Twilight's mastery of unicorn magic and comparative inexperience with dragon magic presented a unique challenge for their match. Normally both combatants used the same tiers of attack and defense spells, but since Twilight would be using unicorn magic and dragon magic, Fire Eyes opted to use her most powerful protective spells. Unfortunately for her, Twilight only knew tier two defensive spells, and unicorn magic didn't give her many options in that department, limiting Fire Eyes' ability to attack severely. It wasn't ideal, but it was the only way to make sure the alicorn wasn't in danger.
“Are you both ready?” Fire Claws asked.
They nodded.
“Begin when this rock hits the ground.” She tossed it into the air.
Thud.
Twilight's magic immediately wrapped around her opponent.
WHAM, WHAM, WHAM, WHAM, WHAM!
Spike burst out laughing. “Game, set, and match!”
Fire Claws' jaw dropped. “That was fast.”
“Oh my gosh!” Twilight ran to the edge of the small crater she had created. “Fire Eyes, are you hurt?”
At the bottom of it, the dragoness was slowly pulling herself upright. Bruises covered her body. “Zero to five,” she coughed. “That hasn't happened in a while.”
“I'm sorry!” Twilight jumped down and threw her hooves around her. “I shouldn't have slammed you down so hard!”
Fire Eyes winced from the contact, and coughed again. “Don't worry. I always wondered what it would be like to fight an alicorn. Now I know.”
“She just smashed through tier six Scale Armor...” Fire Claws breathed. “That's terrifying.”
“Nope,” Spike grinned proudly, “that's Twilight.”
“Here, let me heal you.” Twilight's hoof began to glow.
“It's fine.” Fire Eyes pulled back a little. “I can do it.”
“Please let me,” Twilight insisted. “I feel horrible about hurting you.”
With a sigh, she moved forward again. “I think it's clear that you're out of my league, Princess.”
Before Twilight could object, Fire Claws climbed down to join them and wrapped the younger dragoness in a firm hug.
Even though it must have been painful on her bruises, Fire Eyes didn't resist.
Spike sensed a faint pressure as his grandmother cast two spells. One was for healing, based on the fact that the white dragoness's bruises suddenly disappeared, but he could only guess what the second was.
“Don't be so hard on yourself, Eyes.”
Fire Eyes slowly hugged her back. “Thanks, Teacher.”
“No problem,” Fire Claws whispered before gently leading her student to the side of the field. “Well, it seems I'll have to be your opponent now.”
“I, uh, alright.” Twilight fidgeted uncomfortably. “I really am sorry about hurting her.”
“I know you are,” the older dragoness assured her. “I'm not upset at you, but you did ask to learn more about combat, and I'll go berserk before I let you walk away without learning anything. Just give me three matches.”
Twilight smiled gratefully. “Thank you.”
“Now, you mentioned once that you can cast force-fields. Exactly how good are those at keeping you safe?”
As the two of them talked, Spike leaned over to Fire Eyes and whispered, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she whispered back, “just wondering how long it'll take to work my way up to her level.” She gestured at Twilight.
-_-_-_-_-_-
It took quite a bit of careful experimentation, but Fire Claws was able to feel out the exact limits of Twilight's unicorn force-field. Apparently satisfied, she and the alicorn had Spike toss the rock to signal the start of their match.
Thud.
Twilight's horn began to glow, but it had no visible effect whatsoever. She gasped in surprise as the dragoness closed the distance between them.
Palm to the chin. Elbow to the side. Tail sweep to the legs. Blow to the forehead. Joint lock.
“Five to zero,” Fire Claws stated calmly as she climbed off to let her opponent up.
“Ugh.” Twilight pressed a hoof against her forehead. “How did you do that?”
“Anti-magic,” the dragoness told her. “It blocks most of my spells as well, but it shorts out any unicorn magic that comes within claw's reach of me.” She knelt beside Twilight. “How's your head?”
“It's fine.” She winced. “Just backlash from the magic you interrupted.”
Fire Claws nodded sympathetically as she used a healing spell. “I'm sorry about that, Princess Twilight. There's no way around that particular side-effect.”
“It's fine,” the alicorn repeated with a smile, “and please, call me Twilight.”
“Very well, Twilight, what did you learn from our first match?”
“That wyrms can counter unicorn magic.”
“Actually, that's a tier seven spell,” Fire Claws explained. “Very few wyrms are capable of using it. Still, it never hurts to be more aware of an opponent's abilities. What else?”
