My Little Dragon

by Metal Pony Fan

Heart of Ice

“No, not like that.”  Spike’s ear twitched.  That was Twilight’s voice.  She woke up?  “That’s terrible, his ears don’t look like that.”
 
“How about this then?”  That was Rarity’s voice.  She must have woken up too.  He was the only one still asleep.  Not that he was still asleep, he just hadn’t opened his eyes yet.  Whose ears are they talking about?
 
“That’s even worse, now he looks like a rabbit.”  Spike’s ear twitched again.  They weren’t talking about him, were they?
 
“Then how about… this!”  They had to be talking about him, the only other males around were Grumble and Bard, and neither of them had ears.  Well, at least not the type of ears that could be construed as rabbit-like.
 
“That’s perfect, mom!  He’s going to love it!”  Twilight really was serious when she wrote that letter.
 
Without getting up, or moving, Spike yawned and opened his eyes.  He looked over at Rarity and Twilight.  “Good morning, you two, what’d I miss?”  The two dragins looked up from the notebook they held between them.  Spike recognized it as the same leather-bound book Twilight was clutching in her sleep.  Odd, it seemed like Rarity was the one writing in it, judging by the pen she held in her claw.  It was an actual pen too, not a quill or a fountain pen, but one of those expensive ball point or felt-tipped ones that are popular among the business-dragons of the capitol.
 
Twilight ran forward.  “Spike!”  The pony didn’t have time to react before the purple blur of scales rammed into the side of his head.  The hatchling’s arms wrapped around his neck in a tight hug.  “I was waiting for you to wake up!  I’m so glad you’re ok, I was so worried, don’t do that again, I don’t want you to get hurt, you have to-“
 
Spike propped himself up on one hoof, and cut her off by wrapping his other hoof around her, returning her hug.  “Calm down, Twi, I’m not hurt.”  He loosened his grip on the hatchling and looked down at her.  “And, you’re starting to sound like Pinkie.”  Spike pulled her back into the hug before she could respond.  “I’m just kidding, you know that, right?”  He let go of the hatchling and watched her as she walked back to Rarity.  She really was worried about him, wasn’t she?  The pony had half expected her to hate him.  After all, he was either directly or indirectly responsible for every bad thing that happened to her over the last few days.
 
Twilight took the book from Rarity and walked back to Spike.  She held it out to the pony.  “This is for you.  Not the whole book, just the drawing.”
 
Spike took the book and opened it.  The first page was a journal entry.  He read it quickly, while pretending to flip through the rest of the pages.  It wasn’t a very long entry, but it gave him some insight into the hatchling, and how she felt.  She was worried about being powerless, something the pony could relate to.  Living among dragons was a difficult task for the weak.  Spike wasn’t exactly weak anymore, but it was still difficult for him.  With a sigh he turned to the next page.
 

 
Twilight peeked over the spine of the book at the blushing pony.  “So?  Do you like it?  Rarity drew it.”
 
“She did, huh?”  Spike looked up at the dragoness.  She was looking at something off in the distance, but Spike guessed she was listening in.  She had managed to clean up a little.  Her crest was brushed - not as flamboyantly as it had been when they first met, but enough to be considered neat - and the scar on her neck was once again painted over.   Fresh bandages were wrapped around the remains of her tail.  “It’s very nice, thank her for me.”
 
The dragoness walked over and sat behind Twilight.  She gently lifted the book from Spike’s hooves and closed it.  “Is there a reason why you don’t want to thank me personally?”  She looked down at the book and giggled.  “Perhaps something to do with what you just said?”  She handed the book to Twilight.  She put a claw on the hatchling’s shoulder and leaned down.  “Twilight, could you wave down Bard and ask him how much longer we’ll be walking?”
 
“Aw, mom. “  The little dragin looked up at her guardian with a loud sigh.  “Why do I have to do it?  I wanted to talk to Spike.”
 
Rarity smiled at the hatchling.  She brought her other claw to Twilight’s other shoulder.  “You’re not the only one.”  The dragoness gave the hatchling a little push away from Spike.  “Now, go on.  You can have him all to yourself in a moment, ok?”
 
“Fine,” the hatchling grumbled.  With a small pout, she turned away and started walking towards the edge of the saddle they were in.  
 
Rarity sighed happily as she watched the hatchling waddle away, and Spike studied her expression carefully.  After a moment,he let out a sigh of his own, and shook his head slowly, pleasantly puzzled by what he noticed.  He smiled at the dragoness.  “You didn’t flinch.”
 
The dragoness blinked.  She hadn’t thought about it, but he was right.  “She used to only call me that by mistake. Every so often, it would just slip out, but lately, it seems like…”  She sighed as she watched Twilight wave and shout to catch the attention of the large drake walking nearby.  “I don’t know what it seems like.”
 
Spike nodded.  He knew, but that was only because he read Twilight’s letter. The pony moved a little closer to the dragoness and put a hoof on her shoulder.  “It seems like Rainbow’s not the only one with a hatchling of her own.”  The dragoness brought a claw to her mouth to help muffle her laughter.  Spike just smiled and rubbed her shoulder slightly, wishing she hadn’t tried to quiet it.  After the events of the last twenty-four hours, sounds of happiness were a welcome change.  There was just one thing bothering the pony.  “Hey, Rarity?  What did you mean by, ‘what I just said?’”
 
“Oh, that,” the dragoness brought her claw to the hoof on her shoulder, “you know.”  She looked away, cheeks tinting rose.  She turned back to spike and rested her claw against his chest.  “It was really sweet, and definitely not the sort of thing one would expect to hear from a drake.”
 
Spike started stammering as Rarity leaned into him, resting her head against his neck and making him hold her in his hooves to maintain his balance.  “Well, I, um, I’m not a drake, I guess, so, um, what’s going on?”  His heart raced, and for a moment, the pony wondered if he was still asleep, and this was all just a pleasant dream.  The dragoness was being so affectionate that he couldn’t think of any other explanation.
 
Rarity snuggled her head into the crook of the pony’s neck, rubbing her hastily brushed crest along the underside of his chin.  “I should be asking you that, shouldn’t I?  You were oh so bold earlier.”
 
Spike started sweating.  “Bold?  Earlier?”  He tried to swallow, but his mouth had dried out.  “W-what do you mean?”
 
“Spike?”  Rarity wrapped her claws around one of his hooves.  “What are we going to do now that we have the link?  I mean, I suppose we have to live with it, not that I’m complaining, but how long do you think it will last?”
 
Spike sat there, holding the dragoness.  What was she doing?  Why was she acting like this?  She mentioned the link, but that was gone.  “Um, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”  He felt the dragoness tense up.  “The link’s gone, so I’m a little confused.”  The dragoness squeaked, and Spike figured out what happened.  Something had happened that made her think that the link was still active.  She was still awake when he laid down, so she must have heard Bard’s explanation about the link being a dream-like state, and that was just before falling asleep.  “D-did you have a dream?  A-about me?”  Spike wasn’t quite sure what to think of that.  He was happy, for sure, but he was also confused, and just a little curious.  “What did I say?”
 
“Nothing!”  Rarity shoved herself away from Spike, knocking both of them over in opposite directions.  She picked herself up and backed away from Spike, wildly waving one of her claws in front of her.  “You didn’t say anything!”  She spun in place, sitting down with her back turned to the pony.  She grabbed her crest with both claws, pulling down on it in frustration and embarrassment.  “I can’t believe I did that,” she whispered to herself, “what was I thinking?”
 
Spike pulled himself up and watched the dragoness fret.  He was hesitant to say anything.  He didn’t know if trying to talk to her would help or make her embarrassment worse.  He did know that if he had done what Rarity just did, he would probably want to go bury himself in a cave somewhere beyond the farthest reaches of society.  He thought about it a little more before changing his mind.  There was no probably about it, he would definitely want bury himself in a hole beyond the farthest reaches of society.  He walked over to Rarity and sat behind her, thinking about what to say, if anything.  Well, Spike learned at least one thing about her during their awkward exchange.  She apparently liked bold.  He took a deep breath and puffed up his chest.  If she wanted bold, she was going to get bold.  “Hey, um, I may not have said anything earlier, but, could I say something now?”  The pony immediately slapped a hoof to his face.  That wasn’t bold at all.
 
Rarity loosened her hold on the messy hairs of her crest.  ”I-I suppose.”  She glanced back at Spike.  What was she worrying about?  This was Spike, if anydragon would understand her current situation, it was him.  After all, he went through the link, he would be sympathetic to her misunderstanding.  Rarity quickly looked away.  That was the problem though, it was a misunderstanding.  She had let hopes and fantasy overcome her sense and better judgement.  Wait.  She felt heat rise into her cheeks.  How many times had she read that exact line in romance novels?
 
The dragoness didn’t have time to think about it before she felt something wrap around her, something soft, fuzzy, and warm.  Something rested on top of her head, and she tried to look up.  She found herself looking up at Spike’s chin.  He was holding her in a tight hug and smiling down at her.  “Good morning, Rarity.  It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
 
The dragoness swallowed before answering.  “I-I suppose.”  What was he doing?
 
Spike gently released the hug and moved his head.  He brought a hoof to the dragoness’ head and ran it along her crest, doing his best to smooth it out.  “You know, the day isn’t the only thing that’s beautiful.”
 
The dragoness stared at the pony.  He said that.  He just said that.  There was no mistaking it, this wasn’t a link, or a dream, or some magic whatchamacallit.  He actually said it.  “Spike…”
 
The pony scratched at his mane and chuckled nervously.  “Sorry, how cheesy was that?”
 
Rarity stared at him a little longer before a small smile started forming on her face.  “It was just cheesy enough.  Thank you, Spike.”  She sat there, looking at the pony for a moment longer before sighing lightly.  “Spike, I need to talk to you.”
 
The pony blinked and tilted his head a bit.  “Um, ok, go ahead.”
 
 
Rarity shook her head slowly.  “No, not now, not here.  This is important, and just between us.”  The dragoness chewed on her lip for a little before continuing.  “It’s about the link, the real one, not my, um, little mix-up.”
 
Spike straightened up, faint traces of a smile disappearing as his expression became serious.  “Then, the link was still active after I woke up?”
 
“Yes.”  Though it still made the dragoness blush to think about how he had woken up, she tried to put it out of her mind.  She looked up at the pony.  “There are a few things you need to know, but I would prefer to keep them between us.”
 
Nearby, a little purple hatchling was watching Spike and Rarity from a bundle of stiff tent fabric, carefully trying to guage their reactions to each other.  Twilight reacted to everything, ranging from a fist pump when Spike delivered his line about beauty, to face-palming when he didn’t try to follow it up with a kiss.  He missed a perfect opportunity there.  She sighed as she freed herself from her hiding place.  It looked like they were done with any sort of lovey-dovey talk and stuff, so it would be fine to interrupt them for a moment.  She walked forward, and both the pony and dragin looked over at her as she approached.  Twilight cleared her throat.  “Bard says, ‘One way ‘r another, we’re through walkin’, Starshine.’”  When she finished talking, she cleared her throat again.  Spike was surprised by how the hatchling managed to chew through her words, matching the tall drake’s accent perfectly, but he didn’t quite understand most of it.  Twilight seemed to pick up on that, and quickly added, “don’t ask me what he meant by that, but that’s what he said.”
 
“Huh?”  Spike looked up from the hatchling and looked for the tall drake that had been walking alongside Applejack.  Bard was standing a short distance in front of the farmer and digging around in his bag.  After a few seconds, he pulled something out.  Spike couldn’t see what it was, but he saw the drake smile when he looked at it.
 
Bard looked back at Applejack’s passengers and smiled.  “I don’t suppose one of you lot’s a fire breather?”
 
Twilight’s claw shot up as fast as anything Rainbow could pull off.  “I am!”
 
Spike’s eyebrows pulled together in confusion.  “Wait, what do you need a fire-breather for?”
 
Bard held something out to Twilight.  “Here you go, Starshine, light this for me, would ya?”
 
