//------------------------------// // Resolution // Story: Spike: The Dragon Princess // by IndiBrony //------------------------------// The ponies, humans and dragons decided to make their way out of the palace as the lake of fire churned below them. Princess Duciel, however, had other priorities. She dashed towards the last remaining crystal cage, containing one of Captain Espoir's men. "You." she called to grab his attention, "I shall release you on the condition you give up your Manifest Crystal. Do you comply?" she hurriedly asked. The immobilised dragon agreed through his stiffened body and strained vocal chords. Princess Duciel destroyed the cage and held out her claw to receive the crystal. "What is your name?" she wondered. "Sergeant Bonheur, ma'am." he replied, removing the crystal from his neck and handing it over to the Princess. "Thank you, Bonheur." she smiled, "Cadance; catch!" she yelled to the pink alicorn who was busy making her escape. The Manifest Crystal hurtled through the air to Cadance who caught it in her teeth. She swiftly slung it over her neck and continued to the exit. "Bonheur," Duciel continued, "we're going to save whoever we can up top. Those with the crystals will free those who are trapped; can I trust you to carry as many humans as you can to safety?" The Sergeant nodded in acknowledgement, "Of course, ma'am." he agreed. The two trailing dragons followed the group as they ran for the exit. Upon exit, Duciel immediately ran to the last remaining servant of the deceased Captain, "You there, what's your name?" she asked. The slightly panicked dragon stared down into the fiery abyss that continued to swell up the walls of the volcano. "Vacité" "Vacité. I'll release you, but you must give up your crystal. I want you to assist the others here in helping those who are alive above us to escape." The Princess swiftly dealt with the crystal prison as she spoke, but Vacité refused to give up his crystal, instead insisting on making his own escape. "Vacité!" the Princess bellowed, but Vacité refused to acknowledge the Princess' call and continued to make his way. The volcano trembled. The passage leading to the top and out of the volcano crumbled down and partially disappeared under the molten rocks below. Princess Duciel waved her arms frantically towards the flyers of the group, flagging them down for assistance. Damour, Bonheur, Princess Cadance and Twilight all swooped down to help by picking up Duciel, Angelica, Lydda and Spike and lifting them all to safety. "Vacité is getting away!" Duciel exclaimed, looking up to the escaping dragon. Damour took to the skies, "Leave it to me, Princess." he declared, shooting off in pursuit of the cowardly escapee. Duciel turned to the rest of the group. "Angelica, Cadance; free as many as you can! Free a dragon or two first so they can help Bonheur carry the Heroes to safety." "What should I do?" asked Twilight. Duciel pondered, but figured she had nowhere to fit Twilight in her plans, "Take Spike." she said, "There's a lake north-east of here, you'll be safe there. We'll carry those we rescue to the lake. Once we're done here, we'll rendezvous with you there." The purple alicorn was flustered about not being drafted to help, "I can help with the evacuation." she insisted, "I could help carry someone to safety." The dragon princess smiled, "Good, well you can start with getting Spike to safety." Twilight looked towards her little assistant, tilting her head towards him as a suggestion to get on. Spike was defiant, "But I want to help." he sighed. "I know, Spike, but there's nothing you can do here - you don't have the magic to help set anyone free and you're not big enough to carry anyone." she sighed, "I'm sorry. Come on, we'll get you to safety; I'll catch up with you soon, okay?" Twilight reassured him. The baby dragon frowned, accepting his position, and got on Twilight's back. The pair flew off towards the lake. The rest of the group battled on trying to free as many dragons and humans as possible. Duciel, Angelica and Cadance concentrated on freeing the prisoners whilst Bonheur and King Lydda reassured their respective citizens that there would be no more fighting, that they can trust one another and to help each other escape. Damour chased Vacité through the skies, pushing hard to catch his fellow Elite, and it wasn't too long before he'd caught up. The two tangled in the air, grappling each other and throwing punches as they plummeted to the ground. The two fought hard, but eventually released their grip of each other so as to not slam into the floor. They hovered in the sky, pondering each other's next move. "Give me that crystal!" Damour bellowed. "Never!" Vacité argued, "Why are you defying the orders of the Captain?" he questioned. "We may have taken orders from Espoir, but we serve the King, not the Captain!" "The King is dead!" Vacité exclaimed, reminding Damour of the events which had just taken place. "And what now? We let a child rule our land? It's pathetic. You're going soft, Damour, just like the royal family, and look where that has gotten them. Duciel will fall just like her father." Vacité predicted. "That won't