"Spike are you sure you’re ready to be up and around? You were asleep for nearly thirty hours after you teleported back here," Twilight asked, her voice thick with concern.
"I don't have much of a choice Twilight. I screwed things up royally during my botched rescue. The griffons know that there is a dragon wandering around Equestria now freeing ponies. They are going to start ramping up security all over Equestria now, not to mention trying to track me down and kill me. I need to work as fast as possible to free as many ponies as I can," Spike barked as he flopped back in his chair.
"Speaking of the killing me part, Lyra, of the ponies we've liberated thus far how many could you find that were capable of martial combat?" Spike said, glancing at the mint coated unicorn.
"Of those here at the castle I have managed to find six expert level Still way practitioners, two expert level Vortex Style specialists and, much to my surprise and to our luck, one Shattered Stone master. I have assembled them into what I affectionately refer to as the ‘Still Guard.’”
Spike smirked at the mint green unicorn. "Well, it's a decent start. Have them section off into groups and start instructing all those willing to learn. We need to build a fighting force if we want to win this country back. I can't take on an entire kingdom on my own."
He turned to Twilight, "On a non militaristic note, how are our friends adjusting to the new living conditions?"
"Its a mixed bag really, Rarity and Sweetie Belle are doing fine, although Rarity seems to be a bit pale and shaky. Pinkie and the Cakes seem to be the best off; they’ve taken over kitchen duty and little Rum and Angel are doing just fine. AJ seems to be the only one having trouble. She’s completely paranoid about the griffons finding us and punishing her and her family for running away."
Spike shifted in his makeshift bed, "Rarity should be alright in a few more days. Shes likely suffering from withdrawals. We can't do much for AJ at the moment other than reassure her that things are going to work out." Spike braced himself and sat up, swinging his legs off the bed and planting them on the ground.
"What do the supplies look like?" Spike asked turning to Twilight.
"We've used up the majority of the food we took from the camp and our foraging attempts have been less than successful. The way things are going now, we could probably last another four or five days," Twilight replied, face buried in what Spike could only assume was a log book.
The dragon took a deep breath and stood up, his body protesting the whole way. He used to think himself indestructible, but his recent crusade against the Griffon kingdom had opened his eyes to just how mortal he really was. His body ached from the constant strain of combat and the limited time he allowed himself to rest.
"Spike you shouldn't be out of bed right now!" Twilight protested, rushing to his side.
"I don't have a choice Twi. If I don't forge ahead we'll end up right back where we started. While I was in Ponyville, I heard whispers of a rebel force taking refuge in the Shifting Smoke Mountains. I've recovered enough strength to make the flight and I intend to scout the area and see if there is indeed a group willing to fight back. I shouldn't be more than a day, I'll renew the protection spells on the castle and be back before they fall off." The conviction in Spike's voice left no room for rebuttal.
"Meanwhile, everypony here will be you two's responsibility. At the very least we should have a few more days before they even think to search this deep into the Everfree."
Both unicorns nodded as the dragon spread his wings and gave them a mighty flap. They watched silently as he climbed into the mid afternoon sky, something about the lean powerful body calming their worried minds.
Spike soared over the Shifting Smoke Mountains, taking in every remote detail he could. His first two passes had turned up no signs of habitation. As he finished his third unsuccessful pass he landed to collect his thoughts.
This is pointless; if a simple fly by could have found them, they would have easily been caught by now. Either they aren't here or there has to be more to it. Suddenly, an idea came to Spike. He focused his mind and cast a very familiar spell to him.
The dragon flew over the mountain pass once more, this time with a detect life spell in place. The way Spike figured it, there wouldn't be any visible entry ways into the mountain if it was indeed being used as a base because they would immediately arise suspicion. He was nearly half way over the mountain chain when he spotted a myriad of faint orange lights inside its core. He paused for a moment, hovering in the air while trying to determine exactly how deep into the mountain the lights were.
"Well, I do like to make an entrance." Spike flapped his wings and shot a few dozen yards upward before diving back down to earth. As he approached the rocky mountain surface his tucked his wings in and cast an empowered burning hands spell. The extreme heat his hands were now emitting effortless liquified the rock as he dove into the mountain side.
