Spike stretched his wings, letting his glide fall a little bit as he did. The afternoon sun warmed his scales pleasantly as he circled lazily through the sky. Adrenaline fueled stunt flights were exciting, but in Spike’s mind nothing beat a nice glide through a warm summer sky. Spike pushed a claw out in front of him, letting stiff muscles along his back stretch pleasantly. His neck twisted like a snake until a satisfying series of pops worked its way through his spine.
“Ahh,” Spike sighed pleasantly.
A ragged cadence of hoofbeats below him drew Spike’s attention back to the ground.
His squire galloped below him, his armor bobbed heavily and his head was bowed in exhaustion and sweat pouring off of him. Spike chuckled to himself ruefully. Galloping a circuit around Ponyville twice would have left anypony winded but Spike had to say that he was impressed with his little knight-to-be. Spike slowly circled down to land while Star flopped on the ground and panted.
Once he had landed Spike approached the stallion with a smirk on his face. “Are you ready for lap three?”
Spike couldn’t help but laugh as the stallion struggled to his hooves in his cumbersome armor.
“I’m kidding,” Spike said as he reached out and took a hold of Star. “I’ll show you the best place to cool off after a workout.”
Star gave a halfhearted protest that was lost in Spike’s wingbeats as he took off. As they landed beside a small pond Star couldn’t tell if it was that his body was so very overworked or the sheer terror at being carried through the sky by a dragon who may drop him as a joke that made his legs tremble so badly he couldn’t stand and his stomach do uncomfortable flips inside of him.
His canteen slid to a stop on the grass in front of him with water audibly sloshing inside.
“You have an hour to do whatever you want,” Spike said “But that armor has to be cleaned and put away before you can swim.”
Spike idly played with a few sprigs of long grass as he watched his squire. Star gulped down the water in the canteen, draining at least half of it before pausing to take a breath. Spike chuckled quietly to himself, his squire was not one for moderation. Whatever he did he gave himself completely to. That drive would take him far in life.
That near obsessive nature was something Spike had grown up around. Princess Shimmer had wanted a replacement for Shining Armor, but she only knew him as the strong prince who stood tall in defence of his empire. To Spike Shiny would always be the nerd who loved playing the paladin.
Spike barely kept himself from laughing out loud. His gangly squire with an oversized sword had more in common with Prince Shining Armor than any noblepony ever would. Once Spike was done with him he would look and act the part. Star set to removing and polishing his armor and once again Spike was reminded of Shiny.
The day he had come home from boot camp he was nearly a stranger to Spike. His usually shaggy mane was cropped so close he was nearly bald. He sat straight as a rail at the dinner table, calling his parents ma’am and sir, even going so far as to help with the dishes after. After bedtime Spike had snuck out of Twilight’s room, intent on finding out more about this BBBFF she spoke so highly of. He found Shiny polishing his helmet with the same intense scowl that Star now wore.
Shiny had jumped when he finally noticed Spike standing in his doorway. After a startled greeting Shiny invited Spike to sit beside him on the bed while he worked. For a few minutes the young dragon had looked on in silent wonder as Shining Armor worked away. In a moment of curiosity Spike had grabbed at the oil soaked cloth, to his wide eyed wonder it had left his claws gleaming brightly in the light of Shiny’s bedside lamp.
“You want me to show you how to really polish your scales up?” Shining Armor had asked with a kindly chuckle.
Spike shook his head to clear the memory. He swung his neck around to hover over his squire, still scrubbing furiously away at his helmet.
“Here,” Spike said as he grabbed a spare cloth and a piece of armor. “Move the cloth in circles, it keeps you from getting those lines in it.”
Spike held up the freshly polished piece of armor for Star to see, admiring his reflection in its mirrored surface as he did. Spike wondered if this was how Princess Celestia had seen him when she had chosen to send Star to him, as a mirror, reflecting back the knowledge that had been shown to him.
“Hey did I ever tell you about the prince?” Spike idly asked Star.
“Which prince?” Star asked.
