A dragon can not escape the pull of their hoard. ~ Unknown
He must go
"Discord! Šizra! I swear if..."
He must go
"SPIKE!!!!!"
10 years later~
Twilight sighed as she eased herself into nest of blankets in front of the fireplace. Nothing beat reading a book by the fire after a long and cold winter's day and feeling a bit adventurous she decided to reach out at random and pull down whatever book her magic took.
Twilight smiled as she examined the book she grabbed. It appeared to be one she had yet to read, which was something that, contrary to popular belief (and a certain rainbow colored jokester), was not that uncommon, especially with how busy she could get and the sheer volume of books that the castle had. (During the last book-sort-cation she counted three thousand five hundred and seventy-three books besides scrolls, maps, and other miscellaneous reference materials) It was an impressive library and a far larger collection then the Golden Oak library. Although it still paled in comparison to the Canterlot Archives or The National Equestrian Library in Manehatten.
She rubbed her hooves together in excitement as she readied to open the book; she did want to be adventurous and what better than a book she had yet to read? To her surprise though, and annoyance, a photo fell out when she opened it. It really bugged her when ponies used improvised bookmarks... unapproved bookmarks could and have damaged books in the past and don't get her started on dog-earing. Twilight's magic nearly winked out from the shock of what she saw next. It was a photo of Spike laughing while flying with Smolder. It probably was the last photo that she took of Spike before... before...
Tears welled up in her eyes as the grief washed over anew. Placing the photo down she looked over at the Hearth's Warming tree, its decorations glittering in the light of the fire, a single purple and green wrapped box laid beneath it.
Nopony was sure who was the first but it had started that first Heartwarming Eve after.... after... Somepony had placed a gift wrapped in the colors of the coat and mane of one of the... victims under the Hearth's Warming Eve tree at Ponifeller Center and it had snowballed from there. Many still put gift wrapped boxes at the many memorials across Equestira but most now do what she had, placed it under under their personal Hearth's Warming Eve tree.
There were many times she thought about placing Spike memorial gift with the others but Spike was not dead... He wasn't! She had to believe that Spike survived the stabbing and was just coltnapped... She still held out hope that maybe one day Spike would escape and find his way back... but with each passing year it got harder and harder to hold on to that diminishing hope.
With an ear flick and an irritated sigh she pulled her thoughts away and back to the photo. It was a memory of a happier time and one she did not want to forget. She knew exactly what to do with the photo and went about summoning some glue, a quill, and a jar of ink and a very specific album. It was an album that was filled with photos, newspaper clippings and other mementos of Spike. It was originally started by her mother Twilight Velvet but gifted to her after she had showed her mother the root chandelier that her friends made in the map room. It was times like this that she was thankful for it.
Twilight ears flicked again, and she slowly put down the album. That was the second time that she heard running hoof steps in the hall. She was about to get up to see what was causing the commotion when an armored pegasus burst through the door.
"Ma'am!" The pegasus pony guard panted, Private Wing Blade if she recalled correctly, before giving a weak salute.
It looked like he was about to collapsed into a blubbering mess with how much he was shaking. Something that Twilight was very familiar with and sympathized with but right now he needed to focus and not panic. Lives could very well be on the line.
"Private! Remember your training!" Twilight softly ordered.
"There... is an intruder... heading towards... the map room... it attacked... and... and..." At that Wing Blade collapsed into a crying messing wailing, "I should have never left them!"
An intruder near the map room? Twilight mind raced at the implications. There was no time to waste and so she quickly teleported them to the hall just beyond the map room.
Abruptly she found herself flashing back ten years. Lining the hall were ponies both dead and dying, many with large gashes and torn limbs. The smell of burnt flesh and sulfur mixed with copper hung heavy in her nostrils. No no no no please...
Ma'am?
Not again!
"Ma'am!"
Twilight's head snapped back as the shout broke the vision. She blinked a few times as she pulled herself fully back to the present. "I'm fine." She said automatically, not wanting to worry Private Wing Blade further. As he continued to silently look her over she was tempted to reiterate that she was fine but thankfully he finally broke eye contact.
She was not fine, but she needed to focus. She had counted two earth guards slumped against the far wall, and cringed as she saw the cracks in the crystal wall behind them. The force that those two must had gone through to cause that kind of damage to the wall must have been immense. Nearby were two unicorn guards, also not moving. She could see no other guards up or down the hall, which was worrying.