Twilight reflected for a moment. “You surprised me, and I froze long enough for you to reach me. If I had been thinking more clearly, I would have teleported away and studied your spell for weaknesses like range or duration.”
“Excellent.” The dragoness nodded. “You should always have a few backup plans in case your foe does something unexpected. In the next match, for example, I'm going to surprise you as much as possible. What are some things you can do to prepare for that right now?”
The cogs in Twilight's brilliant mind began to whirl. “Your anti-magic could probably dispel my shield, and you have far more experience in martial arts, so close range combat is a bad idea generally. I would likely be safest in the air, but if something you do allows you to reach me there, I'll teleport away. If you can interrupt that spell somehow, I can surge a strength spell to let me fly away more quickly.” She tapped a hoof against her chin thoughtfully. “If your surprise is a ranged attack, however, I suppose my best option would be to maintain my shield, but try to dodge it anyway, in case it can get through.”
Fire Claws grinned. “If only Cliff could plan ahead like you. Anyway, what if my surprise is invisible?”
“Invisible...” Twilight frowned. “I could... Wait, I know! That spell to measure willpower.” She smiled triumphantly. “It would warn me that you're using something big.”
The two talked back and forth for a while about hypothetical attacks and responses before Fire Claws declared that it was time for round two.
-_-_-_-_-_-
Thud.
Whack.
Twilight blinked in surprise from the sudden blow.
Spike didn't blame her. His grandmother hadn't moved, and whatever she had shot had been nearly invisible.
“One to zero.” The dragoness grinned before launching a rain of semi-invisible... whatever they were.
Twilight brought her shield up just in time to deflect them.
As soon as it appeared, the dragoness lunged forward, but Twilight teleported into the sky before she could get close.
“Perfect,” Fire Claws shouted up at her before hurling a crescent-shaped arc of blue energy.
Twilight swerved to avoid it, but it still hit the edge of her shield, passing through as though nothing was there.
“Good job.” The dragoness smiled approvingly. “Now it's your turn. Attack me.”
Spike could see his sister weighing her options. Attacking an opponent that was waiting for you could be dangerous, but on the other hoof, Fire Claws was obviously more interested in teaching her than in winning the match. After considering it for a moment, Twilight fired a beam of energy.
Surprisingly, Fire Claws neither blocked nor dodged. Instead, she arced it around herself, somehow, and shot it right back. She seemed a little disappointed when it struck a surprised Twilight in the chest. “Two to zero,” she muttered as her opponent fell to the ground. “That was your own energy. Don't be surprised that it wasn't affected by your shield.”
Struggling to her hooves, Twilight tried her telekinesis again. As before, however, Fire Claws remained completely untouched by it.
“Be more creative,” the dragoness suggested as she ripped a small boulder out of the ground and threw it with her own telekinesis.
Even though her shield should have been able to take the blow easily, Twilight jumped out of the way. As soon as her hooves touched the ground again, it opened up beneath her. With a surprised shout, she disappeared from view.
“I can't blame you for not trusting your shield,” Fire Claws called down the hole. “That rock would have exploded on contact with it. However, your telekinesis is far stronger than mine. You could have shot that back at me easily, and it's always a risk to move where your foe is driving you.”
“Three to zero?” Twilight's voice echoed up to them.
“If you insist.” Fire Claws motioned and the hole filled itself in, leaving the alicorn buried.
In a flash of light, Twilight was back. Another spell exploded from her horn almost immediately.
Looking surprised for the first time, the purple dragoness found herself falling upwards. She negated it like the other unicorn spells, but not before Twilight had sent dozens of rocks hurtling right at her.
“Three to one,” Fire Claws said as the dust settled, “and a brilliant combination of spells.”
Twilight smiled gratefully at the praise before taking to the air again. She fired another beam of energy, which passed through her opponent without any effect.
Either Grandma can go ethereal, or that's an illusion, Spike thought.
His sister must have come to the same realization, because she teleported away, barely dodging a bolt of green light.
“Good move.” The real Fire Claws appeared just below Twilight's former position. “If you don't know what the foe is doing, get away from them and keep your defenses high.”
Twilight didn't respond. Instead, she clenched her eyes in concentration. Her shield dropped as all of her mana was poured into something big.
A huge amount of earth folded up around the dragoness in response, crushing any vegetation between its sides, like some kind of over-sized taco.
