Memento
Spike remembered wondering when he was younger, just how long do dragons live? There was so much he hadn't known about his kind when he lived in Ponyville, which seemed so long ago that it may have just been a dream. It had been millennium since their laughter and smiles had been all he needed to keep going. He'd thought, once, that Twilight becoming an Alicorn would allow her to stay with him, but even that had been taken away. Apparently there was more to being a goddess then simply having wings and a horn. She had lived long, certainly, her and Cadance had been the last two to leave him of those that could, but in the long run it didn't really matter. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy. They'd all lived full and happy lives, so had their foals, and their grand foals. Spike had seen to that, being the protector of their lines, so his long life might serve some purpose. Celestia had told him, long ago, that he needed to find a purpose to make the eternity bearable. And that had done for a time. But as the generations went on, he felt less connection to their family lines. They spread out around Equestria, and to other ends of the world, and Spike felt no reason to continue looking over them. Even his own line, he had long since left behind...
They'd changed everything, the two of them. They had proved that is was possible for dragons and ponies to live in peace. It hadn't been easy, for anyone, pony or dragon. But over the centuries, an uneasy peace was reached between the dragons and the ponies. Inter species marriages were not common, but they certainly were not unheard of. Kirins were a natural part of the world now, and Spike liked to think with some satisfaction that it was thanks to he and his beloved that such came to be. Not that they were the first, Spike would never believe that, but they were certainly high profile. The adopted son of Princess Celestia, savior of the Crystal Kingdom, and most trusted companion to Princess Twilight Sparkle. And then the bearer of the Element of Generosity herself, who had personally used her exquisite speech and diplomacy to open the door to negotiations with the dragons. It was not something that would have finished in her lifetime, but it certainly had started with them.
Rarity, even now the thought of her face sent his heart a flutter. The time he'd spent with her was tiny, only a few scant decades, but it sustained him even now. It drove him to continue exploring this world, to keep seeing new things, to pass the wisdom of centuries to those that needed it. It was funny really, Spike wanted to be stronger when he was little, wanted to be a help to his friends. But now that he was strong, probably strong enough to rival his 'mother' if he so choose, he found the strength was totally useless. He protected nothing, for he did not remain in the same place long. And nothing would dare to cause a fight when the dragon made land fall.
But today. Today he had something to do. Every year it always happened, the only constant in his life. On the anniversary of the happiest day of his life, he went to visit his friends. Over two thousand years ago today, he married the mare of his dream. How scandalous it had been at the time. Rarity didn't care, she never cared. Celestia gave them her blessings, and Twilight made it a point to wear one of Rarity's designs every time she appeared in public. It helped to offset the scorn they got, for daring to do something away from the norm.
She always had been a trend setter.
Spike flew low, his wings pushing back the foliage over the Everfree Forest, or whatever it was called now. He honestly didn't bother to keep up. Ponyville had vanished in the last thousand years, which had bothered him at the time. Celestia assured him that it was just a natural progression of time, she still comforted him like a child when such things bothered him. Even at his age, Spike found the comforting speech of his mother something he never resented. There were few landmarks anyone could use to find where the grave sites were. The monuments had long since worn away, the buildings decayed away into nothing as the forest took over. Spike knew, however, from his thousands of visits. He'd become intimate with every inch of this place. As he began flying lower and lower, he noticed something odd. A small clearing had been made, someone had been here recently. Curious, Spike lowered himself to the ground. This clearing was quite close to where their resting places were. Had explorers come through here again to see the remains of the once legendary 'Ponyville'? Written about in the many texts of the greatest Unicorn of all time, Twilight Sparkle. Hah, her name being revered like Star Swirl, she would have loved it. He looked to the left, and his heart nearly stopped with what he saw.
Six long holes dug into the ground, each at the base of a weathered stone slab. Their were etchings on each slab: a group of balloons, a thunderbolt, butterflies, a circle of stars, a trio of apples and... diamonds. There was a very recently dug hole before each monument, and Spike knew innately what had happened here. And his blood began to boil.
Grave Robbers.
Now Spike was not dumb, and he was not lost to rage quite yet. Their bodies had long since returned to the earth, there wouldn't be anything left for them to disturb except dirt. Yes, it was a huge insult, and if they were still here, Spike likely would have roasted them without a second thought. However, they were not here, which gave Spike time to try and regain his composure. And then he realized something, something that should be in these holes, but wasn't.