Spike got a better look at the object the drake held.  It was a cone, made of paper with blue stripes.  A short black string stuck out from the point, a fuse.  Spike’s eyes went wide as Twilight took a deep breath.  He lunged forward.  “No!  Don’t!”  He stuck his hoof between Twilight and the cone just as she released a puff of green flame.  He stared at the cone, at the fuse sticking out of its point.  It wasn’t lit.  Spike let out a sigh of relief.
 
Bard started laughing.  “You are one tough lug, Digger, I’ll give you that.”  With his free claw, the drake grabbed Spike’s hoof, the one he used to block Twilight’s Flame, the one that was currently on fire.
 
“Aaah!”  Spike tried to shake his hoof free from Bard’s grip, but the drake was far too strong for that.  He then tried to blow out the flames, but he just couldn’t get enough air moving.  Air?  That’s it!  Spike lit his horn, he had an idea, but would he be able to pull it off in time?
 
The answer came in less than a second, as Bard touched the end of the cone’s fuse to Spike’s flaming hoof.  Sparks started jumping from the string as it started its slow burn towards the paper cone.  The drake then blew out the flame’s on Spike’s leg like a hatchday candle.  Bard nodded to the pony.  “Thank ye kindly.”  He then released the former candle and held the cone high in the air.  The drake covered one ear with a claw as he pointed the base of the cone at the clouds.
 
Spike quickly checked his hoof for damage.  The hoof itself was a little blackened, but his skin was ok, and his fur was barely even singed.  He was lucky, but that ended now.  The pony looked up at the drake, and the cone he held.  “Please don’t be yellow.”
 
The fuse continued its slow burn, sparks inching their way towards the cone.  When it reached the paper, the blue stripes on the paper started burning, releasing a crackling sound.  The top of the cone exploded almost immediately, launching an amber-colored fireball of sparks high into the sky.
 
Spike groaned.  “Of course it’s yellow.”  Spike glanced over at Rarity and waved her over.  She walked over without question, and Spike threw a hoof around her.  He then threw a hoof around Twilight and pulled them both close to him.  “Hold on, it’s gonna get rough.”
 
Rarity opened her mouth to respond, but before she could say anything, reality twisted in on itself.  Colors burned, ringing in her ears and leaving an acidic smell on her tongue.  Light flooded the space around her as she watched from nearby, and just when it seemed like it was getting to be too much…
 

 
When Spike popped back into existence, he was upside down.  He was also a decent distance above the ground.  He looked “up,” and managed to yell out three words before gravity claimed him.  “Of course not!”  The pony hit the rock below with a loud thud.  He laid there for a moment, groaning in pain before rolling over and standing up.
 
The terrain was different, but that was to be expected.  It was rocky, the same sort of stone that made up the trail they had been following, but the vegetation was much more sparse.  A quick glance to either side told the pony why.  To one side, beyond a wide plateau scattered with trees, a gentle slope led down to an expanse of trees with plains and more trees beyond it.  A small town sat just beyond the first expanse of forest, most likely Dragonspire.  To the other side, there was a large cave leading into the side of a mountain top.  There were no dragons in sight.
 
Spike sighed and brushed his mane back with a hoof.  “I guess I’m the first one he-“  A shadow suddenly appeared over the pony and the surrounding area.  He looked up.  “Applejack?!”  He screamed as the large dragon started falling.  He threw as much power as he could into his telekinesis and caught her.  She slowed down, but didn’t stop.  He threw himself on his back as he kept pushing with his magic, eventually bringing the farmer to a stop less than a hoof’s width from his snout.  He gritted his teeth as he did his best to keep her up, and himself un-pancaked, grunting under the effort.   “Aw, jeez, you’re heavy.”
 
“No duh!”  The dragin looked around, wiggling around in Spike’s telekinetic grip to move her head.  “What’s goin’ on?  Why am Ah upside-down?  Why is-“
 
“Stop moving!”  The pony shouted at the farmer as she fell a little more, coming a bit closer to the pony.  Applejack followed the command, falling silent as she ceased her struggles.  Spike breathed heavily as he tried to push more power into levitating the dragin away from him, but it was useless.  He couldn’t do any more than hold her in place.  He checked around him to make sure there was no one else under the farmer’s shadow.  “Applejack, will you be ok if you fall on your back?”
 
“Ah’m a dragon, ain’t Ah?”  She yelled. “Who do ya think yer talkin’ to?”
 
“Right, sorry.”  Spike braced all four hooves against Applejack’s back.  He slowly started diverting power away from his telekinesis.  He growled and pushed up as the farmer’s weight started to return.   His growl turned into a yell as he continued weakening his spell.  Once he had enough power separated from his telekinesis, he cast his protection spell.  Hopefully, if anything went wrong, that spell would be enough to keep him alive.  As soon as he was done casting his protective spell, he poured everything he had into lifting Applejack.  He poured every last bit of his magic into the telekinesis, and at the same time, he pushed with his legs, forcing the magically-negated mass of the large dragon away from him.  At that moment, his magic gave out, but the dragon was far enough away.  He rolled over and bent his hind-legs beneath him in one smooth movement.  He then launched himself forward and out from under the dragin as she fell to the ground.  Spike hit the ground less than a second before the dragin, rolling with his momentum as a shockwave of dust assaulted him.
 
He coughed as he pulled himself to his hooves.  There was a quiet popping noise, and Rarity appeared next to him, right-side-up, and just high enough off the ground to have to land.  The pony looked around, searching the dust cloud for any trace of the rest of their party.  Fluttershy appeared in mid-air, still unconscious, but Bard appeared underneath her almost immediately and plucked her from the sky before landing gently on the mountainside.   Rainbow Dash appeared next.  She was quite far away from the mountain compared to the rest, but she was flying toward it, and still had her inertia carrying her forward at high speeds.  She had enough time to look up and curse the mountain before colliding with it face first.  There was a quiet popping noise behind Spike and he turned around.
 
Twilight was there, laying on her belly and groaning.  “That was a mass teleportation spell, wasn’t it?”
 
A shadow appeared in the dust cloud behind the hatchling.  “Oh?  Quite perceptive for one so young.”  It was a drake’s voice, gravelly and severe.  “You must be the hatchling, Twilight Sparkle.”  The shadow moved forward, becoming larger as it approached the hatchling.
 
Spike took a step toward the shadow, snarling at it.  “What are you doing here?”
 
The shadowy figure started laughing as it continued to grow near.  “You handled yourself well, Spike. It seems your magic and strength continue to improve with every passing day.”  The being behind the shadow came to a stop just far enough back to remain obscured by the dust cloud.  The shadow he cast dwarfed all of them, even Applejack.
 
“Oh, cut it out.”  Spike pointed a hoof at the base of the shadow.  “If you were watching, you could have helped me.  I almost got flattened!”
 
“I would have stepped in before you were injured too badly.”  The dragon stepped forward, out of the dust cloud, and pointed a claw at Spike.  “Let’s see how much you’ve improved since we last met!”  He stood on two legs, much like Bard, and shifted into a fighting stance with practiced ease.  He was much stockier than Bard though, stout and muscular where the other drake was tall and thin.  His scales gleamed in the light that filtered through the dust.  They were as grey as stone in the dead of winter.  His upswept, multi-pointed horns were light blue, cold-looking, reminiscent of winter ice carved into the form of an angel’s wings.  A single row of short, conical spines ran down his forehead.  They matched his horns in color and ended between his eyes, or rather, between his eye and where the other should be.  An eye-patch covered a large part of the right side of his face.  Even the eye he had was far from normal; where there should have been white, there was frost-blue, and in the midst of that, his iris glowed red.  Around his neck was a white scarf with stripes of red, with the ends trailing off into the wind behind him.  At the end of his squared-off snout, his raised nostrils contracted and dilated in rhythm with his breathing.  Two great fangs, wickedly curved and matching the icy color of his horns, jutted from his mouth, reaching as far as his chin.
 
Spike sighed and lifted his hoof half-heartedly.  “I’ll pass.”
 
Twilight stared at this new dragon for a moment, transfixed by the figure before her.  She then started laughing.  She fell backwards and started rolling on the ground, clutching at her belly as her laughter filled the mountaintop.
 
 
The grey dragon took a step towards the hatchling.  “What’s your problem, brat?”
 
Twilight looked at the dragon, laughter pausing for the slightest moment.  She stood up, and cheerfully walked over to the dragon.  She placed a claw on top of her head.  She then placed a claw on the grey dragon’s head.  “I’m taller than you!”
 
He slapped her claw away.  “No, you’re not.”  He reached up with one of his own claws, resting it on the tip of one of his horns. “See?”
 
Twilight crossed her arms in front of her and smirked.  “Horns don’t count.”
 
The grey dragon crossed his arms in front of him as well.  “You’re just jealous because I’m taller than you.”
 
The hatchling turned her nose up at him.  “Well, I’m only nine years old, so I have plenty of time to grow.  How old are you?”
 
“Hmph!” The drake stuck his snout in the air.  “I happen to be one thousand, four hundred and ninety-two years old.”  He poked Twilight in the chest and leaned forward, looking the hatchling in the face with his good eye.  “And, I thought the same thing when I was your age.”
 
Twilight’s face went blank.  Her mouth opened and closed slowly, without any sound, as she processed the drake's words.  She ran for Rarity, tears welling up in her eyes.  “I’m going to be small forever!”
 
When Twilight reached her, the dragoness wrapped a claw around the little, purple dragon.  “No you’re not, you’ve been growing steadily since I met you.  I don’t think you’re going to just up and stop now, do you?”
 
The hatchling sniffed loudly as she held on to Rarity’s leg.  “I hope not, but how can you be sure?”
 
“Well, I’m not sure, deary, but trust me on this.”  Rarity leaned over toward Spike and whispered to him, “Who is this? And why did he just make Twilight cry?”
 
Spike could feel the anger dripping from the dragoness’ words.  He whispered back, “If any dragon in this world could truly be called cruel, it’s that one.  He’s known for the utter destruction, both mental and physical, that he brings to those who oppose him.  Even his allies aren’t safe from his whims.  He brings everything to the utmost extreme, and then pushes it until it breaks.  He’s the top official of the Draconican military, personal aide and advisor to Celestia, and, unfortunately, the closest thing I have to a father.”  Spike sighed and held a hoof out in front of him, gesturing to the small grey dragon.  “Everydragon, meet General Ice Heart.”
 
By the end of Spike’s explanation, Ice Heart was beaming, smiling widely and resting his fists on his hips.  “And don’t you forget it!  Nice to meet you, everydragon.”  He walked up to Spike and pointed up at the pony’s face.  “Now, fight me!”
 
Spike whipped his hoof out, catching the smaller dragon in the face, and sending him rolling back into the settling dust cloud.  “No!  All you ever want to do is fight, and I’m not going to go along with it!”
 
Rarity looked back and forth between the pony and the rapidly disappearing cloud of dust. “Uh, Spike, was he wearing bunny slippers?”
 
“Yes.”  Spike lifted his front hooves and flexed his ankles.  “He always wears those, and that stupid striped scarf, and those ugly green swim trunks.  He even wore those to a diplomatic meeting with the dragon colonies of the western islands.  He almost started a war because he refused to go without slippers for one day!”  Spike started shaking his joints out and stretching.  “He’s a menace!”  The pony’s ear twitched and he looked over at the shrinking dust cloud.  It was now only slightly larger than Ice Heart himself, and no doubt being held together by magic.  “Here he comes.”
 
Ice Heart started laughing, a booming noise that echoed off the mountainside.  “Fine!  Don’t fight me then, you’re boring anyway.”  The last remnants of the dust cloud faded,  revealing nothing but a patch of barren rock.  “Perhaps your friends are more interesting.  That girl next to you is definitely pretty enough, though she looks like she’s had a rough time recently.”  His voice was bouncing off the rocks, making it impossible to tell where it was coming from.  “Rarity, if I’m not mistaken.”  A whistling sound from above made Spike and the dragoness next to him look up.  Ice Heart was diving towards Rarity at forty-five degree angle, claws outstretched and travelling very fast.  “How about a kiss to make you feel better?”
 
