//------------------------------// // Back To Normal? // Story: The Emerald Dragon // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// If the ponies of Equestria had been worked up by the fact that Sombra had taken over Canterlot, then they lost their senses completely when the heard the news that the Emerald Dragon was not only alive, but had beaten Sombra and taken back the city. Ponies flocked from all over Equestria to see the hero in Canterlot, but little did they know that the hero had taken a break from all of the hero-ing back in his home of Ponyville for some much deserved R&R. "OW! Darn it Twilight, that really hurt!" Spike said as Twilight pulled away the bandage. Spike had wanted to spend most of the time relaxing, but due to the shape he was in he had to constantly be monitored by Twilight. "Well I'm sorry, but it's the only way that you're going to feel better, so suck it up," she said as she started to wipe the wounds again, getting another yelp out of Spike. "You fought Sombra and his ring of fear with no problem, yet something as trivial as applying antibiotics to your wound cause you to scream like that?" "Hey, the ring protected me from most of his attacks," Spike replied as he winced in pain. "Plus, I was still under whatever Zecora used on me to get me back in fighting shape and I wasn't really feeling much of my body. Ow!" Twilight shook her head with a smile, knowing that despite the ribbing she was giving him that she truly was proud of him. Ponies had swarmed Canterlot to come and thank him, but he said that he was too tired to try and greet them all. So she had taken him back to Ponyville and given him the chance to rest. 'Your will is what gave me the power to stop the fear based attacks,' the ring said on the table next to him, gaining the attention of one previously sleeping Owlicious, who hooted once before flying down from his perch next to the ring, pecking at it with his beak. 'Please stop that. Stop it. Spike.' "Sorry ring, when he gets set nothing can stop him," Spike said with a smile as Owlicious began to kick the ring back and forth, despite its complaints. Then a small smile spread on his face when he thought of how Owlicious had refused to give up on him, even when Spike had given up on himself. "Hey Owlicious." Owlicious hooted and stopped bothering the ring before flying over to Spike, resting on top of his head. "Just wanted to say, you know, thanks for not giving up on me back in the forest. I'd hate to think of what happen if you hadn't been there." "Hoo," Owlicious said with a happy look on his face from atop Spike's head. Twilight smiled at the both of them, amazed at far the two of them had come in just a short time. Spike, being the hero of Equestria and Owlicious heading into the Everfree Forest to go assist Spike. 'You two have really grown,' she said with a smile as she pulled the both of them into a hug. "Ow." "Sorry." Twilight let go of them as she stood up and walked over to a map that she had pinned to her wall, a frown covering her face as she looked at all the marked spots on the map. "Where would Sombra have gone? It's been a few days and we've seen neither head nor tail of him. You'd think that he'd come back for revenge right away." "Especially since he's the only opponent I've faced who still kept their ring at the end of the fight," Spike muttered as he walked up next to Twilight, thinking along the same lines. "Or maybe he's so embarrassed that a baby dragon kicked his butt in front of everypony in Canterlot. Celestia knows I wouldn't show my face after that." Twilight smiled at him before she heard a knocking at the door, Luna standing before her when she opened it. "Greetings Twilight, I have come by just to see how the little hero was doing," Luna said as she walked inside, letting in the last lights of the setting sun. She smiled at Spike, who didn't seem to notice that Owlicious was still on his head. "Hello princess, how are you doing?" Twilight asked as she pulled out a chair for the princess of the night. "I am well, but I wish I could say the same for Canterlot," she said with a sigh as she sat down in the chair as Spike went to get her a drink. "Even though we have cleaned up most of the mess, ponies are still terrified at the news that Sombra managed to escape our grasps and none of them want to stay in Canterlot for long without the Emerald Dragon there to protect them. Oh, thank you Spike," she said as Spike placed her tea cup on the table and Owlicious then poured the tea for her. "And thank you Owlicious. I wish that we knew where Sombra went, but all of our searches have proven futile." "At least we can relax for the time being," Twilight said as she sipped on her tea once Spike had served it. "Yes and it is always nice to come visit Ponyville," Luna said as she looked out the window at the small town. "Plus, I got to see Scootaloo and her friends on the way over and help them out with some of their crusading. But what do three fillies need with jet skis and thirty