//------------------------------// // 7. The End of the Overlord // Story: The Great Dragon Coronation // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// Raindrops had known even as she approached Solrath – she had left the Element of Honesty behind with Cheerilee, since the dragon wouldn’t be able to see her otherwise – that on taking the Rainbow of Darkness from him, she would only have a second to decide where to go, and that was not a very long time, particularly given her fairly slow flying speed for a pegasus. Cheerilee had known this too when Raindrops had told her the plan, though, and had suggested the only place she could go, which was at once the best and the worst place possible. And so, on grabbing the Darkness, Raindrops leaped into the air and flew straight at Solrath. Her heart, previously beating a thousand times a second, stopped dead at the sight of the eldest dragon’s eyes wide in shock even as he was already sucking in breath for fire to burn her from the sky. And the face got closer as she shot past it and then dove down, wings beating as hard as they ever had. Solrath tried to turn to face her, but she anticipated the turn, guessed its direction, and lucked out by guessing correctly, allowing her to follow it and land next to the base of Solrath’s right wing, on his back, braced in place by a combination of the dragon’s scales, back-spines and the wing itself. Solrath roared, possibly something in Draconic, but probably just an incoherent scream of rage. He spun in place, trying to throw Raindrops off of him, but she held on tight with three legs. He tried to tear her off with his claws, but none of them could reach her. As unthinkable as it was, though, Raindrops wasn’t sure that was her biggest problem. The cloth bag she held tightly in her fourth leg, crushed against her chest as that was the only way to do it without using her mouth, pulsed and twitched like a steadily beating heart. The bag felt damp and slightly warm, in an unpleasant way. But far worse was whatever was in the bag. She couldn’t see it and didn’t want to, but it wanted out. She heard whispers in her head, whispers in her own voice, telling her to open the bag, to pour in her hate, that out would come the Darkness to fulfill her every desire, crush all her enemies… Fortunately Raindrops’ mind was mostly elsewhere, what with the dragon she was riding and everything. And, oh, look, here came another. --- The moment Raindrops had grabbed the Rainbow of Darkness, two things had happened. First, the black tendrils binding Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs broke apart, sloughing off of him and dissolving into a black tar that seemed to just seep into the Earth and disappear. The black dragon crawled to his feet and took a few moments to gather himself, before looking at Solrath and roaring in challenge. Solrath stopped his trying to get Raindrops off of him and turned just in time to meet the black dragon’s charge. He was still shoved backwards a hundred feet, scattering smaller dragons behind the two of them before both Solrath and Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs took to the air. The other thing happened to Claxokarthelornarux. The dragon convulsed and roared in pain and rage as the Darkness left her body in great rivulets, bleeding from beneath her scales, being vomited up from her maw, a black tar like that which had left Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs, though there was far more of it. She stumbled backwards, and shrank down as the Darkness left her body. She quickly regained her normal shape and size, but then kept on shrinking as yet more of the power of Darkness left her, exacting its toll for its use and how, even if she had been forced into it, she had in her heart of hearts fully accepted the power it had granted. With a final roar she fell backwards and into the pool of lava, quickly sinking out of sight even as the black tar – and she, herself – ignited in flames that stank of rot and decay. Cheerilee waited only until she was sure that Claxokarthelornarux was out of the picture before dashing forward with the Element of Honesty in her mouth, running up to Spike. The Overlord of All Dragons – if he was still that – was sitting back, staring at all the other nearby dragons, or staring in their direction, anyway. His eyes weren’t really focusing on any of them. Cheerilee took the Element of Honesty from her mouth as she stared up at the titanic dragon. “Spike!” She called. “Spike!” The Overlord of All Dragons looked down at her, his eyes still not really coming into focus. “This isn’t happening again,” he said with very surprising softness. “This isn’t…not again…” Cheerilee took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. She did not have a lot of time at all, but that was no excuse, and as badly as Raindrops needed her help right now, she wasn’t going to be able to do that if she didn’t give Spike the time and effort he deserved. First: she had to speak to him face-to-face. “Spike,” she said. “Can…can we talk…close to each other? Can you shrink down a bit? So I’m not craning my neck so much just to look you in