//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Bublitschki 
// Story: A Vacation in Romaneia 
// by The_Last_Centurion 
//------------------------------//

This story is a fan-fiction of MLP:FiM. I don't own any of it. It belongs to Hasbro, etc, etc. 
Don't sue. Seriously. That would be so uncouth. 


Chapter 5: Bublitschki 


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“Up you get small one.” said a demonic voice that pulled the comfortable and warm robe-blankets off of Spike. The cold air of the room invaded Spike's ball of snuggly warmth. Spike frowned and tried to fight against the tug, winning the blankets after a brief struggle. He smiled and sighed as he pulled the robes closer around himself.
“So you want to be that way?” said the voice amused as it let go of the robes. The voice chuckled and Spike heard hoofsteps as the voice left the room., along with water turning on and then off.Spike gave a deeper sigh of relief and snuggled back into the robes. He felt the warmth of the blankets and the waves of heat which permeated from the dying fire. He took a deep breath in. Even if he was separated from Twilight and held against his will by a crazy tyrant, this was pure comfort. If only he was back in Ponyville.....
“Gotcha!” said the evil voice as Spike felt a pressure on his exposed tail. He cried out in protest, but the evil pony held Spike upside down in the air by his tail. 
“Kells! What are you doing? Put me down!” 
Kells walked into the bathroom with the young dragonling. He chuckled evilly at the mischief he was creating.
“Put you down? Are you sure?”
“YES!”
“Ok.” Kells let him fall into the tub filled with cold water. He counted down three seconds and then Spike came out gasping.
“AAAHHHHH!”
Kells shook his head. “It's really not that cold.”
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Did this water come from the northern ocean?”
Kells rolled his eyes and Spike noticed his coat was wet too. Apparently he had used the tub before Spike's fateful plunge. How could he stand such frigid waters?
“If you're done, then come out and eat some breakfast. It came up while you were still asleep.” He said while walking out of the bathroom. Spike immediately jumped out of the tub, almost slipping on the wet stone, and ran back to the fire place. He let out a gout to get the flames going again and then he stood close to it, letting the heat remove the bitter waters. 
Spike turned around and around trying to get warmer faster, but stopped when he got dizzy. He sat down on the hearth while his vision stopped spinning. He looked around and saw that breakfast was on the table just like Kells said, while the pony in mind sat on his bed. Kells was already robed and he held the smaller robe that he said was for Spike in one hoof, while he held a needle and thread in the other.
Spike stood up and walked over to watch him sew.
“Whatcha doing?”
“Making sure this will fit you.”
“Why aren't you doing that with your magic?”
“It's not the same.”
“Will it look like yours?”
“If everything turns out right, yes.”
“You know, I live in a library too, back in Ponyville, but we never wore robes.”
Kells grunted. “It's cold and it's tradition. Go eat your breakfast. We have a lot to do today.”
Spike could hear the familiar stern tone in his voice that he heard all to often in Twilight's. That tone always told him it was time to do things and ask questions later. He quickly sat down in the one dining chair and grabbed the plate that still had food on it. He ate his two little bagels and hard boiled eggs in silence hearing the 'shwip, shwip' of the needle pulling thread. Spike finished up and stacked the dirty plates in the center of the table. He could hear the bed springs creak as Kells stood up.
“Try this on.” he told Spike as he hoofed the robe over to him. Then Kells went over and cleaned up the plates and cups by putting them in the dumbwaiter, yanking on the rope once. The dishes slowly vanished into the darkness.
Spike hopped down from the chair and examined his robe. It was the same brown as Kells', only a little darker and less frayed. Spike noticed that the robe had originally been made by for a pony, but Kells had shortened it considerably. He had removed the bottom sleeves by essentially cutting the robe in half. He had also shortened the sleeves so Spike could use his claws instead of flopping around everywhere. The robe had a long, velvet rope belt and Spike had to wrap it around himself a few times so he wouldn't be tripping over it all day. He tightened it and stood up straight, noticing  that Kells was watching him.
Kells looked at Spike in the new garb and nodded to himself, before going over to Spike and straightening his collar. 
“Come,” he said walking to the door. “It is time to get started.”
