A Dragon As Dark As The Night
In the heart of the Everfree there was a light. It was a dull, little thing, about the size of ones palm. Yet in that little tiny light, a mighty beast rested inside. A beast so fearful that even the living Nightmare Moon would not go near it, everything avoided it, even the woods itself. The beast was asleep in this little light, life went on as it normally did. Creatures died, and then creatures were born, only to die again. The forest went on living as it had for the centuries before, and the millennia afterwords. But we are not here to talk about the past, nor the future.
"Awake..." The light began to pulse and throb, taking a shape.
"Awake..." The shape began to grow, becoming what it had been, for countless eons from before and after.
"AWAKE!" A roar, was heard in the Everfree and every settlement around the forest turned towards it. One such settlement was Ponyville, where six ponies and one dragon lived. Pinkie and Rainbow stopped their pranks, Applejack didn't even notice the apple bounce off her head, Rarity and Fluttershy shot out of the spa, and Twilight Sparkle and Spike looked up from the map that was glowing. Normally, only one part of the map would glow, but the entire map was glowing. As in, it meant that all of Equestria was now in danger, and the glow only seemed to intensify as the roar rippled through the air. They didn't need say anything more than a nod before they grabbed gear. Cans of food, water, some gems for Spike, and they waited. Rainbow crashed head first into the door throwing it open.
"What in Celestia's name was that?! I heard it all the way up in Cloudsdale!" She exclaimed, looking around. The others, arrived too, each asking the same question. Twilight only then realized that all of their Cutie Marks were glowing, but not just them, Spike's spines were glowing, showing a little green flame on the map. The roar came again, but a voice was heard. It was low, it had aged, but it was as loud as the heavens.
"MY LADY! THEY'VE TAINTED YOU, MY LADY ARRRRGGHHH!!!" They looked towards the Everfree again in time to see a jet of black flames come from the center of the forest. Twilight and the others were at a loss for words, they've never seen black flames like that before.
"A dragon made that..." Spike said softly, as he and the others looked at the last wisps of the flame fade in the air... and for a large white-purple beam to cut across the air. It cut the tops of the trees, it struck a nearby foothill and small little explosions launched off its side. The beam persisted cut through the forest making a small clearing, the same explosions following shortly afterwards. At this point, two Ursa Majors took notice that their home was being destroyed and took action. The ancient beast stood to their full height, towering over the trees looking for the interloper. Twilight had seen enough.
"Okay girls, we have to-- SPIKE! COME BACK HERE!" She yelled, noticing that her little dragon was gone. A quick look out the window saw that he had made it to the edge of the Everfree already. "Spike! C'mon, we have to stop him!" She said, with others nodding and chasing after the small dragon. Twilight's head was racing with a thousand thoughts, but stood up among the rest.
"Please be safe..."
Spike huffed and snorted through his exhaustion. For some unknown reason he felt compelled to go this dragon. A dragon that for all he knew would most likely kill him, but for some reason he didn't care. The two Ursa's stomped to the dragon, determined to destroy it. "AWAY BEASTS! AWAYYYYAAAARRRRGHH!!!!" Black flames shot through the forest again, and even from the distance Spike was he could still feel the heat and power of the fire. The two Ursa Major's must have found their target. One of them began to swipe down at the dragon but the he leapt up at the bear.
And that's when Spike saw it for the first time. A large, dark purple dragon with holes in... Four of it's wings? He thought dragons only had two. It had black crystals growing off his hide, and a purple mist flowing from his form. He clung to the Major's shoulder clamping his massive maw into it. It roared in anger and pain as it attempted to smack away the dragon, but before it could, the dragons maw lit and more black flames spewed forth, doing irreversible damage to the bears arm. It screamed in agony, and its mate pulled the dragon off the other. The purple dragon growled before shooting a jet of black flames directly downwards, pooling the flames and cooking the Majors' feet. This made them both loose balance for short time before the beam appeared within the flames, and the dragon shot it's head up, the beam following the movement, before come back around swiping in front of them. The smaller explosions, now that Spike was close enough, felt extremely powerful, to the point where he wondered if the even the Elements of Harmony would've had a run for their money on the power factor.
The Ursa's wouldn't relent though, and kept trying to force the dragon off the land they claimed. However there are things even Ursa Major's feared....
A roar, powerful enough to shake the tree tops and knock some of them down, cut the air. Both Majors' eyes widened before taking in the scent of the land. They had stumbled into its territory. The regarded the dragon, before retreating back into the lands, curling in the cave they called home. The roar had gotten louder, and from the trees came what they had feared. A Leo, with the corpse of a Lupus hanging from its maw came into the field. A Leo to a dragon was an equal, if not a beast to be respected. Even Spike knew this, however this dragon, did not. As he roared, practically in the face of the Leo, the star lion did not move. It set its kill down and regarded the crazy dragon. The Leo then raised its claw and in a flash of lightning, swiped at the dragon. The dragon moved his head recoiling in pain, and slowly lifted its head back to see the supposed majesty of the Leo.