the eye?” The dragon didn’t acknowledge her at first, but after a moment the Alicorn Amulet glowed, and he began shrinking down. Even as he did, though, Cheerilee saw his gaze beginning to harden. He stood up and spread his wings wide as he stopped shrinking at about fifty feet in length, twenty feet off the ground when on all fours, and his eyes finally began focusing on the dragons gathered nearby. With him having shrunk down, most of them turned their own eyes to the fight taking place in the sky – the battle between Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs and Solrath. “They don’t even care,” Spike spat. “They don’t even care! They’d rather become…become freaks and bleed oil or whatever and not even be them anymore! They’d rather that then help me! Than help anyone!” He exhaled green fire, though not at Cheerilee, even as he began pacing pack and forth. “Those…they’re jerks!” Second: get Spike to think beyond his immediate anger. “It’s not their fault, Spike,” she said. “They don’t know any better. It’s how they were raised.” She glanced around at the Dragon’s Forge, and wondered how many whelps there were in the forests. “From the moment they’re born they’re on their own.” “Oh yeah?” Spike demand, stopping his pacing and glaring down at Cheerilee. He snapped his jaws closed, then leaned down to Cheerilee so they could talk face-to-face. “What about me? I was abandoned! I hatched in the middle of nowhere! I didn’t have anyone, any more than they did!” He snorted fire, though into the air over Cheerilee, at least, and not at her. “I crawled around and kept hidden the same way they did! I learned to speak by listening to ponies the same way dragons learn Draconic! We’re the same! I didn’t have anything, the same as them! I was alone! But I wouldn’t abandon them!” “No, you wouldn’t,” Cheerilee said. Third: confront Spike with the truth. “Because you weren’t alone. You had Zecora.” Spike recoiled, and not just a little. He stumbled backwards several steps, head drawing back and high into the air, eyes wide, ear-crests flaring. Then, the anger he returned, and he snarled at Cheerilee. “Zecora abandoned me!” he roared. “She just kept me around only to abandon me as soon as she released Corona from the Sun!” Cheerilee’s eyes widened a little at Spike’s choice of words, but she swiftly decided that right now wasn’t the time to focus on them. “I know,” she said, holding up a hoof. “I don’t know why she did it. But I know that it hurts, and I know why it hurts. Because she was your friend.” Spike roared again, flapping his wings hard. He lunged at Cheerilee, but the pony didn’t move – because no matter how angry he was, how scared, how hurt, Spike was still Spike, and Spike was just a scared, confused kid who didn’t really want to hurt anything. Not even the Alicorn Amulet could change that, Cheerilee was certain. And she wasn’t wrong. Spike’s jaws clamped shut only a few inches from Cheerilee. He was trying to scare her, lashing out in anger because anger was better than what he really felt. Cheerilee stepped forward, reaching out and putting a hoof on Spike’s muzzle as she looked into his eyes. Fourth, and most important: give Spike a shoulder to cry on. “It’s going to be okay, Spike,” she said. “It’s going to be okay.” Spike stared at her, then sucked in breath – too quickly to be readying a gout of flame. His eyes darted around. “I…I have to be strong,” he choked out. “If they…if they think I’m weak – th-then they won’t ever…won’t ever – ” “Spike,” Cheerilee interrupted. “Don’t worry about them right now. Worry about you. Think about what you’ve had to do up ‘til now just to get to be Overlord. Think about what you’d have to do to stay Overlord. Do you really want that?” Spike sniffed hard. He leaned away from Cheerilee, staring down at her. His form glowed red, and he started to shrink down, further and further, until soon Cheerilee found herself a score of feet away from a small dragon whelp that managed to last only a few seconds more before he fell to the ground, curled up into a ball, and started bawling in a way that only a child or someone who had been truly broken could – and at the moment, Spike was both. Cheerilee was there in a moment, hoisting him up off the ground and holding him close in her hooves. The dragon whelp wasted no time in grabbing hold of her foreleg and burying his face in her chest. He was trying to speak, probably, but nothing coherent was coming out, and Cheerilee didn’t expect anything to. As pressing as her need was, as much trouble as Raindrops was in overhead right now, she needed to focus on Spike right now. Eventually, Spike’s tears subsided, at least a little. He didn’t let go of Cheerilee, but he did pull away from her a little. “I…I d…I d-don’t want to be O-Overlord anymore…” he said. “I want…I don’t know…b-but I don’t want t-to be here anymore! I want to go h-home, and I don’t know where that is…but it isn’t here!” Cheerilee smiled down at him. She used her hoof to dry his eyes. “As soon as we can,” Cheerilee said. She looked down to Spike’s neck. “But…first thing’s first. You should take that off, I think.” Spike looked down at the Alicorn