The sun rises up, the day renewed
But with it, another trouble brews
The sun rose over Ponyville, and Spike rose with it. He squinted his eyes against the bright light of Celestia’s orb. He laid there in its radiance, basking in the warmth for a while. It was such a beautiful day, the perfect follow up for last night’s event.
Spike rolled over to look at his side. Rarity had fallen asleep, cuddled up next to him. Their tails were wrapped together and her hoof was stretched across his chest. He smiled at his unicorn; she was so beautiful in the morning light. Her hair was still wet from last night’s… steamy shower, the soft, violet locks fanned out over her shoulder and eyes.
Spike felt the grumble in his stomach. He hadn’t eaten at all yesterday and that bottle of cider hardly counted as a meal. He carefully shifted Rarity’s hoof off his chest and slowly sat up. His body was stiff and aching; falling asleep on the hard balcony wasn’t helping his injuries. He cracked his back as he stood, then looked at his love. She was bewitching as she lay on the ground, her snow white coat shimmering in the breeze. He smiled softly as the musical tones of her quiet snores resonated in his ears. How did he ever get so lucky? He bent down and placed a small kiss on the sleeping mare’s cheek.
“I will always be there for you Rarity. I promise,” he whispered.
“I know you will.”
Spike was startled as the white mare turned over and stared at him with sleepy eyes.
“You call that a kiss?” she smiled, grabbing his neck and pulling him in for another kiss.
His lips were warm and gritty, but she didn’t care. She loved her dragon. Their lips parted as Rarity curled back up on the floor, quickly succumbing to slumber once more. After the past six nights, her body insisted she needed her beauty sleep.
Spike walked into the house and headed down the stairs. He was not prepared for the scene that awaited him at the bottom. It looked like a manticore had been unleashed in the library. Furniture was broken, food was smeared everywhere, and ponies were passed out all around.
“Oh, I am NOT cleaning this up” he thought as he looked at the disaster. Spike slowly stepped over Berry Punch; she had passed out in what looked like an empty punchbowl. “That pony sure does love her punch.” Over by a desk, a dark purple unicorn was buried under a pile of books. Spike brushed away a couple of them and revealed Twilight. She had fallen asleep on top of her favorite books, sleeping in a puddle of her own drool.
The dragon sighed. “Only you, Twilight. Only you” he said, ruffling up the unicorn’s mane as he made his way around her.
He heard a loud snoring from above him. Rainbow had somehow gotten herself stuck on the ceiling, as she was laying on it as if she was sleeping on the ground. He decided to ignore it for now and would figure out how she got up there later. His stomach rumbled again and he decided to see if there was any food left. To his luck, there was still an enormous cake that had remained largely untouched.
He walked over to the giant cake, eying it hungrily. It was about the size of a pony it was so big. Getting a better look at it, he could see the face of a dragon made with amethyst and emerald crystals. Spike smiled as he recognized the handsome dragon. He took a scoop of the delicious cake and shoved it in his mouth. Had Rarity or Twilight seen him eat like this, he would never hear the end of it. He reached in the cake for another scoop when he felt something odd. It was something furry and soft. Curious, the dragon started to dig deeper into the cake, finally revealing a round, pink flank adorned with three party balloons.
“Pinkie?” he asked, turning the cake around. The party pony’s head stuck out the back of the cake, her mane and face completely covered in frosting.
How she gotten into a cake and fallen asleep, he hadn’t the slightest clue. Of course it was pointless to try and figure out the pink mare.
He headed into the kitchen and saw that it wasn’t spared the disasters of last night. There were empty bottles scattered across the floor, along with more ponies. Big Mac had passed out with his head in the open fridge, and his sisters were snoring under the table, Applebloom asleep on top of Applejack. He looked down on the ground to see a grey pegasus with her head stuck in a brown paper bag. He bent down and pulled the bag off.
“Derpy?” he asked as he pulled the bag off.
“Hey Spike!” she said rather loudly.
She fluttered back to her feet, covered in blue and red stains and smelling of berries.
“That was a great party!” she hollered.
“Keep it down will ya?” he asked, looking at all the still sleeping ponies, “So what happened here?”
