Spike has just turned 18 (in pony years) he is now considered an adult. Normally Spike would be happy due to the occasion, until Twilight tells him the bad news. Now Spike is off to the dragon lands, to learn more about himself.
Spike has just turned 18 (in pony years) he is now considered an adult. Normally Spike would be happy due to the occasion, until Twilight tells him the bad news. Spike feels that something strange is happening, like things aren't what they should be.
Spike was making his way back to the library after a long day of helping Big Mac at the farm. Ever since he turned sixteen, Spike had wanted to work at the farm. He wanted to learn what true hard work was, and he wanted to get out of the library. Two years later, and now Spike has the height of two average ponies stacked, his muscles are toned; being kept up with the work he does at the farm. His scales are becoming a nice shade of dark green, and dark purple. His spines and spikes, are longer and bigger, fitting his new size, and his wings are fully developed. He was an average flyer, learning from Twilight’s books (Spike never thought he’d find one that was actually helpful for him). He liked his new body, proud to be its owner. He would walk with confidence around the streets. Just as he was doing now, as he arrived at the treehouse. He noticed all the lights inside the library were out, when he peered in the windows.
That’s odd, Twilight is usually busy reading a book or one of the princess’s scrolls. Or she’s usually busy learning a spell and writing about it to the princess. I hope she’s alright in there.
Spike opened the door, walking inside, unable to see anything in the darkness. As soon as he shut it, he was greeted by all his friends.
“Surprise! Happy Birthday Spike!” Everyone yelled, Pinkie being the loudest.
“Aw, thank you guys!” Spike said, surprised and happy from the surprise party.
“You’re welcome Spike! I mean I just had to throw you a party on your birthday. We all know Twilight isn’t the best at surprising ponies.”
“Hey! I could surprise a pony if I wanted to. I even have a book on the subject.” Everypony laughed.
“I really do have a book about it!”
“Why does that not surprise me Twilight?” Spike smiled.
“Anyway, I really appreciate this you guys. You know you’re all very important friends to me, and some of you are even like family for me.”
“That’s right friends are always great. Now how about we open some presents and have some delicious treats!”
“Sounds good to me, I could use something to eat after all that hard work.”
*A few hours later*
All the guests were gone. It was late, and most of them had school or work the next day, seeing as it was a weekday. Spike and Twilight were sitting on the couch, having a conversation now that they finally had time to talk.
“Yeah, I know. It feels like only yesterday I was helping you around here.”
“I kind of miss having my number one assistant, but at least now my books are always organized in alphabetical order, then by title, then by author, then by publication year, then by page number.”
“Twilight… you are so CDO.”
“What do you mean CDO?”
“I mean you’re so OCD that you need to put the letters in order.”
“Oh ha, ha, very funny Spike.”
“Well I think it’s hysterical.”
“Well it was a good one, even I didn’t see it at first.” Twilight giggled.
“Also I wonder, how do you keep your composure when one book falls out of place? Then the whole book shelf isn’t in order anymore.”
“Well smarty pants, I’ve memorized the order, so I know where every book goes.”
“Again, that doesn’t surprise me.” Spike chuckled.
“Unfortunately I need to end the fun.”
“Like that’s never happened before.”
“Spike, you need to stop goofing around and arrange everything in the library while I read and make a bigger mess for you to organize.” Spike used his best Twilight imitation voice.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, but in all seriousness Spike, I… have some good news and some bad news…”
“What’s the good news?”
“Well now that you’re eighteen, you now have your own freedom, so you can do anything you want, without my permission.”
“Finally, unfortunately I don’t have a lot of free time anymore, but it’s nice to know. Of course I wouldn’t do anything in the library without your consent.”
“I know, you’re a good dragon Spike.”
“I hate to ask this, but what’s the bad news.”
“Well… you…y…you… I can’t do it!” Twilight began shedding tears.
Spike grabbed Twilight in a tender hug, comforting her by stroking her mane, like the old days.
“What is it Twilight?”
“It’s the thing I’ve been dreading since Princess Celestia told me the news a few years ago.”
“What is it Twilight, I can take it.”
“You… can’t…”
“Can’t what Twilight?”
“Can’t… can’t… stay here… anymore…” Twilight broke out into sobbing.
“What? What do you mean?” A few tears fell down Spike’s cheeks.
“Princess Celestia, told me… that when you turn eighteen, you have to fend for yourself now, you can’t live with me anymore.”
“WHY? We’re the best of friends, I can’t just leave you like this.” Anger was growing in Spike.
“Well you have three days to find a new home.”
“No, I’m going to send her a letter. This isn’t fair.”
Dear Princess Celestia,
How can you expect me to just leave my home and Twilight like this? What good enough reason did you come up with to go through with this? Were you actually thinking when you said this? Well let me know, I’m interested. I want to know this “reason” why I should leave, because honestly, there isn’t one. You’re losing your edge as a ruler Celestia, maybe Luna should take over.
Yours truly,
Spike, the dragon who USED to be your friend.
Spike sent the letter with his flame breath.
“Well Spike, it was nice knowing you. I hope you’ll come and visit once in a while.”
“I need to tell you something Twilight.”
“What is it Spike?”
“When I was young, I would have nightmares that you or Princess Celestia would kick me out, leave me on the streets. The reason was usually because I did something horrible. The two of you would give me looks of complete anger, no mercy, no room for kindness, and tell me, “Spike, leave now! You are no longer welcome in our society, and if I ever see you again, it will the last you see of life. Now leave!” I always knew you’d never kick me out, that’s what always helped, but today it seems to be coming true to some extent. I can’t tell myself it’s just a dream this time…” Feelings of depression started to take over Spike, the nightmare was coming true… after all those years.
A few moments later, Spike could feel a letter in his throat. He spat it out and read it out loud.
Dear Spike,
I know how hard this must be for you and Twilight, but I was doing some research on dragons, seeing as you were turning eighteen (happy birthday), and I read that dragons leave their home at the age of eighteen and start their own life. I’m sorry it has to be this way, but if you don’t leave within three days, Twilight will force you to leave. She already agreed that this is necessary for you. You can’t completely ignore your dragon heritage. I know you only commented on my ruling because you were angry, but don’t you ever do that again! This is my kingdom and I will rule it as I see fit. As for your friendship on the other hand, I’m sorry I lost it, hopefully I will one day be able to regain it. Luna and I also wish you luck out there, and we hope to see you again one day.
Your dear friend,
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
Spike turned towards Twilight, tears streaming down his cheeks. He dropped the letter, not wanting to believe what it said.
“How could you agree to this in the first place Twi?”
“Spike, Celestia’s right. You can’t abandon your dragon heritage, just because you live with us ponies.”
“I didn’t choose to live here, I was basically forced to live here. I was just told what to do and you raised me. Now that I am an adult you want me to care about what I am? That’s just illogical, why didn’t you get started when I was younger?”
“Because Spike, at this age, you are more capable of defending yourself, of learning more life lessons. As a child, it’s harder to teach life lessons, simply because children don’t know much about life and how precious it is. As for you, you’re at an age where you do know about life, and how important it is take care of yourself. You are also at the right stage to learn about who you are, what type of personality you poses. It’s all timing Spike. Besides, it’s not like we can never see each other again Spike, you can always come for a visit.”
“You do have a point. Well I’m going to take up the last three days, then I’ll go to the dragon lands and start to live as a dragon.”
“It sounds great to me.” Twilight smiled.
Spike and Twilight spent the next three days, enjoying each other’s company, not wanting that day to come. The three days have passed, and it was time.
