Endurance

by Symphony

Remember

Note: If you find any stupid spelling or grammar errors, tell me.

1306 years earlier

Twilight slowly woke up with Celestia's sun aimed straight on her eyes, she groaned softly as she turned her back against the window and faced the wall. She slowly rolled off her bed and stood up besides it and yawned. As she walked towards the mirror in the room she couldn't but feel as if the room itself was bigger than what it used to be without him in it. His small basket was still on the place that it always had been, by the end of her bed. It hadn't been used for ten years, and he hadn't been inside the library in seven years. Spike was too big for the library after his second growth where his wings grew out. That was an agonizing time for him and everytime he had tried to talk it would only be a soft grunt. After she had brushed her mane she walked over to the window and looked out. It was another slow morning, and only a few ponies were out this early. Then she saw him on his usual spot. Spike was sitting down on his haunches with his head held up high, it was like he was guarding the library from intruders. His eyes were scanning the ponies who were in that part of the town. He looked at them with an icy stare, anypony who looked back at him would be stared down almost instantly. She saw his lower lip tremble and his eyes narrow. She took it as her cue and walked out to greet him. As soon as she opened the door he turned his head around and lowered it to her and stared at her with a look of gratitude and ease before he looked back at the townsponies where his stare became icy again. She walked up to him and nudged his right leg with her hoof, gaining the attention of the dragon.

'Wanna go to the park, big guy?' She asked him in a happy tone. He looked down at her with a look of insecurity, but he reluctantly nodded and with a loud thump, he allowed his arms to slam down into the ground so he could stand up. She smiled at him and he looked down at her with a look that said ''Let's do this''. As the duo walked through the town to the park, traveling salesponies couldn't believe their own eyes. They had heard stories that the librarian in Ponyville had a dragon, but they thought that those stories was just manure. But there it was. Twilight easily ignored the stares from the salesponies when Spike was stressed out of his mind. He just wanted to grab Twilight and fly far away, but he restrained himself and turned to staring down a few of the ponies. They were soon at the park, and he let out a sigh of relief. He followed her to a big tree where he laid down besides it and rested his head on his arms. Twilight laid down besides him and levitated a book out from one of her saddlebags. He rolled his eyes and snorted as soon as he saw the book, and accidentally puffed out a black cloud of smoke from his nose. Twilight giggled at it and continued her reading.

The relief that Spike had when he once entered the park was now long gone. He had noticed how many ponies that was looking at him, it unsettled him to see all those eyes looking at him. His neck was stretched and he was staring back at the ponies who were staring at him with a menacing look. Twilight was his pony. Only his. If they wanted to come to her, they would have to go through him first. Twilight finally noticed how stressed he was and placed an assuring hoof on his hand, he looked down at her with a worried look slightly mixed with anger. She had realised a couple of days ago that he must think that she's his posession, and only he can be with her and look after her. She didn't like the thought of having a soon-to-be grown up dragon with temper issues defending her all of the time. Sure, it felt comforting to have him around but some day he could snap and hurt somepony, she had tried to tell him that she could care for herself but he wouldn't take it in. He was too stubborn to listen to what she had to say. She started rubbing the hoof she had on his hand to try and comfort him. It worked and he laid his head down on his arms again, and she moved her hoof from his hand to his nose and softly rubbed it. It almost sounded like he was purring from it. He was starting to get big. Really big. A place for him to sleep would soon become a problem, as he would soon begin one of his last growth spurts. She tried not to think about it, but she realised that it wouldn't be long until she would have to let him go. She never thought that day to come so soon.

'Oh Twiii-light' Twilight raised her head slowly but Spike snapped his head up quickly and scanned for the source of the voice. It was Rarity, Spike didn't remember much about her than her name. He saw that she was walking towards him and Twilight with Fluttershy close behind her. Twilight raised her hoof and waved at her friends for them to come over. Spike didn't like the idea of them coming closer than what they had to. He lowered his head a little and started growling softly before Twilight nudged his side.

Rarity had seen the big heap of dragon from the entrance of the park, and she knew that Twilight wouldn't be far away from him. Spike wouldn't allow that she got far away from him. Spike, who once was small and barely reached her head and used to have a massive crush on her that she knew of all along, as he wasn't really that good to hide his affections. Now he was big, easy to fear and protective of everything that he considered to own. As Rarity and Fluttershy closed in to Twilight and Spike, Rarity saw that Spike burrowed his arms into the ground and placed his legs beneath him. He lowered his head some more and made his neck into a curve. His eyes was locked at her and Fluttershy with an icy stare and narrowed eyes. He started growling. It didn't take long until Rarity realised that he was a predator ready to strike at any given moment because she and Fluttershy was too close to Twilight. He slowly stood up and slowly walked towards them while growling. Fluttershy yelped and hid behind Rarity. Rarity was shocked at how he could react like he did, and she wouldn't stand for it. She walked up to meet him and stared back at his eyes.

'Who do you think you are by acting like this? WE have the same right to meet Twilight as you have! For shame!' She shouted at him, and he immediately answered by increasing the volume of his growling while moving his head closer towards her. Fluttershy was scared out of her mind. That beast wasn't the Spike she knew anymore. This wasn't the Spike she wanted, all she wanted was to be with her friends without his overprotective surveillance. She started crying silently as she heard the now very loud growls close to her. She covered her ears with her hooves and wished that Spike would just go away. She was shaking like a leaf until she couldn't take it anymore. She flew away with a wail and tears flowing freely from her aqua eyes. A small trail of tears could be seen heading towards her cottage. Rarity looked behind her to see Fluttershy fly away in full speed. Twilight couldn't believe her eyes. The situation infront of her was out of her control, she ran up besides him and slammed her left frontleg on his side. It hurted a lot more for her than what it did for him.