“Oh, it was so cool!” she said. “There was so many muffins and I think I ate about thirty and then I went into the kitchen and there were these cool paper bags so I put one on my head but it slipped over my face and then it got really dark so I fell asleep and then when you took it off my head it was bright again and so I woke up!” she explained as her eyes drifted around her head.
“Okay?” said the dragon, a little confused about what the mail pony just said.
“Yeah!” she said proudly, looking at the time on the clock, “Oh dear! I have to get to work! Later Spike and happy birthday!”
She flew through the window, shattering it on her way out.
“It’s not my birthday…” the dragon tried to say, but the mail mare was long gone.
He gave a small laugh as he headed back into the library. It really was a gigantic mess. He decided that he might as well start cleaning, since Twilight would probably make him do it anyway. He headed to the closet to grab the broom and dust pan, but had to doge two ponies tumbling from inside. Lyra got up first, rubbing her head from the fall.
“Oww… My head…” she moaned.
Bon-Bon rolled beside her, smiling at the two from below.
“Morning Spike, where’d you go off to last night?” she asked.
Spike smiled at his two friends.
“I told you, I needed to get some fresh air.”
“I bet that’s not all you got,” Lyra said with a grin as she helped Bon-Bon up from the ground, “We saw Rarity follow you up the stairs.”
“That’s all you saw?” asked the dragon.
“Yep,” said Bon-Bon. “Wait…Did something happen between you two?”
“Well...”
“O… M… Celestia!” gasped Bon-Bon. “Something did happen between you two!”
Lyra gave a devilish grin.
“Congratulations Spike!” she shouted as both mares presented him a big hug. “You finally got laid! I’m so proud of you!”
“Ha, Ha,” mocked Spike. “Is that sarcasm I hear?”
“Well duh,” snickered Lyra. “Have you ever expected anything less from us?”
“Point taken” said Spike.
“So tell us Spike,” began Bon-Bon, “how is she in the sack?”
“Well actually we-”
“Ooo I bet she’s a screamer!” said Lyra.
“We didn’t-”
“Lyra, she can’t be a screamer or we would have heard it,” Bon-Bon argued.
“Guys we didn’t-”
“How do you know that?” asked Lyra. “She’s so uptight all the times.”
“We didn’t-”
Bon-Bon rolled her eyes. “Doesn’t matter. All I’m saying is that if it was me and her, I’d make her scream!” she said devilishly.
“Really?” Lyra asked. “You and Rarity?”
“What can I say?” Bon-Bon said, grinning at her mare. “I have a thing for unicorns.”
Lyra retuned her mare’s simper with a nasty grin.
“Yeah you do,” she said, whipping Bon-Bon’s flank with her silver tail.
The cream colored pony stared into her lover’s eyes.
“Eager aren’t we? What, last night in the closet wasn’t enough for you?”
“W-wait,” stuttered the dragon. “What were you doing in the closet?”
They ignored him.
“You know how I get in the morning, Bon-Bon,” said Lyra, nuzzling her pony.
“Guys what were you doing in the closet?” asked the dragon again, his tone growing more worried.
“Maybe we need to do something about that, Lye-Lye,” cooed the earth pony as she slowly started to kiss her lover.
“Guys!” snapped the dragon. “What did you do in the closet!”
“Oh, you know,” said Bon-Bon. “Just a seven minutes of heaven.”
“More like seven hours of heaven.” Lyra laughed.
Spike cringed as a look of disgust washed over his face.
“Great, now I have to clean the closet.”
“Hey!” said Lyra defensively. “We didn’t make THAT big of a mess.”
“And lighten up, it was a party after all,” sighed Bon-Bon. “Besides, you did it on the balcony.”
“We didn’t do it on the balcony!” shouted Spike.
There was a moment of silence.
“Oh...” Lyra finally said.
“Yeah,” said Spike. “Anyway, since you two are awake, you can help me clean this place up.”
“Hey, look at the time!” said Bon-Bon, checking an invisible watch on her leg. “We gotta go!” she said nudging Lyra to the door.
“Oh yeah…” said Lyra, getting the idea. “We’re busy…making out!” she said, jumping on her marefriend.
“See ya Spike!” Bon-Bon said between the kisses Lyra was bombarding her with.
