Dragon's Fate

by pokefreak13

Chapter Two: A Magical Stranger

The sun's morning rays casted an unearthly dawn glow upon Ponyville, dewdrops still clung to the crisp grass. Barely anypony was awake, which gave Spike a chance to relax on his morning walk.

"I can't believe I'm still full," Spike mumbled to himself while rubbing his stomach and thinking of last night's meal.

A strange flash of dark blue light soon caught his eye.

Spike quickly rubbed his eyes in disbelief and looked again. He saw the light glow once more, and it was coming from inside the Everfree Forest! Hesitantly, Spike made his way inside. His throat felt dry and every part of his body screamed to run, however something about the ghastly glow seemed to call to him. It was almost hypnotic.

In the heart of the Everfree lay a crystal clear pond surrounded on all four sides by oak trees, which had lived for hundreds of years. Even as civilization evolved, this sacred spot remained unchanged by any outside forces.

If only everything could be like this,thought a mare of dark blue, her flowing mane the color of the night. She was laying on the pillow soft grass, using her magic to pick up and observe small pebbles and bugs that wandered close. The mare smiled as a slight breeze combed through her wings.

"Whoa," came Spike's voice from behind the serene mare.

She couldn't help but freeze at the sight of him. It wasn't due to fear, but rather a mix of confusion and disbelief. Her brain was telling her that she knew him, but she just couldn't place where, having been gone so long.

"What is your name, dragon?"

"S-Spike! W-what you're doing, is that magic!?" Spike gasped, his eyes glued to the floating ladybug near the stranger's chest.

"This is indeed magic...Spike," She answered before setting the bug down.

"B-but I've always been told that only alicor-" Spike then noticed the wings and his eyes grew as big as saucers.

"No way! You're an alicorn? What's your name?" He exclaimed.

"...Luna," She replied hesitantly.

"Luna, can you do that trick with your magic again? It was really cool!" Spike asked with a toothy grin.

"You don't know anything, do you?" Luna answered, causing his smile to fade. "Magic is not something to be used lightly. Like clay, I can mold it to whatever I please, but if I slip up just one bit, the end result could be devastating."

"I know that! The library had some old spell books on display." Spike informed, only to grin as question after question flowed from his mouth. "So you really are an alicorn? That's amazing! Do your wings support you? How many spells do you know? What is the sky like? Are there others like you? How do you become an-"

Luna's patience was dwindling fast. Never in her life was she bombarded with such trivial questions. Luna was about to leave, when she heard a low growl coming from the tree line.

"QUIET!" She snapped, causing Spike to leap in terror. "Monsters are upon us."

"M-monsters?"

Two pairs of golden eyes glowed from behind a tree.

"Stand back!" Luna ordered as two manticores leapt into the opening. Quickly, she stood up and her magic that seemed to be the exact color of the night sky surrounded her horn.

"W-wait, I'm helping too!" Spike replied while getting into a battle position.

"You will only hurt yourself"

"No I won't!"

Luna let out a sigh, "Take the one on the right, I will take the other one."

Spike hesitantly nodded, then the two split up and attacked the manticores.

Luna took off into the sky and blasted a turquoise beam at the monster, causing it to roar as his left side went up in smoke. However, it jumped into the pond to try and smother out the flames. When he showed his belly, Luna quickly materialized long black needles and thrust them into the manticore's stomach. The pond's water quickly turned a deep shade of scarlet.

Meanwhile, Spike was dodging left and right as the now one eyed manticore tried to inject his scorpion tail into Spike. Spike could feel his stamina dwindling, so he quickly rolled to the left and tried to slash the monster's remaining eye. However, it swiped at Spike's head with its massive claws. Spike let out a cry in pain as two razor sharp claws scraped against his side. His vision became blurry as salty tears threatened to flow from his eyes.

"Stand back." Luna warned before shooting a beam at the manticore, causing liquid black flames to engulf the beast flesh and all, until only ashes remained.

"Use this to heal your wounds." Luna ordered while summoning a small, silver container to Spike. He opened it, and found that it contained a pale cream. Quickly, Spike placed some on and let out a gasp as his wounds began to mend itself.

"How?"

"This healing ointment is made from the juices of Bee Balm, and infused with water blessed from an old alicorn." Luna explained before surrounding the container in her dark blue magic, causing it to disappear.

"You're amazing Luna! Although you defiantly don't act all snooty like the alicorns in fairy tales." Spike remarked, causing Luna's cheeks to grow a slight tinge of red.

"I...Spike, you need to leave your village," Luna replied instead.

"B-but Ponyville is a nice place," Spike said, confused by her sudden statement.

"Leave Spike," Luna repeated before taking off into the sky.