happen." Damour insisted, "Once this is over, I shall protect her, but what's important now is that I get that crystal! There are still lives to be saved down there and I intend on helping any way I can!" Unfortunately for Damour, Vacité had other plans. He fired up the crystal, its blue aura shining as the magic gathered and fired forth a crystallised beam at Damour. "You're not taking the crystal!" Vacité reiterated, firing off more crystallised magic. Damour decided the best option was to retreat. Vacité continued to throw magic as Damour flew away, and promptly made his escape once he figured he had enough time. Meanwhile, the situation at the volcano had become dire. The sky was black and red, smoke poured from the mouth of the volcano. Lightning struck within the clouds, temporarily illuminating the scene. The volcano and the surrounding areas looked and smelled like a real life interpretation of Hell. Several explosions were heard from within the volcano as smoke and ash exploded from within, barrelling out and smashing into the mountainside by the dragons, humans and Princess Cadance who were all left desperately attempting to free as many prisoners as possible. Working against them, mother nature did her best to ensure the most possible damage would be done. Magma began spewing out from the mouth of the volcano and streamed down the sides towards the forest. Duciel, Cadance and Angelica frantically attempted to free more humans and dragons, but the flow of the lava drew closer with every passing second. Cadance was left facing a nameless human. She regretfully fluttered away from him as the lava teamed towards them. The last thing she saw of him was his face filled with fear and dread, and the last thing she heard of him were his screams, pleading her to help him escape. Unable to cope with her feelings of helplessness towards the situation, Cadance slammed her eyes shut and turned away, unable to watch his demise. She shed a tear as his screaming ceased under the roaring fires. Duciel was busy freeing a dragon from his crystal cage as the flames approached. As the dragon regained his ability to move, he quickly snatched the Princess and dragged her up into the sky to safety before the lava consumed them both. Angelica had just finished freeing a dragon from his encasement, "Please, save my father." Angelica pleaded, pointing towards him in the distance as he ran down the mountainside. The dragon flew off to save him, but Angelica opted to risk her life to save one final soul. Another dragon was the nearest helpless body. She darted towards him. His hopeless expression was briefly transformed into one of joy with his sudden expectations of being freed. Bonheur witnessed the human Princess and observed her recklessness, opting to swoop down and save her from almost certain death. He dove to the Princess' aid and dragged her away from the lava flow, but Angelica was defiant, believing she could save the dragon. She reached out to him as she was pulled away. "No!" she yelled, kicking and screaming as she watched the dragon's expectations disappear under the flowing molten rocks "Noooo!" she cried, "Let me go!" she barked, "I could have saved him!" she insisted, bellowing through her tears. "Get off me!" she repeated, trying to pry herself from Bonheur's grip. The dragon ignored her order, carrying her off towards the lake to rendezvous with the others. Across the eastern forest, a swarm of dragons could be seen flying towards the lake which provided the human settlement with fresh water. On their backs, each dragon carried three or four humans, and some carried as many as they could muster. Behind them raged the erupting volcano, firing lava, rocks and ash high into the air. The once relatively dormant volcano had now flooded the Dragon Realm. As the flowing lava reached the foot of the mountain, it began to torch the trees which ignited ferociously, their leaves disintegrating into thin air under a veil of intense red and orange flames. Duciel looked back expecting to feel a mixture of horror and sorrow, but the events had left her so emotionally drained that, for now, she felt very little; she could neither mourn her loss, nor feel fear surrounding the agonising end she'd just narrowly evaded. Ahead of them, the lake twinkled in the evening sun. The cloud of smoke and ash which entombed the Realm was not large enough to reach the lake, and the increasing winds were blowing the smoke the opposite way out towards Equestria. Twilight had settled with Spike down by the most open part of the lake. She flagged down the dragons as they approached, waving her arms in the direction of the most appropriate landing spots. The dragons fluttered down gently, depositing the humans on the soft mud and patches of gravel, rocks and pebbles which lined the lake. One by one, the dragons settled, and the humans wearily thanked them. There was still clear tension between the two opposing sides, but not enough to erupt into another bout of fighting. And so the scene was set: Spike, Twilight and Cadance in the middle of two opposing forces; on one side, the dragons stood in a rabble, glaring across to the humans, whilst