The First Hearts and Hooves Day: A Legend of Spike Story

by DiabloGuapo

The Abduction

“Sweetie pie!” a shrill cry sounded through the stone walls of the Castle of the Unicorn King. In her bedchamber, Princess Fiore Rossa squirmed and kicked as she was held down by the magical grip of the palace guard assigned to keep her from escaping. They had tried to tie her down, but they couldn’t hold her long enough for them to bind her. In her attempt to escape their clutches, she had knocked over a table, scattering books, quills, and a vase of flowers on the floor.

Outside, the storm the attacking Pegasi had created raged on. The wind howled outside and a mixture of rain and hail pelted against the window of the room. Periodically, a flash of lightning would illuminate the overcast sky outside. The Pegasi had yet to attempt a direct siege on the castle, but were certainly determined to make the inhabiting Unicorns’ lives as difficult as possible.

“I need my smoochie!” Fiore Rossa wailed as she was forced to sit on her bed, the covers bunched around her from her wriggling. The guards winced at the volume of her voice, the pair of them developing headaches from being subjected to her constant cries. Almost an hour had past and the intensity of her screeches hadn’t diminished at all. It seemed that if she was going to be miserable, she would make everyone around her just as miserable.

“I wonder how the others are holding up,” one of the guards mouthed to his partner under the screams of the princess.

Meanwhile, the guards assigned to the dungeons were dealing with a similar situation. Chains rattled as Prince Zephyr thrashed about while shackled to the wall of his cell. His cries for Princess Fiore Rossa echoed loudly throughout the damp dungeon beneath the palace. The cacophony could drive anypony to madness, but the guards stood firm at their post, knowing they would have to answer to an irate King Adamant if the prince managed to escape.

In the chamber of the Royal Mages, the six hooded ponies that had accompanied Princess Fiore Rossa to the Grand Summit were diligently working on a cure for those afflicted by the love poison. A yellow mare in the purple robe was busy rummaging through a pile of scrolls, a blue mare in the orange robe was helping a green stallion in a red robe search through stacks of ancient tomes, and the other three mages were trying to mix potions of their own. The door opened violently, and the six hooded Unicorns turned to see that their King had entered.

“Your Majesty,” an orange stallion in a blue cloak greeted as he and his fellow mages bowed.

“Have you found a cure yet?” the gray king questioned.

“I’m afraid not, Your Majesty,” the orange coated mage answered. “We have been searching all records and notes we have on hexes, curses, and enchantments, but haven’t found anything that matches the symptoms exhibited by those affected. The closest we’ve found is the Want it, Need it Spell, but we have concluded that it has to be a potion, not a spell. We’ve searched under love potions, but none of them so far list results as strong as seen in this case. Unless we find the origin of the potion, it will be difficult to determine how to counteract it.”

King Adamant frowned in frustration, yet remained calm. Even though he wasn’t a scholar like the six of them were, he understood that administering one potion to cancel out another was dangerous. If one ingredient reacted badly with another, it might kill the pony it was meant to cure.

“What about a Fail-safe Spell?” Adamant asked, but a purple stallion wearing a yellow robe shook his head.

“That would work if it was the Want it, Need it Spell, but we have no idea if it would work on the effects of a potion,” the purple pony explained.

“But if it fails, nothing bad would happen to the subject, am I right?” asked the king. “That’s why it’s called the Fail-safe Spell.”

The mages looked to each other, before the Unicorn in the blue robe hesitantly responded, “Theoretically, yes. But we don’t know how a spell might react with the potion. The cross between the two types of magic might have unforeseen consequences.”

Adamant thought hard about the mages’ words, remembering how he was already warned about trying to fix a potion problem with a spell. However, every second he did nothing, he risked the physical and mental well being of his subjects, including his daughter. On top of it all, there was the matter of an angry Pegasi army at his gates.

A sound of a horn being blown brought the king of his thoughts, and then he heard the clatter of running hooves. A powerful thud of an impact could be heard followed by panicked shouts and Adamant stepped out the mages’ chamber to see guards scrambling about the halls. He immediately assumed that the Pegasi had breached the castle’s defenses and drew the sword at his side. He saw Orichalum giving orders to the knights and raced in their direction.

“Report! Have the Pegasi broken into the castle!?” he shouted as he rushed up to his son.