Spike was standing in the living room, his friends were there to say their goodbyes.
“Thank you everpony for coming. Sadly I have to leave, as part of my dragon heritage. I will miss you all, especially my six closest friends. You six were always there for me, you were like family. I couldn’t ask for better friends, and I had a great time while I was here. Before I go, there’s a few things I need to take care of here. I’ll be seeing you guys in the future.”
Most of the ponies hugged Spike and wished him luck on his journey. After about twenty minutes, the mane six were the only ones left. One by one, Spike gave a little speech. Tears were flowing down all their cheeks, they couldn’t believe they had to say goodbye to one of their best friends.
“Pinkie Pie, I’ll miss having an awesome friend always ready to have fun, to bake with and to get delicious treats from. I’ll miss your cupcakes, and your friendship.”
“Parties won’t the same without you Spike, I hope everything goes well.” Pinkie hugged Spike. He made his way to Rainbow Dash next.
“Rainbow Dash, it won’t be nearly as fun, not having a friendly competition in my life, and the lost opportunity to have flight lessons with you. As soon as I return, we will have that race! And who knows, I might even beat you!”
“I’ll miss you Spike, and I’ll be looking forward to that race. I have to say though, I doubt you’ll be able to beat the best. Good luck out there kiddo.”
“Applejack, always there to help me out when I needed it, without hesitation. Always there to tell me the truth about anything, you were a great friend!”
“Aw shucks, it’s what friends do.” Applejack hugged him.
“I’ll miss you big feller.”
“I’ll miss you too Applejack.”
“Fluttershy, always so gentle, always caring, always there for me when I needed help. I couldn’t ask more from a great friend. I’ll miss having you around Fluttershy.”
“Thank you Spike. You’re a great friend as well, helping me with my animals when I needed the help.” Fluttershy surprisingly hugged Spike hard, harder than he thought she could.
“Rarity, I’ll miss going gem hunting, helping you make dresses, and just hanging out as friends. I wish you best in life, and I’ll see you when I visit, friend.”
“I’ll miss you too Spike, and thank you. I wish you the best in life as well, and good luck with the dragons. I’m looking forward to your visit as well.” Rarity gave Spike a friendly hug.
“Twilight, I’ll miss you the most, seeing as you were like a mother to me. You were always there for me, putting me first. You taught me most of what I know, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. You were a great mother, and I look forward to seeing you again soon, and filling you in on the adventures I’ll have.” Tears were flowing from both Twilight’s and Spike’s eyes.
“Spike… I couldn’t ask for a better son. You were great to teach, you were the best assistant and the best cook I know. I’ll miss you Spike… the library just won’t be same anymore, neither will my life. I look forward to your visit… son.” Spike hugged Twilight, to which Twilight returned. They didn’t want to let go, Spike couldn’t let go of his mom and she couldn’t let go of her son. They finally let go.
“Promise me you’ll visit Spike, or else I might be crazy enough to come looking for you. I couldn’t go on never seeing you again Spike. Also promise me you’ll be careful, like I mentioned, I couldn’t lose you.
Spike made his way to the door, before he opened it, he looked back at the six.
“It’s time for me to leave, I couldn’t ask for better friends, hopefully I’ll find friends half as good as you where I end up. I look forward to seeing you guys in the future. Goodbye friends…”
Spike opened the door, the six followed him. He took off into the air and flew in the direction of the dragon lands. He took one last look back and saw his friends… waving goodbye. Not too long after, Spike was out of site, and the six started to truly realise, that their friend was gone, not forever, but to start his life.
Spike was making his way to the dragon lands. He was deep in thought the entire flight.
Well Spike, this will do you some good. You have the opportunity to learn about your species. My species… maybe they’ll be able to answer how I even ended up here, and how Celestia got hold of my egg. I might even be able to meet my real parents… yeah… that’s wishful thinking. Something must have happened to them, that’s the only way I could see why my egg was found in the first place. I just hope they can answer my questions, hell, I hope they will accept me in their society since I’ve been raised by ponies.
Spike arrived at his location, the end of the Everfree forest, the entrance to the dragon lands.
Well Spike… this is it. Time to learn about your heritage. Let’s do this.
Taking a deep breath, Spike made his way into the dragon lands. After only about five minutes, Spike was stopped by two dragons guarding the entrance. They were twice the height of Spike, and both had a look of no mercy in their eyes, most likely due to their job. Kill if necessary. Spike felt a little nervous, he had never really interacted with another dragon before.
“Hello you two.”
“Well well well, it looks like we have some fresh meat here.”
*Gulp*
“Hey guys how are you two doing…?” Spike asked, now truly nervous, and scared from the last statement.
“Oh we’re doing great. Now what brings you to the dragon lands shorty?”
“Well I want to learn about my heritage, I am a dragon after all.”
“That is true, but why should we let you in? How do we know you aren’t here to report our actions to your ruler Celestia?”
“Wait… how did you know I was raised by ponies?”
“Well for one, every dragon knows about how you were raised by the ponies. We all know the story.”
“Oh… wait! You know the story of how I ended up where I did?”
“Isn’t that what I just said? Maybe you should pay more attention.”
“Could you… please tell me… my story? Possibly?”
“Oh you want to know? You also want to learn about your heritage right? Well…”
“Let’s bring him to our king. He can make the final decision on whether he is worthy.” The other guard whispered to the first guard.
“Alright, we’ll bring you to our king. We’ll see what he has to say.”
“Thank you so much, I’ve been wanting to find out…” Unannounced, Spike was knocked unconscious by the guards.
“We can’t let him see the majority of our homeland yet. Now, help me bring him to our king.”
The two dragons made their way to the dragon palace. They dropped Spike off in an empty cell. They then made their way to the throne room.
“My king.” They both bowed.
“What is it you wish to tell me?”
“The dragon who was raised by the ponies, he’s come to learn about our heritage and how he ended up being raised by ponies.”
The king had a look of happiness yet sadness, something about what they just said hit him deep.
“Alright, lead me to him.”
“Of course your majesty!”
The two dragons led him to Spike.
“Here he is, he should be awake soon.”
“Thank you. Now please leave us, I want to speak to him in private.”
“Of course your majesty.”
The two dragons bowed and made their way back to their post. A few moments later, Spike woke up rubbing his head.
“Ow… my head… it feels like crap.” He took a look around.
“I’m a prisoner! What! What have I done?”
“Relax young one.”
“Who said that!?” Spike looked around again, finally realizing a dragon was sitting in front of his cell.
“Oh… hello.”
“Hello young one, my name is Thorn, I am the king of the dragons. What is your name?”
“My name is Spike your majesty.”
“Spike, the one who was raised by the ponies.”
“Actually your majesty, that’s why I came here. I want to learn about my heritage and how I ended…”
“I know child, I have been informed. Now my question is… are you worthy?”
“I believe I am…?” Spike was confused.
“Well I will be the judge of that. I am going to teach you of our traditions and heritage. You will be staying in this cell, for reasons that I can keep an eye on you here. We will start tomorrow morning. For now, get some rest, I’ll be back tomorrow morning to get you. Sleep well young one, you will need it.”
“Thank you your majesty.”
The king made his way back to his throne. Spike made himself comfortable, and fell asleep not too long after.
*The next morning*
Spike woke up, his head ache was almost gone. As he opened his eyes, he saw the king there waiting for him.
“So you have finally awoken, how are you this morning Spike?”
“Better, my head still hurts, but it is much better, how about you your majesty?”
“I’m doing great. Well let’s begin with our first lesson, hunting and eating breakfast.”