Colonel Crimson Skies stood over a map of northern Equestria when his silent contemplation was abruptly ended as the door to his office burst open.
"This had better be important, private, or I'm throwing you from the top of the mountain with your wings fastened to your sides."
Once inside the room, the private stood at attention with a file in his outstretched wing. "The intel report from the recent incident in Ponyville, sir."
"Well it's about bloody time. Give me the run down private.." Colonel Skies snatched the offered file and slapped it open on his desk.
"It appears that the individual responsible for freeing the prisoners at facility 87 was the one behind this incident as well. It appears to have been a covert rescue mission unlike the full scale liberation at the facility. The only ponies missing from town were the remaining free elements of harmony and their families."
Skies nodded while scanning the file, "Well, whoever this guy is he's pretty damn good. We could really use a pony like him in the rebellion."
"About that, sir. It appears that the vigilante in question isn't actually a pony."
Skies looked up from his desk, "Are we talking about some kind of rogue griffon here? Last I checked, we weren't exactly doing well in the ally department."
"According to reports from the soldiers who responded to the alarm, it appears the ally in question is actually a dragon, sir."
"You want to run that by me again, private?" Skies said, an eyebrow raised in question.
"You heard correctly sir, all reports seem to indicate that a dragon is behind both rescue attempts. It does resolve most of our questions about how facility 87 was cleaned up so neatly. Dragons are an incredibly powerful race it would stand to reason one could wipe out an entire barracks full of guards single-handedly."
Skies sat in silence for a moment, absorbing the information.
"Get our scouts together. I have a new assignment for them. Tell them to assemble in the briefing room."
With that, the Colonel stormed out of the room, leaving his private still at attention. It wouldn't take long for his orders to be carried out and he wanted to get the gears turning on his new project as quickly as possible.
Moments later, Skies stood in the large open cavern they used as a briefing room as a dozen or so pegasi assembled in front of him. As they finished forming ranks he stepped up on the makeshift podium that was little more than a stack of crates.
"I've gathered you all here on such short notice because I have a new assignment for the entire scout division."
There was a quite murmur in the group as the Colonel continued.
"Our latest intel report has brought to our attention a powerful potential ally that appears to be hiding somewhere in Equestria. A Dragon, folks, is what I'm referring to. He or she appears to be the one responsible for both the destruction of facility 87 in the north and the recent commotion in Ponyville. Now, because of the nature of our little shit show here its rather difficult to find us, and while this is a bad thing for our enemies it’s also a bad thing for anyone looking to join up with us. This dragon might very well be trying do just that, seeing as how they have freed more of our kinsman in the past month then we have in the past year."
The Colonel stepped down and paced along the front line of scouts.
"As of now, I want all of you to start looking for this dragon, and when found bring him here for a meeting. If his goals do indeed align with ours he could be an immensely powerful ally."
It was at this time that a voice called out from the group.
"Any idea where we should begin looking sir?"
Skies turned his head to the voice. "Sadly, we have next to no idea where this individual could be, which is why I'm making it the priority of the entire scouting division. We have enough eyes and wings here to cover most of Equestria if well coordinated and it is of the ut---"
The Colonel was cut off mid sentence by a rumbling of the earth. Before anyone could react, the ceiling above the briefing hall exploded in a shower of dust and rock and the ground shook a second, more forceful time as if something had impacted it.
"SOUND THE ALARM, WERE UNDER ATTACK!" shouted Skies and he beat his wings, trying to disperse the smokescreen of sand and gravel.
"That won't be necessary; I'm just here to talk," came an unfamiliar voice from the fog. What came next was the sound of snapping.
A burst of air came from nowhere and immediately cleared out the room. Standing there below the massive hole in the ceiling was a tower of a purple dragon.
The dragon looked at the group of slack jawed ponies and smirked. "You see, I'm here to join the rebellion."
Spike landed in the castle courtyard around early morning and rushed to his office. He practically tore the ancient doors of their hinges as he barged in, huddled around his desk were Twilight and Lyra looking over what appeared to be a map.
