The Dragon Sage

by Dragon Sage

Chapter 12: Assistant

Knight Wing put up a considerable fight against their plan. In order for their trap to work, the Night Watch needed to track the three criminals as closely as they could while leaving Ponyville itself relatively unguarded. Eventually, he agreed to the plan, but stressed that he was still retired as captain of the watch and could only offer council. But he and Spike both knew that whatever he said to the Night Watch, they’d agree to. He was a well respected captain during his time and became personal friends with Princess Luna after all.

Spike flew from Town Hall where he met with Knight Wing and headed back to Twilight’s castle, going over the plan in his head. It was simple enough: lure them to the castle, surprise them and strip Miasma from their bodies using the element magic. Then slap a gemstone over the Miasma cloud then bam, no more problems. He was ready for things to get back to normal for everypony. But then again, when was saving Ponyville out of the ordinary for them? Spike entered the Castle and made his way to the throne room. He pushed opened the doors, not prepared for who he saw on the other side.

“Princess Luna!” he said in surprise and smartly bowed his head down in respect. Twilight stood next to her by the windows looking over the grounds beside the castle.

“Good to see you, young Spike,” she said calmly. “I trust you’ve had a successful meeting with Knight Wing?”

“Yes, your highness. Though I’m sorry I was not expecting to see you here,” he said bashfully.

“I received a visit from your blue pegasus friend who explained the situation briefly. When I learned that you were going to try to seal the Miasma, I wanted to fly down here myself to explain how it worked to Princess Twilight,” she said with a nod in Twilight’s direction. Twilight approached Spike and gave him a look of confidence.

“The spell is pretty simple. It will take a few moments for me to work up the casting power, but I think I can pull it off,” she said. “Plus, Princess Luna will be here to help if we need her.”

“So what kind of gem do we need for the binding thing?” Spike asked her flatly. Twilight trotted over to her throne and floated something up so that he could see it. It was a brilliant blue gem that nearly glowed in the center. The smooth edges were glossy and clear. Spike’s face glowed blue as the sun bounced off of it.

“Oh wow! That’s a Sprite Sapphire. I haven’t seen something so shiny since I gave Rarity that Fire Ruby. These are supposed to be delicious!” Spike said, licking his chops.

“No,” Twilight scolded and bopped his head with the sapphire. “If you eat this, we won’t have anything to bind the Miasma to.”

“Aww darn. I’ll probably never see one of those again,” he said and gave Twilight a pitiful look.

“Ugh, ok Spike. We’ll look for another one of these after we bind the Miasma to this one,” she said. He smiled and celebrated his success. Puppy-dog eyes still worked on Twilight despite him getting bigger. Princess Luna spoke next.

“I believe this plan may work, Twilight Sparkle, but you must beware. A Miasma is more than just a cloud of greed. It has a mind of its own, and will likely seek to escape once it has separated from the hosts. You will need to keep it contained in this room,” she warned.

“How do we do that?” Spike asked. “I mean, it won’t be hard for this thing to fly out a window or through the doors, right?”

Twilight put her hoof to her chin and thought for a moment. Containing the cloud must be a priority, or else they would have to do the whole process over again. But there weren’t any spells that could keep a Miasma specifically nailed down in one place. There was only one option.

“I’ll have to use a one-way magic barrier,” she said.

“A what-now Twilight?” Spike asked.

“If I cast a barrier like that on the walls of this room, anything magical on the inside will be locked in. Entering the room won’t have any affect, but it would be impossible to exit once you’re inside,” she said.

“Well that works out perfectly!” Spike chirped.

“There’s a catch. My unicorn magic won’t let me leave the barrier once we put it up, and the only way it can be disarmed is from the outside,” she said gesturing to the door. “We’ll need somepony to stay out there so they can let us out once we’re done, or should anything go wrong,” she said.

“Rarity?” Spike suggested with a shrug. He knew it needed to be a unicorn, but perhaps she did not know enough about magic barriers to let them out.

“We need her inside. She’s one of the Elements of Harmony,” she retorted. That left them only one option.

“I will do it,” Princess Luna said graciously. “I know you’d like my help fighting the Miasma, and it will be painful to watch and be unable to help, but the Miasma must not be allowed to escape.”

Twilight bowed to show her thanks. She was a little more nervous about the whole encounter if Princess Luna could only spectate, but she felt more confident knowing the Miasma would not be getting away.

“The night is still young, but it will not take them long to reach Ponyville. I shall wait in the shadows for your signal, Twilight Sparkle,” the Princess said and quietly left the two of them alone in the throne room. Once she was gone, Spike grunted in frustration.

