//------------------------------// // Chapter 1. // Story: Guardian // by Twilight Adept //------------------------------// Guardian. Ponies say that a Dragons heart is made of gems, and Dragons say that all gemstones are the hearts of dragons who have passed on, this is why we eat them, to gain our elders wisdom and power. I do not know if either of these is the truth, I know that MY heart is made of Fire Ruby, and I gave it away long ago. I'm Spike, everyone knows me as the pudgy little assistant to Princess Twilight Sparkle, I haven't been that in many years. Tartarus even knows if she knows I'm still breathing, it has been a hundred years since I've seen her. Dragons take naps, lots of them, but when we are about twenty we get a calling in our bones to go back to our homeland and sleep. I slept and dreamed of diamonds for a hundred years, three diamonds to be exact. Believe me I've heard every joke about my feelings for Rarity. “She's perfect for him, she literally has diamonds on her ass” is probably the most common among them. Truth is my feelings for her go much deeper than that and actually have roots in me being a dragon. She never returned my feelings and I accepted that, didn't make it hurt any less. Sweetie Belle was always like my little sister so, eww no, I love her but not like that. By the time I accepted everything was as it was going to be, I felt the call to sleep. When I woke everyone but a very select few had passed on, Twilight and the Princesses were still alive, and Sweetie... Unicorns live quite long lives, Pegasi and Earth ponies...less so. As I was to find out other less savory things lived too. I spend my days hunting in the Everfree, and my nights watching over my adopted home of Ponyville from the edges of the dark forest. I stopped many threats to Ponyville before the town even knew they were going to be threats. Manticores? Extinct in the Everfree. Cragodiles? So much luggage donated to Carousel Boutique from an anonymous source. Hydras? What Hydras? I haven't seen a Hydra since I ate the one living in what was to become my cave. Timberwolves? Let's just say they like my fire even less now that they have become kindling. Bugbears, Poison Joke, the list goes on, all gone or tamed to the point of controllability. Fluttershy's foals and grandfoals took over her work as caretaker to the forest animals though they lacked her ability to talk to them as she did, so they never knew of my residency. Though I did laugh whenever I heard them comment on the lack of magical predators preying on the other animals. Sweet Apple Acres is being run by Gala Apple, Macs Granddaughter, and her foals and grand foals. It is larger than ever and has taken up a good portion of what used to be the whitetail woods. Still being run the Apple way though. From what I've been able to over hear, Applebloom and Scootaloo ended up together and never had kids or even adopted. Carousel Boutique, however, is now a museum to the chains creator and Element of Harmony, My love, Rarity. Sweetie Belle and her husband Button Mash curate it and Live next door in their own home with their families. I have looked inside and Prominently displayed is the Fire ruby pendant I gave My love so long ago. That stone is why I do what I do to protect Ponyville, until one day I was able to do so with no one being any the wiser. The Day Tirek returned. I first realized something had gone horribly wrong when i saw the fires on the Canterhorn, I would have helped then but I knew that whatever happened would eventually put my Heart in danger, so I waited. I knew things were bad when I saw Twilight meeting a haggard and guard less pair of Alicorn Princesses. Still I waited. If the Three could not vanquish this threat to my Heart, then I knew it was in true danger. It wasn't long before I heard Fluttershy's family talking about Tirek. I knew that we had not seen the last of him. Things got out of Tartarus all the time apparently, and equally apparently, that idiot mutt Cerberus needed to go back to guard dog basic training. How hard was it to put three heads worth of teeth to various asses whenever they had a thought about escaping? Before long the Princesses returned with Twilight in tow and they all three looked even more ragged than before. Twilight organized an evacuation into various shelters built around town to protect the citizenry from the seemingly weekly threats...Threats that were no longer happening. The Three of them were soon joined by Empress Cadance and her daughter, Princess Flurry Heart. Good grief had that little squirt grown! Last time I saw her she was still spitting bubbles for amusement. I resolved to wait one last time. Surely the five of them could make their final stand at the Castle of Friendship and beat that moronic centaur again. I had never been more wrong. Two days later Tirek stormed into town bellowing for the princesses, only to be met with five massive blasts of magic, all of which did barely anything to his frame. I knew they had more in them than that so I watched, ready to bound into town should I be needed. The battle went on with Tirek crushing buildings in his rage and the Princesses blasting him from various angles and intensities. Twilight, Luna, and Celestia were throwing spells that I had only ever read about, some of which would have annihilated whole cities if it wasn't for their mastery of the arcane. You may call me callous, watching my Sisters and the Princesses fight while I did nothing, do so. I was being callous. They could fight this battle and win I thought, my Heart was not in danger. That changed when Tirek stepped directly on Carousel Boutique.