//------------------------------//
// The Ball 
// Story: My number one dark knight 
// by Angelus Alvus 
//------------------------------//

	A few months passed by as Spike tried to apply what his mother had taught him. After talking with a few magic specialists in her kingdom, she discovered that Spike could indeed use magic by channeling his fire as a medium.

However, the kind of magic he could perform would be very limited and the boy would have to learn to adapt to changeling magic if he wanted to cast any spells.

For the drake, he couldn’t help to feel a little sad that things, like telekinesis, were out of question to him. He couldn’t simply cover an object in fire to move it, mainly because it would destroy the object in the process.

Chrysalis also was not going to teach him about love stealing to use as fuel towards his own power because, while having ties with their magic, theirs was much more connected to the changelings’ biology, which made impossible for Spike to learn as well.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t learn other forms of magic. Chrysalis had started coaching him on the fine art of shape shifting. In order to change one’s appearance, the changelings must have a clear mental image of the creature they want to mimic, including voice, otherwise the disguise would be revealed, however, they only needed to change their voices when they were trying to impersonate another creature.

Spike trained hard every night with his mother to control his magic, inside of her bedroom. He had to summon fire around his hand without breathing on it and try keep it lit for as long as possible.

Fortunately, Chrysalis had discovered that dragons were immune to fire and heat in general. It was during Spike’s third birthday when the little drake started to play with the fire on the candles. She almost freaked out when he shoved his small hands into the fire, but he was unhurt and was simply giggling along happily

‘I should have known that a fire breathing species would be immune to its own attack.’ She had mused, while rolling her eyes, back then.

“Now, Spike, try to focus some more. Try imagining the hoof of changeling, molding it around your arm.” Chrysalis encouraged him.

The drake nodded as he bit his lower lip as he focused hard on his right arm, which was covered by green fire. He had attempted it many times without success, but that didn’t stop him from trying.

The two of them looked expectantly as the fire started to stir and spin around his arm suddenly extinguished itself. However, in the place where Spike’s draconic arm was, now stood a changeling foreleg.

“I did it!” the boy shouted in success, but as soon as he did so, he broke his concentration and the magic disappeared and his arm returned to its normal self.

“I was so close!” the baby dragon said with a sigh, deeply disappointed.

The changeling queen chuckled softly as she called to her son, “Don’t be sad, killer. You improved a lot lately. All you have to do is to improve your focus. No changeling masters shape shifting overnight. With practice, you might shape shift and sustain it as easy and naturally as your breath.”

The boy blinked thinking about what his mother had just told him and couldn’t help but to ask “You mean my fire breath or regular breath?”

She laughed light heartedly at his confusion and replied with a smile full of mirth “Both.”

Spike gave her a sheepishly smile and then tried to focus again to make his arm look like a changeling’s foreleg, but realized he couldn’t muster any more fire around his arm.

This didn’t go unnoticed by his mother. She could see that his breathing had become more fast and there was some sweat forming on his forehead.

“I think it’s time for us to stop today’s lesson, Spike” She said with a serious expression.

The boy looked at her with a pleading face and replied “But, mommy, I can practice some more!”

“No, Spike. You’re getting too tired” She said sternly at first, but then her expression softened as her son looked disappointed. “I know you are eager to learn how to use your magic, killer, but do you remember what your teacher taught you?”

The drake looked away and mumbled “That magic drains energy and once it depletes, it starts draining energy from the muscles and then it can hurt the user”

Chrysalis then approached him and nuzzled against his face gently. “You don’t have to hurry things up, you know. You are still learning magic. By training it, you’ll become stronger and be able to do more things without getting tired quickly. However, if you push yourself too hard, you’ll get hurt. Try remembering this, okay?”

The boy simply nodded while holding his mother’s face and returned the affection.

“Once you get stronger, killer, I’ll teach you how to transform objects as well. It’s a really nice trick and can be very useful depending of the situation” She explained to him separating from the hug.

