//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: MLP Adventures: Vacation With The Princesses // by Dante24 //------------------------------// Prince BlueBlood let down the barrier and looked over at Celestia, the beaten guards and the destroyed throne room. Needless to say, he was beyond angry. He slowly began to walk away from Twilight and towards Spike; keeping his eyes on him. “B-BlueBlood.....wait.” Celestia managed to say. “I got this.” he replied. As BlueBlood started to get closer to Spike, something started to happen to his body. A white aura, just like the one surrounding Spike was surrounding his. Using his powers, BlueBlood rose up into the air until he came face to face with Spike. A smile crept on his face which soon turned into a chuckle and then laughter; leaving a bit Spike confused. “W-what’s so funny?” he asked. “This.” BlueBlood answered, then punched Spike in the face so hard it caused a massive shockwave. Spike flew through the building until he wound up outside. BlueBlood caught up to him then hammered him into the ground. Charging up his horn, he fired a powerful blast at the dragon blowing him up on impact. Spike’s body was thrown from the impact, but was quickly caught by the prince. “So, had enough?” he asked. “Didn’t think so.” BlueBlood threw Spike into the air then fired another magical blast at him, blowing up once again. Flying up at him, BlueBlood hammered Spike into the ground, hard; right in the middle of Canterlot. Spike started coughing hard as he struggled to get up. Raising his his head, he saw BlueBlood standing over him; ready to attack again. “Let him go, demon.” BlueBlood demanded. Spike said nothing. “Either let him go, or I’ll drag you out of him.” “W-why? I know how you feel about Celestia. I know how she makes you feel, so why not attack her and instead of me? After all, you were once infect.........” “Regardless, of how I feel about her, she’s family, and nopony hurts my FAMILY!” BlueBlood prepared for another attack but was stopped when he heard a pony screaming for him to stop. He saw Pinkie Pie running towards him with the rest of the girls behind her. Up in the air, Celestia slowly landed along with her sister and Twilight behind BlueBlood. All ponies stared at the prince in shock as they saw his appearance. “B-Blue......” Celestia started, but stopped when Twilight slowly started walking up to Spike with a limp in her step; pain coursing through her body. Tears started to fill her eyes as she saw Spike staring at her with nothing but pure hatred in his eyes. “S-Spike p-please.” she begged. “I....I....I need you.” “For what?” he asked. “To be your errand dragon, to clean up after you because you’re too lazy to do it yourself?” “N-no.” “Spike, don’t you remember all the good times we’ve had together?” asked Pinkie. “All I remember is the constant reminder that in the eyes of ponies, dragons are seen as inferior beings for you all to use and then throw away when your done.....right Celestia? I mean, that IS the reason you STOLE this dragon as an egg right? To learn more about them?” “I...I didn’t steal him.” Celestia defended herself. “I found him. He was just an egg, alone and abandoned. I couldn’t just leave him there.” “Doesn’t change that fact that after you didn’t learn much of anything, you tossed him over to Twilight after you were done with him.” Spike’s power started rising; causing all of Canterlot to shake violently. The residents were forced to evacuate the city as their homes crumbled right before their very eyes. “Spike, you’re destroying everything, please stop this, don’t let the darkness consume you!” yelled Luna. Spike simply smiled. His intentions were clear. He was going to wipe Canterlot of the Map. Seeing this, BlueBlood used his magic to transport everypony away just as Spike’s powers were slowly reaching it’s peak. The group was outside of the kingdom when they saw the dark aura and lighting surrounding it. “He’s gonna destroy Canterlot.” said Fluttershy. “There must be something we can do.” Twilight said as tears started to form once again. “There may be a way.” BlueBlood said, catching everypony’s attention. “Tell us, please.” Twilight begged. BlueBlood sighed. “Spike is basically asleep within his own mind. The best way to stop this Nightmare Demon is to wake him up and defeat him from within.” “H-how do we do that?” asked Fluttershy. BlueBlood looked at Luna. “Like I said, Spike is asleep so Luna you’re our best bet to get in.” Luna nodded. “I’m going too.” Twilight demanded. “All of this is happening because of me, I need to fix this.” “Waking him won’t be easy seeing as how this Nightmare Demon is in full control." BlueBlood explained. “However, if he can be kept distracted long enough; that will give you enough time to get in Spike’s head save him.” “Okay.” Twilight said. BlueBlood started to head towards Canterlot but was stopped by Celestia. “Wait, where are you going?” “Where do you think? I’m gonna distract him long enough for Luna and Twilight to get inside his head.” “You can’t do