The Fall of Spike the Dragon

by Wrangle Wolfe

Stuck In the Everfree

(Told From Luna's Perspective)

Pain. All I could feel was pain when I woke up. I yawned, stretching my aching body and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. It was cold. That's pretty odd, I thought I was asleep in my... bed? No... no this was dirt and grass that I was laying on, I'm sure of it. I'm apparently in a forest... but there's absolutely no noise around me. But how did I get here? Did Celestia...

"I'll break her fucking horn off!"

No... no it couldn't be real.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?!"

Spike couldn't have...

"Goodbye Luna. Have fun dying in the middle of a monster infested forest where you belong, you lying bitch!"

He did. He had torn Celestia's horn clean off of her head without hesitation. He threw her all the way to Ponyville. Then, he threw me to the Everfree forest...

I got up aching everywhere on my body, my bones making popping noises as I stretched. Just how long had I been here? How much damage did Spike cause so far? I stretched my wings... well, I would've stretched them if I didn't feel a sharp pain in them. I screamed in agony.

"C-crap...Ah! T-they're broken...." I choked out while groaning in pain.

I sat there for a moment, stretching a bit more until the stiffness left my body. I then prepared a teleporting spell and let the energy out of my horn expecting to be in the castle until...

Fizzle!

"Wait, no... this can't be happening!" But no matter how hard I tried, my spell just fizzled off. I checked my horn for a magic suppressor, but found nothing there. What did he do to me?!

I'd just have to... find a way out of the Everfree without magic or flight... or protection... and try not to get eaten by a monster. Suddenly, I heard rustling leaves to my right and froze up. While holding my breath, I slowly turned my head, hoping and praying that it wasn't a manticore. Luck wasn't on my side and I saw a lion paw emerge from the darkness, a soft thud could be heard as it made contact with the damp ground. Hopefully the beast didn't notice me. My heart raced as I watched it slowly inch forward as if it were stalking its prey. I felt tears form in my eyes. I couldn't die. Not like this. Not when Celesta might need me. Or the ponies of Equestria. I was shaking and my lungs started to burn. I didn't dare breathe as the smallest of things could get its attention. It stood there for a moment, looking around My legs began to grow weak and I felt dizzy. I had to breathe. Everything got even darker and blurry as I attempted to hold by breath in longer, but it was no use. The urge to breathe was too great.

An exhale and inhale later, the beast quickly turned its head in my direction. Tears fell out of my eyes as I just knew that I was going to become food. I couldn't run; I was still very stiff and in pain from laying in an uncomfortable position on the ground for the moon knows how long. My wings were useless, as they'd apparently been broken either from Spike or from the landing. My magic was useless at the moment and only fizzles when I attempt to use it. I was out of options. This moment will be the end of me.

Time went in slow motion as I saw the wild animal pounce towards me. I could make out all of its features, see its bright blue eyes, make out every single hair on its body. it was happening so slow that I could even see the wind rippling through its fur. The wind, even on me, was slowly and gently blowing the hair on both of our bodies. It was so close, I could now feel and smell its horrid breath.

Everything happened so fast. A large blur of brown intercepted the manticore and pushed it aside. My heart stopped in shock. That... was way too close. Its teeth had actually scratched across my face, making warm blood trail down my muzzle. I looked to my right to see an even bigger manticore roar at my attacker, making it run away. I let out a sigh of relief until I realised that the bigger beast had probably came to get me and scared the other to have me all for itself. It came towards me, and I closed my eyes in fear, expecting to be eaten alive just to receive... a lick to the face? I opened my eyes in surprise and saw the beast licking my long mane with a big smile on its face.

"Why did you help me?" I whispered, not expecting an answer.

"Because you're one of those ponies!"

"WHAT IN THE MOON'S MANE?! How are you speaking to me?!" I screamed in shock.

"A touch of Discord's magic back when he was evil. Your magic didn't bring the Everfree back to normal at the end of his reign, so some of the animals here can actually speak. but of course, we're not very normal, because this is chaotic magic. Although I am usually calm and collected, I can get really hyper and excited at random times. But yeah, that's why the animals, weather and plants can get pretty chaotic here." He explained. It... actually made sense.

"U-um... o...kay? Well, thank you for saving my life!"

"Oh, that was nothing. I know that you ponies are nice. Especially that pink and yellow pony; when that thorn got stuck in my paw, it drove me mad because I couldn't get it out, and she helped me even though I attacked her friends. Speaking of that, I'll have to apologise to her soon." He mumbled.

"Well, do you know the way out of the forest?" I asked.

"Of course I do! I've lived here all of my life! But it'll take a week or more."

"A week or more?! H-how deep are we in the forest?"

"The very middle."

My mouth dropped. Spike... really wanted me to die. The middle of the forest? This is where the most dangerous animals roamed, ready to kill. I would have to deal with way more than just a manticore now. No, there'd be hydras and chimeras and other horrible creatures around. I was lucky this manticore just happened to love ponies.

