~VII~
DEATH OF SPIKE THE DRAGON

Rainbow Dash currently had her hoof pointed toward the drake fading away into the shadows that were the streets of Ponyville. “We’ve know this dragon – who’ve I’ve officially dubbed as Drag because he keeps insisting he was born without a name – for close to two weeks now. And not once in any of our conversations with the guy has he revealed a single detail about who he is or where he might be from!

“I can’t be the only one thinking he’s got something to hide, right, Fluttershy?”

The pegasus in question sat on the highest step of the staircase belonging to Sugarcube corner, her eyes lost in a trance to a sky painted with gray clouds, transparent enough to see the blue glow exuding from the moon past their wisps.

Fluttershy watched Luna’s glow banish the shadows plaguing the streets, drifting moments later to drape around her friend sitting on the grass below, though the celestial rays never came to embrace her cyan fur.

“It’s not nice to talk about somepony, or, in this case, some dragon behind their backs, Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy awaited the soft blue glow to wash over her as well. Before its glow could even touch the staircase belonging to the confectionery shop, the moon was eclipsed by the roof of the establishment.

The reason why the drake had failed to see the butterscotch mare on his way out from his surprise party was due to the thick black fog currently enshrouding her presence, which is why she desperately wished for the glow’s embrace. To be able to look down, and see not the blackness that stole away her form, but the rhythmical rises and falls of her own chest.

But more importantly to Fluttershy: to not only have her words heard but to have her face seen by the friend who was best at reading the troubles stirring underneath the surface. “We shouldn’t be discussing things ponies or dragons aren’t comfortable with revealing yet: especially if they’re still a new friend.”

“Last I check, Drag…” Rainbow stopped herself at having used the dragon’s officially-unofficial name, knowing that the mood of conversation was driving toward seriousness.“...I mean, the dragon, isn’t calling anypony friend.”

Rainbow’s eyes tried to dilated past the wall of blackness that had enshrouded her friend but couldn’t find even a dot of contrasting yellowness. “But that isn’t going to stop any of the girls from trying their hardest to get him to say that magical word that begins with F. Though the dragon may be thinking of the word that ends with ED instead of ND, especially after that hard to watch encounter with Rarity.”

Deciding it not being worth the awkwardness of leaning her snout forward and scrunching her eyes in an attempt to see her friend, Rainbow Dash settled instead on fiddling with the pebbles just before her hooves. “It sucks, y’know? How for the past two years, the girls would show up to nothing else besides birthday parties or important meetings: things that they were bound to. But when it came to doing stuff for the sake of fun or friendship, like picnics or pet play dates, no would ever show up.

“Even Pinkie, who gave up throwing spontaneous surprise parties, does so for a dragon who was not only rude to her, but she’s never known before in her life. And guess what? All the girls, despite the short notice, still made it to a party for a dragon they know nothing about.” The cyan hoof struck at the patch of pebbles, sending them flying past the protective beams of blue light. The act did nothing to alleviate the rising anger that began to course through her system, as her mind forced her to relive a conversation from only a few hours ago.

Twilight and Rainbow stood amongst the other party goers for the dragon’s surprise party, deciding to take a moment away from the blaring music to play a little catch-up.

Dash spoke of her soon approval of becoming a Wonderbolt, while Twilight talked about expanding the library into a school as well.
But before she could even begin to listen to the cyan mare’s thoughts on the matter, Twilight’s ears flicked and her pupils shrunk at having seen a certain serpent tail slither past them. It was as if, for a single moment, the librarian was lost to some terrible memory, far greater than any fictional tragedy her eyes ever laid upon.

Before she was halfway done giving her thoughts on the matter, Rainbow Dash found herself being interrupted by a quick farewell to her friend and watched on how the lavender mare chased after the drake with a smile adorning her lips.

“You’re totally right, Fluttershy!” Rainbow said upon returning to the present moment on having found the source of her newly founded anger. “We shouldn’t be discussing what the dragon may be hiding because it is none of our business. But do you know what is?”

No trace of her friend's existence could be found past the thick wall of blackness, effective in obscuring the kind pegasus image and allowing her to keep silent without being immediately judged. But Rainbow Dash was never one to let such minuscule things prevent her from getting a point across.

“The reason why, no matter how painful or embarrassing, the girls are willing to do anything for this dragon. The thing is, Fluttershy, is that I already know the answer. Do you want me to tell you what the great big surprising answer is?”

“Fantastic! I’ll take the silence as a yes.” Rainbow had become too swept up by her anger to care for whatever expression was hidden behind that blackness, as she felt her mind propel forth into the realm of truth. “The girls will forever suffer the whims of a particular set of dragons. Our such dragon fits the bill, as may some others, so long, as they vaguely remember a dragon that we all once knew.”

The silence afterward was meant to be answered with the aftermentioned dragon’s name, though the wisps of blackness must have plagued Fluttershy’s ears.

“Okay, fine! I’ll spill it out. The girls will bend over for any dragon the vaguely resembles Spike!”

Maybe the wall of blackness rebounded any of the words spoken from within it, and that’s why Rainbow’s friend had been so silent for so long. “Isn’t that why we’ve dealt with this dragon’s issues for so long; because nothing he could say or do could possibly hurt more than what we did to Spike?”

Beams of colorful light crept along the windows of the shop in correlation to the faint beats of the music within. Each succession lit away a brick of blackness, revealing for a moment, turquoise eyes sorely lost to the sky above. “I think you may be mistaken on everypony's feelings, Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh?” Now that Rainbow could barely see her friend amidst the wall of blackness, she tried to muster the courage required to argue on a matter long repressed, but cowardice stole her heart and command her eyes to look down the dimly lit street. “Is the great innocent Fluttershy ready to give her opinion on the matter?”

“Rainbow Dash.” The blackness enshrouding the veterinarian allowed her to speak with the anonymity she craved, as the black wisps imposed itself into the words so they could pose a bigger threat. “You know better than anypony that my door will always be open to ponies who need a listening ear and a cup of tea, and that those involved in the matter have yet to knock at my door.”

“It isn’t my responsibility to force the girls to talk about something they're still not comfortable with. Have you ever stopped to consider, that maybe the reason the girls are so nice to this dragon, is because they’ve felt his pain before? We all have our scars from the adventures we’ve been on, and bear the pain of mistreating someone special to us.”

