//------------------------------//
// 16 - The Past in the Present 
// Story: Past, Present, and Future 
// by DragonShadow 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 16: The Past in the Present




Canterlot was abuzz with chatter, some excited, some fearful, as Twilight Sparkle, Zecora, and the two dragons made their way toward the palace. The larger dragon's appearance had startled everypony, and it seemed like nopony could stop talking about it. Only the four of them remained silent as they reached the palace gates. The guards were peering at them curious, especially at the sight of Spike carrying Pyralsprite across his back, with her crumpled wings sliding across the ground on either side of him limply.

"Princess Twilight?" One guard's eyes widened as they approached, his eyes flicking to the dragons. "What in Equestria..."

"Please, you've got to help her." Spike approached the guards, hefting Pyralsprite off of his back with both claws. "She was nearly crushed... I know you don't know much about dragons, but you've got to do what you can."

"I'll be fine, Spike." Pyralsprite tried to protest even as she was laid across a strong pony back.

"Please, just go. I'll catch up with you later." Spike squeezed her claw to silence the coming protest.

Twilight stepped up beside Spike. "Get her treatment... the rest of us need to go see the princesses immediately."

"Yes, Your Highness." The guards immediately bowed to their princess and set about their tasks. One carried Pyralsprite into the back while the other led Spike, Twilight, and Zecora straight to the throne room. The silence was almost growing unbearable for Spike until they approached the large double-doors of the throne room. He could hear voices inside as they approached.

"Is there truly no reasoning with him?" Princess Luna's voice asked. "Surely any living creature with any sense would realize that a meaningless war could do nothing but harm everyone involved."

An unfamiliar voice spoke next. "He knows no reason except his own. I tried to reason with him long ago... his mind is as closed as mine once was..."

"Perhaps we could-" Princess Celestia's voice was cut off suddenly by the sound of the doors being pushed open by the royal guards. The two alicorn sisters watched the small group makes their way into the throne room, but Spike's eyes immediately snapped to their visitor. The glittering dragon that had passed them on the way into Canterlot. She was half as tall as the entire room was, and how she had even gotten in was surely a feat of powerful dragon magic, but Spike wasn't even curious about that. Was it really true? Was Twilight correct about her?

"Princess Celestia..." Twilight approached the bottom of the stairs leading up to the throne. "I'm so sorry. I failed in my task..."

Princess Luna shook her head. "What you failed to do no longer matters Twilight, only what we plan to do now."

"What is the plan?" Twilight lifted her head up high. "Tell me what it is and I'll do my part."

"That's just it," Celestia mused, "we have no idea what to do now."

"Well, I'm back, we can round up the Elements of Harmony and maybe we'll stand a chance!"

The dragon spoke for the first time since they entered the room. "The Elements of Harmony were created to tame chaos.  They will not be effective against their creators."

"Creators?" Twilight looked at her in surprise. "The dragons created the Elements of Harmony?"

"I was as surprised to discover this as you were, at one time." The dragon nodded. "The seed used to grow the Tree of Harmony was planted eons before even I was born, sewn from the magic of every dragon's will to see the world at true peace."

"I don't understand." Twilight blinked. "If dragons are these paragons of peace, if that's what you truly want, then why would a dragon go to war? Why would this even be happening?"

"Because..." The dragon closed her eyes. "Because we grew arrogant, and lost our way... I don't know when it happened. It, too, was long before I entered this world. But our desire to create order turned to a desire to enforce order, to bend others into shaping up to our will, or destroying them. It's a simple enough idea to understand, I suppose. The line between creating order and enforcing one's own will is a surprisingly thin one, when you think about it. After all, if everyone listens to you, they're not being disorderly..."

Spike finally moved up beside Twilight, unable to tear his eyes away from the dragon. "Excuse me... I-I'm sorry to interrupt but... I mean... you..."

The dragon gave him a soft smile. "It's quite alright... Spike, is it?" Spike nodded. "I'm happy to finally be able to meet you."

"I just... I don't get it." Spike shook his head. "What makes you different? Why are you here in Equestria, and not in Fire Mountain with the others?"

"That is a long story..."

"Please..." Spike pleaded in a soft voice.

The dragon turned to glance at Princess Celestia and Luna, who exchanged a brief glance before giving her a simultaneous nod.

"Very well... I will try to keep my story as brief as possible..."

___


You may think I spent my life on the bottom of the mountain from seeing me now, but the truth is, I was once the Matriarch of the dragon lands. The most... respected... dragon in the world. My rule was defined by an era of peace and order, a fact of which I was proud. There were no fights among my subjects. There was no conflict... at least, not for very long. I put an end to it quickly. Peace was all that mattered to me, and any creature who tried to disrupt it met a swift and terrible end.

