Past, Present, and Future

by DragonShadow

17 - The Tide Comes

Chapter 17: The Tide Comes

The difference between sweet dream and reality was hazy for a moment. Awakening with a girl in his claws was a dream he had frequently, especially since leaving Ponyville with this particular girl. But this time was different. He felt strangely fulfilled in a way he never had any other morning, and was somewhat comforted by the feeling of her long, sinuous body coiled on top of his torso, wrapping around his thigh on the way down. For the first time, the night before hadn't been part of a dream. It was actually real... it had actually happened.

Spike tightened his grip on the dragoness' body as it trying to make sure he was right. When she didn't disappear, he knew the truth. And so did she, as her eyes were fluttering open at his touch without a trace of surprise within the sightless red pools.

"Hello there..." Pyralsprite purred.

"Good morning, Pyralsprite." Spike smiled. "Sorry to wake you up."

"I'm not sorry at all." She let a tongue of flame lick out over his cheek. "You can wake me up any time."

"Heh, that's good to know..." Spike sat up slowly, cradling the dragon girl in his arms, and letting her cheek rest against his shoulder. "We might not get a chance to rest like this for a while... we should get some breakfast before anything happens."

Pyralsprite remained stubbornly limp against his shoulder. "I still don't wanna move..."

"Okay, then don't. I've got you." Spike wrapped her coils over his shoulders like a scarf and climbed out of bed, stroking her head with one claw on his way to the bedroom door.

Canterlot Palace was a big place, but he knew it like the back of his claw. He'd practically been raised here by Twilight, after all. He made his way straight toward the kitchens, where there wouldn't be any gemstones, but at least he could find some normal pony food for them to fill their bellies with. He plucked some grass and flowers out of the small cooler box in the kitchen and gulped down a handful, holding another handful up to Pyralsprite's head.

"Ewe, pony food..."

"Come on, it's not perfect, but it's filling enough."

Pyralsprite hesitated for another moment before licking the flowers out of his claw. She grimaced at the taste, but pulled it into her lips and began to chew. It was strange being able to feel every muscle in her body twitch with her chewing, but he tried not to focus on that.

"Good morning, my little dragon friends," Zecora's voice came from the kitchen entrance, where the zebra was just coming in towards the cooler box. "I hope with your friend you have made amends."

"Yeah, I guess so." Spike glanced down toward a moment as he stepped out of the way to let her at the cooler, then looked up again. "Hey Zecora, you know more about dragons than anypony else in Equestria. Is greed the only thing that can make a dragon grow?" He looked down at his own large, but sleek claws.

Zecora pondered that for a moment as she filled a plate with grass and flowers. "Dragons of today have grown into a single breed whose life is focused on their natural greed. But stories and legends of old tell of dragons who grew glorious and bold." She closed the ice box and moved to pull down three glasses from the cabinets, oblivious to the dragons' rapt attention. "Legends of dragons of justice and peace spread among my tribe from grandmother to niece. I do not know for sure how big they could get, but tales told of them being as beautiful as sunset."

"Like Kindfire..." Spike remembered the prismatic shine of his mother's scales as he squeezed his claws shut. "I haven't gotten any more pretty... just bigger and uglier... maybe I really am just like them..."

Zecora gave him a warm smile over her shoulder as she poured juice into each glass. "You are worried about what you may be, but your fears are unfounded you see. Even if you started down that path, even if that is what you have become, there is nothing you can do that cannot be undone." She lifted the tray of food off of the counter with one steady hoof. "Who you could be is not always who you are. Remember this Spike, and you can go far."

Spike opened his claws again, looking up just in time to see Zecora's tail disappearing out the kitchen exit.

"I'm not sure who's creepier, her or Discord." Pyralsprite shuddered around his shoulders.

"Hey, Zecora's cool. She has helped us out a ton of times."

"If you say so..."

Spike rubbed the back of Pyralsprite's neck softly with one claw. "Hey, Pyralsprite... what do you think? Do you think what she said is true?"