Where are the rest of the guard? The detachment of guards for the castle alone was fifteen! Something of this magnitude would have had all fifteen of them responding. So where were the rest? Where they injured somewhere else in the castle or was the evening patrol taken out before the alarm could be fully sounded? Unfortunately, those questions would have to wait. She had four guards here and now that needed her.
Twilight quickly looked over the two earth pony guards, the ones mostly likely to be injured the worst. Thankfully, the enchantments on the armor seemed to have held and a quick scanning spell told her that they had no broken bones. Most likely the force of the impact had merely knocked the wind out of them. If so, they should awaken soon. As for the unicorn guards, going by the slight sulfurous smell and small coating of ash staining the base of the guards' horns it appeared that both were suffering from severe mana backlash. It wasn't quite the same as concussion caused by a blow to the head but they would still require medical treatment, more than Twilight was qualified to give. She bit her lip as she worriedly looked towards the map room, its doors ajar. The map could and had been used as a focal point for powerful and dangerous spellwork in the past. Whoever had done this was dangerous, highly skilled, and needed to be stopped before more ponies got hurt.
"Princess... Ma'am..." Wing Blade whispered as Twilight took a step towards the map room. "Please be careful."
She nodded that she would as she stealthily approached the map room. She knew she would have to be careful in case the intruder was lying in wait. Luckily, the doors were open enough to allow her to see most of the room so she could scope it out before entering.
A biped? Twilight wondered in surprise as she observed a cloaked figure standing near Rarity's throne. There weren't too many creatures in Equestria that were biped. (And more so given so many having left in the past ten years thanks to prejudicial attitudes of those like Chancellor Neighsay) Bucking bigots... Furthermore, she could tell that by the way it stood precluded a quadrupedal trying to pass off as bipedal. No wings or tail either, but both could be hidden underneath the full length cloak. Its height was somewhere between Luna and Celestia. Drat. I really could use The Complete Compendium of Equusian Creatures from my library...
Twilight gulped when she noticed the two swords strapped to its back. She hated and feared swords ever since... that day... She had to bite back a startled scream as a pair of dim glowing green eyes suddenly snapped to her. Whoever he/she was was looking straight at her. It knew she was there. Steeling herself she stepped into the map room, her horn lighting up in readiness.
As she entered she noted the creature, who turned to face her, was clothed in what appeared to be full body leather armor making it even more difficult to identify whomever she was dealing with. The only thing she could tell for sure was the creature had pawed feet, which merely precluded minotaur from the list of candidates. That still left far too many candidates. Shallowing she nervously called out. "I don't know what you are here for but I will stop you."
"T...Twi..." The tenor voice that spoke in response to her challenge was slow, raspy, and... unsure. It was like he had not spoken in a long time. Twilight's eyes narrowed slightly. Something about the voice seemed… familiar. "Twi...light?"
Who is this being?
"Twilight Sparkle?" The voice was now more assured and stronger than before and her full name brought Twilight out her speculating. She responded by slowly nodding; her mind continuing to race as the feelings of familiarity only grew along with increase confusion. She just could not recall knowing any biped like the armored creature. So why did she feel like she knew him?
"Do I know you?"
Twilight let the magic on her horn rise just a touch as the creature's answer was to raise his arms. Was he going for those swords on his back? The creature paused for a moment before slowly raising them again. She wasn't yet sure what he was doing but as long as he knew that she would not let him try anything she would let him continue. Her magic dimmed when the person grabbed the sides of his hood. Her horn then fritzed out when he threw back his hood.
"Ssspike faaate... sssseealed... buuut... wannn... want one... tooo live..."
He must go
"Discord! Šizra! I swear if..."
He must go
"SPIKE!!!!!"
The lowered hood revealed that the creature was a teenage male dragon. That itself was shocking but it was the details of his face that set her heart racing and took away her breath. Purple scales and green spines. Even though his scales and spines had darken a bit and he was standing taller than before (which would be expected) there was no mistaking who this dragon was.
"SPIKE!!!!" Twilight cried out, rushing forward and grabbing him in a hug.
She ignored the angry growling as she nuzzled into his side. Choking back sobs she leaned in more as she felt him slowly but gently returning the hug. She thought she would never see him again and here he was back, alive!