She barely had a moment to smile before another ray of green light struck her.
“One,” Fire Claws appeared on the ground at the other side of the field, “you should never have dropped your shield to focus on attacking me. Staying alive is your first priority in a fight, and having it up made three fourths of my attack options useless. Two, if a foe can trick you once, plan on them being able to do it twice.”
Twilight winced and held her chest where the bolt hit, but she was able to hold her position in the air as another shield appeared around her. “Four to one.”
The dragoness nodded. “You probably have more than double my raw power. It wouldn't be a bad idea to take advantage of it with more moves like that,” she gestured at the small hill Twilight had just created.
Taking her advice, the alicorn fired a blast of arcane power that engulfed the entire field, scorching what little grass remained to ash. Fire Claws vanished in the onslaught, but another one of her appeared elsewhere, next to the smoking remains of a bush.
“Yes, like that,” Fire Claws said. “Sometimes brute force is the smartest move. Four to two, by the way.”
Twilight took a deep breath and reached out with her magic. A maelstrom of arcane energy began to form around her.
It was cut short, however, when the purple dragoness shot into the center of it, crashing through the shield and into Twilight. She landed with her claws wrapped around the alicorn's throat. “And that's five to two.”
Spike had mixed feelings as he watched the two of them discussing their second match. On one hoof, he had to admit that his grandmother was kind of awesome, but on the other, it was strangely disappointing to see Twilight beaten in anything that involved magic.
“Now, this final round will let you practice in a more realistic combat scenario,” Fire Claws said. “I'll attack you fiercely, but with relatively simple techniques, and very few surprises. If you fight smart and don't freeze, you'll win this one easily.”
Twilight nodded. “Okay, I think I'm ready.”
Spike threw the rock for them.
As soon as it hit, Fire Claws burst into flames. Literally. Her entire body was coated in them.
Twilight brought her shield up almost reflexively as the dragon-shaped fireball charged her.
The first blow made a sound like an explosion. Twilight nearly lost her footing from the impact.
Her back legs buckled as the second and third connected, leaving tiny cracks in her shield.
Spike knew enough about magic to know that something was wrong. At full power, his sister's shield could withstand over one hundred tons of force. He had been there when they tested it. There was no way Fire Claws could be affecting it with raw strength.
Twilight grit her teeth and teleported into the air. She latched onto the boulder from their second match with her telekinesis, and threw it at her opponent.
Tendrils of flame shot from the dragoness's hands, wrapping around the boulder and spinning it around her to send it hurtling up at Twilight.
She teleported away and launched a wide beam of energy.
Everything within twenty feet of Fire Claws was engulfed in destructive purple magic, except for the dragoness herself. The flames covering her body formed a shield, which somehow blocked out the attack.
More fire shaped into a spear of some kind, which shot upwards through the magical onslaught, forcing Twilight to teleport once more.
She reappeared right behind Fire Claws, and kicked as hard as she could. Twilight wasn't terribly athletic, but alicorns had the strength of earth ponies. Augmented by wyrm magic, the blow was enough to send her opponent flying. She immediately shot another ray of energy.
Fire Claws took the ray to her chest, but not before hurling a blade-shaped piece of fire, which sank deep into Twilight's right foreleg before disappearing.
The purple dragoness somehow landed gracefully about twenty feet from where she had been kicked. She took a deep breath, and all the fire on her body seemed to get pulled into her mouth.
Twilight was grimacing in pain from the bloody wound on her leg, but teleported away when she saw what was happening.
Unfortunately for her, Fire Claws simply waited for the alicorn to reappear before jumping into the air and breathing out a line of super-heated energy at Twilight's new location.
The attack melted right through her shield, barely missing Twilight, and left a glowing hole in the ground where it hit.
She put up another shield immediately and retaliated with a storm of telekinetic rocks, all coming in from different angles.
Most of them were deflected by fresh tendrils of fire, but a few connected, knocking the dragoness to the side. She rolled to her feet and shot two more daggers of fire.
Both deflected harmlessly off Twilight's shield. She responded with a bolt of arcane lightning, something very few unicorns were even capable of producing. Its unique properties allowed it to travel along the currents of Fire Claws' magic, passing right through her defensive fire and into the dragoness.
Twilight barely had time to blink before Fire Claws crashed into her shield. Flames wrapped around them immediately.
They remained locked in place like that, with Twilight straining to hold her shield as tendrils of fire sawed into it.