Spike rolled his eyes as the two scrambled out the door. He looked at the closet, and with cautious in his heart, he slowly walked inside. Spike was not expecting to see what he found.
“Fluttershy?” he asked.
The timid yellow pegasus was hidden in the back of the closet behind the brooms and the vacuum. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot. A look of total terror stuck to her face. Her entire body was shaking.
“What were you…” he started, stopping as a sudden realization hit him. “They didn’t know you were in the closet, did they?”
Fluttershy quickly shook her head.
“Th-th-th-the things th-th-they did…” she muttered, dry tears rolling down her blood cracked eyes. “I-I-I’ve never seen a horn used that w-w-way before” she mumbled before finally passing out, landing face first on the ground with a thud.
“Poor thing” thought Spike, as he lifted her unconscious body form off the ground and headed to his room.
Thankfully, it had been spared the chaos of the party. He carefully placed the distressed mare on his bed and tucked her in. Fluttershy turned in her sleep and snored softly. Just as Spike was about to leave, he felt a rumbling in his belly. It crawled up his throat and burst out his throat and out his mouth in a puff of green fire and smoke. The scroll landed softly in his hand. He checked the stamp crest, a look of surprise creeping onto his face.
“A message from the Princess?” he thought “But Twilight wasn’t expecting a letter….” He slowly opened to the letter. “To Spike?”
He scratched his head as he read the letter.
Dear Spike,
I apologize for mailing this on such short notice, but it is of the utmost importance that you come to Canterlot immediately. I am well aware of your injuries, so I have sent my private chariot for you and should be arriving there shortly. I hope that you arrive with haste.
Also, it very important that we do not alert Twilight and the others of this message or bring them with you to Canterlot. They will be alerted of the situation when we feel the time is right.
With ever urgency,
Princess Celestia.
“What’s this all about?” wondered Spike, as he folded the letter and placed it on his desk.
Suddenly he heard a loud knock at the door.
“I wonder who that could be” he said sarcastically.
He stepped over sleeping mares and colts as he approached the front door of the library. It opened to reveal two large unicorn stallions, both adorned in royal Canterlot armor.
“Spike the dragon, I presume?” the first guard asked.
“Know any other domestic dragons?” joked Spike.
“It’s him, Curb Hoof,” the other guard said to his partner.
Ignoring his partner, Curb Hoof turned back to Spike.
“Spike the dragon, you are here by ordered, by the royal sisters of Canterlot, to report to the castle immediately.”
“Yeah, yeah, I got the letter,” groaned the dragon. “But could somepony please tell me what’s going on?”
“That’s classified information” Curb Hoof said curtly.
“Well, then I guess I’m not going anywhere” said Spike, staring into the guard’s cold eyes.
“Easy there, Curb Hoof,” said a mysterious, yet familiar voice. “I think you’re overwhelming the guy.”
“Wait, you sound familiar…” Spike said as he peeked over the two giant ponies.
“Well, I hope so…” the voice said.
The two giant guard ponies stepped aside, revealing smaller, yet still quite tall white unicorn. His blue eyes were filled with care, sharply contrasted by the bright red military suit that was embellished with a silver buckle and a familiar purple star.
“…You do work for my sister.”
“Shining Armor?” Spike said, baffled at his sudden appearance the baffled Spike.
“Yes,” said Shining Armor, his tone growing less cheery. “And I hope that me being here shows you how dire the situation is and why you need to come with us right now.”
“Look Shiny,” Spike said, scratching the back of his head, “As great as it is seeing you again and all, I just can’t go to Canterlot. My friends need me,” he looked up to the balcony. “Rarity needs me.”
“I understand that you care for your friends, Spike,” replied Armor, his tone only getting more serious, “but we need you to come. We have to start your training immediately.”
“Training?” wondered the dragon. “Train for what? I’m not leaving unless somepony tells me what the hell is going on!”
“The captain does not need to answer to a civilian!” shouted Curb Hoof. “You’re coming with us! Even if I have to drag your beaten ass all the way back to the castle!”
No sooner had Curb Hoof finished his sentence, Spike had grabbed him by the throat and pinned his back to the door frame.
“I’d like to see you try” threatened the dragon.
