//------------------------------// // First Flight // Story: Dragon of Steel // by SuperPinkBrony12 //------------------------------// Within seconds of obtaining the enchanted fire ruby, Spike was overcome with a completely new sensation. A sensation he hadn't experienced ever before. To him at least, it suddenly felt as if he were as light as a feather, and could fly as fast almost any pegasus pony. Looking down at the ground, Spike could see that his feet weren't touching the cavern floors. He was hovering just a few inches off the ground! "Am I... flying?" he asked outloud, the reality of the situation taking a moment to set in. But once it did, he couldn't contain his enthusiasm. He began to fly all around the caverns, while shouting "I can fly! I can fly! This is the greatest day of my life!" Princess Celestia smiled, but Twilight seemed extremely worried. "Spike, slow down before you hurt yourself!" she shouted. She would've taken off into the air to catch him, but she had never tried to fly inside the caverns before, and didn't want to risk crashing into something. "Slow down?! Never! This is the most amazing thing I've ever felt!" Spike shouted back, flying overhead. The fire ruby remained clutched firmly in his claws, and he refused to let go. Suddenly, Twilight gasped! Spike was flying straight towards a massive tower of rocks! "Spike, look out! Turn around, quickly!" she shouted, and prepared to flap her wings to catch up to him. But before she could do so, there was a thunderous crash, as Spike plowed head on into the rocks. Twilight was horrified! But much to her surprise, Spike emerged just seconds later, as if he hadn't been hurt at all. With his claws spread out, Spike began to smash through more piles of rocks, amazed at how effortlessly he destroyed them. It was as if they were made of gravel. "This fire ruby is amazing! It's given me super powers!" he thought to himself "Where has it been all my life?!" But the fun came to an end much sooner than Spike would've liked, as the fire ruby was suddenly snatched out of his claws, courtesy of the magic from Twilight. Without the fire ruby in his claws, it took only a few seconds for Spike to hit the ground with a thud. "Why did you take away that fire ruby?!" Spike angrily asked, as he stormed over to Twilight "You saw what it could do!" "Indeed I did, and that's exactly why I'm holding onto it for now!" Twilight replied, firmly holding the fire ruby out of Spike's grasp "I don't know what kind of magic is powering this thing, and it could be too dangerous to use!" "Too dangerous my foot!" Spike complained "That fire ruby turned me into a superhero, just imagine how much good I could do with it! You agree with me, right, Princess Celestia?!" Much to Spike's surprise, Princess Celestia responded with a harsh glare, as she said "I'm afraid I must side with Twilight on this matter, Spike. I was only able to study the fire ruby sparingly, other matters took priority," she then added "I doubt the magic powering it is dangerous, but you need to think carefully about how you want to use it. Its powers are not to be taken lightly, so I leave you with this warning. Exercise discretion if you decide to use that gem. The power it contains could be a huge benefit to my kingdom, but if used improperly, somepony could get hurt!" "All the more reason why I think I'll hold onto it, for now." Twilight said seriously, and continued to hold it aloft with her magic, as she and Spike were guided out of the caverns. After Twilight obtained a case to store the fire ruby, she and Spike quickly left for home. The journey back to Ponyville passed in silence. Spike was still mad with Twilight for taking away the fire ruby, so he said nothing. Spike continued to say nothing, even after he and Twilight returned to the castle, and Twilight set to work on trying to determine whether or not the magical energies inside the fire ruby made it too dangerous for anyone to use. Minutes ticked by without progress, and Spike quickly became bored. He occupied himself, by reading some of his Power Ponies comics, and as he did so, Princess Celestia's words of warning danced in his mind. At first, Spike tried to brush them off, assuming that he was thinking too much. But the words wouldn't go away, and it wasn't long before they were at the center of his mind. "Princess Celestia is right," he realized "With the power of that fire ruby, I could literally move mountains! And that same power could easily crumple buildings as if they were made of paper. There's no telling how many ponies I would hurt if I got careless! But maybe, there's a way for me to use enough of my power to make