The Dragon Sage

by Dragon Sage

Chapter 15: Comfort

The Night Watch soon arrived at Twilight’s castle as the morning approached. A host of pegasi in dark blue armor filled Twilight’s corridors. They helped clear the wreckage of the fight in the throne room and closely interrogated the three captured criminals. Shortly after they arrived, Princess Luna began explaining to the criminals what had happened and how they ended up in Twilight’s castle.

The fake Elements of Harmony lay sprawled out in pieces all over the floor. Parts of some of the thrones were cracked while others were broken. The cage used to trap the intruders was still lodged into the floor next to where the ponies and griffon woke dazed and confused.

The stone containing the Miasma was kept locked in a small box that Princess Luna kept by her side at all times. She floated the box with her magic and carried it wherever she walked. It took some time to explain the situation, but the three criminals eventually understood what had happened.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie left to inform the mayor of what had transpired, so the rest of Ponyville could be informed as well. Fluttershy left to get some rest, as did Rarity. She commented on how horrid Twilight’s throne room looked after the fight, and promised that she’d be there to oversee the reconstruction. Rainbow Dash stood with the Night Watch keeping an eye on the former criminals.

Twilight stood in the corridor gazing out the window as the sun began to rise. It was a long night and her body ached, but she still had no trouble keeping her eyes open. The events of the past few hours replayed in her mind over and over from her initial failure to use the Elements of Harmony magic to Spike’s fight with the Miasma. Her mind was lost in a trance for a moment before being cut short by Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, Twilight. You doing ok?” she asked with concern in her face.

“Oh, yeah I’m alright. I’m just tired and a little dizzy from what’s happened. What’s up?” she said sincerely.

“They want to speak with you,” Rainbow Dash said and gestured behind her. She looked over her shoulder and noticed Warmonger, Dawn Treader, and Milla looking at her sheepishly from the doorway to the throne room.

“Why?” she asked.

“I think they want to apologize. I asked them some goading questions, but last night they responded totally differently when I taunted them, so they might really be different. I still don’t trust ‘em, but if you want to, I’ll stay nearby to make sure they don’t try anything. It’s your call,” Rainbow Dash said and waited for Twilight’s reply.

After thinking it over for a moment, Twilight agreed and nodded her head. The three of them walked towards her single-file and held their heads low. Dawn Treader was the first to face Twilight. The other two held back and waited patiently for their turn. Rainbow Dash stood beside him, keeping close watch with her wings splayed.

“Your highness,” he started with a grand bow, “I’m so sorry for everything I said and did. You have every right to throw me in a dungeon for the rest of my days.” Twilight smiled and shook her head.

“Don’t be silly. I know you weren’t in control of yourself, Dawn Treader,” she said sincerely.

“That’s another thing, your majesty. My name isn’t Dawn. I believe I made that name up to fit you better. You see, I rather . . . admired you from afar for quite a while, but I never meant to hurt anypony,” he said bashfully. Twilight brought her head up in surprise.

“What is your real name?” she asked.

“Book Keeper, your highness. I’m an accountant from Manehattan,” he said with another bow.

“It is very nice to meet you Book Keeper. I’m sorry but . . .” Twilight thought about how to do this gently. “You’ll need to find another special somepony for yourself.”

“I understand, princess,” he said apologetically. “Guess foalnapping isn’t exactly my best foot forward, huh?”

“Don’t worry, Book Keeper. You will find a mare that is right for you. But love is not about having a marefriend that will impress others. I believe that is a kind of greed that the Miasma was drawn to. Instead, find a pony out there who loves you for being you. You'll find that things like status, wealth, and fame will not matter in the slightest,” she said and smiled at him.

“Thank you princess,” the stallion said softly. With another bow, he turned and made his way back to the throne room. Rainbow Dash gave him a skeptical look as he walked away. Milla Nare was next.

“Hi, Princess Twilight,” the griffon said nervously. “My name is actually Felicia. I’m sorry I trashed your place. And beat up your friends, and threatened you, and wanted to ransom you, and tried to peck your eyes out, and—“

“—Felicia, it is alright,” Twilight silenced her raising her hoof. “I know you weren’t your real self. But the Miasma affects those with greed in their hearts, so I must warn you that letting your desires run your life can ruin it, if you’re not careful.”

“Yeah, heh,” she said and scratched the back of her head nervously. “I like bits a little too much. My friends tell me I should have been born a dragon. You’re lucky to have one that doesn’t go nuts over gold,” she said and turned to follow Book Keeper towards the Night Watch. Finally it was Warmonger’s turn. She noticed right away that there was something much different about him. His posture was still tall and proud, but his eyes were now a light hazel color instead of green.