He strode out the door and Spike followed Kells as he took the left pathway along the wall.He noticed that it was more than cold in the library, it was FREEZING! Spike became thankful for his new robe ever so quickly. His feet padded along after the older hoof past the large stained glass windows that went from the first floor to the second. Spike looked across to the other wall and looked at those windows too. Like before, he noticed that there was Luna and Celestia at the beginning of the library, but here closer to Kell's room, the stained glass showed different unfamiliar alicorns.
“Who's that?” Spike asked stopping in front of a window that depicted a dark green alicorn with a leaf green mane in a forest. She sat in a throne in a throne of living branches and roots formed from the nearby trees.
Kells cast a glance to her and then kept walking. “That was Erda. She ruled over the forests that we now call Germaney as an Immortal princess.”
“What happened? Why isn't she still ruling Germaney?”
Kells sighed and kept walking. Spike hurried to catch up, and Kells continued while he descended the stairs.
“She gave up her immortality because she fell in love with a war-stallion named Sigurd.”
“Lucky guy.”
“Indeed.” 
They walked through the bookshelf-corridors in silence until they reached the central desk. Then Kells walked around it and went through an opening in the wall. He was lost from Spike's sight as he rooted around under the counter of the circular desk. He came up a moment later, holding a large, brittle, yellowed manuscript with magic. He laid it down on the desk and looked at it. Spike looked at is too and found it was the same strange scratchings and etches that comprised of Kells's letter.
Kells looked at it seriously and then put it back with magic.
“What was that?” Spike asked.
“Hm? Oh the writing? Just a little code I made up with some other colts and fillies when I was young.”
“Then why do the Princesses know it?”
Kells looked at Spike with amazement. He looked from side to side and leaned in towards Spike. He motioned for Spike to come close. 
“The princesses know EVERYTHING.” he whispered, leaning back with a goofy look on his face. Spike rolled his eyes, but Kells didn't seem to notice. He disappeared back underneath the desk again and came back up, floating a stack of books. He placed them on the table and started to go through them.
“What are you looking for?” Spike asked in amazement. Nopony could read books faster than Twilight, and yet here was Kells, flipping though the pages and barely glancing at them, but they were being read. After he had finished each book, Kells tossed them out of the stack. 
“There was a book in here on the castle's building plan.........Ah! Here we go!” 
The book holding the plan was old, musty, and yellowed, but much newer than the parchment. It was thickly bound and looked quite heavy, but that didn't dismay Kells. He magically flipped through the pages until stopping towards the middle of the book. He scanned the page quickly and then started flipping through the res of the book a little dismayed. 
“Spike, I didn't want it to come to this, but you're going to have to help me.”
“Isn't that what I'm here for? I am the Ponyville's Librarian's number one assistant.”
“Yes, but you're going to help me with something other than re-shelving these books.” he said walking out from behind the desk. He walked and talked leading Spike though the corridors of bookshelves, until he reached a certain bookcase in the middle of the space between two windows.
“We have four more days until those military ponies come to get you.”
“Yeah, about that. What's the big deal telling them to come later when they could have been here today?”
“And do what? Talk to Pyrite before being killed? I asked them to come in four days for a reason.”
“So? What's the reason?”
“You youngsters don't have any manners nowadays.”Kells shook his head and a book glowed with his telekinetic magics. He pulled it and the whole bookcase moved five feet to the right, revealing a long, dark, curving staircase. Spike's jaw dropped to the ground. A hidden staircase? Awesome!!!!!!
“I told them to come later because we have important work to do; we have to raise an army.”
“What????” Spike asked while Kells walked down the stairs. 
“Come dragonling, it is a high honor in Draconic society to be a general of an army!” called Kells's voice from the echoy stairway. Spike stared in shock at the hidden stairway. A general? He didn't even get in fights with other kids! Well, except for that one time with the CMC, but that was an accident when they were crusading for “Swordpony marks”. Wait, this was Kells, he was probably joking.....maybe. Spike stood wondering and heard the hoofsetps get softer and softer and decided it was at least better to be safe and confused with somepony else than it was to be cold andalone in a dictator's library.
“Wait up!” he called as he dashed into the stairwell. The bookcase slowly closed after him, leaving none but the windows of the alicorns to guard over the books.