a difference, without putting others in danger. Assuming, that Twilight doesn't find out something about the fire ruby's magic." Finally, after about an hour and a half of waiting for news, Spike's patience was rewarded. Walking into the lab at the end of the hallway, Spike saw Twilight standing next to one of the tables. The fire ruby had been taken out of its case, and currently rested inside of a necklace on the same table Twilight was standing next to. The rays of Celestia's sun reflecting off of the necklace, was enough to give it a slight glisten. "Well?" Spike asked, barely able to contain his hope and concern. Twilight cleared her throat, and took a deep breath. Then, she looked at Spike and told him "After careful analysis of the fire ruby, I have determined that its magical properties, though a bit unusual by Equestrian standards, are not harmful even if used on a frequent or daily basis. It should be safe to use, as long as it remains inside that necklace." "Ah, so that's what it's for," Spike realized "I thought it was just a fashion statement." "Speaking of fashion, if you're going to go running around with that necklace, I suggest you start thinking about a costume," Twilight suggested seriously "There's no telling who might be willing to get their hooves, claws, or talons on the fire ruby if word gets out. If you could adopt some sort of superhero alter ego, the source of your tremendous powers could be kept a secret." "I'll think about it." Spike replied with a nod, as he eyed the necklace on the table. Suddenly, from outside there came a chorus of horrified gasps and screams, as if another ancient evil had come to terrorize Ponyville. Looking out of one of the lab's windows, Spike and Twilight quickly discovered the source of the frightened cries. High above Ponyville, a massive airship had caught fire! The fire was burning at an alarming rate, and the airship seemed to be struggling to stay afloat, its engines looked ready to give out at any moment! Some pegasi were already on the scene, doing everything they could to get the fire under control, and save the struggling aircraft. But they were fighting a losing battle, the fire was spreading faster than the rain clouds could extinguish the flames! If someone didn't do something soon, the airship was likely to plummet to the ground in a firey crash! The results of which would spell certain doom for everypony still onboard! Without a moment's hesitation, Spike grabbed the necklace, and quickly put it on! Already, he could feel the fire ruby's magical powers coursing through his veins, making him more powerful, and allowing him to fly! "Spike!" Twilight shouted frantically. "Those ponies are in danger, and I may be their only chance at survival!" Spike insisted "Don't try to talk me out of it, Twilight! I've got to help them!" "That's not what I'm worried about, I know there's no point in trying to convince you not to try and help!" Twilight explained "But you need a disguise, you need something that will hide your identity!" "Unless you know a spell that can magically make clothes appear, you're out of luck!" Spike replied. But much to his surprise, Twilight quickly lit up her horn, and with a blinding violet red flash, he found himself wearing the same outfit he had worn when he'd become Humdrum in that enchanted comic. Only this time, the red collar around his neck had been replaced by the fire ruby necklace. "It's only temporary, but it should last long enough for you to help those ponies!" Twilight told Spike "Now go, before it's too late!" Without hestiation, Spike flew out of the window, and headed for the distressed airship! "Keep piling on the rain clouds, we've got to put out that fire!" Rainbow Dash shouted to the other pegasi, as she continued to bounce from cloud to cloud to try and increase the rate of downpour on the airship. The fire was threatening to burn out of control! "It's impossible, we've used all the rain clouds we have on hoof! We'll have to make more!" Sunny Showers shouted back, and began barking out orders to Clear Skies and Open Skies to lead teams to collect water from the reservior. "No, this can't be the best we can do! Ponies lives are at stake!" Rainbow Dash said frantically, as she bounced even harder, and more frequently. "We're doing the best we can, we've already got pegasi rescue teams working to get everypony to safety!" Thunderlane replied "How are things going, Bulk Biceps?!" "We're going as fast as possible, but this ship's packed to capcity!" Bulk Biceps shouted, as he, Derpy Hooves, and Flitter were carrying some of the non pegasi passengers off the airship (the pegasi passengers had managed