The wisps of blackness expanded outward, obscuring Fluttershy fully by placing her in its epicenter, which amplified her words as they shot outward. The traces of said words could never be directed back at the mare, as she was safely hidden amongst the blackness. “Dragons are seldom friendly to ponies nor has any even attempted to live among us... don’t you feel that the extra pains are worth it to make this dragon feel at home?”

The shadows that still lingered along the lengths of the street were beginning to evaporate from the flickering light and light buzzing of the streetlamps, as a faint golden glow began to overtake the street.

The said lamps began to turn on from the influx of energy, one lamp at a time, as the effect raced down the street toward the candy shop. The effect caused Rainbow to hold her breath, relishing being hidden in the faint darkness like her friend, and not quite sure why she was fearing being exposed to the light.

Amidst the fright of being protected by the darkness or having everything exposed to the light, a realization dawn on Rainbow that allowed her to breathe once more. “If you think the girls are helping the dragon because of the purity of their heart, and not of the venomous thorn they’ve stabbed themselves with, then that wall of blackness has really hindered your vision.”

Rainbow’s eyes trailed up to her friend once more, obscured by the wall of blackness, as she didn’t even need to squint her eyes in order to see to her friend. “Know this, Fluttershy. You can feel protected by the fact that no one can see you, that you’re forever exempt from reproach because of how high you stand on a certain subject. But one thing will forever be true between you and me, and that is I will always know when you are lying.”

The final street lamp flickered on with its golden glow expanding outward into the candy shop's reach, embracing the cyan mare into its light, while exposing half of the butterscotch's mare’s face.

“Especially when you’re lying to yourself; true friends always know when something's wrong.” The faint image of Fluttershy’s face was enough to satisfy Rainbow’s crave to see her friends current state, as she resumed gazing down the street once more. “That’s why you gotta tell me whatever it is you’re hiding because you’re doing more harm than good then defending our friends when they’re in the wrong. You’re the only one in this affair that bears no guilt, as well as the only one that can resolve us of our own.”

A breeze used the rustling leaves to conduct a sporadic melody that lulled all who listen into a lulled state, allowing them to deal with their feelings without any resistance prompted by the ego. Rainbow fought the urge to look back to her friend to see why she was still quiet, instead choosing to expose her feelings to the truth of the light.

“This night has a weird feeling attached to it; the kind where you just wanna get away from it and go to sleep.” Rainbow shook her head to clear away the fears gunking her thinking. “Maybe it’s seeing the girls brought back together, or how there’s a dragon walking around the town, or just this deep conversation you and I are having now. But I feel so weak and hopeless now, like I’m about to slip away from the world, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

The fears that had begun to capture her heart were too much for the cyan to bear, and the only mare capable of bringing her above the murky waters sat at the top of the staircase. Rainbow rose from the ground and placed her hoof on the first step, looking back up at that wall of blackness.

“It was because of the week that the girls stopped showing up to picnics, leaving just you and me to finish a meal meant for six. My afternoon flights would catch sight of Twilight and Rarity walking past each other, never saying hello, but staring daggers into one another’s back.”

Dash dared to climb another step to the safety that awaited her at the top. “All of the fights and arguments are not because of the things happening in the present, Fluttershy. They’re all because of the feelings still lingering in the past!”

The cyan hoof slammed against the next step, sending pain coursing through the rest of the hoof, though its owner did not care in search of the truth that it desired. “This drift that splitting the girls up is because of the unsettled emotions still attached to Spike! Each one of them carries a guilt filled with whatever they did to Spike, and are now trying to rectify it by helping out this new dragon.”

Rainbow tried another step but found her hoof to weak to reach the top just yet. “Those extra pains that the girls are willing to endure are only because of the weight they’re going to place on the dragon’s shoulders. If we truly wished the best of him, then we can’t place our drama and consciousnesses on him!”

The breeze that had once played a melody intensified tenfold, blowing back the strands of rainbow mane to reveal the entirety of the Rainbow’s face to the world...and to her friend.

“Can you please–” Fluttershy drew a breath and retreated further into the shadows, where not a ray of light could touch her besides the spontaneous glows from the party behind “–never say his name again?”

The faint image of Fluttershy’s face was erased from Rainbow Dash’s memory, as only the wall of blackness remained in her mind and loomed before her. “Never say his name again? Who, Spike?”

“Please.” The voice behind the wall wasn’t pleading at it used the blackness to amplify its voice. “Never, ever, say his name again”

A certain wetness began to well in Rainbow’s eyes, causing her eyelids to seal away the liquid before it could further sting her. “How...could you? How could you suggest, even for a moment, denying his name? Do you want us to forget about him entirely as well?!”

When her eyelids had split once more, the batch of tears hidden beneath was no more; only anger resided in those pools. “You, out of all ponies, have no reason to forget about Spike. What could ever make you suggest something like that? Do you dislike him now because he’s the reason we’re all so torn and broken up?”

“You’re not even close, Rainbow Dash.” The distorted voice inside the blackness held no hesitation in speaking nor apprehension in her tone. “My reason for wanting to forget Spike is simple, while your’s is not. Don’t you want to forget Spike too? To forget about the times where you teased him to no end, stripping him of any dignity of being a dragon until he saw himself as nothing more than the dirt atop of his grave?

A faint glow of red flashed onto the windows behind the shadow, boldening by the second, until the light of heated blood illuminated the silhouette of Fluttershy amidst the shadow. She stood tall with wings slowly extending by her side, with one eye covered by her mane, and the other burning away the darkness with the fire within her pupil.

“Why is it you need my approval for you to be able to forgive yourself and to forget him? Everypony makes mistakes, including you, so you should forgive yourself of stripping your friend of his self-esteem. Or do I have to shove it in your face that you made a horrible mistake, for me to punish you with all I got? If I do that, will you then be able to forget about Spike?”

The overpowering waves of anger were enough to protect Fluttershy’s ego even from the night, as she stepped out from the grasp of blackness fully into the view of her friend, whom she no longer feared. “I won’t be either of those things because I don’t care enough, Rainbow Dash. What happened, happened because you didn’t think, and no one thought to stop you.

“None of you girls thought about how your treatment of Spike may affect him in the long run, and that’s why the week happened. But more importantly, it happened because some ponies could see the harm that you girls were inflicting, but didn’t dare to interfere!”