“Just teleport again,” Spike muttered.
“She can't,” Fire Eyes said from her seat next to him. “Those flames disrupt most magic, and the Princess is completely surrounded by them.”
The young dragon tried not to glare at her. She doesn't have to sound so happy about it.
Finally, Twilight's left forehoof began to glow. The image of ethereal claws extended out from it. Spike recognized Ghost Claws, one of Cliff's favorite spells. She slashed, and they passed through both shield and flames to hit the dragoness.
Fire Claws immediately released her spells. “Five to one,” she said with a grin. “Excellent performance, Twilight. Let me heal that wound for you.”
“That was awesome!” Spike ran over to join them, followed by Fire Eyes. "Good job, Twilight."
She dropped her shield and smiled at him, but it was a bit forced. “I, thanks.” She turned back to Fire Claws and extended her injured limb.
The older dragoness tousled Fire Eyes' head spikes, then gently took Twilight's hoof and cast her spell. “You don't need to feel bad about being angry or slightly afraid, Twilight. That's normal when you're first getting used to these kinds of fights, especially if you were hurt.”
She looked away self-consciously. “Thank you for understanding.”
“Thank you for not having me arrested.” Fire Claws chuckled. “Those guards up there look pretty upset that I was attacking their princess.”
Spike followed his grandmother's eyes and saw a trio of pegasus guards glaring down at them from the edge of a cloud.
“Oh.” Twilight turned beet red as she waved up at them. “It's okay! She was just teaching me how to fight!”
The guards exchanged unconvinced looks before saluting and turning back toward the forest.
“Sorry about that,” Twilight turned back to the group, “and thank you both for your help.”
“It was our pleasure.” Fire Claws replied. “Your tendency to freeze when surprised is something we should work on. Assuming you want to continue training in the future, of course.”
Twilight considered it for a moment. “I won't be able to come very often, but I wouldn't mind continuing to study the application of dragon magic in combat.”
They talked for another good while, mostly about what sort of homework Twilight could do for their next sparring session, before she and Spike said their goodbyes.
“Do you think Fire Eyes was upset?” Twilight asked nervously as they walked back to town. “She was awfully quiet after our match.”
“I think you might have bruised her ego a bit.” Spike shrugged. “Don't worry about it, though. You're an alicorn, and the most powerful spell-caster in over a thousand years. Us normal wyrms can't really expect to compete with that.”
As always, the compliments made his sister uncomfortable. “Being powerful doesn't make me better than anypony, Spike. It just means that I have the potential to either help or harm a whole lot of ponies who are depending on me. Besides, I'm not all that powerful. Fire Claws was able to beat me easily when she was trying.”
“Just wait,” he said. “In a couple of months, I bet you'll be mopping the floor with her.”
“Spike, I'm not doing this because I want to defeat your grandmother.” Twilight looked at him aghast. “I just wanted an excuse to spend some time with those two. I haven't talked with them much since they arrived in Ponyville.”
“Okay, fine.” Spike sighed. “Anyway, do you think Cliff will be home for dinner?” Ever since Wednesday, his brother and Fluttershy had been spending nearly every waking moment together.
“I'm sure he will be.” Twilight accepted the change of topic easily. “It's his night to cook, after all, since you'll be out with Autumn.”
“Yeah.” Spike tried not to think about that too much. He was still pretending to date Autumn, because that's what Rarity seemed to want, but they had been so focused on P.R. business lately that it was sometimes difficult to remember the happy, playful mare she had been before this whole fiasco.
Oblivious to his thoughts, Twilight turned to her brother. “Are you two going anywhere nice?”
Takeout from the Hay Burger, he thought. Neither of them was in the mood to be out in public when they could just relax in her hotel room instead. “Not really.”
“Come on, Spike.” His sister turned to him. “You need to let Autumn know that she's special to you.”
“Yeah, okay Twilight.” Not for the first time, he wondered why he bothered with the charade.
-_-_-_-_-_-
Spike took a while to sort through his emotions and calm them before going to Autumn's new apartment in Ponyville. The crystal mare would drop everything else to help him if she realized he was feeling upset, and she deserved a night off.
Wow, I was really resentful towards Grandma, he reflected. Is it just because she beat Twilight? From what he could tell, that seemed to be the case. Weird.
He soothed out his resentment, as well as a dash of anger towards Fire Eyes for rooting against his sister. I guess I'm still kind of petty sometimes.
