//------------------------------// // 17-The Secret of the Dragons // Story: A Changeling Queen Under the Griffon's Crown // by DungeonMiner //------------------------------// Chapter 17 Death’s vigil was not perfect. Over the centuries, numerous things had escaped the gates of Tartarus. Imps, mostly, a succubi once or twice, three Windigoes, and then… Well, there were two very notable cases. Tiamat the Greed, was almost entirely alone. She prefered it that way, it kept her hoard safe from those that envied her. In the early millennia, nothing got close to her and survived. Blasts and clouds of lightning, fire, acid, and ice all but vaporized almost anything that came close. What survived was then shredded by her claws or swallowed whole by one of her five heads. There was one thing, however, that lived. An invidiak, a shadow demon, an Envy who held no true form, had seen her hoard firsthand and lived. Invidiaks, unlike other Envies, truly live up to their name. They were not Greeds that were thrown out by Tiamat, they were true-born Envies. Their forms are mere shadows, not even physical by a demon’s standards. It is because of this, that they yearn for any sort of carnal pleasure. This shadow, who went by the name of Desire, had passed by Tiamat one day, and saw on her hoard something that filled his every thought afterward. A soulless body. He never found out how she got a hold of this, but he lusted after it for years after seeing it. He needed that body, a host that would not resist his possession, an invidiak’s dream. And so, he began to plot. He would woo Tiamat and take this body from her while she was not looking. His desperate plan succeeded. It took three centuries, but he succeeded. He spent years gaining her trust, defending her hoard along with her until he wooed her. She handed over the body for a night of depravity, and he left her while she slept. Her rage was legendary. Desire was murdered, the body destroyed, and Tiamat was alone again. Then an egg was laid. The egg was abandoned. Tiamat bitter, and fearing for her hoard, threw the black egg far from her hoard, into the pits of the Sloths. What hatched was Gaafnirlass, The Shadow of the Dragon. His black, muted scales dove his serpentine form into shadows. His bright, glowing red eyes hovered over all the land, and he wanted it. The other demons, led by the Wrath named Hatred, were quick to drive him from the plains of Tartarus into the Void between, fearing that another Tiamat would arise in her son. The Void is an inhospitable place. It is the space between Paradise and Tartarus, and any demon living in it would die by the holy light that surrounds it. Gaafnirlass had nowhere else to go. And so, he escaped. He was still young when he slipped by the gates, and under Death’s nose. Only a wyrmling, perhaps about half as tall as a pony, and...well...perhaps Faust took pity on him. Something in Gaafnirlass changed. Was it his destiny that changed? His morality? Who can say? All that is really known is that Gaafnirlass was no longer a demon. He was given Faust’s two greatest gifts, the gift to choose, and the gift of a second chance. Gaafnirlass found a mate, a creature of golden scales that, according to dragon lore, was formed by the One from the purest gold. Yet despite this, Gaafnirlass still struggled with his greed. As would all his children. <<<|Ω|>>> Two griffons slowly patrolled the lower hallways. One walked, eyes straight forward, sweat dripping down his forehead. He took slow, deliberate breaths, and brought his claw through his brown feathers. His partner, however, seemed to have his head on a swivel. His head never stopped moving as the griffon hyperventilated, his eyes wide and pupils mere pinpricks. His mottled grey and purple feathers stuck out at odd angles. “This is not good,” he mumbled under his breath. “We’re all going to die.” “Shut up,” the calmer one said. “It’s only a matter of time.” “I said shut up!” “It’s just going to happen. We’re going to turn the corner and Boom! Dead.” “Shut up!” the other griffon roared. “The Pendragon is dead! They just want us to think he’s alive to scare us. There is nothing to worry about!” The panicked griffon turned to his friend. “You think I’m worried about a dead pony? That’s a laugh.” The calmer one blinked. “Then...what are you talking about?” “You remember the siege of Canterlot?” “Y-yes?” “You remember this little unicorn mare, white coat? Followed around by a dragon?” “Th-the Diamond Death?” “Yes. Do you remember her rage? How she tore our ranks apart with a sword made of diamond? Do you remember the dragon that followed her? How he shredded the front lines as a