She had, once again, felt her own power growing when Spike gave her affection. She had formulated a theory that the reason of why it happened was because he truly loved her. Her true self, that is.

The queen of changelings didn’t have to resort to disguises or treachery and because Spike truly loved her, she didn’t have to use her power to forcefully extract the love nor it hurt the little boy

It gave a whole new perspective to her.

But she snapped from her thoughts once she saw Spike yawning in front of her. She smiled and said “I guess it’s getting quite late”

“Nuh-uh. It’s just 8 p.m. I can be up for one more hour” Spike said pointing to a clock hanging on the wall.

His mother chuckled and replied “True. But do you remember what we have tomorrow?”

The dragon blinked a couple of times and then remembered about the big party they would have on the castle on the following day to celebrate a crushing victory against the army of a gryphon general. Spike heard that they managed to get a huge amount of “stuff” from the bad guys they defeated.

The young drake had no idea about what were the things they’ve gotten from the battle, but he knew that the changelings needed to fight bad guys to get food among other supplies to keep living.

The boy admired the army because of that.

“And don’t forget that Bella Noche will come too and you’ll be able to be up until a bit later than your bedtime because it’s a special occasion” She added with a smile.

That managed to change the baby dragon’s mind and he agreed to be tucked in earlier that day. Since the part would be on Saturday, he would be able to sleep in on Sunday after the festivities. He wondered if Bella Noche would stay for a sleep over.

After he asked that to his mother, Chrysalis replied to him that if Hecate were okay with it, Bella Noche could stay with them that night because the party would probably end quite late and it would be easier if they stayed at one of the guest rooms.

His mother then took him to a bathroom and gave him a quick bath to get rid of the sweat. The boy had to admit he felt much more relaxed after the bath, and even though he was excited for the following day, he didn’t take long to fall asleep after his mother tucked him in.

On the next day, the castle was overcrowded with guests to celebrate the victory and the return of many soldiers.

The campaign was responsible for the destruction of several griffin cities and the supplies obtained from this attack were enough to sustain the changelings for some months. As a ‘bonus’ the changelings made the attack look like ponies had done it.

Many important changelings were invited there. However, the party was mostly dedicated for the brave soldiers who risked their lives for the glory of the changelings.

There was music and waiters served food for the guests, who were both inside of the ball room and outside at other areas, also decorated for them because of the huge number of guests.

In the ball room, which was the one full of mirrors, several tables were set along many chairs for the guests. In the center there was a much bigger table which was reserved for Chrysalis, her generals and their families.

All the generals were there, but there was a big regal seat reserve for Chrysalis, which was still empty.

The two generals, named Fenrir and Shadow Blade, which whom were responsible for the recent attack, kept boasting about their accomplishments to the others, telling them all about the fight and how their brilliant strategy completely crushed the gryphons.

Most of the other generals didn’t pay much attention to the story. Only a couple actually listened to them and the ones who did were Nocturne and Desolator. Nocturne was accompanied by his wife, Valkyrie, and even brought his son with them, who was now playing around the castle.

Desolator, on the other hand, was single. He also didn’t have his right eye because he lost it in battle when he was younger, which may or may not be the cause of his lonely life.

Pretty much all generals were bigger and stronger changelings than the average ones. But, while they were still half the size of their queen, their strength wasn’t the only factor that made them obtain their position. A sharp mind was also necessary given the stealth needed by their attacks.

“How did you prevent any gryphons from escaping? A city of that size surely must have had tunnels.” Nocturne inquired. A single survivor, just one would be enough to alert the others about the changelings and ruin their entire plans. That’s why he was so against attacking big cities because it is so much harder to surround it and keep track of all possible targets.

Shadow Blade chuckled as he took a sip on the wine in his glass “You shouldn’t fear about that. The gryphons are too prideful about their ability to fly. They didn’t even bother to create underground escape routes for them. They simply thought they could soar in the skies and be free, too bad for them that I had some member of my elite force camouflaging in the sky to ambush them all.”