The winds that howled late into the night began to cease, as the causal breeze return to calm the two heated bodies. The strands of Rainbow no longer floated up, as they fell to cover but a single eye. “Flutters…”

Fluttershy looked down at her friend from the top of the staircase, the fire still lingering within the pupil, as the breeze worked only to stroke the flame. “If you want my opinion on the matter, then listen closely: you can’t claim to be better than someone when you’re just as low as them. Spike never claimed to be more than what he was, and you made fun of him for that.

“So start acting like who you claim to be, then maybe Spike’s death wouldn’t have been in vain.”

Rainbow’s mouth hung open to exhale the air that had numbed her chest. The words of her friend rang incessantly in her mind, reaching deeper into her subconscious until they finally made themselves at home.

What came after the newfound silence beside the breeze were not sobs or anger. It was the sounds of giggles that soon grew into laughter.

“This has to be…the funniest thing ever!funny!” Rainbow brought a hoof to her eyes as more laughter spewed from the cavern below. “It’s ironic to the point where it poetic, and explains perfectly why you haven’t said a thing about Spike!”

A yellow hoof slammed against the top step, demanding the attention of all those nearby to the one who was at the top. “Stop using his name, Rainbow Dash. Just give up already and move on!”

Fluttershy shook her head as she descended a step, pausing her hoof over the next one. “I don’t get you! Sad and scared a moment ago, and now, you’re happy?”

“Oh, Fluttershy.” A hoof draped over Rainbow’s eyes. “It’s not that I’m happy, but that when something super scary settles in, all I can do is laugh. Even I don’t why – maybe we have to blame Pinkie!”

“What is with you?!” Fluttershy pleaded, blinking as she reached the last step of the staircase. “What did you just figure out; what did you just realize about our situation. What’s made you so scared that you’d laugh like this!?”

“Because I realized that you feel guilty too!” The laughter bursting from the cyan chest was so strong that it sent its owner flying onto her back on the ground. “I mean, why would the kindest pony ever refuse to help her friends out of their greatest trouble? Because she wasn’t there to stop the trouble in the first place and feels the same guilt as them!”

The few blades of glass littered after the last step of the staircase served to cushion the impact of Fluttershy's hoof, as she left the sanctuary and safety of the wall of blackness on the tallest step to wander the endless street.

Despite the blurriness induced by the laughter, Rainbow's eyes still followed Fluttershy’s leaving form. “You can’t save somepony else if you can’t first save yourself. So you’re one of us, Fluttershy. All for one...and one for all!”

Fluttershy’s shaky legs took her slowly past her friend. Tears began to race down along her cheek and taint the open mouth with their salty taste. Eventually, Fluttershy made it to the exposing lights of the lamps, only to momentarily be lost in the shadows, and brought back in the light.

“Talk about a funny joke.” Rainbow managed to fit the words in between her bursts of laughter, which echoed throughout the empty town. “The only pony that could save us from our pits has accidentally stumbled in, and that the only dragon that can pull us out, lies dead below the trees!’

A shooting star zipped past the moon, leaving a faint blue afterimage, that one could easily mistake for the tears of the moon.

Spike huffed out in exhaustion at the front of a tree, the long day spent bucking trees, plowing through the soil and pulling loaded wagons had deprived him of the last traces of energy in his body. So it was a pleasant surprise indeed to the drake to find his boss behind the aftermentioned tree, where he quickly composed the excuse that would exhaust all of the luck he had for the day as well.

Applejack’s legs as just steadied from her latest buck just as the words reached her ears, causing her her lean her head past the tree to see the drake standing there. She briefly wondered if he had been watching her for quite a while now, and that made her feel awkward, for some reason. “And why is that?”

“Because Rainbow Dash wants me to get horribly smashed with her later, and she doesn’t seem like the type to have to wait to get her drink on if you catch my drift.” The excuse, while eliciting a forbidden smile from his boss, served to extend Spike’s shift on the farm rather than shortening it.

Sweet Apple acres had grown a considerable amount in the drake’s absence, from the now almost never ending land to the many buildings scattered across it, to which Spike knew not of their uses. But the one thing that the farm lacked was watchtowers, allowing Spike to sneak away into the woods.

Applejack had given the drake more chores to do and began to list them, while stimulus drawing a map in the ground, composed of lines that showed the drake to a trail in the woods that would take him to Ponyville.

With a smile that quickly faded as she turned away, Applejack left to go on the extra chores on top of her own.

Spike found the said trail on the outskirts of the woods but forewent going in just yet, opting to take a final glance at the landscape of the farm. Workers became mere silhouettes in the distance under the burning halo, doing the work that they work tasked with while Spike was far away from his responsibility.

The drake had done more work than any of those who stood on the farm, but that was only due to his draconic body as he felt he could still do more to help his fellow worker. Yet, here he was, leaving with his last traces of energy to go get drunk with an old and once friend.

“Sorry guys.” Spike waved to the workers as he made his promise to the ears of the sky. “I’ll make this up to you, I promise.”

The drake turned around, stepping into the woods, as his back disappeared into the realm of the wood’s shadows.

The trees swayed from the winds force but its leaves whistled from the breeze touch, though the ones that had fallen from their branches were soon crunched underneath the weight of the drake’s foot.

The drake himself allowed his eyes to wander from branch to branch, to drift from apple to apple, as their red blurry form began to phase into the forefront of his mind. His wounds, no longer present, pained and ached as they once did before, as the drake reached out to claim one of those red blurry orbs.

Giggles began to combust inside his chest that shook his shoulders with realization, as the drake then turned around, and saw the distant town of Ponyville above the streams of blue water that surrounded it.

“...oh...no...” The drake slumped over in defeat yet the giggles did not cease. “Really? All I had to do was keep going straight with the trail at my feet, and I could’ve avoided the farm, and thus, the girls, and wound up directly in Ponyville instead!”

Spike understood nothing could be done about this mistake, as it was long in the past, and all he could do was have a chuckle at it and work on the present. So, in giving a thumbs up to the distant town, the drake began his approach toward it.

The sky visible past the dense branches of the woods darken at an unnatural pace, causing a pair of emerald eyes to drift up and have difficulty in finding where the sun went. No longer did the breeze sing its melody with assistance from the leaves as all the remained was the same chill from before.

Spike pinched his brows together and closed his eyes, fighting off the gunk that began clog his mind, as his body began to tremble. His flutter opening eyes saw to a woods completely devoid of its naturals color, where whiteness enveloped everything to the left of him, and blackness covered everything to the right.