“That’s enough!” yelled the other guard turning around as he bucked Spike right in his stomach.
Spike fell back, groaning in pain as he released Curb hoof from his leathery grip.
“You okay Curb Hoof?” he asked.
“I’m fine Duster,” he grumbled as he picked himself up from the ground. “He just caught me by surprise is all.”
“I see” said Duster.
He looked at Spike. “I’m sorry I had to do that, but you left me little choice.”
“Forget it,” groaned Spike, his stomach killing him from the kick. “Call it a dragon’s rage.”
Shining Armor stepped forward. “If there will be no more interruptions,” he began, “We should be leaving soon.”
“Fine,” muttered Spike as he picked himself up. “Let me just get a few things”
“Hurry,” said Duster.
The dragon ignored him as he approached his room. Fluttershy was still fast asleep in his bed, muttering something about a broom handle not being used for that. He shivered as he thought of what those two might have done to freak her out so badly. He grabbed his bag that he used for gem collecting with Rarity and stuffed some random items in. Rarity…. How could he just up and leave her after saying he would always be there for her? Of course fate would separate them when they were finally together. There had to be something he could do. But what?
Fluttershy snorted in her sleep as Spike had an idea. He quickly ran to his desk, grabbing up a quill and a piece of paper. He quickly scribbled a few sentences on the paper and wrapped it up in a tube. He looked around the room, sticking the message into Fluttershy’s open mouth.
There was a knock.
“Hurry up in there” a hushed voice called.
Spike quickly grabbed his bag and opened his door. Curb Hoof was standing in the way, his amber eyes focused on the dragon. Spike tried to get pass him, but the stubborn pony stood there in his way. Curb Hoof leaned to Spike’s ear.
“If you ever touch me again, I will bucking gut you like a pig,” he whispered.
“You know,” Spike hissed back, “I’ve always wondered what pony tasted like.”
The two stared daggers into each other’s eyes, refusing to back down.
“You two already to go?” asked Duster from the door.
“Yeah,” said Spike, forcing his way past the stubborn pony.
As Spike was heading out the door to the flying chariot that awaited them, Rarity was the only thing that was on his mind. She was so enchanting to him, a perfect gem he finally obtained, and he had to let go.
“I’m sorry Rarity,” he whispered to himself, looking back at the tree house with sorrow.
The letter he wrote would hopefully help his friends comprehend everything. He knew that Twilight would understand; it was Rarity that had him worried. Spike had finally confessed his love for her, and she to him. Now he was being whisked away for Celestia knows what.
He looked out the window as they ascended into the air.
“The world better be ending” he muttered, having no idea how right he was.
*****
It was a short trip to Canterlot, and the second that Spike landed on the ground he was quickly escorted into the Royal Palace.
“Spike, hurry. Your presence is required in the Hall of Elements,” said Shining Armor as they exited the chariot. “Please follow us and we will escort you to the Princesses.”
The party of war walked with haste across the courtyard to the castle. Spike noticed the large number of ponies in military armor that were gathering there for drills.
“That’s a lot of guard ponies,” said Spike.
“They’re mostly new recruits,” said Duster from his side. “The Princesses have called all the royal forces and have even ordered one mare or stallion from every family in Canterlot to join the royal army.”
“Damn” Spike said in awe. Whatever the situation was, it didn’t look good. What could be so important that they had to draft ponies for the military? Passing the training ponies, the group headed into the castle. Standing with the halls were the two Princesses. Celestia, tall and white, and her sister Luna a dark nighttime blue.
“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna,” Shining Armor said as he and the two other guards bowed in respect.
Spike quickly took a knee as well, but felt a sharp pain in his wounded area.
“Rise, Spike,” said Princess Celestia.
Her normally happy voice was serious and blunt. She looked to the others
“Thank you, Captain Armor. You are dismissed.”
Shining nodded as he, Duster, and Curb Hoof left the hall. Celestia looked to the dragon.
“Please follow us Spike, we have much to talk about.”
The two alicorns started down the hall, Spike following close behind. They soon entered a long room with many stained glass windows that created stories, telling the history of Equestria.
“You see Spike,” Celestia started, “A threat has been made against Canterlot and all of Equestria.”