“What…! But I can’t hunt an animal, my friend Fluttershy would kill me!”
“Well I don’t see your friend Fluttershy, and what else are you going to do for food in your state?”
“But I can’t, it’s against my morals.”
“Let me ask you something Spike. Growing up, have you ever thought about trying meat? Be honest now.” Spike felt defeated, he knew what the truth was.
“Yes I have… and I would get angry at myself every time.”
“You can’t Spike, this is who you are, whether you like it or not. It’s part of your dragon heritage, and you no matter how hard you try or how many times you scold yourself for thinking it, it will never go away. There’s always a part of you that will affected by your heritage, no matter where you grew up, who raised you and the life decisions you follow, you’ll always be a dragon. Instead of fighting it, embrace it. You’re not with your pony friends right now, you’re with your own species. Besides, you’re the one who wants to learn about our heritage. Well this is part of it.”
“I know you’re right, but it’s hard for me to fully grasp it, fully believe it.”
“It’s always hard at first to change, but unless we try, how can we ever find out whether we like it or not?”
“You’re right. I need to do this, it will be a huge challenge, but I need to do this. I am, like you said, the one who wanted to learn more about my heritage. Alright I’m ready, let’s go.”
“Alright follow me.” The king opened Spike’s cell. Spike followed the king all the way to the fields outside, by the border of the dragon lands. They both lay there.
“Alright Spike, at this point we will stay here and look around… waiting for some prey to happen to fall in our line of site. At that point… we strike!”
The two waited for twenty minutes, finally a griffon flew in their site.
“There’s breakfast Spike.”
“Alright, I’ll follow your lead.”
“Here we go!” The two took off in the air, the griffin spotted them, unfortunately it was too late and the king was flying at impressive speeds. Spike was lagging behind, not being an ace flyer. The king then caught up and grabbed the griffin, pulling it towards Spike.
“Well Spike, here’s breakfast.”
“Spike? I know that name from somewhere…”
“Gilda?”
“Wait! Were you one of Rainbow Dash’s friends?”
“Yes…” Spike was interrupted.
“Well here’s the next step Spike.”
“Wait! Spike help me!” Too late, the king flew down to the ground, when they landed he used his claw to slit Gilda’s throat. Spike landed next to them, after taking a look he felt sick. He wanted to throw up, but did his best to keep it down.
“Did you know this griffin Spike?”
“Yes, she was a friend of one of my pony friends. She was a bully, and full of herself. Even though I don’t like her, I couldn’t kill her, it would be too immoral for me.”
“I understand Spike. When I learned how to kill for the first time, I almost vomited right there. Although I can’t say it would be the same, as you knew this griffin.”
“Actually, that’s how I feel right now.”
“Well here’s the next step, now we feast.”
Spike walked up to the dead griffin, he hesitantly opened his mouth. He got closer, but wasn’t able to take a bite. He tried again, but to no avail.
“I… I can’t.”
“Spike…”
“For me, it’s a situation where I feel I am betraying my friends. It only takes one wrong move to have an entire society against you. No matter how much you show them you’ve changed, they’ll never fully trust you again. They might trust you enough to be around you and let you do your tasks, but they will always have a defense up, always ready in case it happens again.”
“That is true Spike, your friends know you’re learning about your dragon heritage, they know you’ll be doing things you would never do otherwise. If they have a problem even after that, just tell them you were forced, they’ll understand at that point, seeing as they think we are all bullies. Now Spike, just close your eyes, clear your mind and take a bite.”
“Alright.” Spike closed his eyes, he took a deep breath and took a bite. He chewed it up as fast as possible and swallowed. Surprisingly, it tasted good.
“That actually tastes… good.”
“I’m glad you like it. That’ll be enough for now, I know it was hard for you and you succeeded. Let’s go back and get a proper breakfast.”
“Wait! This wasn’t necessary?”
“It wasn’t, but how else would you learn about your dragon heritage unless you tried?”
“But we just took an innocent life, and for what! A stupid lesson? If this is what it means to be a dragon, then I don’t want a part of it.” Spike a look of disgust and anger on his face.
“Well I can see I chose wrong.”
“…”
“I didn’t think you’d chicken out this early. Is this who you are Spike? Do you give up as soon as there’s a challenge presented in front of your path?”
“No! I am stronger than that!”
“Then why are you giving up this easily?”
“Because, well I mentioned it earlier.”
“Well did you honestly think it would be sunshine and rainbows?”
“No, but…”
“Well you need to realize, it’s going to take a while, you need to just take in every lesson. You need to learn about what you are, a dragon.”
“I’m sorry for that your majesty, you’re right. I need to be grown up about this. Let’s continue the lessons.”
“That’s the spirit, now let’s return to the palace.”
The two made their way to the palace. The king brought Spike back to his cell. He went to grab them both some lunch (seeing as they were out there for a lot longer than they expected). The king came back with a plate, containing some meat of course. It was easier for Spike to eat it this time. It helped that he didn’t know what type of meat it was, and that he didn’t kill it. The two finished their meal.
“Today could have gone by better.”
“Yeah, about that, I apologize your majesty.”
“Next time, listen when I am teaching you. I don’t have to waste my time teaching you, just realize that.”
“Yes your majesty.”
“That’s enough for today, I will be back tomorrow for your next lesson.”
“Thank you.”
The king made his way to his throne. Spike spent the rest of the day and night, reflecting on the events of that day. As he was pondering, a question that had been bothering him ever since he found out about how Twilight obtained him. The burning question… Why was I abandoned and left to be raised by ponies?
*The next morning*
Spike woke up. He slowly opened his eyes, and noticed there was a plate of food in his cell, he quickly picked it up and devoured it. He wanted to eat it as fast as possible, in case the king came in. He wanted to start on his lesson as soon as possible today, he wanted enough time to ask the king that important question. It only took five minutes before the king arrived, Spike had only finished his breakfast only a few seconds earlier. The king stood in front of Spike’s cell, and opened the door.
“Your majesty, may I ask you a question before we go to our lesson today?”
“You may.”
“Well your majesty, I want to know… how did I end up being raised by ponies?”
“Well that story is…” The king had a sad look on his face.
“Please, I need to know, for me.”
“Alright, here’s the story.”
“At the time you were an egg… the king at the time… was mad with power. He would abuse it, using it to do whatever he felt like doing, and if you didn’t listen, it would be the end for you. Now at the time he was going after your mom, he found her beautiful, and wanted her for himself. Seeing as she had a mate already, he challenged your dad to a fight to the death, winner kept your mom and would be king. Knowing if he said no he would be obliterated, he agreed. Your mom, not wanting any harm to come to you placed the egg near Canterlot, hoping you would grow up with a better life. Now the day finally arrived, and the fight began. At first it looked like the king would win, but after seeing the worried look on your mom’s face, and concentrating on the fact that he would continue to rule the way he did if he didn’t stop him, he took the opportunity to end the king’s life while he was distracted. He grabbed the king from behind with one are, with the other, he used his claw to give a long cut, cutting deep into the king’s throat, killing him shortly. All the dragons had looks of horror, but at the same time, they knew it needed to be done, they needed a new king. After that, your dad took over as king. Your mom took it hard, losing you like that. She was never the same, she passed away a few years later, her body was slowly dying ever since she lost you. Now this king is ruling alone, without a queen…” Tears were flowing down his cheek.
“Wait… you’re my dad…?”
“That’s right Spike, it’s me… your dad.” The king opened the cell door and hugged his son. Spike broke out into tears.
“Dad! I can’t believe it’s you! I’ve been wanting to see this moment my whole life!”