Pyralsprite shrugged. "I dunno... I've never really thought about any way to live besides what they taught me. I thought I was messed up, being so different from them..."

"Well now you know better, right? You're not messed up, you're just a good dragon. We both are... well, we try to be good dragons, anyway."

"Guess that's all we can do at this point, huh?" Pyralsprite's words hung in the air for several moments until the kitchen door swung open again, this time revealing a royal guard.

"I've found you! Princess Luna would like to see everybody in the throne room. There has been dragon activity in Equestria."

Spike felt his heart skip a beat, and Pyralsprite's body stiffen around his shoulders. Her deep red eyes almost seemed to be swirling anxiously in their sockets as her claws tightened against his body, as if clinging to him for dear life.

"I've got you Pyralsprite," Spike assured her with a smooth smile. "But we should get to the throne room." For a moment Spike wished they had gotten more sleep... but if Equestria was going to end before the day was out, he could think of no better way to spend his final night.

It seemed like only an instant later he was marching into the throne room, where most of the royal ponies had already gathered, with Kindfire sitting against the East wall. Spike set Pyralsprite on her claws, letting her walk on her own into the large throne room. They could afford to have a little dignity, after all.

"Thank you all for coming so quickly." Princess Luna cast the group a stiff smile. "The dragons have appeared on the Eastern shore of Equestria. They are in Fillydelphia as we speak."

"I don't suppose they're here to negotiate a peace treaty?" Twilight's hopeful smile vanished almost instantly.

"They are tearing the town apart... very, very thoroughly." Luna shook her head. "I daresay they are sending us a very clear message."

"What about Manehattan?" Twilight asked. "It's on the Eastern coast, are they leaving it alone?"

Luna shook her head. "Manehattan hasn't been touched. The entirety of their army seems to be in Fillydelphia."

"Then they will continue toward Canterlot," Kindfire interrupted firmly. "It is the dragon way. They will finish this destructive boast, then make a straight line for us. They are showing that they do not fear retaliation even as they go straight for the throat of your country, clearing away anything in their path."

"Is there anything in their path?" Twilight asked. "If we can clear the way, we could buy ourselves time for further plans without sacrificing lives."

Luna grunted. "Yes, unfortunately... there is a small village called Appleoosa directly between Canterlot and Fillydelphia." Spike felt his breath catch in his throat at the name.

Celestia whirled toward the captain of the guard waiting by the door. "Send a squadron of Wonderbolts to Appleoosa immediately. I want the town evacuated within the hour."

"Of course, your highness." The guard whirled to rush out of the room, letting the door swing closed behind him.

"With that business being taken care of..." Luna looked around the crowd again. "Has anypony come up with a plan for actually fending off the dragon threat?"

Silence loomed over the throne room. Each pony and dragon eyeing the other as if looking for someone to break the silence and save the day. Truth be told, Spike was just too nervous about Appleoosa to think about much else. He had known Little Strongheart only briefly, but he considered her a good friend, and she had taken the dragon pair in on their ill-advised trek toward the dragon lands. The trip that had caused all of this...

"We need to stand up to them..." Spike tried not to blush as every pair of eyes in the room turned on him. "We can't just run, fleeing Equestria wouldn't even guarantee that they'd leave us alone at this point. He's not trying to conquer Equestria, he's trying to punish the ponies who live here..."

Kindfire nodded. "A wise observation, Spike. Fleeing is certainly no option."

"So we face them..." Spike gulped.

Rarity was almost trembling in place, a sight that made Spike's knees weak. "But how? There are so many, and they have such powerful magic."

Pyralsprite spoke in a low, grim tone. "We probably die, to be honest, without enough dragon magic of our own."

After a moment of thought Spike stood up a bit straighter. "Princess Celestia... Kindfire... you said there were a bunch of eggs in Equestria. That means there must be a bunch of dragons like me."