feet of parachute rope?" "Hey Twilight, can I go out?" Spike asked Twilight, remembering that there was another pony he had wanted to talk to but hadn't had the time to do so. Twilight gave him the go ahead and Spike grabbed his ring before he ran out the door, Owlicious waving goodbye at Twilight and Luna as he was still on Spike's head. "He's always running around now a days," Twilight said with a small sigh as she watched him go. "He's growing up so fast. When did it start?" "Probably when he found that ring," Luna replied. Spike had started to run down the street until his wounds got the better of him, meaning that he had to take a slower route, but that also allowed him to look around at all the ponies that he barely got to see. All of them had smiles on their faces and more than once he heard them talking about the Emerald dragon, making Spike smile. "Man, haven't heard this much talk about me since the time I started to steal everything in Ponyville that one time," Spike said with a smile. "Hoo." "Oh hey bro, you coming with me?" Spike asked as he looked up at Owlicious, who was starting to wake up as the sun got lower on the horizon. He finally came to a stop outside the Carousel Boutique and hesitantly knocked on the door, humming to himself as he heard a pony coming to answer it. "Yes, who is it?" Rarity asked as she opened the door before a huge smile spread on her face at the sight of Spike. "Oh, Spikey wikey," she said as she pulled him into a massive hug, something Spike would have normally enjoyed if it wasn't for the pain that coursed through his body. Rarity released him the moment she realized she was hurting him and brought him inside. "Hoo." "Of course it's lovely to see you again Owlicious," Rarity replied, bowing to the owl who bowed back. "So then Spike, what can I do for the hero of Equestria?" she asked with a smile. "Need a new outfit to replace your old one? Let me be honest with you dear, the old one kind of looked a bit tacky. Now then, I have five or six new designs that I think..." "Rarity, while I would normally love to see your new designs, I'm actually here Sweetie Belle," Spike said as he avoided looking at her, causing both her and Owlicious to look at him in confusion. "Can you just tell me where she is?" he grumbled. "Um, she's upstairs," Rarity said, looking at Spike as he walked by her. Spike wasn't lying when he had said that he'd love to see her outfit’s designs for him, but he had to talk to Sweetie. Twilight had informed him of what she had said in the castle while Sombra had been ruling it and frankly her faith in him confused him, especially since every other pony thought he was dead. He opened her door to see Sweetie writing something in a diary, but she smiled when she saw Spike enter and closed it before bounding over to him. "Hey Spike, what's up?" she asked him before looking up to see Owlicious. "Enjoy the view up their Owlicious?" "Hoo," Owlicious replied before he floated over to Sweetie and rested on her head, causing her to giggle. "Not much, I was just...wondering if I could ask you something?" he said nervously, not sure what kind of answer he was going to get. Sweetie hopped down on her bed and gave him the go ahead. "Back when Sombra had defeated me and thrown you and the others in the dungeon, Twilight told me that everypony thought I was dead except for you. Is that right?" "Yup," she answered. "Okay, then how did you know that I was still alive?" Spike asked, confused by her. If even Twilight, the pony he was closest to, thought he was dead, then why didn't Sweetie Belle? "I didn't," she replied, causing Spike to blink twice in confusion. "What?" "I didn't know you were alive. In fact, I was fairly certain that you were gone," she said. Spike blinked again before shaking his head; sure that he had heard her wrong. "So let me get this straight. You were the only pony there who thought I was still alive, but at the same time you didn't think that I was still alive? How does that work?" Spike asked, causing Sweetie to groan. "I said didn't think you were still alive. Yet in my heart I knew that you were and that you would come back to save us," she explained, letting out another groan at the confusion on Spike's face. "I may not have known, but I had hope that you were. I believed that you would come back and you did." Spike was still confused by the statement, wondering how she could have such faith in him. "Because you're a hero," Sweetie said with a smile once he had asked her his thoughts. "And a hero always comes back to save the day. That's why I had such hope in you. Because you're my hero." Spike didn't notice the change in wording, but he did let a small smile cross his face, a bit touched by her faith in him. "I didn't know you thought of me as a hero," Spike said with a smile. "Well duh, you only saved us a whole bunch of times," Sweetie said as she looked out the window at the darkening sky to avoid looking at him. 