So it was with some surprise that I came upon one of the buffalo tribes in the center of what is now Equestria. They informed me that they were under the spell of a powerful demon, who was torturing them without mercy. These buffalo were an annoyance to us... but a demon was a serious threat. Demons were the only creatures in this world with the power to stand up to us, for one to claim a portion of our land, even to attack its creatures... that was an act of war.

In my arrogance, I thought my power would make me more than a match for the demon. My arrogance nearly cost me my life. I don't even know how long the fight lasted, but by the end my strength was reaching its limit. It was only by using the last of my power that I vanquished the demon, but that burst of magic left me weak. Too weak to even make it home. I fell from the sky to the waiting hooves of the buffalo tribe. I expected to die right then. To topple a foe as powerful as I with no resistance, they would surely destroy me and be rid of me. I was in no position to demand respect, or anything else from them.

But they didn't. I could not move, but I could hear their words as they carried me back to their village. I had expected death, but instead these buffalo gave me new life. They spoke of me in reverent tones, tended to my wounds, and fed me for weeks while I slowly regained my strength. I had never witnessed anything like this before, I had demanded no respect from them, I could not demand it, and yet they were giving it to me anyway. Respect and reverence for a creature on the cusp of death was unheard of among my kind...

I did not realize it yet, but what they showed me was true respect. Like the dragons of old cherished and worshipped before we fell victim to our own power, and became something different. They made me feel like nothing I'd ever known. It was pure, it was good... and I cherished it for the time I spent among those buffalo. But I was soon healed and could keep up the ruse of weakness no longer... so in the dead of the night, while the buffalo slept, I left.

Brimming with my newfound knowledge, I returned to the seat of power on top of Fire Mountain, and tried to tell my people what I had discovered, what I had felt. But they were not happy to hear it. Some were curious, some were pitying, but most were furious. They accused me of being corrupted by the mammals, of losing my way as a dragon.

My brother led the charge against me, and challenged me for the right of leadership. Once again, in my arrogance, I accepted the challenge. It was barely even a battle. I don't know what changed, if I was not yet fully healed from my fight with the demon, or if he had grown stronger, or both. Either way, he destroyed me in every sense of the word. My body was broken, and my spirit was shattered. It was only by throwing myself into the ocean that I escaped with my life... and by running away from the challenge, I had marked myself for death the moment another dragon saw me. That is the dragon way.

So I returned to this land. I could not bring myself to return to the buffalo. I was frightened and wary of what might happen... I only passed them by before finding my way to the mountain where I have remained, watching Equestria begin and grow from a few settlements into the most prosperous nation in the world. I only heard one thing from the buffalo before I retreated into the darkness. They had given me a name...

___


"Kindfire." Spike spoke with a firm voice. "Kindfire the Savior."

Kindfire nodded slowly. "That was the name they gave me, and the name I have held dear ever since."

"But I don't get it..." Spike shook his head slowly. "That's how you got here... why you hide... but why give out dragon eggs to ponies?"

"I met Princess Celestia during her journey to find the Elements of Harmony... or should I say, she found me." Kindfire gave the pony princess a warm smile. "We spoke frequently through letters after that, and she saw how saddened I was that my people would forever be the malevolent creatures on Fire Mountain. So she proposed a solution. The ponies could care for dragon children, raise them as their own... and in doing so, instill in them the values of the dragons of old. The value of true harmony, and respect for their fellow creatures."

"Dragons were only placed in the care of those I believed would be able to raise them properly." Celestia nodded. "To revive the dragon race as they once were... once they were ready."

"But... we have made mistakes." Kindfire lowered her head. "I was mistaken in forcing Celestia to keep the secret from all... for that, I am sorry. This could have all been avoided if I had trusted more in her judgment..."

Princess Luna spoke up again, "as I said earlier, it matters not what mistakes have been made in the past. What matters is what we do to prepare for what comes next."

Celestia looked around at the crowd. "The eastern towns are being evacuated, and we have guards watching the coast who will send word the instant they see a single scale enter Equestria. May I suggest for now we get some much-needed sleep? We will be much better able to form a plan of action well-rested."

Luna nodded. "I agree. As ever I will watch over the night and alert you all if any trace of dragonkind appears near Equestrian lands."

Twilight forced a smile onto her lips. "Who knows, maybe the dragons won't come anyway. It's not like we're pushovers, even without the elements of Harmony."

There was no uncertainty in Kindfire's voice. "They will come. It's only a matter of time."

"Then I want to go check on Pyralsprite before bed..." Spike took a step away from the others. "If you'll excuse me..."

"Of course." Twilight nodded. "Goodnight, Spike."