Spike planted his front hoof in front of the dragoness and spun around, using that hoof as a pivot.  “Kiss this!”  He kicked his rear hooves out the moment Ice Heart was in range.  The impact of hooves against dragon flung the diminuitive drake through the air.  He slammed into the side of the mountain, horns first, and stuck there.
 
Sticking out horizontally from the rock face, Ice heart crossed his claws in front of him.  “I see you’ve gotten a little faster as well.”  He held one claw out in front of him, pointing it at the sky.  “But don’t think that’s enough to beat me!”
 
Spike placed himself between Rarity and Ice Heart, before pointing at the general with his hoof.  “Where are you even pointing?  You’re stuck, aren’t you? Doesn’t that mean that you’re pinned?  By your own rules, you have to admit defeat.”
 
Rarity stood up gave Twilight a little nudge.  “Let’s go, dear, I believe these two have some issues to work out.”  She glanced at the old drake stuck to the mountain before starting to walk away.  “We probably shouldn’t get involved.”
 
“You’re already involved!”  With a sharp grunt, Ice Heart curled his body, almost touching his bunny slippers to his face.  Once he was curled as far as he could go, he sprung back, planting his feet against the rock below him.  In the same motion, he pulled his head free from the mountainside, dislodging the chunk of rock stuck to his horns, and launched it at Rarity.
 
Spike jumped between the dragoness and the block of stone, taking a hit to the face in exchange.  Even through his protection spell, the impact with the stone had enough force to bust his lip.  “Are you crazy?!  What if that had hit her?!  Or Twilight?!”
 
Ice Heart just took his fighting stance again, one claw held open in front of him to guard, the other held back in a fist, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.  “You sound angry.  Care to do something about it?”
 
Spike rushed forward.  “Just leave them out of it!”
 
Ice Heart ran to meet him.  “Make me!”  The tiny general launched himself at the pony, aiming a spinning kick at Spike’s chin.
 
Spike dodged the attack by crouching low to the ground, using his momentum to slide under the attacking drake.  Once he was clear of Ice Heart’s attack, he dove for the dragon, launching a series of punches with his right front hoof.  Ice heart dodged or blocked each one with quick movements, using the minimum amount of effort to avoid any single attack.  After several punches, Spike punched his right hoof into the ground and brought his left hoof around in a sweeping strike that Ice Heart couldn’t dodge.  The drake caught the attack with his shoulder, spinning with the attack to lessen the impact.  As he turned, he grabbed the hoof and pushed it along its own path, adding enough weight to the pony’s motion to force him into a spin of his own.
 
Spike turned with the inertia, using it to line up a double kick with his back legs.  Ice Heart jumped the moment Spike launched the kick.  He landed on the pony’s head and jumped off immediately, ending up on the ground in front of the mountainside.
 
The pony launched himself at the drake, throwing a wild punch straight at his head.  The drake leapt into the air at the last moment, and Spike’s attack struck the mountainside, crushing some of the stone below his hoof.  Ice heart grunted lightly as he landed behind the pony.  “You’ll never hit me like that.”
 
Spike smiled.  “Who said I was aiming for you?”  Spike’s horn lit up, and he flung his hoof skyward, launching countless small shards of stone into the air.  They hovered there as he launched himself back and into the air with his hind-legs, somersaulting over Ice Heart and landing on the other side of him.
 
“Oh?  Going on the offensive?”  Ice Heart launched himself at Spike again, aiming a jab at the pony’s nose.  “Think again!”  Spike sidestepped and launched a jab of his own.   Ice Heart backflipped away from the attacking hoof, and Spike launched one of the stone shards at him.  The dragon caught the shard before landing, and threw it back at Spike the moment his feet touched the ground.  Spike knocked the shard out the air with another and launched himself at Ice Heart.  He attacked the dragon with a flurry of punches, and Ice Heart dodged each one, but every time the dragon moved, Spike launched another stone at him, forcing him back.
 
After several dodges, and being forced back by the flying stones, the dragon’s back hit the side of the mountain.  Spike lunged forward.  “Now, I’ve got you!”  Ice Heart just smirked as the pony’s hoof swung towards him.
 
It passed through the empty space between Spike and the mountainside.  The pony immediately scrambled back and started scanning the area, looking for any sign of the small general.  Ice Heart appeared to Spike’s right, grinning madly.  “Not bad.”  Without moving his body, the pony launched a stone shard at the dragon.  Ice Heart was gone before the stone made it to him.  He appeared on the pony’s left, and Spike launched another stone.  The dragon disappeared just as quickly.  “What’s the matter, am I going too fast for you?”  The dragon started appearing and disappearing at random around the pony.
 
With each appearance, Spike launched a stone shard at the spot where the dragon appeared, and one at the spot he thought the dragon would appear next.  Ice Heart was teleporting so quickly that it was only seconds before the pony ran out of stone shards.  Once they were gone, the dragon appeared behind Spike and crossed his claws.  “Now what?  You’re out of rocks.”
 
Spike just smiled as the glow around his horn faded.  “I am now.”
 
A large rock, about the size of Ice Heart’s head fell on the small dragon.  He didn’t move for a moment, and just stared at Spike.  “Not bad, but it’ll take more than that.”  He picked up the rock and tossed it at the pony.  He then disappeared.  He reappeared in front of Rarity and Twilight, both of whom let out short shrieks at his sudden presence.  He nodded to the two dragons before saluting.  “While I have a moment, please allow me to sincerely apologize for my actions earlier.  It goes against everything I believe in to involve innocents in a fight, but I did what was necessary for the sake of my successor’s training.  Again, I apologize, and please know that at no time were you ever actually in any-“
 
 
The large rock from earlier slammed into Ice Heart’s side, knocking him into a nearby tree.  Spike ran up to Rarity and Twilight.  “Are you ok?  What’d he say to you?”
 
Ice Heart started laughing from where he leaned against the tree.  “All I did was apologize to them, but you should know that.  Just like you should know that the same old tricks won’t work on me.”
 
“Fine!”  Spike took a few steps toward Ice Heart.  “How about a new one?”  Spike’s horn lit up, and he took a deep breath, sucking as much air as he could into his lungs.  He held it in for a moment before releasing it in a rolling blast of flame.  Bright orange and yellow tendrils of fire twisted and curled in on themselves as they sped across the ground toward Ice Heart.
 
The drake smirked.  “A good bluff, Spike, your illusions are getting better and-“  Ice Heart’s smirk disappeared just before the flames engulfed him.
 
Spike turned to Rarity.   “Don’t fall for his mind-games, just when you think he’s your friend, he’ll throw you into the depths of hell, just for the fun of it.”  The pony looked back at the flames surrounding the tree where Ice Heart once stood.  “And if he really likes you, he’ll do it twice.”
 
The dragoness didn’t get to respond before a blast of steam nearly knocked her over.  She looked over at the source of the blast.  Ice Heart stood at the base of the tree, rather, he stood at the base of what used to be a tree.  At the moment, it was little more than a charred stump.  The drake was panting as smoke drifted from his scales.  “I was not expecting that.  Good job, Spike, but it’s not over yet.”  Ice Heart Launched himself forward, shooting straight past Spike.  He started running away from the other dragons, around to the far side of the mountain.
 
“You’re not getting away!”  Spike took off after him, leaving Rarity and Twilight behind.
 
The hatchling sighed and looked up at her guardian.  “They get along well, don’t they?”
 
“I suppose.”  Rarity looked down at Twilight.  It always surprised her how solidly the little hatchling grasped the concept of sarcasm.  “And, I suppose I’ve been using that phrase far too often, haven’t I?”
 
“Yep.”  The hatchling nodded slowly before slapping a claw to her face.  “Now he’s got me saying it wrong.”  Twilight looked over at Spike as he ran after Ice Heart.  As small as Ice Heart was, he was incredibly fast, and the pony was struggling to keep up.  The two fighters were almost out of sight when Ice Heart doubled back, leaping over Spike before trying to attacking from behind.  Spike launched his hind-quarters up to avoid it, keeping his front hooves on the ground.  He stomped at the drake, but Ice Heart jumped out of the way.  The short dragon immediately launched himself at the pony’s face, throwing punches and kicks too fast for the hatchling to follow.  Spike defended himself just as quickly, blocking and dodging so fast that, at times, he was little more than a blur in Twilight’s eyes.  The hatchling watched intently, trying to figure out where each attack would land.  Ice Heart’s spinning movements and flips were difficult to follow, and Spike’s sharp linear motions gave no indication of his next action.  The hatchling groaned in frustration.  They shouldn’t be able to move this fast.  “Come on, Spike!  You can do it!”
 
Ice Heart looked over at the hatchling as he continued his barrage of attacks.  He threw a wide punch at Spike, lowering his guarding arm so Spike would block and try to counter-attack.  Less than a second before the pony’s hoof came into contact with the drake’s fist, he opened his claw and twisted his wrist.  The dragon’s claw wrapped around the pony’s leg like a snake, and Ice Heart used the momentum he still had to pull Spike off balance and throw him over his shoulder and into some nearby bushes.  The drake then pointed a claw at Twilight.  “Who do you think you’re cheering for?!  We shorties have to stick together, you know!”
 
Twilight pointed right back at him.  “You’re just jealous that I’m taller than you!”
 
“No, you’re not!”  Ice Heart stomped his claws, looking like a hatchling in the midst of a tantrum.  “Horns count, I can get the Princess to sign it into law, if I have to!”
 
Rarity sighed loudly.  She sure was meeting a lot of… unique creatures lately.
 
Spike launched himself out of the bushes and tried to grab Ice Heart, but the drake jumped up and onto the pony’s head.  He then jumped off and ran toward the mountain.  Spike ran after him.  Ice Heart jumped again, landing on the nearly vertical mountainside and running toward the peak of the mountain.  The pony followed him, if at a slightly slower speed.  Near the top, Ice heart jumped into the air again, flipping once before landing on the very top of the mountain with both claws stretched out to the side.  He breathed out slowly.  On the next inhalation, the drake rotated his arms in a wide circular motion, pointing his left claw straight up, and his right straight down.
 
Spike’s eyes went wide for a moment, but he kept running.  He grinned at the drake as he grew closer.  “Now who’s bluffing?  It’s still daylight out.”
 
Ice Heart didn’t say anything.  He brought his claws together in front of him, forming a square that he could look through as if he was framing a picture.  When he neared the top of the mountain, Spike leapt at Ice Heart.  The drake pulled his claws apart, forming a square force field of bright, white light in front of him.  Spike slammed into the box of light and stuck to it.
 
Ice Heart took a deep breath and closed his eyes.  He shifted his stance, and pulled his right fist back.  “Lunar Judgement!”  He punched his fist into the center of the force field and it flared up so brightly that the dragons watching from below were forced to turn away.  The light then exploded out, away from Ice Heart, expanding and traveling down the mountain and over the landscape with a deafening, silent, roar.
 
The wave of light came to a stop somewhere in the forest below.  As it faded, the destruction it left in its wake was revealed.  A line of stone was torn out of the mountain, as if a massive claw reached out and ripped it away.  Beyond the mountain, as the light had gotten farther from its source point, the destruction had spread across a wider area.  Dirt, stone, and trees lay torn from the ground wherever the light had touched.
 
Ice Heart hopped down from the mountain’s peak, landing in front of Rarity and Twilight as they stared in horror at the terrible scar on the earth that had replaced the pony.  Ice Heart looked over at the Twilight.  “The pure light of the moon judges the hearts and minds of those on whom it is unleashed.  Don’t worry, he’ll be-“  The drake suddenly stopped and looked up at Rarity.  He stared at her for a moment before looking away.  He crossed his claws and sighed quietly.  “Oops.”
 