“No, no no,” Spike muttered to himself as drowsiness began to take hold of his system, exhausting it to fuel the hallucination before the drake’s eyes. “Why are these happening to me now? I was never this mentally ill even in the forest.”

“I can’t believe it!” An energetic voice scared the current drake into looking left into the realm of whiteness, where he saw a drake as tall as him, as its purpleness contrasted nicely against the whiteness. “I’m finally old, tall and strong enough to be accepted by the girls!”

Spike watched as this purple drake walked past him in a flash, the aura of happiness around this creature being faintly passed onto Spike, where he began to smile.

“It doesn’t matter that the girls didn’t like me before because I was weak, small and annoying. Now I have a personality that the girls seemed to enjoy, as they put up with it, and I’m even off to go have a drink with Rainbow Dash.”

Spike twirled around so he could see this dragon fully disappear into the whiteness. “Is that, me? Is that what I thought I was going to grow up as?”

He kept quiet so he may hear the last piece of dialogue from his imagined current self. “When I finally get out of the woods and cross that bridge, I’ll finally no longer have to hide myself deep within this disguise, and Rainbow and I will have a toast for me coming home!”

The euphoria derived from this purple drake’s possible future affected the Spike of the present, as his heart to beat in synchronization of having his old dreams of being recognized be brought out from his subconscious.

The dreams of accompanying the girls on their adventure could now be acquired due to the strength and resilience of the current Spike. To be regarded as one of them thanks to how much wisdom he acquired from different sources throughout the world, and how he finally came to respect whatever character he had developed throughout the years.

The mane six with a lousy sidekick could now become the mane seven. All Spike had to do was cast away his disguise, and show those whom he once loved his true identity.

The current Spike found his foot inching toward the path of light where he imagined his happiness lied, though a voice from behind caught his foot before it could even move.

“I must get Spike out of this accursed town.” Another drake walked in the never ending realm of blackness, where his green scales glowed against the backdrop. “It wasn’t long now that those who claimed to loved him were shouting insults that slowly killed him internally. My ever burning flame of hatred for them was enough to fuel his survival through the forest and the many planes of lands, but I can’t allow that fire to now dim because those six try to disarm him.”

The black texture of the realm began to swarm inward into drake’s scales and conforming to his every move, acting as an additional layer of armor that reflected the reactions of everything nearby on its scales.

This green drake stood taller than the other drake, seeming like the real deal to Spike. His eyes were stern as if they could see through any facade or superficiality; its scales darkened to never succumb to the despair that is brought on by hope.

Spike’s heart beat in respect for this creature as it walked past him, going backward deeper into the depths of blackness.

“I despised that I had been locked away in such a useless vessel, never knowing how low hopelessness felt from the height of my once power. But after suffering the same pains of the dragon, I came to feel something for him that I had never felt for anyone else: compassion.”

The green drake with the black shaded scales slugged its feet through a thick liquid that the blackness of the realm had dissolved into. Despite the liquid ascending the drake’s body, it did nothing to hamper its progress.

“Spike should be more displeased with the mane six, coming to know that he and they weren’t simply meant to be. And yet, here he is, with the faint hope in his heart that he and they can become one once again. Such disillusions will destroy him to a point where not even the likes of I can hope to revive him.”

“Why can’t Spike see that he and these six weren’t just meant to be! I will carry the weight of the world for you to discover what it means to be you, and to guide you with my never judging voice to find those who will accept you as you are.”

The black liquid reached up to the green drake’s neck as he kept moving onward. “To strike the six down with the dragon’s own claw would be enough so that he would never fall to their ways, but my control is still too weak. Until such a time can come to fruition, I must ensure that he doesn’t fall for their faux speeches on acceptance.”

The green head dipped below the thin layer of blackness as not even bubbles appeared on the surface. Spike, who had watched both affairs, saw how both dragons disappeared both into the distant light and below the black surface, where the truth lay hidden.

Spike tried to have his green colored eye focused on the realm of blackness, simultaneously trying to keep his other purple eye consecrated on the realm of whiteness. This placed a strain on his vision and induced a blurriness on it, as well as overworking his probably unconscious mind.

To the right stood the achievement of the dream Spike had long since cherished as a kid. Where he’d grown enough both physically and mentally to finally become friends with those whom he loved and go on the adventure’s he’s always dreamt of.

On the left stood the determination of the drake loyal to only himself and the ways that would fuel his own progress. To have a flame that always burned for yourselves that would prove to be the only companionship and inspiration that someone could hope for. The drake disappeared under the waves of blackness, but only to find the truth that lay hidden at the bottom of the sea.

Spike’s feet split apart to their separate direction, but could never dare to hope to follow their course fully without the help of the other. So there they were, glued to the crossroads, not knowing which way was the right way.

In an instance, the two realms faded back into their original states as the fluttering of wings awakened Spike’s ears. His eyelids came to split to the leaves being torn off from their branches and carried along the breeze.

In the distance above the patch of trees where the sounds of fluttering wings originated from, a cyan blue phantom descended ever so slowly into the open patch of land available in the dense woods.

Spike looked around the woods for the slit houses of the drakes he had just seen in his delusions, his gaze only being met with the wood of the trees and the swaying blades of grass. Though the phantom in the distance finally landed, gaining the drake’s attention once more.

“I definitely need to see a doctor now that I’m back in town for a little bit.” The contents of the dragon’s face fell into the palm of his claw, as the memory of him walking home the night before flashed in his mind. “Last night...when I was talking about getting my revenge on the girls...I thought that was just some strange dream I had.”

Knowing the nothing more could be done at the moment, the drake decided to go investigate whatever was happening up in the woods, and then go out for his beer date with Rainbow Dash.

The edge of the woods opened way for the alabaster bridge that crossed the blue waters into the town known as Ponyville. Spike forewent crossing into the town just yet as he disappeared slightly into the woods, where a small patch of free land existed boxed in by wooden fences.

Past the rows of stone tabs the prodded out the grass, there, standing in the middle, was no other than the mare Spike was supposed to get drunk with. The shadows of the nearby trees hid most of her features from his eyes, as her head was lowered and lost to the writing before her.

Spike made his way over to the wooden gate, which opened with a slight creak, as the drake made his way across the rows of stone tabs. His eyes trailed away from silent mare to the writing on these stone tablets, which contained the names and deeds of those who had once lived, and listed the date that they had all died.

