//------------------------------// // Escape // Story: Spike: The Last Draconian // by Maneiac //------------------------------// SPIKE Quick and rapid breaths were resounding in an off-tempo chorus from underneath the white marble balcony. The one who was emitting such breaths? It was the dragon known as Spike. His arms and legs were quivering, for he had latched himself to the tower itself with his claws. Holding up a six hundred pound frame, however, was proving taxing for even him. He cursed under his breath as he tried moving his left claw for the balcony. The action caused the weight that his left claw was supporting to shift onto the right claw still embedded in the stone tower, which caused it to rip due to a dragon’s natural claw strength. Ironically, the wall sounded like paper being torn as Spike ripped through it on his way down. “aaaaAAAAHHHH-,” He continued screaming in a high pitched voice as the wall released pieces of its flesh that followed close behind him as he plummeted with his right claw ripping through the tower. The wind became colder than a winter’s blizzard as it whipped him in the face, bringing tears to his eyes quickly. He couldn’t stop himself, so he did the worst thing possible... He looked down... “MOTHER OF LAPIS LAZULI!!!” Spike began to grow slightly nauseated when a certain image of a dragon exploding upon impact on the ground came to his head. He brought his free claw up to his mouth in order to hold back the bile that surged from his stomach. He caught it just as it leaked out and swallowed, sticking his tongue out in a disgusted manner at having to taste his own bile. He shook his head and looked down once more, trying to estimate the amount of time he had left before the eventual squish. “Well Spike,” he was starting an inner conversation with himself out of sorrow, “It looks like it’s your time to bite the dust. I only wish that I didn’t find out what I did. It would of made dying a lot more bearable than what it’s going to be now.”  He finished his monologue with a frown as he continued looking at the rapidly ascending, grass-covered grounds of the Royal Gardens. He sighed deeply, for he just calculated the amount of time he had left. Being the assistant to the smartest unicorn in the world would make calculating a problem like this a cinch. “Forty seconds, eh? Never thought my life would be cut off so abruptly.” A flash of bright light caught his attention. He knew that whatever caused it was right above him. He knew this; because as the light flashed and warmed his back, it casted a shadow of himself on the tower before his claw slashed away any trace of his eternal partner in darkness. With a loud curse, so that who he thought was behind him could gain some satisfaction before hurting him, he slowly turned his head in order to face the mysterious light’s source. Luckily for him, it wasn’t Celestia like he thought it was. But, the way the gold of the rail snaking its way down the tall tower glimmered in his eyes gave him a new feeling of hope. It was like watching a gut-wrenching movie where a lost love gets brought back from the dead and is reunited with her lover, whom had saved her. They would then kiss passionately and run of into- “Spike! You’re going to die if you don’t jump...NOW!!!” He shook his head after reprimanding himself viciously. He looked for a part on the rail that looked like it could sustain his heavy body weight. A look of panic crossed his face briefly when he saw nothing promising. He didn’t want to just jump and look even more ridiculous as he plummeted with a gold baton in his hand. But, there was no time for worries...especially when your life would be over in a matter of seconds. He gulped loudly, preparing for the eventual leap of faith. He bent his knees and leapt, kicking in some more of the wall as he reached out both claws to grab the rail. He sucked his bottom jaw tightly as he grabbed the rail, causing him to puncture the sensitive scales on his lip. Spike smacked his lips as he tried to eject the taste of blood from his mouth. He began to lift himself up onto the rail slowly, testing the proverbial waters. When the spirit-crushing sound of something giving way didn’t happen, he pulled himself completely up. he teetered for a moment, arms swinging in a circular motion as he tried balancing himself. With grunt of concentration, he had perfectly centered his heavy froma on the rail. For it’s skinny girth, the rail was surprisingly durable. After that close to dying experience, Spike took a moment to finally recollect himself. As an indication of this, he bent his knees and grabbed the rail with both hands. This action gave him even more leverage so he could rest easy without the fear of falling off. He was still about ten feet in the air, which only slightly unnerved him. “Holy Sapphires...Things are already starting to try and kill me! It must suck considerably, being a villain that is.” Spike inhaled deeply, trying to cast out any extra adrenaline he had left in his body. He raised an eyebrow as he noticed something moving below him. He became fully unnerved as his ears and eyes finally picked up on what he was hearing. It was hoofbeats? Yes, that’s what is was. The afternoon sun was making the polished gold armor of the Royal Guard painfully hard to miss. If Spike hadn’t been told as a wyrm that the Sun was in the sky, then he would’ve surely thought that the guards adorned themselves in it.         “Are they trying to find me!? Ah Tartarus in a Handbasket, I need to get out of here!”  Spike began to panic as his head scanned for a safe and quiet way down from his position, however, the only exit from his position is to jump down and run. That’s is not an option right now, for there were a total of two platoons marching right underneath him. He subconsciously brought one of his claws off the rail and up to his face, in order to rub any excess perspiration from it’s dripping positions. He was watching, scanning the movements of the platoons and memorizing their movement patterns. The time will come when he could get away quietly, he would just have to wait for it. 30 minutes later... “You. Have. Got. To. Be. BUCKING. With. ME!!!” By some twisted humor of fate, even more Royal Guards came as the time went by. There was even a platoon stationed underneath him, which just proceeded to upset Spike even more. One of the platoon members yawned deeply, tilting his head up in the process. Spike’s blood ran icy as he cursed the daytime; for upon opening his eyes, the guard stood flabbergasted and in shock at the mass of purple and green balancing itself rather uncomfortably on the rail. His eyes widened as his mouth dropped, forming no sound whatsoever. Spike, on the other claw, giving him a pleading look and swiping across his neck. It was the universal sign of “Please don’t say anything!”, but the guard-much to Spike’s chagrin- had a duty to fulfill. Spike didn't blame him for following orders, he just wished that the guards pony would have allowed him to sneak off before sounding the alarm. The guards pony was moving his bottom jaw up and down, trying to form words of alarm. He shook himself from his stupor as he finally remembered to say. “V.I.D TARGET FOUND IN SECTOR 13!!! I REPEAT, SPIKE HAS BEEN FOUND IN SECTO-,” Spike cut the living alarm clock’s sound off as he jumped from the rail and into a space the platoon had created when they broke their ranks. He swung his tail down on top of the guard’s head, denting his helmet and smashing his face into the ground as he landed. Spike proceeded to take the same tail and swish it about while rising from the ground, taking the consciousness from 3 other guards ponies before he took of in a full sprint. His tall build easily carried him around twenty paces from the platoon before they could register what happened. In a loud clamor, which sounded like multiple tin-cans slamming against each other, the guards righted themselves and gave chase to the dragon. That show of force was all a certain Princess needed...                  “HALT SPIKE!!! DO NOT MOVE AN INCH MORE, LEST YOU’ll BE HARMED!!!”  Spike’s mind was thrown for a loop as his body stopped of it’s own volition. It was as if he was in conflict with himself, his flesh gaining more ground as he did just as the voice told him to. He turned around to try and pinpoint Princess Luna, who he thought was the only one capable of using the Royal Canterlot Voice. But this voice was a whole octave deeper, with even a couple rumbles accenting it. It instilled a sense of fear so powerful in Spike, that he had to turn around and gaze upon whom he already realized it was. There she hovered, a bemused look upon her features. She was shadowed by her own creation as the sun seemed to grow brighter, making the air heavy with humidity. It felt as if her very form was sucking all the oxygen from the air, vaporizing it without even trying. There were also those eyes, which veered Spike’s heart into uncertainty and doubt. Needless to say, he was definitely regretting his decision up in the tower earlier! What really unnerved Spike, however, was the fact that all of the Royal Guards seemed horribly terrified. Spike took a moment to scan the guard’s actions and confirmed them backing up, all their attention on Solar Princess as she floated in midair, without the use of her wings. Why had it taken so long for him to notice? That’s not even physically possible! Spike could see what caused the peace in Equestria for so long. He could see why there were few enemies to the throne, or why they don’t show themselves for that matter. It was fear. Fear that would rot them from the inside out, make them feel insignificant and minute. She’s practically a Goddess. The sun is her’s