Very different beneath the surface

by Slick Dash

It means nothing to me

“Out!” The single word echoed through the cavern distorting it and making it surround the two ponies. The two gulped; suddenly a lot of their bravery had vanished along with the light. It’s easier to be brave when you see what you’re facing! “I said OUT!” The shout of the final word rang throughout the cavern and attacked the two’s ears.

Flutt took a confident step forward, further out of the beam of light that came from the entrance. The breathing stopped for a moment, as though the being was holding its breath. When it resumed it was shaky, not with fear, but with anger. “I see.” It stated softly, the anger obvious in every syllable. “You’re one of the... Other ponies” Flutt gulped again.

“Y-you know about us... already?” She asked of the voice, her hatred of the creature giving into sheer terror at how it could know her so soon after her arrival the night before.
“Kind of hard to miss.” The voiced said, its words dripping with venom. Dash came in closer to the cave, focusing on the centre of the floor, to where she knew the hoard of gold and jewels had been. It wasn’t out of greed, but of curiosity, she had a nagging suspicion she couldn’t bear to go unanswered.

“I said GET OUT!” the voice protested to Rainbows intrusion! She passed an astonished looking Flutt, incredulous at the cyan Pegasus’s guts! As her eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, she could see more clearly, she couldn’t see the inhabitant of the cave, but just ahead of her was his treasure trove. A TROVE wouldn’t be the best word for it; it was more like a mound of mismatched objects. The gold Flutt had seen was a small pile of bits.

“Flutt!” She whispered, trying not to let her voice carry through the echoing chamber. Flutt cantered over carefully, and pulled her ear in close. “Look at its treasure, it’s tiny! This dragon’s a push over! Easy!” Flutt nodded, new found courage brimming up inside her at the news. She moved onto the small pile of objects and addressed the cavern, and wherever it’s lodger lay.
“I want you to leave! A dragon so close to the town is dangerous! Especially you!” She ordered, her last statement was filled with spite as she heard –in her mind- Mac’s bones crunching under the creatures tail.

“Especially me? If anyone should leave it should be you! You and your stupid friends!” The voice lost some of its menace, it squeaked with surprise and made Rainbow’s mind whirl with thoughts. Was this...?
“Why should we leave? We’re not doing anything wrong! But I’ve seen what you can do! You’d hurt anypony the second they got near!” The voice gave a small chuckle, Rainbow could swear it was coming from over head, she looked up and scanned the rough rocky surface.
“First: You’re doing a lot more harm than you realised! Did you know that every unicorn in Equestria was screaming in pain because of you? When you arrived you sent them off the deep end!” Flutt frowned, she looked to her new flying friend, to ensure the creature was lying.

Rainbow grimaced and gave a sad nod to the yellow Pegasus. Her heart panged hard with guilt. She turned back to address the cavern again. “I-I didn’t realise!”
“No! You didn’t, you were too busy focusing on your own unicorn weren’t you!” The voice yelled. Flutt didn’t understand, how could he know about Twi? The voice gave her no time to reply, before continuing its tirade. “Second: You’ve already caused problems in the town, far more than you realised, and you haven’t even been here a day!”

The torch no reignited with an emerald green flame, though so high up, the two Pegasy felt it’s warmth immediately. The small illumination showed the entire cavern to be no more than a small pod. The echoing had come from many little tunnels and holes in the walls that led away from the main chamber. But still they saw no creature. Flutt grew nervous, as did Rainbow’s-but her nerves were FOR the creature, the one she now realised she knew!- From behind them, in front of the entrance, there came a sound of a heavy landing of feet.

The two whirled around, to see the dragon. Tall, slim, he had no wings, and was purple scaled all over except for his underbelly which was a very pale green. His head was topped with two dark green plumes that were his ears. His eyes were just how Rainbow knew they would be, a dark emerald green to match his fire, but behind the green, were blotches of red. He bags under his eyes and he looked like he hadn’t slept all night! Rainbow stared in disbelief at who stood before her, as did Flutt as she recognised the dragon from the night before. The cyan Pegasus’s mouth opened, her lips trembled as she asked, “S-S-Spike?”

The dragon stood there, watching the two with pure rage burning behind his bloodshot eyes. Rainbow took a tentative step forward, unsure whether it was wise to try and speak to the unusually antisocial dragon. “Spike?” she whispered. “W-what are you doing here?” Spike ignored his friend and stared down the yellow Pegasus behind her.

“I said get out!” he growled to the yellow mare. She took a tentative step back, worried of what would happen if she disobeyed. She tried to establish her dominance over the dragon, but failed as her voice squeaked with the tell-tale signs of fear.
“What’s your problem? You were fine yesterday with us!” Spike didn’t break eye contact, he took a step forward towards her, but was blocked by the sudden appearance of Rainbow who stood against the dragon blocking his path.