In influx of shock coursed through the drake’s realization that he currently resided in a graveyard, pressing his claw against his mouth to repress anything that may come out of it. To both scream and disturb someone in grief is a big no-no.

The blurry creations of those names just read began to act out in Spike’s mind eye, as he slowly shuffled toward the mare. Their forms played on a black and white courtyard where they interacted with one another, playing basketball as they grew bigger in size until they all split away to chase after their dreams and ambitions.

Each tombstone passed served to inspire the events currently playing in his mind, watching some achieved their lonely dreams, while others created families as they got older with age. But sooner or later, they all fell into their caskets, which now laid below the drake’s moving steps.

‘It’s weird how they have a graveyard just outside of town.’ Spike tried to will away the thought of death by having a conversation with himself inside his head. ‘Well, I guess having the graveyard in the middle of the town would be creepy, and having it out in the woods allows for it to be concealed. Oh well, what can you do, besides wonder why Rainbow Dash would be here?’

He arrived at the same row as the phantom, being careful with his steps as to not disturb her mourning. ‘The graveyard isn’t too far away from the Apple’s farm, so maybe this is a gravesite exclusively to them. But even Granny smith looks well on the farm, so whoever died would have to be from outside of town.”

The drake footsteps came closer and closer to the phantom as possible candidates rolled past his mind’s eyes. ‘Rainbow would only be here for someone she once knew. Perhaps someone from Appleloosa, as that’s probably the only other Apple farm that she’s visited...oh no! Don’t tell me someone like Braeburn died!”

A sudden sadness washed over the drake at the possibility of that being the case. The two may not have gotten to know each other well, but from a distance, Spike respected Braeburn for what he does for his family. He hoped to one day stop by the town of Appleloosa once more to catch up with the guy and to have a proper conversation with him.

But now, there stood the chance he could be dead. This stallion would never get to hear of the lengths of the drake’s journey that molded him into what he is today, nor could he see the physical changes of Spike that put him in the same league as him.

The talons came to a stop just a foot away from the cyan hooves, as both creatures stood before the grave that had captured both of their consciousnesses. The phantom didn’t even flinch at the arrival of the newcomer; too lost in her trance with the words below.

Spike went to shake the phantom lightly but hovered his claw just above her body, as his eyes trailed to the same words her eyes had been stuck on. What the drake read next not only caused his legs to tremble and to fall but for the engraving to resound incessantly in his head.

Spike the Dragon

“A number one-assistant to all but to himself.
He lies here with the eternal love of those in his debt.
Even if they didn’t repay his kindness in his time of need.
Leaving encased in this stone.”

The winds played their solemn, sporadic symphony with the leaves of the nearby trees as their instrument. This melody which assaulted scales and fur with its chillness was still desired by the two creatures, for they were unable to handle the silence of their own hearts.

Past the grass that the scaly green feet stood upon was the supposed casket where the drake’s scales were supposed to be rotting away in, locked away in death’s confines.

Vibrations shook underneath the land that stretched out into the forest as faint brown lines phases in and out of existence in correlation to traffic speed which the nearby trees shook at.

The drake stepped backward once the vibrated began to sting his under foot, twisting him around to see the land part before his very eyes. Something emerged from the depths of dirt and gravel as it began to tower over the drake, eclipsing the sun to his eye.

A sharp pain impaled itself into the green scaly back that caused its owner to stumbled forward away from the pain, right into the opening door of the thing, and against the plushness that composed the interior of the thing.

Spike turned around as a tightness repressed both his breathing and the beats of his heart, as he reached a claw to the outside world that seemed vistas away from him now. The same door that had greeted himself came to a swift close, trapping him inside to his once fate.

Rays of sunlight shone through the glass panel near the top of the door to the thing, urging the drake to step up on his tippy-toes to see who or what had closed the door from the outside world.

A much smaller, semi-transparent baby dragon stared back at Spike from the other side of the panel, scaring the dragon into falling back into the velvet cushion. The echo offered a smile at the realization of its sudden appearance, though that wasn’t what scared the drake away.

Half of the echo’s face resemble the baby Spike that the drake once was, though the other half was but a mere skeleton whose bones allowed the drake to see into the nothingness that was the echo’s head, and some of the world beyond it. The eye socket was empty besides the patch of blackness at its depths that inched outward.

The thing which Spike resided it began to lean forth due to this echo’s weight. The patch of land before it had already been drugged and its depth was as far as an average pony could dig. At the top of the ditch, the tombstone regarding it read of Spike the Dragon’s name.

Spike tried to scream but his throat became clenched by the impact of his back crashing into the velvet cushions, for not even their pushiness could comfort the drake’s descent into death. The thing twirled as it fell, its back slamming against the dirt as the body inside flew against the door.

Out from the cracks of the cushions slithered out straps that stretched toward the drake plastered against the now ceiling door, wrapping around his form and carefully pulling him back against the cushions of the thing.

When the drake’s eyes fluttered open to the darkness that had mostly covered the thing he was inside, he tried to rub his eyes to see if the blurriness was on his part from the fall. Despite the immense strength in trying to pull up his wrist, something wrapped around it was much longer. Spike gazed down his body to his wrists strapped down and his stomach tightly wrapped around, with the same treatment applied to his legs and throat.

Each expansion of breath pained against the tight straps around Spike’s chest, where that said breath would shrink in size due to the tight passage his throat had become. The lack of air caused the edges of his vision to darken as the world itself became blurry.

Straps slithered out from the cracks of the cushions and short forth across the dragon’s chest, while others laced themselves around his wrists and neck, tightening him against the plush death bed without a single allowance of movement.

Something light tapped against the glass panel that gained the attention of a certain pair of eyes. They looked on at the photo that had just fallen from the sky, depicting multiple ponies along with one dragon seated at a round table, as they all smiled at the upcoming flashed.

A banner reading of a certain dragon’s birthday hung above the happy lot, creating an influx of nostalgia and happiness coursing through Spike’s bodies as those happy memories played in his mind.

The soft fur of Rainbow’s hoof on his shoulder as she encouraged him to blow out the candles on the cake that Pinkie had made for him, while Fluttershy and Twilight smiled to him from afar. Once the flames were gone, a glorious cup of apple cider was presented to the baby Spike from no other from Applejack, as Rarity then planted a kiss on his cheek.