to control, which means she could destroy this world at any time. True, he had thought about this multiple times over the course of his life. But, he never viewed her power from the villain side. Of course, he didn’t think he was a villain, but half of Equestria Proper does, which means his opinion was worthless. Here he stood, on the precipice of a molten hot death, unable to form some sort of plan of action. He could only stare into that leer: From the eyes that demanded all to heed and obey. The eyes of Celestia... “I see you’ve wasted little time in wrecking my castle and harming my ponies, Spike.” Celestia snapped his name in half with all the force her jaw could carry. What almost made Spike crap himself? It was when Celestia started walking down the sky, in way similar to descending a flight of stairs. She stopped herself mid step as Spike shot up a hurried claw form his side. Why it made her stop is unknown, but the reason could be found later. “I’ve only harmed for the fear of being harmed myself! I do not wish to harm anypony else! I will leave Equestria peacefully, you can trust me.” Spike knew the futility of those last words. She now had evidence stating that he was a monster, for he had assaulted four guards ponies without so much as a threat from them. What really made Spike grimace was the laugh that rang out afterwards. It definitely came from the Princess of the Sun, but it was a full on laugh...not the giggles he was used to. There was a hint of malice in that laugh, one that seemed to belittle him in his entirety. Almost as if she was...mocking him. Spike growled deeply at that thought, the thought of the Princess mocking him! A dragon! It is simply unforgivable!!! “What the Tartarus is so funny!?” He half-roared, half-yelled at the Solar Princess. She calmed down from her laughing fit, wiping her eyes with her mane before she smiled devilishly. “You sound, just. Like. Discord,” Yellow magic began to concentrate upon her horn, with even white orbs of light coming from the bright sun gathering as well. She was actually going to kill him if he didn’t move out of the way! Spike’s heart was a jackhammer in his chest as the adrenaline began to rise again, fueling his body with heightened senses. “How he claimed that he would never endanger my ponies if I exiled him! Just so that he could return and beat me! But this isn’t about him, oh no! This is about you; another threat to Equestria that will become a warning to any future and prior ones,” The air was suffocatingly hot now. Spike could feel his breath becoming shallow as more and more oxygen was vaporized. He has to get away from here and quickly!!! While he was occupied in trying to get his feet out of fear-lock, the magic in Celestia’s horn was becoming painfully concentrated. Even to the point where it was causing Celestia to wince, the pain from the magic gathering now beginning to surface. With the sound of a thousand whistles and typhoons, she inclined her head down so that the orb of light and solar fire was aimed directly at Spike’s chest.     “THAT I’M DONE WITH BANISHMENT!!!” The beam of magic wailed as it finally found release from captivity. Not only was the force so large in power that the recoil flung Celestia into a backflip, but it’s speed really terrified the ponies. Celestia, during her time of casting, was two-hundred feet from the ground. The beam had closed half the distance as Spike blinked. He instinctively rolled to his left, the adrenaline throwing him quicker than his mind could keep up with. He wasn’t fast enough, for the beam had caught the top part of his right arm, searing it and causing his scales to melt and his underskin to boil. He cried out in supreme agony. He rolled onto his left knee and held his right arm with his left. Spike regretted the decision immediately as he cursed loudly and quickly moved his uninjured arm away. This injury will dwindle the chance of escape by some degree. He looked back up just in time to see Celestia coming out of her recoil backflip fit. She snapped open her wings and looked for the dragon who was supposed to be a pile of jell-o right now. When she saw that Spike wasn’t dead or mortally wounded, she grimaced. It was already tough enough casting that spell, but against a friend? It was eating her heart away to have to do this. “Spike, please to trying to run! I’m trying to make this quick and painless at least for you! I’ll have to live on with this for the rest of my life!” Celestia yelled from her height advantage in the sky. She honestly meant all those words right there. Her rhythmic wing flapping was doing nothing to ease her mind. Spike winced as he used his burned arm to stand back up, never breaking eye contact with the Solar Princess. He could see the fatigue etched along her face, but he could also feel his starting to surface. “I no longer know who you are,” Spike