Twilight turned in shock. "Spike, what are you doing? What’s with the rush?"
"I found the rebels, Twi. They’re currently setting up shop in the Smokey Mountains. We need to get everything and everyone packed and ready to move out. Once we meet up with them we'll actually be able to start making some moves. You two start waking everyone up and getting things packed, I need to gather the mine carts together and start casting a few enchantments."
Lyra and Twilight nodded and took off into the castle proper as Spike opened an old chest he had been using to store magical paraphernalia.
Spike rose up with a groan as he completed the final enchantment on the stolen minecarts. While not an overly intensive enchantment, casting so many feather-weight spells was at the very least an endurance trial. He paused to catch his breath as he eyed the camp; ponies were scattered everywhere packing and storing various equipment and supplies. Now that they knew of where to find the Crimson Wing rebellion it was imperative that they reach the smokey mountains as soon as possible.
He spotted Lyra and Twilight carefully packing what meager magical paraphernalia they possessed and hastily made his way over to them.
“Is this really all the reagents we have left?” The distress in his voice seemed infectious to the two mares.
Lyra was the first to respond. “I’m sorry, Spike, but there wasn’t much to take from the camp and we found very little in the surrounding area.”
Spike frowned. There were barely enough materials to prepare sufficient defensive wards, let alone renew the enchantments on the carts.
“We can’t waste any time on this trip, then. We have at most twelve hours before the enchantments wear off and after that we will have to traverse the mountains on foot.”
Lyra and Twilight shared an uneasy look before returning their attention to the dragon.
“Just finish packing everything and be ready to move at noon. I don’t wish to linger here any longer than we have to.”
The mares nodded and returned to their appointed tasks. Although the pace was a bit more grueling than Spike would have liked, they managed to pack up by noon and were ready to set out.
Spike stepped out in front of the large group and called for attention.
“Firstly I’m proud of all of you for preparing for this march so quickly, I know it hasn’t been easy but it was imperative that it be done as quickly as possible. Our destination is the Smokey Mountains—I shall lead the group, along with Lyra Heartstrings and Twilight Sparkle. Keep the formation tight and call out if anyone seems to be falling behind, I won’t stand for anypony to be left behind.”
As Spike was about to give the order for the Pegasi towing the carts to take off there was an explosion of dirt and stone as the outer walls of the ruined castle disintegrated. In an instant no less than a hundred griffons flooded into the area.
“EVERYONE FLY NOW! GET OUT OF HERE,” Spike screamed as he was swarmed by griffons.
Carts took off flying into the mid afternoon sun while the sounds of clashing metal and the humming of arcane magic resounded behind them. Spike leap into the fray without pause, his claws ripping through the throats of two griffons as he plowed his way into the avian lines. To his right, three griffons were lifted off the ground encased in a golden magical aura, clawing at their throats as if something were strangling them. A few feet away stood Lyra, her horn alight in a golden glow. With a flick of her head, her victims were embedded into the stony walls of the castle.
With a deep breath, Spike turned his attention to the wave of griffons rushing his way, and with a wave of his hand a dark circle materialized on the ground. With supreme effort, Spike completed the spell and no less than ten griffons collapsed to the ground without a word. It was then he noticed the several griffons taking to the air, having abandoned dealing with the dragon and turned their eyes on easier prey.
Spike called out to Lyra. “Lyra, you hold the ground defense! I have to protect the carts.”
With that he flexed his wings and shot off into the air, pushing his wings to their limit as he desperately tried to catch up with the fleeing ponies. In the blink of an eye he caught up to a griffon and, with a feral growl, he extended a claw and quite literally clotheslined the beast in two using just his speed and velocity. Aerial combat was not his strong suit, but the combination of adrenaline and need was pushing his abilities into uncharted areas.
As the dragon darted from griffon to griffon, taking out as many as he could, he simply could not keep them all away from the fleeing ponies by himself. Almost thirty yards ahead of him a pegasus towing a cart was side swiped by a griffon and fell plummeting to the ground. His blood boiled as he watched the cart full of ponies fall crashing down to their deaths, his inability to help them only fueling his blood lust.