“I missed you too son.”
“But how did you know it was me?”
“Well I secretly kept an eye on you since you were hatched. The reason I didn’t come to see you, was because if I was spotted by ponies, a war could have potentially started. I’m just glad to see you again son.”
After what seemed like an eternity, they broke the hug.
“Dad, do I have any siblings?”
“No son, you were our only child, that’s what made it that much harder on your mom. We wanted to have another child, but since your loss, your mom wasn’t able to produce another healthy egg. Her body was too weak from her depression.”
“Poor mom, I just wish I would have had a chance to meet her.”
“I’m sure she would have been proud of you if she was here right now. In fact, I know she would be here to cheer you on and be there one hundred percent. She loved you Spike, and nothing can take that away from her, nor I.”
“Thank you dad.”
“Alright son, let’s go learn your new lesson.”
“Actually dad, I was wondering if we could just spend some quality time together.”
“I guess we could, I could always move the lesson onto the next day.”
“Alright dad, I would love a tour of the palace.”
“It would be my pleasure son.”
The king showed Spike around every part of the palace. Spike looked around in awe, it was beautiful. He couldn’t believe it was his home, he would have loved to live here as a child. In fact he wanted to live there, now. Not too long after the tour ended, in front of Spike’s new room.
“Here is your new room son, right next door is mine, feel free to come in anytime and talk or spend time. If I am not there, I am in the throne room. I’m just glad I got to talk to my son again. Anyway if you need me, you know where to look. Tomorrow I will meet you here for our next lesson.”
“Alright dad. Actually can we eat supper together, spend some time.”
“Sure son, I’ll see you then.”
The king made his way to the throne room. Spike entered his room. It was just as beautiful as the rest of the castle. A bed with softest looking mattress, made from the best feathers and leather. Gold plating around the doorway and around the corners and windows. There was even a tap coming out of the wall, with a bucket, able to provide fresh water whenever one wanted some.
“I could get used to this!” Spike smiled.
*Two months later*
Spike and the king were running to the dungeon, they were told a new prisoner just arrived. When Spike arrived, he looked at the prisoner. It seemed the prisoner had not slept in quite some time. She looked rough, tired and exhausted. The purple pony woke up, turning around, she noticed Spike.
“Spike!?”
“Twilight!?”
“Spike, am I so glad to see you!”
“Twilight what happened to you? You look like you’ve been through hell.”
“Oh Spike, I’ve been looking for days for you. I couldn’t wait any longer, I needed to see my son again.” Spike grabbed the cell keys, and unlocked Twilight’s cell, opening the door.
“Twilight, I missed you too!” The two hugged each other as tight as possible. After quite some time, they let go of each other. Spike turned around and introduced the other dragon near him.
“Twilight, this is my dad, Thorn. King of the dragons.”
“Dad, this is Twilight Sparkle, she’s the one who raised me all these years.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Twilight Sparkle.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too your majesty.”
“You’ve raised a great dragon here, I commend you for that. It must have been hard, trying to raise him, as he is an entirely different species.”
“It was your majesty, but luckily I had my books.” Twilight smiled, honoured to have such a complement from Spike’s dad.
“Trust me dad, she’s not joking. She has a book obsession and she tended to overdose often!”
“I see, well there’s nothing wrong with reading Spike, it’s one of the greatest ways to learn.”
“Thing is though, this one takes way over the edge. It’s pretty much impossible to not have reading and Twilight in the same sentence.” The king gave a laugh.
“You must have had some great laughs growing up.”
“Oh trust me, I did.”
“I hate to leave you two so suddenly, but I must return to the throne room, I need to settle a few problems some of my citizens have been having.”
“Alright, I will see you later dad.”
“Twilight, let’s get you to my room, you need to rest.”
“Alright…” Twilight passed out. Spike picked her up and carried her, making his way to his bedroom. When he arrived, he placed her on his bed, and covered her in his sheets. He sat next to the bed, keeping silent as he didn’t want to wake her up.
A few hours later Twilight woke up, with a bad head ache. Spike sat next to her on the bed.
“How are you feeling Twilight?”
“Well I got a head ache, other than that better.”
“I’m glad, you’ve been out for a few hours.”
“WH… ow! My head.” Spike carefully laid Twilight back down.
“Relax Twilight, it’s alright, I was keeping an eye on you, making sure you were alright.”
“Thank you Spike, but I can’t just stay here forever, I need to get back home, but not before I catch up with you.”
“It’s not a rush Twilight, you need to rest before I take you back.”
“No Spike you need to stay here, I don’t want to be a burden.”
“Are you kidding me Twilight? You’re not a burden, I love you mom. Besides, it’ll give me a chance to say hi to the others.”
“Alright, but the problem is, if I’m not back within two days, the others will come looking for me, and they won’t take to the dragons kindly, thinking they probably killed me.”
“I see, well let me tell my dad the news, and I’ll…”
“Tell me what son?”
“Dad.”
“I came by to see how your friend was doing.”
“I’m doing great your majesty, I was just heading…”
“We were heading home for a while.”
“I understand son, you want to visit your friends, and I am fine with that. Take a break, visit your friends. Come back when you are done, and we will continue where we left off.”
“Thank you dad, we’ll be leaving tomorrow morning, I want her to rest a little longer before we leave.”
“Of course son, take your time. I won’t be here tomorrow because of a meeting, so I say goodbye son, I hope to see you soon.”
“Bye dad, I love you.”
The king made his way back to his room.
Spike climbed into the bed and put his arms around Twilight in a protective manner.
“Goodnight Twilight.”
“Goodnight Spike.”
The two fell asleep almost instantly.
Spike woke up first that morning, he noticed Twilight was still asleep. He stroked her mane, causing her to wake up.
“How are you feeling Twilight?”
“Much better, thank you.”
“Well Twilight, we should head home, and surprise everyone there.”
“Let us.”
Spike leaded Twilight outside the castle. Spike bent down.
“Climb onto my back Twilight, we’ll get there faster this way.” Twilight climbed, on. Spike leapt into the air, making his way towards Ponyville.
“So Spike what have you done in the past two months?”
“Well Twilight I tried meat for the first time.”
“WHAT!!!”
Here we go… I knew this would happen sooner or later.
Spike was making his way back to the library after a long day of helping Big Mac at the farm. Ever since he turned sixteen, Spike had wanted to work at the farm. He wanted to learn what true hard work was, and he wanted to get out of the library. Two years later, and now Spike has the height of two average ponies stacked, his muscles are toned; being kept up with the work he does at the farm. His scales are becoming a nice shade of dark green, and dark purple. His spines and spikes, are longer and bigger, fitting his new size, and his wings are fully developed. He was an average flyer, learning from Twilight’s books (Spike never thought he’d find one that was actually helpful for him). He liked his new body, proud to be its owner. He would walk with confidence around the streets. Just as he was doing now, as he arrived at the treehouse. He noticed all the lights inside the library were out, when he peered in the windows.
That’s odd, Twilight is usually busy reading a book or one of the princess’s scrolls. Or she’s usually busy learning a spell and writing about it to the princess. I hope she’s alright in there.
Spike opened the door, walking inside, unable to see anything in the darkness. As soon as he shut it, he was greeted by all his friends.
“Surprise! Happy Birthday Spike!” Everyone yelled, Pinkie being the loudest.
“Aw, thank you guys!” Spike said, surprised and happy from the surprise party.
“You’re welcome Spike! I mean I just had to throw you a party on your birthday. We all know Twilight isn’t the best at surprising ponies.” Pinkie said, excitement in her voice.