“You mean like the changeling attack?” asked Spike.
Luna shook her head.
“We fear it will be worse than that,” she said, walking up to a potted plant beside the only blank window in the entire room. “As you know, we have always ruled Equestria with peace and tolerance, expecting the same from our neighboring countries.”
“And our legacy can be seen on these very walls” said Celestia, looking around the room.
Spike did the same. He noticed many of the window paintings were dedicated to the Princesses and the major events that had happen to Equestria over the years. There were stained glass paintings of Discord, Nightmare Moon, and of course, his friends. He also noticed that there wasn’t a single one with his picture in it, which annoyed him slightly, but Luna began talking.
“My sister and I have been receiving visions of darkness in the future, and that only a lone dragon, a champion among the ponies would be able to stop it,” she said, staring at Spike.
“We believe that you are our savior, Spike.”
Spike couldn’t comprehend what he was hearing; he was the last hope for ponykind?
“T-that’s impossible,” stuttered Spike. “I’m just an assistant, not a warrior.”
Celestia gave a grim smile.
“I think a group of certain dogs would say otherwise,” she said.
“How did she find out about that?” he wondered. “Well…It was still only a vision. Maybe it’s nothing?” he said.
“That is the reason you are here” said Luna. “We wish to debunk our visions.”
Luna twisted the pot. It began to shake as it sunk into the wall behind it. Soon, the all walls around the room began to shift and move around them until a new hallway was revealed.
“Follow us” said Celestia as she and her sister walked down the dark passageway.
Spike obeyed and followed them. The hall was dark and dusty, as if nopony had been down there in years. After what seemed like an eternity of walking in the dark through spider webs, they approached a large metal door with the symbol of the sun and moon carved in the metal. The rulers approached the door and their horns began to glow. A beam of light shot out of each of their horns, penetrating the door. There was the sound of something unlocking and gear shifting. Then, the large metal door creaked open. As they entered the room, Spike saw a lone box sitting on a table. Celestia approached the box and stood by its side, her sister following suit.
“Spike, this is why we’ve brought you here. I need you to touch the box,” said Celestia.
Spike was dumbstruck.
“What?” said the dragon, not believing what he was hearing. “You dragged me all the way from Ponyville, from Rarity, whom I’ve FINALLY gotten into a relationship with, just to touch a box?”
“Yes,” she said simply.
The dragon sighed, looking blankly at the strange little box. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it.
“Alright then, let’s get this over with,” he said as he walked up to and touched the dark little box.
Suddenly, there was an explosion of white light that erupted from the box. He was overtaken by the light, screaming and writhing as radiant beams danced around the room. The light seemed to crawl up his body and into his mouth. Soon, his eyes were glowing with the same coloured light. He looked up at the two princesses.
“P-P-P-P-PLEASE HELP ME!” he screamed, as the two stood unmoving, observing his every move.
“We cannot interfere Spike!” shouted Celestia, trying to be heard above the purple dragon’s agony. “You must do this on your own!”
Spike felt his entire body burning, as if he were on fire. He started to cough, a strange glowing liquid coming up as his vision went dark, and he soon collapsed into the ground. The princesses looked at the unconscious dragon.
“Is he okay sister?” asked Luna.
“He will be,” answered Celestia. “We just have to hope he can pull through.”
Luna looked to her hooves. “I still wish we could help him” she said.
“I hope he can help us,” said Celestia. “So much is riding on this dragon, and yet I fear even he’ll be no match for this evil.”
“So what do we do now?” asked Luna.
“Call the guards and have them take him to one of the bedrooms,” her sister said. “After this, he deserves a good explanation.”
“Very well,” said Luna, looking back at the dragon. “Sister look!” she gasped, pointing at Spike’s neck.
A blinding string of white energy formed around the dragon’s neck, wrapping around his gullet. Soon the light died down into a sparkling golden chain around his neck. At the base of the chain, a purple and green heart shaped diamond glimmered with a faint glow.
“So, it’s just as I feared,” said Celestia, a sense of urgency in her voice. “Sister, shouldn’t you be getting the guards.”
Luna bit her lower lip.
“Do I have to? He’s so adorable when he’s asleep.”
“LUNA.”