“Well, so much for having her as back up,” Spike said with a groan

“I’m not as worried about binding the Miasma to the gem as I am about freeing Warmonger and the others from it. I mean, we don’t have the Elements with us anymore, so how do we know my friendship spell can work? What if something goes wrong?” A look of fear and concern began to grow on her face. Spike kicked into action the second he noticed her doubt.

“Hey, Twilight, look at me,” he said and lifted her chin to look her in the eyes. “You are a capable sorceress, a great leader, and the Princess of Friendship. You can do this. You’ve used this magic plenty of times before, and no one knows more about it than you.” Spike comforted his princess as sincerely as he could, keeping his gazed locked with hers.

"But what if . . ."

"No buts. The last thing you should do right now is freak out. I know you can do this. Besides, all of the girls will be there to help, and so will I. If you need to, you can rely on us," he said and nodded his head confidently. She started to breath a little softer as she began to return to her senses. She smiled at Spike and wondered how she ever got along without him.

“Thank you, Spike,” she said sweetly. “You are by far the best assistant a princess could ask for.”

He smiled at her in reply. She felt his hand linger underneath her chin as he gazed at her. His eyes were brilliant and entrancing, yet these were the same eyes she knew since he was just a hatchling. There was something comforting in the familiarity of his form that drew her nearer. She felt the same warm sensation she did the the previous night, and the desire to hug him again. Before she could, he dropped his hand and turned to the door.

“Where is everyone else?” Spike asked. Her mind took a second to restart itself in order to adequately answer his question.

“What? Oh, they are in the kitchen. Applejack is serving dinner. We’ll need our strength for the night,” she said.

“In that case, I better go get something to eat while there’s food to be had,” he said and walked towards the door. Something inside Twilight wanted to reach out, to ask him to stay, but the thought quickly vanished as the doors closed behind him. She shook her head vigorously, as if the thoughts in her head would fall out if she shook hard enough. Yet after reminding herself that it was Spike, she still felt the same way she did when he left with Rarity earlier that day.

Meanwhile, Spike trudged down the hallway towards the dining room with his head hung low. His mind repeated the same word over and over again. This word used to fill him with pride and joy but now made him feel stuck, small, and alone. The word continued to bounce in his head until it begged to be spoken again.

“Assistant,” he muttered. Being the best assistant Twilight could ever have meant the world to him. After all, he trained for months and grew to the size of a griffon because he wanted to be more helpful. But something about the way she said it made him feel lonely. Was an assistant really all she ever needed from him? She had such wonderful friends, loving community, and likely had all the stallions in the world sending her love letters now that she was a princess. If she ever decided to take on one of those suitors, she would start to need him less and less. Perhaps an assistant was all he could be for her.

Spike shook his head and smiled. This is crazy, he thought. It was selfish of him to want more from what he already had, and what he did have was purpose and love. Living with Twilight was the one thing that made sense to him, so there was no use in over thinking it. Spike decided if being nothing but an assistant was his destiny forever, he’d happily live out his days fetching books and writing letters for that crazy purple pony.

---

Later, when the night was no longer young, Twilight’s castle stood tall in the dark fields behind Ponyville. The entire town was asleep and the clouds drifted lazily by. Luna's moon lit the castle and the town with a comforting glow. On the outskirts of town stood the Everfree Forest, which lined the base of the mountainside like moss beneath a tree. From the darkness of the forest, 4 sets of eyes peered out over the grass hills, looking hungrily at Twilight’s castle.

Author's Note:

Love hearing your comments and thoughts and theories.

As always, thanks for reading!

DS

Comments

[Animated Rarity]

It would be great if when the miasma escapes and fly's around the room for a new host Spike pushes twilight out of the way and it enters him

[Hillbe]

The CMC had a plan of their own ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,qp.....................

th06.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2014/343/c/e/cutie_mark_crusaders_demolition_team_by_hillbe-d89add8.jpg

got em !

[Dragon Sage]

5729343

Fixed. Thanks for that.

[Eonflare]

Can't help but feel something is gonna go wrong.

[Frostbite4]

Hmm, maybe the elements wont work, maybe the miasma has some kind of effect of the elements that make them not work, almost like supermans kryptinite

[56]

It’s smooth edges were glossy and clear. Spike’s face glowed blue as the sun bounced off of it.

Its*

“If you eat this, we won’t have anything to bind the Miasma too.”

to

[Mushmellow66]

Ok, last chapter made me think discord is turning evil again, but now that I think about it, I think Fluttershy sent discord to trick them into going to the castle