Rarity gaped at the drake.  “Oops?  What oops?”  The dragoness nudged Twilight out of the way before advancing on the drake, growling in a low voice, “He had better be ok, you little-“
 
“Ah! No, no, no.” Ice Heart stepped back, rapidly waving one claw between him and the angry dragoness.  “I’m sure he’s fine, he’s gotten hit by this plenty of times.”  The drake scratched at the back of his neck.  “Of course, I don’t recall him ever noticing dragins before, but you are a rather pretty one, and that may be a bit of a-“
 
Rarity snarled at him, baring her teeth at the smaller drake.  “Go, find him.”
 
“Right away!”  Ice Heart saluted quickly and ran away from the dragoness, leaping off a nearby ledge into the forest below.  He landed heavily in the forest below, and dusted himself off.  “Spike, that is one scary lady you’ve got there, you better hold on to her.”
 
The drake sighed and closed his eyes.  He stood silent for a moment, listening to the forest.  Among the sounds of life and frightened animals, there was one that stood out.  There was a faint clinking noise coming from nearby.  Ice Heart started running towards the sound.
 
After about a minute’s run, the drake could make out purple through the trees.  He stopped running and approached slowly.  There was a clearing ahead, and the clinking noise was definitely coming from the purple mass in that clearing, but he couldn’t think of any reason why Spike would be making that sort of noise.
 
As he approached, he saw that the mass of purple was Spike, but there was something odd about him.  He appeared to be tied to something.
 

 
Spike held his breath as he dug his way out the dirt and rocks he was buried under.  Luckily, the rubble was loose enough that he could force his way through without resorting to magic, if he used his magic, Ice Heart would be able to pinpoint his position.  Once his head broke through the surface, the pony took a moment to relax, resting his head in the dirt.  “Sheesh, Ice Heart, using Lunar Judgement during the day, when did you learn to do that?”  The pony pulled himself the rest of the way out of the ground, feeling way too much like a potato for his liking.  “This fight isn’t over, not yet anyway.”
 

 
Ice heart watched Spike from a branch in a pine tree above the pony.  In addition to the ropes binding him, a large, white “x” was painted on the back of his head, and a string of crystals wrapped around his horn.  The drake watched as Spike smacked the crystals around his horn against a small stone on the ground.
 
Ice heart reached up and pulled a pine cone from a nearby branch.  Keeping his eyes on Spike, he tossed it at a tree across the clearing from him.  It bounced off the tree’s bark and clattered against the branches as the pine cone fell to the ground.  Spike immediately closed his eyes and laid his head down, playing dead.
 
“I see!”  Ice Heart jumped out of the tree, landing in front of the pony.  “You painted that mark on yourself, tied yourself up with magic, and then used that rock to put on a disruptor matrix.”  The drake gave the pony an approving nod.  “I don’t know what you hoped to accomplish with this, but I can appreciate the complexity of your plan, whatever it may be.”  Ice Heart gave the prone, purple form a swift kick in the ribs.  “But, I wasn’t born yesterday!”    The pony’s eyes snapped open and he started coughing from the impact.  “How long do you plan on sleeping there?  Get up, or you’ll be staying down!”  The dragon used his claws to rip away the pony’s bindings and the crystals around his horn.
 
“What are you doing?!”   Ice Heart spun to see Spike standing at the opposite end of the clearing, staring at him.
 
The dragon blinked.  “Eh?”
 
Something sharp press against the side of Ice Heart’s neck.  A low metallic voice whispered behind him, “You may as well have been born yesterday, willfully freeing an enemy like that.”  He turned his head as much as the pressure on his neck would allow. The other Spike had his horn pressed against his neck and was staring at him with eyes of the wrong color green.  “And that last part didn’t even make sense.  Now stay still, or you’ll never move again.”
 
 
Ice Heart let out a quiet, “hmph,” as he straightened his head and faced forward.  “I’ll have to remember that one.”
 
“Silence!”  The other Spike pressed his horn a bit harder into Ice Heart’s neck.  “You there, pony!  If you value the life of your idiot friend here, you will explain where I am and lead me to the nearest pony settlement.”
 
Spike looked confused. “There aren’t any pony settlements, and besides that, why should I care?”  Spike pointed at the dragon.  “I just spent the last twenty minutes trying to beat the tar out of him.”
 
“Don’t say tar!”  Ice Heart pointed at the pony.  “It makes me sound old.  Use ‘stuffing’, so I seem likable and approachable.  It’s all about word choice!”
 
Spike flexed his hoof twice, pulling it towards him and smiling.  “If there wasn’t a hatchling present, I’d have some word choice for you, you old coot.”
 
“Huh?”  The other Spike looked up in confusion for a split second.  They were no longer in the forest, they were in a different place, and they were surrounded by dragons.
 
In that moment, when the fake Spike’s attention was divided, Ice Heart brought his elbow up into the other Spike’s chin, staggering the pony back and causing him to clutch his hooves to his face.  “Stay out of the way!”  He jumped up and spun around, lashing out with his leg to kick the other Spike away.  “Brat!”  It tumbled through the dirt and came to rest against a large rock.  "Impersonation of a military official is a crime.  And besides that…"  Ice Heart disappeared and appeared behind the rock that the doppelganger rested against.  "You threw off the rhythm of the fight!"  Ice Heart punched the rock, shattering it, and sending its pieces and the fake pony skidding across the ground.
 
The fake rolled to a standing position.  It stared at the dragon as drop of green blood dripped from the corner of its mouth.  “Military?”    The fake looked back just as the genuine Spike launched himself at its back.  The fake reared up and spun around, sweeping its front hoof towards Spike’s outstretched hooves.  When their hooves met, the fake twisted its leg, tangling it up with Spike’s and bringing the other down across the pony’s face.  It slammed the pony down to the ground and held him there.  “What did he mean by military?”
 
Ice Heart dashed forward, but the fake saw him.  It turned its head and launched a bolt of pulsing green energy at the drake.  He disappeared, and the bolt struck the mountain, leaving a blackened crater.  The drake appeared next to the fake’s head and launched a spinning kick at it.
 
The fake ducked, avoiding Ice Heart’s kick, but that brought its head closer to Spike.  The pony brought his rear hoof up, kicking the fake in the face.  He then wrapped both rear legs around its neck and twisted his body, throwing the fake.  Both Spikes scrambled to their hooves.  The real one immediately took a deep breath and held it.  That was the marker!  Ice Heart rushed the other Spike.  He had to keep it busy and away from the real one for two minutes.  The drake attacked with a series of punches.  The fake twirled away from the dragon’s first attack, hopped back from the second, and flipped over him to get away from the third.  After dodging the last attack, the fake went on the offensive.  It swung its hooves at Ice Heart as it danced around him, graceful, flowing movements forming complex paths around the drake’s defense.  Every time he tried to block, dodge, or counterattack, the fake’s hooves shifted mid-swing and struck the drake about the head and midsection.  Ice Heart gave up on tracking the fake’s movements, and brought his claws to either side of his head, taking the hits on his arms instead.
 
As the fake pony continued to attack him, Ice Heart kept an eye on the real pony.  Two minutes was almost up, and he had to be ready for it.  He looked up at the fake Spike as it attacked him.  “Your movements are good, it’s a shame we’re enemies.”  He glanced over at Spike.  The two minutes were over.  “I’ll remember you.”
 
Ice Heart launched himself into the air as the real Spike released the breath he held as a continuous stream of incandescent flame.  The fake dodged the flames by jumping to the side, but Spike followed it, forcing it to continuously dodge a river of fire.  The fake quickly ran out of room to dodge as Spike slowly continued to spread flames over the mountainside.  In desperation, the fake leapt into the air, hoping to make it over the pony and counter attack from behind.
 
Below the fake, the flames suddenly stopped.  The real Spike took another deep breath, and the fake looked toward the spot where it would land, mentally calculating how much time it would have to dodge the next blast of flame.  At that moment, Ice Heart slammed into the fake from above.  They crashed into the ground, and Ice Heart jumped away, yelling at the real pony, “Now!”
 
The fake had just enough time look up before Spike unleashed another burst of flame, and it was engulfed in a rolling inferno.
 
Ice Heart landed to Spike’s left as the pony cut off his attack.  A few seconds after the flames stopped, Spike spat a flaming glob of saliva at the ground by his hooves.  “That’s going to take some getting used to, but it should take that thing a while to recover from this.  ”  He wiped a hoof at his mouth as the spit hissed and crackled on the stone below, boiling away to nothing.  He kept his eyes trained on the flames before him.  “It was stronger this time.”
 
“And you were weaker!”  The fake launched itself from the flames.  Patches of burnt skin and scalded fur glowed green as they regenerated.  It slammed hooves-first into Spike’s side, knocking him over and kicking away from him, using the pony as a springboard to attack Ice Heart.  It knocked him aside through sheer size and weight and charged away from him.  “Because you were protecting them!”  The fake ran towards the dragons watching, straight toward the two smallest ones.  Rarity shoved Twilight behind her, and the fake grabbed the dragoness by the neck with both front hooves.  “Sorry about this, but blame the pony.”  The fake hoisted Rarity up by the neck, holding her between it and the real Spike.  The fake watched the pony to see what he would do, but something pulled the fake’s attention back to Rarity.  She was smiling.
 
Even though she was struggling to breathe, choking around the hooves at her neck, the dragoness was smiling at the fake Spike.  “You shouldn’t be sorry.”  Rarity dug both back claws into the fake’s gut.  “I’ve fought worse.”  The fake’s grip loosened slightly as it looked down in shock at its abdomen, at the blood leaking out around the dragon’s claws.  The decrease in the fake’s grip wasn’t enough for Rarity to break free, so she started slashing at the fake pony’s front legs until it dropped her.  She released her hind claws from the fake’s gut as she fell backwards.  As soon as she hit the ground, Rarity rolled over and slammed her claw into the rock below.  A stone column burst from the ground, launching the fake through the air and toward the other nearby dragons.  The fake pony hit the ground and tumbled, leaving a streak of green across the stone of the plateau.
 
Spike started running toward the fake as it struggled to its hooves.  Behind it, the largest dragon of the group lifted one orange claw.  “Applejack!  No!”  Spike coughed loudly.  His voice was weak, a combination of having the wind knocked out of him and inhaling dust after his double’s last attack.  The orange dragon probably couldn’t hear a thing he said. The duplicate was defeated, it could barely even stand.  Sure it could regenerate, but that would take time, and Spike was certain that he could restrain it before that happened.  “Wait!”
 
The farmer’s claw came down with a thunderous crash of crumbling stone.  For a moment, nodragon moved.  Silence filled the plateau, and slowly, the scattered dragons converged on Applejack’s location.  Bard reached the farmer first, leaving the still-unconscious Fluttershy resting comfortably nearby.  Rainbow Dash was the next one to make it to the orange dragin.  Rarity took a moment to check on Twilight, and to make sure the hatchling stayed where she was, before heading over as well.  Spike walked over to Rarity first, then walked alongside her in silence.
 
Once Spike and Rarity made it to the farmer, she let out a sad sigh.  “Ah don’t wanna see it, but Ah guess Ah gotta lift mah claw, don’t Ah?”
 
Spike nodded slowly.  “I’m sorry, but one way or another, we need to make sure.”
 
“Whoa, hold on.”  Rainbow edged her way past Bard to stand next to the pony.  “One way or another?  Are you trying to say that thing might have survived?”
 
Spike looked up at the bright dragin.  “It survived being cut in half, isn’t it possible that it could survive this?”
 
Bard put a claw on Rainbow’s shoulder, gently nudging her out of the way.  “I’m sorry, Digger, but as a healer, it sounds to me like you’re getting your hopes up for no reason.”
 
  Rainbow looked at the tall drake in confusion.  “Hopes?”  She looked back at Spike.  “Are you saying you want that thing to survive?  After what it did to Rarity?”
 
Spike looked over at the white dragin beside him.  “That’s not what I meant, you had to protect yourself, I just…”  The pony sighed.  “I just wish things had been different. It mentioned something about a pony settlement, it may have had information that I've been searching for, but now that's lost.  Maybe, if I was stronger, I could have stopped it without things going this far."
 
