Act III: Shadows of the Past
Prelude: A Familiar Face
The warrior princess stood before the gaping maw of earth and stone. A deep rumble resonated from within, the beast’s snores shaking the very mountain. She stared into its foreboding depths, steeling her nerves for what was to come. With a deep breath, she bellowed her challenge.
“Dragon! Your time has come! I am here to defeat you!”
All at once, the rumbling ceased, and a palpable silence filled the air. Then, a sound. It started low, but quickly grew. It was the sound of dark, wicked laughter. A pair of large, red eyes opened deep inside, staring at the pony in amusement.
“My, my, my,” came the powerful voice of the monster, “Has another little pony come to offer herself as a snack?”
“I have come to make you pay for what you’ve done!” the heroine bellowed.
“Then come, little pony, show me what you got.”
The princess drew her ancient sword in her mouth and charged. She swung at the great beast, only to have him deflect the blow with forearm, the tough scales harder than diamond. He retaliated with a swing of his deadly claw. The princess dodge-rolled to her right just in time for the natural weapon to pass inches over her head. With a quick upward strike, she sliced across the dragon’s relatively soft underbelly. The dragon bellowed in pain and anger, rearing back. The great beast sucked in a deep breath and unleashed a torrent of emerald fire, completely engulfing the would-be dragon slayer.
“Mwahahaha!” the dragon laughed in victory, “I have destroyed yet another pony, because dragons are awesome!”
“Nuh-uh! I have an amulet that protects me from dragon fire!” the pony shouted from the clearing smoke.
The dragon raised an eyebrow at the amulet that he knew wasn’t there a moment ago, “So we’re doing that, are we? Okay, try this out!”
His eyes glowed bright red before twin lasers shot from them.
“Hey, no fair! Dragons can’t shoot lasers!”
“Sure we can. I just never showed you.”
“Mom! Spike’s cheating!”
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“Spike, play nice,” Twilight scolded, “Dragons can’t shoot lasers, and you know it.”
“Yeah!” Aurora echoed, folding her forelegs, “Way to ruin the suspension of disbelief.”
“‘Suspension of disbelief’?” Spike chuckled, “You know you’re supposed to be four, right? You shouldn’t even be able to say suspension of disbelief, much less know what it is.”
“Did you forget who her mother is, Spike?” Midnight said from the couch, watching the amusing ‘battle’.
“Touché,” Spike conceded.
Aurora giggled, “You said tushie.”
“No, not tushie… oh, never mind,” Spike relented.
“Alright, you three, lunch is ready,” Twilight called.
The others made their way into the dining room, finding their seats as Twilight levitated three plates of daisy sandwiches, one plate of deep-fried sapphires and four bowls of barley soup. The family dug in to the meal with gusto. Eventually, Twilight decided to start up a conversation.
“So, anything interesting happen today?”
“Oh, oh!” Aurora bounced, “Sweetie gave me something! You wanna see it?”
Twilight smiled, “Okay, but hurry.”
The filly jumped out of her seat and shot upstairs. When the sound of tiny hooves descended the stairs again, she called out, “Close your eyes!” chuckling, they humored her.
“Ta-da!”
They opened their eyes and looked over at the filly. What they saw, though, was something from their nightmares. The sweet, innocent filly, always polite and kind, wore a burgundy cape with a familiar blue and yellow patch on the back.
“Sweetie made one for me, Pound, Pumpkin, and Tulip,” Aurora cheered, “We’re Cutie Mark Crusaders!”
Spike calmly stood, downing the rest of his soup in one gulp and snatching up his gems, “I’m moving out.”
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“Oh, come on, Spike,” Sweetie giggled, “You’re not mad at me, and you know it. When you get mad, you puff up your cheeks. It looks adorable.”
“It does not!” the dragon protested, “Dragons are scary when they’re mad. And you still haven’t answered my question.”
The two of them were walking along the Everfree River. Spike had gone to meet his fillyfriend after explaining to Twilight that he wasn’t serious about moving out. The first thing he asked Sweetie was about the cursed garment she gave his baby niece.
She rolled her eyes and answered, “Think about all the good it did me, Scootaloo, and Applebloom.”
Spike raised an eyebrow, “You mean, cause tens of thousands of bits of property damage, release an ancient chaos spirit, blind Scootaloo, and nearly get all three of you eaten by genetically engineered monsters?”
Sweetie gave him a deadpanned stare, “No, I’m talking about how it brought us closer together, and we got to experience things that most ponies only fantasize about.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Spike conceded, “I’m just worried about her, you know. She’s my little niece.”
“Don’t worry, one of us will be watching them,” Sweetie smiled warmly.
They walked a bit more in silence before Sweetie decided to end it, “Rarity told me what she’s getting me for my birthday.”