As for Autumn, Spike removed a fair amount of infatuation. He was having to do that more and more lately. Come on, heart. He groaned. We're just friends. Figure it out already!
Unfortunately, he knew the feelings would return. Cliff had compared this kind of emotional control to pulling leaves off a tree. As long as the tree was alive, or in this case, as long as Autumn kept playing her part so well, the leaves would always grow back.
Even so, Spike was feeling better when he got to Autumn's apartment complex. He wasn't upset at anydragon, and this was just going to be a relaxed night between two friends.
“Good evening, Spike.” She smiled as she opened her door. “What was the surprise Fire Eyes had for you?”
Surprise? “Oh.” Spike chuckled. He had actually forgotten about that. “She said I'm ready for the next tier of magic, which meant I finally got to practice augmented running.”
She stepped into the hallway and shut the door behind her. “Congratulations! How was it?”
“I'll let you know when I can do it without crashing into anything.”
Autumn winced. “Were you hurt?”
He shook his head. “No, just tenderized a little.”
“That's a relief.” The crystal mare laughed, but sobered as they reached the end of the hallway, and the front door to the building. “Well,” she turned to her companion, “on with the show.”
“...Yeah.”
The two intertwined their tails before walking outside.
-_-_-_-_-_-
All the way to and from the Hay Burger, Spike and Autumn smiled and laughed a bit more than was necessary as they discussed topics of little to no importance. It was the sort of thing any young couple could be expected to do.
Spike had discovered a strange fact about life. Doing something because he had to just sucked the fun out of it. Even if it was something he would normally enjoy. By the time they made it back to Autumn's apartment, he was happy to collapse on the couch. “Since when did pretending to have fun become so much work?”
“Perhaps we should stop pretending?” Autumn flopped down next to him. Her coat wasn't nearly as crystalline as normal. Even a novice at reading crystal coats would be able to tell that she was depressed. Some discoloration along her neck and sides also revealed that she felt discouraged, like she was failing in her duty. “I always worry that I'm acting too close or too distant.”
“Don't be so hard on yourself, Autumn.” Spike pulled out a burger and gave it to her. “You're perfect at this. I'm the one who never knows what to say.”
Autumn slowly unwrapped her burger. “Your feelings for Rarity weigh heavily on your heart. It must be difficult pretending to care for me.” She took a bite as guilt flashed across her coat.
Something in her tone made Spike pause. “...You know that I really do care about you, right?”
“Yes.” She gave him a wane smile. “I meant romantically.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her coat returned to normal in response. “We've been doing this for nearly a month, Spike. Long enough that you can tell Rarity that we just didn't work out.”
“Well... yeah, but...” Spike pulled out a burger for himself, just to give him time to think. Why is she hiding her emotions? Does she feel guilty about admitting that she doesn't want to pretend to be my marefriend anymore? The thought that she might be starting to dislike their time together felt like a lead weight in his stomach. “I don't know. Hanging out with you is the only fun I have anymore.”
Autumn arched an eyebrow at him. “You just said that we were 'pretending to have fun,' and that it was 'work.'”
“You know what I mean.” Spike unwrapped his burger and took a bite. “When we aren't out there 'performing,' I have a blast with you.”
“All the more reason to end our 'performance.' We can just have fun together as friends again.”
He took a few more bites of his burger before responding. “Just... tell me what you want, Autumn. I'm sick of making you go out of your way on my account.”
“I want...” Autumn sighed. “I want my life to be simple again.”
“Simple,” Spike repeated. “Yeah, I think I heard of that, once.”
The crystal mare smiled a little, but it faded quickly. “I think it would be best if we stopped pretending to date, Spike. It makes it so much harder to be your friend.”
The words were strangely painful for Spike to hear. I guess it was kind of nice to pretend that somepony liked me that way. “Okay then.” He swallowed and held up a cup of soda. “Friends?”
She tapped hers against it. “Friends.”
Spike looked into the depths of his cup as he took a long drink. Anything to distract him from the strange feelings that had begun welling up inside. “Hey, Autumn?”
“Yes?” Something interesting must have been at the bottom of her cup as well.
“Sunlight magazine wanted to do a Most Eligible Bachelor in Equestria special on me. I was going to tell them 'no,' because... yeah, but now,” he sighed, “I don't know. What do you think?”
“You would likely be beating off the mares with a stick.” Autumn laughed, but there was no humor in her voice. “Perhaps casual dating would be beneficial for you. You may find a mare who will help you move on from Lady Rarity, since it seems I've failed in helping you to be with her.”