Rarity put a claw on the pony’s shoulder.  “I know what you meant, but what about Ice Heart?  Isn’t he supposed to be one of the strongest dragons in the world?  Even he was having trouble with that thing.”
 
Bard raised one of his claws a bit.  “Actually, my father’s pretty useless during the day.”
 
“Who are you calling useless?!”  All heads turned toward Applejack’s claw.  The muffled, gravelly voice was unmistakably Ice Heart’s, but it came from under the farmer’s claw.  “And, how long are you going to argue before letting me out of here?”  Applejack moved her claw.  Underneath, Ice Heart stood over the prone form of Spike’s double with one claw held skyward.  His slipper-clad rear claws were embedded in the stone below.
 
Spike ran forward, followed closely by Rarity.  The dragoness sat nearby as the pony laid his ear against his double’s side.  “Spike, is it still alive?
 
Ice Heart laughed as he pulled his claws free from the ground.  “Of course it’s alive.  I wouldn’t have pulled such a crazy stunt if it wasn’t.”  Once free, the general walked over to Spike as the pony lifted his head.  “I saved this thing because you didn’t want it to die.  I trust you have a reason for making me do such a crazy thing?”
 
Spike looked over at Ice Heart.  His gaze eventually found all the surrounding dragons.  Even Twilight had joined them, hiding behind the end of Rainbow’s tail.  The pony’s eyes came to a rest on Rarity.  “I didn’t want it-“  Spike winced the moment that last word left his mouth.  “Her, I didn’t want her to die, because…”  The pony looked around at the dragons gathered around him.  “Because, she’s like me.”
 
Rarity moved closer to Spike.  She rested a claw against his chest.  “Don’t say that,” she growled, “that thing is nothing like you.”
 
Spike looked down at her claw.  He grabbed it in his hooves and gently lifted it.  “Rarity, when we first met, you asked me three questions.  Do you remember what they were?”
 
“Of course, I do.”  The dragoness blinked.  She placed a claw on his shoulder and moved a little closer.  “Spike, what is this about?”
 
“Just, bear with me.”  The pony offered a small smile.  “Please?
 
Rarity sighed and looked away from the pony.  A slight blush tinted her cheeks as she answered, “The first thing I had to ask was for you to stop staring at me.”
 
Spike shrugged slightly.  “I should probably apologize for that one of these days, huh?”  He sighed lightly.  “Next?”
 
Rarity glanced over at the dragons that stood around them, looking for one particular, a little, purple hatchling.  “I asked how you knew Twilight’s name.”
 
Spike nodded. “I still need to explain that to both of you a little better.  Do you remember the last thing you asked me?”
 
Rarity blinked.  “Well, if I recall correctly, I asked who you were.”
 
Spike smiled sadly and shook his head.  “No, you didn’t.”
 
The dragoness gasped softly.  “Oh, dear, I asked what you were, didn’t I?”
 
Spike nodded slowly.  “Don’t feel bad about it.  Rainbow mistook me for a pet, Applejack called me, ‘that thing’, Fluttershy asked Grumble what I was in front of me, and the mayor thought she was hallucinating when I tried to talk to her.  I’ve gotten used to it.  In my entire life, there have only been three dragons that didn’t react to me like that, Celestia, Ice Heart, and now, Twilight.  I’ve always been-”
 
“You hear that?!”  Ice Heart puffed out his chest.  “I’m included in that list because of my natural empathy towards living things.”
 
Spike sighed and glanced back at the drake.  “Your grand-daughter has natural empathy towards living things, you dragged me out of the barracks by my tail, saying, ‘I don’t care who or what you are, but you’re mine now.’  Then, when I begged you to let me say goodbye to Grumble, you dragged him out by the tail.  I have half a mind to remove you from that list.”  The pony shook his head and rolled his eyes.  Then, he blinked twice.  “Where is Grumble, anyway?
 
Applejack laid down carefully, bringing herself a little closer to the conversation.  “He went back to town after ya set out fer the river this mornin’.”  She removed her hat, and set it down beside her, toying with a string dangling from the banding..  “It can’t be that few dragons, Sugarcube.  What about Pinkie?  She ain’t said anything, has she?”
 
Spike looked up at the large dragon.  “She asked what I was via official military correspondence, sent directly to Ice Heart’s office after seeing a picture of me a couple of weeks ago.  It was a memorable letter, but it was only addressed with her position and initials, so I didn’t realize it was her at first.”
 
Rainbow Dash shook her head.  “None of this matters!”  She stepped forward, inadvertently dragging Twilight along with her.  The multi-colored dragin pointed a claw at the pony.  “You may not be a dragon, but you know what you are?  You’re our friend, and a good one at that.”  She gestured at the fake pony next to him.  “Why are you so hung up on this thing?  It’s a violent monster!  It attacked us, and-“
 
Spike stood up and turned around.  He jabbed himself in the chest with a hoof.  “And I beat it to a pulp!”
 
“Because it left you with no choice!”  Rainbow lowered her head, staring the pony in the eyes.  “Listen to me, I know what it means to be truly violent, and I hate to break it to you, but you don’t fit the bill.”
 
Spike met the dragin’s gaze.  “You’ve known me for what?  Two days?  Three?  How can you say that and be sure?  Do you know how many dragons I’ve beaten, hospitalized, and come close to killing over the last two years?”  He sat down.  “You don’t know who I am!  You don’t even know what I am!  I don’t even know!  I’m a pony.  Well, great, what does that even mean?”  He looked at all the dragons around him.  “I’ve been searching for answers for twenty years, and that’s all I have, a name.  One word!”  Spike pointed up at Rainbow.  “Before you met me, had you ever heard that word before?”
 
Rainbow recoiled from the pony as if she had been struck.  “Don’t ask me that.”
 
Spike shrugged.  “Too bad, I’m asking.  If the answer’s no, feel free to lie about it.”
 
Rainbow slammed a claw against the ground.  “You’re my friend, I’m not going to lie to you!  Just…”  The dragin shook her head.  “Just, please, don’t ask me that.”
 
Spike was about to yell something in response, but he saw tears forming in Rainbow’s eyes.  “Why?”  The pain in her eyes was unmistakable.  “Why does that question hurt you?”  Spike looked down.  “I’m sorry, Rainbow, but I’m asking.  Before you met me, what did the word ‘pony’ mean to you?”
 
Rainbow swallowed loudly and closed her eyes.  “You know that, out of all of us, I was the one that gave you the hardest time, right?  I knew what you were the moment you started talking, that day when you were carrying Twilight.  That’s why I reacted the way I did.  It was the reason I screamed, and it was the reason I zapped your leg.  Because I knew what you were, I made sure you couldn’t carry Twilight, so that I wouldn’t have to leave her alone with you.”  Tears started falling from her eye sin earnest.  “Up until last night, I did everything I could to push you, to provoke you into acting like the monster I thought you were.”
 
Twilight let go of Rainbow’s tail and walked up to the large dragin’s front claw and patted it gently.  “It’s ok, Rainbow, even Fluttershy thought he was a monster.  She told me about the book, and I removed it from the library’s catalog.  It’s not your fault.”
 
Rainbow scooped up the hatchling and nuzzled her gently.  “Thanks, Twi, but that’s not it.  The book I read doesn’t exist anymore.”  Rainbow set Twilight down next to Rarity.  “Back where I grew up, they had this really great library, and you would have loved it, but it was destroyed years ago.  As far as I know, I’m the only one left who ever read the books there, but I didn’t get to read all of them.”  Rainbow wiped the tears from her eyes before addressing Spike.  “I can tell you what I know about ponies, but we should talk in private.  You may not want everydragon to know this.”
 
Spike shook his head.  “No, I’m not going to keep secrets.  Tell me here.”
 
Rainbow sighed softly.  “Spike, everything I’m about to say is legend, remember that, and please, know that I don’t even believe it anymore.”
 
Spike nodded.  “I understand.  Please, tell me.”
 
Rainbow cleared her throat.  “Everydragon here knows about The Darkness, right?  The war, five thousand years ago, where history began anew?  Legends from this time are usually overly vague from being passed from generation to generation, or too specific to be useful, coming directly from scattered journals belonging to soldiers of the time.”
 
Spike glanced back at Rarity.  “That’s where I read about the Nothing, a journal from that period that was housed in the royal archives.”  He looked back at Rainbow.  “As far as I know, there’s only one dragon from that time who’s still alive, and that’s Celestia.”
 
Rainbow rubbed her claw along the back of her neck.  ”That’s another reason I didn’t trust you.  That’s also why I asked you those questions about the legend of the moon princess.  I was suspicious, because the princess is the only one who could possibly know what I do.”
 
Ice Heart crossed his arms and started walking away.   “I would be surprised if that were the case, but please continue.”
 
Rainbow looked down at the general.  She was tempted to ask him a few questions of her own, but continued her story.  “The books I read were written less than a thousand years after the end of the war and carefully maintained in secret since then.  Still, I’m sure there were mistakes, or at the very least, exaggerations, in them, so don’t take this too seriously.”  Rainbow sighed quietly.  “During the war, there was a group known as the Meek.  Among them were the children of Typhon, the ponies, and ten thousand dragons.”  Rainbow paused for a moment, expecting questions.  When none came, she continued speaking.  “According to the legends, there were three types of pony, roughly corresponding with the types of dragons.  There were ponies of the earth, and there were ponies of the sky, and they lived among the dragons.  When the Meek were sent to seek refuge from the war, both ponies and dragons worked together to find safety.”
 
Rarity moved forward and sat next to Spike.  “Rainbow, this doesn’t make sense.  Everything you’ve said so far would seem to reflect positively on these ponies.”
 
Rainbow sighed.  “On earth and sky ponies, maybe.  I’m paraphrasing a hundred pages of lore here, but the third type of pony, ponies of magic, unicorns, they…”  Rainbow swallowed.  “They lived among the other ponies.  Because of their magic, they were able to work alongside dragons much better than the others.  Many of them became leaders among the ponies because of this.  According to the legends, these leaders found a place of safety, somewhere beyond the reach of the war, beyond even our world, and all you had to do was follow a path through a gate.  Dragons and ponies alike followed the unicorns, crossing the path away from this world, but the unicorns sealed the gates before they could all make it through, even trapping some of the ponies in the middle of the path.  Then, they, um-”  Rainbow scratched at the vibrant colors of the crest.  She didn’t really want to finish her story.  After getting to know Spike, she couldn’t believe that it was true.  She took a deep breath, slammed her eyes shut, and peeled off the last sentence of her story like her tail was on fire.  “The unicorns supposedly pulled the path into hell, slaughtered the remaining dragons and ponies, and plunged the world into darkness after assassinating Typhon and sealing his children in the void.”
 
After a moment of silence, the bright dragin peeked out of one eye.  Spike was looking up at her, wearing a face she recognized well, the face of one who had given up in the middle a fight.  The pony slowly brought a hoof to his head.  “Rainbow, this gate, please don’t tell me it’s the Tartarus gate.”
 
The dragin nodded.  Spike sighed and stood up. He turned around and started walking away.  He only made it a single step before Rarity stopped him with a claw on his shoulder. “Spike, that doesn’t mean anything.  It’s all just legend.  There’s no way to be sure it’s true, and even-”
 
Spike offered the dragoness a soft smile and gently slid her claw off his shoulder.  “Actually, there is a way.”  The pony looked over his shoulder, at the brightly colored dragin nearby.  “Rainbow, was the path itself ever described in the legends?”  When she nodded, Spike added, “Was it a tiled path?  Lined with squares of white stone, and edged with structures of red clay?”  Rainbow closed her eyes and nodded.  “Well,” Spike scoffed, “what do you know?”  The pony looked at the dragoness and shrugged angrily.  “I guess I clean up pretty well for a monster.”
 