“Oh, yeah?” Spike smiled, “I’m sure it’s good. You’re going to be fifteen, a grown mare. That’s a big deal.”
“Oh, it’s great,” Sweetie said, “She bought two tickets to The Princess of Peaches in Canterlot.”
“Oh, yeah,” Spike said, “That sounds like a nice sisterly bonding experience.”
“Oh, Spike, you dummy,” Sweetie spun in front of him, putting her fore-hooves around his neck and giving him a peck on the lips, “It’s for us.”
“Oh!” Spike blushed a little, “That does sound good. I heard that play was a funny one.”
“And that’s not all,” Sweetie traced circles on his chest, “Because it’s an evening showing, she booked us a suite at the Golden Bit. So we’ll have a whole night to ourselves. Just you and me, a dragon and his fillyfriend…” she leaned in and whispered, “His legal fillyfriend.”
Sweetie dropped back to her hooves and giggled at Spike’s face as her words sank in.
“W-wait… you mean we’re finally going to…” Spike’s face heated up with a blush.
“May~be,” Sweetie said flicking her tail across his face.
Spike grinned mischievously, “Maybe we can get a little sneak peak?”
“Hey, I’m still a minor for a month and ten days, so none of that,” Sweetie stopped him.
“We can still make out, though, right?”
“Hmm,” Sweetie scratched her chin in mock-thought, “If you catch me first.”
The unicorn took off, giggling, with Spike close behind. Though her training with the Dawn Shield had done wonders for her physique, Spike’s body was naturally toned and athletic. Being a dragon, he was in fact, a predator. Sure, he had never actually eaten meat before (something that would have to change before long according to an old friend of Celestia’s) but that didn’t change the fact that his body was meant to do exactly what he was doing at that moment, chasing down prey.
Spike leapt at Sweetie, his claws wrapping around her midsection and rolling to the side, taking her off her hooves. They rolled to a stop with Sweetie pinned beneath the powerful eighteen year old dragon. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before bringing their lips together.
The kiss wasn’t particularly long, but it was full of love. Spike broke the kiss and chuckled before getting up, helping the pony up as well. They leaned on each other as they decided to finish their walk. As they walked, Sweetie noticed something by the edge of the forest.
“What’s that?” she asked.
Spike looked at the dark figure, “You want to check it out?”
“I am a member of Dawn Shield, and it could be dangerous, so it’s kind of my responsibility.”
The pair made their way toward the prone figure, slowly. With every step, it became clearer and clearer that it was some kind of creature. It reminded Sweetie of some kind of a cross between a diamond dog and a minotaur. By the time they reached it, fear started creeping through their veins. Even though they had never seen the creature before, they had heard enough about them. Its long, lanky limbs, five dexterous fingers on both hands fit everything Midnight said about humans. Though that was cause for alarm, the armor it wore was what filled them with dread. It was mostly gray and brown, covering every inch of his body. It was the insignia that was the most terrifying. It was an insignia that Midnight had shown them once, the insignia of the Kordan Empire.
Sweetie acted fast, lifting her right foreleg and spoke into her ever-present MagiTool, “Activate flare.” Pointing the tool skyward, a green bolt of magical energy shot up into the sky, bursting in the air.
It didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash to show up. “You okay? What’s going… on…” her eyes widened as she noticed the armored human. “Is it alive?”
Sweetie, who had donned her eyepiece, replied, “Yeah, it’s just unconscious.”
“Get it to Midnight’s workshop and lock it in the testing chamber,” Rainbow ordered, “I’ll get Midnight. Spike, if it tries anything, fry it.”
The prismatic mare took off, heading toward town. Sweetie levitated the human and held it as far in front of her as she could, as she turned toward the shop, Spike watching it like a hawk. As they approached said shop, a lavender light flashed to reveal Midnight, Twilight, and Rainbow.
Midnight’s eyes widened as he saw the human, “Get him inside, quick.”
The human was taken by Twilight who quickly went inside, down the stairs, and into the testing chamber. She set it down in the middle of the room and stepped to the side, keeping her horn charged. Midnight stepped inside, examining the human soldier.
“He’s an engineer, so he shouldn’t be too dangerous,” Midnight observed, “Let’s get this armor off. It’s laced with runes, most I don’t recognize.”
Midnight unbuckled the helmet and with a twist, detached the head armor. He removed the helmet and looked at a human for the first time in five years… and his breath caught at what he saw.
“Twilight, let’s get him upstairs,” Midnight said monotonously.
Twilight gave him a curious look, “Midnight, do you know this human?”
Midnight looked at the human’s face one more time, making sure he wasn’t seeing things, and nodded.
“Yes, I do,” Midnight swallowed, “It’s Jacob… my brother.”