"I... I thought... thought I would never see you again." She managed to gasp out between sobs.
Twilight yelped in surprise when he suddenly pushed her away and behind him while simultaneous taking a step forward. The growling that had fallen into a rumble came roaring back and rose higher than before. She blushed in embarrassment when she saw the reason. The Captain of the Ponyville Guard, Wild Spark, who was being subtly supported by Wing Blade, standing in the fully opened doors. Clearly they must had entered when she cried out Spike’s name thinking she was in trouble. The Captain was looking wearily at Spike, his horn struggling to stay lit. Twilight frowned at this as it was never a good idea to try and use magic that quickly after a mana backlash, especially one that caused unconsciousness.
"Captain?" Twilight worriedly questioned. In her excitement over her unexpected reunion with Spike she had forgotten that Spike had attacked the guards.
"Ma'am." The captain acknowledged her while keeping his gaze locked onto the dragon. To anypony else ‘ma’am’ was just an acknowledgment of her stature but to someone in the know there were underlining questions in that word. Was she alright? Was the situation taken care of or did she need further assistance?
But apparently, something about the way the captain said that set off Spike. In a flash, Spike reached up and pulled out a sword while the captain's horn brightened, random sparks now flying off. Twilight started to panic as the standoff between dragon and guard escalated. She knew the captain was seconds, at best, from suffering another backlash, one that could permanently damage his horn or kill him.
As Twilight gazed up at Spike she had to fight back the urge to flinch back. She saw the same eyes that she saw in him the day he was coltnapped; eyes filled with murderous rage. That rage was focused straight at the two guards. Why would Spike be that angry at the guards? Yes, the guards had opposed his intrusion (She was going to need to get the full story later) but to have that level of animosity over a single word just made no sense to her. This was not like Spike at all... The guards only were trying to protect her. It was with that thought that she remembered when she first invited Owlowiscious into her home the jealous feelings that Spike had over thinking he was being replaced. Spike must had felt that the guard were trying to the same now as before his coltnapping she had no guards while Ponyville only had a few police ponies.
"Spike..." Twilight pleaded softly, gently touching the tip her wings along the arm holding the sword in an attempt to the soothe Spike. "Please calm down. It's just an attachment of the Ponyville Guard. They are here to help while you were gone. Not to replace you, never to replace."
She licked her suddenly dry lips as Spike’s only response was to clinch his free claw open and closed over and over, his other still tensed in readiness around the sword. It seemed as if he was more ready to pounce then before and she knew that if he did she would have to stop him by any means and she didn’t want to do that. Not after just getting him back after so long. Please, Spike... whatever your feeling we can work it out. You just need to calm down first before... before…
"Apologies... guard... pony..." Spike finally grounded out, sheathing the sword.
Twilight let out the breath she wasn't aware that she was holding. She would have to make Spike give a better apology (and an explanation) later. For now, as long as everyone was calmed down and remained that way she would be happy. Looking at the captain she mouthed the code words for 'situation handled' and 'debrief later.' The captain gave a slow nod and weak salute before walking out with Wing Blade still supporting the injured captain. Hopefully, she would not get too much flak from him over her (and Spike’s) actions. A guard's bruised ego was one thing; being literally bruised was completely another.
"I had... needed to know..." Spike spoke after a moment of silence.
Twilight blinked at Spike's statement. What did he mean he needed to know? Know what? She patiently waited a bit as it seemed that he was trying to figure out how to what to say, but as the tense silence grew she felt that maybe he needed a small nudge. "Needed to know what?"
"Not sure..." Spike admitted as he looked down at her before his gaze shifted upward and away. "Memories from... before... are hard... fuzzy... missing. "
Hard? Fuzzy? Missing? What... Of course! Twilight felt like facehooving. Spike must have suppressed his memories in an attempt to deal with whatever horrors Šizra subjected him to the last ten years. If she ever saw Šizra again she would... she would… But that can wait. Spike was back and, for the now, she wanted to bask in the joy of that instead of veng- justice. Besides, she was sure there were books on memory loss/mental trauma in her library somewhere. If not, she would get them delivered as soon as possible. She would be damned if she didn’t help him in the fullest. In the meantime, she could show him some albums. With some luck they could jar his memory and, of course, help them reconnect.