“My princess,” he said and bowed his head to the floor, “I cannot begin to describe my regret for—“

“—What is your name?” Twilight cut him off. She was expecting the same rhetoric from him that she received from the others. He stood and blinked at her.

“Almanac, your highness’,” he said and smartly bowed again.

“Hello Almanac. Do you know why this all happened?” she asked.

“I . . . I was overtaken by greed, according to Princess Luna. My entire life has been spent in search of great knowledge. I understand now that I was swept away by knowledge that made me powerful. I shall never let myself fall to such a level again,” he confessed. Twilight could tell that he was a colt who took himself very seriously. But it was good to see he took apologies very seriously as well.

“Don’t worry, Almanac. The Miasma is safely put away, but the greed in your heart must be handled yourself,” she consoled.

“But princess,” he said and perked up again. “How can I abandon my knowledge of power without forsaking myself? I am an explorer of knowledge and wisdom, and I cannot be myself without doing so. Yet, I cannot let myself succumb to greed again. What must I do? ” Twilight cocked her head in confusion. She didn’t really understand what he was asking. She remarked how his way with words reminded her of Princess Celestia. She thought about his question for a moment and then remembered what Spike had done to defeat his own greed.

“Remember the ponies that are important to you. Keep your family and friends close. They will be the ones that can pull you back, should you stray. If you can do that, you will be just fine,” she reassured him and smiled. He bowed for a third time, thanked her for her wisdom, and turned back towards the others. Twilight smiled and told herself to remember the encounter. She truly felt like a princess and was still herself as well. That was rare for her, and moments like that were worth remembering.

“Well, that was boring,” Rainbow Dash remarked. She turned and followed the three of them back into the thrown room, passing by Princess Luna on the way. Twilight saw the princess of the night walking towards her. Her face was lit brightly by the orange sunrise that draped over their faces.

“You did very well, Princess Twilight,” she said with a smile.

“Thank you, Princess Luna, for all of your guidance tonight,” she said looking up to the blue Alicorn.

“I only wish I could have helped more,” she said with a frown. “You are very lucky to have such good friends, and an assistant as capable as Spike.” Twilight agreed. At the thought of Spike, she realized that she had not seen him for some time.

“Where is he?” she asked.

“I believe he has flown back to Canterlot with Knight Wing to inform my sister of tonight’s events,” she said gesturing towards Canterlot with her hoof.

“Really? Did he say when he’d be coming back?” she asked, worried that Spike was too fatigued to fly that far without sleep.

“He did not say. They left without much word,” Luna replied with a hoof to her chin. Twilight frowned and stared back out the window thinking of Spike and worrying about him feverishly. She nearly lost him during the battle, yet he still smiled when it was all over. “Princess,” Luna spoke up after a moment. “I heard what the Miasma said through him.”

Twilight’s eyes widened as she remembered the demonic voice and the way it taunted Spike. She remembered his face as he reached out for her, and the thought alone was enough to nearly bring her back to tears. She could only look down to avoid looking her in the eye.

“What Spike feels towards you or vise versa is not my concern. But I will say this, princess. A dragon of his caliber is rare, and a friend like him is even more so. To lose him for any reason would be a crime and a tragedy,” she said slowly. With that, the princess turned and began walking back towards the door. Twilight thought about what she said, then raised her hoof to stop her.

“Princess?” she called out.

“Yes?”

“Is . . . is such a thing possible?” she asked quietly. She was afraid to describe what she meant any further than that. She trembled as she anticipated her reply. Luna simply smiled. Her expression went from being very serious to caring and understanding.

“Twilight Sparkle, you of all ponies should know by now. Anything is possible with the love of your friends,” she said. After another moment, Princess Luna turned and walked out the door towards her chariot. The two Night Watchers that stood at the ready nodded at her and took off towards Canterlot. Twilight watched her sail up into the sky and gradually vanish from view.

---

Knight Wing knocked three times on Spike’s quarters near the observatory. The dragon had accompanied him to inform Princess Celestia of the night’s events and flew all the way to Canterlot to do it. Yet Spike hardly spent a minute speaking with the princess before flying off in a hurry. Knight Wing was on his way to scold him for being so rude to a Princess, but could not seem to track him down.

“Hey kiddo! You asleep in there?” he said with another knock. The door was still locked, so he moved to the window and peered inside. There was no sign that Spike was there or that he even returned at all. Knight wing turned and decided to check the observatory. He made his way inside the secret entrance and looked for any sign of his purple-scaled pupil.

The observatory was extremely bright during the day. The sun beamed through the dome glass ceiling and lit the entire library from the top to the bottom. The third floor felt warm with the sunlight radiating the floors and walls as the morning progressed. Knight Wing walked to the edge of the platform overlooking the rest of the library and searched for Spike.