wyrmling? Can you imagine them now? With him grown larger, and she covered in gems?” The brown griffon paled. “That’s what I’m afraid of,” the grey one said, “and I really don’t want to meet either of them down here, do you?” “N-No…” “That would be a wise thing to avoid,” a new voice said. Both griffons looked at each other. “Did you hear that?” The brown one asked. “Nope!” the grey one said, loudly. “I heard nothing! I saw nothing! I know nothing!” “Heard what?” the brown asked. “I didn’t hear anything! There’s nothing here to listen to!” “I say this corridor has had enough patrolling!” “Right! Let’s go patrol somewhere else!” The two griffons left, leaving the hallway empty. Or, mostly empty. “Spike, Darling, I know you enjoy scaring them like that, but eventually you’ll run into one that will turn on us.” A young purple dragon shimmered into sight. “Maybe. Until then, I’ll have some fun.” Rarity’s head popped up from behind Spike’s wings. “Why are we visible again?” she asked. “Cause my goggles are getting a little too hot,” Spike said, lifting them up to his forehead. “Got to give the stealth gem a break. Alan never told me if it has any overloading problems, but I’m not going to take any chances.” Rarity slid off his back. “So we have to put ourselves in more danger then?” Spike smirked. “Just stay behind me, If anyone wants to get to you they’d have to go through me.” “My hero,” Rarity said with a smile, even as she began to form a rapier of emeralds. “Always at your service, Milady.” The two began to make their way down the hallway, the drake leading the way as Rarity’s rapier floated next to her. There was silence for a moment. Rarity sighed. “Something wrong?” Spike asked. “I’m just worried about Sweetie Belle. She looked so disappointed when I told her I was leaving. I mean, I know she’s with my parents, but I still can’t help but fret over her.” “You have your parents,” Spike noted, “she should be fine.” “I know...it’s just...I don’t know.” He was quiet for a moment. “What’s it like?” he asked. “What?” “Having a Dad. What’s it like?” Rarity's eyes went wide. “You’ve...you never had a father, have you?” “No...I’ve had three mothers, but no real dad.” “Three...how?” “Well...Celestia took care of me in the early days, back when Twilight was just a filly, she played with me, cared for me. I have a very distinct memory of this one time where one of the palace servants tried to take me away and change my diaper, only for Celestia to push her out of the room.” “You remember that far back?” “It’s mostly fuzzy, but yeah, kind of.” Rarity just stared at him. “Then there was Mama Twilight, Twilight’s mom,” Spike continued. “Back when we were both young, Twilight saw me more as a baby brother, and Mama Twilight was the one who made sure we didn’t get into too much trouble. She baked us some of the best gemless cookies I’ve ever had. “And then we have our Twilight, who began to see me more and more as a son than a brother as she got older and physically matured faster than me. I bit my tongue and got used to it, though. She hatched me after all, had to give her some respect.” “B-but surely, Twilight’s father was there for you?” “Yeah, he was there, but he wasn’t really my Dad. He spent more time with Shining than he did me. He never really taught me anything, he was just there. He was a nice guy, don’t get me wrong, but he never really acted like my dad. “Shining was more like a dad in all honesty, always showing me stuff, teaching me things, but he never lost that big brother vibe when he did it.” Rarity was silent for a moment. “What’s it like, Rarity, having a Dad?” Rarity took a moment to look at her drake. Her little Spikey Wikey who wasn’t so little. Raised by two of the most powerful beings she knew, asking what it was like to have a father. It didn’t take a social genius like her to hear the hurt in his voice. “Well...having a father is...it’s nice. I’m probably not the best one to ask Darling, have you tried asking any of the stallions? I’m sure they could give you a better answer on father/son relationships.” “What’s he like, Rarity?” “I...well...at least, for us fillies, having a father means you have someone protecting you. He’s...he’s the one who you can go to to fix a broken heart, the one to hold you and treasure you better than almost any other stallion could. My...my own father is caught in his hoofball haydays, but...but he’ll always drop whatever he’s doing for Sweetie and I…” Spike nodded. “Sounds nice.” Rarity said nothing, but continued to walk. Yeah, Sweetie Belle was fine. She had their Dad. <<<|Ω|>>> “Alright, deal, Felix,” one of the griffons said. The one apparently named