In all honesty, Spike wasn't sure what he felt for Rarity anymore. There were still strong emotions, but it was like, at some point he had stopped chasing after her because he wanted to be with her, and started doing it because he didn't know what else he was supposed to do. “You didn't fail. It just wasn't meant to be.” He finished off his soda and tossed the cup into the waste basket. So much was running through his mind and heart that he couldn't even say what flavor it had been. “I'll write them back in the morning.”
-_-_-_-_-_-
“Cutie-mark and Name Crusader... bodyguards?” Cliff looked up from the notebook that he and Fluttershy had been reading. “Why did you think Spike needs bodyguards?”
River Wind looked back at him with a smile. “It was Apple Bloom's idea, because so many mares have been following him around these last few days.”
Fluttershy giggled cutely. “He has become very popular, and your spelling has gotten a lot better.”
“Really?” The dark green hatchling crawled onto the couch with them. “Was it fun to read?”
“Oh yes.” Fluttershy pulled River onto her lap and flipped back a few pages in the notebook. “I especially liked how you came up with different code words to use across your radios.”
Cliff grinned at how cute they looked together. Helping River with her book was, no contest, his favorite part of each day.
“I'm glad Spike wasn't angry when we mixed them up and accidentally told Scootaloo to use the fire extinguisher on his date.” River smiled sheepishly. Her fellow Crusaders were really starting to pull her out of her shell.
“Spike told me that he didn't like her that much anyway,” Cliff assured her. As he and Fluttershy helped the young dragoness with a few spelling and grammar problems, the young dragon's mind slowly wandered back to the increasingly confusing subject of his brother.
First he broke up with Autumn, for no good reason that Cliff could see, then he started doing interviews with magazines left and right, and now he could barely walk down the street without getting mobbed by reporters and mares. Even more bizarre, he said 'yes' to every single mare that asked him out. Last Cliff had heard, Spike had ten dates scheduled for this week alone.
Once River corrected the last of her errors, she gave them each a big hug and then went to offer Angel one of the cookies she had brought with her.
The fur-encrusted spawn of evil grinned happily at her gift, and allowed her to pat his head and rub his belly.
Cliff had honestly questioned his sanity the first time he saw them act like that, but apparently the two had struck up a friendship of sorts during the weeks that he and Fluttershy had been forced to avoid each other.
Angel still hated Cliff. That much was obvious from the organized bird 'bombing' earlier that day. However, even he had to admit that his owner was much happier when the young dragon was around.
At least I'll only have to put up with him for another few years. Rabbits only lived for a decade or so, and Cliff was willing to wait.
Thinking about the passage of time lead Cliff to consider the mare next to him. He still hadn't had the courage to ask about extending her lifespan again. She would never accept it if her friends couldn't be given the same gift, and he knew it. Cliff had even considered splitting his remaining life seven ways, so that they would all live for just over two centuries, but Fluttershy would never let him reduce his lifespan below the seven hundred years of an average wyrm.
Unless he somehow came up with an impossible number of extra years, he was doomed to spend several centuries without her, and that terrified the young dragon.
“Are you still worried about Spike?” Fluttershy whispered, breaking off his train of thought.
“I just can't understand him anymore,” Cliff admitted. “This morning, he told me that he'd be going to a movie with Autumn tonight. That's the third time this week that they've taken time to be with each other, but he keeps insisting that they aren't courting.”
Fluttershy wrapped a wing around his shoulders sympathetically. “And he still won't tell you what's wrong?”
“Still no.” Cliff shook his head. “He won't even acknowledge that something is wrong, which makes me want to scream because I read his heart every night as we're practicing magic, and I can tell he isn't really happy.”
Her other wing came up, enveloping them both in a feathery cocoon. “I know this won't fix anything, but... I love you, Cliff.” As always, saying it made her blush a little.
Just hearing her say that brought a smile to his face. “I love you too, Fluttershy.” He leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead before giving her a firm hug. “Thank you. That does help.” Though he didn't really want to let go, it was getting late. He gave her one final squeeze before pulling away. “River, gather your school things. I'll drop you off on my way back to the palace.”
“Okay.” She slipped Angel one more cookie before tossing her notebook, pencil, and a few books into her saddlebags. “Thank you again, Fluttershy.” She hugged the pegasus once more, then turned to Cliff, who picked her up and deposited her on his back.