Raising an eyebrow, Nocturne pressed a little bit “So, I take you left no stone unturned as you pillaged the place. You know how important it is to-”

This time it was Fenrir who interrupted “You worry too much, Nocturne. We know how to do this job. I guarantee you, no one survived, adults and children alike” He ended that phrase with a wicked smile.

Unknown to the others, the duo had ordered the death of the children in front of the parents to see them suffer and they made sure the deaths were as slow and painful as possible.

Even though their missions required them to kill all enemies in the villages, settlements and cities they raided, the others made sure to kill everyone as fast as possible. Not all of them took pleasure in killing children. But it was necessary to ensure the safety and growth of their kingdom.

“But enough business chatter. Where is our beloved queen? She usually isn’t late for the parties” Fenrir asked looking around.

“She must be helping to dress her son to the occasion, I guess” Nocturne stated as he drank his own wine.

Most of the single generals frowned at that comment. They’ve heard about the dragon and were eager to have one as a weapon, but they repulsed the fact that the queen allowed it to be treated like her own son.

These same generals always tried to court their queen in hope she would choose one of them as her mate and king. However, while Chrysalis had had several suitors/boyfriends in the past, she never had any serious relationship with anyling else and the presence of Spike apparently made things even harder to them.

Shadow blade gave another creepy smile, which made Desolator shrug a little bit and, and said “You don’t have to address that thing as her son between us, my dear Nocturne. We all know here that this Spike is just a weapon. Our beautiful queen only lets him get all cozy to her just so she can suck the love from him and get stronger. But she doesn’t do it often otherwise he would be useless for us”

That comment earned a chuckle out of several generals, while Nocturne glared daggers at him for saying that. The queen was happier with Spike around and she had confided Nocturne that Spike’s love made her stronger, but she had never sucked love from the baby dragon.

But the general decided to keep quiet. He silently hoped to see their faces when Chrysalis rejected them all.

After some time, Chrysalis appeared displaying a quite simply grey dress. She was never much into dressing herself. Sure, the changelings only did this during formal occasions like this one, but she never cared about clothing in general.

And her son shared the sentiment with her.

It was quite difficult to dress the young drake with his tuxedo. He kept complaining about how uncomfortable it felt and kept begging to let him just go there without those fancy clothes.

But after insisting a lot, the boy finally accepted his fate and put on the formal clothes. He even had a small red bowtie, which Chrysalis thought looked cute on him, but Spike had said it felt like it was strangling him.

Now that they got inside, Chrysalis quickly pointed the table where Bella Noche and Hecate were and she told him to go there and have a good time.

The boy thanked his mother and rushed there.

Chrysalis watched her son go as she walked towards the reserved table for her. ‘A whole night of idiots trying to win me over. Yay…’ she thought forcing a smile as she greeted them all.

There were some generals she liked, like the ones that actually did their jobs because they felt it was their duty and not to get on her good side. If she removed the ones she disliked from the table, the party would be much more pleasing to her. But she had to put up with them because, she liked or not, they always did a good job, not matter their reasons behind it.

As she took her seat, she cringed inside as some generals started to boast and try to praise her to no end. But this time she had a plan to minimize it. She then started to talk about business, spy attempts and future attacks to other areas far, far away from their castle.

The adulators started to offer themselves for the campaigns before they realized that the missions she had mentioned would take months to complete. She, Desolator and Nocturne smiled in satisfaction to see their shocked expressions.

The conversation then went on about several subjects, politics, leisure, how to spend the resources in a fair way, among others.

However, there was news that Desolator had to share with the others at the table. “My spies at Canterlot have gathered some interesting news, my queen. It seems that another alicorn has been born.”

The others gave him a shocked look.

“It can’t be! Are you sure about this, Desolator?” another general named Battle Fury asked after almost spitting his wine after hearing the news.

Desolator nodded and continued “Apparently, her name is Mi Amore Cadenza and she is royalty. She moved to Canterlot a few weeks ago.”