Felix nodded before he flung cards around the table to the four other players. Spike watched as they did. He stood, camouflaged, right next to the table, watching as the griffons began to play poker. His shadow, the major weakness of a chameleon spell, was easily hidden in the poorly lit room, allowing dragon to move freely throughout. “I’m telling you, man,” one of them said as he began organizing his hand, “we did the right thing, siding with Ironclaw.” Spike smirked as he watched the same griffon pull a two, ten, four and a jack. “What’cha mean?” a second asked, looking at a pair of tens, six and four. “Well, ya see,” the first one said laying his two down. “Hit me.” Felix handed him a new card. “You see, Ironclaw is a better leader than Julius. The Pendragon made Julius fall in a day, Ironclaw took much longer than that.” “Yeah,” the second one snarked. “Then he set up Julius as Prince, and put Ironclaw in chains. Hit me,” he said, handing in his four. “How did our new, illustrious leader escape, anyways?” the third one asked, holding an excellent pokerface as he sat on a pair of aces. “No one knows,” the fourth one said, hiding his straight flush equally well. “He’s never told anyone how,” the second one added. “My bet’s on a secret passage out of the oubliettes.” “Have you seen the oubliettes? Those things are lined with iron. Where are they going to hide a secret door?” “That’s why it’s called a secret door, you donkey,” the first said, now looking at a pair of twos now. “I’ll raise.” Spike kept looking around, searching for some sort of clue as to how to get up to the throne room. “Look,” the first griffon continued, “it doesn’t matter how he got out. He got out, and he’s going to be the one to take the magical and mechanical might of Equestria, and you know, maybe a few of those ponies will grow brains and join us to take out the Ligers.” Spike wondered how the others would react if that griffon were to suddenly burst into flames. “Can you imagine both changelings and unicorns on our side against the Ligers? That’s a lot of magical firepower. We could use all that changeling goop that they can blow up to get through their fortifications, we could use the unicorns to launch fireballs, and have the pegasi rain down lightning and thunder, we’d have them beaten back in a day.” Spike blinked. That...that was kind of a scary thought. “You’re kinda assuming that the ponies are just going to roll over for us.” “We’ll have the changelings infiltrating, and once they do, they’ll take out everything from the inside.” “Is that the plan?” Saberlion asked. “As far as I’ve heard, I think they’ve even begun to get a forward force over there.” Spike froze. “Really?” “They haven’t left yet,” Pair of Aces said. “They’re waiting at Oissparyo last I heard.” Spike stored that knowledge away. That’s good to know. Still nothing on how to get up the throne room. He resisted the urge to sigh, and began to head out. He paused at the door. Hm… With a quick flick of his tail, a set of spears quickly fell to the floor, clattering so loudly that all five griffons turned to it. Spike quickly moved in, pulling cards from the top of the deck and dragging them to the griffon closest to him. “Hey!” one of them yelled. “I saw that!” “Saw what?” “Hey! He’s cheating!” “Am not!” “You are too!” the opposing griffon yelled, standing. Which then sent two cards falling out of his pauldrons. “See! He’s the cheater!” Spike left, leaving the five griffons each accusing the other of cheating. It was a good day, he thought. He took two lefts and a right, sliding down the halls with almost serpentine grace, before coming face to face with his beloved. She stood, poised, ready to strike with her rapier. “Rarity,” Spike whispered. She gave a small start. “Oh! Spike...don’t scare me like that.” “Sorry,” Spike said, smiling as he became visible again, “you’re just so cute when you’re frightened.” Rarity huffed. He chuckled. “Did you find anything?” “Not much, but we need to move forward.” “Do you know where to go?” she asked as she climbed up onto his back. “No, but we need to keep going. I’ve found a new hallway we can go down,” Spike said, re-engaging the stealth gem. “What’s down there?” “Not a whole lot, but it looks more promising than everything else.” Rarity sighed. “We’ll find a way, Rarity.” “I certainly hope so, Spike.” The two began to slither down the hallway, moving as quickly as silence would allow. They quietly passed the upturned room where five griffons had each other by the throats. “Was that you?” Rarity whispered. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said with a smile. Rarity shook her head. The two moved through the darkness, Spike’s claws digging into the spaces between the flagstones, allowing him to cling to the walls if he needed to. Neither said anything as Spike carried her deeper into the mountain, and Rarity enjoyed the silence. She always like quiet, gave her time to think and organize her thoughts. Especially considering it was almost always followed by absolute, hectic panic as she tried to fill in a new order of dresses. Or go save Equestria. Or go to war. Captured by Diamond Dogs. Attacked by a dragon. Hm...perhaps she needed a vacation. The room began to shake. They both froze. “Spike,” Rarity asked, “was that you too?” “No.” “I was afraid of that,” she sighed. Silence never did last. Flagstones began to fall from the ceiling, shattering as they struck the floor. Spike sighed. “Time to run again.” Run they did. More flagstone hit the ground, and dust began to fall as the hallway shook. “What’s happening?” Rarity asked, hiding under his wings. “I think the hallway above us is collapsing!” Spike yelled as he weaved through the falling rubble. A massive chunk of stone slammed into the ground ahead of him, smashing open the hallway into a chasm below. “Spike!” Rarity cried, as she lost her grip on his back. The drake watched her go flying amidst the debris, and dove for her, deactivating his stealth gem as he leapt, wings pinned back. “Spike!” she screamed as she fell, her eyes wide as she stared up at the dragon diving at her. He grabbed her in the air, enveloping her in a shield of scales as they both fell into the darkness. <<<|Ω|>>> She didn’t know how long she had been unconscious, all she knew was that she woke up to the sight of green and purple scales. “Spike?” she called, her mind still collecting itself as she woke. Why was he around her like this? He was…protecting her. There was...a fall. Fall. Fall! “Spike! Spike, deary, are you alright?” No answer. “Spike!?” Still no answer. She pressed against the scales and called again. “Spike!” “R-Rairty?” his voice rumbled, as he began to shift. “Oh thank Celestia. Spike, are you alright?” The ball of scales around her began to uncurl, opening up to cold air of the chasm floor. Darkness surrounded them, hiding the stone from sight. As cool air now flowed across the drake’s belly, Spike smirked. “Thick scales, didn’t feel a thing.” Rarity highly doubted that. “Are you sure you’re alright?” Spike slowly sat up, bringing a claw to his head as he groaned. “Maybe. I’m probably fine though. How are you?” She gave him a small smile in the darkness. “I’m fine, Spike. You did a good job.” “Good to know I can trust Past Spike. He’s normally never here when I need him,” he said with a chuckle. Rarity blinked. “I think you hit your head a little too hard.” Spike sighed, before standing on his hind legs. “Twilight’s the only one who gets the time jokes,” he muttered. “Do you know where we are?” she asked. “Not a clue,” he said, “and the lack of visibility doesn’t help.” Rarity nodded. “It is rather dank down here.” “Hang on,” Spike said, before taking a deep breath, and breathing green flame into his open claw. The magical flame sparked as it hit dragon scales, making his whole hand glow green, before he closed his hand around the flame. The flame continued to burn, turning the Spike’s claw into a burning green lantern. “Wow,” Rarity said, “where did you learn that trick?” Spike looked down at her, smiling. “I’m a living firestarter. I’m male. I get bored. Where do you think I learned it?” Rarity gave him a deadpan glare. Spike chuckled, before he began looking around. The tall, almost sheer walls were made of black stone, which only served to make the room darker. The shadows that were cast by Spike’s green light were swallowed by the surrounding stone, only serving to make the whole chasm seem larger. A cold breeze ran through the bottom of the chasm, causing Spike to shiver, and the air smelled of damp earth with a metallic bite. “Alright,” he said, “let’s head towards the breeze, we might find something down here.” “Shouldn’t we head back up?” Rarity asked. “Yes,” Spike admitted, “we should. But...I just...I feel like we should head this way.” Rarity blinked, before watching Spike walk down the chasm floor. Well, she had never questioned her own intuition, she might as well give Spike a chance to prove his. The dragon and pony walked silently, the reptile sniffing occasionally as they walked. Spike’s eyes were scanning around the chasm, and his nose was almost constantly moving. Rarity could almost swear he was leading them by his sense of smell. They moved slowly, weaving through rubble and stalagmites that littered the floor of the