this all by yourself yo.......” “Okay stop right there.” BlueBlood cut her off. “Since when did you start caring about me? Last I checked, the happiest moment of your life was when you sent me away to a boarding school all the way in Saddie Arabia.” “B-BlueBlood, that was to.....” “No it wasn’t. Whatever excuse you were going to come up with, don’t. Just admit that you never wanted me to be a part of this family.” “T-that’s not true.” “Then why is it that when we were growing up, Cadence got all of the attention and you barely even looked at me. Or when I was betrayed by a group of ponies I thought were my friends and you didn’t seem to care. Or when you chose to make Cadence an alicorn because she made two ponies fall in love and then gave her her own kingdom.” Celestia could clearly seen the anger and frustration in her nephew’s eyes. They were the same as Spike’s when he expressed himself the same way. Celestia’s heart was in shambles as she realized that history was repeating itself; first with Spike and now her own nephew. White aura started to surround BlueBlood’s body as he turned away from her. “Let me tell you something.” he said. “A few years ago, I was possessed by a Nightmare Demon, just like Spike. It almost took control of me. I knew you wouldn’t help me and there was no way I was going to suffer the same fate as Luna, so with all of my will power, I fought it off and got my body back; with no help from anypony.” “W-why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve........” “I wasn’t gonna take that chance.” BlueBlood said as he started to walk away. “You were probably gonna have me banish to the farthest corner of the galaxy or something.” “W-wait....please.” Celestia begged. “Y-you’re right, I should have been there for you. I saw that you were hurting but I looked the other way....I-I’m sorry; please forgive me.” “I don’t know weather or not you’re being sincere or weather you just don’t want to feel guilty anymore.” he said sternly. “But right now, I don’t care. I got a baby dragon to save.” “I-I’m going with you.” BlueBlood sighed. “Let’s go.” The two began making their way back into the kingdom while Twilight and Luna prepared to enter the dream world. “Twilight, is there anything we can do to help?” asked Rarity. “Check on the citizens and see if they’re okay.” she answered. “Will do.” stated Rainbow Dash. “Be careful Twilight.” said Fluttershy. Twilight nodded and turned her attention towards Luna who was charging up her horn. “Just relax and clear your mind. This will only take a moment.” Soon after the two princesses were glowing with a white light, then they both fell over fast asleep. **************************** BlueBlood and Celestia reentered the kingdom of Canterlot to witness that most of it was in ruins with the dark aura swirling around like a twister and lightning striking every three to four seconds. The two traveled to the city center where they last saw Spike only to see him suspended high in the air with lightning shooting from his body and dark aura surrounding it; but that wasn’t all. Spike’s appearance was vastly different. His eyes were pitch black while his pupils were as red as blood. Black demonic markings covered his body making him look more demon that dragon. Celestia’s eyes went extremely wide with shock as she cover her mouth with both her hooves; tears slowly started to form. “N-no.” she whispered. “Please....stars above....no.” BlueBlood gritted his teeth as he looked on at the horror that was right in front of him. Spike looked down at the two and smiled evilly. “So...like the new look?” he asked. “No.” BlueBlood said bluntly then fired a giant blast at Spike. Spike simply stuck out his hand and caught it; failing to realize that BlueBlood appeared behind him and struck him in the back of the head sending him towards the ground. However, Spike stopped inches before impact and turned to face BlueBlood, but he was gone. Spike looked around but saw no sign of the prince. That’s when, out of no where, Celestia came crashing into Spike; sending him through countless buildings before Spike regained the upper hand by grabbing Celestia by the hoof and throwing her up into the air. Spike fired a blast at her but it was deflected by BlueBlood. The prince and Spike flew towards each other and engaged in an exchange of repeated punches. Spike managed to turn the tables when he used his tail to knock BlueBlood off balance allowing him to to get in one strong kick to the face sending the prince into an already destroyed building. A large boulder came out of nowhere and almost hit Spike, but he managed to dodge it. Looking to his left he saw Celestia charging at him and prepared to engage her, but out of no where a large shield knocked Spike in the back of the head allowing Celestia to tackle the dragon to the ground. The large shield was actually conjured up by Prince BlueBlood while he was in the building. Using his strength, Spike pushed Celestia off and rose to his feet but that was when BlueBlood came back and started attacking