Amulet. Cheerilee had expected to have to try and negotiate with him some to do that, but instead the whelp wasted no time in tearing it off of his neck. “D-Don’t have to tell me twice,” he stuttered, rubbing his eyes himself. Cheerilee nodded, patting Spike in thanks. “Okay,” she said. “Now…Spike, I know what just happened is very big, and you’re in a lot of hurt right now, but…I need your help.” At a strange look from the dragon whelp, she grimaced. “I need you to see if you can think of any way to deal with Solrath that doesn’t involve one of us putting the Amulet on.” --- Raindrops wanted very badly to let go of Solrath and fly away hide in the forest of the Dragon’s Forge below, but she doubted she could do so with any kind of speed – and was pretty sure that if she tried, Solrath would abandon his fight with Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs and just head straight after her. So instead, all she could do was hang on for dear life. Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs closed in on Solrath, but the elder dragon sensed it and dodged, lashing the somewhat smaller one with his tail as he passed by. Unless… Raindrops shivered as the bag she held onto seemed to grow colder. The Rainbow of Darkness was right here…she could always…use it… No! Solrath lunged for Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs, grabbed the black dragon and lashed out with a claw, drawing deep furrows in Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs’ scales but not going deep enough to actually injure him. Just once. Just for a moment. A second. Something to contribute to the fight, give Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs the upper hoof for a moment. It was pure evil, she could tell that just by looking at the bag, just by considering what was in the bag. It wasn’t like the Alicorn Amulet, who’s effects weren’t really evil, however much the Amulet itself was as it tried to corrupt the wielder. The Darkness was almost the opposite, actually. Using it required choice, an active decision…and the effects…well, Raindrops had seen Claxokarthelornarux, the nightmare beast that she had become… But surely just one use… Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs got underneath Solrath and pushed up with his wings, driving one horn at the eldest dragon’s belly. But Solrath avoided it and kicked Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs’ head with one hind foot. No! Maybe… Raindrops fought against urges she knew weren’t really her own. The Darkness didn’t really offer a choice. It corrupted just as much as the Alicorn Amulet – was worse, really, in that it corrupted even before one put it on. Just being near to the Darkness was corrupting… But as she heard a roar of pain from Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs, as she glanced as saw the black dragon getting clear of Solrath, blood flowing freely in the air from a wound to one arm, not lethal by any means, but the first blood drawn in this fight… Raindrops shut her eyes tightly, but that didn’t help. She saw…it was probably supposed to be her. But it looked like she was rising out of a pool of black tar, was made of that tar itself as her wings beat and carried her into the air. Her eyes were empty sockets, the tar dripped off of her hooves and was flung everywhere by her wingbeats, corrupting everything it touched…the evil version of her opened its mouth wide and lunged at her… The pegasus cried out, opening her eyes and leaping away from Solrath without thinking. As she had thought would happen, the red dragon noticed instantly, and began the somewhat ponderous process of turning around after her. In a straight run he was faster no matter what she did, her only option was to go down, she blinked at the sudden wind speed… …and in the moment that she blinked, she saw the black tar version of her beside her, diving with her. You’re going to die! It shouted in a voice that was exactly like hers. Raindrops dove, wings beating as she tried to go faster than mere gravity pulling her down allowed. She reached and passed terminal velocity quickly enough, but a glance behind her showed Solrath closing, and Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs in pursuit after him. Solrath tried exhaling flames at her, and she cried out, but the flames were sucked back and lost in the descent – the three of them were falling too fast. Raindrops blinked again, and the black tar version of her was flying above her, wind whipping and tearing at it so that it was malformed, but still in one relative piece. Use the Darkness! Get out of this alive! Raindrops looked back down, saw the jungle. Her smaller wings when compared to Solrath, catching less air as they were, would make stopping and changing direction harder for her than for him despite his massive size. She had to start banking now, changing direction now to avoid a head-on collision with the ground that she wouldn’t survive. Solrath roared in triumph as he spread his own wings wide, following her, closing in on her… Use the Rainbow of Darkness! He’s going to hurt you! Kill you! Use the Rainbow of Darkness! Hurt him! Kill