Once she was gone, Spike slowly walked to his home. A frown covered his face as he pondered what Luna's warning was about. Ponyville really was a nice place, sure the occasional monster wanders in, but nothing a small group of ponies couldn't handle. Just what was Luna hinting at?

---

"It's a curse!"

"How could this happen!?"

"She was just a filly!"

As Spike came into the village's square he saw a crowd forming around the great oak tree that was the old library, a sacred place that stored burnt up spells long ago that have lost their uses. It existed only to remind everypony about the sacrifices their ancestors gave in order to preserve what little magical artifacts that could be saved.

Curious as why a crowd was surrounding it, Spike headed towards the building, only to be wrapped in a familiar embrace and felt something wet rain down on the back of his head.

"Oh Spike, I was so worried when you didn't show up for breakfast and the incident with S-Scootaloo, I thought something happened to you!" Twilight sobbed.

Spike spun around and saw Twilight's eyes were red and puffy. Tears trickled from her cheeks. "I'm sorry if I worried you, I just met this mare and- wait, what happened to Scootaloo?"

Twilight bit her lip, but motioned Spike to follow her. They slowly shoved their way through the crowd, until Spike could finally see what has gotten everypony so worked up. Right by the entrance of the old library, stood Scootaloo completely turned to stone.

Spike's heart dropped. Everything seemed to slow down. "Wh-what happened to her?" He whispered. Spike's eyes brimming with tears.

"She...was found near the Everfree like this. Multiple ponies asked the local Cockatrice if he did this, but he didn't." Twilight explained while wrapping a trembling Spike in her arms. "Come on Spike...Mom is waiting for us."

When they entered the house, Twilight Velvet ran to greet them, tears of relief flowed from her eyes when she saw that Spike was alright.

"Oh Spike, I was worried as well when Twilight couldn't find you this morning but I'm glad you're both safe." Twilight Velvet said.

"Poor Scootaloo...wait, I know!" Spike piped up, "Luna, this mare I met, said that I needed to leave Ponyville. Maybe she knows what's going on! I'm going back to the forest, maybe Luna is still there!"

"Absolutely not," Twilight Velvet replied. "We are all going to stay here, in Ponyville. I thought I almost lost you once, I don't want to feel the same way twice!"

"How about we all sit around and read a good book?" Twilight suggested.

"Huh?" Spike replied, confused on how this had to do with anything.

"Well, you know that when I'm sad or angry, reading a good book always helps," she explained, causing her mom to chuckle.

"Okay." Spike said, still unsure that this would help.

Twilight clapped her front hooves together and grinned. "Great! I know just the story."

---

The moon's light crept along the wooden floors. The small family was asleep on the living room couches, surrounded by dirty dishes leftover from supper and a few open books. However, a certain dragon slowly opened his eyes and slipped off of his makeshift bed.

I know I'll get in trouble, but I'm sure Luna knows what happened to Scootaloo, Spike thought while creeping towards the door. He dare not breathe, and even the slightest creak of the floor nearly caused his heart to burst.

"And where do you think you're going?" Twilight whispered from her couch.

Spike slowly turned around and grinned sheepishly. "Um, the bathroom?"

"Riiight," Twilight rolled her eyes before moving on her makeshift bed, creating enough space for a filly to sleep there comfortably.

"Twilight, you don't have-"

"If you just go to sleep on your couch again, you'll just try and escape. But if you sleep next to me, I'll be able to catch you if you try this again."

Seeing no other option, Spike let out a sigh and made his way to where Twilight waited. Then he climbed onto the couch and curled up beside her chest. Spike's face turned a few shades of red as he felt Twilight's hoof bring him in closer.

"This is so awkward," Spike whispered.

"I didn't hear you complain whenever there was a thunder storm," Twilight replied.

"Th-that was different." Spike grumbled before closing his eyes.

"Goodnight Spike," She whispered before falling asleep.

---

"It is a shame this pond will be red for awhile. I rather liked it here." Luna sighed as she levitated the manticore's remains from the water.

She felt a soft breeze and turned around to see her comrade landing on top of the grass.

"You didn't use up all of your magic during that fight, did you?" A rainbow maned pegasus asked. Her wings were metallic and ended in a long, very sharp point at the end.

"I didn't even need to use a tenth of my magic. These manticores were fairly young after all," Luna replied.

"Are you going to do it now?" The pegasus questioned.

"We'll wait until morning, Rainbow Dash. Make sure you're ready," Luna answered.

"Understood." Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Comments

[The Villain in Glasses]

Well, looks like Scoots got... stoned?

MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Still though, this is getting interesting.

[pokefreak13]

7234892 Heh, whoops