Celestia nodded. "There have been many eggs spread across Equestria over the last few decades, given to my most trusted students to raise and care for."

"Do you know where they are now?"

"I'm afraid I don't." Celestia shook her head. "I know where a few are, with students who have chosen to maintain contact with me, such as Twilight. But I have not been spying on my former students. It would show a lack of trust in them."

"Heavens forbid..." Luna smirked slightly. Celestia blushed guiltily.

Kindfire cocked her head. "I think I see where you're going with this Spike... and it could work, but the dragons will no doubt be here before we could find even half of my other children."

"But we need them..." Spike looked toward the large double-doors at the front of the throne room. "And we can find them..." He turned to march toward the doors without another word.

The throne room was silent for a moment before the hoofsteps and scratching of claws started to follow him through the castle. He led the procession down the hallway, and up multiple flights of staircases until he approached the small hatch that one could use to access the highest sloping roof of the main building. He climbed the ladder to the hatch, flicked it open without a word, and slipped up into the early morning sunlight to look out across Canterlot, and the three other towns that were all within sight of it.

Spiked moved out to the edge of the roof carefully, where he saw Kindfire just climbing the side of the building to peer curiously at him. A glance back showed that most of the ponies were watching from the safety of the release hatch, while Pyralsprite climbed out, using her claws to steady herself as she clambered toward him over the smooth sloping stone roof.

"What's the plan here? You're not... giving up, are you?" Pyralsprite demanded. "Because I will catch you if you are."

"I'm not giving up. I'm going to do everything I can to protect these ponies..." Spike took several deep breaths, trying to remember what he'd seen on Fire Mountain, what he'd felt. He felt the fire rolling in his stomach, churning with magical force. "Maybe I can't do much... maybe I screwed everything up too much to fix... but I'm going to try."

Pyralsprite gave him a soft smile. "Then I'm with you. Just tell me what to do."

Spike placed a hand on her chest, pushing her back a step or two. "Just stand back... I don't know if this'll work..." He closed his eyes now, shaping the flame in his stomach for several more moments before suddenly clenching his claws at his sides and throwing his head back.

There was a collective gasp from the dragons and ponies around him as his emerald flames arched into the orange sky, ending in a cone, but sending waves of magic spiraling out across Equestria. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Kindfire's eyes glazing over slightly, and even Pyralsprite moved a little more robotically as both lifted their heads and spread their wings out, their own orange and emerald flames joining his in the sky.

The gasps of ponies behind him was joined by the sight of a flame lighting the sky in the distance, just barely visible against the horizon. Dragon's fire exploded into the sky, joined one by one by many other pinpricks of light that seemed to come from all over Equestria, from the outer fringes of pony civilization to the deepest forests surrounding the mountain on which Canterlot had been built. As Spike's own flames faded, the fires lighting up the land continued until one by one they faded into darkness again.

"That was... what was that?" Twilight asked.

Kindfire's chest seemed to swell. "That was a draconic beacon. The others around Equestria will be drawn here. They will come to find its source."

"But won't the dragons from the dragon lands sense it too?" Twilight asked. Spike's breath caught in his throat. Oh Goddess, had he-

"They will, but they were already on their way here regardless." Kindfire pointed out, letting Spike release his tense breath.

"Oh Spike, I had no idea you could do something like that!" Rarity pranced out onto the ledge towards Spike with a wild grin. "You have saved us all!"

"He has given us a fighting chance, but it's up to us to take advantage of it." Kindfire turned toward Spike and bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, Spike, allow me to greet the remainder of my children as they arrive. You should-"

"Your highness!" A pegasus in a wonderbolt uniform screamed as she approached the roof, clutching at her chest. Spike whirled in surprise to see that it was the captain of the Wonderbolts herself, Spitfire. "Princess Celestia, we have a situation!"

"Are the dragons at Appleoosa already?" Celestia looked up in shock. "It's not possible, even for them."