Spike angled the piece of armor so that it caught the sun’s light and reflected it right into his squire’s eye. “Shining Armor of course,” Spike said, laughing at his own joke.
The ornate crystal doors came to a close, allowing Princess Shimmering Heart a moment to compose herself before the next petitioners. She made her way down the raised dais and gave her wings a few flaps to loosen them up and get the blood flowing properly again. after a quick circuit of the throne to stretch her legs she gave the guard by the door a nod.
The large doors swung soundlessly open on well-oiled hinges, revealing a unicorn mare and her two children. The mare was hovering over the colt attacking his mane with a spray bottle and a brush. The little colt endured his mother’s ministrations with a displeased pout.
The filly, who seemed a few years older than the colt, gave a startled squeak as the doors opened and set about trying to get her mother’s attention.
“Mom,” She said.
“Just a minute honey,” Her mother said absently as she worked, “I need to get Shiny’s mane presentable for the princess.”
Mom,” the filly said tapping her mother on the shoulder.
“I said just a minute Gleaming.”
“But mom…”
“...I told you to wait young lady! Now if you had helped your brother with his mane this morning like I told you, you wouldn’t be waiting.”
Shimmer cleared her throat, gently alerting the mare to her presence.
The mare gave a surprised gasp. She quickly stowed the brush and spray bottle before ushering her two foals forward with her. When they had reached the throne she pushed her foals into a deep bow. Shimmer covered her mouth with a hoof to hide her adoring smile. The colt’s orange mane dripped with the water his mother had been attacking it with and while the front half of it was slicked down and neatly put into place and parted around his yellow horn the back half as well as his tail was an unruly mop of hair sticking out in all directions.
The filly’s simple if somewhat short blue mane fell nearly to her pale grey shoulder with only a hint of curl at its end. The mother’s blonde mane sat atop her head in a somewhat frazzled bun. Her brown coat too was affected by the slight, almost imperceptible, disorder that children brought to everything around them. In short they were three quarters of a happy and healthy, if somewhat overworked, family.
“Rise,” Shimmer said as she schooled her face into a more restrained smile.
“Good morning your highness,” the mare said with another shallow nod, “My name is Home Front these are my foals Gleaming Shield” -the filly gave a short curtsy- “and Shining Armor.”
The colt looked away with a stubborn pout and Shimmer could just barely hear a mumbled “I’m not a foal”.
“Good morning Mrs. Front,” Shimmer said trying to keep from laughing at the not-a-foal’s antics. “If I remember correctly you are reporting a dangerous cave within the city.”
“Yes Highness. We live in the southwest quarter and just inside the Shield there is a cave that somepony can’t keep from playing in.”
Shimmer looked at the two foals, the filly looked smugly down at her younger brother and Shimmer could swear she heard hes sing-songing “You’re getting in trouble” Over and over again.
“Two someponies.” Home Front said shooting what Shimmer guessed was a stern glare back at the two foals.
Home Front turned back to Shimmer with a somewhat embarrassed smile. “Normally my husband and I wouldn’t turn to the crown for something like this but I finally got it out of them that they saw a monster the last time they were there. I’m sure it was nothing more than a pest and an overactive imagination but I’m asking that the cave be sealed off just in case.”
“It wasn’t a rat it was a dragon!” Shining Armor said indignantly.
Home Front turned back on the poor colt. “Shining!” she said in a harsh whisper, “You are embarrassing me in front of the princess now stop it!”
Home Front once again turned to Shimmer with an even more embarrassed look in her face. “I’m sorry your highness, Ever since the Great and Noble Spike the Brave and Glorious came through town every shadow that moves is a dragon. Night Watch has been meaning to talk to him about it but his shifts don’t make a lot of time to talk.”
“I’m sorry,” Shimmer said, “I know being a guard’s wife can be difficult and being a night guard’s wife can be doubly so. Would you mind if I spoke to Shining Armor for a moment?”
“I would be grateful.”
Home Front gently brought the colt forward and Shimmer put on her best disarming smile. All his stubborn sullenness gave way to nervousness as he looked up the imposing throne with wide eyes.