yelled in anger at Celestia, whose eye’s widen in surprise at that statement, “What is it that you gain from hurting me!? Is it going to be worth putting me in the grave: To see all those around your mourn me while scorning you!!? True, a situation like this might have happened a thousand years or more ago...BUT WHAT THE BUCK DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ME!!!???” Spike threw his arms to the side in pure untainted fury. The rounds of his eyes have now shrunk to narrow proportions. He was quickly losing his temper, which also means his sanity. “Spike, you need to get out of here!!!” A command from seemingly nowhere brought Spike back from the brink of rage everlasting. A lavender hoof approached him from the side. Spike inclined his head to see a teary-eyed Twilight approaching him without any fear at all. “Celestia is not angry at you, she’s angry at herself!” Twilight yelled even though she was in hugging distance. Spike’s mind was a wasteland, where any information would on shrivel and die as soon as it’s received. He pushed twilight to the side, driven by pure instinct and began sprinting away from the current position. Realizing that Spike was escaping two seconds later, Celestia snapped out of her stupor. “Chase him down,” She demanded angrily at the Royal guards beneath her, “Give him a reason to run as well.”  The guards took off after Spike, almost trampling Twilight in their sheer numbers. Twilight could only watch in horror as the plethora of ponies ran after her best friend since childhood, besides Shining Armor that is. “You better run like Tartarus when you’re two steps away from it.” Twilight thought in worry. It all came down to Spike now. She hoped that he would be fast and agile enough to escape his pursuers! It was hard carrying a large frame like his at twenty miles per hour for prolonged times. But he had to get away from the guards and Celestia. The adrenaline helped him keep pace as he crushed blades of grass and small rocks as he made headway through the palace grounds. He wound in between towers and columns, searching for the walkway out of the castle. He could hear the flapping of wings behind him grow steadily louder. The adrenaline levels were becoming unhealthy now as he jumped onto a tower and began to scale it faster than any lizard. This was meant as a way to pinpoint his exact location. It was working too, until he was grabbed from the waist and pulled off the tower by a rather burly pegasus guard with grey fur. Spike eye’s widened as he realized that he was plummeting to his certain demise. Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Spike finally realized something. “If they want to treat me like a monster, then I’ll become a monster in order to survive.”  Spike grabbed the pegasus’s wings with both claws...hard. The pressure caused the bones to break in it’s wings, eliciting a pained holler from the guard. Spike wasted no time in quickly spinning the both of them around, so that now he was on top of the guards back with his feet. He saw what he was looking for; another tower that was about a five foot jump. He springboarded himself off the plummeting pony and latched himself to the tower. The pegasus, although he couldn’t see him, made a disgusting splat sound as he hit the ground head first. he would stop and look, but Spike was pretty sure he just killed a pony. “There’s no going back now!” After realizing this, Spike pressed on with renewed vigor. He scaled the tower that stood fifty feet tall, found the drawbridge and then jumped off the tower in the direction of said drawbridge. An unsuspecting pegasus guard was floating directly below Spike, so he repeated the process he did earlier. He landed on the ground safely, with 200 yards between him and the drawbridge was. But, like all villains, he was thrown a monkey wrench. The area around the drawbridge was surrounded by a pinkish-purple shield of magic. It’s caster, a white stallion with blue mane and eyes. He narrowed his eyes challengingly at the approaching dragon. His purple Captain’s armor shone bright in the sun, blinding Spike temporarily. Spike ran into the shield on accident, faceplanting roughly into the stallion’s magic. “Ow! Hey! Shining Armor,” Spike said whilst rubbing his bruised snout, “What do you think you’re doing!? Drop this shield so that I can get out of here! These ponies want my hide on a silver platter!” Shining Armor kept his challenging expression as the dragon began banging on the shield he created. “You made this hard on yourself. I would recommend surrendering peacefully, for not even an army of changelings could break this barrier. Plus, you also know about my magical endurance,” That phrase made Spike grimace inwardly, “So you could pound all day on this thing and still yield no results.” Once Shining Armor concluded that Spike wouldn’t try anything funny, he dropped his challenging look and sat down. He was safe from physical and magical harm as long as he was behind his shield. “Are you so duty bound that you’ll watch your Princess kill a friend that’s loved you for twenty years?” Spike asked with a hint of insanity in his voice. Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at the creepy tone the adolescent dragon picked up. “You should know that I’ve been in my fair share of interrogation rooms, which, for your mind, I will not go into great detail with. If you think a psychological attack is going to work, you’re sorely mistaken.” Shining Armor concluded with a tone of confidence. Spike snickered maniacally before he began to fall out from laughter. It was a good thirty seconds before he calmed down and started speaking again. “I’m serious.” He spat venomously. Before Shining Armor could respond, a beam of yellow magic struck Spike on the thigh of his right leg. The magic pierced through it, splattering gore from his leg on Shining Armor’s shield. Spike wailed in agony as he fell on his left knee. Rhythmatic wing flapping filled the air as Celestia, flanked by two pegasus guards, approached the drawbridge. After wincing, Spike spoke again. “Well, Shining? You have two choices: Let me through or tell your sister how you watched me perish.” Spike banged a fist on the shield, which cracked in the place he struck at. Celestia noticed the crack and fired another beam of magic. This one pierced his kidney, ejaculating the remains of said organ near the face of Shining Armor, who gasped and backed away in surprise. Shining Armor’s inward battle of whether or not to drop the shield was visible on his face and in his actions, for he began looking anywhere else but at the dragon who was leering at him. “This marks the end of it, Spike the Dragon.” Once again. Celestia began channeling the same spell from earlier, gathering solar fire and her own magic into her horn. The pegasi guards flanking her moved to a safe distance away from her. spike didn’t need to turn around in order to know what the Solar Princess was doing, he could feel in his heart that his life now rested in the hooves of a certain Captain. He was going to play his trump card...now.         Spike called out to Shining Armor, who did a dummy move and looked at him. Spike’s face was the very definition of sorrow and despair. Shining Armor swallowed loudly, voicing his worry without saying anything. Now that he had his attention, Spike played his Ace in the Hole. “Don’t break your sister’s heart.” Shining Armor’s heart plummeted into his stomach. “THIS IS YOUR END!!!” With a more loud wail than before, the beam rocketed forth as Shining Armor moved the shield over Spike. The beam collided with the shield, exploding with the force of a sonic rain-nuke. The world was an instant light bulb, for all sight was rendered useless at the hooves of Celestia’s magic. Then, as light began to subside, smoke covered the area where the dragon once knelt. With a powerful sweep of her wings, even from two-hundred feet in the air, the smoke cleared. In it’s place...a scorch mark blacker than Sombra’s heart. Everything seemed to lose it’s volume as the Solar Princess scanned the immediate area, searching for any sign of the new threat to Equestria. With no luck in finding the drake, she floated the rest of the way down to the ground and in front of Shining Armor. The shield was still up, which meant that Spike couldn’t have gotten through, right? “You had a hoof in saving Equestria yet again, Shining Armor. I would like to hold an award ceremony for you, promoting you to the rank of Commander in two days!” Celestia smiled sweetly as she turned away from the scene of the dragon’s demise. Shining Armor, who had been standing, abruptly sat down. He had done it. He had fooled the Princess into thinking that Spike was dead. He can only hope that these two days of worry-free traveling will give him a chance to heal his wounds and get as far away as possible. Spike held himself upright by way of a claw on a cobblestone wall in an alleyway. It was very dark on this side street, which meant that one would have to have the keenest of eyes and ears to see him. Right now, he had to find some way to stop the bleeding that was going on, otherwise he would die from hypothermia. Seeing nothing in the immediate area to use as a healing apparatus, his mind settled on a simple, yet excruciatingly painful method. With a mighty inhale, Spike blew fire onto his open wounds, each one eliciting a quiet wail of agony from the drake. As soon as the bleeding stopped and the wounds had closed, Spike collapsed brutally, banging his snout and raw arm on the dirty cobblestone. He tried to tell himself to move, but he couldn’t. He immediately drifted off into a sleep, a final thought surfacing in his head as consciousness left him. “Buck Celestia.”