Specifically, a red gemmed necklace that his mare had worn until her end days, and had been buried with. It would normally have been possible that it could have simply been moved by the earth over thousands of years, or something else, but not this time. Spike ate gems, and he could smell a very familiar one. The one that meant more to him then anything else. He was in flight without even speaking to his friends as he intended to. Without resettling their resting places. Now he was enraged, and he let a loud roar pierce the air, filled with his wrath, as he followed the scent to the east.
After an hour or so of travel, he knew he was getting close. The scent was strong, the ruby had been here very recently. He saw on the horizon, a town. He didn't know it's name, he didn't even know if it was under Celestia's rule, not like that mattered to him right now. How dare they take from her grave! She, the most generous pony in the entire world, and they robbed her!
He touched down in the middle of the town, causing ponies of all kinds to scatter around him in surprise. He debated roaring, but before he could, he heard someone talking to him.
"Heyyy! Hey Mr. Dragon!" The call reached his ears. He turned, his gaze narrowing and looking for the source of the noise. The speaker was a filly, a unicorn filly. No Cuttie Mark, white coat and a green mane, female. She was looking up at him with wide eyes, seemingly very excited to be talking to a dragon. "Hi!" She shouted waving. "You're a purple dragon with green scales who is realllllly old, right? Are you Spike?" She asked.
Now, Spike knew his coloration was unique, he had honestly never met another dragon with his shading before. Still, that this tiny filly should know who he was, that staggered him for a moment. He turned his body to look at the young unicorn, rumbling out his response. "It has been some time since a random pony knew my name..."
The filly practically jumped around in circles in delight. "OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh! I knew it! You look exactly like they described in 'Guardians of Equestria: Volume 5, Book 2!" She said, elated to see a living legend. At hearing her spout information off like that, Spike could not help but chuckle.
"You remind me of somepony...somepony I have not seen for a very long time. What is your name, little unicorn?"
The unicorn was giddy with delight. "I'm Wishful Fortune!" She spoke, waving again to the dragon, which now leaned down so his face was resting on the ground. He didn't want to forget why he was here, but this little unicorn had calmed him. He was not a destroyer, he was just here to claim what was his.
"Well then little Fortune. Perhaps you can help me. I am looking for a red gem on a golden necklace. It was taken from my home, I have tracked it here. Have you seen it?" He asked, finding this little filly's antics familiar, and quite entertaining.
She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well...Stone Quarry came back from his exploring with something like that, but he wouldn't take what wasn't his. You could ask him. I can take you but..." She paused, thinking about something.
"But?"
"Ooooh! I have so many questions! Did you really work with the last holders of the Elements? Did you really save the Crystal Kingdom? Were you really the center of the Dragon-Pony negotiations?" She fired off at him, and Spike now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt why he felt relaxed around this filly.
"If you will take me to where I can find the pony that has the ruby, I will tell you any story you desire." He promised. Well, now it was an issue of dragon honor, and he felt like he would likely be stuck for a while if she was as much like Twilight as he thought. Her dancing around was rather cute, though. He had to wonder if Twilight had ever been that wild and just...cute. He'd been too young to remember when she was that age.
The streets were empty as Wishful Fortune lead him through the town. Most likely hiding from him in fear, he couldn't really blame them. Never-the-less, she came up to a large stone cottage, knocking happily on the door. The scent was unbearable, the ruby was within. There was no response at first, so she knocked again. Still no response, Spike simply sighed.
"Please don't make this more difficult then it must be. If I wanted to enter, your door would not stop me." He spoke loud enough for anypony in the area to hear, and sure enough the door peaked open as a brown earth pony looked out at him. Young, fully grown, but young. He seemed to be eying Spike from behind the door, which Spike thought was quite ludicrous. Like the door would protect him.
"Y..Yes, mighty dragon?"
Spike leaned down, looking at the pony before him with a critical gaze. He seemed terrified, small wonder. The blessings of size. "I believe you have something that belonged to a friend of mine. A Fire Ruby, yes?" He spoke, seeing the pony's face pale. He nodded furiously, leaving the door open as he ran into the house.
Spike could hear the sounds of some conversation. The pony and a filly it sounded like, though even his ears could not decipher their frantic whispers. Fortune looked up at him and spoke. "I think he's getting it from Sapphire Thrill." She whispered to him, as if he should know who this pony was.
"And she is?" Spike asked, keeping his voice as quiet as possible.
"Oh she's really nice! She's my age but she's lame."
"I thought you said she was nice...?"
