//------------------------------// // 39 – "The Destiny of the Egg from Which You Were Hatched from." // Story: Spike Quits His Job and Goes on Numerous Quests // by B_25 //------------------------------// ~39~ "The Destiny of the Egg from Which You Were Hatched from." At the bottom of the stairs shined a light like no other, enticing the drake that stared at it the wonders that awaited him when he reached the bottom. He forwent rushing down the steps to go and claim his price, opting to take instead a closer look at the hanging paintings that followed him on his descent. The style and colors applied to the portraits of the dragons who once lived perfectly comprised their features established the atmosphere of the period they once inhabited, while also pinching in a few rays of romantic light. “They looked as elegant as noble ponies back in the day.” Spike noted that in the background of some of the portraits certain suits of armor, bearing the same color coloration as the dragon being painted while taking a stance akin to their master’s personality. “Heh, neat. But what I don’t get, is, did the dragon’s leave their armor that way? Or did the armor take a stance on their own, like I saw back in the throne room?” Spike knew that the answer to his question lay not in admiring the faces of dragons past, but in the chamber of light that awaited him at the bottom. The drake sped down the stairs and cut the distance between him and the final step, slowly walking across the ground to the door where the light filtered out from, and laid his claw on the handle The door opened with a slight creak. An array of lights assaulted the pair of draconic eyes. None of this stopped the drake from carrying onward into the chamber, where he stole a glance past the blinding lights at the thing sitting upon the golden throne. “Welcome, would-be Guardian, to the place that was once supposed to be your home.” Spike rose a claw to repress the blinding lights from reaching his eyes. A current of wind began to form in the chamber that pressed the drake back, but he doubled his efforts in walking forth into the winds. “I still have no clue what you’re talking about! It was interesting to listen to you when it felt like you were giving a history lesson on dragons, but now, you're just overly cryptic and annoying with the special effects!” “I apologize.” The winds began to subside, and the array of lights dimmed, allowing the drake to hover his claw away from his eyes. “It’s been too long since I’ve taken a physical form, even longer since I’ve had to entertain a guest. Please, forgive me.” Spike approached the center of the chamber, the layer of whiteness plastered over his vision beginning to peel away to the contents of the area. Stone statues of dragons standing tall with their weapons impaled in the ground below looked downward on the drake, who twirled in a circle, attempting to look into all of their faces. A serpent purple tail laced around its owner’s twirling leg, rendering it unable to move when it most needed to, as the drake came falling onto his bottom. Spike gave a huff and blinked his eyes until the came to lay on a set of obsidian bars, where steps laid afterward arising to another throne. There, sat a chromatic suit of semi-transparent armor, twice the size of Spike himself. Each bodily part exuded a glow of different color that comprised the overall form of the armor, while each aspect contained their individual power. Spike did his best to repress the yelp that tried to escape his throat when the chromatic armor rose from its throne, though a small cry still slipped past his lips. “Please, young drake, come a little closer and listen to my tale. For it not only does it reveal the history of the species which you belong to, but the destiny of the egg which you were hatched from.” Spike heaved a heavy exhale, slowly picking himself up from the dusty floor, and giving the nod to the thing for it to continue. “I am but a single scale that once protected a Great King. This King’s power was so great, that even a shattered scale such as myself could still maintain a faint connection to his vast power a millennium after his death. It’s because of this power how I became the spiritual manifestation that you see before you, and how I still contain remnants of that distant time.” A leg comprised of a solid glowing orange took the first step down the stairs, while a leg of a faint glowing blue took the next step. “The Great King belonged to the self-proclaimed Corona family, the first instance of dragon royalty, comprised of those capable of rational thoughts and the ability to maintain a good will inside their hearts.” Spike didn’t know it until he felt it, but his legs too began to walk to the bars blocking the two beings from ever meeting. “Disgusted by the savagery of the badlands caused by the greedy wills of dragons, the Corona family formed in attempts to bring reason and law across the lands. Not so much in the ways of ponies, as even the Corona’s found them too superficial for their good, but to bring about a land where it was capable of finishing a fight with words and not claws.” The brilliant alabaster light radiating from its right arm was numbing to the drake’s eyes, but he did not mind. For the left arm exuded a warm yellowness, that seemed to wrap around the drake’s form and kept him subdued it in its warmth. “There