Chrysalis eyebrows creased as she spoke “Did Celestia have a secret daughter?”

Desolator shook his head and continued “This is the weird part, your highness. Our Intel could gather that she isn’t blood related to Celestia. She is either a descendant of Nightmare Moon or came from one of those nobles that call her ‘aunt’ for some reason. However, how she obtained her horns and wings is unknown to us, and she seems to be just a young alicorn. She’s even attending school like normal ponies”

Fenrir then spat “Just great! When we started to mass a good number of soldiers, Celestia suddenly obtains another alicorn to help her. We need to be much more careful now…I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we might have to wait some more to reformulate our strategies before we strike against Celestia”

Shadow blade then suggested “Can your spies kill her? I doubt that even a young alicorn can pose much threat during her sleep”

Desolator shook his head and said “I only have two spies there. She has a big security around her given her ‘status’. I’m afraid I won’t risk the lives of two agents on something that has over 90% of failure and lose our source of information”

While they decided on what to do, Chrysalis saw Spike and Bella Noche leaving the ball room. She smiled internally knowing that at least her son was having some fun at that party.

After thirty minutes, Nocturne excused himself to go to the bathroom, soon being followed by Shadow Blade for the same reason. The conversation, sadly, returned to the same old excessive, and obviously forced, flattery towards Chrysalis as she used all her strength to not groan out loud.

It was then when one of the changeling waiters approached Chrysalis and whispered to her: “You’re Majesty, please come quickly. Your son is in the middle of a fight. He’s upstairs on the right side.”

She excused herself and stormed outside of the ball room, but a few generals then decided to see what was that all about and followed her.




Earlier, as soon as Spike and Bella Noche left the ball room, the duo ran around dodging the older changelings while giggling. They had never seen the castle so full and cheerful before. The wondered if they could find the other kids Chrysalis mentioned that were coming around the castle.

As they walked though one of the few empty halls of the castle, they’ve heard a familiar voice mumbling as it approached from the other side. “I can’t find anything in this castle. Can’t they place some signs around here?”

It was Ifrit.

Bella Noche instantly hid behind Spike as the dragon asked frowning “What are you doing here?”  

Ifrit looked at them with disdain and replied “I was invited, of course. My whole family is here. Believe me; I’m not happy to see the two weirdoes”

The male changeling had toned down his insulting towards Bella Noche after the note incident, but he liked to insult them once in a while when there was no other changeling around to serve as witness. And this seemed the perfect opportunity to vent some of his frustration.

“So, are you here dating? I guess you two do make a nice couple. Freak show and the changeling wannabe” Ifrit taunted.

Some fire came out of Spike mouth “You”

But then Bella Noche whimpered “Please, Spike. Let’s just leave. Let’s go back where mom is”

“Yeah, go running to her. You’re a simpleton who doesn’t even deserve to be here” Ifrit laughed.

Spike’s eyes became more and more reptilian like as the changeling continued.

“And as for you, prince, how long do you think the queen will keep you. You are just a pet waiting to be used. As soon as you accept that you are a servant to us, the better for you.”

“My mother loves me” Spike said venomously.

Ifrit just smiled “Yeah, right. I’ve heard the generals talking. She had never loved anyling. What makes you so special? Accept your role as a weapon for us or you’ll be killed”

“How could you? The queen loves Spike. You shouldn’t say those mean things. I’ll tell my mom and the queen too” Bella Noche said gathering courage as she moved from behind Spike. She wasn’t going to let her friend to be insulted either.

Ifrit raised a hoof to them and then towards himself as he spoke “Do you think anyone that matters would believe two nobodies? I, on the other hoof, am import-”

But he never got to finish the speech. Spike launched himself against the other changeling and started to claw his face. The drake managed to draw some blood from Ifrit who shrieked in both surprise and pain. The changeling gathered his magic and pushed Spike away hard enough for him to hit the opposing wall.

