After all these years in solitude, he would be able to come back to the place he wanted to be.

‘Can you do that for me?’ Luna nodded.

‘Really?’ Spike wanted confirmation.

‘Yes really.’ Luna sighed.

’If this is a joke it isn’t funny.’ Spike pointed out in a serious tone.

Luna facehoofed and let out a deep sigh. ‘I’m not joking, I’m a princess and all it takes is one letter. Now do you want to go or not?’

‘YES!’ Spike roared and it felt almost like the entire mountain shook from his answer.

Luna’s ears were ringing and it felt like she had to throw up, but she managed to calm down and compose herself. ‘Great! As soon as I get back to the castle I will send a letter down to Ponyville. I’m sure that Celestia will love the idea. We’ll come with you and escort you there with a couple of guards!’ Luna was very excited that Spike would get out. Spike was even more excited than the princess next to him. He had to keep himself from standing up and bouncing around like Pinkie used to do all the time. A small grin was plastered on his face.

Luna looked out to see that the first rays of the sun were breaching the horizon. She realized that she had to go and finish her responsibility. She sighed and turned towards the excited heap of dragon and nudged his side with her hoof. ’I have to go and help my sister create a new day...’

Spike’s excited mood deflated a little, but perked up at the thought that she will make preparations so he can go to Ponyville. ‘Alright, take good care of your sis for me!’ He chuckled.

Luna chuckled with him as she walked closer to his head and nuzzled it. ’I will, and expect a letter from us.’ She continued to walk towards the mouth of the cave and just before she took off, she turned slightly and waved to him with her right hoof. He returned the gesture but slower and sighed as she took off.

‘Alone again...’ He said in a low tone. He looked over to a corner of the cave where another manticore corpse was lying in a heap. His gaze continued to wander to a small scroll. He reached for it and unrolled it. It was the picture he was given by Celestia a week ago. He handled it carefully so it wouldn’t rip, even when Celestia had put a spell on it so it wouldn’t rip or burn. He laid the picture back on its usual place and closed his eyes. Being up the entire night with Luna had been tiring, so he decided to sleep the day away.

-----

Spike awoke with a start. His stomach rumbled in a way it hadn’t done in more than a thousand years, he felt the pressure rise from his stomach to his throat. He couldn’t stop it and before he knew it, he burped a small green flame and a scroll appeared by the end of it and dropped to the cave floor. He stared at it for a while before he realised what had just happened.

‘Still a mailbox, huh...’ He groaned as he picked up the scroll. The seal was a sun with a crescent moon in the middle of it. As he unrolled it and read it, his jaw dropped.

’’Dear Spike,

My sister informed me of her idea to re-introduce you to Ponyville and its habitants of this generation. I have accepted the request and sent a notification to the town’s mayor and my current student, Dawn. Dawn is a descendant of Twilight Sparkle, and she have heard stories about how it used to be a dragon in her family. She is more than excited to meet you and talk to you. She can be a lot like Twilight, so expect many questions.

I recieved a very positive response from the mayor, and preparations have begun to house you during your stay. Me, my sister and a number of guards will come to escort you there in three days time.

Remember, this might be stressful for you, so as soon as something happens, do not hesitate to alert me or Luna. It’s for your own safety, as we would never want anything to happen to you.

Your faithful friend,

Princess Celestia

P.s News have reached the media. We will keep them away from you.’’

Spike kept reading it over and over. Three... Days... He will go to Ponyville in three days. He couldn’t believe what he just had read. Twilight had a descendant who was now Celestia’s student and also lived in Ponyville. It was almost too much for him to handle. He laid down the letter from the princess gently and calmly walked out the mouth of the cave and spread his wings and took off to the sky.

In the air, Spike screamed out his happiness. He roared and did a few flips that Rainbow Dash would facehoof to if she would have seen them. When he had finally calmed down, he returned to his cave and pranced inside. He hadn’t been this happy in years. He would finally return to the town he was raised in. It was going to be three slow days until then, but it would be worth the wait. He laid down on his hoard on his back and placed his arms behind his head and relaxed with a small grin that made him look stupid. He closed his eyes and put one of his hands resting on his stomach and sighed. This was going to be awesome. He just knew it.

-----

The three days had passed irritatingly slow and Spike was running out of patience. He was sitting on the platform outside his cave and was impatiently tapping his claws on the ground. He finally saw the shape of the princesses and ten guards in the distant. He stood up and stretched his wings to their full extent. Celestia was the first one to land, followed by her sister and the guards. The guards who wasn’t with them the first time they visited Spike couldn’t believe their eyes as their princesses walked up to the humongous beast and nuzzled his massive right leg.

‘You ready?’ Luna asked in a challenging tone with a small smirk.

‘Always ready.’ Spike answered with a grin, exposing his fangs.

‘Well then, let’s not waste precious time here.’ Celestia said as she turned to her guards and nodded. The guards spread their wings at the same time with a snap.

‘Impressive.’ Spike said while slowly nodding. He walked towards the edge and looked down. He jumped off the cliff and went into a short dive, before he turned back up and just rode the wind. Celestia and the rest of the ponies soon caught up to him and he quickly nodded as the ponies started leading the way.

Four hours of constant flying later, he could see the edges of the town. It had grown bigger, but the big tree that was the library was still standing strong. The edge of the Everfree forest had moved closer to the town. As they came closer, he could make out the figure of a lone pony standing on the edge of the town. Celestia, Luna and the guards started their descent, but Spike had to circle the town for him to slow down. As he flew around it, he could see many ponies staring up at him with awe. He was finally flying slowly enough so he could land. He descended slowly and when he was close to the ground, he gave his wings a few strong flaps so he could place his legs on the ground before his arms, or it would be an embarassing tumble instead of a graceful landing.

When he finally was on solid ground, he could see the pony that he had seen from the air. Her coat was a little darker than what Twilight’s had been, but her eyes were brighter. She was of course a unicorn. Her mane were a little shorter than Twilight’s and a little darker, her cutiemark was also like Twilight’s but it was three sparkles and they were bright pink and no white. She stared at Spike with huge eyes. She had obviously never seen a dragon before. She kept on opening and closing her mouth like she were trying to find words. Spike took it to his own to make an introduction.

’Hi, I’m Spike...’ He said in a tone that would have given Fluttershy a run for her bits.

’Hi Spike, I’m Dawn.,,’ She said, shuffling her forelegs, making a small cloud of dust appear.

And that was the first of many awkward silences in his return to Ponyville.

Comments

[StatusQo]

Spike, forever a mailbox.

[cheetaboy7]

This deserves more views. Seriously, this is one of the few stories I'm actually looking forward to getting updates.

[trufla]

Ok, I'll admit that I'm a sucker for stories with grown-up Spike, and you're doing a great job with this one. It's got a reasonable pace, and you've done a good job of laying out a plausible future for our favorite Equestrian scaled inhabitant. Way to go!

I did notice one typo here, though.

‘You know, I could arrange so that you could visit Ponyville for maybe a week or so.’ Luna said as she nuzzled her head towards his massive head. Spike was in chock. After all these years in solitude, he would be able to come back to the place he wanted to be.

I'm pretty sure that you meant for that to be shock.

[hyourei]

452144
Common mistake for us swedes. Our word for shock is chock.