Spitfire saluted swiftly as she regained her breath. "No, Your Highness, the ponies are being escorted to Canterlot as we speak, but there's a tribe of buffalo who refuses to leave. They say they'll die before they let anybody drive them out of their lands."

"Chief Thunderhooves..." Spike groaned inwardly.

"If that is their decision..." Luna began.

Celestia cut her off immediately. "No, Luna. We can't just leave them to fend for themselves. They wouldn't stand a chance."

"They have decided their own fate, Celestia. We can't afford to send troops to force them out, we need everypony to help with the defense here."

"I'll go talk to them." Spike stepped forward. "Chief Thunderhooves is stubborn, but he'll listen to us. They respect dragons." Spike glanced up at Kindfire for a moment. "For a good reason... I'm sure I can convince them to get out of the way, at least for a while. And while I'm gone you all can rally the coming dragons and unicorns."

"Unicorns?" Twilight cocked her head.

"I think I have an idea... but we're going to need unicorn magic to make it work. A lot of it."

The others were silent for a long moment, but Celestia broke the silence with a swift nod. "We'll do as you say, Spike. We're counting on you."

"W-wait, what...? Counting on me? I mean, I'm not in charge, I was just thinking..."

"Thinking more than we were, apparently." Twilight approached, looking up into his eyes, now quite a bit higher off the ground than her own. "We were all so busy panicking we didn't even begin to come up with a plan, but you not only have one, you're putting it into motion without us. Don't worry, we won't let you down. You go move those buffalo, and we'll gather the forces you'll need."

"I-I'll need...?" Spike felt his burning hot blood run cold. "My... forces...?"

Kindfire stepped forward. "Come, Spike. I can get you both to Appleoosa faster than any other, and return to see to the dragons."

"I-I didn't agree to..." Spike was still sputtering when Kindfire set him on her back. Pyralsprite joined them a moment later, clambering up behind him across the larger dragon's scales before they took to the air, streaking away from Canterlot at an almost astonishing speed.

Spike spoke as low as he could while still being heard above the rushing wind. "P-Pyralsprite... what the hell is happening right now..."

"I think you're leading us to glory!" Pyralsprite pumped one claw into the air.

"Yeah, I was kind of afraid of that." Spike gulped. "I'm not a leader, Pyralsprite..."

"Really? Then why have you been doing so much leading since we got to Fire Mountain?"

"I... w-well..." Spike mumbled a bit before trailing off entirely. He had so much to think about on the way to Appleoosa he didn't even think to take in how beautiful Equestria was...

___

Twilight Sparkle could barely believe her eyes. The dragons had begun to show up just as Spike and Kindfire said they would, with their unicorn caretakers in tow. As they arrived each was led into the throne room, where Celestia explained the situation and would ask for their help fending off the impending attack. Twilight wasn't privy to these conversations, this was an important discussion between teacher and former student that she would never dare intrude upon.

Though it was nice to see the kind faces of all the students as they passed through, some throwing her a greeting on their way through the main hallway. These were her kind of ponies, after all. The chosen few who had been trained by Celestia herself, she now knew, to raise the dragons correctly...

Twilight gave Zecora a soft smile as the zebra approached. "You know, if circumstances were different, I would be thrilled to meet so many of Princess Celestia's fellow graduates."

Zecora chuckled softly as she moved to stand beside Twilight. "In this time of doubt and woe, you should let your little pleasures show."

"Oh, uh..." Twilight cleared her throat, trying to focus. "But we have so much to do, to our cause we have to be true."

Zecora flashed her a wide, warm smile at the attempt at a rhyme. "Forgetting that which we fight for simply wouldn't be right. We must remember our happiness now more than ever so that we may continue to fight for it forever."

Twilight nodded slowly and ran a hoof over her chin, partly absorbing her friend's wisdom, and partly trying to come up with a rhyme for her response. "Um... I'm sorry, I can't come up with a good rhyme at all for that."

Zecora chuckled. "Please don't fret, you're not a master yet."