Sure enough, sitting at one of the desks on the bottom floor was Spike quickly flipping through pages of an old book. His head darted back and forth as he searched for something. Knight Wing rolled his eyes and leapt over the side of the platform, gliding down to the bottom floor where Spike sat and studied.

“Kiddo,” he called out after landing. Spike didn’t turn or acknowledge him at all. Knight Wing furrowed his brow and stood right beside him.

“Hey, salamander!” he said loudly. Spike finally came to his senses and perked his head up. “Ignoring your teacher is rude on one level, but leaving an audience with the Princess before being excused is especially bone-headed, even for you.”

“Sorry,” Spike said quickly. “I’ll write her a letter in apology. But I wasn’t ignoring you. I just didn’t hear you come in,” he said and looked back at the book on the desk.

“You’re lucky you’re on good terms with all four princesses. What’s got you in such a funk anyway?” he asked and looked over his shoulder. Spike was diving through pages of The Sage’s Lyric.

“I’ve just been curious about something and I’m hoping Aurora has the answers,” Spike said trying to brush him off.

“You must have read that book three times by now. What’re you looking for?”

“It’s just . . . dragon stuff, you know?” Spike said with a sigh.

“Dragon stuff,” Knight Wing echoed. Spike stared at the page in front of him, but his eyes weren’t reading. Something distracted him and seemed to take his mind back away from any shambles of a conversation he was having with Knight Wing. The colt decided he had enough of Spike’s sulking.

“Spit it out, kiddo. What’s going on?” he commanded. Spike looked up at him and reluctantly babbled out in response.

“It’s just . . . well, I don’t know if Aurora ever found a special somepony,” he began. Knight Wing began laughing right away and clopped a hoof down on the ground.

“So it’s mare trouble?” he said bewildered. The stallion brought up one of his wings and closed the book with a clap. “Trust me, you won’t find anything in there that’ll help you.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do? It’s not like there are any other dragons around I can ask,” Spike argued.

“Okay, okay, take it easy. Who’s this mare you’re after?” he said and smiled. Spike looked back at his desk and thought for a moment.

“Well, for the longest time I’ve had this crush on somepony in Ponyville,” Spike began.

“And did she turn you down?” he asked.

“No, I just . . . I don’t know. I guess I realized that the only reason I ever had that crush was because I thought she was pretty. Don’t get me wrong; she’s generous and kind. But I realized that we had little in common and that I was not really myself around her. I only ever did what she wanted, not what I would normally do, and I’m not sure love is supposed to work that way,” he confessed and rubbed his scales sheepishly.

“Well it sounds to me like you got that all figured out,” Knight Wing pointed out.

“Well . . . there’s another mare,” he said bashfully. Knight Wing resisted the urge to poke fun at him for two-timing his crush. Instead he patiently waited for the dragon to continue.

“But I don’t even know if it’s even possible! Can dragons even have marefriends? Plus, she’s one of my closest friends. I would never ruin that for anything. If all I can do is hide it, than I’d rather do that than lose her as a friend. But even so, I’m still curious,” Spike finished and gestured back to The Sage’s Lyric. He looked defeated and gazed back at the floor. Knight Wing sighed and shook his head at the whelp.

“I can’t help you with that last part, champ. You’ll have to figure that out on your own. But I can answer one question for you,” he said and turned back towards the center of the room. The colt trotted over towards the statue of Aurora in the center of the observatory and beckoned Spike to follow.

Spike walked over and joined him beside the statue, gazing up at it. Aurora’s figure proudly watched over the observatory, displaying her wings and tail with grace. Spike noticed how she was still larger than he was now, so there was a chance he could grow even bigger still. Her stone figure used to seem daunting, but after reading about her life in her own words in the Lyric, Spike had come to respect her as much as the princesses.

“You can love a pony, kiddo,” Knight Wing reassured him. Spike turned to him and shook his head.

“But how can you know for sure? There’s nothing in the books about it at all,” he said.

“Because I’m a pony, and I am also one of Aurora's descendants,” he said and smiled proudly. Spike’s eyes shot open as he gawked at his teacher. Spike noticed his fangs, scaled wings, and slit eyes more prominently now than he ever had before.

“What?” Spike gasped.

“She’s something like my great great great grandmother, with about a hundred more ‘greats’ in there. All of the Night Watchers are directly descended from her and her husband,” he said and pointed up to Aurora’s statue.

“And her husband was . . .”

“A pony, yes,” he finished for him. “At first, their children had horns and tails and some even had dragon’s breath magic. But over the generations, we became more and more like our pony ancestors. Now all we have left our these wings and eyes, but they are a proud reminder of who we are and who we came from.”

Spike blinked at him.

“That’s why you know so much about her and dragons and magic, isn’t it?”

