//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eight: A Field of Gold Flowers 
// Story: Dragon's Fate 
// by pokefreak13 
//------------------------------//

"...and this here is a katana which is primarily used for...Spike, are you listening?" Shining Armor asked while gently setting the sword back into a smooth bamboo sheath.

After sending out the letter to Queen Rarity, Blueblood had Caramel and Twilight keeping tabs on where Sunset Shimmer was in case the mayor decided to give her a visit. That left him, Shining Armor, and Spike to hold down their campsite until they received a reply from the queen.

"Hm? Sorry Shining, I just have a lot on my mind." Spike replied in a monotone voice.

Shining Armor let out a sigh, "If what you told us is true, then it's only natural you'd worry about this Sunset's safety. But don't worry, Commander Blueblood's plans always work. Once we get that letter, we'll go straight to Sunset Shimmer and hopefully arrest that coward of a mayor."

Spike fell onto his back and gazed up at the cloudless sky. "I know...it's just, I can't not worry about her safety. And having to stay here isn't helping."

Shining Armor stood up, his joints releasing a soft cracking noise. "Don't worry. He may not look like it, but Caramel is the best trackers I know. Plus, with his deadly knife skills and your friend's magical abilities, if this mayor did decide to hurt Sunset, well, he better watch out."

This caused Spike to give a small grin, "Yeah, I hope you're right."


  
"Ah see light up ahead, move it." Caramel whispered to Twilight before cantering off in the direction of a ghastly light blue glow, Twilight following close behind.

As they moved, Twilight couldn't help but get a little sweaty. This will be the first time she ever saw this elusive Harvest Alicorn, and she wanted to make a good impression. Plus, this mare was supposedly an alicorn at a very young age. Which means she must know tons of useful spells, spells that Twilight was itching to learn.

Soon the trees broke away, revealing a large grotto covered in flowers. In the middle was a small wooden shack that has grape vines snaking up and down the structure creating extravagant swirls and loops. A little off to the left was a stone well, and off to the right was the biggest garden Twilight ever saw. All sorts of veggies from carrots to corn grew in giant bundles, and fruit from velvet red apples to sunset oranges hung from about a dozen or so fruit trees, creating an overwhelming fruity scent.  

"She ain't called ta Harvest Alicorn for nothing." Caramel gasped while licking his lips.

Twilight breathed in the fruity air and sighed dreamily. However, a small part of her couldn't help but be a little bit jealous. If the Harvest Alicorn can make food grow in great bundles, and Luna can raise the moon, then what was the Galaxy Alicorn expose to do? She can't control the stars since they come out along with the moon, so what was the Galaxy Alicorn's purpose? Maybe when they got back she could ask Queen Rarity, that is if Fancy Pants will allow her.

"Equestria ta Twilight, look." Caramel whispered while nudging Twilight with a bit more force then she liked. Twilight gave him a quick glare before returning her focus on the scene before them.

Sunset Shimmer was trotting towards her home, but was suddenly stopped by Mayor Claude who came through her front door. Quickly, Twilight put up a small teleportation spell and the two eavesdroppers found themselves a few hooves away from Sunset and Claude, but they were luckily taking cover behind a few bushes.

"What do you mean? Sure Blueblood was a little weird, but Spike was really nice," Sunset exclaimed.

Claude shook his head and wrapped a hoof around Sunset's shoulders. "Don't be played as a fool, my dear. Those two want to hurt our wonderful town. Not only that, but they also want to hurt you."

Sunset's eyes lowered to the ground and she began to shake. "But..Sp-Spike was so nice."

"Dragons only care about gold, my dear. They will lie and cheat their way to the top. Have you learned nothing from the history books?"

Sunset took in a shaky breath. Of course she's read Baltimare's history books numerous times. They were written by some of the most well known historians in Equestria so of course they had to be right...right?

"Okay, but what should I do?"

"Kill them."