“Hello my little pony,” Shimmer said gently, “I would like to talk to you about my friend Spike.”
“The dragon?” the colt asked.
“Yes , Spike The Dragon. Did you know that his last name is actually ‘The Dragon’?”
“That’s silly,” The colt giggled.
“Well Spike is a very silly dragon. Did your parents ever tell you about Princess Twilight Sparkle?”
“Her and her friends helped save everypony like a zillion times!”
“They did, but did you know that Princess Twilight also hatched Spike’s egg.”
“But wouldn’t sitting on an egg that big hurt?”
It was all Shimmer could do to keep her laughter to a restrained giggle. “It would but she didn’t hatch Spike that way, she hatched him with magic.”
The colt’s eyes grew big in amazement. “That must have been a lot of magic!”
“It was a lot of magic, and Princess Twilight was a very magical pony, but do you know what else she was?”
“What was she?”
“She was Spike’s friend. He knew all those ponies from all those stories and he was friends with all of them, but now they’re gone. Spike might look big and scary but really he - he just wants some friends, and I bet that if you wrote him a letter and asked him he would want to be friends with you too.”
“Really?!” the colt asked hopping excitedly.
“Really.”
“Maybe he could chase out the scary dragon and we could play in the cave again!”
Shimmer almost mirrored Home Front’s frustrated groan at the comment. “Two things,” she began patiently, “You and your sister are not to play in that cave any longer. I don’t want any of my little ponies getting hurt someplace where they are too far away to call for help. Now what is this scary dragon you’re talking about?”
The poor colt visibly shrank and shivered in fear. “It was in the cave last time I went in there. He was black and mean with teeth that were too big for his mouth to close so he was always drooling. He chased me out of the cave but once he got into the sun he stopped being a dragon. It was like he melted but what he melted into was still pitch black.”
Shimmer descended the throne and wrapped a wing around the trembling colt. “Spike is all the way in Equestria still but I happen to be very good at chasing away dragons. Do you want me to come and chase away the scary dragon for you?”
“Yes please.”
“You have to promise that you won’t go into that cave anymore.”
“I promise.”
Princess Cadence had insisted that Shimmer get her start in much the same way she did, babysitting. She had never stayed with a family permanently like Cadence had hoped (maybe one with a cute older brother *nudge nudge*). She had picked up several important skills in dealing with difficult ponies but she had also found that she was excellent at chasing monsters out of closets and out from under beds. Now that she was a full princess in her own right her tools had gotten much better than a mean face.
Her attendants buzzed around her like a swarm of bees buckling plate after plate of her armor on. The defensive enchantments buzzed as they searched for the pieces that were yet to be put on her. Shimmer knew each and every one of them. Princess Luna had had her cast each one of them over and over again until even in the heat of combat replacing them was second nature.
The armor was pristine. Aside from a few full contact sparring matches it had never seen any use, and now it would be nothing more than a set piece in the grand drama of Princess Shimmering Heart versus the big scary dragon that lives in the cave. Princess Luna had shown herself to be something of a living contradiction when Shimmer had studied under her. She insisted that rules and decorum be learned and abided right up until she broke them herself and although she her views on maintaining one’s equipment were absolute she would be donning her armor alongside shimmer to fight off the monster.
The attendants gave Shimmer a questioning look as she laughed to herself. Luna would scuff and ding their armor in the cave and come out with a grand tale of a well fought battle. One that would only grow grander and more elaborate with each telling. To any adult the fiction would be obvious but Luna never concerned herself with what adults thought of her. One of the poorer kept secrets of Canterlot Castle was that Luna adored children of any kind and often caused more trouble while watching them than any unsupervised foal could dream of.
Shimmer closed her eyes as her helmet was lowered over her horn. Once it was in place the enchantments came to full power with a satisfying humm. Enclosed within this armor she was all but untouchable from any attack, be it physical, magical, or otherwise. The armor would keep her alive and well no matter what.