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“How much farther?” Spike huffed from behind Kells. After chasing down the long staircase and catching up with Kells, Spike found himself following Kells further down the never-ending staircase. It became increasingly narrower as they traveled down it, and Spike kept catching the hem of his robe. He tripped again after he asked Kells the question and almost caused both of them to fall. Kells swore in Romaneian as he used magic to prevent both of them from tumbling down the steps.
“Careful dragon! We will be there in a moment. No patience, none at all from this generation.....” Kells grumbled as he carefully resumed his descent. Spike rolled his eyes at the old unicorn's words. They had been traveling for what Spike thought was at least half an hour, and he was getting pretty fed up. First Kells says wild things about armies and generals, and then he travels down a staircase for too long. Where was it going anyway? Spike sighed as he continued down the steps. At least is wasn't cold anymore. In fact, it was getting warmer the deeper they went underground. 
Spike smelled something that made him snap his head up. Smoke and sulfur? 
“Here we are impatient child.” Kells said as he stopped on an wooden platform that signified the end of the stairs. He turned left and opened a wooden door. The air's smell thickened as Spike followed Kells through the door. He came out to a pitch black room that slanted downwards into a tunnel. Kells had his horn glowing, casting a faint light onto the mining cart he was climbing into. 
“Let's go dragonling. We don't have enough time to twaddle.” Kells said as he picked up Spike with magic and deposited him in the cart next to himself. 
“Where are we..”
Kells put a hoof in his mouth. “Face the back and breath as much flame as you can when I tell you.”
“Oompf?” 
“Just do it.” Kells said, ushering the dragon to the back. Spike shrugged his shoulders and sat facing the back.
Kells seated himself in the front of the cart and started speaking. 
“Driving systems: Operational.” A rusty driving wheel turned and squeaked.
“Breaking systems: Confirmed.” Kells stepped on an equally rusty break pedal a few times.
“Charging thrusters.” Kells said. He coughed. “Ahem, charging thrusters.”
Spike rolled his eyes and faced the back of the cart. Spike took a few deep breaths and then let a continuous jet of flame out of his mouth. It wasn't much, but that meant that Spike could keep it going.
“Flipping switches, pressing buttons, and playing with doodads.” Kells started making noises that made it really hard for Spike to keep the flame going. 
“Swish! Click! Flip-flip! springo!, shwip, klock!” Then Kells started talking in a falsetto voice.
“What are you doing? You're not actually going into an asteroid field?”
The Kells spoke normally again. “They'd be crazy to follow us. Pew, pew, shpewwshh! Do! Dun dun dun dun-unn da!!!”
“What are you doing?” Spike asked, giggling. 
“This is what I always do before I fly the mill....er I mean drive this cart. Hey, you're supposed to be charging.”
Spike crossed his arms. “Are we gonna go soon? I believe you said that we don't have much time.”
“That's why you should be charging!”
Spike sighed and faced the back again, but this time he didn't blow any fire.
“Final scan: All systems go. Removing locks.” Kells pulled two wooden blocks from under the two front wheels away with magic. The cart started to teeter forward.
“Jump to lightspeed in 5...”
Spike grabbed the back of the cart. 
“4....”
He took a few shallow breaths.
“3.....”
He sucked in as much air as he could in one giant breath.
“2....”
He focused all his internal fire into this one breath.
“1.....Punching to lightspeed!!!!”
Spike bellowed out a shouting-flame that propelled the cart way faster than any fire could produce. Spike had a felling that Kells' unicorn magic was involved, but he didn't care. He sat back in the cart and felt the rush of warm air around him. With his back resting on Kells, he saw the walls of the tunnel rush by, turning from dark black to a brown-ish red color as they approached light. The cart bumped as Kells drove it onto some tracks and the heat became palpable and the sulfur smell was pungent. The cart suddenly shot out on the track into thin air and Spike saw where the heat and the smells were coming from.
Beneath him, was a large smelting and mining operation. There were dozens of ponies working in the forges and smelters, pouring vats of thick, molten liquids into molds. The heat from the fires and metals was pleasant for Spike, but he could tell that none of the ponies liked it. In fact, they shouldn't have been down here. This was a job that only dragons should have been qualified for. But as soon as Spike saw the first guard, he knew where these ponies had come from. Immediately, Spike became scared. He spotted more as they traveled on, seeing the ones on the work floor having long whips on their belts.