"Yeah... goodnight..." With one more glance back up at Kindfire, he turned to rush from the throne room, leaving the rest behind on his way. He found the guard from earlier waiting right outside to take him to Pyralsprite's bedroom.

"She's going to be fine, as far as we can tell," he told Spike on the way. "Some of the tendons and cartilage in her wings have been crushed, but it's nothing that can't be worked on. It's mostly bruising aside from that."

"Thank goodness..." Spike heaved a sigh of relief, relaxing a bit as they wound through the palace hallways up to one of the spare bedrooms in the west wing of the palace. Spike pushed the door open with one claw to see Pyralsprite resting comfortably on the bed with her wings spread out to each side at full extension, while two unicorns stood on either side of her, the aura of their magic pressing down on the creases in her wings, trying to flatten them.

Pyralsprite didn't even open her eyes before speaking... which made sense, since she didn't use them anyway. "How did things go with the royals?"

Spike approached the side of her bed. "Nobody's sure what's going to happen next, or what we can do about it." He climbed up on the edge of the bed beside her, watching the unicorn nurses do their work. "I'm sorry you had to get hurt so badly... I'm not sure why you got so hurt and I didn't..."

Pyralsprite huffed. "Are you kidding? Let's just say I've been wanting to be pressed up against that rock-hard body for a while, but not like that." The two unicorn nurses barely suppressed their snorting giggles. "Guess I just make a better pillow than you do. I'm more squishable..."

"Well, you are really soft... and there's nothing wrong with that at all." Spike coughed into one claw. "A-anyway... hey... I did find out you were wrong out there."

"Oh? Wrong about what?"

"Kindfire was real all along." Spike took one of her claws in his own.

"Huh?" Pyralsprite huffed. "That story the buffalo told us? How do you know it was real?"

"My mother is Kindfire... I can tell you the story if you want."

Pyralsprite raised one eyebrow. "Call me interested..."

So Spike launched into the story his mother had told him, though he may have added a couple of details here and there. He didn't remember it all fully, he had been far too distracted in realizing just who that dragon standing before him was, but he hoped anyway that he was doing the tale justice. By the time he finished the story, the nurses had already retired for the night, and Pyralsprite had kicked the blankets off of her body, fanning both of them with light wingstrokes.

"Geeze, that sounds completely nuts..." Pyralsprite blushed. "You really think the original dragons were like that? The selfless do-gooder type?"

"I like to think they were. There has to be more to us than just fear and greed..."

Pyralsprite was silent for a moment, then Spike felt a claw touch his cheek, pulling his head slowly up toward hers. "I don't know about dragons as a whole... but I know there's more to you than just fear and greed."

"I don't know..." Spike shook his head. "I don't think I was being very selfless when I made that offer to Lemonsnout. I almost got Discord killed to save us, and he didn't even do anything wrong."

"Maybe... but you did it for me, right?" She pulled him a bit closer, his torso moving over her body. "To keep me safe..."

"Yeah... but that's not exactly selfless either." Spike blushed. "I don't wanna lose you..."

"Hehe... you can't be expected to be selfless all the time..." Pyralsprite pulled him closer, a lick of flame brushing forth from her lips across his cheek. "Sometimes you have to think about yourself and what you want, I think."

"Yeah... maybe you're right..." Spikes leaned in the rest of the way, pressing his lips to hers. The flames inside them began to mingle, before suddenly there was a knock on the door.

Spike's forehead slammed into the headboard. "I am going to die a virgin."

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

"Just... just wait here." Spike rolled off of the bed, grumbling on his way to pull the door open.

His eyes shot open in shock. "R-Rarity?"

"Spike!" Rarity threw her hooves around him in a tight hug. "I came as soon as I heard there was nasty business afoot! I was afraid I had driven you to... to..."

There was no controlling the blush on his cheeks. "You didn't drive me to anything, I promise." He finally allowed himself to return the hug. It was strange being big enough to get his arms fully around her now.

"Oh Spike... Twilight filled me in on everything that has happened... and is going to happen... are you okay?"

"Okay? No... not really." Spike shook his head. "I feel like it's my fault, like... like everything I've done since I left Ponyville was just a series of huge mistakes."

"Everything we've done, you mean." Pyralsprite corrected him from the bed. "We're a pair, Spike. You can't blame yourself... I'm just as at fault as you are."

"A pair?" Rarity looked back and forth between then for a moment, then fixed her eyes on Spike as his blush deepened. "Oh my goodness, Spike... is it true?"

"Aheh... y-yeah..." Spike shuffled his feet on the floor. "A-a lot can happen in a short time, I guess..."

Rarity stared up at him, then slipped a hoof around his neck, bringing him up against her side in a half hug. "My, you've grown so much since you left, Spike."

"Yeah, I know... I'm not sure why, though." Spike looked down at his much larger claws.