With renewed vigor he pushed himself harder, straining his muscles further. His claws no longer factored into the equation of death, bolts of arcane energy flew in an omnidirectional pattern. The dragons rage was nearly palpable in the air, the unicorns in the group all clutched their heads as they were bombarded by the raw magic pooling in the air.
On the ground Lyra and the few unicorns she had assembled as the Still Guard had been back into a corner. The griffon numbers were overwhelming while her forces were meager to begin with.
“Lady Lyra, what are we going to do?” gasped a breathless unicorn.
“We do what we must, we have to buy as much time as we can. We are the Still Guard. We stand unmoving, unflinching in the face of all opposition,” cried the mint coated unicorn.
Suddenly the entire group of unicorns were encased in a brilliant golden, they each looked to their commander and saw the mares eyes awash in a blinding white light. One by one the griffons before the group were crushed into the ground by the overwhelming power of the unicorn mare.
“This is the last thing I can do for you Spike... save them for me.”
Lyra let out a mighty scream as a golden explosion enveloped the ruined castle.
All aerial combat ceased for a few brief moments as the shockwave from the ground overcame them. Spike looked down at the ruins of the castle with a panicked stare. Oh, Lyra no, the dragon thought to himself as the brilliant golden light receded. It was then that the unspeakable happened. While Spike and the brunt of his defensive forces were distracted a single griffon had penetrated the inner line. The sound that snapped them all out of their daze was not the resumption of combat, but the meek cry of a pink maned pegasus.
There hovering in the air was Fluttershy, a glistening steel sword impaled through her stomach. It was then that time seemed to slow to a crawl. Spike simply stood jaw agape, Twilight and the rest of the elements cried out in unison, and one cyan pegasus simply looked on with a blank face. No one spoke, the cries from the elements were choked in their throats. Time seemed to stand still.
And then.
The sky shattered.
In what could more aptly be called an act of teleportation rather than flying, a cyan coated pegasus appeared next to the fallen mare. The griffon responsible for her injury seemingly evaporated into nothingness.
“Fluttershy stay with me, you’ll be ok, we can get you to Twilight and she’ll fix you right up I know she can.”
There floating in the air cradling the blood soaked Fluttershy was Rainbow Dash.
The pink maned pegasus coughed up a small amount of blood and looked up at her friend.
“O-oh Dash -cough- I’m so glad.” Her speech was interrupted by another fit of coughing up blood.
“No you stay with me Shy, we can’t let it end like this. We’ve been together since we were fillies, we have to be together until were old mares.” Rainbow buried her face in her friends mane and cried.
As everything was unfolding Spike sat floating in the air, watching in a stunned stupor. He let a friend die—he had sworn to himself he would see all his friends return to their lives and now one of them was gone forever. It was then, watching Rainbow Dash cradle her dying friend in her hooves while the rest of his friends sobbed with her that something snapped within him.
Twilight was the first to notice the disturbance; she could practically taste the raw magic pooling in the air. Her eyes snapped to Spike whose body was shaking with visible tremors as raw arcane magic crackled around him. Her eyes went wide when she finally processed the gravity of the magic he was gathering.
She cried out to the rest of the group. “EVERYONE, WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!”
The sudden shout from Twilight seemed to snap everyone out of their collective stupor. With renewed vigor the pegasi pushed themselves forward. Little did they know, their efforts were not required.
Spike out stretched both his arms and out from his body shot a massive circle. Once the circle had encompassed all the ponies in the area he brought his hands together and in an instant they all vanished. He then turned his attention to the various griffons still inhabiting the area. With a mighty roar he brought his hands together in front of him. In short order a blinding white ball formed in front of his outstretched hands. This wasn’t some spell or incantation—this ball was a mass of raw, primal arcane energy.
Dragons cast spells by channeling the raw magics from the world into their bodies and then refining them and manipulating them into spells. However, a skilled enough dragon could with enough effort simply pool the raw magic in the air into their body and direct it unrefined at any target they desired. This was the attack Spike was preparing now. Pure, unrefined primal arcane magic in all of its majesty and horror.
