A crisis with a strange creature pulls the Mane Six and Spike out to the edges of the Hollow Shades Forest by Fillydelphia. What they expected to find was a baddie needing a beat down, not an ancient with knowledge of Spike's heritage.
Against their wishes, Spike runs away with the Nature dragon to a realm far from the reaches of civilization.
The image used is called Legend by Kaytara on deviant art.
Prereader is RadicalDishonesty
Featured on 10/22/2014!
completely remade and reposted... as both 20,407 and 0 words total
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What the? I have no idea what just happened.
Christ, suddenly eight chapters in 3 minutes. Did you rewrite and repost the whole thing or something?
5154092
It'll take a bit for the word count to update.
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Yep! I had some minor and major issues depending on the chapter so I just took it all down and reworked it.
*looks at picture* I bet that dragon gets morning wood a lot
I'm sorry I couldn't resist
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Ha, too bad she's not a boy.
5154303 ................. I knew that
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Knowlege in gems? Like spirit gems in spyro games(the ones that let you talk to the ancesters?).
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In a way, but not really. They're more like flash drives with word documents on them. Spike can read them like a book.
Wow, First comment ? And such a good story too...
Great chapter btw. Rest in pieces
Can't wait for the next chapter already. I especially love what you did with Heartwood's dialogue. I really get the impression that an ancient being is trying to vocalize thoughts when it had no need to for centuries.
Yay a reference to The Road to El Dorado i love that movie.
Who was the "old friend"?
Discord?
Good story.
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Thanks! And yes, it was Discord.
I wish the story was longer..(And that it didn't cut so suddenly)..I can see him growing and growing throughout the years until Twilight is gone...
But, a good ending nonetheless.
Oh, I was wondering why it was featured yet not in my favorites list.
Stories with Spike always have the greatest potential for sadness, what with dragons having such long lifespans. Still really good.
I wish it was longer.... Oddly though this line is creepy
and by creepy Spike does something just like this in my story...
Thank you for such a wonderful story.
Entire story is headcanon for me!
And my brain is having issues with the ending... Did Celestia and Luna imagine him to go dormant/into hibernation next to the statue of Twilight?
below me) REALLY YOU HAD TO SPOIL IT
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Ooh my gosh,I can't believe I did that. I'm so sorry. I was clarifying something.
I think I need to see a doctor, too much sea water is expelling from my face. Is that normal?
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Yes, and there is no cure.
YES
this is now my one of my favorite spike stories, now to read on.
I began to figure out that he was some kind of guardian of the forest based on the events in first chapter.
6105697 You sure there's no cure for that?
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Thanks! It was something I didn't usually write.
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Heartwood isn't really a guardian of the forest but does protect it when she sees it being destroyed.
They really need to get phones or something for their world it would save so much time.
I just lost all appreciation for Helden. He did far worse than interfere in a family matter. He convinced a kid to go spend time alone with a very powerful, heartless creature that has caused innocent people to die in ways too hideous for any living being to comprehend. This may be a journey of discovery for Spike, but there's no excuse for Helden or Twilight to treat is as anything less than a life-or-death situation. Helden belongs in prison, and Twilight should've instinctively conveyed the seriousness of the situation rather than treating is as a mere case of Spike misbehaving. Right now, she should be singlehoofedly tearing up the entire forest in search of him. Burning down the entire wilderness, if need be.
Plants cannot experience the kind of horror, agony, and terror that creatures do when they die; nature did not curse them with the same sensory equipment.
Suggestions? Well, you don't seem to need them as much as you may think, so, keep up the good work! I'm sure we can all be patient and wait for the sequel.
so spike became mountain sized crystalline dragon and return to twilights castle to have his second death. I can just imagine a large crystal mountain behind the castle. great story
Talk about a deadly miscommunication...
Nice intro, good work.
Nice work so far, well done.
So we find the guardian's name: Heartwood
Interesting, especially the library of stone part.
But now I have an image of an extremely old arcane dragon sleeping deep underground named Alexandria in my mind.
Really interesting idea, very good work.
And this philosophy really fits with Heartwood.
I have the feeling Heartwood would get along swimmingly with Yoda.
They would be the best of friends in a heartbeat.
Does that mean that the Mirror Pool is an Ebbing Pool dragon in your story?
Excellent story, truly well done.
Looking forward to it!
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Thanks for all the kind words.
Yay for sequels!
A nice read. A little shorter than I expected it to be, but a good read regardless. Nice lore and a fantastic idea with the whole second death dragon thing. Nice touch.
oh OOOOOHHH holy shiiiiiiiiii~ THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!
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Fantastic job writing this. It gave me the feels.
6793858 Think you could make a sequel? One showing what happened between the epilogue and the chapter before it.
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Haha, I have a sequel that's been stuck on the first chapter for a few months now. I'm sad to say that a lot of life events have gotten in the way of me continuing writing. I haven't given it up though. It is going to have a lot of adventuring that Spike does after the events of this story and delves into more of the lore behind the different elemental dragons.