“By the way, have you sent that letter to your parents yet?” Cliff asked. Apparently meeting your marefriend's parents was an important step in a pony relationship. The yellow mare herself had expressed how much she hoped he would get along with them.
“Oh, um...” Fluttershy cringed a little. “Are you really sure you want to meet them? Mom can be kind of frightening sometimes.”
“Yes, I'm sure. I'll do everything I can to make them like me.” Maybe dealing with Spike was starting to drain his patience, but Cliff decided to finally say something he had been thinking for a while, “Besides, I'm willing to put up with Angel to be with you. Nothing your parents say or do could possibly scare me off.”
Surprisingly, that brought a grateful smile to her face. “Okay. If you're sure.”
Cliff kissed her on the cheek. “I am. I'll see you at the party after Rainbow and I get back tomorrow.”
Her cheeks were slightly red as she nodded. “Thank you. Sleep well, both of you.”
“You too,” River said.
Once they were outside, Cliff turned back to the hatchling. “Come on, River, let's get you home.”
-_-_-_-_-_-
The next morning, Cliff finally returned to the Redstone Coven for a short visit. He left in the early morning, and returned later that night. Rainbow Dash came along, and as she promised, brought her own food. It wasn't as eventful as their first time there, but the multicolored pegasus did enjoy meeting Fire Eyes and River's parents. Cliff spent most of the time with the hatchlings, who wanted to know everything that River had been up to since she left.
The main reason for their visit, however, was to assess how things were going with Celestia's research team.
“What the hay,” Rainbow Dash muttered over dinner. She and Cliff were sitting a little apart from the others so they could talk. “Why is everything going so smoothly for these guys when we've had nonstop trouble in Ponyville?”
Teams of dragons and ponies mixed freely as they discussed work and research. If the rumors were to be believed, several of the ponies had even given up on their sleep quarters, and piled into nests with the rest of the coven at night.
Cliff shrugged. “No idea. The smaller group, maybe.”
“Either that or it's because there aren't any newspapers around.” She puffed out a little ball of fire. “Those reporters have had it out for you since the beginning.”
He considered her words. “Yeah, I've change my mind now. The reporters are to blame.”
“At least those two that Autumn brought in are helping.” Rainbow gave him an amused smile. “Even if most of their article was a lie.”
Cliff sighed. She had been giving him a hard time about that article since it came out. “Maybe they should do one about you. 'The Tragically Misunderstood Mare of Ponyville.'”
“Yeah, no. The only articles I want written about me are the ones that talk about how awesome I am.”
“Oh come on,” Cliff teased, “imagine how many stallions would be interested if they only knew how emotionally sensitive and fragile you are.”
Rainbow Dash faked gagging noises before they both burst out laughing. “...Speaking of relationships,” she said after they had calmed down, “how are things going with Fluttershy?”
Cliff's paused for a moment to think of the right word. “Complicated.”
“Complicated?” she repeated. “What's going on?”
He set his plate aside. “This is going to sound really cheesy, so at least try not to laugh.”
The pegasus nodded mutely.
“By all normal measurements, things are great between us. She gets along well with the rest of the Ponyville Coven. Most of her animals are completely comfortable around me now. We've both said 'I love you.'”
Rainbow smiled. “Awww.” her eyes widened. “Uh, I mean...” she cleared her throat. “That's cool.”
Cliff shook his head and chuckled. “With any luck, I'm even going to meet her parents soon.”
The mare winced.
“...are they really that bad?” Fluttershy had barely said a word about them.
“Well, her dad's really nice,” Rainbow said. “Just, uh, don't disagree with her mom. Ever.”
Cliff blinked. “Understood... I think.”
Rainbow Dash wouldn't meet his gaze. “So anyway, you said things were complicated?”
“Yeah.” The young dragon leaned back against the cave wall. “Like I was saying, things are really good between us, but those three weeks apart nearly killed me, and it made me start to worry.”
“That it will happen again?”
“No. Well, yes, but,” Cliff sighed. “Ponies only live for eighty to one hundred years, tops. If three weeks nearly killed me, then how am I supposed to handle six centuries without her?”
She put a hoof on his shoulder sympathetically. “Can't you just extend her life like you did with mine?”
He shook his head. “Fluttershy said she couldn't accept something like that unless it was given to all of her friends as well.”