chasm. They turned a corner, and their jaws dropped. “Holy Mother of Sunshine,” Spike said. Both stood, staring into a massive, cavernous room. A massive, cavernous room that had a gold gilded ceiling. The room was covered, wall to wall, in gold. Coins, statuettes, amulets, bracelets, ingots, weapons, gems, baubles, books, anything of value sat strewn about the floor in piles, many of which were twice or even three times as tall as Spike standing upright. Torches and braziers, glowing blue with the ever burning spell, reflected by the coins lit the room in a cold, golden light. Gems larger than a pony sat at random intervals around the room. All of them reminded Rarity of Tom. “W-we need to take some of this,” Spike said, finally. “Spike?” Rarity asked. “Listen,” Spike said, never taking his eyes off the hoard. “We grab some of these weapons, we meet back up with everypony else, we hand out the new stuff, and we’ll do better.” Rarity was silent for a while, looking up at the dragon. He was drooling. She...she could understand that. A lot of these gems and jewels were probably intoxicating to Spike’s poor nose. He was probably doing everything he could not to jump down on one and eating it whole. “O-okay, let’s go get some weapons,” Rarity agreed. “Okay,” Spike said before walking forward. “G-go ahead and grab a gem or two for yourself, Spike.” He didn’t answer her. <<<|Ω|>>> “Just...just grab a few,” the voice in the back of his head insisted. But it wouldn’t hurt to grab a few coins, Spike. After all, we need money for the trip back. “Don’t overdo it, Spike.” But that sword over there looks really nice, and didn’t Shining say something about wanting a new sword? “Spike…” Is that an opal? Opals are worth a lot, you should probably grab one. Or two. “Spi…” I wonder how this gold tastes? Probably very good. Very pure. “Sp…” Is that an Ioun stone? You know those are worth a lot. Take a couple, no one will mind. “S…” You should grab that sack of coins. You should grab that jewel. You should grab that pile. Now that pile. Now that one. And that one. And that one. And that one. The voice in the back of his head said nothing. <<<|Ω|>>> She had her back turned for a second. Just one second. She was picking through the mess and found a very nice dagger, and then when she turned back… Spike was...he was just… A massive purple claw grabbed a mountain of coins and dragged it to the beast that now sat on a massive heap of treasure. It craned it’s neck back and poured a stream of gold down its throat, eating them as if they were small chocolate candies. A gem that was as big as she was was grabbed between the creature’s index finger and thumb a held as if it were a die from a board game, before it was tossed into the hoard. “S-Spike?” her voice called, sounding small as the feral grumbles from the monster continued to get louder. Its massive tail swung around, gripping another mountain of wealth in a deathgrip before pulling it close. “Spike!” she called again. The beast turned to her, and then another, huge claw came down. Rarity barely had time to dodge as the mass of coins she was standing on was dragged over to the monster’s hoard. “Spike!” she called again. No answer. The beast continued to mass the gold and gems around it, burying itself under the wealth. “Spike!” she cried. The room went quiet as the dragon covered itself under its new hoard, and a snort sent coins flying from its nostrils. And then Rarity knew two very important things. First, she knew that Spike, her Spikey-Wikey, was gone, replaced by a dragon that neither knew nor cared for her. Second, she knew she was alone with it. Spike was a son of Gaafnirlaas. And he, and all his sons struggled with greed. -------------------------------- I hate how I can’t seem to write a decent-length chapter. “It’s not bad.” But it’s not great either. “Oh, don’t beat yourself up about this. I think you’re doing a great job.” Yeah, but… “Everyone else here thinks so too, don’t you?” … “See?” They haven’t even said anything yet. “Oh! Right! 4th dimensional limitations, duh! Silly me.” What? “Nothing!” I...you… “For the record, I thought it was alright. Nice medium length chapter to ease myself back into editing.” “Thanks Kilokk! And now, you have an author’s note to get to.” I...I’m going to ignore what you just said...even if everything in my brain tells me not to. Alright guys, so...next time...is...um...ah! Here it is. Next is Al and Julius and...ooh...well...let’s just say we’re going to be seeing another familiar face. “Ooh! Sounds fun!” Remember to leave us comments, thoughts, and criticisms. “Remember to like and fave!” And we’ll see you next time! “Bye!”