“We gotta get out of here!” He hissed at Kells.
“Don't fret, they can't see us. Our shields are at full power!”
“What?”
Kells sighed. “I put a cloaking spell on us, and as soon as we get to the floor they'll fall asleep for awhile. Or until we're done here.” The cart coasted down the tracks and came to rest next to other carts on tracks that headed into the mines. They were filled with a strange metal ore. It glowed faintly and Spike thought he felt heat coming from it, but he couldn't tell. Kells jumped out of the cart and every guard in the place slumped to the ground. Spike clambered out of the cart and was mystified by the massive power of the Kells' spell. He could have rivaled Twilight any day.......
“Come small one.” Kells said as he put Spike on his back with his magic. “We have little time to speak to Molten Ingot and Blistering Flame.” He said as he galloped off into the workplace with Spike on his back. He reached the center of the work floor that had bee crowded all but one second ago. Now, however, they were bare. Obviously, all the enslaved ponies had been aware of Kells' magic.
“Hail, old one!” called a voice from above them. Spike looked up to see a stallion with a wicked scar running down one side of his body standing on rock outcropping over a tunnel. “This way, quickly! The bosses wish to speak to you!” Kells nodded and rushed into the tunnel. He followed the cart tracks that lead down into the mine shafts of the tunnel only to be waved down by another stallion. 
“This way!” he called as he removed a seemingly broken cart from a wall of stone. Behind it was a hole in the stone wall. Spike was lifted from Kells' back and was slid rudely through the hole by Kells' magic. Then Kells lowered himself to the ground and shimmied himself through. On the other side was a small meeting room carved out of the rock. It had a canvas flap that served as a door over an opening in the rock on the other side of the room. 
The room was spartan to the extreme. There was nothing but a wooden table and two ponies that sat on one side. One was a grizzled earth pony stallion that had an eyepatch covering his right eye. His other eye was golden with a slit-pupil. His blood-red hair sprung up behind his head and his black coat was covered in slashed scars and burn marks. He gave a feral smile when the two entered the room  	The other pony that sat next to him was much tamer compared to her counterpart, but looked much tougher. She was a light tan pegasi and her lithe muscles bulged as she crossed her arms over her chest. She blew stray blue hairs of her mane that had escaped from her large winding braid that ran down her back. He steel-blue eyes looked at Spike disapprovingly and she grimaced as he and Kells sat down across from them.
“Thank you for meeting us today. I assure you it is urgent. I believe that you both received the message.” Kells said with a polite smile.
“Yes, and it is ridiculous.” said the pegasus mare.
“Don't listen to her librarian. I will join you in your revolt in four days. The ponies of the mines will gladly help.” said the earth pony, smiling wickedly, showing off his semi-pointed teeth. “It has been such a long time since we fought a good outnumbering fight......”
“Do you even hear yourself when you speak Flame? You would sentence ponies to death so easily?!?” the angry pegasus shouted.
The stallion's smile shrunk. “I would never condemn them to such a fate. I asked each and every one of them if they would risk it all to save their families, to free themselves, and to free their country. They agreed to it and they will follow me into victory, or into death.”
“How romantic.” the mare said sarcastically.
“Why won't you join us Molten?”
“Four days! Four days! How are we to arm all the ponies of the mines and smithies all while dodging the guards!”
“We can help.....”
“By doing what you foolish old schmuck!” And with that curse, Molten Ingot and Kells were arguing in Romaneian.
Blistering Flame rolled his eye and gazed across the table at Spike. He smiled his feral smile and Spike gulped.
“Come here dragonling.” he said, motioning for Spike to move closer to the far end of the table. Spike didn't want to be rude to somepony who would help them, and more importantly looked so terrifying, so he scotched down  towards the far end.
“So dragonling, what are you called?” 
“Spike sir.”
Flame growled. “Titles are for the dead. I am Blistering Flame. But now down to business. Breath some fire young one.”
Spike gulped as Blistering waited patiently. “A..are you sure...”