Bella Noche screamed for someling to help them as Spike recovered and jumped on Ifrit once more punching him on the face. Ifrit then retaliated thrusting his hoof against Spike’s soft belly. The drake winced in pain. The male changeling saw this chance to hit again with a head-butt on the drake’s face.

The dragon fell on the floor with his nose bleeding. Ifrit was going to stomp Spike’s stomach, but Spike barely managed to roll away and quickly got up. The baby dragon used his hand to hold Ifrit’s horn and he ignited it, burning the horn a little bit, which cause the young changeling to yell in pain.

Spike knew that with his horn in pain, he wouldn’t be able to use magic, so he let go and tackled Ifrit and started to punch him. Ifrit started to yell for someling to help him too, without realizing that Bella Noche had left to find someling.

She came back with some adults who told the two to stop and separated Spike from Ifrit by using telekinesis to take the angry dragon off him.

“He’s a freak. He attacked me out of nowhere!” Ifrit bellowed.

“Liar! You insulted us many times. I’ve had it with you!” Spike shouted as he was put on the floor, but still being held by the magic of one of the castle servants.

However, Spike’s ire seemed to dissolve, along the spell that held him, as he heard a changeling coming from behind the crowd that formed there.

“My, my…If the dragon is raising his claws against us now, who knows what he might do in the future. We can’t risk the safety of our home. This whelp is even coercing this poor girl into defending him. He needs to be educated or dispo-” Shadow Blade spoke feigning a concerned face.

“Maybe I can start with you, Shadow Blade” Said a venomous voice from behind him.

The general and the other changelings turned and saw their queen staring at him with hate. The general swallowed dry and tried to explain himself “But, my queen, this whelp, assaulted an innocent changeling. It can’t go unpunished”

The crowd nearby started to murmur agreeing with Shadow Blade. Ifrit then started to relax and smile with satisfaction thinking that not only he was off the hook, but Spike was in deep trouble for attacking him. The changelings are much more inclined to believe him than a dragon or the daughter of a maid. Or so he thought.

“Ifrit is hardly innocent on this one” Said a new voice showing up from the other side of the hall.

“D-dad!” Ifrit exclaimed surprise.

It was Nocturne who just showed up. He had an angry expression in his face as he slowly walked near the kids. Ifrit got up and tried to repeat his lies “Dad, he-”

“Be quiet!” Nocturne snarled. “I thought your mother and I raised you better than this. I heard this quarrel from the beginning. You disrespected this young girl several times from what I’ve heard and Spike merely tried to defend her!”

Ifrit trembled at his father’s words and still tried to dodge the subject “But dad…if you saw us fighting, why didn’t you help me?”

Nocturne narrowed his eyes and snarled “You mean I should have stopped a one-on-one fight between two men of the same age and pretty much same size? Let’s also not forget that you were the cause of this mess. Insult a young lady because of her colors is one of the most stupid things you could have done!”

The general then turned to Hecate, who was embracing Bella Noche with a foreleg, and said softly “I’m deeply sorry for his actions. I guarantee he won’t cause any further problems to your daughter.” He turned to the prince and said “I’m sorry too for the things he said, prince. I assure you that he was lying” He then finished giving his son an angry and disappointed look.

Hecate just looked at the general without replying. Nocturne could tell that the chamber maid was angry and hurt that something like that happened to her daughter. The general couldn’t blame her in the slightest. He wondered if it was his fault for not being at home very much, but whenever he spent time with his son, he tried to teach him how to be a proper changeling, but, apparently, his lessons didn’t have much effect on his son.

“We’ll get your mother and go back home. We’ll have a long talk about what you’ve done” He told his son before turning to his queen “Your highness, may I have…”

“You can have a paid month off, Nocturne. I know you need to take care of your family. Don’t worry about that” Chrysalis finished softly.

Nocturne bowed and thanked her and told his son to follow him to the ball room to get Valkyrie.

