Spike's Discovery

by Rarityfan87

Chapter 2: The Dragon Lands (Story V 2.0)

Spike arrived at the edge of the dragon lands and landed. He walked until he saw a guard blocking the way in.

“Who may you be?” The dragon asked.

“I am Spike, and who may you be?”

“My name is Scales.”

“Well Scales, I’ve come here, because I want to learn about what it means to be a dragon.”

“Oh you do, pony lover.”

“Yes I do.” Spike said, slight anger in his voice.

“Well why should I help you?”

“Because, it’s part of our heritage.” Spike said, feeling nervous, and crossing his fingers hoping it would work.

“Nice try, but I wasn’t born yesterday. Besides, a pony lover is too soft, you could never become a real dragon. You’ll be a soft pony lover for the rest of your life. Now leave before I have to take matters into my own claws.” Scales had a smirk on his face.

“I’m sorry but I’m not going to accept no for an answer.” Spike said, ready to fight if he had to.

“Well, I guess today is your unlucky day.”

The two were in position, ready to fight. Scales started by throwing a flame ball in Spike’s direction. Spike dodged, getting out of the way just in time. Unfortunately the dragon already moved to his position while Spike was distracted. He then hit him hard on the head with his tail, knocking him out.

“I knew you were too soft. Now to take you back, I’m sure the king will appreciate a new slave or snack.” Scales had a smirk on his face, as he dragged Spike into the heart of the dragon lands. He made his way to the castle, where he met up with two guards.

“Hey guys I have some fresh meat here.”

“Alright, put him in an empty cell cage and report it to the king.”

“Will do.” Scales threw the unconscious Spike in the cell. He locked the cell and made his way to the king.

"Your majesty, I have a new prisoner for you."

"Take me to him Scales, I want to see him."

"This way your majesty." The king followed Scales to Spike's cell.

"Here he is your majesty."

“Thank you Scales, I shall wait until he gains consciousness.” Scales made his way back to the entrance of the dragon lands.

About two hours later, Spike regained consciousness.

“Ow! My head…” Spike said, rubbing his head. It felt like his scull cracked in half. He slowly opened his eyes, and noticed he was in a cell, and a dragon was watching him.

“I'm glad to see you woke up, my name is Thorne, king of the dragons, and who are you?”

“My name is Spike, your majesty.”

“I apologize for the way Scales treated you, he has anger issues, but he does a good job at protecting the dragon lands from intruders.”

“That’s alright your majesty, I understand.”

“Now Spike I must ask, what brought you to the dragon lands?” The king asked in a calm voice.

“I was forced to come here from Princess Celestia. She wanted me to learn about my dragon heritage. When she forced me to leave however, something didn’t feel right. Her eyes were green like a changeling. The strange thing is, I saw Celestia, and my immunity to magic didn’t show a changeling.”

“It is possible you might have imagined it.”

“I thought so at first as well, but my friend saw it as well.” Spike said worried, he was wondering if Twilight was alright.

“I don’t think you need to worry, I’m sure your friend will be alright if danger should come.” The king said, trying to relieve Spike of his worries.

“Thank you, I’m sure you’re right your majesty.” Spike felt a little better.

“Now you said you were sent here to learn about your dragon heritage?”

“Yes.”

“Would you still like to learn, or go back to your friend?”

“Well right now, I think if I returned, I would cause suspicion. Which would mean, I would like to learn, but I want to return to my friend soon enough to make sure she’s alright.”

“I understand Spike, as for now, get some rest. Tomorrow we’ll start your lessons bright and early. I will be here to get you.”

“Thank you, your majesty.”

“You’re welcome Spike.” The king walked away. Spike had trouble falling asleep at first because of his headache, but he eventually fell asleep.

That night Spike had a nightmare. He dreamed that he came back to Ponyville, only to find out it was destroyed by the changelings. He made his way to the treehouse, only to find Twilight barely alive.

“Twilight!” Spike yelled, worried as he quickly made his way to her. She was lying on the floor, in the middle of the library, almost all of her energy was drained. Her breathing was weak, she was full of bruises, and had some cuts. She was also bleeding slightly from the mouth. Spike was now sitting beside her.

“Spike… is… that… you?” Twilight asked, coughing out some blood.