She briefly considered parading through the city and advertising her grand quest to chase monsters from under the bed but decided against embarrassing the poor family so. Outside of her bedchamber Home Front and her two foals waited along with a sleepy eyed, dark coated stallion.
“Princess,” He said as he jumped to attention and saluted her.
“At ease Night Watch. You’re off duty and with your family.”
He let his posture relax with a quick nod.
“Come closer,” Shimmer said, gesturing with her wings, “I’ll teleport us to the cave.”
In a flash of magic they were outside near the edge of the Crystal Heart’s shield. Cheery blue skies vaulted upwards and green fields stretched around them until the outer buildings of the city proper.
At the base of a small grass-covered hill was a rocky cave opening. Shimmer looked doubtfully at the opening. Anything larger than a foal would find it nearly impossible to fit through the opening. With a frown Shimmer ignited her horn. The cave would be sealed off anyway, enlarging the opening wouldn’t do any harm.
A small pile of rubble floated out and deposited itself in a neat pile. With a satisfied nod Shimmer summoned an orb of light and made her way into the cave.
Shimmer had never been a fan of tight places but the cave seemed designed to encourage claustrophobia. The walls were constantly brushing against either wing and making every Pegasus instinct within Shimmer scream for her to get someplace open, someplace with sky. With a sigh Shimmer pressed onward. Her armor was great for putting on a show but in the tight passage it was bulky and cumbersome. If the colt saw a dragon then surely there must be a place wide enough to turn around further on and so Shimmer pressed on until she came to an open place. It wasn’t that she came to a cavern or a noticeable opening of the cave, the ever-present scrapes against her wings simply stopped.
Turning her head one way and then the other Shimmer saw only blackness. She frowned pumping more power into her light spell. She should easily be able to see the walls of a cavern of any size but the darkness around her seemed to thicken and fight back against the light.
“You are afraid.” The voice seemed to come from all around her at once. It was not loud, but deep and thrumming.
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“You are not,” the voice agreed. “You do not fear death as does a fool or a foal but you are afraid.”
Shimmer gave a frustrated sigh. This encounter was quickly testing her nerves. “Fine then, what am I afraid of.”
There was a breathy chuckle. “What do the wise know to fear? One was afraid that she would be outshone by her brighter sister. She was afraid that while her sister was the light of every filly and foal’s dreams she was the lesser light of their nightmares. There was another, a stallion who had been trusted with much. He feared that he would fall and fail. There have been countless others each of them were afraid of the same thing you are afraid of. That you have fooled yourself, that the few you do call friend do not truly call you the same, that you will fail and when you do you will find that you are and always have been alone.”
Shimmer resisted the urge to groan as she rolled her eyes. “Alright mister ‘you are afraid’ or whoever you are I’m going to have to ask you to leave my Empire right now.”
as the dark voice chuckled Shimmer overcharged her light spell so that it would burn away the darkness around her and let it loose. Even through closed eyelids the light was blinding but when Shimmer had rubbed away the spots from her vision and relit the cavern the same pressing darkness was all around her.
“Hope is such an amusing concept,” The voice laughed contemptuously. “You ponies always believe that the light will chase out the darkness but what happens when the darkness can fight back?”
Shimmer felt a strange phantasmal pressure as the sphere of horn light around her shrank in. Black tendrils reached at her from all angles going for seams in her armor. Enchantments buzzed angrily as they burned away the invading magic.
“What are you supposed to be anyway?” Shimmer asked through gritted teeth as she struggled against the darkness around her.
“Very well little princess,” the voice laughed. With each word the darkness pressed in on Shimmer threatening to suffocate her, “I am the darkness that turned Luna into Nightmare moon. I am the shadow that made Sombra into a tyrant king. I am Corruption.”
Shimmer clenched her eyes and pressed back against the darkness around her. Her armor glowed with the weight of magic being channeled through it and the light crystal plates shook violently as they quickly came to the limit of power they could channel.
“If you’re supposed to be corruption,” Shimmer grunted, “then why do you care so much about what I’m afraid of?”