“Yes, yes I know, now breath.” 
“Alright.” Spike breathed a small gout of flame that Blistering immediately stuck his hoof into. Spike gasped and cut off the flame from his mouth, but it was too late. Blistering's hoof was already on fire. Spike paled at the sight and tried to apologize, but Blistering silenced him.
“You have a good flame for one who is so young.”
“You should really put that out Mr. Blistering. I don't think that's to good for you.”
Blistering's smile widened and he laughed. “Nonsense!” he said boisterously. “Watch.” He raised his other hoof and took a breath of his own. Then he released a flame from his mouth. It enveloped his hoof in a black flame as Spike's eyes bulged out of his head. Spike's brain overheated trying to comprehend what had just happened. A pony breathing fire? Impossible; brain shutting down. Spike blacked out and fell out of his chair.

“..ike. Spike, come on. Don't make me dunk you again.” Kells voice cut through the darkness. 
Spike gasped and shot up. “No more water! No more water!” His head rushed as he heard Kells chuckle and Blistering laugh loudly.
“Finish your negotiations you two.” Blistering said filled with mirth. He put his hooves together in a mock prayer. “I promise I won't do that again.” he said with fake innocence to an even angrier Molten Ingot.
Spike sat down across from Blistering again and saw that Blistering was leaning on one hoof looking amused.
“I'm sorry, I must have dozed off. It was strange. You were in my dream and you breathed...” Spike face paled again as he saw black flame play around Blistering's sharp teeth. 
“That was no dream egg-brother. I did just breath flame.”
Spike looked around and leaned closer. “How? You're an earth pony.”
“No, I'm not.” 
Spike's eyes widened. “Only dragons can breath flame.....”
“Actually there are more creatures than dragons that can breath fire, like the Chimaera and fire elementals, but I am neither. I am Blistering Fire, member of the Lord of the Shattered Claws Dragon clan and one of the few Draconeqqui of Romaneia.” 
Spike's mouth dropped open in shock and fear. “Bbbut  Discord is a draconequuus. I thought he was the only one.”
Blistering snorted sullenly and twin spurts of black flame shot from his nostrils. “Discord always ruins our reputations. Just because one dragon razes a village, does that make you just as bad?”
“No.”
“There you have it. We are not bad just because of one acting badly.” he said with a lazy flick of his hoof. 
“So that's why you have pointy teeth and eyes like m...oops. Sorry.”
“Don't be. I lost my eye in a fight with another dragon of my clan. You should have seen what I did to him. This was a war wound, and I am proud of it.”
“Um.. so how exactly are Draconeqqui made. I mean dragons don't marry...”
“They don't usually marry ponies. My father was an adventurer who came out to Romaneia 400 years ago.”
“400 hundred years!!!!” 
Blistering rubbed a hoof against his chin. “Yes I know I don't look a day over 150.” 
Spike snickered and Blistering continued.
“My father came looking for a precious metal in the mountains, but fell into a crevice and almost killed himself. He ended up breaking most of his ribs and a hoof, but he survived. The trouble came when he had found out he fell straight into a dragon's den. The dragon was not to pleased, but my father was not afraid. He had the guile to attack first and scored a few hits on the dragon before word had spread through the clan. My mother was Lady of the clan and she rushed to the scene, luckily stopping the fight before my father was killed.”
“Your dad was stupid enough to attack a dragon?”
Blistering beamed. “One hell of a pony he was.”
“But how did they, you know, create you?”
“That's simple. My mother was the oldest and wisest of the dragons of the clan, not to mention Lady, so she knew of old dragon magics. When every dragon reaches a certain age, 1000 I believe, that is when they are called back to Draconia to go to a comprehensive school in dragon magics. This school is the oldest there is of any kind like this and it teaches magic that only dragons can use. My mother had gone to the school and learned how to transform herself into the other races. She took my father back to her warren and changed herself into an earth pony who looked very much like myself. She nursed him back to health and they eventually feel in love. Over time my father earned his place in the clan through his renowned gall. Ask any dragon about the Stallion of Shattered Claws and they will tell you about him.”
“Sounds a little....violent to me.”
