Irreplaceable

by La Barata

Chapter 3 - Change

Irreplaceable
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Chapter 3:Change

Emerald light flashed through the darkness of the storm, its colours clashing with the blue-white lightning of the storm’s own fury. Deep within the great cave, flames of green and orange clashed, sending flickering shadows and a kaleidoscope of colours across the stone walls as the light refracted off the piles of gold and jewels. Again and again, green met orange in a crackling blaze of glory. Spike rounded on the great green beast, slipping between its legs and blasting his flame at his back. Easily dodging the blast, the larger whipped his tail in a rising arc, trying to swat the purple annoyance like a fly. Jumping into the air, Spike slipped past the attack, hitting the ground in a roll.
“Enough!”.The great green dragon stretched, a series of sickening cracks echoing throughout the cavern as the nitrogen bubbles in its joints popped one by one. “You are improving much, young one”. Spike got to his feet, rubbing his shoulder. The young dragon looked much different than he had three weeks before, having shed much of his baby fat. Now lean and muscled from intense training, he was beginning to come into his own. However different his body had become, though, what had changed most was easily his eyes. Once bright and shining, always a cheery smile plastered across his scaly features, those eyes became hard. His emerald irises were now somehow dark and steely. Gone were the happy thoughts of his friends and home, replaced simply with desire. A desire for power, for strength, a desire to throw away the Spike that he once was and become something... different. Something no-pony would be able, no, that no pony would DARE try to hurt.
“Why’d we stop? I’m ready for more! I can take it!” Spike stomped a scaly foot.
“No, young one. While you have learned much, and gained much control of your own power, your strength, but you are still young. At this stage, too much exertion-”
“That’s the PROBLEM!” Spike’s shout echoed throughout the cavern. “I’m too small! This power you keep talking about, what good is it if I’m too small to use it!? You promised me power, old one. You promised me the chance, and the power, to show them just who it was they deserted”.

“Aye. You WILL have your revenge. You will have the power to right the wrongs done to you, to fight back against those who shunned you, who used you and tossed you aside. You will attain this power and so much more, but only once you are ready. Several more years, and you will be ready to-”
“NO!” Again, Spike stamped his foot. “I can’t wait years, I’ve barely been able to wait this long!”
The young dragon stared at his towering mentor, anger in his eyes. Since that first fateful night,the great dragon had begun to train him. Spike was stronger, faster and his breath could do more then simply cook popcorn. His control over his own flame had grown exponentially, in fact. Once unable to summon more than a short burst, only good for sending letters, the colossal plumes of flame he could now call up with a breath would put most dragons ten times his size to shame. However, as his strength grew, so did his temper. The little dragon had, with the help of the incensing words of his master, turned the loneliness that grew inside him to bitter, base rage. Rage at himself for not being good enough. Rage at Twilight and her friends for casting him out and replacing him. Rage at that feathered freak who had ruined his life.
In the beginning, he had absorbed the great dragon’s words, doing his best to better himself, to become stronger. With the closest thing to a family he had ever known gone, he began to focus on a new goal. With his new strength, the flames and power to be bequeathed to him, he knew what he would do. He would burn. Burn himself into their minds, a great beast of legend. They would no longer see a weak, pathetic infant, hurt by what they had done to him. They would see him as a DRAGON. As the days passed, his master’s words molded him, incensing his pain and inflaming his desires. The tiny dragon’s body no longer matched his spirit.With one thought on his mind, he continued his training. He would BURN. Waving the older dragon’s words aside, he argued.
"It takes hundreds of years for a young dragon to grow to even HALF your size. By the time I grow to where you think I’m ready, they’ll all be long dead!"
Spike huffed, a cloud of greenish black smoke spurting from his nostrils.
The larger dragon sighed, a giant hot air balloon deflating all at once.
“There may be a way...” Stopping abruptly, his head snapped around. He sniffed the air, scenting something. Something that shouldn’t be there.“We are not alone.” he snarled. With a bound, Spike charged towards the entrance to the cave.
“Stay Where You Are!...”. But he was too late. Spike had already rushed outside, into the darkness and storm. His sharp dragon eyes darted about, examining the muddy ground outside. Hoofprints. Two pairs. Small. A pair of foals, from Ponyville, no doubt. Out on an adventure in the Everfree Forest. As he began to run through the trees, following the quickly disappearing tracks, a great clawed hand lifted him, bringing him back to the cave. Spike was livid.
“Why’d you stop me? I could’ve caught them!” he raged. The other silenced him with a roar.
“To what end? What, pray tell, would you have done had you caught them? In all likelihood, you’d have simply gotten yourself lost. You’re of no use to me dead, boy!” The great beast paused, shaking its head. “There will be a time and a place where the significance of tonight’s events will make itself known, but this is not that time.”

Spike was still angered, though he was willing to listen to the mighty beast. He was never one to be patient, but his mentor has shown much wisdom in the time they have be together, for now, he decided, he will listen to the dragon’s words. "Very well, Delicraw, while I don’t agree, I am willing to hear you out."

“We need to prepare for the eventuality that they will reach Ponyville. We do not have much time, until tomorrow afternoon at the latest, is my best guess. By then, they will have alerted the town to our presence here. They will mobilize, they will find us, and they will attempt to destroy us”. Taken aback, Spike questioned the other.
“Are you sure? We’re doing them no harm, why would they come after us?” for a moment, Spike’s new fierce demeanour slipped, revealing a shade of his former self, indecision showing on his face. “We’ve done nothing to them”.
“Aye, lad, that much is true. However, ponies are fearful creatures, quick to condemn anything they see as a threat. How have dragons been dealt with in the past in this area? How has your former *family*” The great dragon spit this word through a mouthful of hatred and malice, “acted towards any dragon they’ve seen? I trust their reaction has not been to invite them in for tea”. Spike had to agree.
“Princess Celestia had Twilight and the rest drive the last one to try to settle in the mountains away...”
“Exactly. They want us gone. Dead and gone. They drove a dragon who settled all the way in the MOUNTAINS away, what do yo think they would do to dragons who live that much closer to them?” Spike grunted, another plume of smoke.
“So what do you think we should do, then?” The elder dragon let loose a thunderous laugh, and gave the younger a grin that was simultaneously cheerful and malevolent.
“I suppose congratulations are in order. It looks as though you’ll get your wish after all”. Returning to his treasure horde, the great green dragon began to dig, tossing aside gold, gems and other trinkets, muttering to himself. With a roar of triumph, he pulled two items from the heap. As he placed them on the ground, Spike was able to see that he was clutching what appeared to be an ancient book and a goblet emblazoned with the image of a raging dragon.
“My wish?”
“This is the Lexicon Draconus” he began. “It is an ancient tome, filled with secrets of otherwise forgotten dragon magic. With this, you can continue to grow, to heights far greater than you could ever hope to achieve within the next millennium. However, its use comes at a price”.
“What... What sort of price?” The elder dragon looked at him, his stare dissolving any trace of insincerity between them.

“A Blood Price.”

~To Be Continued~

Comments

[godf0006]

did you use *sly cooper the theives raccones* referece
otherwise great story so farth00.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2011/362/e/2/mlp__spike_kusanagi_by_ss2sonic-d4kgtkm.jpg

[Clay]

Temper is the control over rage, not the actual rage itself. And dude, use italics and stop CAPPING EVERYTHING. That is the grammar nazi in me, the rest of me says great story.

[Rainbow Prime]

what do yo think they would do to dragons who live that much closer to them?”

what do you think they would do to dragons who live that much closer to them?”