Spike with his shield. BlueBlood threw the shield at Spike causing it to bounce off the dragon’s head and into the hooves of Celestia who started to attack him with it. As BlueBlood got back into close range, Celestia tossed the shield back at him and the two teamed up and continued their assault on Spike. **************************** Twilight and Luna found themselves in front of Golden Oaks Library. The door was wide open and black aura was flowing from it. “Spike!” Twilight yelled and ran towards the library, much to Luna’s protest. Luna and Twilight ran inside the library only to thrown into a dark room, and at the center was Spike, laying on his back fast asleep with the black aura surrounding him as a barrier. As soon as Twilight got close enough, the barrier shot black lightning at her hooves. It was a warning shot. “SPIKE!” she yelled. “SPIKE PLEASE, WAKE UP!” Twilight received no response from the little dragon. “Oh, what do we do now?” she asked. Luna’s started to charged up her horn and began walking closer towards the barrier. “I’ll create an opening for you to get Spike out.” Luna fired a small beam from her horn into the barrier. Not surprisingly, there was much resistance. Using a bit more force, Luna managed to tear a hole open allowing Twilight to quickly run through, grab Spike and run out. **************************** The fight between Spike, Celestia, and Blueblood raged on with Spike now the one holding Blueblood’s shield and beating Celestia with it. With the princess on the ground, Spike threw the shield at Blueblood who knocked at away with his right hoof. Blueblood fired a blast of magic at Spike who caught it and threw it back at the prince; blowing him up on impact. With a single leap, Spike went through the explosion, grabbed Blueblood by the tail and flew into air. With all of his strength, Spike threw Blueblood into the ground; hitting Celestia. Spike began firing a barrage of magical blast at the pair but thankfully at the last second, Celestia put up a barrier blocking Spike’s onslaught. Once the attack stopped, Celestia let the barrier down and she and Blueblood slowly rose to their hooves; completely out of breath and barely able to stand. “Time to finish this.” Spike said as he powered up for an attack. At full speed, Spike charged at Celestia and Blueblood. The two braced themselves for Spike’s oncoming attack.....which never came. Spike had stopped mid flight; a look of shock and horror on his face. “No...no...NO!” he yelled. “W-what’s wrong with him?” asked Celestia. “I think he found out about our plan.” Blueblood answered. “Let's get him now while we have the chance.” While aura started to form around Blueblood’s body and he shot off into the sky with Celestia right behind him. The two royal members flew up to Spike and together they both sent him flying into another ruined building, however they were both surprised when Spike managed to pick up said building the throw it at them. Acting fast, Celestia got in front of her nephew and cut the building in half with her magic. Both Celestia and Blueblood each grabbed a piece of the building as it passed them and threw back at Spike who quickly dodged out of the way before the impact. “They’re trying to rescue him.” He thought. “Not while I have anything to say about it.” Spike sat down in the middle of the street and closed his eyes. He encased himself inside a dark bubble just as Celestia and Blueblood fired magical beams at him. “What’s he doing?” asked Celestia. “I think he’s going after Twilight and Luna.” Blueblood answered. **************************** Both princesses left the library and was confronted by many black auras in the shape of ponies. “Going somewhere?” it asked. “Twilight, get behind me.” Luna said and began charging her horn. Luna fired a blast as the aura ponies; destroying them all, however they instantly began regenerating back to their original forms. “Twilight, run!” Luna yelled. Twilight levitated Spike onto her back and both ponies ran off with the aura ponies right behind them. Every now and then Luna would stop, turn around, and fire a blast at them; slowing them down for a moment. The two princesses made their way towards the Apple Family’s barn and hid there; hoping they wouldn’t be found. Their small relief wouldn’t last, as one of the aura ponies faded through the wall and approached them. “Did you really think hiding would work?” it asked. “You’re in my head, there’s no where you can hide.” Luna fired a blast destroying the aura pony, but that’s when an entire army of them came into the barn and surround them. One of the ponies grabbed Spike and pulled him away from Twilight who quickly grabbed the little dragon and tried to pull him back. “Let GO of him!” she yelled. Twilight fired a blast destroying the pony but another quickly appeared and grabbed her from behind while two more of them appeared and grabbed Spike. The aura ponies tried to separate the two while Luna was fighting off the rest. Eventually, they overpowered the princess of the night and tackled