'Not to mention helped me out when I needed it most. Like a hero would.' Spike followed her gaze and saw the moon rising, figuring that he had stayed a bit long. He said goodbye to her and Owlicious flew off her head and back to his as he left, waving to Rarity as he left. "Wow, I've really moved up in the world," Spike said to Owlicious with a smile, the owl hooting in agreement before flapping his wings to take to the skies, enjoying the cool night air. Sweetie watched the two of them go from her window, a small smile on her face as well as a bit of guilt for not telling Spike the whole truth. 'I should have told him that my hope in him almost gave out when Sombra asked me to my face why I believed in him,' she thought to herself as she let out a yawn and climbed into her bed, tired from a long day of crusading with her friends. 'But then you restored my faith in you and saved the day, just like I knew you would.' She yawned once again as she thought this and rolled over, slipping off into her dreams with a small smile on her face. WHACK! "Ow!" she yelped as she shot up suddenly, rubbing her head as she looked around the room for whatever had hit her in the head. Then her eyes rested on a small light that came from the floor and she backed away a bit when the light floated back up, but her eyes widened when she saw what it was. 'Sweetie Belle of Equestria.' "No way," she whispered to herself as she slowly grabbed the ring that was floating in front of her, a ring of the purest blue. 'You have the ability to instill great hope.' IOI Spike was awoken the following morning by a hurried knocking at the door, causing him to stumble out of bed as he looked at Twilight's bed and frowning when he saw that he wasn't there. Figuring that she was out being a princess again, he slowly walked down the stairs as the knocking got louder and louder. "Yeah, I'm coming," he yelled to the pony outside as he reached the door, opening it to see Rarity standing in the morning sun with a look of worry on her face. "Rarity? What are you doing here so early in the morning?" he asked her. "Have you seen Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked in a worried tone as she let herself into the library, looking around for her sister. "Why, has she been missing?" Spike asked with concern as he slipped on his ring, preparing for the worst. "I haven't seen her since last night. Sometimes she does get up before me and goes out but normally she leaves me a note or something. Yet she was gone this morning and no note." Spike frowned at that since had seen her last night. Was she missing or could it be possible that Sombra had a hoof in this and was using her to bait out the Elements or the Dragon? "You want me to go look for her?" Spike asked as he suited up, floating off the ground as he lit up. "If you would be so kind," Rarity said. Spike nodded and flew out of the top of the library, wondering where he should start first. The CMC clubhouse seemed like the best place to start, so he pointed himself in that direction and flew off; arriving quicker than any Pegasus would believe. But as he floated above the clubhouse, he could only see Applebloom and Scootaloo down below, no sigh of Sweetie. The two fillies saw him and waved him down, running up to him as he floated down to them. "Rarity got you looking for her as well?" AB asked once Spike had landed next to them, Spike nodding as answer. "Yep, she came to mah sister this morning and asked her as well, figuring that she would probably head to one of our houses if she went anywhere." "But neither AB nor I have seen her since yesterday, so we've been looking as well," Scootaloo said as she pointed to the clubhouse. "But she's not in there either and we're not sure where to look next. I figure that Rarity will get everypony to look for her sister." Spike frowned at that before he thanked them and took back to the skies, looking over the town of Ponyville with narrowed eyes. "So where do you think she might have gone?" he asked as he looked down at the ring. 'If she is not with her friends and was not foal napped, then it is possible that she might be someplace that she rarely goes to, hence why her sister would not look for her there,' the ring said, Spike figuring that it was as good a guess as any. His first stop was the more buisnessy section of Ponyville, where most of the ponies worked. The CMC hated this place because of how boring it was, but after then minutes of flying he knew that it was a futile effort. The ring confirmed his thoughts once he had asked it to scan as much of the area as it could, revealing nothing. "Well that was a bust," Spike muttered as he flew out by the quarry where the Diamond Dogs had last been seen, remembering how that had taken Rarity a few years ago. He constructed a giant drill around his body and shot into the ground, burrowing his way through the earth until he burst through the dirt into a giant cavern. He shot along the cavern until he had found a number of Diamond Dogs that were collecting gems. "What is that?" one of them asked as Spike floated down in front of them. One of the three dogs decided to rush Spike and received a giant hand to his face for his efforts. "I'm going to make this quick," Spike said as he picked the dogs up by their legs, dangling them upside down as the whimpered in fear. "Have any of you seen a small, white filly with a purple and pink mane down here?" "No! We no take ponies anymore!" one of them said as it covered its face. 