“Hey! I could surprise a pony if I wanted to. I even have a book on the subject.” Everypony laughed.
“I really do have a book about it!”
“Why does that not surprise me Twilight?” Spike smiled.
“Anyway, I really appreciate this you guys. You know you’re all very important friends to me, and some of you are even like family for me.”
“That’s right friends are always great. Now how about we open some presents and have some delicious treats!”
“Sounds good to me, I could use something to eat after all that hard work.” Spike was exhausted.
*A few hours later*
All the guests were gone. It was late, and most of them had school or work the next day, seeing as it was a weekday. Spike and Twilight were sitting on the couch, having a conversation now that they finally had time to talk.
“Yeah, I know. It feels like only yesterday I was helping you around here.”
“I kind of miss having my number one assistant, but at least now my books are always organized in alphabetical order, then by title, then by author, then by publication year, then by number of pages.”
“Twilight… you are so CDO.”
“What do you mean CDO?”
“I mean you’re so OCD that you need to put the letters in order.”
“Oh ha, ha, very funny Spike.”
“Well I think it’s hysterical.”
“Well it was a good one, even I didn’t see it at first.” Twilight giggled.
“Also I wonder, how do you keep your composure when one book falls out of place? Then the whole book shelf isn’t in order anymore.”
“Well smarty pants, I’ve memorized the order, so I know where every book goes.”
“Again, that doesn’t surprise me.” Spike chuckled.
“Unfortunately I need to end the fun.”
“Like that’s never happened before.”
“Spike, you need to stop goofing around and arrange everything in the library while I read and make a bigger mess for you to organize.” Spike used his best Twilight imitation voice.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, but in all seriousness Spike, I… have some good news and some bad news…”
“Well now that you’re eighteen, you now have your own freedom, so you can do anything you want, without my permission.” Tears forming around her eyes. Spike noticed, worried about Twilight.
“What’s wrong Twilight?” Concern in his voice.
“It feels like every year our friendship slowly but surely disappearing. Ever since I found the elements of harmony.” Tears starting flowing down her cheeks. Spike held Twilight in a hug.
“Of course it isn’t. If anything, it’s only getting stronger. I know it feels like we’re slowly separating, but that’s only because I need to start my own life. I could never leave you forever, I’ll always be there for you Twilight, until the end, by your side.” Spike continued to comfort Twilight.
“Thank you Spike, I needed to hear that. Unfortunately… it won’t be possible with the bad news I need to tell you.” Spike was confused.
“What do you mean by that Twilight…?”
“I got some news from Princess Celestia, she… she… she wants you to leave and go to the dragon lands to learn about your dragon heritage. You have to leave within three days.”
“What…” Tears were flowing down Spike’s cheeks.
“Twilight… how could you agree to this?” Spike had a look of pure sadness and disappointment.
“I didn’t want to… I tried…”
“Well obviously not hard enough if you didn’t succeed.”
“Honestly, I tried my best, but I couldn’t change her mind… I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize Twilight, it’s not your fault. It’s Celestia’s fault. Apparently she’s not the great ruler everypony thinks she is.” Anger in Spike’s voice.
“Don’t say that Spike, I’m sure she had a good reason.”
“I know you’re very close to her Twilight, but even great ponies start to go downhill eventually. I’m going to send her a letter, I need to tell her the truth.”
“Spike please… don’t…”
“I need to Twilight, this has gone too far.” Spike grabbed a sheet of paper, some ink and a quill.
Dear Celestia,
How could you do this to Twilight and I? Have you lost your senses? Apparently you’re not the great ruler everypony claims you are. In my opinion, you should pass the crown over to Princess Luna, to somepony who actually cares about her subjects… her student, which she claims she loves and would be there for her and not betray her. If you do ever come to your senses, please send me a letter back, but until then don’t bother. Also I won’t be going anywhere, no matter what you do.
Spike.
Spike sent the letter via his sending fire. A few minutes later, he felt a letter in his throat. He spit it out, it was from Princess Celestia. Spike read it aloud.
Dear Spike,
How dare you write to me like that! I am your ruler, I make the decisions. Do you honestly think, I didn't think about you and Twilight when I made that decision? I did, for reasons I cannot explain right now, I need you to listen and do as I say. I will explain everything later, when the time is right. You need to trust me Spike, and if you don’t listen, I will force you to go, even if I have to take matters in my own hooves.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia.
“Go ahead and try Celestia, but I’m not budging. Not at all, I’m not going to leave you like this Twilight.”
“I can’t force you to go Spike, but I would listen to Celestia if I were you.”
Spike re-read the letter.
“Hold on Twilight, take a look at this.”
“What is it Spike?”
“Does this look like Celestia’s usual handwriting to you?” Twilight looked at the paper carefully.
“You’re right Spike, it doesn’t. Maybe she was just distracted when she wrote it.”
“You’re probably right. Besides, she’s the only one who can send letters to me this way.”
"Exactly.”
“Well Twilight, let’s spend the next three days together, just the two of us, as friends.”
“That sounds like a great idea Spike.”
*Three days later*
Twilight and Spike were enjoying their time together, when they were interrupted by a bright flash. It was Princess Celestia.
“You have some nerve showing your face here.” Spike said, anger in his voice.
“I gave you instructions Spike, and you didn’t follow them, now I am here to make sure you do go.” Spike noticed something strange about Celestia’s eyes, they were green for a fraction of a second.
“Alright, I’ll go, but can I please have one last private moment with Twilight?”
“Yes Spike, but please do not be too long.”
Twilight and Spike walked up to their bedroom, closing the door behind them.
“Did you notice her eyes?” Spike whispered.
“Yes, that was unusual.”
“I’ll listen to her and go to the dragon lands, but I want you to be careful Twilight, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
“I will Spike.”
“If I stay, I fear things will only go downhill. I’ll follow her plan for now, but I will find out more about it.”
“Alright, I’ll tell the others to keep an eye out as well.”
The two made their way downstairs, they met up with Princess Celestia, and made their way outside.
“Well Twilight, goodbye, I’ll miss you.” Tears forming in both their eyes.
“I’ll miss you too Spike.” Spike hugged Twilight, to which she returned it.
Spike flew off into the sky. When he was out of site, Celestia spoke.
“Twilight, I have a special assignment for you, please meet me at Canterlot castle.”
“Alright princess, but may I have a few days to myself? I need some time to heal, after losing my assistant.”
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.
Spike couldn’t help but feel worried as he made his way to Ponyville. For all he knew, his nightmare might actually come true. Spike flew faster with that thought in mind, hoping he could arrive before the worst might happen. He was near the edge of town, he landed behind some trees. From behind the trees, he scouted out the area. Everything seemed fine, except for the fact... not a single pony was roaming the streets, which worried Spike. There was always a few ponies roaming at night.
I need to make sure Twilight is alright.
Spike made his way to the library, making sure not to be spotted. He opened the door and entered. He wanted to yell Twilight, and watch her run down the stairs, happy to see him. He wanted to give her a hug, wanting to see his only family member. He knew deep down he couldn’t yell out her name, it would give away his position, and possibly lose Twilight forever, or lose his own life. He slowly made his way into the bedroom, keeping as quiet as possible. When he opened the door, he wasn’t happy with what he saw next. There were signs of a struggle. The bed sheets and pillows were scattered everywhere, books all over the floor, the candle holder was knocked over, broken… with red stains. Immediately, Spike’s head was filled with pictures of Twilight assaulted, beaten and even… dead. Spike just stood there, tears flowing down his cheeks. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t do anything, he was stuck there, thinking of the worst case scenario. He almost truly believed that Twilight was dead, that he was too late. He fell to his knees, crying even harder. Soon he heard a familiar voice in his head.