him! Raindrops looked to her left and saw the tar version of her screaming at her, mouth open impossibly wide, eyes as empty as ever. Use the Darkness! Kill the dragon! Raindrops looked behind her, saw Solrath right on top of her, barely ten feet now. “Give me what is mine!” Solrath exclaimed, snorting fire that singed Raindrops’ tail. Hurt him! Kill him! Solrath’s mouth was open wide. Use the Darkness! Use the Darkness! “Give me the Rainbow of Darkness!” Solrath roared at Raindrops, inhaling, getting ready to blast her with flame. Raindrops glanced at the Rainbow of Darkness in her hooves, glanced back at Solrath, and for reasons that she would never really understand, spun in place so that she was flying backwards and shouted “Fine! Choke on it!” as she threw the Rainbow of Darkness at Solrath’s mouth. Her aim was true, and the small bag that contained the Rainbow of Darkness slipped into Solrath’s maw and down his throat. The dragon roared in surprise as his mouth snapped shut, eyes wide and missing a beat in his wings – enough of a delay to let Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs at last catch up to him, fly directly over the dragon, and kick down with all four legs. Solrath roared as he fell to the forest below with a titanic crash, rolling several times before coming to a stop and clearing a huge path through the forest as he did so. Raindrops slowed herself, landing atop a tree as best she could and sucking in air, breathing heavily, wings trembling, eyes wide. She looked around desperately, but didn’t see a black tar version of herself anywhere, didn’t hear whispers or shouts demanding her to hurt and kill things. That was probably good. Less good was the fact that Solrath was getting up. The red dragon had one claw at his throat, and was coughing as though gasping for air – something a dragon didn’t normally do. Raindrops saw why when he suddenly threw his head forward and vomited out black bile – the tar-like substance of the Rainbow of Darkness. The trees around the tar, and then further out to about a hundred feet away, all began twisting and dying, their leaves shriveling, their trunks shrinking in on themselves like they were becoming desiccated, and eventually collapsing under their own weight with dry snaps. Before long, though, the corruption stopped spreading, and the tar that had seeped into the ground disappeared utterly, leaving nothing behind but dead wood. Solrath paid no attention to that, though, instead glancing around, pawing the ground frantically. “No,” he said – then roared. “No! Where is it?!” After a moment, he began hacking again, then vomited once more – more black bile, but that, too, only seeped into the ground and disappeared. Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs landed near Raindrops – crushing several trees himself as he did – eyes locked on the eldest dragon. All around them, meanwhile, the skies had begun to fill with dragons, taking off from where they had been gathered and watching the two dragons with much interest, wondering who was going to carry the day still – focused on the fight itself rather than what its consequences were. “Dragons can carry things in our stomachs in a pinch,” Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs explained, “but normally metal and gemstones – things that can survive our fire.” “Weird,” Raindrops said as a very bad thought sprung into her head at what she had just done. “Um…I don’t know if it can, but…what if the Rainbow of Darkness…y’know, fused with him, or something?” Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs looked to Raindrops, then back to Solrath, who had once again vomited forth bile – Raindrops couldn’t tell if he was intentionally throwing up or if they were spasms brought on by what Raindrops had done to him when she had fed him the Darkness. The black dragon stepped forward, throwing his wings wide and roaring. “Are you submitting, Solrath?” he demanded. The use of the short name grabbed Solrath’s attention, and he turned on Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs, roaring himself. Black bile dripped from his mouth, but he wiped it away, and started coughing again, spitting forth more bile – but markedly less than before, and a second round of coughing had him spitting out even less, and the ground around the bile showed no signs of the bag that had contained the Rainbow of Darkness as Solrath felt around with his tail. At length, eyes growing narrow, he turned his attentions to the black dragon that had challenged him. “I do not submit to whelps,” he hissed, “but my quarrel is not with you.” He spread his wings and took to the air, heading back towards the obsidian tower – and Spike. Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs wasted no time in taking to the air himself, Raindrops following. She spotted Cheerilee – and Spike, once again a whelp and holding the Alicorn Amulet in his hand rather than wearing it – easily enough, and dove down towards the ground, giving Solrath plenty of space as she quickly joined her fellow pony and the dragon whelp. The black dragon landed not far away, while Solrath touched down a hundred feet distant, glancing around a moment. Raindrops realized he was looking for Claxokarthelornarux, and also wondered what had happened to her. She put it from her mind, though, as she looked Spike up and down even as Cheerilee passed her the Element of Honesty back. “What happened to the Rainbow of Darkness?” The earth pony asked. Raindrops shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said, then nodded towards Solrath. “I…sort of threw it down his mouth.” Cheerilee opened her own mouth at that, holding up a hoof, but then closed it after a moment. “I’m guessing it made sense at the time,” she said. “Sort of,” Raindrops said. She nodded towards Solrath, who had been overcome by another round of hacking and throwing up more bile – but even less than before, Raindrops noted. “He hasn’t been able to throw it back up, he’s just been puking out bile, but less and less each time…think the Rainbow of Darkness can be destroyed?” Cheerilee shook her head, not knowing. Raindrops, meanwhile, looked down to Spike, who was fingering the Alicorn Amulet closely even as the pegasus slipped the Element of Honesty back onto her neck. “You okay?” She asked. Spike glanced at her, then shook his head. “N-no,” he said. “If you’re done,” Solrath’s voice called out. Raindrops turned back to him quickly, stepping closer to Spike as she did and spreading her wings defensively, one of them over Spike. Cheerilee also stepped closer, stooping down a little, as the two stared at the dragon. Solrath didn’t notice the gesture, of course, though he probably noticed Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs taking up his own defensive posture, while overhead the thousands of dragons that had come to the Forge circled, watching eagerly what was about to happen. The eldest dragon leaned forward. “You are not Overlord,” he hissed, snorting red flames that were tinged with black. “You are nothing more than a whelp.” Spike fingered the Alicorn Amulet again, Raindrops noticed. After a moment, though he turned quickly, and before any pony or dragon could react – and before he could really think things through, Raindrops suspected – Spike threw the Amulet away, into the lava pool that surrounded the obsidian tower. The dragons overhead all roared in surprise at that, several of them diving, but none were quick enough to stop the Amulet from landing in the lava. Almost instantly the Amulet cracked from the heat change, then shattered – the gemstone cracking open and shooting a pillar of red, angry light into the sky that seemed to scream in pain, though not as loudly as all the dragons at the sight of it. It was over in moments. The light cleared when there were only a few scattered pieces of the Amulet left, and in another moment those sank beneath the molten rock, dissolving into nothing. Spike looked back to Solrath, clenching his fists. His eyes were wide with fear, his ear-crests splayed wide, but the youngest dragon present looked the eldest in his blind eyes. “I’m not the Overlord,” he said, then thought a moment. “But…you’re not the Overlord either.” Solrath snorted at that, rearing back and spreading his wings. “Why not?” he demanded, as Cheerilee looked around on the ground for something. “I am the eldest! I am the strongest! Have I not proven that?” Solrath’s scales were thick, so he didn’t even notice when the stone that Cheerilee had picked up and thrown hit him in the nose. The other dragons did, though, and let out collective snarls. That, Solrath noticed, and he glanced around in confusion and anger. “What?” He demanded. Raindrops eyed Cheerilee, who smiled and passed the pegasus a stone. She tested its weight a few moments, then sighed and figured that it probably wasn’t possible for Solrath to hate her more. She threw the stone at him, and it landed on the thin membrane of one of his wings. He noticed, turning quickly in the direction and growling. His tongue flicked out and his nostrils flared as he tried to take in the scent of his attacker, but he perceived nothing. “This is mean,” Cheerilee admitted. “Solrath is mean,” Raindrops countered gruffly, picking up another stone and throwing it. She missed, and it clattered to the ground at his feet – but, primed as he was and paying attention, Solrath spun in place towards the rock and breathed fire laced with black bile. He hit nothing, of course. The dragons above once again snarled at the sight, though, then roared – and Raindrops realized, suddenly, that they weren’t roaring in anger or rage. They were laughing. “Saurivthurgix!” One of them called out. Eye-cripple. Blind. “Solrathicharnon-Saurivthurgix!” A second added. The call rippled through the assembled dragons, until it became a chant – a chant that put heavy emphasis on the second part of the eldest dragon’s name. Solrathicharnon spun in place, ear crests flared wide as his blind eyes traced over the dragons overhead. “Whelps!” he exclaimed, taking to the air. The smaller dragons scattered as Solrathicharnon swiped at them with claw and tail, and breathed fire at them, but they didn’t even try to retaliate – they just circled away, giving the blind dragon a wide berth, and in the midst