“Iejir ihk Iejir.”
With that, the massive ball of white magic shot toward the ground faster than any being in the area could have escaped.
There was no sound, no shockwave, only a blinding white flash that extended for miles. When all was said and done the only thing remaining was a massive crater. Spike gazed upon the scene below him with eyes half open; not a single living thing remained. The griffons, the castle, the forest, it had all been annihilated. It was with a heavy sigh that Spike’s body finally gave out. He wasn’t sure what would happen to him, but he gave into the blackness knowing his master would not let his friends go wanting.
Yikes Spike was angry! And what power! That will teach those griffons a lesson!
I hope Fluttershy is still ok.........and she needs Medici attention now.......
6196735 Wheres Doctor Iplier when you need him
6196783 Ya....
Poor Lyra, she gave her life believeing she just saved everyone
6196836 Yeah... gave her life....
6196735 Depending on where the blade hit, there's every chance that Flutters will live. A blade to the intestines is actually something someone can come back from, as the intestinal tract can actually repair itself in a similar manner to the liver, albeit on a much smaller scale. However, a sword to the actual stomach is almost always fatal. The acids in the stomach can eat through steel in minutes; the intestinal tract can't come back from that.
6196847
Are you implying something with that statement?
holy hell that was an absolutely epic read way to go. you are a truly talented writer. sat here reading the whole thing for several hours without stopping. I could simple not put this fic down.
6197226 Im not implying that I wasn't implying something by that statement.
6197143 Oh.
6197356
So you are implying that the implication of you implying something was implied?
6197506 Im implying that Im to drunk to imply what could possibly be implied. Long story short, green unicorn probs aint dead.
6197536
I am liking these implications
It seems everyone is doing about as well as I thought at the start. Rarity is overcoming her dependence with the help of her family, Applejack won't let herself rest quite yet, and Pinkie is, well, Pinkie. Furthermore, the new Cake children now have names. Angel's name is easy enough to figure out, a symbol of hope. I'm not sure, but I'll guess that Rum is also the name of something you were drinking while thinking up names.
I'm liking Crimson Skies so far. A gruff, unprofessional military type who won't take anything from anyone. If war fell upon my country, this is the type of guy I'd align myself with. I can see his face at the revelation of the new guy being a dragon now. A look of slack-jawed surprise, and understandably so. It's like if one of the lion turtles in Avatar got up on land and started stepping on Ozai's army, I wouldn't believe it either. I imagine that in keeping with your 'no true purely good side' theme, there will be some less than savory characters in the rebellion. I'll just have to wait and see. And Spike, nice try, but you're not the Kool-aid man just yet.
And now, the best fight scene yet. Spike got that throbbing mad on I knew would happen eventually (just a shame General Bloodwing wasn't caught in it) and then went even further. After the death of a cartful of his citizens, his second/third in command (who, according to your comments, is likely to have survived and may be the one who picks Spike back up), and one of his best friends, a Spirit Bomb is the least of what he could have done. That planet is lucky he was already drained, or it might not be a planet anymore.
Fluttershy. Poor, sweet Fluttershy. You were brought back by Deus ex Machina, then go on to die anyway. I guess the Reaper was ticked off that one of his catches was snagged and wanted revenge. Or maybe he failed again and she's still alive. At that point, I'd say it's safe to assume that the Reaper around these parts is that funny one with the Jamaican accent. Either way, it made Rainbow snap out of it and go God Mode on the scum who dared hurt her friend. And that's why you don't mess with the mare who can go nuclear in midair. It makes her learn to control it better and have a vendetta. Is it just me, or does it almost seem like she had a thing for Flutters for a second. That old mares thing sounded more like lover talk than best friend talk. Maybe it's just the copious amounts of cute shipfics I've read talking.
Once again, good chapter. It needed some more commas and such here and there, but otherwise solid work. I look forward to the next update.