'YOU BETTER STOP RIGHT THIS INSTANT, MISTER!' She shouted at him. He looked back at her with a stare that could shatter bones. A shiver made its way through her spine and before she could react, she was pushed back by a powerful arm that made her fall to the ground and made her gasp for air. Spike ignored her fall momentarily and stared back at Rarity, who had tears welling up in her eyes. The gravity of the situation was tearing down on her. What made her even more ripped inside was the look of his face. He had a wicked grin of accomplishment plastered on his face. He was proud that he just had scared away one of his former friends and was getting through her. Rarity started working her jaw to say something, but just before she could say anything, Spike's patience ran out. He reared back on his legs and slammed his tail into the ground to intimidate her, and it was working perfectly. He slammed down his arms just besides her and roared. Rarity couldn't take it anymore, and tears started running down her face.

'You... You're not Spikey-Wikey anymore... You're not even Spike... You're just another dragon, a beast without feelings. Just a mo-... Monster.' She finished her sentence by turning around and running towards the sanctuary that was her boutique. The memories of Spike when he was a baby was destroyed by the monster he had become.

Spike felt accomplished, he was full of pride as he saw the puny unicorn run away from him. He was proud that he managed to scare away those intruders from his pony. He turned his head around to see her, but as soon as he saw her he was reminded of what he did. His pride and accomplishment was washed away by guilt and regret. It was his fault that she was lying with her back towards him. He made himself smaller than what he was and laid down besides her with his head inbetween his arms. He hated himself and his actions, he wanted to change it into something better, but he couldn't. He heard soft sobbing from her, and he nudged her softly with his nose, she only drew back from him and turned her head away from him before she looked back at him with tears flowing nonstop from her eyes, it broke his spirit that exact moment.

'Why?' She asked with a weak, scratchy voice. 'Why did you do that?' Spike didn't know what to do, he just stared down at her with a dumbfounded look, her lips were trembling as she looked up at his ''brother''. Spike drew back his head and raised it slowly and looked around. Some ponies were staring at him, but most of the ponies in the park was fleeing from him. He realised what he had to do, he slowly stood up and started walking away from her in a slow, broken pace. His head was hanging low and giant tears were dripping down on the ground from his eyes. Twilight watched him stand up and walk away. She quickly wiped her face with her right foreleg before she ran after him. She called his name but he just kept on walking. When she was besides him, she slammed her left frontleg in his right arm. He turned around and looked at her with a pained expression, he had to contain his tears and put on a brave face for her. Even when he just had made such a hard decision he wanted to show her that he had no weaknesses at all. He lowered his head slowly and nudged her with it. She threw her forelegs around his nose. She held him there for a while until she could feel him pulling his head back from her. She released him and allowed him to raise his head, he looked down at her one last time before he turned around and flared his giant wings, took a few steps and took off in a random direction. He just wanted to get away from the small town. Twilight froze the moment she saw him fly away. She ran after him in the direction he flew and screamed at him to come back. It was in vain. She didn't get far until he was just a black dot flying towards the horizon, it felt like her heart had frozen into ice. It was a lump in her throat she couldn't swallow away, her stomach twisted and she broke down in tears and pressed her head to the ground.

He was gone. She couldn't believe it, but it was true. No matter how much she wished for him to return, he didn't. She just laid there for most of the day and stared at the horizon, hoping that he would come back. But he didn't. As the sun began to set and welcome Luna's night, she walked back to the library in a slow pace. Her head was hanging and her eyes was half-closed. She was so tired. She wanted to sleep but she couldn't just fall asleep right there in the middle of the street. She could her chatter infront of her so she lifted her head and looked at the ponies who was talking. It was Applejack and Rainbow Dash, they seemed to be talking about some challenge between the two. They noticed that Twilight walked past them and didn't say a single word. Rainbow thought that it was weird and trotted up to her.

'Hey Twi, what's up?' She asked in a cheery tone, and Twilight looked up at her with bloodshot eyes and streaks of where tears had flowed on her face. 'Whoah... What happened to you, and where's Spike?' Twilight winced as she heard his name, and she could feel that tears was starting to well up again.

'Gone.' Twilight said in a numb tone, her mind was somewhere else.

'Who's gone? Spike?' Rainbow asked, and Twilight gave her a look that screamed ''no really'' before she stopped walking and sat down.

'Spike's gone... And he's not... Coming... Back...' Her voice broke as she embraced the startled pegasus next to her. Her entire body was trembling, she still hadn't taken it in. The dragon that she had hatched during her entrance exam all those years ago, her assistant that had helped her with everything he could do, her friend that she had known the longest, her brother who made sure that nothing ever happened to her, gone. She released Rainbow who also looked upset that Spike had left. Twilight excused herself and ran to the library and straight to her room. She laid down in her bed and levitated the small blanket who laid in his old basket and placed it on her. It reminded her of him. The day that she had feared had come sooner than what she thought, and after a scenario that she had her hopes that it never would happen. She collected herself and scribbled a letter to the princess explaining the situation and remembered that she had to leave it at a postal office later but for now, all she wanted to do was to remember.

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