Chrysalis finally remembered where she had heard the name Ifrit before. Nocturne must have mentioned him during the talks about family in the past. She cringed because if she had remembered about him sooner, maybe this whole mess would have been avoided.

Nocturne then left with his wounded son and Shadow Blade decided to quickly excuse himself as well in order to not draw the ire of his queen.

The Queen told the others to leave and continue with the party as she approached her son, but there was still Hecate, Bella Noche and a young adult male changeling.

The drake couldn’t look at his mother’s eyes and he just stared at the floor “He said horrible things about me and Bella Noche; he even said you didn’t love me and wanted to use me”

Chrysalis halted her movement briefly; her anger from the comments of the other changelings disappeared from her face.

She then approached her son and said “I love you, Spike. Nothing anyling says will ever change that. Unfortunately there are those among us who are jerks”

She then kissed his forehead softly, which made Spike gather courage to look at her. “I’m very proud of you, son. You did a very noble thing to defend your friend”

Then, the other changeling, who had a strong musculature and blue eyes approached and told him “Thanks, for defending, my sister, little dude. I don’t think I would have been gentle with him either if I heard him saying all those things to her”

Spike’s mouth opened in realization as he discovered this new changeling was Bella Noche’s brother, Raizel. He had been with his friends at another room when he heard of the commotion. He had completed 18 years old on the previous month and he had been assigned to a squadron since his training was complete.

Hecate also spoke “Thanks for defending her, Spike. But I don’t want to create trouble for you, maybe we should have moved again…”

This time Bella Noche interrupted “Mom! I don’t want to move again. Please! I have friends here. I don’t want to lose Spike”

Chrysalis, Raizel and Hecate had to hold their giggles because Bella Noche was still too young and innocent to realize what she had just said.

The queen recomposed herself and said “I would feel offended if you had to give up on your life here just because of a bratty kid. You have my word that there’ll be no repercussions whatsoever against you or your family. I’m quite sure Nocturne won’t let his son go unpunished after that. But if he still causes you any trouble, tell me. I’m your friend, Hecate. I don’t want to lose your friendship either.”

Hecate felt her eyes watering a little bit as she thanked the queen. Bella Noche then approached Spike and gave him a hug to thank him as well. The dragon even got a gently pat on his back by Raizel.

The male changeling then said with a nervous chuckle “I hope General Nocturne won’t be too mad. My squad has been assigned under him”

Chrysalis then assured him “Nocturne is a very fair changeling. I’ve known him since he was a child. He would never let that get in the way. Plus, he hates wrongdoers, even when the bad one is his own son”

She got up and tried to convince them to enjoy the party while she tended Spike’s injuries before going back to the ball room. Hecate agreed and she walked right beside Bella Noche. The young changeling had lost almost all motivation to go out playing. Her mother, however, hoped that she would cheer up a little, but she couldn’t blame her for feeling this way.

But before he left, Raizel spoke to Spike “Thanks for standing up for her, little dude. I’m really happy and glad that she made a good friend. I was very worried about her, but now I know that after I leave for the missions, she’ll have a good friend to rely on and help her gain more self-esteem. I would like to see her grow into a fine and strong changeling. But I’ll spend most of my time away. Can you help me with that?”

The baby dragon then replied with a big smile: “You can count on me!”

“Thanks, man! It means a lot to me.” Raizel spoke before giving Spike a hoof bump against Spike’s closed fist. He left after that to join the others. He wasn’t going to tell them much about what have happened, but he feared that they must have learned by that point. Gossips tend to spread fast, especially in closed and crowded places. Raizel just hoped they wouldn’t think poorly of his little sister or Spike.

Chrysalis had a warm smile as she took Spike to an infirmary to tend some scratches he had. She was glad that her son was brave and chivalrous, but she worried a bit that what others changelings would think after this episode.

Spike was in the right and did nothing bad, but many would think that he attacking another changeling was a sign that he was too dangerous to be allowed in their society.

She could only wait and see the results and how the others reacted before she took any action