The dragoness slapped him across the face.  “Stop that, this instant!  You are not a monster.”  She rested her claws on his shoulders.  “Why are you acting like this?  It doesn’t matter what those other ponies were like, that was thousands of years ago.  You’re here now, and you’re different.  We-“  Her breath caught in her throat, and she pulled one claw away from the pony.  “I mean…”  She clutched the claw to her chest.  “I… I care about you.”
 
Spike refused to look at the dragoness as he brought a hoof up to rub at his face.  “You’ve got a funny way of showing it.”  Rarity pulled her other claw away.  She stared at the pony in stunned silence for a moment, jaw working wordlessly as she failed to respond.  Then, she started backing away.  Spike’s eyes went wide when he noticed the look on her face, and he turned to face the dragoness.  “No, Rarity, I didn’t mean-“
 
“Fine!”  The dragoness’ voice cracked, and she turned away from him.  “If you want to call yourself a monster, then go ahead and do it.  I’ll be sure to treat you as such.”  She stormed away.                 
 
Nearby, Ice heart brought a claw to his face and shook his head in disbelief.  “Spike!”  The drake hopped off the rock he was sitting on and walked toward Spike.  “Saving your idiocy for later, just how far did you make it beyond the gate?”
 
The pony scratched his head, but didn’t look at the drake.  His attention was still on the dragoness.  “No more than a hundred leagues. Does that matter?  I’m sure you traveled farther than that.”
 
“A hundred?”  The small drake walked up to the pony until he was standing directly in front of him.  “This is important, Spike.  At any time did you have trouble breathing?  Or using your magic?”
 
Spike shook his head.  “No, except for when I tired myself out chasing that stupid Cerberus.  Why are you asking me this?  You never showed interest in these details before.”
 
 
Ice Heart sighed and looked down.  “It seems that was my mistake.”  He placed a claw on the pony’s leg and looked up at him.  “I have entered the Tartarus gate one hundred and thirty-seven times.  I have only once made it more than two leagues beyond the gate, and it nearly cost me my life.  When a dragon enters the gate, his magic is drained, and it becomes difficult to breath.  The farther you travel from the gate, the worse it gets.”
 
“Oh, goody, more proof that I’m a monster.”  Spike sighed and looked over at Rarity.  “Look, can we talk about this later, I have to try to apologize.”  He walked past Ice Heart, heading towards Rarity.
 
Ice Heart sighed as well.  He jumped in front of Spike, then yanked the pony’s front legs out from under him, and head-butted the pony in the chin as he fell.  “I was praising your accomplishments, idiot!”  The drake turned and walked away from the fallen pony as he writhed in pain.  “And get over this monster thing, it’s boring!  A monster would never care if it was a monster or not, nor would it care about the feelings of those around it.  No matter how bad you are at protecting those feelings, or expressing your own!”
 
Twilight ran over to Spike as he pulled himself from the ground.  “He’s right, Spike.  And, even if you were a monster, you’d be our monster.”  She latched onto his neck and held on as he sat up, lifting the hatchling off the ground.  She moved her head a little so she could whisper to him, “but, you really need to go apologize, you made her really sad.”

“I will, thanks, Twi.”  The pony rubbed at his chin before patting the hatchling on the back.  “But, I’ve been searching for answers for so long, I don’t know what to do with this one.  If the rest of my kind were monsters, what if I’m like them?  Even by just a little bit?”
 
“History is not always what it seems.”  Spike spun around as his double started to speak, moving to protect the hatchling hanging from his neck.  The fake pony started laughing and flicked a hoof lazily in the air.  “Relax, it would be pointless for me to fight you now.  But, remember, history is written by those who survive.  Things are forgotten, willfully omitted, or even forged, and it’s all based on the needs of the victor.  Even if unicorns were involved in the events your friend described, you can be certain it was a relatively small number of them, not the entire population.”
 
Spike backed away from his double and pushed Twilight behind him. Rarity positioned herself beside him, between Twilight and the fake, any animosity towards the pony forgotten for the sake of the hatchling’s safety.   “Why are you speaking to us now?”
 
“That story answered a lot of questions for me.”  The fake Spike turned his head to look at the original.  “What’s the matter?  After that wonderful speech defending me, you’re afraid to have a little chat? I just want to talk.  Monster to monster, what do you say?”
 
Spike sighed as he brought a hoof to his forehead.  He was careful not to take his eyes off his duplicate.  “You cause a lot of headaches, you know that?”
 
The fake smiled.  “Of course I know that, headaches are my specialty.  They can be very useful.”  It tapped its hooves together.  “Even if I had claws, like all your friends, I doubt I would be able to count the number of times I’ve put headaches to good use.”
 
The real pony shook his head.  “Fine, let’s talk, but not with you looking like that.  Change into your true form.”
 
“You sure about that?  You may be upset by it.”  The doppelganger sat up slowly. “Though, protecting my identity is meaningless anymore, so I’ll even tell you my name.”  She brushed dried green blood from her midsection, revealing unbroken fur below.   The fake glanced over at Rarity.  “Your claws are quite sharp, so I healed rather quickly. Though, not quite as sharp as your coltfriend’s attack.  Still, I should thank you for not twisting your claws when you had the chance.”
 
“One time offer for new customers.”  The dragoness bared her teeth at the fake.  “Feel free to offer repeat business.”
 
The fake rolled her eyes.  “That was completely level-headed, and not overtly passive-aggressive at all.”  She lifted a hoof and rested it against her belly.  “I’ll transform as soon as the internal damage is done healing, it should only be a few moments.”  She looked at Spike.  “If you are truly the only pony alive in this world, then I will not survive long anyway.”  She glanced around.  “A world of dragons with one pony, it’s almost like they planned this.”  The fake pointed up at Applejack.  “You, obtuse one!  How many members were there on the caravan that was sealed in Tartarus?”
 
The farmer picked her hat up and stuck it back on her head.  “Ah ain’t obtuse!  And, why ya askin’ me?”  The orange dragin pointed at Rainbow. “It’s her story.”
 
The fake looked over at the indicated dragon.  “Just tell me if there were nine members.”
 
Rainbow and Applejack exchanged glances. The brightly colored dragon then looked down at the fake pony.  “How could you possibly know that?”
 
A green glow started to surround the fake pony.   “Because I am descended from those nine.”  Everydragon went on guard as the glow grew brighter and brighter, until the fake appeared to be made of green-tined light.  Rarity backed away, taking Twilight with her.  Spike stayed where he was, but stood up and took up a defensive stance.  The fake’s form shifted, growing slightly taller and thinner.  Her mane and tail changed shapes, as did her horn.  New shapes sprouted from her back and head.  Once the changes were complete, the glowing light shattered outward.
 
Pieces of light landed at Spike’s hooves, slowly fading to reveal chunks and pieces of green and purple, fur and hair.  Spike prodded one of the pieces.  It broke into pieces like a ceramic dish would.  Where his copy once stood, a new creature had taken its place, having shed its mask of the pony’s form.  The overall shape of its body was the same, but that was all.  It stood about a hoof’s width taller than Spike, mostly thanks to her long, jagged horn.  She was now much thinner as well, with a slightly shiny black body.  Blue-green metallic plates covered her back and abdomen, giving her a slightly armored appearance.  Her dark blue mane was long and flat, and fell to her knees.  Her tail, slightly shorter than Spike’s, matched her mane in color and style.  Her eyes were pale and green, with cat-like slits for pupils.  Thin, gossamer wings extended from her back.  Atop her head sat what appeared to be a black crown topped with blue gems.  The most distinct feature, to Spike anyway, was her hooves.  Even after her transformation, she still had hooves.  Above them, her legs were riddled with holes, and the way the light caught their edges gave her legs the appearance of a sharp, edged weapon.
 
The transformed fake stood tall and closed her eyes, lifting one hoof to her chest and striking a regal pose.  “I am Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings.”
 
Spike loosened his stance, straightening up and scratching his chin.  The transformation was impressive, but he had been expecting the change to be much more… drastic?  “You still have hooves and a horn, are you a unicorn too?”
 
Chrysalis sighed loudly.  “No, I’m not a unicorn, were you even listening?”  She looked over at Spike.  “I’m a cha-  W-wait a minute, were you always this tall?”  She lifted a hoof to the top of her head.  “Did I shrink?  I should be looking down on you.  Literally, of course.”
 
Spike glanced around.  “You know, I think that’s the first time any, uh, anyone ever said I was tall.  But you were masquerading as me, shouldn’t you know how-“
 
Chrysalis reached forward, grabbing the pony by the face and forcing his mouth open.  “I didn’t have a good frame of reference.”  She peered into his open mouth.  “You have fangs.  Why do you have fangs?”  Spike jerked his head back and Chrysalis ran her hoof along her own teeth.  “They’re almost as big as mine.”
 
Spike took a step away from the changeling.  “Just so you know, when you just stopped trying to kill someone, it’s probably not a good idea to grab their face like that.”
 
Chrysalis started laughing.  “I wasn’t trying to kill you, not the first time anyway.”  The changeling brushed a hoof over her mane, knocking the crown from her head.  “I was just trying to brainwash you and take your place.”
 
Spike rolled his eyes.  “That’s much better.”
 
Chrysalis smiled and nodded happily.  “I know, right?”  She turned around and put a hoof to her chin, chewing on her lip thoughtfully.  “He’s a bit different,” she muttered to herself, “some sort of proto-pony?  Intelligence level seems a tad high, but there may be some hope for some sort of herd structure.  This situation may yet be salvaged.”  She rubbed her hooves together.  “All I have to do is make him feel sorry for me.”  A low chuckle escaped her throat as she sat and schemed.
 
Spike sat down.  The more this creature revealed about herself, the more the pony was reminded of a certain superior officer.  “You know, maniacal laughter doesn’t exactly do much to put others at ease.”
 
The changeling froze in place, realizing that she had been speaking out loud.  She turned to face Spike, kicking the crown at her hooves away from her.  “You would laugh too, were you in my place.”  A single tear rolled down her cheek as she took another step toward the pony.  “I was the queen of a mighty empire, and now, I have nothing.
 
The changeling’s crown rolled to a stop near Twilight’s feet.  The hatchling looked down at it.  The blue stones on its points wobbled as the crown itself swayed slightly, almost as if it was made of rubber.  Twilight picked it up carefully.  The stones wobbled again, making the hatchling giggle.  She looked up at Chrysalis.  “Excuse me?”  She held the crown out in front of her.  “You still have this.”
 
The changeling glanced over.  She took a step towards the hatchling, stopping when every dragon, and the one pony in the area visibly tensed up.
 
Rarity took the crown from Twilight.  “What are you thinking,” the dragoness hissed quietly, “that’s dangerous!”  She pushed the hatchling behind her and held the crown out to Chrysalis, glaring at the changeling the entire time.  “Here is your property back.”
 
The changeling glanced at the surrounding dragons before moving forward slowly.  This could work to her advantage.  She took hold of the crown.  “I have no need for it anymore.”  She tried to look around the dragoness at the hatchling, but Rarity moved to block her.  The changeling stepped back.  “I used most of my remaining power to undo the seal of my transformation, I wouldn’t be able to fight you if I wanted to.”
 
Rarity stared at her.  “Then what’s your goal?  I see the look in your eyes, surely you have a reason for everything you’ve done?”
 
“Survival.”  Chrysalis shrugged.  These dragons were going to be annoying.  “But, that’s no longer an option for me, so the best I can hope for is remembrance.”
 
Rarity glanced back at the hatchling behind her before edging out of the way slightly.  “Move carefully,” she warned the changeling.
 
 
Chrysalis nodded slowly.  ”I will.”  She looked at the purple hatchling.  “What is your name, little one?”
 
The hatchling glanced up at Rarity before answering.  “Twilight, Twilight Sparkle.”
 
The changeling’s eye twitched.  This had to be a joke, some sort of cruel joke.  Some sort of illusion?  Forced hypnosis, maybe?  Chrysalis smiled down at the hatchling.  She could have revenge right now, but that decision would mean she had to ditch her chance at survival.  Mind made up, she took the crown and set it on the hatchling’s head.  “Dragons live for a long time, right?  Hold on to that, and remember that it took four of you to take me down.”
 