Twilight grabbed a hold of Caramel and quickly cast another teleportation spell before the stallion could wrestle free and ram a hoof in Mayor Claude's skull.



A shining purple light pulsated from the ground before receding, leaving Twilight and an enraged Caramel on the ground.

"Twilight!" Spike rushed to his adopted sister's aid and quickly helped her up, "What happened?"

Caramel spit on the ground and kicked up some dirt. "Tat no good ass sniffer son of a-"

"Slow down Caramel, tell us what happened." Blueblood interrupted.

"Claude filled Sunset's head with lies! Now she's coming after us cause he said we're bad," Caramel explained.

"What should we do Commander?" Shining Armor asked.

However, before Blueblood could reply, the ground beneath them began to shake and open up, causing everypony to try and gallop away. Spike quickly hopped onto Twilight's back and the two took off into the sky where they saw a giant dirt cloud sweep over their camp, or what was left of it anyways.

Once the dirt settled, they saw a massive oak tree with it's branches outstretched, seemingly blocking their only known path to Baltimare. And on one of the branches was Sunset Shimmer.

"Turn back now and I won't have to harm you!" Sunset shouted while Twilight flew back to the ground to rejoin their team.

"Open yer eyes! Tat no good mayor iz using you!" Caramel exclaimed.

Sunset Shimmer flew down from her perch and landed on the ground with a thud. "No he isn't! He's just looking out for the well being of the town!"

"Only try to incapacitate her," Shining Armor piped up. "Right now her loyalty is to Mayor Claude, so trying to reason with her is fruitless."

"Okay." Everypony replied before getting into their battle stages.



Sunset Shimmer took a step back as the group slowly approached her. She knew that her magic was powerful, but took awhile to cast, and time was unfortunately not on her side today. However, as she looked at her newfound foes, she realized that only one of them had wings too. Grinning a little, Sunset Shimmer began to put her plans into action. She slowly unfurled her wings and then jumped into the air before pumping her wings, wincing a little at the strain of taking off so quickly.

She heard the ponies and dragon on the ground gasp, which earned a grin on her face. However, that grin faltered when she saw something flying mere inches from her face. When Sunset looked down, she saw a caramel colored stallion with steel bladed knives in his mouth. He made eye contact with her before throwing back his head and opening his mouth, allowing the blades to fly freely right towards her.

Sunset quickly dodged to the left before letting out a yelp as she felt a blade graze the tip of her ear. She gave the stallion a quick glare before flying into the leaves of her newly sprouted oak tree. Of course because of her coat, blending in will have little effect. However, she just needed a bit of time to cast a spell. So she closed her eyes and concentrated on her spell. Sunset's head began to ache and her hooves were starting to go numb. However, she kept going. After all, it was her job to protect Baltimare from harm.

The leaves around her began to shake as a muffled voice seemed to cry out to her. However, Sunset couldn't move nor could she open her eyes. She felt a presence, however, and the voice, no, voices were getting louder. Sunset could tell they were shouting, and she felt her body trying to be fruitlessly dragged. But her magic held her firmly in place. She wanted to grin. Once this spell was finished, whoever is with her would get the full force of her power!

Sunset Shimmer felt that her spell was complete. Smiling on the inside, she released the spell from her horn before crumpling to the ground as practically her entire supply on magic left her body. She kept her eyes closed, knowing how blinding this particular spell was. However, she sensed a strange, almost heavenly presence. And as it grew and grew, Sunset couldn't help but open her eyes to see what it was.



Twilight felt like a thousand bolts of electricity just coursed through her body. It took all her and Spike's efforts combined to absorb Sunset's spell. Twilight looked over at Spike who laid in a crumpled heap, but the rise and fall of his stomach showed that he was unconscious, but alive.

"H-how did you?" Sunset croaked, her mouth and throat feeling like sandpaper.