“Oh my dear.” The darkness pressed in on Shimmer with redoubled force and slowly the alicorn’s magic began to recede. “What corrupts half so well as fear?”
Shimmer gasped for breath as she strained against the suffocating darkness around her. She pushed back, desperate to simply get room to breathe. With sharp ‘pop’s some of the plates in her armor exploded and released the magic forced into them. Shimmer gave a shout of pain as a shard buried itself in one of her legs. The leg gave out beneath her and Shimmer looked desperately back over her shoulder for a way out.
The choking darkness around her shifted and just for a moment Shimmer caught a glimpse of sunlight streaming into the cave. With a shout Shimmer forced the last of her magic out. Almost every piece of her armor exploded, sending tiny crystal shards into her coat. The black mist around her retreated for a bare moment at the force of the magic.
Shimmer sprinted for the gap, stumbling on bloody and weakened legs as she ran. The black mist was quick to recover and soon came flowing into the narrow passage behind her. Only a few steps away from the exit it began to catch up with her. The ponies outside gave a collective gasp as their bloodied princess wrestled her way out of the cave with a thick cloud of black mist around her.
Night Watched was at her side in a flash. Shimmer could just barely see the guard’s concerned face through her narrowing vision.
“Equestria,” She fought to say as she felt Corruption's grip clamping down on her mind, “Luna. Get help.”
Night Watch saw his princess’s eyes clench shut in strain and gasped in horror when they opened again. A slitted green pupil glared at him with disdain.
“Unhand your empress fool!” She spat. Shimmer gave a shout of pain as she fell to the ground. As Night Watch reached down to help her back to her hooves Shimmer lept up and sprinted past him without a word. Her wings shout out to give some stability to her broken, stumbling gait before she simply took to the air flying straight outside the Shield.
The harsh winter storm that raged outside the shield sent Shimmer into a painful crash almost immediately. The ungainly heap of limbs and feathers rose slowly up into the air. Black mist once again swirled around her and as it closed around her she gave one last desperate look to her subjects inside the Crystal Heart’s shield.
Night Watch galloped to the edge of the shield but by the time he even came near his fallen princess it was too late. from the bubble of darkness a mare stepped out. She stood as tall as Princess Luna with a coat as black as night and her mane hung in pale, bone white locks from her neck.
The dark creature that was once Princess Shimmering Heart regarded the shield before her with a cruel grin. “Faol,” she said to herself, “Now my subjects must endure a siege rather than a coup.”
“There were six of us.”
In general Spike was always happy to see Princess Luna. She was one of his oldest friends and he had come to enjoy the playful banter between them immensely. In a single sentence all the happiness he felt at seeing her was dried up into frustration.
“Can we not,” Spike said with a heavy sigh.
“Spike the subject will not be avoided forever and sooner is preferable to later.”
Spike snorted a small cloud of smoke that glowed orange in the light of the setting sun. “Or what, the townsponies will keep being nervous around me? I’m a dragon, Princess. Some things are just a part of biology.”
“This is not only about you, Spike. You are only the tip of the iceberg and this fear that is Spreading throughout Equestria threatens to tear us apart. The nation, my nation needs heroes if for nothing more than to reassure them.”
“I had never regretted my vows,” Spike said refusing to meet the princesses eye, “It had always been my pleasure to serve and now it was my duty. I wanted to show everypony that a dragon could be good. I wanted to show myself that a dragon could have a place in Equestria. But if time finally taking six mares who lived rich, full lives is enough to send ponies running for their ballistas...It becomes easy to doubt.”
“Cowards will run before they even know what from. At the merest shadow of danger they will fly as fast and as far as they are able. Such cowardice is beneath our contempt but their lives are ours to protect. That, Sir Spike of Equestria, is your sworn duty. Your place is between them and danger. In that there is no room for doubt.”
Spike huffed a small cloud of smoke through his nostrils. “Come in then. No use arguing outside when we could be inside.”
“Go,” Princess Luna said. “I will meet you inside. It is almost time.”