“Worse! The dragon is here!” Orichalum told Adamant, panicked sweat running down his face. Both father and son ran down the halls headed towards the source of the impact. “The guards noticed that the Pegasi were pulling back, but then spotted the dragon flying straight towards the castle!”

“Curse that Tempest! This is his doing!” Adamant growled. “I’ve should have known that he was in league with the dragon! Where is it now?”

“It landed on the roof, but we don’t know where it is now,” Orichalum told him.

“What do you mean you don’t know!? How do you lose sight of a dragon!?”

Before the Unicorn Prince could answer, a formidable roar sounded nearby. The Unicorns froze as they tried to determine the origin of the noise. They then heard the scraping sound of claws against stone and ran to a window in time to see a scaly tail disappear behind the side of the castle. From what they could see by sticking their heads out the window, the dragon was scaling the tallest tower, heading right towards the princess’s chamber!

Down in the dungeons, the guards tasked with watching Prince Zephyr heard the commotion above them. Looking to the ceiling above their heads, they wondered if the Pegasi had made their way into the castle. Moments later, another guard came running down the stairs and yelled, “Come on! There’s a dragon attacking the castle!”

“What about the prisoner?” one the guards asked.

“He’s not going anywhere! There are more important things to worry about! Now let’s move!” Leaving Prince Zephyr in his cell, the guards sprang into action. They didn’t notice that the chains restraining the white stallion were beginning to stretch from the Prince’s increased strength caused by the love poison. The links snapped and the prince rammed the bars of his cell, bursting them outward.

“Schmoopie do!” he bellowed before charging up the stairs. Hearing something running up behind them, the guards looked back and one of them managed to say, “What in the…” before they were knocked over by the overly amorous stallion. “Schmoopie do!”

He ran down the hall, leaving the semi-conscious guards laying in a heap in his wake. The Pegasus sped down corridor after corridor in search of the princess, knocking down doors and pushing over ponies in his pursuit. Each room led to disappointment, as the only things he would find were soldiers running about or serving ponies cowering behind furniture for safety. He then heard the distressed cry of a mare and ran to a door. He barreled through the door, sending splinters of wood flying everywhere, only to discover a maid running around. Hearing the door shatter, the mare looked to Zephyr, her eyes lit with hope, and asked, “Honey-bunny?” When they realized that the other wasn’t their special somepony, they gave each other looks of disappointment and ran off to continue their search.

Chaos filled the castle as Adamant, Orichalum, and their knights raced to intercept the dragon before it could reach Princess Fiore Rossa. While they ran, they passed guards running after a mare. Then they passed more guards who were chasing after a stallion. Adamant raised a brow, but continued to run towards the tower until something crashed into his side, knocking him over.

“Sire! Are you alright?” a knight asked as he helped the king up.

“I’m fine…” the king grunted as he steadied himself. Looking to see what had knocked him over, he was surprised to see a maid and a butler kissing while surrounded by the madness caused by the dragon attack. That’s when he noticed that there were more couples randomly making out in the middle of the halls while the rest of the staff and soldiers were busy dealing with the situation. Adamant realized that with all of the guards preoccupied with the Pegasi siege and the dragon raid, the lovestruck ponies were free to continue their public displays of affection. Oblivious to the world around them, the ponies had put themselves in harm’s way, making themselves a hindrance to anypony who were actually trying to do something useful. Looking to the guards, he ordered, “Get them out of here!”

Before any of the guards could react, a white blur sped past them while yelling, “Smoochie!” It didn’t take Adamant long to recognize the blur as an escaped Prince Zephyr and that he too was headed in the direction of the tower.

“Oh, for goodness’s sake... After him!” Adamant shouted as he and the others followed the prince to the tower. They climbed the spiral staircase and once again heard the sound of scraping. A shadow swept across the stairwell, prompting the Unicorns to turn their heads as they climb the stairs to see the membrane of a webbed wing blocking the sunlight as the creature on the other side of the wall climbed upward. “Faster!”

Reaching the top of the stairs, the armed ponies entered the more decoratively furnished part of the castle that served as the Royal Family’s living quarters. Rushing pass the tapestries and the portraits of past kings, they came to the bedchamber of Fiore Rossa. The door was already knocked off its hinges and Prince Zephyr was inside making insufferable goo goo eyes with the red Unicorn Princess. Entering his daughter’s room, Adamant glowered at the sight of his daughter being wooed, but he had bigger things to worry about.