“Yes Twilight it’s me. Who did this to you?” Tears were flowing down Spike’s cheeks. He put his arms around her in a hug, being careful not to hurt her. Twilight placed her hooves around Spike, returning the hug.

“It was… Princess Celestia. You were… right Spike… it wasn’t… truly her. It was…”

“Twilight? TWILIGHT!? No… please… don’t be gone. Please! Wake up Twilight!” Spike let go of Twilight gently. Tears continuing to flow down his cheeks. His best friend was dead, he was too late. All his friends were dead. He heard something land near him, he looked around and there she was… Princess Celestia.

“Well Spike, you were too late, now all your friends and family are dead.”

“Who are you? … What have you done with the real Princess Celestia?” Spike asked, pure anger in his voice. Wanting to avenge his friends.

“You still don’t know? Well let me show you…”

Suddenly Spike heard banging noises, causing him to wake up.

Thank Luna it was just a dream. Spike thought to himself.

“Good morning Spike, how are you feeling today?” The king asked.

“I’m doing better, how about you your majesty?”

“I am doing well. Did you have a nightmare?”

“Yes… how did you know?” Spike asked, curious.

“When I came in, I could hear you talking in your sleep.”

“Oh.”

“Care to tell me what it was about?” The king asked, concerned about Spike.

“Well…” Spike explained what he could remember from his nightmare.

“I see, well I will teach you as much as I can today. Later in the night, I want you to go to Ponyville and check on your friend, and make sure everything is alright.”

“Won’t that look suspicious your majesty?” Spike asked, worried.

“I’d rather you do this now before it might possibly be too late.”

“I have a question your majesty.” Spike felt nervous.

“Yes Spike?”

“I want to ask, why… do you believe me about my friend possibly being in danger?”

“Well Spike, I can see it in your eyes. You look genuinely worried, like you know something is wrong. I haven’t seen a look that worried for ages. It is possible that it might be nothing, you could be a great liar, but I would rather be sure that everything is alright then let it get bad. You might also be wondering why I would care about something like this. Well you are part of our family Spike. You may have been raised by ponies, but you are still a dragon, and we are all here for each other, no matter what the situation is.”

“Thank you your majesty, I’m glad to hear I have support here.” Spike smiled, he felt a part of the group. Even more than he did with his friends. He felt more welcomed with the other dragons based on what the king told him. His friends would sometimes leave him to go on adventures or to save the world. Here however, he feels like he could go on adventures with some friends here, and not get left behind. Now all he had to do was make some friends.

“Now for our first lesson Spike, learning to hunt and eat.”

“Alright your majesty.”

“That’s the spirit, now follow me.” The king unlocked his cell. Spike walked out and did a few stretches. His legs felt stiff. Spike followed the king. They flew into the Everfree Forest.

“Alright Spike, were going to hide behind these rocks, and we’ll listen until we hear movement. At that point, we’ll get ready to strike.”

“Yes your majesty.” Spike whispered as he got into position.

Thirty minutes later, and there was still no sounds of movement.

“It seems we may be out of luck… Wait!” The king went back into hiding, hinting for Spike to do the same. The sound was getting louder, until eventually it was right beside them. The kind took a quick look, he signaled Spike to follow his lead. He pounced on the creature, it was a cockatrice. Spike watched as the king properly killed it. Spike started to feel sick, he never killed an animal before, or witnessed it.

“Alright Spike, it’s ready to eat.”

“I’m sorry your highness, I feel sick.” Spike said, looking around for a spot in case he had to vomit.

“I know it must be difficult for you Spike, never having to hunt for your food, and never having meat before, but I want you to try it Spike, it is part of being a dragon after all.”

“Yes your majesty.” Spike slowly made his way to the cockatrice. He slowly went to grab a piece of meat. Holding it in his claw, he couldn’t put it in his mouth. He stared at it for a while, trying to get the courage to eat it. Finally he thought.

I need to do this. I don’t have to ever eat meat again after this, I just need to do this and move on. It’s part of my heritage. Come on Spike… you can do this, do it for yourself, do it for your king.

Spike took a small bite. He quickly chewed it and swallowed.

“This is pretty good your majesty.”

“I’m glad to hear that Spike. I’m proud of you, it must have been difficult, but you faced it. I just wanted you to try it this once. Now you can go back to your normal food.”