We started walking in what seemed like a random direction on the way to Ponyville hopefully. An awkward silence had fallen between us at that moment, until he turned his head to me for a moment.

"So, how'd you get lost way in the middle of the forest?" The manticore asked.

"It's a long story..."

"And we have a long way to walk." He said with a grin.

"Well, I had been signing some papers in Canterlot," I began, seeing green fire in front of me, swirling around us. "Just having a normal day full of work. Then my sister burst into my office, tears in her eyes, panicking like it was the end of the world..."

"Woah," The manticore said with a look of wonder on his face. "It's hard to imagine Celestia crying."

"Yes, I bet a lot of ponies would say that about both Celestia and I. But what most seem to forget is that we are ponies too, and we have feelings that can be hurt. Back to the story, I asked what was wrong and once she calmed down, she told me that we were being attacked. I knew it had to be horrible, because she was crying so hard. When I asked who it was, I was surprised to see that it was that dragon friend that her former student lived with. He had gown to the size of a large building and was trying to kill the ponies of Canterlot. I... didn't expect that look in his eyes. They looked so lifeless. A-any way, my sister and I tried to convince him to stop, and we hardly got to do anything to him and he attacked. He... broke Celestia's horn off..."

The manticore winced at that. I had to agree that it sounded really painful.

"... and threw me here, in hopes that I'd die. He did something to block my magic and broke my wings, so I was stuck here." I concluded my story.

"Well then! You need to get out of here fast! We can reduce the time by running." He said.

"But I can't run..."

"I know!" He exclaimed merrily and suddenly grabbed me with his mouth and flung me onto his back. "Hold on tight!"

I barely got a chance to get a good grip on his neck before he started moving full speed ahead.

Comments

[spiketheking]

well it returns time to get sad

[Minccino27]

When are you posting a new chapter? This story is so awesome!

[Poducken2]

A touch of Discord's magic back when he was evil. Your magic didn't bring the Everfree back to normal at the end of his reign, so some of the animals here can actually speak.

Speaking of Discord... Where is the lil' whippersnapper in all this?

[PsychicBeagle]

Ah, a new chapter. Luna found herself in quite the predicament. I suppose she should thank her lucky stars that the manticore that showed up knew Fluttershy. Speaking of which, she should probably thank her later as well. I enjoy the guy's flipping between rage and joviality, but it should have taken him a few more moments to calm down after throwing the first one out like a ripped up rag doll.
That isn't the only pacing issue here, but there's only one more. I like your explanation for why the Everfree forest defies pony magic, but the backstory should have been slowed down a bit, given a bit more spacing and content. It doesn't help that it had to share a paragraph with the manticore's apology for going berserk. Like he said, it would be a long way to get out of the forest. Other than that, I'd say that this was a good chapter.

[Solar Pony]

"C-crap...Ah! T-they're broken...." I chocked out while groaning in pain.

Not very characteristic for Princess Luna to say something like "crap".

Great story so far. Even with a few minor problems.

And one more thing: Why can I only imagine the Manticore to have a deep Russian accent?

[Wrangle Wolfe]

5258655 But the fact is that the chaos magic has him more....eh... how to explain? Well, He doesn't usually stay on one topic most of the time and usually starts to ramble. So his explanations are usually short and to the point. The only time he does really stop and really provides lots of details is when he's sad or really serious about something. He's not the best source for getting an entire story when you need one. He's more like Pinkie Pie than anyone else.

[Wrangle Wolfe]

5262046 Well, if you were stuck in a monster infested forest with broken limbs, no resources to use and a weak body, would you act normally? Also, you made me notice a spelling error, so thank you.

[Solar Pony]

5262163 You're welcome... I guess...

Also, it's not that I don't think she would swear. I just think she would say something a little more regal.

[Wrangle Wolfe]

5262189 But she just woke up and is in pain. She wasn't quite thinking straight when she said that...

[Solar Pony]

5262201 She's been on the moon for one thousand years. Interesting how she know modern slang and not saying something a bit more... last century?

[Wrangle Wolfe]

5262212 Okay, how about I explain it this way. It's been 4 seasons so far and Luna has used to modern speech (As shown in the show) And by now it seems as if she has gotten used to it. But, it would be weird if this story was during season 1 or 2.

[Solar Pony]

5263319 I know that, but still. When I read it I don't feel like it's Luna for me. Everything else is reactively fine but "crap" just puts her out of character. But it's your story so do what you will with her. This is just my opinion.

[Wrangle Wolfe]

5265390 I get what you're saying. I can totally understand that looking weird. Thanks for sharing your opinion! I love to see people comment on my stories no matter what it's about

[Solar Pony]

5265691 And I'm honoured to be reading your story, madam.