Spike took the opportunity to go into his cave and straighten up. His sitting area was nothing more than a pile of cushions and pillows and would never really look orderly. The best he could do was to pile them all together so that it at least seemed picked up. He had done much more to prepare for guests and his kitchen was actually stocked enough to make a meal for somepony that didn’t eat gemstones. His counter was decorated with a pink vase that had a few lily blossoms in it. Spike briefly considered plucking one for the princess to put behind her ear but that would have been far too forward.
Spike may have boasted close ties with royalty from Equestria and beyond but that only made him more aware of where the bounds of friendship ended and station began.
Even from outside the cave Spike could feel the surge of the princess’s magic as she rose the moon. Princess Celestia’s magic had felt something like an intense sunburn to Spike when she was on his back but Princess Luna’s was different. Through the insulating walls of his cave it had a much lighter touch. If Spike had not known that she was outside raising the moon he would not have even noticed it. It was an almost tickling cool feeling across his scales that reminded Spike of sliding into a bed of luxurious silk sheets.
As the feeling of Princess una’s magic slowly faded away Spike couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to be nearer her when she raised the moon. Would the soft feeling of coolness slowly grow warm as if there were somepony sharing that silken bed? Spike settled onto his stomach in the sitting room and shook his head to clear his thoughts. A flower was too forward these thoughts were simply inappropriate.
The night Princess made her way into the room. A few cushions floated from the pile and fluffed themselves beside him.
“You are loyalty,” She said.
Spike growled. “Princess there are six hundred possible combinations that don’t involve me being loyalty. If we have to have this conversation can we at least start with one of them.”
“Six hundred, truly?”
“Assuming there are six bearers and no repeats, yeah. It’s just some simple statistics.”
“Why wouldn’t there be six bearers?”
Spike gave a toothy grin. “The average is four and systems usually trend towards the mean. We really should be asking who has two.”
The princess looked away. “What if you were magic?”
Spike gave a snort of laughter. “You mean friendship? That’s preposterous.”
Princess Luna rolled her eyes. “That has been a rather inconvenient translation oddity from the language of The Ancients. They saw no difference between the magic they wielded and the relationships that powered it. Assumptions and context were the only differences between the words magic and friendship in many translated texts. Be thankful that they are not the Elements of Perfect Fifths.”
Spike brought a claw up to scratch his chin. “I don’t know. The girls were involved with a lot of spontanious musical numbers and I feel like I could pull off a mean Key of B-flat Major.”
Princess Luna giggled. “You are terrible,” she said.
“Aww, now I’m feeling all diminished.”
The Princess swatted Spike’s shoulder playfully as the two laughed. After the laughter had dried up and a few moments of silence had passed she spoke again, “Why is it so preposterous for you to bear Friendship, or any of them for that matter? You seem resistant to the very idea.”
“That’s a...sensitive topic.”
“It will grow no less sensitive as you guard it Spike.” Luna craned her neck to catch Spike’s eye but his head turned away from her’s.
She sighed. “The average is three. My sister once had to wield them alone and to this day I expect some vestige of my former self in every nightmare I calm. I know what it is to be feared but you must believe that you have done nothing to earn the fear some ponies will have for you.”
The Princess leaned in closer. She could hear Spike’s heart hammering inside his chest but she could see no sign that he had heard her.
“We have known each other for more than a century. I have considered you a friend for longer than most ponies live. I watched you stand by your friends for all their lives. You were steadfast and true in your devotion to them. You were always ready to lend a claw and a smile. You hate the idea but you have shown more loyalty than anypony I can think of.”
Princess Luna gave a start as Spike rose sharply to his feet. The question of what he was doing died on her lips. He was out of the cave before she could utter a single word.
She followed after him. She could see the muted green glow of dragonfire through clenched teeth ahead of her and she could hear Spike crashing through what remained of the underbrush around his cave.
“Spike!” She called out. He kept going, only slowing for the denser growth away from the fire damage.
Nearly on him Princess Luna called out again, “Spike, wait!”