of so many flapping wings and roaring dragons it was impossible for Solrathicharnon to single out one – at least until another huge dragon took to the air. Smaller dragons gave Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs a wide berth as he ascended and began circling the eldest dragon, who noticed and fell into a circle of his own, teeth barred the entire time. “I can kill any dragon who would try and become Overlord!” Solrathicharnon roared at Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs as the two orbited one another. “But you’re blind,” the black dragon countered, “and no dragon will follow a cripple, any more then they will follow a dragon that could be defeated by one. Spike isn’t Overlord. I don’t want to be Overlord. And you…you cannot be Overlord.” The red dragon snarled, and snorted out a line of fire. He forced himself to become calm after a few moments, however, and turned his head from the black dragon. “Then the impasse remains,” he hissed. “There will be no Overlord.” “Agreed.” The two dragons continued their co-orbit for a few more passes, before each broke off – Solrath soaring away from the Dragon’s Forge, Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs flying back down towards the ponies. The smaller dragons waited until both others were well clear of them before beginning to stop their circling themselves – some heading down towards the Forge, others spiraling away from it, scattering in all directions as they began the flights back to hidden lairs across the continent. --- Cheerilee stared up at the departing dragons, then looked back down to Spike, who was watching them fly away himself – none of them sparing the former Overlord even a single glance. He had tears in his eyes, but was fighting against them. The earth pony teacher reached out a hoof to wrap the dragon whelp in a hug, but before she could a jasmine-colored wing wrapped around Spike and pulled him close. “It’s okay,” Raindrops said to him. Her gentle side wasn’t something that many ponies got to see, but Cheerilee recognized it – she brought it out whenever she dealt with her own little brother, Snails. Raindrops was talking to Spike in the same tone of voice – self-assured and certain of everything she said. “It’s going to be okay, Spike.” Spike shook his head. “No it isn’t,” he sputtered. “Yes it is,” Raindrops insisted. “We’ll make sure of it, Spike, I promise.” Cheerilee didn’t know if Spike honestly believed that right now, but she did smile at Raindrops, stepping closer and hugging the pegasus herself. “We have got to stop getting dragged into messes like this…” she sighed. “I don’t think that’s ever gonna happen,” Raindrops sighed, not returning the hug as she focused on the dragon whelp below her. She looked at Cheerilee. “So…what now?” There was a somewhat-soft thud from nearby – as soft as one of the largest dragons in the world could make his landing, anyway. Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs looked down to the two ponies. “Now, I do not know,” he said, looking up himself at the dragons who continued to scatter. “You have seen yourself the problems my race faces. I…I don’t know how to fix them. I don’t know if they can be fixed.” The two ponies glanced between each other, before Cheerilee looked back up to the black dragon. “Well – ” she began, when she heard a loud gasp. The two ponies and two dragons turned in its direction, coming from the vast pool of lava that made up the center of the Dragon’s Forge. Climbing from it was something small, covered in lava, though it fell off of her and cooled quickly once she was free of the lake and lying on the beach. Beneath the hardening rock were silver scales and blue eyes, ear-crests that were almost white, the barest trace of blunt spines on her back, and no wings at all. The whelp stared at the two ponies with wide eyes. The eyes locked onto Spike and narrowed somewhat, but then the whelp at last noticed that the mountain of black scales nearby was a living thing. She looked up, and up, and up, at Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs. “Turalisj!” she exclaimed, eyes wide and pressing her head down against the ground as she started backing away. “Turalisjversvesh! Turalisjversveshothokent!” Cheerilee blinked, and guessed that she was hearing the whelp exclaiming in Draconic. She glanced up at Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs. “What is she saying?” “Turalisjversveshothokent-vuthaverthicha!” “She’s complimenting me,” the black dragon answered. “Big, strong, smart, black mountain. A whelp often does such when it thinks it has crossed an adult dragon. But…she looks like…” “That’s not Clax, is it?” Spike asked, rubbing his eyes a little as he considered, focusing on the moment rather than his uncertain future and the recent past. He thought a moment, then started walking around the beach until he came across a small stone that he proceeded to breath green fire across. The stone disappeared as the flames raced out across the beach – and right up to the silver whelp, resulting in a flare that caused the stone to pop back into existence right in front of her. Spike’s eyes grew wide. “Uh, yeah,” he said. “That’s Clax.” “Dragons can’t age down, can they?” Raindrops asked, holding a hoof over Spike’s head, then comparing it to what she guessed the silver whelp’s size was. If that was Claxokarthelornarux, she had shrunk considerably – she was now shorter than even Spike. “Very young ones can,” Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs answered. “But Claxokarthelornarux wasn’t young. Did the Rainbow of Darkness do this?” He looked to Cheerilee, as did Raindrops and Spike. Cheerilee noticed their stares, and shrugged and shook her head. “I just knew what the Rainbow of Darkness was, I don’t know anything about it, really,” she insisted, then looked to the whelp. “Is there any way to know?” Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs considered a moment, then looked back to the silver whelp. “Ominak?” The whelp looked confused, but after a slight grunt from the far dragon quickly answered. “Thricominak.” “No name,” the black dragon translated. “She doesn’t know her name, hasn’t earned one yet. She doesn’t know who she was. That’s why she’s only speaking Draconic – she doesn’t remember any other language.” Cheerilee nodded in agreement, looking back to the silver dragon whelp as she chewed on her lip a moment in thought. “You said you don’t know how to fix the dragon race,” she said at length. “Maybe the problem is that you’re trying to fix the entire race, all at once.” She looked up at him. “When you tried it with whelps before, how many did you try it with? All of them? Hundreds at a time?.” She looked to Spike then, and offered him a small smile. “The same with you…you were trying to fix all dragons at the same time, to save an entire race. But that’s too much for anyone to handle, even a dragon – even the Overlord of All Dragons. Don’t try to fix an entire species. Just try to make friends, and family, where you can.” She nodded towards the silver dragon whelp. “And I think you have someone you can start with right here.” The black dragon considered Cheerilee’s words, then glanced back to the silver whelp. “Perhaps you are right,” he said. “Perhaps I always moved too fast.” He looked back to the ponies. “You want to go home, I imagine,” he guessed. Each of them nodded, and he looked from them to Spike. “And you don’t want to be here anymore.” Spike shook his head. “No,” he said. “B-but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be around you!” He stepped away from Raindrops, looking up at the far older and larger dragon. “It’s just, I don’t want to be near…” he waved a claw at the rest of the Dragon’s Forge, or more specifically, all the dragons it contained. “Them. They’re all jerks. Even if it’s just ‘cause they don’t know any better.” Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs nodded in agreement. He waved a claw at the obsidian tower. “I can’t leave the Dragon’s Forge, not with the treasure in there. Dragons fighting over it would lead to a bloodbath, and no matter my feelings towards them I won’t allow that to happen.” He looked to the tower. “Some of it has sentimental value to me as well…but…perhaps I should start relocating it, away from here.” He glanced down to the silver whelp. “The Dragon’s Forge is no place for a child. Perhaps my old lair in Cavallia-Zaldia…” The black dragon considered a moment, before extending a hand out towards the whelp. It shrank back in fear, but Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs only lay his hand on the ground, palm up. “Waxaustratwux,” he said. The whelp stared in confusion and fear for several long moments, but after that reluctantly climbed onto the hand who’s palm was larger than her. Once she was there, the black dragon lifted her up and looked back to the ponies and Spike. “I will retrieve Hesjingrasvim. He is…trustworthy, and will do as I say. He will take you safely to Pferdreich.” With that, the dragon rose into the air, holding the silver whelp he carried safely in one hand. She was scared and confused, but before long, the two ponies were sure she’d learn she didn’t have anything to fear from her new benefactor. Cheerilee glanced down to Spike, who was watching Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs fly off uncertainly. “S…so what now?” he asked, looking between the two ponies. “What’s going to happen?” The earth pony teacher offered a smile. “No idea,” she admitted. “We’re pretty much always making things up as we go. It’s worked out so far.” “Probably going back to Equestria,” Raindrops guessed. “Princess Luna will want to know that Solrath had the Rainbow of Darkness. And anything you could tell her about Corona would be good.” Spike seemed to freeze up at the thought of meeting the Alicorn of the Night, but Raindrops noticed and once again wrapped a wing around him. “Don’t worry,” Raindrops said. “I know I keep saying this, but I mean it. It’s going to be okay, Spike.” He actually looked like he believed her that time, at least a little, and leaned into the wing-hug. Cheerilee nodded in agreement with Raindrops, before pausing and glancing at the pegasus’ head. She frowned. “Hey, wait a second. Didn’t you have a hat when we came here?”