was an outcry by dragons who only wished to do as they pleased, and by those who as well possed logic. But their reasoning for rising to royalty was not to bring some grace to the lands, but because they found a new way to attain power far exceeding their strengths. I fear superficial ponies passed down another lesson to us dragons, and that was how to manipulate one another for more power.” Spike didn’t know why, but he found his eyes starting at each and every individual scales that comprised the palm of his purple palm. Allowing the once King’s words slither deep into his core without the restriction of analysis. “More and more self-proclaimed families began to emerge, each one questioning the other's authenticity using battle until the strongest of the strongest was left standing with their castle still intact. But whenever any dragon dared enter the castle of Corona to stage a war or debate, the magic of the King shrunk them down to ten feet, where they then could stage a proper battle or discussion. “Such was the case to anyone who wished to enter the castle, even after its demise. It's fortunate that you have not fully grown yet, young dragon, or else you would’ve been shrunk down like any other by the still lingering power.” Spike nodded his head that got the message across that he understood the tale so far, but he couldn’t stop himself from being rude by splitting apart his lips. “Please forgive me for saying this, but you can call me Spike if you like.” “A pleasure to meet you, Spike.” The pink helmet bowed forth slightly, prompting Spike to do the same back. “The name of my once king has long since left my memory, and it’ll be a dishonor for me to try and give myself one now. All I honestly remember from those time were not the faces of those who I once fought with, nor the love of my queen, but of the hope, we all shared for the rest of the lands.” The chromatic armor resumed his descension on the plight of steps, while the drake continued to walk onward, both being from separate times not knowing how they would reach another in the middle. “We had reached a time where our words were swaying over dragons more than our claws, as this new phenomenon began to spread across the Badlands. Dragons not a part of the royal families were spreading these ideals all on their own, stepping into a situation where they knew justice had to be served. “Some ponies, brave and courageous, were even bracing into the Badlands to share their ideals and ways with the dragons, bearing the seal of approval from that alicorn Princess.” The semi-transparent armor ceased in its next step, prompting Spike to do the same, as he gave up his will and his thoughts on this thing. Whatever it said or demanded of Spike would be true for those moments, and he dared not a thing that would express disrespect. “Aye...just as soon as the wave of peace swept over the lands, making dragons tame yet damaging the natural cycle, was when the wave was torn asunder. The Great King and Queen had given birth to an egg, the first ever Prince to the Canova family, and would be responsible for seeing this wave of peace course through the rest of the world. “But he would need power and wisdom, experience and support to do that. The Prince would be the first dragon to suppress his greedy instincts at birth, be raised to the power and principles of his parents, and be taught by the best scholars regardless of their species.” If mystical powers were capable of facial expressions, then Spike swore he saw a smile sweep across the armor, as it continued its downward path once more. “Dragons are known for their arrogance, and there was no telling what become of a royalty born dragon. So the King and Queen decided to accept the donation of an egg from any great dragon willing. The egg would go on to live outside the castle walls, learn the current ways of the land, and experience every turbulence possible.” Spike began to match his pace with the armor, taking in the sway of each of its steps, and holding himself upright yet calm. “At the age when the Prince could properly wield a sword, then this young dragon would come home. He would serve as the Guardian to this Prince, correcting him when he grows too pompous, and governing his way to expect the worst out of any situation. For this Guardian had seen the worse of the world at the young age and lived not ideally as the Prince was bound to, but in the present of his times.” The chromatic armor stopped at the last step, as it rose its brilliant alabaster arm, and pointed it toward the young dragon so close, yet so far away. “It was you, Spike, who was supposed to be a Guardian. Whose egg was donated to help spread peace throughout the lands, and to govern the next King.” Spike raised a claw against his chest to repress the beatings of his heart, as his ears rang to a merry tune after hearing those words, and his mind was a jumbled mess. Endorphins coursed with fear and apprehension intermix. Like the lavender mare whom he had grown up with, focused on logic and reason when feelings became overbearing. “But...but if that was supposed to be the case...then what happened to this once kingdom. It...it sounds like I was meant to be born a thousand years ago, not nineteen!” “Aye.” The old thing forewent from taking the final step placing him on the same ground on the young drake, as the ending to the tragic