“Rainbow, get out of the way...” His brow quivered between anger and misery.
“No! Not if you’re gonna try and hurt Flutt!” She claimed defiantly. She glanced at the mound of items on the floor. “So this is where you stashed it?” She asked trying to change the subject. The dragon’s face fell into sorrow.
“Please Rainbow, move, she needs to get out of here!”
“Why? What’s wrong with her being in here?” Rainbow asked guardedly. Flutt watched in silence as the two friends fought over her.
“Not leave HERE.” Spike whispered pointing at the ground of his cave. “She needs to LEAVE! Leave Equestria, go somewhere far away from us all!” He gestured furiously to the opening in the cave wall. “Her and her friends.” He added furiously.

Rainbow was shocked by the furious words that escaped the usually kind dragon’s lips. “W-Why do you want them gone?” she stammered. The dragon’s eyes drifted away from her friend, and found those of the Fluttershy copy.
“There nothing but trouble.” Flutt felt her heart take a little blow at the cruel words; she had given into the kindness of this world, thinking no one was capable of such words. Now she hurt as she heard the kind of words she associated with the kingdom of Celestia.

“Spike!” Rainbow tried to protest, but before she could continue, Spike cut across her with livid venom seeping through each word he spat out.
“You didn’t have to carry Rarity out of your home screaming! You didn’t find Twilight lieing in a pool of vomit! You didn’t have to figure out what to do! O chose between leaving your friends behind or risking your loved one’s lives!” He shook with rage as he ranted. Never once did he look away from the pony from the other world.

Flutt felt cold, her skin ran with chills with every word she heard. Had their arrival done all that. She took a step towards the dragon. “Why did your Twilight help us then, if we did all that?” She wasn’t accusing him of lying-why would he- she just needed to understand why after all they had caused, these ponies still helped them in the way that they did.

“BECAUSE!” The dragon exploded, trying to take a step towards the yellow Pegasus, but blocked by his friend. He looked down at her in frustration, and then back to Flutt. “Because Twilight’s too good to turn down someone who needs help! She can’t sand to see someone hurting, NO MATTER WHAT THEY DID TO HER!” he screamed. His green eyes filled with tears as he looked at the Pegasus beseechingly.

“Leave! Please, just go! You hurt Twilight, you hurt Rarity. You hurt Sweetie Belle”-
“What’s wrong with Sweetie Belle?” Asked Rainbow suddenly concerned. Spike looked to her, he was too close to her, he must look like a monster to her right now! Spike took some steps back, allowing him to seem less monstrous.

The princess sent a letter for Twilight last night. Before they!” He sot a menacing glance at Flutt, “Got here, telling her to get out of Ponyville before something terrible happened, I took Rarity with me to find Twi. I...” He bit his lip hard, his eyes filled with new found tears, as his face turned into one of pure guilt. “I left the letter where Sweetie could find it.” He scrunched his eyes as the sight of Sweetie Belle lying in her own blood invaded his mind. He shuddered.

Rainbow saw it was causing her friend too much pain to continue. She nodded understandingly, then spoke quietly to the distraught dragon. “Why aren’t you there now then? Looking after her?” The dragon’s shoulders sagged at the question. All rage gone, her traipsed away into the corner of the cave. He slumped against the wall, and slid painfully down to the ground. the purple heap on the floor shuddered as he let out a horrible sob.

Flutt stared at the creature. Only a few moments ago, she had been ready to kill the dragon. Now she saw a broken being, crying through all his heartbreak. How could she have thought this thing to be dangerous? If anything, she and her friends were the dangerous ones! Their arrival had torn apart families, hurt ponies, they were the monsters by the sound of it!

Spike shuddered, “Rar- ... she... I...” He mumbled, unable to speak the words out loud. All he could was repeat what he had said before, in a monstrous monotone that told all to the rainbow mare. “I left the letter where Sweetie could find it. She got hurt...” The dragon gave into the tears, he threw his face into his claws and sobbed. Rainbow looked on in astonishment, Rarity, after all her and Spike had been through. She looked at the small horde the dragon had collected, only after he had begun to grow after he collected these items had Rarity seen him in any other way than a child. Spike had thrown his youth away for her, and the white pony had just...
“She threw you out.” Rainbow spoke in a shocked voice that simply labelled the facts, not a single shred of emotion lay behind the words as she looked at the balling dragon.

“Just... go!” Spike choked. He pulled his face away from his hands, staring at them with hatred. “I shouldn’t have ever been near ponies anyway!” He spat, more to himself then the two intruders. “I’m a dragon! We don’t fall in love! We don’t get to live as little babies! We should be left alone... feared... like the monsters we are.” His voice faded into quiet self loathing. The dragon wrapped his arms around his shoulders, hugging himself quietly as he kept his back to the two Pegasy.