From the sky above came down a gust of the wind like no other that collected the photo within its grasp, tantalizing the emerald and purple eyes to follow its course as it took away his moment of happiness. Spike struggled against the restraints but his frail pants weren’t enough to power his strength, as the photo left him alone in the ditch.

As he watched the photo fly away into the sky, six familiar faces appeared around the edges of the column that Spike currently resided at the bottom off. The drake looked up into their eyes as if he could see them but they couldn’t see him, as they all left for a moment but came back with something terrible.

“...Grave…” Spike tried his best to chuckle past the pain. “...How did I not notice I was in a casket...this whole time!?”

The once smiling faces of his friends were washed away by the sadness derived from sorrow, as each mare dug their shovels in the land, and began to bury the friend which they had all equally killed in their own right.

“Don’t you dare.” Spike began to struggle harder against the confining straps in an attempt to get closer to the six. “Don’t any of you pretend to feel sad or sorry because of my death! Everyone is so glad when I’m not around, and since I’ll be gone forever, you all should start feeling happy!”

Spike could see the tears beginning to form in Rainbow Dash’s eyes, who closed them to both hide away her shame to neglect their stinging effect. “Ponies that are useless should die, right, Rainbow Dash?! When they have to no chance of surpassing their limitation, than those who are weak should get out of the for those who are strong, right!”

No amount of blinks could repress the tears in Rainbow’s eyes, as none of her friends made mention, deciding to carry on with their solemn duty.

“You can’t harm someone with your apathy and arrogance, then pretend to be sad when they’ve finally left you alone. None of you have the right to be sad about my death, only the right to be dancing that your final nuisance is gone!”

The straps tighten against each of the drake’s limbs to pull him back into death’s still embrace, though the fire raging in his heart couldn’t be quelled by the illogic of the injustice being done above him.

“I died a useless fool who didn’t know how to handles his emotions and feelings and required too much of your support and attention. Rainbow was right when she said I should’ve been able to deal with them by myself, and in no way should’ve taken it out on you.”

The dirt continued to fall on the casket and fill along its sides and edges; the air inside becoming more than just stuffy. “What’s done is done! Let my useless memory be forgotten so six may have happiness once more! Sounds like a fair deal to me!”

Dirt began to raise past the surface of the casket as the glass panel was covered in a layer of dust. “That Spike the Dragon who was supposed to grow wings never got em, so isn’t that proof enough that that Spike is long dead? I am not a dragon but a drake with no name, who’s one-half of his body feels hatred for your ignorant actions, and the other feels sorrow for taking away your happiness!”

Rainbow began to sniffle as she dropped her shoveled despite claiming the night that she’d be the one to bury her friend. No one else was allowed to do the deed unless they had been invited, and it required copious amount of alcohol to get her friends to agree.

The straps finally made to pull back the drake, but they weren’t the reason for his confused cough. “You should be the last pony crying for my sake. Go on, get drunk with this drake, and swear at the last call to forever forget the name of Spike.”

The shovel through the last of its contents down into the ditch below, sealing whatever laid buried below it hidden underneath its layers, as Spike the Dragon finally came to rest in peace. Though the sky couldn't be seen past the dense pack of clouds, there was no rain nor any lighting.

The mane six continued their silent duty late into the night, until the dirt became leveled with the tombstone before it. The friends went their separate ways once their greatest evil and shame was hidden away, never meetings as friends ever again.

The blurry grayness of the tombstone returned to clarity once the present drake blinked his eyes and returned to the real world. He shook his head to alleviate the headache gained by stimulating the hallucination, as he then gazed to the phantom at his side.

Rainbow Dash hadn’t so much as flinched at the unknowable amount of time that two stood together in silence, as Spike wasn’t quite sure that the mare knew he was there. She was too lost to the baby dragon dead below their feet, who would look up to the current drake in awe, for he was what the little one dreamed of becoming.

“So...that dragon you kept on going about that I should emulate more of...” Spike raised a shaky claw at his tombstone. “I take it this is what became of him.”

“Hey, that first time you and I went into town, you were telling me about this dragon...is this him?”

Dash nodded her head, as her frail voice escaped past her lips. “What gave it away?

Even though she didn’t want too, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but have a small, pained chuckle.

Spike couldn’t bring himself to chuckle as well, though he offered a small smile. “You made it sound like the kid had either ran away, or the Royal Guard locked him away because he had become too dangerous. But I was never expecting this.”

“We didn’t expect it ourselves.” Rainbow rose her head but never did her eyes leave the grave. “I cried at the funeral, but tired afterward to conceive myself that it wasn’t my fault. Slowly but surely, his memory passed from my mind, until I came to meet you again.”

Spike raised a brow as the shivers coursing through his body disallowed him from looking back at her. “Again?”

Rainbow smiled as she tried to look away from the grave to him, something she failed to do. “You remind us so much of him that I can’t help but sometimes see you as him. It’s strange, I know, and I’m sorry to impose such a weird thing on you.”

The thought of her seeing Spike as the baby dragon that was long dead, and not as this new drake that he had worked so hard to become enticed a surge of anger to course through his veins. But he was able to stop the burst with a couple of deep breaths.

The mare to smile to show her thanks, but the frail thing couldn’t help but crumble after a moment. “Thanks. It really makes me wonder, though, that had I encourage Spike instead of discouraging him if he would've ended up as strong and as tall as you?”

Finally, she looked to him, and the drake knew what to do. So he did as he usually did in nervous situations: scratch the back of his neck and crack a lousy joke. “Am I really that tall?”

Rainbow looked like a little filly who had spilled a cup of milk from the drake’s height, nothing like the towering mare before who had once broken his previous spirts. Even though the times had changed, the drake knew that the six would never become the seven.

‘Though maybe that’s because I lack a mane,’ Spike thought to himself to try and make himself feel better.

“Yes,” Rainbow replied, tilting her head left as she twirled around and started walking. “Now enough with all this sadness. Let’s go get drunk!.”

Before he left to go join the mare, the drake glance back at the tombstone belonging to Spike the Dragon as if it would be the last time he could do so. He placed his claw on the top of the tomb and wiped away the filth that had gathered atop it.

“I’m sorry your dream had to die with you...rest in peace, Spike the Dragon.”

The drake felt only the winds touch upon walking away from the grave, as the path of whiteness that he was supposed to walk down as a purple drake all but shattered once that part of him had been locked away down below.

Though the drake walked without so much as a glance backward, for it wasn’t he who killed the dragon nor his dream – that service was due to the six mares supposed to have cared most for him.