"No no, silly! Her legs are lame! She really likes gems though, she puts them by her window and makes the light shine through them all, it's really pretty." She clarified, not thinking it odd at all. An odd knot formed in Spike's chest, and he used his long neck to slither his head around the side of the house. It was not hard to find the window of this filly. He could hear the discussion as he approached the window.
"...But you said someone buried it?" A female voice asked.
"I don't know, but he wants it! He might crush the house if we don't give it to him!" The older stallion started, clearly panicked.
"Hello." Spike said simply, looking into the window and nearly making the brother faint. The little filly, however, just looked at him, her eyes wide. She had a blue coat, but a red mane. What an odd color. She looked almost like Dash, but her demeanor was anything but. She held the necklace in her hands, and she held it up towards him with a smile.
"Hello Mr. Dragon! Is this yours?" She asked honestly. presenting the familiar gem to him. Spike nodded, and brought two clawed talons close to pick it out of her hands...
When something smacked him in the back of his mind. 'You brute! How could you take from a filly that has so little? To take something just to put it in the dirt? What good would it do there? Here it brightens her life.'
And he knew, Rarity was right. The Fire Ruby had no use as a memento sitting in the dirt. Someone else had found real value in it, so what right did he have to claim it now? He pulled his hand back, to the surprise of all involved. "Yes, but I think I would rather you keep it. The owner of it would have wanted that way."
Sapphire looked confused. "I thought you owned it? Isn't that what you said?"
Spike chuckled, laying down for a moment. "Find a place to sit Fortune, for now you get your first story. You see, a very long time ago I lived in a place called Ponyville..."
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Beautiful.
I do wonder what led the pony to find it originally, and to dig at the foot of what so obviously was a monument to something; that part never really became clear. Was this intentional grave-robbing, or simply a mistake?
That detail aside, though, a very touching story. You can't take it with you, after all, and Rarity more than any other would indeed see little value in such a treasure being buried for all time. And its history makes it all the more precious to someone else, someone living, who can appreciate it.
3245938
Thanks for the review! About the question, I didn't include an answer to it in the story because I didn't view it as terribly important. Maybe the gem was pushed to the surface after years of subtle earth movements, and he decided to dig to see if there was anything else. Maybe he was a grave robber? You can make it whatever you'd like, because the answer is irrelevant. What was important was he found a very valuable item, and gave it to his little sister that he loved, rather then using it for personal gain.
Glad you enjoyed it!
-Lumino
3245957
I suppose I just couldn't quite wrap my head around the same pony being both awful enough to rob the graves of the Elements of Harmony and at the same time thoughtful enough to give the spoils to his little sister. Sure, that's possible, just extremely incongruous.
Personally, I'm hoping for something more like "grave robber or Diamond Dog dug it up and brought it elsewhere, and it subsequently found its way into the hands of someone who had no idea of its origins". Makes it a bit more palatable.
I could almost have believed, despite the very Twilightesque filly knowing Spike's name, the stories of the Elements of Harmony had been completely lost to history after a few millenia the same way Luna's full story became unknown to any but the most diligent scholars like Twilight, and the monument simply seemed like an old ruin like the Castle of the Ancient Royal Pony Sisters, for ponies taking after Daring Do to explore. But for each of the graves to have been dug individually, rather than just as some haphazard dig or a targeted one based on something similar to Rarity's gem-finding spell, someone would have to have known what they were.
While this is a very beautiful and made me take a trip on the feels train, I have one criticism. On every standard keyboard there is a button called a tab button. Its use is to indent. I feels this would appeal to your story very much and make it more grammatically correct
Dude you are pumping out stories like nobody's business...I like it
As for the story itself I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you could link to the comic that inspired you that would be awesome.
3246237
I merely post at the rate of my inspiration and time! :D
Anyway, here you go: Comic.
Thanks for the comment!
-Lumino
3246060 There's actually a button on the edit pages for fics on the top right that indents the entire story in one click, except the first paragraph. I do agree it should be indented.
This was nice and sweet. I loved it!
3247090
I checked a good number of stories I read and most of them are not indented either. It doesn't stop your critique from being valuable and appreciated, but I was never aware it was a serious problem. Anyway, I fixed it as the two of you requested. :D
Thanks for your feedback!
-Lumino
3247107 It's just vastly cleaner looking.
Well, a lot of people on this site don't exactly try to be good at writing. And ignoring that, a decent number don't realize the button is there or that the indents don't transfer over usually from other sources like Word or Gdocs.
very nice, not normally a spike fan but this was well executed and a rather pleasant read.
3247710
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review!