Twilight looked up at her.  “What’s going on?  Why don’t you want your crown?”
 
Chrysalis blinked, feigning innocent confusion.  “That’s not a crown.”
 
Twilight picked it up and looked at it before setting it back on her head.  “It sure looks like a crown.”
 
The changeling nodded.  “Sure it does, but it’s actually my antennae.  See?”  She gestured up to her head, where an identical crown-like structure now sat.  “It grows back.”
                    
“Ew!”  The hatchling scrambled to knock it off her head.  “Get it off!  Get it off!”
 
Chrysalis laughed and walked away.  She winked at Spike.  “I bet she’ll remember me for sure, now.”  She shook her head slightly.  There was no way the pony would ever feel sorry for her now, but the chance was far too perfect to pass up.
 
Spike sighed and glanced over at Twilight.  Rarity had removed the so-called crown from Twilight’s head and was trying to calm the hatchling.  The pony shook his head.  “Do you torture others just for fun?”
 
“Eh?”  Chrysalis smiled at him.  “Is it that obvious?”
 
Spike groaned.  “Look, what did you mean when you said that survival wasn’t an option for you?”
 
The changeling sat in front of Spike.  “Do you love me?”
 
Spike blinked.  “What?”
 
She tilted her head to the side.  “Do you think you could?  Given time, and the right circumstances?”
 
Spike shook his head slowly.  “How hard did I hit you?”
 
Chrysalis sighed and looked at the sky.  “I can’t brainwash you for some reason, and you’re the only pony in this world.  I am going to die because of that.”  She laid down and rolled onto her back.  “It’s oddly liberating, knowing that.  None of my changelings are with me, I have no hive to command, and I have no responsibilities to anyone or anything anymore.  All I have to do is sit around and wait to die.”
 
“No, you’re not.”  Spike stood over the changeling and looked down at her.  “Sure, it’s tough not being a dragon, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to die, not unless you do something stupid.  I’ll make sure you get whatever sort food you need, and I’m sure we can find someplace for you to live.  They’re bound to accept you at least as well as they accepted me.  Probably even better, since you can’t be mistaken for livestock.”
 
The changeling reached up and patted the side of the pony’s face.  “It’s almost cute how badly you failed to listen to me.”
 
A sharp pain exploded in the pony’s side.  He looked down to see Ice Heart poking him with both claws.  “Spike, is your horn broken?”
 
The pony swung a hoof at the small drake.  “Of course not!”
 
Ice Heart jumped back before the pony’s hoof could reach him.  “Then why haven’t you scanned her yet?”
 
Spike rubbed his hoof along his side, checking the spot where Ice Heart poked him.  His skin wasn’t broken, but Spike was pretty sure he was going to have a bruise later.  “I was trying to recover from our fight.  That fire-breathing spell’s brand new, so there’s a lot of wasted magic.”
 
The drake crossed his claws.  “So, your magic is recovering.”  He pointed at Chrysalis.  “What about hers?  Her magic hasn’t recovered at all, it just keeps draining away.  Fortunately, it’s slowed down since she recovered, but even at this rate, I’d say she has just over two weeks before her magic is completely drained.”
 
“What?”  Spike looked down.  “Is this true?  Are you sick?  We can take care of you while your magic is gone.”  The pony glanced back at Rarity and Twilight before looking back at Chrysalis.  “There should be a doctor in town, and I know chicken soup helps me get over scramble flu when I get it.”
 
The changeling looked over at Ice Heart.  “He sure is dense, isn’t he?”  She looked over at Spike.  “I don’t know what it’s like for dragons, and I’m not even sure what it’s like for ponies, but changeling magic doesn’t recover on its own, and we will die without it.  We must feed on-”  Chrysalis blinked rapidly.  “Did you say chicken?”
 
Spike blinked back. “Yes, is that what you have to eat?  I can go get some and cook it for you.”
 
“What?! No!”  The changeling waved her hooves wildly in front of her.  “That’s just- ugh!  You eat meat?”
 
Spike exchanged glances with Ice Heart.  “Yeah, doesn’t everybody?  But, if I eat too much, I get a stomach-ache.”
 
“Well, of course you would!”  Chrysalis pulled herself up to a sitting position.  “And what do you mean, too much?  How much is that, exactly?”
 
Spike chewed on his lip for a moment and made some measurements in the air with his hooves.  After a long pause, he said, “about half a foal.”
 
The changeling stared at him with wide eyes.  Her mouth hung open slightly.  “Half? Of a foal?”
 
“Oh!”  Spike knocked a hoof against his forehead.  “You probably don’t know our units of measurement.  A foal is one of our basic units of weight.”  He pointed at himself.  “I weigh approximately seven foals.  I don’t know if your transformation changes your weight, but you weigh just over four.”
 
“Oh!”  Chrysalis wiped a hoof across her forehead.  “Whew!  Simple miscommunication, what a relief.  For a moment there…”  The changeling rolled her eyes and chuckled nervously.  “A foal is a baby pony.”
 
Spike’s face lit up.  “Really?”  He rested a hoof on his on his chin and descended into his own little world of thought.  “Nodragon knows the origin of our unit system, so there’s speculation that it came from the time of darkness.  What if it was created by ponies?  I can walk a league in just under an hour.  That seems like the exact sort of practical, yet arbitrary, measurement a society would come up with thousands of years ago.”  He suddenly looked up.  “Wait, what else do you know about ponies?”
 
Ice Heart jumped up and kicked Spike in the back of the head.  “That’s not important right now!   She’s dying!”
 
The pony rubbed the back of his head and shot the drake an ugly look.  “No, she just needs to feed on chicken, weren’t you listening?”
 
Chrysalis slapped a hoof to her face.  “Forget what I said about your intelligence, you are obviously an idiot.”  She looked at Spike through one of the holes in her leg.  “Emotion!”  She put her hoof down.  “Changelings feed on emotion.  For the average changeling, say a drone, or a soldier, interaction with other hive-members is enough to provide sustenance, but those at higher levels, such as myself, require other sources.  Of the nine hives, mine is the only one that feeds off of affection.  I require love, or I will run out of magic, and perish.”
 
Spike nodded energetically, seemingly happy despite the changeling’s dire explanation. “Ok!”
 
Chrysalis glared at him, mildly upset by the pony’s flippant reaction, even though she hadn’t done anything to warrant otherwise.  “Could you at least pretend to care?”
 
“Don’t you see?”  Spike looked back and forth between the changeling and Ice Heart.  “All we’ve got to do is find you a drake!  There’s got to be at least one who isn’t too much larger than you, and wouldn’t be adverse to starting a relationship.”
 
The changeling’s eyebrows pulled together in confusion.  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
 
The pony scratched at his mane.  “There’s no guarantee that you’ll hit things off right away, but there’s a good chance-“
 
Ice Heart jumped on the pony’s head, interrupting the explanation of his plans.  “I have a better idea, Spike.”  He hopped off the pony’s head and started walking toward the cave.  “Let’s go, I’ll tell you about it.”
 
Spike and Chrysalis exchanged glances.  Spike shrugged.  “It’s probably best to listen to him.  He gets these weird moods, sometimes, and it’s best not to argue.”  The pony looked back at the others, silently promising himself that he would find a really good way to apologize to Rarity afterward.  “I’ll be right back.”  He followed Ice Heart toward the cave.
 
Chrysalis tagged along behind him, but looked back to wink at Rarity.  “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him.” The dragoness grabbed a small stone and threw it at the changeling.  Chrysalis dodged it, sticking her forked tongue out at the dragoness before walking away.  Less than a second later, the changeling tripped over a small stone obstruction that appeared in her path.
 
As she picked herself up and dusted off, Ice Heart reached the mouth of the cave.  The drake brought his claws up, holding them on either side of his mouth.  He then yelled into the cave.  “Kin!  Fighting’s over, it’s safe to come out now!”
 
A loud, rumbling yawn issued forth from the depths of the cave, echoing off the stone like the growl of some fearsome beast.  It was immediately followed by a voice that was its opposite in every way.  “I’ll be right out, Heart-chan.”  The voice was light, a silky, melodic purr.  “Let me get Kite-bo ready.”
 
The drake pointed into the black of the caves depths.  “How many times have I told you, I’m your father-in-law, not grandfather, refer to me properly.”
 
The rustling of cloth sounded from the depths.  “Hai, hai, o-ji-san.”  The last three syllables were drawn out in a bright sing-song tone.  “Better?”
 
Ice Heart crossed his claws and leaned up against the side of the cave entrance.  He sighed as he shrugged against the rock.  “Eh, it’s not my fault that idiot son of mine took a thousand years to hatch, you don’t have to take it out on me.”
 
A shock of pink appeared at the mouth of the cave, long flowing crest-hairs framing a gentle, pale-turquoise face.  The dragon emerging from the cave was thin, like Bard, but long and furred.  Darker, greenish-blue scales ran along her belly, and the pink of her crest ran all the way to the tip of her tail, and a reinforced leather pouch hung around her neck.  She walked past the drake with smooth flowing steps.  “Wouldn’t dream of it, otou-san.”  She giggled lightly.  “You just make it so easy to tease you that I couldn’t resist.”
 
 
The diminutive drake shook his head slowly.  “Bard has been a bad influence on you, Kin-kun.  What would your parents say?”
 
The graceful dragoness smiled back at Ice Heart.  “They would tell me to spend less time around you, and that you used the wrong honorific.”  She walked over to spike.  She met his eyes, and deliberately broke eye contact for a moment.  “It’s wonderful to see you again, Spike-ouji.”
 
Spike chuckled nervously. “It’s good to see you too, but I’m never going to get used to that title, Kin-san.”  He scratched at his mane.  “I should have realized Fluttershy was related to you by her crest, but you never mentioned being Ice Heart’s daughter-in-law.”
 
The charming dragoness stuck her tongue out at the pony.  “You never asked, Ouji-sama.”
 
“Now you’re just teasing me.”   Spike sat down and gestured towards Ice Heart.  “I get enough of that from him.”
 
“Of course, that was unfair of me, I apologize.”  Kin giggled and sat down as well, taking special care to keep the leather pouch around her neck from touching the ground.  “I suppose I have been secretive in regards to my relationships, and I suspect you would understand them quite well.  You know what the courts and councils are like, would you force that on anydragon?”
 
The pony winced and shook his head.  “No, I wouldn’t.  Getting away from all that was the only up-side of being forced into the military.”
 
Kin nodded.  “I suspect you’ll feel otherwise, given time, but now you see why I was so secretive.  I wish to give Shy-chan a choice to avoid politics, if she so desires.”  She touched a claw to the pouch at her neck, gently tracing along the flowing, intricate stitching.  “Kite-bo as well, if my children wish to follow their own paths, I wish to leave them unburdened by my obligations.”
 
Spike’s head tilted to the side.  “Kite?  Unless I’m wrong, ‘bo’ is an honorific for a young male.  Fluttershy has a younger brother?”
 
“Not yet.”  Kin carefully removed the pouch from her neck.  She opened it just a little and held it out to Spike, revealing the light-blue egg within.  “We’re hoping for a drake, so we’re trying to keep it nice and warm.”
 
Spike smiled and touched a hoof to the egg’s aqua-colored shell.  “Hello, Kite.”  He sighed quietly.  The egg was at least twice as large as he was.  “You’re gonna be a big one.”
 
Behind the pony, Chrysalis looked over the pony’s shoulder, trying to peer into the pouch.  She caught a glimpse of shell.  “Is that an egg?  Isn’t it dangerous to carry it around like that?”
 
Spike gave the egg a light pat before stepping back and turning to face the changeling.  “It’s a dragon egg, until the hatchling inside is ready to hatch, nothing can break its shell.”
 
Chrysalis stepped forward to get a better look at the egg.  “Then why hide from the fight?”
 
Kin gestured over to the small drake perched against the side of the cave entrance.  “He uses ice magic to fight, I didn’t want to risk any exposure to the cold.”
 