"I'll keep trying my hardest, though!" Twilight affirmed with a determined nod of her head. Before they could speak any more, Rarity made her way into the room from the kitchen hallway, heading toward them.

"Twilight, I would like a word with you."

"Of course, what's on your mind, Rarity?"

"I'd just like you to know that I want to be a part of this." Rarity puffed her chest out. "Spike put out a call for unicorns, and I want to help!"

"Help?" Twilight cast her zebra friend a sidelong glance. "Um... thank you, Rarity, but you realize what's happening, right? We're talking about a potential war here... ponies and dragons could both get hurt. they could even die."

"I understand the risks, Twilight... but I am a patriot, and I am here for my friends." Rarity winked. "So whatever you plan to ask the other unicorns for, please count me among their ranks as well."

After a moment Twilight responded with a gentle smile. "I admire your courage Rarity... but we don't even know what Spike's plan currently is. I'm sure it'll be something clever, given that it requires unicorns and all these dragons."

"I know, I just wanted to make sure." Rarity turned to watch the next unicorn and dragon make their way through the entrance hall toward the throne room. "It's strange, isn't it? So many dragons in Equestria and we thought Spike was the only one all this time. All that needless loneliness."

"Yeah, I've thought of that too." Twilight shook her head. "Celestia splitting the dragons up like she did was genius in a way... they would definitely absorb pony values, and not being localized minimized the chances of them being discovered by the other dragons... but at the same time it was kind of cruel. I wonder if the other dragons spent as much time as Spike did wondering who they were and where they came from."

Zecora shook her head. "Cruel as it may seem to keep them from their kin, is that not a question we all hold within?"

Twilight regarded her friend with surprise, then lowered her head with a hoof to her chin. "You're right, Zecora. Even with our friends and family around to help guide us, who we really are is a question we all have to face." Twilight turned toward the zebra with a soft smile. "Why are you the only one in Equestria who makes me feel dumb?"

Zecora chuckled. "It is the rhymes. They make me sound wise sometimes."

Twilight laughed and wrapped her up in a sudden hug. "Yeah! they sure do!" A moment later a blush lit up her cheeks and she pulled back with a demure cough. "Ahem, I mean... I'm glad you're here to set me straight when I lose my mind."

Rarity peered at her suspiciously with a hoof on her chin. "I bet you are, darling..."

Twilight tried to regain her composure despite her blush. "Whaaaat?"

"We'll be gossiping later."

"Um... do we have to?"

"Even more now!"

Twilight sighed and turned to watch the next guest enter, happy to have something else to focus on. She had an idea of what Rarity wanted to talk to her about... and frankly, she wasn't sure what to say about it. This entire time she had been so worried about getting to Spike that she hadn't let herself dwell too heavily on Zecora. Now, as she sat and waited for the pieces to fall into place, she had time to think.

Her thoughts brought another blush to her cheeks.

Comments

[Grekoy]

This is goanna be good.

[Lord Olympius]

6388663 Good to know. Maybe her eye when blind because of the dragon hatching in fire thing they do some times and being that close to a light that bright before her hatching and after focused her eyes to go blind quicker?

[Fido]

This story suddenly got a whole lot better. Go on.

[djthomp]

There was a collective gasp from the dragons and ponies around him as his emerald flames arched into the orange sky, ending in a cone, but sending waves of magic spiraling out across Equestria. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Kindfire's eyes glazing over slightly, and even Pyralsprite moved a little more robotically as both lifted their heads and spread their wings out, their own orange and emerald flames joining his in the sky.

Oooooo, neat. Good way to gather in the Equestrian dragons, makes sense.

Spike the Dragon, incipient dragon patriarch of Equestria.

Rarity peered at her suspiciously with a hoof on her chin. "I bet you are, darling..."
Twilight tried to regain her composure despite her blush. "Whaaaat?"
"We'll be gossiping later."
"Um... do we have to?"
"Even more now!"

Heh. Just accept it, Twilight, some things are unstoppable.