Spike.
“Who’s there? Show yourself!”
It’s me Spike, Thorne.
“Your majesty? How are you communicating with me?"
I'm your conscience Spike, but right now I need you to something
"What is it your... majesty?" Spike felt weird talking to himself.
I need you to be strong right now.
“How can I? I lost my only family member, and for all I know, all my friends are dead.”
You don’t know that for sure. Besides, you may still be able to save them.
“You’re right, I should check my other friends’ houses, in case they might still be here.”
Spike made his way to the Carousel Boutique first. He entered without knocking. He knew it was rude, but he had to make sure Rarity was alright, he didn’t have time to spare. He ran to her bedroom, only for his fear to come true, she was gone. He ran out and looked at all of his friends’ houses, but all the residents of Ponyville were gone, every house showed signs of struggle. Spike clenched his fists in anger.
“Celestia… you will pay for this… You can count on that... no matter what it takes.”
Spike flew as fast as he could towards the dragon lands, he knew he would need help to accomplish his mission.
Spike arrived at the castle in the dragon lands in record speed. He was stopped by the king’s guards at the entrance of the castle.
“What brings you here?”
“I need to see the king, it’s an emergency!” Spike panted, having lost energy from flying here at top speeds.
“Alright, it had better be important, the king doesn’t have time to waste.” The guard moved aside. Spike made his way in the castle, and ran to the throne room. Thorne noticed Spike.
“Spike, how did it go?”
“It’s horrible, my nightmare partially came true.”
“What do you mean?”
“All my friends... gone." Tears forming around Spike's eyes.
"My family, everypony I loved... gone. I wanted to give up, I just broke down. Fortunately my conscience convinced me that I might still have a chance to save my friends."
"How do you plan on helping your friends?"
“Well… I was hoping you could help me exact my revenge on the pony I believe did this. Please your majesty, this mission is too big for me to do alone. I want to see my friends again.” Tears sliding down his cheeks.
“I will help you Spike, I would help you with anything… son.”
“Wait… you’re my… dad?”
“That’s right Spike, I am.” Tears of joy flowed down Spike’s cheeks.
“Dad!” Spike hugged Thorne, to which Thorne returned the hug.
“I’m so happy to see you! I’ve been wondering where my real parents were, and if they were even alive.”
“I missed you so much Spike.”
“Is mom still…” Spike asked, but was interrupted by the sight of his dad crying tears of sadness at the subject.
“No son, she passed away a few years ago.”
“What happened?” Spike was now crying as well.
“I… I can’t explain right away, you have a mission you must accomplish first. I will explain everything afterwards, I promise. Right now however, you need to help your friends.
“You’re right dad. We’ll need some help.”
“I will assemble my best soldiers, and I will meet you at the entrance of the Everfree forest.”
“I will meet you there dad.” Spike made his way to the entrance of the Everfree forest. He didn’t wait too long before his dad and ten other dragons showed up.
“Are you ready son?”
“Before we go, I want to discuss something.”
“Sure, what is it?”
“I want to discuss my plan right now.”
“Alright, what do you have in mind?”
“I think your soldiers should distract the guards, and kill any that are changelings. While they are distracted with that, you and I will enter the Canterlot Castle and find the one who caused all of this.”
“That sounds good to me son, now let’s go, before we’re too late.”
Thorne and the other dragons followed Spike. They made their way behind Canterlot Castle and landed, far enough that they wouldn’t be spotted.
“Alright, I want you guys to distract the guards so dad and I can enter the castle with little resistance. If you notice any of them are changelings, I want you to terminate them, in any way you see fit. I want them to suffer. They cannot get away with what they caused easily.” Anger filled Spike’s voice.
“Understood!” The dragons made their way to the castle. They started to throw fireballs at the walls, causing the guards to call reinforcements to the back. While they were doing that, Spike and Thorne made their way around, keeping their distance from the castle, until they reached the front. They were stopped by a few guards. Spike and Thorne’s immunity to magic revealed them to be changelings. They both used their fire breath to let them burn to death.
“That’s what you get for what you’ve done, you pieces of filth!” Spike yelled in anger.
They continued their way into the castle, killing all the guards blocking their way to the throne room. When they arrived, Spike powered kicked the doors off the walls. To his surprise, the room was mostly empty, except for one pony… Celestia.
“You… you bucking piece of filth. You will pay for what you have done… DO YOU HEAR ME!?” Spike yelled, his anger taking over any logical thinking, as he slowly made his way to Celestia. Celestia was slowly walking backwards, scared for her life, knowing Spike’s potential.
“Wait Spike, it’s the real me.”
“Yeah right, like I haven’t heard that one before.”
“I am, if I wasn’t, you’d see it with your immunity to magic. Please you need to believe me!” Celestia begged for her life.
“You’ve found a spell to hide your true form, you impostor! I wasn’t born yesterday.”
"Honestly Spike. They want you to think it was me, they want you to kill me."
"LIAR! You're an impostor! No matter how much you beg, no matter how much you plea for your life, I will kill you."
Celestia saw a door in her path.
I just need to make it past that door, and I will be home free. All I need to do is lose these two, and teleport to get some help. Celestia ran as fast as she could, but Thorne saw what she was looking at and blocked her.
“There’s nowhere to run you impostor, just accept your fate.”
“No Spike, listen to me…”
“ENOUGH, NOW, TO BE DONE WITH YOU!” Spike grabbed Celestia’s head.
“Game over Celestia…” Spike shoved her onto the ground. He then used his flame breath, but just enough to set her on fire, he wanted to make sure she suffered, as much as possible. The room was filled with screams of pure agony. Celestia could feel the flames slowly burning her skin off, eventually starting to eat away at her flesh. She was in intense pain. The flames continued to consume her, eating away at her organs, until the room fell silent, and all that was left of Celestia, was a pile of bones on the floor. Spike felt relieved… it was finally over. He ran up to his dad.
“Dad… it’s over… everything is going to be alright now. Let’s go find my friends.”
“Lead the way Spike.” The two made it to the doors. To Spike’s confusion, the doors he kicked down were back up. They were magically locked as well.
“Who’s doing this? SHOW YOURSELF! COWARD!”
“Well, well, well Spike. I must say, that I really enjoyed the show. It was excellent, and to think I got front row seats for free."
Spike turned around he noticed two figures were hiding behind the curtains covering the windows.
“So it was you two behind this the whole time.”
“Indeed it was. I want to thank you for taking care of Princess Celestia for us, she was only getting in the way of our plans.”
“You mean… I killed the real Princess Celestia…?”
“Indeed you did Spike. We were going to dispose of her ourselves, but instead we thought, why not make it look like she was behind it, and let you kill her. The one dragon and friend she trusted the most, even more than Twilight Sparkle.”
“No… how could I… I’m so sorry princess, please forgive me. I only wanted to save my friends.” Spike said, sadness in his voice, if only he would have listened to her, he could have helped save the kingdom.
“Oh don’t worry, your friends aren’t dead.”
“Enough of this, show yourselves!”
“Where are our manners? Let us formally introduce ourselves.”
The two figures walk out, in front of the thrones.
“You know my good friend Queen Chrysalis of course, and of course I am the powerful Nightmare Moon.”
“Luna! How could you do this to your sister? She took you back after all you’ve done, after betraying her, after what you did to Equestria. After all she’s done, you go behind her back and betray her. How could you?”