on the other, the humans stood weapon-less glaring back at the dragons. Neither side cared enough to begin building bridges and unite the two sides. Princess Duciel and Bonheur, and King Lydda and his daughter Angelica were both dropped down in front of their respective factions. King Lydda took a particular disliking to Bonheur immediately, recognising him from the attacks on his village, and drew his sword. "You, there!" he called out, "You've tormented my people, you torched my village and you many have lost their husbands, wives and children because of you. I will slay you where you stand!" he bellowed, beginning his march towards the dragon. The ponies immediately flung themselves in the King's way, and his daughter Angelica tugged on his unarmed left hand, pleading him to withdraw. "No, father, don't!" she begged, "There's been enough death already;" she growled, "we needn't have more!" Angelica reasoned as the two pony princesses raised their magical defensive barriers against the King. "Your daughter's right, Lydda" Twilight agreed, "there's been enough loss over this. Bad blood leads to bad blood, so we need to come to a peaceful resolution, and we need to do it now." "Peace will be resorted once I have the head of that dragon above my mantle!" the King roared. "Father, I beg you; spare him." Angelica pleaded. "And allow him to live after he has mercilessly murdered so many? I won't allow it!" King Lydda defied his daughter's request. He turned his attention towards the Princesses, "Clear a path for me, ponies, lest you find yourselves on the end of my sword." Lydda warned as he gripped his sword in both hands, brought it up to the level of his face and charged at Bonheur. Twilight and Cadance attempted to deflect the blow. However, Lydda's strength and dexterity proved a fair match for the powers of the Princesses; his sword withstanding the forces placed upon it by his swings against the ponies' defensive magic, the King eventually found his way through the barrier. He lifted his sword behind his head in preparation for the fatal blow dealt to Bonheur, but that would not come to pass as he suddenly felt an immense weight over him. His sword dragged him to the floor. As it slammed onto the ground, the King twisted and contorted his body around without releasing his grip on his weapon to find it encased in blackened crystal. His eyes followed the direction of his sword along the ground until his gaze met with the feet of the culprit who had sabotaged his attempts at ending the conflict. In front of him stood his dear Angelica, holding the Manifest Crystal in her hands, "Angelica!" he bellowed. The Princess wasted no time, powering up the crystal and firing a small crystallised beam, locking her father's hands together. He immediately dropped his sword, the weight of the crystals pulling him down to his knees. "I told you father; no more. We'll settle this peacefully, for the good of all our races." Angelica smiled towards Duciel before turning to address the crowds, "Here me when I say we shall settle our differences and learn to coexist with one another. No more will blood be spilled between our species, but bridges built and bonds created to lead us all into a brighter future." As her words began to settle the tension between the crowds, Angelica turned to the ponies. "I thank you for your efforts here." she grinned, "Without your help, I fear things may have not turned out so well." Twilight frowned, "But we didn't really do anything." Angelica shook her head, "You did more than you know. When someone is in turmoil, sometimes there is nothing you can do. At times like these, simply being there can help immensely, and you all saw this dire situation through to the end; many others would turn away. It takes a much bigger person to stand up and fight for someone else's cause. I thank you." "In that case, you're welcome. I think there are some things we need to work out between your kind and Equestria, too. Come and visit us some time." The purple Princess pony suggested. At that moment, Twilight felt a tingle in her flank. She looked around to find her cutie mark glowing. Like her friends before, she noted this as a sign that her task was complete. Spike smiled with glee, "That's it, Twilight, we did it!" he beamed. Twilight embraced Spike, "You're right. I think our work here is done." she grinned, lowering a wing as a suggestion to Spike to hop on her back. Once mounted, she turned to Princess Duciel, "That sentiment is extended to you, too, Princess Duciel. I look forward to a more pleasant future between humans, ponies and dragons alike, and you seem like the perfect Princess to lead the way." "I'll come visit, I promise." Duciel smirked gleefully. Twilight and Cadance nodded to each other, spread their wings and soared away, leaving behind the two tribes to their business. Twilight still felt like she could have done more, and was saddened by a lot of the events which had taken place, but she sincerely hoped with Princess Duciel and Princess Angelica overlooking their respective peoples that brighter days were to come for everyone involved, and for that she couldn't be happier. The end.