'It seems that they are telling the truth,' the ring muttered. Spike frowned before dropping the dogs and flying back out the way he came in. "Where could she be?!" he asked with a growl as he flew over Ponyville. He was about the head back to the library before the ring began to glow and make a beeping sound. "What's the matter? What's up?" 'I can sense the faint traces of a yellow ring in the area,' the ring said, causing Spike to snarl. The only pony who wielded that ring was Sombra and if he was here then his suspicions had to be confirmed. 'It is coming from the dam up on the hill.' Spike nodded before rocketing himself over to the dam, floating over all of the elder ponies as he looked around the area for Sombra. "Where is he?" Spike asked before he heard the cries coming from the elder ponies below him. He looked down to see that they were all pointing at the dam that had a large number of cracks spreading over it, water beginning to come through. "How many times is this thing going to break?" It only took him a moment to react before he threw himself towards the dam, creating a number of bandages the he began to place along the cracks. "That won't hold the dam for long. I'm going to need a way to stop those cracks permanently or weld them shut." 'I have such a function,' the ring said to Spike. 'With enough concentration I can become like a welding torch. We just need to be a bit closer.' Spike nodded and flew up to the dam, pointing his ring at it and firing a beam of pure green into the cracks, the intense heat from the ring slowly welded up the crack. Spike smiled before moving onto the next one, which he managed to shut as well. He was just about to finish off the cracks when an explosion went off at the top of the dam and giant pieces of rock began to fly down towards the ponies. "Oh no you don't!" Spike yelled as he flew down, creating multiple claws to grab the chunks out of the air and hurl them away from the ponies. He was just about to smile at his work before he heard a crashing sound and turned around to see that the cracks he had just repaired had been reopened twice as large from the explosion and the whole dam looked to be coming down. 'I need to get don there to protect the ponies,' he thought as he flew down to where the old ponies were, gathering as many as he could and moving them to the land above the dam. He realized that this plan wouldn't save all of them and that the dam was about to burst. So with a growl he flew down in front of the houses with the ponies and made as large a barrier as he could, bracing himself for the water. "Bring it on!" Spike yelled as the dam finally broke and torrents of water came rushing towards him, destroying all of the trees in its path. Spike grit his teeth and waited for the water to impact...only to gasp in disbelief when the biggest bucket he had ever seen came down in front of him to intercept the water, gathering all of the water within its large basin. Spike the watched as the bucket lifted itself far above his head, holding all of the dam water above him as he lowered his shield. "What the...?" he asked before a bulldozer far larger than any he had ever seen drove by him, creating a huge pile of dirt as it passed by him. The dirt was all packed into where the dam once stood and the bucket moved overhead of the dam, tipping over and allowing the water to fall back in. The bulldozer shifted into a great wall, which held the dirt in place while the water was being poured. Once the water was safely back inside, the bucket became a number of hands that picked up the wall of the dam, putting it back together until it looked as good as new. Spike's eyes were wide the entire he time he watched this, not just because of what had happened, but because all of those items had been a green he knew well. "Glad I got here when I did. You needed the help if that was your plan." Spike spun around to see a bipedal creature floating above him, arms crossed and what looked like a smile on his face. His face was a dark brown and he had even darker hair on his face, but his eyes glowed with a green power that covered his pupils. But what made Spike gasp wasn't that he didn't look like any creature that he had seen before, but that he wore a uniform that Spike knew all too well. An emerald green uniform with a lantern in the center of his chest. And that could only mean one thing. "Who are you?" Spike asked in total shock to the alien, who chuckled in reply before saying, "Green Lantern of sector 2814," he replied as he showed Spike the green ring on his right hand. "John Stewart."