“I held that grudge ever since I returned. How could she send me to the moon for one thousand years? Her own sister. She knew the pains I was feeling, and she did nothing to try and help. All she did was continue to rule and raise the sun. She never gave me any moments of glory. I deserved at least one, but it never happened. She just continued on, as if I wasn’t important anymore. So I decided I would exact my revenge when I got back.”
“Why did you wait all this time? Why not get it over with faster?”
“Because, if I would’ve done it any sooner, I would have had the same fate happen again, or worse. I found Chrysalis here in a cave in the Everfree forest recently during one of my nightly walks, and she explained to me what happened to her. Seeing we both wanted the same goal, I proposed we join forces. Her changelings could use their transformation abilities to take out the guards, but remain posted at the stations so my sister wouldn’t suspect anything. Part of the promise was I’d let her rule Equestria with me, and get her revenge on Cadance afterwards..”
“When did you become Nightmare Moon?”
“I did it the day Twilight was told that you had to leave for heritage reasons. That Celestia was me in disguise. As for the Celestia that came to send you away, that was Chrysalis.”
“How come I couldn’t see past her magic?”
“I taught her a spell that is powerful enough to trick the dragon's magic barrier."
“So you used the heritage trick so you could kidnap my friends, without me being there to interfere?”
“Exactly. Also I made sure Chrysalis left enough clues so that you would end up here, in our trap, which you are in right now.”
“That’s what you think!” Spike started to charge his fire breath, wanting to release a huge fireball.”
“I wouldn’t advise you do that.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because as soon as you kill either one of us, your friends die. Bring them out Chrysalis.”
“My pleasure.” Queen Chrysalis brought out six tables with her magic. Each one had one of Spike’s friends shackled. He noticed Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s wings were missing and so were Rarity and Twilight’s horns. Also everyone had a mouth gag except for Twilight.
“I apologize, I removed the wings and horns… I didn’t want them to have any hope of escaping or get any bright ideas.” Nightmare Moon laughed.
“Twilight!” Spike ran up to Twilight.
“Spike… is that… you?”
“Yes Twilight it’s me. I’m glad you’re alive!” Spike hugged her. Tears flowing down both their cheeks.
“I’m glad you’re alright Spike, I was worried about you.”
“I was worried about you too Twilight! Thorne can you please come here.” Thorne walked over to Spike and stood beside him.
“Twilight, I want you to meet my dad. Dad this is Twilight, she was the one who raised me since I hatched from my egg.”
“It’s nice to meet you sir.”
“Please call me Thorne. It’s nice to meet you Twilight.” Both were smiling.
“Awwwwwwwww, isn’t this a touching moment. You guys are making me sick.” Nightmare Moon interrupted.
“Oh be quiet, just because no one loves you, doesn’t mean you have to ruin the moment.”
“HOW DARE YOU!” Nightmare cast a spell, hitting Spike in the chest, knocking him back.
“That really hurt, but you haven’t won yet.”
“That’s what you think. Now Chrysalis.”
Queen Chrysalis used a powerful binding spell on Spike and Thorne, binding them to the wall, facing his six friends. Almost like they were watching a demonstration.
“Welcome ladies and dragons to tonight’s show. Please keep your applause for the end of the show. Tonight’s show, will require the help from six of my friends. Those would be Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Tonight, we will test if the elements of harmony can really save you. Our first contestant… Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter.” Nightmare Moon brought the table over with her magic.
“Well Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter. I would take the gag off, but I don't want a mouth full from you, you honestly talk too much. Now as for your element, it definitely suits you. I enjoy laughing at you, not with you. You're not great at anything else, except at making ponies laugh. Oh I'm sorry, you can throw great parties apparently. Well Pinkie, in the real world, you can't get by, by just being funny and throwing parties. Ponies are not always in the mood to laugh. In my opinion, you are the most useless of the group. Well it is time to say goodbye Pinkie." Nightmare Moon shot Pinkie in the chest with her spell, causing her to die instantly.
“It looks like your element couldn’t save you, how sad.” Nightmare Moon opened the shackles and tossed Pinkie’s body on the floor.
“Alright next, we have Rainbow Dash.” Nightmare Moon brought over Rainbow Dash’s table, and removed her mouth gag.
“Let me go you monster.”
“Rainbow this isn’t the time for compliments.” Nightmare Moon said, smiling.
“We are going to have fun, Rainbow Crash." Nightmare Moon laughed.
“That’s the best you’ve got?”
“Well Rainbow Dash, at least I accomplished something I wanted in my life, disposing of my sister. However you never accomplished yours, joining the Wonderbolts. How does it feel, to be loyal to the Wonderbolts, but never fully gain their respect, never let them join your team… let them betray you like that. How long before you become so bitter that you give up on being loyal to them? Even when you joined the Wonderbolt academy, they gave you the lackey role in your team of two. They had more faith in a pony that they knew less about. Yet you continue to put them high up on a pedestal. I’m starting to question if your loyalty means anything. It seems to me that you just give it to anyone that is famous. That kind of loyalty is worthless, it’s the equivalent of an empty promise… worthless. How you were chosen to bear that element will always puzzle me. It should have gone to someone like Spike, who actually shows signs of loyalty. He was loyal to my sister and Twilight, without any conditions, but he didn’t just give it to anypony. Un… like… you.”
Rainbow Dash laid there, mouth agape. She couldn’t respond to that. Words would not form, all she could do was make sounds, but not words. She knew it was true, and she couldn’t do anything about it. Words finally formed in her head.
“You’re right, that’s all I can say.” Tears flowed down Rainbow Dash’s cheeks.
“Now, to dispose of this trash.” Nightmare Moon shot Rainbow in the chest with the same spell she used on Pinkie Pie. She also released her from her shackles and threw her on the floor beside Pinkie with her magic.
“Rarity, you’re up next.” Just as previously, Nightmare Moon brought Rarity’s table in front of her, and removed the gag from her mouth.
“Well here we have the drama queen of the group. The fashionista of the group, also the bearer of the element of generosity. Always making dresses for your friends and outfits for Spike. However, that is where your generosity ends mostly. It seems that your generosity for your own sister Sweetie Belle always has to have a condition. The only reason you went to the sisterhooves social with her, was because you wanted to be a better sister than Applejack. Before that, you’d refuse to go. You see Rarity, you might be somewhat generous, but you’re also selfish. There always has to be something in it for you. Sure there were a few times that wasn’t the case, but there was also times that was the case. You are also a user Rarity, especially when it comes to Spike. How many times have you manipulated him and used him? You never even properly thanked him, or even acknowledge the hard work he did half the time. You would just give him a gem or make him something to eat, and then continue on. Spike was completely loyal, and you used him. That doesn’t sound very generous to me. Again, another waste of an element. It’s a shame honestly. Now it’s your turn to join the previous two.”
“Wait!” Rarity shouted.
“What is it?”
“I just… want to say one thing.” Tears were forming around her eyes.
“Make it quick.”
“Spike can you hear me?”
“Yes Rarity?”
“I’m sorry for the way I treated you. I’m sorry for using your loyalty and kindness the way I did. Can you please forgive me?”
“I forgive you Rarity. You will always be my friend. I’m just sorry it won’t be that way. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”
“It’s alright Spike, I’ll see again when the time comes.”
“Alright enough already.” Nightmare shot Rarity in the chest with the same spell. She also released her from the restraints and tossed her beside the other two.
“Next is Applejack.” Applejack was pulled to the front by Nightmare Moon, also removing her gag.