"I didn't mean your body. I meant you've matured into a strong young man." Rarity gave him a wide smile. "To think I've been holding you back all this time, toying with that silly child's crush... I'm so sorry, Spike."

"Wasn't your fault..." Spike shrugged. "It was my crush."

"And now you've matured beyond it. Made your way in this world and found a girl who can return all that love you have to give." Rarity pulled him into a soft hug. "I'm so proud of you, Spike, and everything you've become. No matter what you've done or what happens next. I just want you to know that."

"W-wow... thank you, Rarity." Spike could feel the heat on his cheeks as Rarity pulled away from him. "That really means a lot, coming from you."

Rarity blushed. "Not as much as you think, I'm sure. I'm hardly the most mature pony, I can admit." Rarity chuckled softly. "Now why don't you go spend time with your partner? I'll be staying here with Twilight and Zecora if you need me for anything."

"Alright. Th-thank you, Rarity. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Spike." Rarity gave him a smile, for once not using her pet name for him, and turned to leave, letting the door close behind her. Spike stared after her for several moments, torn between pride and dismay, but soon forced himself away from the door and back towards the bed.

"We should probably get some sleep..." Spike climbed into the bed with a regretful sigh, reaching down to pull the covers up to his neck. "Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow? We'll probably need our energy and... uh..."

He blinked as the blanket was yanked away from his body by a long, sinuous tail. Pyralsprite lunged across the bed with a grunt, putting herself right on top of him and straddling his hips, her steady red eyes shining down into his own. A burst of flame erupted from her lips, washing harmlessly over his face before leaving him to stare up at her again, panting and leaking flame from the side of her mouth. It was a look that would not be denied.

Spike could only stare up at her for several long moments, taking in the sight of her. As he reached up, grabbed her, and rolled her onto the bed with more force than he'd intended, the only thought he could bring himself to think was she's a lot hotter than I ever realized.

___


That feeling. She hadn't felt it in over a thousand years. It was the feeling of the natural order being warped by unending chaos. A shard of meaninglessness that could only be caused by one creature... one creature of which only one remained.

Kindfire lifted her head from the roof of the Canterlot Palace, her eyes flitting back and forth through the darkness. She couldn't see the creature, but his presence was unmistakable. "You are Discord, I presume. I've been curious to meet you ever since Princess Celestia told me that you reformed. You must be very resourceful to have escaped the hunts."

"Perhaps I am." A voice drifted out of the darkness, from every direction except for her left. Clearly the draconequus gift for randomness remained in him. "Not that it matters at this point."

"Perhaps, perhaps not." Kindfire cocked her head to the side. "Is this a random visit, or do you want something from me?"

The voice drifted out from her left now. "I've been witness to enough history to see the writing on the wall for this nation. If Celestia tries to fight, the ponies will disappear just like we have. I want you to help me convince her to give in. She won't listen to me, but perhaps you..."

"I disagree, Discord. These ponies have more fight in them than you seem to think."

The voice came from her own tail. "I don't care one way or the other if they all survive... there is only one I want to see live, but she has decided to remain with her kind for better or, more likely, for worse."

"Then I suppose your best option is to fight with them, and try to protect her yourself."

"Try to protect her? My power doesn't work on cursed dragons! All of my power is just as useless as it was before... this is going to happen and I am completely powerless."

Kindfire closed her eyes. "Even I wasn't alive when the war between the dragons and the draconequus began... but it was my people that left you alone in this world. For that... I am sorry." When she opened her eyes the frail-looking, pathetic, mismatched creature was sitting in full view on the spiral tower in front of her. "But don't think yourself powerless, Discord. If there is one thing a draconequus will never be, it's powerless."

Her claw reached out from her perch, touching his beard and lifting his head from his chest. "You're not powerless... you're vulnerable, and that makes you afraid. I felt that same thing twice over, long ago. You and I are not so different, I think. We are both frightened husks of the creatures we once were, existing in a time that has no place for us."

"Being trapped in stone for a thousand years was an inconvenience... facing oblivion is something I tried to never imagine." Discord finally returned her look. "I'm not used to being afraid... even when the hunts were happening it didn't occur to me that I would ever be caught. Even when all the others were gone, I was sure I would make it out alive, and I did. Now I feel like if I don't leave, I will die for sure... but I can't bring myself to leave. Not without her..."

"Then you can learn a lesson from the pony who seems to have stolen your heart. You can join with them and fight for her."

"Is that something a friend would do? Throw away his life on the mere hope of accomplishing something good?"

"That's up to you to decide." Kindfire rested her head on the roof again with a sigh. "I don't know how long we have before the conflict begins... but you may want to decide soon."

Discord looked away from her again, and said nothing else before disappearing into a small pinpoint of light.