“Secure the Princess!” The knights surrounded the couple and started to pull them apart.

“Sweetums!” Fiore Rossa cried as she was held back by the knights, desperately waving her hooves in an effort to reach for Zephyr.

“Honey!” Zephyr yelled as well as each of his limbs were pinned down by another stallion. The knights strained as they did their best to keep the two apart, but that proved difficult due to their manic strength.

“Hurry, get them out of here!” Orichalum told the knights, but a rumbling growl coming from outside caught everpony’s attention. The knights’ grip loosened, allowing the struggling ponies to break free, and took a step back, gaping at what they saw. Through the gossamer curtains, they saw the silhouette of a large figure standing on the balcony of the princess’s room. They saw it rear its head back and heard it take in a deep breath, an ominous green light radiating from the shadow’s mouth. The knights dived out of the way to take cover, but Adamant and Orichalum saw Fiore Rossa and Zephyr sitting in the middle of room, oblivious to the impending disaster. They jumped and tackled the pair, despite their cries of protests, and shielded them as the glass doors exploded in a burst of green dragonfire. They winced at the wave of heat and covered their necks and head with their fore legs as shards of glass was sent flying like tiny missiles through the room. Looking up to the hole that once used to be the balcony doors, the ponies saw a gold-scaled claw step through the smoke. It was followed by a head that was adorned with two thick horns. Its eyes burned green and smoke rising from its nostrils and the gaps between its clenched fangs. With a flap of it’s wings, a strong breeze filled the room, clearing the smoke and the dusty haze of debris.

The knights gathered themselves off the floor and rushed to block the dragon from the royals, their swords and lances in hoof. The dragon looked down at the ponies that stood before it and snarled. It’s body was easily twice the size of a full grown stallion and its long neck, tail, and fully extended wings made it seem even more imposing. It took in another deep breath and opened it maw to unleash an ear piercing roar. The knights flinched at the noise and covered their ears only to be tossed aside as the dragon spun around, knocking them over with its outstretched wings.

The dragon stepped over the toppled knights and made its way to the royal ponies. In an attempt to stop the dragon’s approach, Orichalum sprung forward and slashed at it with his sword. The beast stepped away from the swinging blade and hissed at the stallion.

“Back! Get back, monster!” Orichalum demanded as he tried to drive the dragon away. It backed up to a wall, holding up a fore leg as to fend off the sword. As the Unicorn Prince drew closer to the dragon to continue to drive it away, he failed to notice that the spaded tail of the dragon had coiled up beside it.

Adamant noticed this and started to yell, “Orichalum! Look out!” It was too late though, and the tail lashed out and swept the legs of the prince. Orichalum tripped over and tried to get back up, but the dragon grabbed him with a clawed hand and rolled him out of its way. A shot of blue magic stung the face of the dragon, and it looked to the older Unicorn stallion and snarled. With his knights and his son incapacitated, only Adamant remained to defend his daughter. The older Unicorn shot another blast, but the dragon barely flinched. Dragons had a natural resistance to magic, so the king’s shots did little other than to cause a stinging sensation.

The golden dragon towered over Adamant, who stood firmly between the invading monster and his daughter. Even though his blasts only slowed the dragon’s advance, he was determined not to let it lay a claw on her. Desperate, he picked up the lance of one of his knights that laid disoriented on the floor with his magic and yelled as he thrust it at the dragon’s heart with all his might, but before he could throw it, the dragon swatted him aside with one of its wings. Adamant groaned as he lifted himself back up, but then a piercing wail caught his attention.

“Sweetie!” Adamant snapped his head up to see that his daughter was in the clutches of the dragon, crying and desperately trying to reach for the Pegasus Prince that was also trying to reach for her.

“Smoochie!” Zephyr whined as he waved his hooves up at the damsel like a small foal trying to get a piece of candy that was on a counter just out of reach. The dragon raised a scaly brow at the pesky pony that was trying to clamber up him to get to the prize it had claimed. With a look of disgust, the dragon stretched a hind leg and pushed the stallion away. It then spread its wings and took off with a powerful downbeat of its gilded wings.