Blistering's jaw dropped open. “Don't you feel the glorious urge to battle? You ARE a dragon aren't you?”
“Of course I am! A proud dragon of Equestria!”
Blistering sat back and nodded. “That explains it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why your flame is green. You did know your flame reflects who you are, correct?”
“No.” Spike said shyly. “I thought they were like unicorn magic; they were the same color as my scales.”
“Not at all young one. Green means a fire of happiness and friendship. A strong flame, but not very deadly. Red is a flame of anger, Purple is of beauty, Yellow is of life, Blue of knowledge, and Black...black is the flame of passion. Mine is a deep black and that shows you my true character. Pitch black like sins in the night.” Blistering said as sultry as any living thing could say it. 
Spike chewed on what the draconeqqus had told him. He was glad that his fire showed that he was a living lesson in the power of friendship, but he was dismayed at how little he knew of his own people. Granted, he lived with ponies for all of his life, but was dragon life that different? Looking at Blistering, it must have been because he was covered in scars and burns. They couldn't all love fighting as much as Blistering right? He even said that there was a flame of knowledge, so there must be some civilized dragons out there in the world. His thoughts were broken when a hoof gently tapped his shoulder.
“Come along Spike. We reached an agreement and we will be back here in two days time to help with final arrangements.” Kells said. Spike looked at Molten Ingot and saw she was just as surly as ever. 
“You are sure the spells you will cast will stay until you visit again?” she asked suspiciously.
“They will, I promise you.”
“Then leave. We must spread the news.” she said pointing to the hole they crawled in from.
“Alright. We'll be back at the same time two days from now.”
Molten Ingot sighed and Blistering Flame smiled and stood up.
“May the gods bless you.” Molten said as she shook Kells hoof.
“They already have.” Kells smiled as he returned the shake.
Blistering walked over and embraced Spike in a crushing hug.
“Take care until the day we go to war, brother.”
“Th..thanks.” Spike chocked out. He let go of Spike and went over to Kells. He and Kells crossed hooves and hit each others chest in a friendly manner.
“I have known you for a long time librarian. I hope to see you on the battle field.”
“I will be there, and you will earn much glory for your clan.” 
“The members of my clan with honor will be there alongside us, however the hegemony will not allow me to engage in a full on assault against Pyrite.”
“Do not worry.” Kells said seriously, dropping his hoof slowly. “Pyrite's time is coming.”
“Let's go Spike.” 
The two pairs of ponies turned away from each other. Kells slid through the hole and Spike took one last glance at the two revolutionaries. There flanks were turned to him as they conversed in whispers. That gave Spike full sight of both of their cutie marks.
Molten Ingot's cutie mark was like most smith's, a pair of tongs crossed with a hammer, but in the middle was a wicked looking ebony mace with sharp flanges and a heavyset head. Blistering Flame's on the other hand was plain looking. It was a large chunk of silvery metal in the shape of a flame.
“Don't dwaddle Spike. We'll be back in a day or two.” Kells said from beyond the wall. Spike nodded and slipped underneath only to be placed on Kells' back again. Kells galloped out of the mine and back to the cart. The ponies started to trickle out from every tunnel and the work started to resume their forced jobs. The cart moved on it's own when the pair had gotten into it and it flew up the rails and out of the mine. 
“So what did you and Molten decide on?”
Kells shifted as the cart rounded a corner sharply. “ We're going to help Molten make weapons in any ways we can. We're both going to be worked to the bone, but with some luck we can finish before the day you are to escape.”
“Weapons?” Spike's stomach started to turn at the thought.
Kells' shoulders drooped. “Listen Spike, this is going to be hard for you, but you must be brave. You will see things you wish you didn't and you might even have to fight for your life, but I will keep you safe and we will find your sister.”
“Can't we just leave without anypony getting hurt?”
“I wish it was so Spike. I wish it was so....” Kells sighed as the cart shot back up into the tunnel and the light from the mines faded. 

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Spike stepped out of the dark stairwell into the cold library solemnly, following Kells. He didn't know how to feel. He was deathly afraid of the concept of fighting for his life and helping supply an army with weapons. But he had seen the mines. He saw how the ponies were, with sooty faces, overheated expressions, and marks from whiplashes. He agreed that this had to stop, but he was an Equestrian! This could be solved by talking or something peaceful, right? 