“...Uh, so?” Rainbow stared at him in confusion. “Why not just do that? I mean, Twilight and I are already going to live super long anyway.”
Cliff took a deep breath. “An average dragon lifespan is about seven hundred years. Each dragon has about five hundred extra years to give up, but most of us like to hold back about two centuries, so three hundred. With transfer loss, that's two hundred and seventy. To get all six of you up to seven hundred years, we'd need nearly four thousand extra years. That's about fifteen dragons that I'd have to convince to give up more than half of their extra life-force.” He threw up his clawed hands in frustration. “How am I supposed to do that?”
Rainbow Dash stared at him for a moment before responding. “Please tell me you didn't figure all that out in your head just now.”
In spite of himself, Cliff laughed a little. “No, I did it a while ago with a piece of paper and a quill.”
“Okay good. I was worried you were turning into Twilight there for a minute.” She looked across the cavern at all the dragons and ponies enjoying their meal. “Your coven seems pretty cool, Cliff. Why not just ask them?”
He shook his head. “I don't have anything I could offer in return. It won't help the alliance or this coven at all. It would just be me making a selfish request.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Cliff, do you know how many times I've let Rarity put me in some frilly dress just because she needed a pegasus to model and Fluttershy was busy?”
He shook his head again.
“Yeah, neither do I, but I'd do it again if she asked. She's my friend, so it's okay if she makes a selfish request sometimes.” She gave him an unusually serious look. “Really, Cliff, just ask them.”
Cliff met her gaze for a moment, then he looked away with a sigh. “Fine, but I'm blaming you if I turn into a berserker over this.” He rose and walked to the center of the cavern, where everydragon could hear him. “Excuse me,” he called.
All eyes slowly turned to him as conversations died out.
“Thank you.” He took a deep breath. “There's no simple way to say this, so I'll just say it. I've fallen in love with a pegasus that lives in Ponyville and want to share the rest of my life with her. However, she is one of the Elements of Harmony, and refuses to accept extra years unless they can be provided for the other five as well. Myself and the others who went to Ponyville can provide just over one thousand years, but we still need two thousand nine hundred to let them all reach an average dragon lifespan.”
Cliff looked across the crowd. Dragon reactions varied from disagreement to sympathy. Most of the ponies just seemed confused. “I'm afraid I can't offer you anything in return, and I know it's selfish of me to even ask, but if anydragon wants to offer a few years, I would be extremely grateful.” His piece said, he went back to where Rainbow Dash was waiting.
“See?” She grinned. “That wasn't so hard.”
“I don't know.” Cliff pressed a hand against his chest. “I think I might have a heart attack.” In spite of his nervousness, though, a smile crept across his lips as he saw a group of dragons walking towards the two of them.
It turned out Rainbow Dash was right. Some of the coven members didn't offer any years, but none blamed Cliff for his request, and in the end, they were promised just enough to reach their goal.
-_-_-_-_-_-
“Seven hundred years!” Rainbow grinned as they walked the last little bit to Ponyville. “Do you have any idea how awesome that is?”
“That's how long you and your friends are going to live.” Cliff grinned back. Since the pegasus had been there anyway, they had taken the opportunity to extend her lifespan before she left. “Just don't bring it up with them yet, alright? I still have to talk to Fluttershy about it.” His expression faltered. “What if she says no? Oh stars, how did I not think about that? Asking her to spend the next seven hundred years with me is basically like proposing! She's still terrified of the idea of kissing me.” He slammed his face into his palms. “How could I be so stupid?!”
Rainbow Dash watched the whole display with an amused smile. “First off, you've been spending way too much time with Twilight. Second, you're just asking Fluttershy if she would take the extra years. You can worry about how she spends them later.”
Cliff took a few deep breaths. “Yeah, you're right. It's just... this is all suddenly a real thing. I want to spend my whole life with Fluttershy, and now, suddenly, I can.” He shook his head. “How did I even get to this point anyway? I hated ponies a few months ago.”
The pegasus shrugged as they reached the first buildings. “I thought dragons were a bunch of jerks not too long ago. Now you're one of my best friends.”
“Same here.” Just stay calm, he told himself, you can do this.
They reached the palace shortly afterward, where Pinkie was throwing a 'Congratulations, it's Thursday,' party. Spike was off with some mare, but the rest of the dragons and all of Twilight's friends were in attendance.
“Hey,” Rainbow asked as they walked in, “how are you going to ask her anyway?”
He froze. “I have no idea.”