He pressed on uprooting smaller trees and tearing vines that got in his way. She easily caught up and was beside him.
“Please Spike.”
He turned to her, each huff of breath sent out a billow of fire that illuminated his tearstained face. He uprooted a sapling with one claw, throwing it past the princess and down his path of destruction as he drew in a deep breath.
Long and loud, Spike’s roar split the night fading to a growl at the end. To her credit Luna did not flinch. A half dozen spells around Spike’s neck ensured that if he made any more of a threat he would not be able to follow through but Luna did not flinch.
“You don’t get it do you? I am not a pony! I spent the better part of a lifetime trying to convince myself I was; that I could be a part of everything around me instead of looking from the sidelines, but I can’t. I can only hole up in my cave with what few friends that aren’t afraid of me and hope. Hope that I’m not really a dragon either, hope that the beast inside doesn’t come out, hope that I don’t fall to the same bestial greed that made my parents leave an unhatched egg to be found by ponies. Because I don’t get to be a dragon. I don’t get to smash eggs and eat other animals because instead of leaving me to the wild to live as another animal Princess Celestia gave me to the smartest and most caring pony she knew.
“I don’t get to be a dumb animal because Twilight taught me better and I don’t get to have loyalty because I never had a choice. Rainbow was so talented, she could have made a living for herself anywhere, she could have been famous as the youngest wonderbolt captain ever by the time you came back, but instead she chose to come to Ponyville and look after Fluttershy because she thought she needed her. At every turn she could have chosen to run away and leave us and she would have gotten away but she didn’t, she chose to stay.
“I never had a choice. It was taken from me when my parents abandoned my egg, when ponies found it, when Twilight hatched it, when Celestia didn’t put me in the garden with the rest of the animals. I tried going with the other dragons but it was less than a day before I couldn’t stand the stupid uncaring beasts. I tried living on my own but it wasn’t an hour before I realized that friendship is addictive, I needed it.
“So I went back to my place at Twilight’s side, the only place I had. Tell me where, in all of that, did I ever choose to be loyal? Where did I ever choose anything? Rainbow was loyal because she had a choice; I was loyal because I didn’t. So now you ask me, something that doesn’t get to be a dragon, not just to hold on to but to own one of the most valuable and powerful artifacts ever.
“You only remind me of what a dragon’s greed can do, how dangerous I am to everypony around me, that I never get to be one of the six, only a seventh hanger on, on the outside looking in. There were six of us but there were only five of you.
“You only rub salt in the wound that is the fact that I will never fit in.”
The Princess’s hoof struck Spike’s cheek with enough force to rattle his jaw and leave his ears ringing. Spike turned back to see Princess Luna, her hoof still raised and fresh tears glimmering in her moonlit eyes.
“Princess, I-“
“Art thou truly so stupid as to believe that? Then allow me to give you a choice Spike, in fact I insist,” her horn glowed white and magic began reshaping the dragon. Scales hard enough to turn any attack became soft fur, fangs sharp enough to pierce diamond turned to dull molars, a dragon that towered over the Night Princess turned to an earth pony stallion a head shorter than her. “Now you can choose. Permanence is an easy spell. Any mage of skill can make your new form last a lifetime, long enough for it to die of old age.
“The choice should be easy if you truly believe that you do not belong, that I do not- That I am not your friend. Choose, Spike.”
For the first time in a long time Spike looked up at the pony before him. She regarded him with a glare that demanded answers but Spike had known her long enough to see the nervousness underneath, to see that it was more than anger that colored her cheeks even as a single tear fell down them.
“Luna,” he said bringing a claw-made-hoof up to her shoulder, “how can I choose to be anypony, anydragon, anything but me?” She wrapped Spike in a stiff embrace. It had been ages since she hugged one of her subjects and he, in a borrowed body, could only awkwardly return the gesture as he spoke, “I am happy with what I am, it took me a while but I’ve finally accepted that I won’t get to have a family or settle down. That I’m going to watch generation after generation come and go and I’ll never really get to be a part of that. When they try and draw me in, make me a pony in all but body I have to draw that conclusion all over again and it hurts and frustrates me.