“Thank you your majesty.”

“Our next lesson will be to train you on how we do combat. Normally I would do this later, but seeing as your friends may be in trouble, I will teach it to you now.”

“Thank you your majesty, I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome Spike, now follow me to the training grounds.”

Spike followed the king to the training grounds. Spike was in awe. It was massive. There was acres of grass. It was filled with testing dummies both on the ground and in the air. There was even a catapult launching projectiles to practice dodging spells. Currently it was busy with soldiers training. The king took Spike to a spot that the king would train soldiers personally.

“Alright Spike, I’m going to start by teaching you ground combat, then we will take a break for supper, then I will train you in air combat.”

“Sounds good your majesty.”

“Alright, let’s get started.”

The king started off by showing Spike different techniques on how to use agility to dodge incoming attacks. He then showed him different methods to counter attack. He then showed different methods to distract and trick the opponent, leaving them open for an attack. After they ate their meal, they started their training in the air. He showed mostly the same thing as he did on the ground, with slight modifications.

It was now late, and they just finished their training.

“How do you feel Spike?”

“I feel good, this will surely help me out in case something bad will really happen.”

“I’m glad, now go and check on your friends. Come back and let me know how it goes.”

“I will, thank you for everything your majesty.” Spike flew off in the direction on Ponyville. After the king couldn’t see Spike in the night, he said.

“You’re welcome… son.”

Comments

[twilight hunter]

I have a question for you are you going to make 2 versions of the beginning and have the ending possible for both or are you going to scrap the original and keep the 2nt version ? just a question you do not have to tell I was just wondering. still a great story by the way.

[Rarityfan87]

4272948
The first story is a separate story. These chapters I'm writing now, are a re-write, so this one is a stand alone story. So the ending will only apply to the new one.

[rarityxspike]

OMG OMG OMG OMGooooosh!!!!!
Need another chapter ASAP

This is great re-write and I love how, as the reader we can feel the same as Spike, sensing there is something's wrong, thanks to chapter 1. And when I read the first chapter I was like GREEN EYES!? CHANGELING!! And now in this chapter Spike had pointed out that she's not a changeling, but also had a nightmare about being too late and Ponyville destroyed by... changelings. This raises the question:
Is Spike certain about this 'Princess Celestia' not being a changeling or having something to do with the changelings?

Anyway, the fact that Spike can sense something is wrong plays another role, other than connecting with the reader (in a way). The other role it plays is that it can make reader ask themselves:
Is there something wrong?

In most cases this would become a subconscious question and the reader would also subconsciously say yes, because of two obvious hints in Chapter 1 (dodgy handwriting and green eyes), and then they would consciously wonder what the the problem is. Although if you actually stop and think, after seeing two big hints of trouble, Spike can just be paranoid, and this 'trouble' would either be non-existent, which would make no sense, but nevermind, or that it's something Twilight (and all of friends) can handle on her/their own. Although this seems a really small idea, it has the possibility to work well, if written in the right way, being an inexperienced writer myself, I wouldn't know where to start. But whichever way this story goes, I know it's going to be a great and enjoyable read

[Rarityfan87]

4281577
Wow, I'm glad you liked it. To be honest, you pointed out a few things even I didn't think of. Now you're scaring me about how I should end this. I had the plan, but I think I need to pull the plug and quit before I ruin it!

I'm just kidding, I won't quit, but I will continue down the path I planned for the ending, but I might make a few changes after seeing those things pointed out.

PS: Don't forget that Twilight saw it too (the writing and eye colour), or did Spike mistake that as well?

[rarityxspike]

4281848 Oh yeah, of course Twilight saw it as well, but if I mentioned Twilight and some other ideas I planned to write it would have been a story not a comment

P.S. Sorry for scaring you

[Rarityfan87]

4282873
Trust me, I'm used to long comments. When my grandma e-mails me, it's always the size of an essay.

And no worries, you just surprised me more than scared me. I hadn't thought of some of those ideas.

Has anyone ever told you you're smart?

[rarityxspike]

4283004 No, no one has ever told me I'm smart, how come?

[Rarityfan87]

4286040
Because you are.

[rarityxspike]

4286138 Really!? Well, thanks