The sun began its graceful descent through the night-time sky in order to rest behind the mountainous horizon, shining its final rays of light on two beings of scales and fur who finally made it to the establishment which they’ve longed for during the course of the day.

Spike looked down at his to the mare responsible for getting him shitfaced tonight. “You sure about this place? Seems sketched compared to the rest of Ponyville.”

Rainbow looked up to the drake with her signature smirk as she took the first step toward the bar. “The only reason why Ponyville doesn’t look sketched is because of this place! Everyone in town is all so virtuous only because they come here to have their vices and sins washed away with drinks, which are then swept underneath the carpet by the bartenders.”

“C’mon, dude.” She gestured a hoof to follow her, which the drake complied with. “Every place needs its section of controlled chaos.”

“Ri~ight.” Spike glanced downward into the open palm of his left claw. “Controlled chaos, eh?”

The sole source of light presently inside the Monty came from the only window located at the farthest wall near the ceiling, where rays of sunlight exposed the trials of smoke wafting across the bar and rested upon the gather dusted on the many wooden tabletops.

Spike walked underneath the ceiling fan that had turned on by his approach, tilting in every direction possible while doing virtually nothing to alleviate the heavy smell of smoke. His ears tried to describe the incessant chatter filling throughout the place joint, gazing from the currently used pool tables to the round tables filled with ponies holding their equal share of cards, all in the attempt to find a free seat for both himself and his friend.

“Heh,” he chuckled under his breath. “It’s like I never left the bars in the Badlands.”

“You’ve been in the Badlands before? Wait, scratch that: you’ve been in a bar before?”

Spike didn’t know what to think first. For one, Dash had great hearing despite performing several rainbooms in the past. Two, he had just leaked vital information about his past after Ponyville which he wished to keep a mystery. Three, Dash was more interest in him having gone to a bar, rather than the lands known for being bad.

“Yes...Rainbow.” The drake looked away from his gaze to down at her. “More time than I care to admit, though most those times were for work.”

Spike and Rainbow turned to the nearby pool table, where the last ball was sunk in by the stallion hold the cue, consequently guilty of gaining his attention with his yell. The stallion looked up from the table to the drake, as the gang around him did the same. “Dragons usually aren’t allowed around these parts due to em eating ponies. I know this ain’t exactly Canterlot with the fancy guards, but you should've been run out of town before ya could even enter it, ya freak.”

Spike turned around to fully face the gang of stallions surrounding the pool table, stretching out his back as they began to do the same. “You’re not wrong about me being a freak, but the only one who’s ever allowed to call me that is me.”

“Oh?” The stallion feigned surprise as he stepped away from the table, cue still clutched in hoof and resting along his shoulder. “Is that so, freak?”

“I just called you a freak without any bolt of lightning striking me from above.” The gang of stallions chuckled at their leader's joke, who came closer to the drake foot by foot. “So either you’re an liar, or you’ve got some punishment that you dish out to those that disobey you

“Like how you would demand a crying mare to keep quiet, but eat her whole when she refuses to do so. A much more terrifying trip, if I do say so myself.”

Spike tensed his foot to move forward but felt it relax by the touch of cyan fur. “Whatever you’re thinking Drag, don’t. These guys aren’t worth your time and will probably leave you alone if we mind our business.”

The gang leader chuckled as he stopped in his steps, eyes trailing all over the curves of the mare from behind the shades of his glasses. “All this soft talk coming from the feisty Rainbow Dash. I knew you liked to sleep around, but there’s no way you’re loose enough to mount a dragon.

“So why don’t you come over to our table, where we’ll get you drunk on whatever you like and fed to your heart's content, and we’ll take ya back home when the night’s almost done?”

Rainbow Dash put herself in front of the drake to closer to the leader. “Just who in the hay do you think you’re talking to?”

Rainbow began to drop her head as a layer of shadow hid away her eyes, as she took a step forward.

“Thanks for the complainant.” The voice that was neither of stallion or mare caught everyone’s attention.

The leader of the gang looked up at him, as Dash turned her head around as well. “Huh? What did you just say, dragon.”

“The dick complainant,” Spike stated simply, gesturing with a claw. “The only reason why you would make a false accusation against Rainbow Dash is to complement the size of my dick. Which relieves me greatly, thank you, for I’ve worried for a long time that I was a bit on the shorter side.”

The stallion clutched tighter at his cue before slamming the butt of it against the ground. “Did you fall out of your mountainside as a baby? You’re dead, kid, and we’re inviting your girlfriend out for drinks in celebration afterward.”

“That’s it!” Rainbow yelled from the middle of the two opponents, originally intend on trying to distance the conflict, but now more than willing to watch them collide. “I just wanted to get some drinks with a bud and not have anypony get hurt. But you all deserve the beating, and I’m more than willing to cover for all trouble the drake causes.”

The leader smiled as he signaled all his stallions to his side with the tilt of the head. “Come at us with your best shot, sweet-stuff; we all like a little foreplay before the action. As for you, dragon, this will all seem like a dragon attack to the common folk.”

“Don’t listen to em Drag.” Dash stepped back a few feet until she stood just before the towering drake. “All you’ll end up doing is impressing the other patrons with your moves, and earning their thanks for taking out the trash.”

Spike crashed a claw into an open palm, cracking his neck as he looked into every single pair of his opponent's eyes. “I haven’t fought since back in the forest, nonetheless ponies back in the Badlands. I could use seeing just how patched up I am.”

The drake and the mare stood together, smirks plastered across their faces, with their fists held just inches before them. Spike felt the rush of endorphins as if he and Rainbow were embarking in some great brawl, back to back, trusting in one another ability with a confident smile.

Spike always had to fight alone to the extent of his will, for that were to ever fail him in combat out in the world, then the world he knew would come to an end. But to have the assistance and backup of someone who could save him brought relief to the dragon’s heart.

Then the drake realized everything wrong in his current situation. His eyelid sealed shut over his purple eye, while the ones over his green eye couldn’t be more repelled away from each other.

Another entity gained control of the green eye as it began to focus on things that the purple eye tried to ignore. Instead of seeing the great combat ready to unfold with the mare he dreamt of fighting alongside with, Spike saw instead the frightened and annoyed faces of the other patrons.

Phantoms splinters shot away from the wooden tables, flying into nearby eyes and furs, coming afterward to become a threat littered across the floor. The damage done would not only hurt those not involved but cause trouble for the bartender as well.