“Oh, lighten up sister,” she giggled as she walked away. “It’s the end of the world. Have a sense of humor.”
Celestia rolled her eyes as she followed her out of the cave, leaving the dragon lying on the ground.
*****
Spike awoke standing in a strange and shadowy room. He looked around the darkness, trying to feel his way through the black haze.
“Hello?” he called out. “Princess Luna? Celestia?”
There was no answer. He walked blindly into the darkness, going deeper into the shadows. The gloom around him seemed to shift around him like fog, cluttering his mind. What he wouldn’t give for a torch.
“Wait a second…” He said, face palming himself.
He was a dragon, a dragon that could breathe fire. He took a deep breath and spat out a small green orb of gooey flames into his hand.
“Dragon spit: it ain’t pleasant, but it burns,” he said, chuckling to himself.
With his new torch he made his way through the darkness. He continued walking aimlessly in the murk, when suddenly a demonic laugh broke the silence. Spike turned in every direction, trying to find the source of the noise. It seems to be coming from every direction. It gave another sinister chuckle, the laugh was getting closer. Spike felt a shiver crawl down his spine as the laughter grew louder and louder.
“Who’s there? Show yourself!” the dragon screamed as he spun around, lashing his arms around as he tried to hit the source of the laughter.
The voice seemed to acknowledge him, heckling the dragon further. The shadows around Spike were beginning to get thicker as they seemed to take on a form. From the black clouds, a large alicorn appeared to emerge from the haze. His coat and horn were the same colour as the black fog; his red, snakelike eyes seemed to float in the shadows as they approached the dragon. A razor white smile cut through the haze as the alicorn finally made himself visible to the dragon.
“So...” the alicorn said, his voice was deep and playful, like a condescending older brother. “You’re the dragon that’s going to save Equestria?”
He face-hoofed and started to laugh again.
“My, they must be getting desperate! I mean look at you! You’re still a hatchling!”
The dragon gritted his fangs; he hated being called a baby or anything like it. The alicorn was still laughing.
“Oh no, mighty dragon!” the alicorn said sarcastically, dropping to his knees, assuming a false begging position. “I’ve been a bad pony! And I deserve to be punished!”
He fell back laughing, hitting the shadowy ground and disappearing in a puff of smoke.
“What the…” said Spike, looking where the alicorn was.
He had completely vanished.
“Looking for someone?” said the alicorn as he leaned up on Spike’s shoulder.
The dragon jumped up in surprise as the alicorn flipped in the air, landing in front of him.
“Who are you?!” Spike demanded, readying his hand of flaming dragon spit.
“Hmm...I had a name once,” said the alicorn, scratching in his chin with his hoof, “back when I was all goody-two shoes and butterfly farts.”
“Something is wrong with you,” Spike said bluntly.
“Why, thank you for noticing!” the alicorn said cheerfully. “But you know, three thousand years of imprisonment can do that to you!”
He spun around, disappearing again. He reappeared floating above Spike. He spun as the sinister specter disappeared again, only to jump as the alicorn appeared again, floating above his shoulders.
“But I’m getting ahead of myself,” he said, turning upside down as he stared into Spike’s eyes.
“So tell me Spike, do you think you can stop me?”
“What do y-. Wait, how do you know my name?” asked the dragon.
“Oh, I know a lot about you. I know when you were born, that you live with a borderline sociopathic pony, that just last night you finally made it with your squeeze…” He stretched out that last part.
“Rarity!” screamed the dragon.
“Ahh yes, fair Rarity,” he cooed. “I have to hand it to you, you do know how to pick a fine piece of ass.”
“Don’t you ever call her that!” snapped Spike.
He wound up his arm as he hurled the green fire glob at the alicorn, who exploded in green flames.
“Really?” said the alicorn from behind him. “You thought that would work?” he laughed at him, his cackle high pitched and crazy. “Now back to your little buck buddy…”
“I swear to Celestia!” snarled the dragon.
“Let me think, does she look anything like this?” he asked, shadow forming at his side. Soon, they formed the shape of a small unicorn, and Rarity fell from the shadows.
“Rarity!!” cried Spike as he ran to her side, trying to help her up. “Are you okay?”
Much to his stung surprise, she slapped away his claw.