-Lumino
I can sort of tell that, just by the hastiness of the punctuation, and the sentence structure. It's not a bad story, it flows alright, and has lots of passable narrative (considering the time that was put in it). However, I am down voting this, because I think you could have done better. Rather than take the time to clean it up; have an editor comb over it; or get it filled out with more fat, you rushed to submit it. Two glaring instances of neglect are in the first paragraph alone. Did you mean to write, "A millennium" or were you going to the plural, "millennia"? Not to mention the artistic usage of ending a paragraph with an ellipsis, which should never be done in narrative.
Anyway, I'm not trying to be a dick. Just pointing out to you, that you have some talent, and you shouldn't squander it by abecedarian haste.
I hope you keep up the writing.
3253181
Allow me to thank you. In my years of writing stories for various fandoms, this is the first negative review I ever received. Sure, I got plenty of down votes, but never any actual scathing critique on my work, which I knew was far from perfect.
You raise many excellent points, and I would probably count yours as the best review I have ever received. Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to help me improve, it is honestly the best you could have done for me.
Once again, thanks.
-Lumino
Yeah, you can tell it was wrote in an hour simply due to rough a story it is. Still, good story that with a bit of clean up would be awesome.
3278955 Heh, thanks for the comment! Yeah, looking through it again I do recognize it isn't my finest work. I'm not touching it up for a very important reason though.
This story, like everything I have done, is a lesson for me as a writer. I like to keep around my mistakes to keep my ego in check.
Thanks again for the comment!
-Lumino
3278979
Good idea.
3278979
I'm gonna disagree with you about that. Personally, I write for the enjoyment of others, and presentation is important in that regard. Like you, I want to be able to look back and see how far I've come, but my method is to keep copies of nearly every revision I go through. Only the most flawless version I can produce goes out for people to see, and when I see something that can be improved, I do it.
I guess it really just depends on who you're writing for, but there's a lot of potential in this story. With some more world building, deeper characterization, and some refinement in the prose, I could easily see myself giving it a favorite. As it stands, you get an upvote for the concept and general readability.
3282295 Thanks for the upvote and comment. Allow me to expand upon my thoughts, though. If my mistakes were just for me, that would be one thing, but it isn't that simple. We were all new once, and looking up at the best of the best can be a good end goal, but it can also seem unreachable. I believe that stories all throughout our growth as writers should be seen for what they are, records of our growth. Consider them the middle rungs on a ladder. We may have passed by them, but to those below us they serve as something closer to their skill level, something attainable. Nobody goes from the bottom to the top in one go. If someone less skilled them myself reads this story, sees ways they can improve their own work, and thinks 'I am totally capable of that.' Even if it is only a small improvement of their own work, then I think leaving the work as it is was worth it.
I tried for a while to make this comment not come out as totally pretentious, but I failed. Oh well.
Thanks again!
-Lumino
3282639 Don't worry about it. Even if I disagree, your POV is perfectly valid and I don't see it as pretentious.
Flaws abundant, yeah, but even with those flaws it's something special. A nice concept that was fairly well executed. I dislike the idea that Spike will outlive his only friends (if Meghan is going to show Twilight that courtesy, she'd damn well better do the same for Spike), but in this case I find it acceptable, since it allows this sweet little moment to unfold. Though something really has to be said to that grave robber of a brother.
3410162
Heh, I am glad you weren't turned away by the flaws inherent in the work. In some ways, going back to read it again just reinforces those old lessons I have learned since then. A good, solid, reminder of how important progress is.
About Quarry, who keeps getting the short end of the stick. How many video games or animes or movies have we watched with the heroes taking something out of a tomb? Maybe an ancient relic, a weapon, something of plot significance, whatever. Two thousand years is a long time. If we found an ancient burial site in the middle east that dated back to 20 BC, do you think anyone would think twice about us going into it?
Now yes, we would think differently based on thieves or historians, I agree with that. I wasn't saying he was totally innocent, but a lot of people were really vilifying him, and I don't really see why it is deserved. Yeah, he screwed up, but I think it is past the statute of limitations for righteous indignation.
Well, unless you were Spike. XD
Thanks again for the review!
-Lumino
3410201 You speak truthfully. Perhaps people keep saying he's a bad guy is because it's hard to picture the world we're so familiar with as ancient history, and because this story takes place from Spike's point of view. In my defense, though, I was only thinking Spike should give him a good hard glare and be done with it.
Aw, geez, Spike... Talk to your own kids, too, will you? I'm sure they miss you and their mommy too....
So sweet....
Dude, you made a truly amazing and beautiful story. Well done.