her to the ground. She struggled to get up but more and more of them piled on top of her and now their sights were set on Twilight. Twilight broke Spike and herself free from their grasp but quickly saw that there was no way out. Twilight just backed up into the wall and held Spike close to her body as the aura ponies slowly closed in on her. “Spike if you can hear me, please listen.” she said. “T-this is all my fault. I should have been there for you, but instead I just treated you like you were a third class citizen, like you were only good for one thing.” Twilight shuddered as she felt the aura ponies touching her. “Please wake up, and come back to us. Come back to me. I...I...I love you.” Twilight squeezed her eyes shut and held Spike close as the aura ponies covered both of them. At that point, Twilight heard a soft groan. She looked down and saw Spike squirming around before slowly opening his eyes. “T-Twilight?” he groaned. “Spike!” she shrieked as she nearly squeezed the life out of him. “Spike Spike Spike Spike! I’m sorry.....I’m so sorry.” “Sorry about what?” “Everything.” Twilight looked up and saw that all the aura ponies had disappeared. Princess Luna slowly rose to her hooves as everything around them started to go dark. About a few feet away from them was a bright light. “W-what is that?” asked Spike. The group started hearing familiar voices. They began walking through the darkness as the approached the bright light. After being engulfed, Spike found himself in the middle of a room that showcased all of the good memories he had while living in Ponyville. However, Spike began to notice that he was alone. Twilight and Luna had disappeared and standing right behind him was a dark aura that shaped itself into Spike. “W-who are you?” Spike asked. “Do you really believe these memories are yours Spike?” “W-what are you talking about?” “How do you know what you’re seeing is real? Are you sure that these ponies just aren’t making this stuff up so that you’ll simply go back to them?” With a snap of his fingers the room changed and began showcasing all of Spike’s bad memories. All the times he was used, abused, taken advantage of, and forgotten. Spike heard a faint sound that sounded like Twilight calling his name. It soon got louder and louder until Twilight and Luna appeared on scene. “Spike, get away from him.” she said. Twilight and Luna both fired a blast at the Nightmare Demon but he simply caught it and threw right behind him. “Look around Spike, look at all the misery they’ve caused you. They aren’t sorry, they just don’t want to feel guilty.” Twilight quickly turned back to Spike. “Spike listen, I was wrong. I was wrong to you on so many levels. Please believe me when I say i’m sorry.” “She’s not sorry, just you wait, when your back is turn she and her friends will continue to do the same things to you.” “Don’t listen to him Spike, you’re my friend. My number one friend. You mean more to me than anything else.” “Number one friend? More like number one slave labor.” Twilight pulled Spike into a strong embrace. “Spike, I love you. I know I don’t tell you that often, but I really do love you.” “When did she EVER love you?!” “THAT’S ENOUGH!” Luna yelled and fired another blast at the Nightmare Demon, pushing him away. Spreading her wings Luna took off after him; leaving Twilight alone with Spike. “There is no excuse for what I’ve done, but Spike I promise you, no more neglect, no more abuse, no more anything negative towards you. I promise I’ll do right by you, just give me a chance to do so.” “T-Twilight, I-I don’t know.” Spike said as he looked up at all the negative memories that were still on display. “Please Spike.” Twilight begged. “Pleeeeeeeeeese.” Twilight started sobbing. She desperately wanted an answer from him. After what felt like an eternity, Spike slowly wrapped his arms around Twilight and held her. “O-okay Twilight.” he said. “I-I trust you.” “Oh Spike!” she yelled as she held him tighter. Over with Luna, her fight with the nightmare demon raged on until he felt some kind of disturbance. He’s connection with Spike was slowly diminishing. “No, NO!” he yelled as he looked over at Spike and Twilight hugging. “I WON’T LET YOU HAVE HIM!” “TWILIGHT, SPIKE, LOOK OUT!” Luna yelled. Spike pushed Twilight out of the way and was grabbed by the Nightmare Demon. “You ponies have interfered long enough, BEGONE!” The Nightmare Demon created a black hole that began sucking the two princesses into it. Try as they might, they couldn’t escape the gravitational pull. “TWILIGHT, LUNA!” Spike yelled as he saw them being sucked into it. **************************** Twilight and Luna awoke to find out that they were kicked out of Spike’s head. Looking around, they saw Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie coming up to them. “Twilight, Princess Luna, did you do it?” asked Pinkie Pie. “We woke Spike up, but the Nightmare Demon appeared and kicked us out.” Luna explained. “Can’t you go back in?” asked Fluttershy. “I...I don’t think so.” **************************** Spike was still in the Nightmare Demon’s grasp. “What did you do to them?!” “Don’t worry, I simply kicked them out of your....I mean OUR head.” it explained. “They weren’t harmed.....yet.” Using all of his strength, Spike broke free from the demon’s grasp and pushed it away, but was quickly encased within a cage. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a fight to return to.” The demon disappeared, leaving Spike alone. **************************** Celestia and Blueblood continued blasting at the bubble when suddenly it exploded and Spike was free. “Sorry about that.” he said. “That was an unwelcome interruption.” At this point, Blueblood realized that the plan had failed. Spike had powered up and charged at Celestia and Blueblood; grabbing the prince and throwing far off in the distance. Looking at Celestia, Spike fired a powerful blast at her. The princess protected herself by using most of her strength putting up a barrier; shielding her from the attack. When the attack ended, Celestia found herself exhausted and barely able to stand straight. Slowly looking up, she saw Spike stand close to her. Spike slowly grabbed the princess by the neck and rose up into the air. “S-Spike if you can here me, i’m sorry.” she said. “I’m sorry, I failed you. I...I wasn’t...a good mother.” Spike powered up his fist and got ready for the final attack. “Goodbye, mother.” **************************** Spike was still trapped within his cage when he heard Celestia’s voice apologizing to him. That was when the room began showcasing new memories Spike never new he had. He saw himself as a newborn infant playing with Celestia. Then he saw Celestia sing him to sleep and finally Celestia praising him as he started to crawl for the first time. There were so many memories of him as a baby with Celestia. Spike started to get a dreadful feeling, like something horrible was about to happen. That’s when the room showed him a what was going on outside side. He saw a battered and beaten Celestia being held by the neck and was about to be put down. “N-no.” Spike said. “NO NO NO NO!” Spike began to violently thrash around in the cage until he finally broke free. Looking up, Spike saw a small white portal appear. Seeing this as his chance to escape, Spike ran and leapt through it; entering another room where the Nightmare Demon was. Spike saw that he was about to attack and with all his strength and speed, ran up to the demon and tackled him to the ground. “DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HER.!” he yelled. “W-What!? How!?” the demon yelled in shock. “LET HER GO!” Spike yelled as he punched the demon repeatedly; forcing it to let go of Celestia. “Spike, w-wait.” “GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” Spike grabbed the Nightmare Demon an threw him across the room. As it got up, it saw a giant boulder heading towards him at a fast pace; giving him no time to react. The boulder hit the demon so hard that he went through the wall and landed right in the middle of the Crystal Empire. Spike landed right next to the demon, and with one strong kick to the face, Spike launched it into a nearby building, however instead of crashing through it, the demon bounced off it and flew back towards Spike who hammered the demon into the ground creating a small crater. “N-no, my connection to Spike is almost gone.” he thought. “T-this can’t be happening, I was so close.” The Nightmare Demon looked up and saw Spike with lightening shooting from his body. “H-how? How are you this strong?” “My dream, my rules.” Spike said then began to shoot bolts of lightning at the demon. His wails of pain echoed off nearby building. Spike didn’t let up on his attack either as he put even more force into it. The Nightmare Demon’s body started to slowly disintegrate before his very eyes. “N-NO, SPIKE PLEASE......AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” **************************** Celestia slowly looked up into the sky and saw Spike holding his head and yelling in pain; black magical energy shooting from his eyes and mouth. “NO, NOT LIKE THIS, NOT LIKE THIS! I WAS SO CLOSE.......SO CLOSE! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Small cracks started to appear all over Spike’s body until it burst and was engulfed in a massive ball of light; much to the shock of Celestia. That shock soon turned to horror as she saw Spike, now back to normal, falling from the explosion. Before she could spread her wings to fly up and catch him, Spike was caught by Blueblood’s magic and was safely brought down to her. “S-Spike.” she said as she picked him up in her hooves. “Is he.....is he?” Spike slowly opened his mouth and the last bit of dark aura escaped through it. Acting quickly, Blueblood trapped it within a magical bubble, making sure that it didn’t escape to infect anypony else again. Spike slowly opened his eyes and groaned. “W-what a weird dream.” he said. Celestia held him close; rubbing her cheek against his with tears in her eyes. Spike was finally free of the Nightmare Demon.