"Commander Blueblood said that alicorns are sensitive to magical aura. Which is why, during the old Equestrian days, their magic supply replenished faster then everypony else because their bodies absorbed magical aura quicker then them. So, I tried to redirect your flow of magic into me. However, the spell was too powerful, so Spike tried to help by channeling some of the magic into him as well." Twilight explained with a cough.

Sunset let out a long sigh and placed her head on her forelegs. "Please...don't hurt Baltimare."

Twilight limped to the fallen alicorn and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Why would you every think we'd harm Baltimare? We only came here because we need you in order to break Luna's curse."

Sunset Shimmer slowly got up. Black spots began to linger in her eyes, but she stood her ground. "You....you-" Darkness pooled her vision and Sunset collapsed in a slumbering heap. Twilight let out a small sigh before using her magic to carefully levitate Spike onto her back and Sunset a few inches in the air. Then, she trotted out into the open and descended towards the ground where her comrades awaited.



Spike slowly opened his eyes. His body felt like greenheart wood and when he tried to sit up, Spike's head felt like it was about to explode. He let out a grunt of pain and laid his head back down before closing his eyes once again.

...

Spike wandered through a lush field covered in gold flowers. The sky was...well, he couldn't make out where the sky was for his eyes only looked straight ahead, and when he did manage to catch a peek from above, all he saw was a swirling mass of darkness where currents of ebony and charcoal collided with one another like waves on a beach.

Spike felt oddly nostalgic, like he's been here before. Yet, he somehow has no memories of ever being here. He pondered his reason being here as a dream. But, when he came to a velvety red pond, a figure in front of him made him freeze.

There was a filly laying half submersed in the water. Her coat was stained a light red, though Spike could make out some white splotches the water missed. Her horn was somewhat sharp and her curly mane completely covered her face. Spike slowly walked towards her, breathing a sigh of relief once he noticed the rise and fall of her stomach. However, when he tried to reach out to her, the ground shook and crumpled, revealing demonic looking ponies with twisted dragonfly like wings and claws instead of hooves. They swarmed Spike as he tried to kick and snap at them, his mouth lit with lime green flames.

But when he killed one, two took its place. Soon, Spike could feel his body giving away as darkness covered his vision once again.
.........
"Spike!"

"Ugh..."

"Spike!"

Spike opened his eyes and saw Twilight staring right at him. Her eyes were red and when he tried to get up, she gave him a giant hug.

"Please never do something like that again!" She sobbed.

"Sorry," Spike replied, tears beginning to brim his eyes, "What happened when I was out? Is Sunset okay? Where you able to get rid of that mayor?"

Twilight released her embrace and helped Spike to dry his eyes. "A few hours after we placed you in this makeshift tent, Sunset teleported away once she awoke, but luckily Caramel went chasing after her. But..." a small frown found its way onto her lips, "when Caramel reported back, he said that not only did Claude take her, but he also had these ponies in bloodied steel armor take everything from her garden and destroy her home."

Spike's claws turned into fists as he shakily stood up. "Where you able to save her?"

"Caramel found out that they took her in an old factory close to the mayor's place. However, it was swarming with the same armored ponies so Commander Blueblood said that we needed everypony to beat them-"

"How long was I out?"

"A day," Twilight answered.

"Then we need to go and sa-" Spike exclaimed while heading out of the tent, only to feel Twilight's hoof resting firmly on his shoulder.

"Spike, it's nighttime. Everypony is asleep. But don't worry, tomorrow we'll save Sunset Shimmer."

Spike let out a sigh before climbing back into the sleeping bag laid before him. Twilight nestled in the other and gave Spike a small smile before laying her head down and falling fast asleep. Spike laid his head down too, but he couldn't muster the will to fall asleep just yet. There was still that dream after all and just thinking about it made his head hurt.

Where was he? Why gold flowers? Why is it that when he thought about that place, his stomach would do flips and his claws felt clammy?

But most importantly, who was the blood stained filly he saw, and is she okay?