tale still needed to be unfolded. “It was the time when the Princess whose mane was more chromatic than the form I now inhabit left our grace, and no matter the time I have to contemplate her actions, will I ever come to the conclusion that I should despise her for it.” Spike’s lips split as something from his heart desperately wanted to be spoken out and heart, but he couldn’t will the words past his throat. “Days before the war between royal families, the Princess saw that the instincts rooted in dragons could never be overwritten. It was because of foolish emotions that this was ever started, the reason why everyone kept fighting despite how much they already lost, the reason why every dragon bearing hope for a peaceful future died with the blood of their enemies splashed across their face. “The Prince had yet to be hatched, and so too, his guardian. But when the Solar Princess finally returned to see if her lessons of friendship and love may have saved a few, all she bore witness too was a heap of dead bodies. For the first time in his life, the Great King wept dying on his throne at the sight of the alicorn, an egg not matching his color coloration sitting on his lap.” Spike took a step forward as the words were becoming faint by sorrow, disobey the grace he had adopted moments ago to follow in the footsteps of his instinct. “The Great King wept not because all those who he’d known had died for his foolish sake, or because the egg in his lap was not his son, but because the hope of dragons of ever becoming anything more than beast was vanquished by the despair brought on my primitive instincts. “The Princess felt the same, and yet, she still shed a tear for his sake. In the last moments of the King’s life, he asked for the Princess to take the egg and to crush it outside the castle. She graciously took the egg and left the King to his death embrace, but he still possessed one wish that prevented him from slipping away.” Spike stopped just a few feet away from the solid bars, content on hearing the soft words from this distance, as any closer would be too painful in his heart. “The Great King sought to protect the conception of his dream and of the age of his dragons, where their relative peace was so close, yet so far away from being achieved. A part of him wished to protect the castle of Corona from the passage of time, not to protect his legacy, but because of the possibility for the dragons to evolve again. “And maybe, just maybe. They would find this castle, and finish what the Great King and his dragon began.” The once form of the High King took the final step that placed him on the same plane of the young dragon, who recoiled in shock at such a thing before both beings approached their ends of the timeless bars. “Spike, my young dragon, you owe nothing to Corona as you were to them as you are now: an outsider. But, if a faint resemblance to that one Great King has any influence on you after, then please hear my plea.” The drake nodded his head, as he stood before the bars. “How it was in the past it shall be in the present, that the long-lost Prince should restore order and nobility to the dragons, and work once to rectify the savagery of our species. I ask of you not as a Drifter, whom we used to hire in the past, but as a Guardian once given the sacred task of protecting our Prince.” The chromatic armor too stood before the bars, which seemed rusted from his end. And on the command of the instincts that had been synchronized between the two being, both of them extended their claw out to one another. “I see now that the Ancient Spirit, known to most as The Count, now inhabits your soul as well. Do well to refuse its words and its powers, for this helps the spirit stretch its control over you until you can no longer think for yourself. Believe in the power guardianship, protecting your fellow dragon despite the risk to your life, instead of the indifference that comes from ceasing the best opportunity.” Spike couldn’t reply. The world felt blurry, and every seemed like a dream, where he’d wake up but a few moments later, only to realize there’ll never be an opportunity to exercise his potential. But when the two claws drafted from different time periods finally came to embrace in the present, the drake never felt more alive. “Take this as a contract which The Count wishes for, which is the reason why he brought you here, or take this as a plea from a dead King to a Guardian. Regardless of which one you choose, young Spike, please, go and find the long-lost Prince of Corona, and bring him to his home where his rule can begin anew." Despite the influx of feelings and emotions coursing through the drake, unfelt before as empathy grew in his, he couldn’t help but look away at such a request. “I cannot leave this place as I’m responsible for making sure the castle is not lost to the rising sea, or anyone bypasses my magic and steps foot in this castle like you so have. I’ll train you in the ways of sword fighting that only the Corona family was ever known to accomplish, and whatever else still lingers in my intangible mind.” Spike’s heavy eyelids came to a close and reopened in a flash, as something inside his soul demanded he answers with a yes. In taking a heavy breath to calm the thoughts of his mind and the cries of his soul, the drake responded to the request in the only way he knew. “Okay.”