“Applejack, the element of honesty. Honesty is trait that is rare in today’s society. For once I can say you actually deserved your element, you were actually honest. However, you are so stubborn, that it almost cost you your farm. It took up to the point that you would never harvest all the apples in time before you would accept help. Everypony needs help Applejack, even me. To accomplish this, I needed Chrysalis’s help. You can’t get through life on your own, you’ll need help along the way, but no matter what, no matter how many times it gets proven, you ignore it, and continue to be stubborn. What happens when your stubbornness causes you to lose everything, the farm, your friends… your family? What would you do then? Just apologize? Apologies don’t bring back the dead, they don’t fix loses. Apologies doesn’t fix much, it’s just something we say to get rid of the guilt we feel. Now to dispose of you.”
Nightmare Moon went through the same process as the other three.
“Next we have Fluttershy.” Nightmare Moon brought her up to the front and removed her mouth gag.
“Fluttershy… the nice one, the soft one, the bearer of the element of kindness. To be honest, it suits you perfectly. However, it is poisoning your animals. With your kindness, now they won’t be able to survive on their own. They count on you to feed them, to care for them. They aren’t able to hunt for food, won’t be able to survive in their new environment. You’ve turned them dependant and soft like you. Worthless, can’t stand up for yourself. The worst part is that you’re content with being useless and shy. However when you decided to stand up for yourself, you become a whole different pony, you lose your identity. You never have a middle ground. You’re either a pushover or a bully. Will you ever become confident, I doubt it, not the way you’re doing things now. You can’t just rely on doing only the easy things, only the things you comfortable with, to be successful in life, you need to do things outside your boundaries, outside your comfort zone. You are never going to get that point, especially now. Goodnight forever Fluttershy.” Nightmare shot Fluttershy with her spell in the chest, killing her instantly. She then like the other, open the restraints and tossed her beside the others.
“Well we are now on our last guest today… Twilight Sparkle.”
Nightmare Moon brought Twilight’s table over. Twilight was barely alive, using all her energy just to stay alive.
“Now Twilight, the element of magic, also the one who ‘defeated’ me a few years ago. You see Twilight, you’ll never get rid of me unless you kill Luna. I will always be a part of her. I feed off of her anger, her sadness… her hatred. I stay in her subconscious until it’s time to emerge. As for you, your element of course suits you, you are great with magic, but not great enough to stop me forever. Now instead of giving you a whole speech like I did with the others, I’m going to let you spend your last breaths beside Spike. All you have to do is crawl to him.” Nightmare Moon released the restraints. Twilight fell onto the floor. She tried to get up on all fours, but she couldn’t. She didn’t have enough energy. She slowly crawled, each step was painful… each breath was weaker. She made it halfway there, when suddenly Nightmare Moon shot her in the back with her spell, causing her to die on the spot.
“I lied, you were the one I wanted to kill the most, for ruining my chances of ending this earlier.” Nightmare Moon grabbed her with her magic and tossed her with the others.
“Now here I have the book with all six elements of harmony. Well since they have no use anymore.” Nightmare Moon crushed them under her hoof, breaking them all. Spike’s last hope gone.
“Now Chrysalis your role is over, I only needed you up until now. I have no use for you, and I rule this kingdom alone.” Nightmare Moon cast the same death spell on her, killing her. Doing so, meant Spike and Thorne were free. While Nightmare Moon had her back turned, Spike rushed up to her, grabbing her.
I expected you to do this Spike, but I’m not worried, you’re too weak to kill me. Spike pulled off Nightmare Moon’s horn. Screams of pain could be heard in the room. Blood dripping down his claw and Nightmare Moon’s face.
“You won’t be needing this. Not after what I’m going to do to you. For what you’ve done to my friends.” Spike placed her on one of the beds, and placed the restraints on her.
“How does it feel to be on this end?” Nightmare Moon was fearing for her life.
"Now let's discuss you. Nightmare Moon, unable to do anything right. Again, your plans are ruined, this time, by an average dragon. You've become weak, before only the elements could stop you, now all it takes is me. You couldn't win one thousand years ago, what makes you think you could now? Now to make sure you don't get another chance to try this again."
In a quick attempt to try to escape, she transformed back into Luna, using up almost all of her energy.
“Spike… it’s me… Princess Luna.”
“Nice try Nightmare Moon, but I wasn’t born yesterday. Don’t worry I have a surprise for you.” Spike dug his claw into her chest, and pulled out her beating heart.
“Just as I expected, purely black. Look at it, I want you to remember this as your dying!” Spike threw the heart on the table beside her head.
“Consider this as payback for what you did to my friends.”
Spike ran over to Thorne.
“Are you alright dad?”
“Yes I am, how about you Spike?”
“I got my revenge, but it doesn’t feel like I’ve accomplished anything. It’s all my fault, I could have saved them, I should have never left. I should have stayed with Twilight… This may have never happened.” Spike walked over to his friends’ bodies. Spike was crying, he was responsible for this in his mind.
“How could that monster do this? These ponies saved her, helped convince people to accept her. Yet after everything they did for her, she does this. At least her reign of terror is over. She will not hurt anypony else now… never again. As for me, what can I do now? I have nothing left, all my friends dead, my foster mom… dead. I have no one that truly loves me.” Thorne interrupted Spike.
“I love you Spike. I always have…” Spike interrupted.
“Lies! If you truly did, you would have tried to contact me earlier.”
“You know I couldn’t do that Spike.”
“I’m sure if you spoke to Celestia, she would have made some kind of arrangement. Instead you decide to do nothing. You don’t love me. Now leave, NOW! I never want to see you again.”
“I’m sorry Spike. I’ll leave, but in case you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
Thorne left the room and met up with the soldiers from earlier. They made their way back to the dragon lands.
“What are you going to do now Spike? You have nothing left. Well I might as well make sure the others are safe.” Spike made his way into the dungeons, where he found the rest of the citizens of Ponyville. He opened the cell door.
“Alright, you guys are free. Please go back to Ponyville. Everything is back to normal.”
“Thank you Spike!” They each spoke. Three of them stayed behind however.
"Are you alright Spike?"
"I have something I need to tell you three. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash... are dead."
"What!" All three cried.
"Rarity is dead..." Spike hugged Sweetie Belle, comforting her. She returned the hug.
"I'm so sorry Sweetie Belle, it's all my fault. I could have saved her."
"I don't blame you Spike, it wasn't your fault."
"Apple Bloom, I'm sorry about Applejack." Spike hugged Apple Bloom, to which she returned the hug.
"Thank you Spike, I don't blame you either."
"Scootaloo, I'm so sorry about Rainbow Dash."
"Thank you Spike." Spike hugged Scootaloo, to which she returned it.
"Spike we're sorry about Twilight." Sweetie Belle spoke.
"Thank you. Now you three head along home. Take care of each other."
"We will, but what about you Spike?"
"I've got some business I need to take care of."
With that, the three made their way back to Ponyville. Spike went back to the throne room and gently picked up the bodies of his friends. He made his way to the Canterlot royal cemetery. He did a proper burial for all of his friends, making a special grave stone for Twilight.
“I’m sorry guys, I could have saved all of you, if I would have never left. I hope you guys can forgive me.” Spike stayed there for a few hours, tears flowing down his cheeks, remembering all the good times he had with them. Eventually he flew to the Everfree forest, to live out the rest of his days, being haunted with the thought that his friends were dead because of him. Always being haunted that he could have saved them… if only he never left. Each night, he would relive his friends’ deaths in his nightmares.
As for Thorne, everyday he hoped Spike would return. To which he never did.