He remembered what Blistering had told him. Spike hated to admit it, but he could feel a tiny part of his being have this urge. It reminded him of when he had the hording growths, but it was deeper and stronger than the urge to collect. It sang a silent song that made his blood boil and heart race. He knew this was the part of him, the instinct to fight to prove his dominance and power. 
“Are you alright dragonling?” he heard Kells ask, pulling Spike away from the alluring song of power and destruction sang by his own instinct. Spike found he was covered in a cold sweat and his claws had dug into the cold marble ground.
“Yeah. Yeah, just fine.” Spike said slowly walking away from the spot, noticing he had made jagged scratches in the floor.
“Good. We need to put these books away.” Kells said floating a small pile of ancient tomes to Spike. He took them and huffed under their weight.
“Really?”
Kells shrugged and picked up his own pile. “Despite what has yet to come, this is still a library. I do believe a young dragon said they were a 'number on assistant'.”
Spike groaned and looked at one of the spines of the books. 'The Lusty Argonian Maid' it said. Spike walked through the shelves of the library looking for the books that began with 'T'. As Spike struggled to find the right shelves for the books he noticed that the sun had passed it's apex in the sky and it was slowly heading towards the horizon. He stumbled around and finally found the right section. He put away 'The Lusty Argonian Maid' with a shrug, wondering at the weird title. He grabbed the next book and lumbered on. 
Spike found himself upstairs when he reached a dilemma. He had the all the books put away, except for one. It had a thick wooden cover, string bindings, and looked like it was older than Luna and Celestia. However, it didn't have a title on it's spine. Spike opened it up and flipped through the first few pages, but found no title. Spike scratched his spines and eased himself down against the wall next to the bookcase he had just put a book away in. He started flipping through the book, bypassing the first few pages and flipping through the book's contents. His eyebrows raised at what he saw.
On the first page he flipped to, there was a smaller, painted copy of the large stained glass window in Kells's room. Underneath it was some writing in Romaneian, but Spike ignored it. He flipped through the next few pages and found that every few pages held a picture like the one he saw on the first page. The next picture he saw was of the same armored alicorn standing in front of a massive emerald colored dragon. The next picture was ten pages away and it depicted earth ponies on one side of the alicorn while dragons of various sizes were on his other side. Spike flipped through the book quickly to find the next picture, but he found nothing but Romaneian. He sighed and closed the book wondering what it was about. He glanced up at the setting sun and heard Kells call to him. Spike quickly hid the book within his robes and answered Kells. He got up and walked to the bedroom to dine and get ready for bed.

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“I found this cool book today while I was putting them away...” Spike said over a dinner of baked potatoes and mixed vegetables. He pulled the book out from his robes and handed it over to an inquisitive looking Kells. Kells picked it up with magic and hovered it in front of his face while he squinted into the tome. 
“How did this get in the rest of the books?” he muttered.
“What?” 
“It was a present.” Kells explained to Spike. “It was given to me when I first became the Royal librarian. I thought it was up here.”
“What's it about?” Spike asked.
Kells chuckled. “What did you think of the pictures?”
“They look just like the windows.”
“They should. The same pony did both. But to answer your question, this book depicts the founding of Romaneia. According to this, Romaneia was founded a few years before Equestria, by another alicorn, much like your princesses. This alicorn supposedly joined the dragons of the Misty Mountains and the native gypsy ponies in the first pony-dragon concord and ruled over all of them in this very castle.”
“Then why is Pyrite a dictator? Shouldn't that alicorn be here!” 
Kells shrugged his shoulders and frowned sadly. “The book tells of how the alicorn stepped down from power to allow the dragons and gypsies rule together. None have seen him since he left that day. Some say he is still in Romaneia, but many think he is just a legend.”
“So was he ever real?”
Kells smiled sadly. “Only time will tell young dragonling. For now, we must rest. Go brush your teeth and get ready for bed, I will clean up dinner.” Spike silently obeyed and retired to the chair for a night of sleep. He fell into a deep, but unsettling sleep filled with the words of the drconeqqus and images of Twilight falling off of the outcropping once again.