Not to be that guy, but this chapter needs a lot of work. A lot of stuff happens really quickly, and not much is done to flesh out any of it. There are quite a few places where sentences had poor construction, grammar errors, or both. If you need an example, just see the first sentence (your instead of you're, 'Spike' needs a comma after it because Twilight is addressing him, and that quote needs a comma instead of a period after 'back here'.
6198720 I havent been able to get a hold of my editor but there will be an updated edited version to replace this one once I can get in touch with him.
Blood for blood
6204954
Really...
6210950 One of the many woes of using an editor thats not only 3 time zones behind you and in college is that sometimes you have to post unedited chapters. Chapters that also happen to be written totally shit face. The edited version is up now though so everything is chill.
6198720 I tried a different process with this chapter in which I wrote the ending first and then tried to work backwards from there. I'm not going to be doing that in the future because apparently when I have to build into something thats already done I can only focus on getting to the done part.
Plus ya know, shit happens.
6211784
Fair enough. No worries, I just don't actually know anyone who uses atm for at the moment, anymore. I just found it amusing.
6213650 Well I am getting on in years, maybe I'm just hitting that old fashioned stage.
6213881 haha, gotcha. I just feel the whole abbreviation/text speak thing kinda ended with the 'limited text message' cell phone plans of the late 90s and early 2000's. And, you know... *shudder* t9.
But then, I'm just an old fart, what so I know? :/
6196735 fluttershy's dead
6217218 A moment of silence for mostly silent horse.
6217218 BUT! I'm not sure if she is dead, she was injured and losing blood and plus we need to wait for the next chapter to find out.
6217263 no he posted a blog saying she's dead
6217263
6217267
I'm now regretting not making her death more clear, this is clearly a failure on my end.
6217267 Well. Now that tore me up. Geez...thanks. The elements are now unless anyway.
6217294 Well I mean they've been useless for an entire chapter now. I did destroy them recently.
6217302 Geez Ya think?! And how is Equestria is going to be save now and free from the Griffins WITHOUT the elements of harmony? Do you have a plan of some sort? I'll be surprised.
6217310 Yeah I have a plan, his names Spike.
6217323 I see. Who else you are planning killing off or is it just Fluttershy?
6217327 Consider me the George R.R. Martin of pony fanfiction.
6217345 Hmm. Don't get me wrong, I do love your story so far. But it's just that I don't like seeing you killing off one of the Main cast that I like. But it's your story, I just don't want see anypony else to die, just to see the griffins defeated and that's all I care about right now.
6217350 Like I said man, I'm aiming for realism. Sad fact is in war times people die, especially those not suited for such hardships. I'm not gonna go on like a killing spree but there will be casualties, there has never been a war without casualties.
6217356 True, True. Anything else you want to tell me? I been studying WW2.
6217359 Na, I'll tell the rest in story.
6217370 Ok
6217379 JK Dicord comes back and turns Celestia into a bunny then escapes with her to the moon where they have hundreds of jackalope babies.
6217384
6217388 I've been drinking since 10am in preparation for starting the next chapter tonight, excuse my out bursts.
6217402 Ok
6221960 Wow, you have time to read a comment from a month ago
6222087
Of course! I spend quite a bit of time every day reading.
6222093 Yes I have EXTREMELY altered the shows canon, mainly because the shows canon is horrible, inconsistent and sporadic. The Alt Universe tag on the fic should have clued you into that fact. Also the Griffons did in fact succeed, the Deus Ex Machina of Harmony are dead and gone forever.
6222374
So, in this new canon, are the foals aged too? I mean, I can accept the Cakes holding off on foals for 20 years, but I can't believe it if foals like Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are still foals.
Heh, just imagined Diamond Tiara during the occupation. I'd be surprised if the little brat would survive with her attitude
But AWESOME story!! Great to know that Rainbow somehow got faster despite not flying for over 15 years. Inaccurate but awesome!!
6222769 The cake twins aren't the same cake twins we used to know. Rum and Angel Cake are of my own creation. As far as Rainbow, I went with a more anime style bout of extreme rage to hyper inflate her abilities.
That was not a proper way to off a character.