“Rose!” Adamant cried as he watched helplessly as his daughter was carried off into the sky, her cries for Prince Zephyr fading as the dragon flew away towards Blind Chasm.

“Rose! No!” Orichalum shouted as well as he ran to stand beside his father at the crumbling remains of the balcony.

“Schmoopie do!” Zephyr’s insufferable call came from behind them. The recovering knights had to dog pile the crazed Pegasus in order to prevent him from running after the dragon and the princess. With a quick order, the prince was hauled back down to the dungeons and Adamant and Orichalum looked out with woe at the foreboding mountains that the dragon called home. Their precious Rose was a prisoner of that vile beast and now hidden away in the treacherous chasm.

“Wait. So the first time you met your future wife, you kidnapped her?” an astounded Amethyst asked.

“I was… a different dragon… then…” Aurum said between pants. As his story continued, his audience watched as his condition steadily worsened. Every few minutes, he would have to stop to regain his breath or pause due to a coughing fit. They wondered if he would even last to the end of his story.

Rarity felt helpless, for her generous nature compelled her to want to do all that she could to help him, but there was little help she could offer. She would bring him drinks of water, but she knew that they would do little to sate his thirst; it would take an entire pool to accomplish that feat. She would also soak a scarf she had brought with her in the reservoir of water and wiped his forehead with it, but again, this amounted to little. His head was so big, nearly bigger than her husband’s entire body, and the scarf was so small in comparison that she might as well had been sprinkling a few drops of water on him. Though as futile her efforts to soothe him were, Aurum appreciated the kindness of the acts.

Spike too looked on helplessly as his old friend’s health dwindled away. He watched as the ancient wyrm’s chest heaved as he struggled for breath, his massive chest rising up and down. He saw Aurum’s scales and noted how they changed since he had first met him. According to Aurum, his scales were a bright gold with a polished look that made it seem as though they were freshly minted coins. His scales had darkened and cracked with age and took on a burnt look by the time Spike had first met him, but they still retained their metallic luster. Now his scales had become dull and their color resembled rust, some of them missing. It didn’t seem fair to Spike that this once mighty and majestic being had been brought to such a lowly state by a simple sickness. As he understood it, it was as common as a pony catching the ponypox. Of course, some ponies are hospitalized due to it, but it’s rarely fatal. Aurum had lived for millennia and had experienced more in his time than entire generations of ponies put together, and it was now ending all because of some illness.

“So what happened after you took her back to your lair?” Amethyst asked.

Aurum smiled and said, “Now that is a funny story…”

Comments

[Lord Olympius]

Hey can I give you an idea for the end of the story? When Poor Aurum dies can he like transfer all his knowledge to Spike and can by some sort of magic miracle can like Aurum pull a digimon and turn into an egg and have Spike raise as his new son, that would be so sweet.

[DiabloGuapo]

5834622
I already have a plan for the ending, but I kinda like the first part of your idea. With thousands of years of knowledge and Aurum quickly running out of time, he doesn't have time to teach Spike everything he knows, but your idea gives me an idea. He won't magically zap Spike and go, ''Now you have all my memories,'' but he could do something else that would pass on his lessons. Thank you, I was actually worried about that! Now I have a way to solve my dilemma.

[Lord Olympius]

5835071 No No, I didn't what it to happen that way, I was thinking it would be more like in Draconequus Maximus 's story "Wedding Bells and Egg shells" where a a dieing female dragon gave Spike some of her knowledge and power so he could take care of her egg. Also mentally I think it would be the wall that Death put up in Sam's soul to block out the torture that Lustier did to him and it breaking down over time, or what Spok did and put his mind into the Doc or Like the well of sorrows in Dragon Age Inquestion. Also does that mean you'll think about the whole turning into an egg thing?

[DiabloGuapo]

5835942
I regarding the transfer of knowledge, I've come up with a way for Aurum to pass on his teachings without directly putting all of his memories into Spike.
As for the egg-turning idea, I've already determined Aurum's ultimate fate. It is something that needs to happen, for both this story and the next one.

[Lord Olympius]

5835991 Well here's to a great story and hopely a happy ending. * Raise shot glass of vodek and takes a swing* Aaaah, Clash* knockout on the floor.*