“Exactly,” he said. Knight Wing stopped gazing at his ancestor and turned his head to face Spike. He walked towards him and put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder. Spike gave him his devoted attention at the gesture, for it was never something he’d expect from Knight Wing.

“Whoever this mare is, I can tell she’s important to you. But everyone deserves a shot at finding somepony, even you. I’m sorry I can’t help much more than that. I can teach you about magic, philosophy, and how to properly use those wings,” he said pointing at Spike’s back. “But this is something you’ll have to figure out yourself.”

Spike smiled as his teacher finished speaking. He brought his hoof back down and began walking towards the stairs of the observatory. He still did not know what he was going to do, but he was grateful to have Knight Wing as his mentor. As he left, Spike looked back at Aurora. For the first time, her figure seemed to comfort him. He bowed his head again and silently thanked her as well.

---

Spike spent the rest of the day in the observatory reading as many books about dragons as he could get his hands on. His eyelids were heavy as the day went on. At a certain point, he found it difficult to read in what little light there was. He looked up and noticed the sun was setting. He decided it best to sleep in his study quarters and made his way back up the stairs. He trudged across the invisible pathway leading back to his study, nearly stumbling off with fatigue.

It had certainly been a long two days for Spike, and he did not get a wink of sleep in the previous night’s events. He did not even bother lighting the candles to find his way through the hall when he walked in. He simply used his memory to trudge through the halls into the bedroom, stumbling a few times.

As he reached the bed, he put his hand on the covers to feel around for the pillow and climb in. His hand landed on something warm that made him jump and muffle a surprised squeak. His eyes shot open and he began to listen very carefully with his ears perked up high. He used his breath magic to heighten his vision in the dark, just as he had in Warmonger’s cave, and the outline of the sleeping figure came into focus.

It was Twilight. She peacefully slept with her head gently lying on Spike’s pillow. Though, at second thought, it was originally her pillow. He only started sleeping in that bed when he out grew his basket, and Twilight was not around so he got used to sleeping there. She looked so peaceful where she was. Spike was certainly not going to disturb her. After all, she had just as long of a day as he did.

Spike smiled and sighed. He was still too big for his blanket, but he was tired enough that a night on the carpet did not seem all that unpleasant. As he made his way to the closet to fetch an extra blanket for himself, he wondered why she was here in Canterlot. Perhaps she came to see Princess Celestia, or to help put away the Miasma stone somewhere no pony would find it. In any case, she was there and he was happy about it. He laid out a pillow for himself beside the bed and lay down on the soft carpet. His eyelids were heavy and his mind began to wander comfortably as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

And so Spike slept, beside Twilight’s bed, as he had done every night of his life before growing up. Despite being on the floor, he felt more comfortable than he had been in months. Comfort, after all, does not come from relaxation, but from a sense of home.

Comments

[Eonflare]

Errrr.
His hoof landed on something warm that made him jump and muffle a surprised squeak.
Spike doesn't have hooves.

[Shtormovoi]

The Party demands a hell lot more!

Carry on the good job

[ponytrash]

Ditto on the hoof.

I was amped to see another chapter and look forward to more. Now I must sleep.

[BBkat]

His hoof landed on something

Pretty sure Spike doesn't have hooves.

[ShadowSpider]

Love the idea of the night watch being part dragons. Very creative. Mind if I barrow that idea in the future for a fic?

[Dragon Sage]

5748102

Fixed, fixed, fixed, fixed, fixed, and fixed. Thanks for your help.

And everypony else, I fixed the hoof part as well. Thank you.

5748135

By all means. Glad you like the idea. Everyone else kind of assumes their some sort of darkness-powered bat-pony like flutterbat, but I like the idea of creating more of a family lineage. I'll look out for that fic of yours.

[Hutser]

I feel like there's a lack of internal development going on; after Twilight's talk with Cadence, and Spike's talk with SA, I feel like they'd be smart enough to put more pieces together themselves if this were a canon thing, especially after being around each other and noticing their feelings, but it seems like the majority of their romantic development happens through interactions with others. The talks are great don't get me wrong, but more internal development would help their depth as characters imo.

This is a great fic so far regardless though, better than anything else I've gotten to read in a while.

[Dragon Sage]

5749671

You bring up a very valid point that the development has been happening through others, and that was intentional. See, most fics I read are nothing but internal conflict and soliloquy. I wanted to avoid drowning out the characterization with inner monologue by having interaction with other characters be the focal point. It is a show about friendship, so it should follow that the characters develop with the help of their friends.

That said, I may have overcompensated. In retrospect, you do have a point and internal development is what makes literature so unique in comparison to other forms of storytelling. I'm going to leave the story as is for now, but I will keep what you said in mind for the future.

Thanks for your thoughts!