“I’m sorry, Princess. I shouldn’t have lost my temper, at you most of all. You watched me when I couldn’t look at my reflection without gagging and you still are okay with me. I just need a break from all this.”
Princess Luna pulled back from the embrace and looked Spike in the eye. “Very well,” She said as her form glowed white and shrunk down, “For tonight we will pretend that you are not a dragon and I am not a princess.”
Spike could only smile at the blue pegasus with a pale blue mane and tail before him.
She delicately proffered a hoof to Spike and spoke in a voice much less regal but still refined, “Sir Spike, you may escort me to Ponyville. I believe it is past time we had our evening meal.”
“Yes m’lady,” Spike said with a smile as he took her hoof in his and began making his way towards the well-worn track to Ponyville.
The two walked slowly down the path in a companionable silence, listening to the nighttime songs of the Everfree. As they walked they drew closer together and by the time they caught sight of Ponyville they were leaning gently into each other. Spike was tempted to slow down until they had stopped and spend the rest of the night just standing with each other. It had been a very long time since he had felt the warmth of a pony beside him.
Seeming to share his idea Luna slowed her pace and rested her head on his shoulder. Spike smiled down gently at her. As the Night Princess she was undeniably beautiful but this form had its own appeal. It wasn’t in the mystery and power her other form held it was in the lack of it. She seemed trusting, guileless, and… vulnerable.
A loud gurgle from Spike’s stomach ended that train of thought and brought a snicker from the mare beside him. Spike was thankful it gave a good excuse for the blush creeping up on his cheeks.
“Best not to keep the brave knight from going hungry,” Princess Luna laughed.
The two resumed their original pace and for the rest of the walk kept a bit of distance between them. She was still close enough that Spike felt the warmth coming off of her but part of him still longed to feel her side against his, her head resting on his shoulder.
Once they reached Ponyville the rest of the night passed as a blur. Electric lights had been strung all across town square and open air restaurants buzzed with warm chatter. Spike remembered sharing jokes over dinner and laughing so hard his sides hurt. He remembered staying in the arcade passed closing and getting good naturedly kicked out by the aging proprietor. He remembered finding a dance floor still lit by the yellow glow of the lights. He remembered Princess Luna and him laughing together as they stumbled over one another and held onto each other to keep from falling.
As dawn turned the east a soft blue they sat together on the hill overlooking Sweet Apple Acres. As the predawn chill nipped at them they edged closer and closer until they leaning into each other as they were in the Everfree. Princess Luna’s head came to rest on Spike’s shoulder and for a few minutes Spike could not think of any way for him to be happier.
“If I were not a princess and you were not a dragon, how would you end this night?” Luna asked softly from Spike’s shoulder.
Spike swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat and fought back the blush on his cheeks. “I-I think I might kiss you,” he said turning to the mare at his side.
She opened her eyes and brought her face mere inches away from his. “I think,” she said, “I think I might like to be kissed by you.”
The two leaned in, slowly closing the distance between them. Their foreheads pressed softly against each other and their muzzle’s drew together but they both paused with their lips only a hairsbreadth away.
Dawn broke softly over the hilltop. The soft warm feeling of her against him was all Spike knew, even as the spell around him began to unravel without another to hold it in place. As his body expanded he shifted on the hilltop. Even as it grew and became scaly once more his now-scaly muzzle seemed to be locked in place by the soft pressure of hers and their lips still only a hairsbreadth away.
After what seemed like an eternity Spike opened his eyes. Gone were the cute pegasus mare and the purple earth pony and returned were the princess and dragon. With a scarlet blush that Spike knew matched his own Luna spoke, “Spike I must confess I share your frustrations and misgivings. I feel that I have benefitted from this night more than you could have. Thank you.”
With that she leaned in and gave Spike a light kiss on the cheek then turned around and flew away.
Spike watched her go as his claw came up to his cheek and a goofy grin drew itself on his face.
“I may never wash this cheek again.”