Game!
Grand, triumphant fanfare echoed throughout the halls of the restored Canterlot Castle, all vestiges of Discord's chaotic reign and macabre artwork long gone. A massive audience of ponies stood in the throne room as guards opened the doors to admit in their hero.
Wielding the Bloodstone Scepter in his left claw and the shining gauntlet on his right claw, Dragon Lord Spike strode boldly down the aisle. He stood before Celestia and Luna, nodding curtly to each of them.
Luna merely nodded back, while Celestia declared loudly for all to hear, "We have gathered here today to honor the mighty Dragon Lord who helped Equestria in its time of sure need, and freed us from Discord's tyranny, putting an end to this decade of chaos, and restoring Harmony back to our land,"
Celestia and Luna's horns flashed, and a curtail parted, revealing a stained glass window depicting Spike grappling with a defeated looking Discord, while raising his right fist high with the Elements of Harmony shining brightly in his gauntlet.
The whole crowd cheered for the liberator, but Spike wasn't interested in the crowd at the moment. Instead, he was focused on six ponies who stood off to the side, looking to be feeling a mixture of embarrassment, guilt, and shame.
Spike approached the group, looking over all of them, until he stopped at the purple unicorn with her head down. "Twilight... Look at me," he said.
Twilight slowly raised her head to reveal the tears on her face. "Spiiiike," she said, her voice trembling with misery, "I am so sorry..."
Spike shook his head and said, "What for? You didn't do anything wrong."
Twilight's eyes widened. "Wh-what? But, Spike! I-."
"Discord twisted your mind. That's why you abandoned me to those Klugetown slavers. You're not to blame for anything you did," Spike then spoke to all 6 mares at large, "None of you are. None of you were in your right minds." Spike then scowled and said, "If anyone is to blame other than Discord, it's the princesses for sending you to certain doom."
"They had no choice, Spike. They couldn't use the Elements anymore. It has to be us," Twilight said quickly.
"Did they warn you about Discord's mind bending powers?" Spike pressed, still scowling, "Did they offer themselves up as living shields to buy you time to get to the Elements? It's not as though they'd have been of any use anywhere else. The ponies of Equestria would have felt safer if they knew their princesses were actually fighting Discord directly instead of feebly doing damage control or whatever lame excuse they gave for keeping their distance. Heh. Cowards."
Rainbow Dash glanced up and piped up feebly with, "They're not-," before immediately falling silent, unable to commit to the argument against her dragon friend that had risked everything to save Equestria.
Applejack took off her hat and said in a depressed tone, "Doggone it, Spike is right, y'all. The princesses didn't do a dang thing to help us or protect us while we looked for the Elements. They waited until after we were all split apart. Meaning no Elements, meaning they were powerless against Discord. Pretty darn foolish of them to be honest."
Pinkie Pie looked at all the sad faces around her, and she stood up on her hind legs and said, "Hey, hey, hey! That's all in the past now! Discord's gone now, and we're all back to our old selves again! If that isn't a reason to party, I don't know what is!"
Fluttershy sighed softly and said, "I don't know. Maybe if we had a chance, we could've been friends with Discord and helped him see the error of his ways."
The other ponies all burst into fits of laughter.
Pinkie hugged an unamused Fluttershy and said. "Aw, Fluttershy! You're such a cack-up!"
Rarity sighed as the laughter faded and said, "Oh yes, nothing like a bit of levity to break the tension." Rarity then gave Spike a look over, her eyes taking in his every detail, from the tip of his muscular tail to his impressive spikes. She studied his well toned chest muscles for a moment as well. "Spike, darling," she finally said smoothly, "You certainly have matured since we've last seen you. Perhaps you and I could have a chat over a cup or two of tea and-."
"SPIKE!"
A gray, owl-looking griffoness flew in a glomped Spike in a massive hug.
"I knew you could do it!" the griffoness said warmly.
Spike smiled and hugged her back. "Well, you helped quite a bit, didn't you."
Spike then looked back up at the surprised mares and presented the new arrival to them. "This is Gabriella. Gabby for short. I met her a while back when I first visited Griffonstone. I spent a lot of time traveling the world learning different fighting styles so I'd be ready to fight Discord. No griffon in Griffonstone wanted to help me, except for Gabby. And since she's awesome at literally everything she does-."
"Aww, Spike," Gabby said bashfully with an adorable blush.
"-she made me a master in no time. We've been visiting each other a lot. I don't know what I'd do without her."
Gabby nuzzled Spike's rippled chest and said, "Well, I don't know what I'd do without you, Spike. You're the only creature to ever like me."
Spike laughed and said, "Oh, blame the other griffons for that! There's not a pony in Equestria that wouldn't enjoy your company, not that I'd ever want to share you with anyone else!"
As Gabby giggled and Spike stroked her neck and head, Rarity bit her lip and turned away.
"Well, Spike," Twilight began, but then corrected herself and restated, "Well then, Dragon Lord Spike. What will you do now? Will you keep the Elements in the Dragonlands for safe keeping, or...?"
Spike shook his head and said, "I may have used them, but they're not mine to keep. The . . . hmph, princesses and I had a quick chat, and they admitted that they stole the Elements from a magical crystal tree in the Everfree Forest called the Tree of Harmony. I plan on putting them back into the Tree after the celebration. They should be safe there. It's where they belong after all. I still have my work cut out for me as the Dragon Lord. I want the dragons to be friendly with the other races, and with Discord gone, I might finally have a chance to make that happen. Maybe I could send a couple of young dragons to Equestria to get used to being around ponies?"
Twilight smiled with approval and said, "As long as you don't stop visiting us, anything you do is fine by us, Spike."
"Yeah! Don't be a stranger, pal!" Rainbow said with her usual cockiness.
Spike nodded and said with a toothy grin, "Sure. But as for right now, who's ready to party!?"
Gabby got perkier than ever and said, "I am!"
Pinkie jumped up on her Party Cannon and said, "Ooh, just you wait, Gabby! This will be the greatest party you've ever had in your life!"
The End