Chrysalis looked back at Spike.  “I don’t recall any ice.”
 
The pony shrugged.  “I think he used an ice shield to block my fire breath, but other than that, he was probably avoiding ice magic because of Kite.”
 
Kin closed the pouch and fastened it back around her neck.  “Ouji-sama, I am still waiting for an introduction.”
 
“Huh?”  Spike glanced up at the dragoness.  “Oh!”  He looked over at the changeling.  “This is Chrysalis.”
 
The dragoness smiled down at the changeling.  “It’s nice to meet you, Chrysalis-san.  Ever since I met Spike-ouji, I’ve wanted to meet another pony.”
 
With a loud, “hmph,” Chrysalis sat down and crossed her hooves in front of her.  “I’m a changeling, not a pony, and it’s ‘Queen’ Chrysalis.”
 
“Oh, my.”  The dragoness touched a claw to her lower lip.  “My apologies, Ohime-sama, forgive me for addressing you so informally.”
 
Chrysalis sighed and rolled her eyes as she nonchalantly waved one hoof in the air.  “Forget it, the title’s pretty much meaningless at the moment.”  The changeling uncrossed her hooves.  “So, I’m guessing Ohime-sama is some sort of title, probably the equivalent of Queen.”  She pointed over her shoulder at Spike.  “But, what’s the meaning of the title you gave to pony-boy over there?”
 
  Kin blinked and looked over at Spike.  “Ouji-sama?”  She looked back down at Chrysalis.  “He is the royal prince of Draconica, the son of Celestia-hime.”
 
The changeling’s lips twisted into a sneer.  “Celestia’s son?”  She glanced over her shoulder, glaring at the pony standing behind her.  “I thought you said there weren’t any other ponies.”
 
“There aren’t.”  Spike scratched at his mane and offered a sheepish smile.  “I’m adopted.”
 
Chrysalis groaned quietly.  “Then this Celestia is a dragon.”
 
“What else would she be?”  Kin lowered her head, trying to bring herself to eye-level with the changeling.  “You speak as if you know her, how can you not know she is a dragon?”
 
Spike scratched at his chin.  “I noticed that too, you seem to know certain things, but not the obvious details that go along with them.”
 
The changeling’s sneer faded, and she brought a hoof to her head with a quiet sigh.  She glanced around, eyes coming to rest on Ice Heart as he leaned against the cave entrance.  “I’ll explain later, but first, I want to hear the midget’s plan to replenish my magic.”
 
Spike glanced over at Ice Heart as well.  “Oh, yeah, we’ve been keeping him waiting.”  The pony looked up at Kin.  “Well, it was nice to see you again, Kin-san.  I guess I’ll speak with you a bit later.”  The pony stood up and broke eye contact with the larger dragoness with a deliberate turn of his head.  He then walked away, toward the mouth of the cave, where Ice Heart waited.
 
Kin giggled as the pony walked away.  “Such a polite one, as always.”  She looked down at Chrysalis and lowered her voice to a whisper.  “You called yourself a Queen, I suggest you take care with that title.  None may truly rule a dragon, though Celestia-hime, the Princess, is the one who comes closest.  Claiming to be above her will not bring you many friends.”  With that, the dragoness walked away, leaving a nervous changeling behind.
 
Chrysalis gulped loudly.  “I’ll keep that in mind.”  She turned around slowly and started walking toward the cave.  Spike and Ice Heart had already gone inside, so she was alone at the moment.  She sighed quietly as she walked.  Even if the small drake had a plan that could keep her alive, it seemed like things would be different now.   She was once a creature of fear and power, but now, she was thrown among beings that could just step on her and be done with it.  She was going to have to change the way she went about doing things, even if she wasn’t sure how.  The changeling glanced back at Kin, and a random thought made her smile.  The dragoness was the first being that had ever apologized to her.  She continued her walk to the cave feeling a little better.  “Even if I’m not a queen anymore, maybe this place won’t be so bad after all.”
 
Kin glanced back at the changeling as she walked away from the cave.  To the dragoness, Chrysalis was an odd creature, but no more odd than Spike had been.  Still, there was something tapping at the back of the dragoness’ thoughts that left her uneasy, some foolish story out of a bed-time fairy-tale.  Something that didn’t seem quite so foolish anymore.  “And the queen that left her crown behind to seek a heart that stands through time, trust she gained, but lost her name, and changed the one that saved her.”
 
“Reciting old stories?”  Kin snapped her head around at the sound of a voice, letting out a surprised squeak.  Bard laughed as he barely dodged a collision between his head and Kin’s.  “Practicing for our son?  I wish I’d thought a’ that, Butterfly.”
 
Kin gave the golden-brown drake a playful shove.  “Don’t sneak up on me like that.  Besides, our daughter’s the one with wings, you should be calling her Butterfly, not me.”
 
“Aw, but then there’s no irony.”  Bard ducked in and gave the dragoness a light peck on the the cheek.  “That would make things boring.”
 
Kin smiled and returned the gesture.  A moment later, she caught sight of Fluttershy, resting on the rocks behind Bard.  “Anata, what did you do to our daughter?”
 
Bard froze.  Nothing good ever followed when Kin referred to him formally.  “Um, I think I broke her.”
 
The dragoness moved to Fluttershy’s side and looked up at her husband, her unwavering smile shaking him to the core.  “How?”
 
Bard looked away, nervously scratching at the side of his face.  “I was teasing her about a drake.”
 
“A drake?”  Kin looked down at Fluttershy with a look of shock on her face.  “Our little Shy-chan is interested in somedragon?”  Her look of surprise shifted into a smile.  “Isn’t that wonderful?”  She looked back at Bard.  “Is it that young, red drake who helped her move into her cave?”
 
“This is the first I’ve heard about that.”  Bard looked over at Applejack.  She was chatting with Rainbow Dash and Rarity while Twilight climbed the brightly colored fur running down Rainbow’s back.  “Ay!  Big girl?  Is your brother red in color?”
 
The large orange dragin looked over.  “He’s ‘bout as red as ya can get.  Why d’ya ask?”  Applejack glanced down at the small dragoness she had been talking to.  “Wait, before that, Rares here had a question for ya.  Go ahead, girl.”
 
“Oh, hello,um…”  The white dragoness started walking toward Bard and Kin.  “You must be Fluttershy’s mother, I’m delighted to make your acquaintance.”
 
 “Likewise.”  Kin moved toward the dragoness, meeting her halfway.  “You must be Rarity-sama, Shy-chan spoke highly of you in her letters.”  She touched the pouch at her neck.  “And, I must say, your work does not disappoint.”
 
“Just Rarity is fine.”  The smaller dragoness moved a little closer to Kin and lifted herself up on her hind legs to get a better look at the pouch.  She quickly lost her balance and fell backwards.  She immediately scrambled to right herself.  Once she was upright, she didn’t look back at the other dragoness, instead she kept her gaze off to the side.  “I, um, please excuse my clumsiness, Kin-san, recent events have…”
 
The larger dragoness folded her legs beneath her, lowering herself until her belly rested on the ground.  “The bandages are explanation enough.”  She removed Kite’s pouch from her neck and held it out for Rarity to inspect.  “It is indeed your work, mail-ordered anonymously a few months ago.  And, please, call me Kin.”
 
Rarity slowly looked up at the larger dragoness.  “Thank you.”  Rarity inspected the pouch carefully.  “I remember this piece, the insulated egg pouch, you made a lot of special requests for the materials and design.  You should have let me know who you were, I-“
 
“Would have given us a discount?”  Kin handed the pouch to Bard.  The drake took it and hung it around his neck.  “I gathered as much from Shy-chan’s letters.”
 
Rarity watched the pouch as it changed claws.  “Even so, from now on, I insist you come to the boutique to place any future orders, especially since you live so close to town.”  The smaller dragoness nodded toward the cave.  Something about it caught her eye, and she stared at it in confusion for a moment.  “Something’s missing.”  She looked up at sky above them, clear as glass with occasional wisps of cotton clouds.  “Where’s the smoke?”  She looked over at Kin.  “Wasn’t there smoke?  Somedragon bought the mountain for their nap.  At least, that’s what we thought, but it doesn’t seem like any of you are preparing for sleep.”
 
“Darn right we’re not!”  Without warning, Ice heart appeared in front of Rarity.  In one claw, he held the limp, battered frame of one purple pony by the green splash of his mane.  In his other, he held the equally tattered body of the changleing queen by the tail.  “The smoke was made by burning green pine.  Honestly, did everydragon in town forget how to use their snouts?”  He tossed the limp pony at a horrified Rarity.  “Take him.”
 
Rarity caught Spike, barely maintaining her balance under his weight.  Up close, she could see bruises and cuts all over his face and body.  “Spike?!  What happened?!”  She snarled at Ice Heart.  “You did this!”  She rammed her claw down to the rock below her, launching a spire of stone at the small drake.
 
The sudden motion jarred Spike, waking him up.  The pony started coughing, leaving a splatter of bright red on the dragoness’ scales as Ice Heart hopped up, effortlessly dodging her attack and landing on the re-formed rock.  Spike tried to pull himself upright, leaning heavily on the dragoness.  “He’s crazy.  Don’t-“  He broke out in a fit of ragged coughing.  Once the spasming fit ended, Spike looked up at the dragoness holding him, a thin line of blood drawing its way from the corner of his mouth.  “I-“
 
“Shh, shh.”  Rarity wiped away the blood and rested her claw on the side of his face.  “Don’t speak, darling, it’s ok, I’ll get Bard to patch you up.”
 
Ice Heart pointed a grizzled claw at Rarity.  “You’ll do no such thing.”  He tossed the limp form of Chrysalis away from him.  “If that was enough to kill him, he would have died long before you met him.”  The small drake marched up to the dragoness and poked his claw toward her chin.  “Besides, for the next nine days, he’s still my subordinate, and don’t think you have any say over the actions I take.  If you have a problem, you can address it to the Princess.  She’s the only one who can stop me.”  He swung his claw over to the pony.  “As for you…”  The drake crossed his claws in front of him.  “Rest up, we leave in one hour.”
 
Rarity stared down at the drake, appalled by his actions towards the pony.  “You can’t be-“
 
He brought his claw back around to the dragoness, and shouted her down, “One hour!”  He then looked past her, at A.J., Rainbow, and the little purple ball curled up on top of Rainbow’s head.  “That hatchling of yours is asleep again.”  Ice Heart crossed his claws again.  “You have fifty-nine minutes and thirty-seven seconds.  I’ll allow you to take whatever action you feel necessary to get Spike ready for travel, but only you.  Nodragon may help you.”
 
“What?!”  The dragoness looked down at spike.  He seemed to be sleeping, head resting against her shoulder.  She wanted to protest, but she had seen the fight earlier.  Ice Heart was much stronger than she was, stronger than any other dragon there.  “But, I don’t know anything about ponies, I don’t know how to help him.”
 
Ice Heart turned away from the dragoness.  “You just realized that?  It took you long enough.”  He walked away, up the angled stone spire left from Rarity’s attack.  He spun to face Rarity, and sat cross-legged on the stone.  “You have fifty-eight minutes, and fourty-nine seconds.”
 
Rarity lowered Spike to the ground as gently as she could.  She didn’t know what to do, other than just let him rest.  She didn’t really know much about him at all, his history, his physiology, anything, and that was frustrating in this situation.  She laid down next to him, letting his head rest against her.  She promised herself that she would learn, that she  would speak to Bard and Fluttershy about first aid for non-dragons.  Any information beyond that would probably have to come directly from Spike.  Rarity carefully brushed a few strands of the pony’s messy mane out of his face.  For all her lack of knowledge, she knew at least one thing about the pony that nodragon else did, something that even Spike didn’t.  The dragoness laid her head over the pony’s neck, cradling her face in the mess of his mane.  In that strange dreamworld of the link, she learned that Spike had given her something, and after he left, she learned what it was.  She held the sleeping pony tight.  It was something she would never be able to repay.