Spike understood that past the mind-numbing endorphins triggered by the superficial achievement of his dream, that other ponies, and items that would be hurt and or destroyed. By going deeper within himself and taking a longer glance, he was able to realize a truth that he felt mattered more to him.

In a flash, the drake appeared in front of Dash and just before the leader, who instinctively readied the swing of his cue. But before he could so much as tense his muscles for the swing, the drake before fell to his knees.

“Please excuse I and my partner’s rude behavior tonight.” Spike then bowed his head and stared into the wood. “Please find it within yourself to forgive the mare and let her drink in peace tonight, and let it be just us to settle our biological differences.”

The leader backed up a step as he tossed a glance to his gang, who all bore the same confusion as he as all their bewilder eyes laid upon the back of his bowed head. “Even though I may look like a dragon, I am actually a drake. Although the difference between us may be but a mere lack of the wings and of size, I still apologize for the harm my kind as laid upon you folk.”

Silence hung over to the bar, besides the occasional squawk from the ceiling fan. Rainbow’s eyes trailed along the length of the drake’s back to the tip of the tail that was perfectly lowered against the ground.

“Oh?” The leader laughed, taking back his place once more, tall and proud. “Are you finally realizing that a puny dragon like you stands no chance against a gang like us? What, are you afraid that you wouldn’t be able to protect her?”

The rose eyes jumped from the tail to the side of the drake’s face, as they began to sting with a familiar emotion.

“No.” Spike rose his head so he could communicate with his eyes that what he said next wasn’t a lie. “Dash would be able to hold more than her own and would’ve ended up saving me. I’m more so worried for the other guests here, whose night I hope to no further ruin.”

“Did I say you could look up!” The brown hoof wrapped around the back of the drake’s scales and slammed it downward into the ground, where the drake decided to keep it. “I don’t give a damn what we do here tonight because the owner ain’t in. And you’re sorry excuse for an apologie isn’t buying me any sympathy, so get back on your legs so I can knock ya down again!”

“No.” That response elicited multiple responses from different gang members.

“Do you seriously think getting on your knees is enough to make up for the amount of land your kind as burned? We could wail on your for a thousand years and it still wouldn’t be enough to atone for your crimes, unlike our Princess of the Night.”

“C’mon, dragon. Get up and fight, so I can have the honors of saying I beat a fully breathing dragon!”

A shadow washed over the side of the drake’s head, as he dared to look up to see the concerned face of Dash. “Why...why are you taking this? I promise you no one is going to be mad, so make these guys eats their words.”

“Fine.” Rainbow looked back up to her opponents and readied her hooves. “I’ll take care of all of them myself!”

The mare cracked her neck as she stepped next to the drake’s bowed head, gazing at every member whom she imaged already beaten in her mind. She took a step toward them, signaling the start of their battle.

“You’ll do no such thing!” Spike shouted from the floor, pausing to two airborne hooves before they could connect to their targets. “If you ever had the faintest hope of ever becoming my friend, then you’ll walk away from this fight now and go find us a seat!”

A brown hoof pulled the drake’s chin up so that his eyes could meet the gray ones of the leader. The stallion offered a smile for but a moment, sliding down his glasses on his nose. “I don’t know what kind of cowardly dragon you are, but this peace crap has gotta stop. Imma smack ya now, and ya better try your hardest to hit back.”

The hoof cocked itself backward, trained in the center between the two eyes, as it shot forth into the target.

Spike didn’t flinch as the hoof hovered just an inch away from his nose, eyeing both the punch and the leader. “So you’re too cowardly to throw a punch but strong enough to take one without flinching. You’re one strange dragon, but I know what’ll get ya pumping.”

The brown hoof flew back to wrap around the cue, which was shoved high up into the air, and brought down into the head of Rainbow Dash. She didn’t have time to see the movement happen, only recoiling away at the last second upon seeing the brown blur, closing her eyes for the moment.

No pain came to bore deep into her head and course through her body, as she took the step backward, and re-opened her eyes. In her place was the drake, leaning as far left as he could, as the cue lifted away from his neck.

“That wasn’t supposed to be for you!” The cue came down much harder against the drake, who struggled with a groan to keep his body up at the strange angle. “Why won’t you fight back!?”

The cue smashed against the exposed neck with the most amount of impact it was capable of, as it shook at a terrific speed that caused the drake to collapse onto the floor. Though his green eye was left open to the world, looking deep into the depths of the stallion currently beating him.

The sharp end of the cue prepared itself to be impaled into the drake’s throat, past his scales where blood would eventually leak out.

“ENOUGH.” The call forced all to put down their drinks as weapons fell to the ground, all eyes climbing to behind the counter of the bar, where the bartender had put down his now cleaned glass. “Anymore fighting will result in the immediate ban of all those involved.”

The leader stepped past the body of the fallen drake and opened his hooves to the bartender. “C’mon, Trendy. We’re just trying to clean the bar of any dangerous filth, and you know dragons like these can attack at any moment.”

Trendy, the now revealed bartender, picked up his next glass and began cleaning. “All I see is a potential paying patron being beaten by the local rowdies who are about to get the boot. Leave the kid alone and get back to your game.”

The leader was at a loss for words as he took another step forward. “But Trendy, your folks were burned by his kind. Don’t you wanna get a beating in for the good of the whole town?”

Trendy looked past the desperate stallion and to the drake looking back to him with a single green eye. “Hey kid, you ever breathe fire on ponies before.”

Spike struggled to speak, trying to get the words passed his hurt throat. “A few times...though it was by accident.”

“Good enough for me. Get back up on your feet and take the V.I.P. seat below the window – I’ll bring your drinks to you whenever you’re ready.”

Spike pummeled claw against the wood in order to establish a beam of support for the rest of the body, but felt relieved when soft fur caressed the smooth scales under his head. He felt the strands of the chromatic mane that he couldn’t but sniff the scent of strawberries off.

“You’re an idiot, y’know that?” she said without looking at him. “You first shun my friends but then take a beating from a douche. How more idiotic can you be?”

The warmth of her body felt great against the drake’s scales, as he was allowed to rest against her as she carried some of his weight to the booth. He cracked a grin, not quite knowing what was to come out of his mouth next.

“Free drinks for everybody!”

Spike's Temporary Stay

by B_25

VII – Death of Spike the Dragon