to fly off the moment the ship caught fire, but most had stayed to help with the resuce efforts) "We've still got a lot of ponies left on deck! I don't think we're going to get them all off in time!" But just when all hope seemed lost, out of the blue Cloudchaser shouted "Look, over there!" And in the distance appeared a rapidly approaching figure that nopony had ever seen before. "It's a bird! A really big bird!" 8-Bit shouted. "It's a plane! Canterlot has sent another airship to help us!" Raindrops insisted. But both she and 8-Bit were wrong, the approaching figure was neither of those things. In a blurr of speed, the figure wooshed past the pegasi, flying straight towards the flames. Everypony was shocked. "Whoever that mysterious figure is, they must be crazy! There's no way they'll survive in there!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Spike worked his way through the burning airship, grabbing several fire extinguishers along the way, and spraying them at the flames as he flew past. The foam, in combination with the rain water, quickly dousing the flames. From outside the airship, the pegasi continued to pour on as much rain water as they could. But they were surprised to see the flames begin to suddenly retreat, as if something had cut off their supply. At last, the fire was out! Spike breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close," he thought to himself "Just a few more seconds, and the whole ship would've been ablaze!' But the sigh of relief turned out to be premature, as the airship's engines began to groan. Apparently, the fire had damaged them too badly, and they could hold out no longer. Almost before Spike realized it, the airship began to drop out of the sky, with ponies still onboard! Knowing that he had to act fast to prevent what could be a very nasty accident, Spike flew back and got in front of the airship as it began to descend at a frightening speed! Grabbing the ship's hull with his claws, Spike began to push hard. "I don't know if I can completely stop it from crashing, but I think I can at least slow it down!" he thought to himself, as he put every ounce of strength he could into halting the airship's descent. Ponies on the ground, who had been watching the horrific events unfold, quickly realized what was going on. And when they did, they screamed, and ran for cover, as the shadow of the air ship began to grow larger and larger over the center of town. Even as the ship continued to descend, Spike refused to loosen his grip. In fact, he only pushed harder and harder as precious seconds ticked by! Time seemed to slow to a crawl, as some pegasi tried bravely to rescue a few more passengers, but most realized that there was nothing more they could do. It was all up to the mysterious figure that was holding onto the airship. Whoever he or she was, they were the only one left who could control the outcome of the inevitable crash. At last, despite Spike's best efforts, the bottom of the airship began to make contact with the ground. With a sickening thud and an awful scrapping sound, the airship began to grind a path into the dirt, as it moved through the center of town. Frantic ponies ran every which way to get out of its path, until the airship finally came to a halt just inches before it would've struck the fountain. When the dust settled, the ponies still onboard opened their eyes, and realized that they were alive and well. They had been saved by an unknown hero! Much to the passengers surprise, their unknown savior did not stay unknown for long. For he suddenly appeared before them, standing on the deck of the grounded ship with a smile wider than any smile they had ever seen before. He then spoke to them and said "Well, I do hope that this frightening expereince hasn't made any of you want to suddenly swear off flying by airship. Satistically speaking, it's still the safest way to travel, and it's more efficent than taking the train." And with that, he took off once again. "Who was that mysterious hero who saved us?" one passenger wondered outloud, as they carefully disembarked from the wrecked aircraft "He looked strangely familiar, but I can't put my hoof on it." "Whoever it was, they were unbelieveable!" another passenger exclaimed "I've never known any creature that could fly faster than a speeding pegasi, or was more powerful than a raging hurricane!" "Don't forget being able to leap tall buildings in a single bond, because I'm pretty he could do that too, if he wanted to." a third passenger chimed in. It wouldn't be long, before all of Equestria would be left wondering just who this mysterious new hero was, and where he would show up next.