“Get those grimy little lizard claws away from me!”
She scurried away from the astonished dragon and ran to the dark alicorn.
“Rarity? What’s wrong?” the dragon asked.
“What’s wrong Spikey?” the alicorn asked him humorously. “Relationship troubles?”
He grabbed Rarity’s face and stuck his slithering, dark tongue in her mouth. Spike fell to his knees as he watched the two. He listened to her moan with pleasure and ecstasy, begging him for more, to do more. He dropped down to all four, his heart shattered as he watched his love grope another pony.
“Why…”
“Why?” asked Rarity, breaking away from the alicorn’s mouth. “Did you really think I could love you? That anypony could love you?”
She laughed.
“You’re a monster, you dumb dragon! I would never love such a foul creature!”
She gave the dragon an evil glance and sinister smile. A tear rolled down Spike’s scarred eye.
“This isn’t real, this isn’t real, this isn’t real!” the dragon begged.
The alicorn walked up to Spike and gently lifted his head up.
“Trust me,” he said, his smile growing more and more foul, showing off his sharp white teeth,
“It will be.”
His horn began to grow red, and he reared onto his hind legs. He raised his right hoof as a shadowy red aura in the shape of a claw flickered around it.
“Ta ta, dragon,” he snickered, as he slashed at the defeated Spike.
Spike winced at what he thought would be his end, surprising when he looked up and saw a white shield surround him. The alicorn jumped back as his red claw withered away. All humor from his face was gone.
“Well,” said the alicorn bluntly. “I may have underestimated you. I didn’t realize you stole my old necklace.”
“Necklace?” Spike asked.
He looked down and saw a golden chain with a green and purple gem on the base of the necklace around his neck. The alicorn sighed.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to meet in real life before I kill you,” he said. “So since you’ll be living, be a lamb and deliver a message to your lovely princesses, will you?”
He didn’t wait for Spike to respond.
“Tell them that I’m coming for a visit next month,” he said, smiling at the stunned dragon. “And tell them I’m bringing friends.”
“What?” blurted Spike.
“Till next time Spike!” the alicorn waved at him as he slowly drifted back into the shadows and into the pitch blackness.
*****
Spike woke up with a scream. He was lying in a large silk sheeted bed in a marble bedroom.
Standing over him were the two concerned-looking princesses.
“Spike, your awake. That’s a good sign,” said Celestia.
Spike was still panting from the experience.
“What the hell was that?!” demanded the dragon.
“It was a Pandora box, an ancient device that can foresee and communicate with evil. We don’t like to use it, as it can have nasty side effects,” said Luna.
“So you made me use it?!” screamed Spike. “Seriously, what the hell?!”
“We’re sorry, but we needed you to see it. You needed to see what we’re up against,” said Luna, lowering her head. “I hope you can forgive us.”
“Regardless” said Celestia, steering the subject back to Spike. “What did you see Spike?”
The dragon scratched his head. He saw the terrible things in his mind once more; the shadowy fog, the black alicorn and his prophecy, and Rarity. The betrayal of his sweet Rarity...
His neck felt heavy. He looked down and saw the necklace that had saved his life.
“What is this?” he asked the princesses.
“It’s an ancient artifact,” said Celestia. “We don’t have time for this! Tell us what you saw!”
“I…I saw a shadowy land, full of darkness and fog,” Spike explained to them. “I was walking around, and then a large black alicorn appeared from the shadows.”
“By the sun,” gasped Celestia.
The mighty, white alicorn almost seemed terrified.
“Luna, it’s Conquest.”
“Who’s Conquest?” asked Spike.
“Did he say anything!” yelled Celestia, the stress in her voice and on her face was clear as day.
“Spike, did he give you a message?!”
The dragon gulped the lump down in his throat.
“He said he’ll be...visiting in a month…and that he’ll be bringing friends.”
“No…” moaned Celestia. “No, no, NO, NO NO! NO!”
She screamed, thrashing wildly as she bucked a giant hole in the wall.
“What’s wrong with her?” Spike asked Luna.
“Conquest, or Curator as he was once known...” she started to drift off.
“Luna, who is he?”
She finally took a shallow breath.
“Spike…… Conquest is our brother.”