The lion snarled, and went to raise his paw again. Only stopped short when it noticed something... off. The dragon's jaw shook in what looked to be pure rage. The purple shimmers and wisps suddenly sprang to life and a massive black wave was washed around the dragon. Spike saw a spark in the dragons eyes, and it launched the black wave forwards coating the Leo in the darkness. All four of his wings splayed out in dominance towards the lion. Spike wondered if the Leo would keep fighting, but instead the he saw it teetering back and forth before it fell and lost its shine. The Leo was dead in just one hit! Spike gulped and began to keep walking towards the massive dragon before he felt himself being pulled back by Twilight.
"SPIKE! Oh thank goodness! I thought you would be in danger and you're so grounded mister! But thank Faust you're.... alright..." She trailed off, looking at the damage and the dead Leo. Finally she noticed it. The giant dragon that was staring at them both.
"You hold one of mine, like thine own kin?" He questioned. While he spoke, his mouth did not move, it was like the words were directed into her head. "Odd creature... Has this world been tainted too? Beasts of this caliber," He motioned towards the Leo "have must've come somewhere? Where is this darkness, so I may devour it."
It was odd, the way he talked, his mouth and jaw did not move, yet the words were heard clearly. Twilight stared at this hulking behemoth of a dragon and slowly began to walk forward. She raised a hoof to touch his chin, and to try understand it clearer, but it landed a single claw in front of her, stopping her movement. "No. To preserve thine kind, I forbid you from touching me. The darkness, the Abyss, it runs deep within mine roots..." His voice rumbled through the air, calm and quite, unlike before when they found him. Spike noticed how the dark shimmers began to fade, until they disappeared entirely and he had a better look at the wings of the great beast for the first time. They were aged, very aged. He must've been tens of thousands years old! His scales were practically rocks, and the crystals that dropped off his hide... For some reason or another he wanted to eat them.
His hunger started to get the better of him and he slowly began to walk toward one of the dark jewels. Twilight moved to stop him but a small snort from Midir stopped her. Thinking better that to mess with the ancient dragon in front of her, she moved back a small distance. "The power inside of these crystals will change you forever if you consume them. Any creature weak-willed enough to do so... It will destroy them. Something strong enough will have incredible power, but at a price. Knowing this, will you accept this chance?" Midir said prodding the crystal ever-so closer to him. Spike, now, out of his stupor really looked at the crystals on hide. He saw... something inside of them, inside the dark of those crystals he saw small figures dancing. And fighting. And... And... He looked away, sweat forming on his brow. He didn't know what he had seen. He looked back at the crystal that he had eyed and peered into it.
A knight, or at least it looked like a knight, in silver armor and a blue cowl, a sword that was damaged beyond repair in one hand and a broken, beaten shield that was just in as much disrepair as the sword in the other. His back was facing towards Spike, and it looked behind itself only for the sword to change. It began to chip and change form, from a dark steel to a bleeding, rusty red. The figure changed too, with the slender figure turning and fading into a hulking body with a red hood... Holding his hand towards him now, as if begging or asking to grab something...
"What do you see, young one?" The thundering boom of the dragons voice. Spike almost dropped the jewel in surprise. He had forgotten all about the other dragon.
"...I see two warriors." Spike said. It was simplest of answers, but it was enough for the elder. He nodded, and prompted him to go on. "They were two different entities, yet they felt the same. One had his back to me, while the other reached out for... something."
"Describe them."
Spike nodded. "One was tall, a silver knight in some sort of blue cloak. His sword and his shield they both looked so dinged up, like they saw a lot of fights. The other though, he was shorter, or taller. I don't know, he was hunched over. His sword was... almost bleeding it looked like. It was nothing I've ever seen. Chipped beyond belief; I'm surprised it's still holding together." The elder dragon rose an eyebrow and nudged the gem closer to Spike.
"Keep it young one. Let it be a reminder: Power, always has a price." He said before spreading his wings, all four of them, and began to lift off.
"Wait! What's your name?!" Spike called out as the purple dragon began to rise even higher. He looked down at the young dragon before speaking.
"I am named Midir, I am descended of the Ancient Dragons, and we will meet again." He said before flying off somewhere.
Spike walked back to Twilight who held him close, putting a hoof over his shoulder. He looked back at the crystal and he still saw the same red hooded figure only now, the image zoomed into its chest revealing a large gaping hole. It kept zooming in though, going into the darkest parts of the hole. There he saw a black dragon with white glowing eyes, sitting in the fetal position. The dragon looked up suddenly, and it opened its maw in a silent roar, that if Spike knew had been real, it would've deafened him.
Something still confused him though. Those figures he had seen they both felt the same. And while dragon felt like them too, he couldn't help but wonder...
"Who are you...?" He whispered to himself.