“Spike, you’re not a monster! Don’t you even dare say that!” Protested Rainbow. She looked to Flutt for support, “Isn’t that right?” Rainbow pleaded. Flutt gazed at the dragon, all she could focus on was that tail. The tail she had seen in her dream, the tail that had tortured Mac! Her thoughts must have registered on her face, because as Spike looked over his shoulder at her silence, he gave a satisfied grunt.
“See! She sees me for what I am.” Flutt’s face fell into dismay as she realised what her thoughts had done. She opened her mouth to protest against this kind hearted dragon, but before she could, the large lizard screamed at them.

He didn’t even turn to them, he screamed it at the wall ahead of him, unable to bring himself to look at his friend Rainbow in this state. “JUST GO! LEAVE ME ALONE!” Rainbow was stunned, she couldn’t think of what to say. She could only gape at the distraught dragon. After what seemed like a century, Spike heard the words he was waiting for.

“Ok Spike, we’re going.” He sighed with relief as he heard the two Pegasy leave. a thought suddenly exploded into his head, he turned and screamed at the backs of the exiting ponies. “IF YOU TELL ANYONE I’M HERE I’LL ROAST THEM AND LEAVE! UNDERSTAND!” He took their silence as a yes.

Outside, the two Pegasy looked to the rising sun over the gorges lip. “It’s probably about time we got to breakfast I think.” Muttered Rainbow, heading up the rocky cliff face, a look of complete deflated misery spread across her face. Flutt watched as she saw the Pegasus adopt the same attitude as her world’s Rainbow Dash. She sighed, and made her way to follow the slowly ascending pony, but as she pushed off from the ground. She heard a whisper.

She turned to the cave entrance to see two green eyes leering out at her. “Leave!” He whispered.
“I am.” Flutt said dejectedly, she tried to look away but was stopped by the dragon’s words. “I mean leave town! When you get to the cafe, take your friends and just go, before you make any more problems.” Flutt stared at the eyes for a moment.
“We really didn’t mean to hurt anyone dragon.”
“I have a name!” The reptile growled. His teeth glinted in the invading light as he smiled horribly. “Which is more than can be said for you huh? ‘FLUTT’” Flutt stared at him for a moment. Then without another word, she left for the top of the cliff.

The dragon turned back into his cave, he looked around the lonely cavern and sighed at the words he had spoken in the heat of the moment. He meant everyone of them, but if only he had spoken them better, maybe then Rainbow would have sided with him, gotten the others to get rid of these ‘Invaders!’ he unclenched his fist, he was surprised Rainbow hadn’t spotted it, but it was better she hadn’t.

He took the crumpled paper, and flattened it out, and by the light of the fire in the bracket, he read it one final time.
“Dearest Twilight.
Due to emergency measures, I haven’t been able to contact you over the past night. My advisors assure me that something fell onto Ponyville last night. While investigators ensured it was safe for me to travel, I have mounted a force ready to combat whatever it was, Last night’s magic was not something good, so now I head out for Ponnyville.
Do not worry Twilight, whatever has come to Equestria, we will eliminate it, and ensure that my subjects are protected!
I hope you’re still safe my student.
Princess Celestia.

Spike smiled, “Whatever has come to Equestria, we will eliminate it.” Just what he needed to see! He walked over to the torch, tossing the letter into its embers. It coiled and turned black in seconds, then it crumbled away. Spike went over to his hoard; he took up a large gemstone. He stared into its blue murky depths, gazing at his reflection. The reflection seemed to gaze back at him, it opened it’s mouth and scolded the dragon, speaking in the voice of the Spike long gone, the one who first came to Ponyville, the child.

“What are you doing? You didn’t warn them!” Spike stared back at the stone, he shrugged.
“They ruined everything, they shouldn’t even be here.” He countered.
“So they deserve to die?” asked the reflection.
“It means nothing to me.” With that, he took a bite out of the stone, grinding the delicious gem with his fangs, the dragon made his way to the wall, he slumped against it. The dragon took a deep breath, he released it shakily. He clenched his eyes as the tears returned once again. “Nothing means anything to me now!” And with that he waved his tail in the direction of the torch, the breeze was enough to extinguish the fire. Leaving the dragon, the child that sacrificed growing up, the monster all alone in his cave.

Comments

[Furstreak]

first

[Furstreak]

btw. im going to admit that this is the darkest story i have read. (no i havent read cupcakes) this is one of those stories that your to shocked to stop reading. I know im going to have nightmares but i want to see that evil celestia bitch PAY!

[Sarkastik Menace]

oh, spike is being such a dick, even bigger during the episode with Owlicious

[CSpud]

Poor Spike.