reminisce
Crystal hit the ground running, cold air whipping at her face, rain pelting her face like daggers. There weren’t any wisecracks going through her head, no puns, no goofy remarks; she was completely and totally focused on one thing: saving them….
She’d seen this scenario many times before; the trip to the west among one of the many small islands that dotted the sea, a set of parents and their two daughters had come out for family bonding.
Why couldn’t they have just stayed home and done puzzles, she could be making a picture of a timberwolf pup right now.
Instead she was sprinting through a valley, clutching her bow, desperately hoping that she wasn’t too late…..that she could get there in time
As she got closer she could hear the screams of pain and anguish, replaying like a broken record; she drew her bow, she didn’t care which arrow type, as long as it hurt.
But she was suddenly shoved to the side by a younger blue dragon, one she had known from years before, running away from the screams with tears in her eyes.
A moment's hesitation was all it took and loud, bloody ripping sounds filled the air. Whipping her head in the direction of the gruesome noises, Crystal fell to her knees.
“No….” she weakly sputtered “not again….I was too slow again….I….I’m sorry”
Crystal slammed her fists against the ground and sobbed out of frustration.
This happened every. Single. Time.
She tried to save them, tried to be quick enough, tried to change what had happened. But everytime she was always too slow, always got there too late.
Then her eyes snapped open; she was in a prison cell in Canterlot, not on an isle of monsters in the rain.
‘Bahumut darn it. I hate that dream’ Crystal said in her head.
The jingling of metal made her look over towards the cell door, when she saw Connor fiddling with the lock her eyes nearly bulged out of her head.
“Connor?! What are you doing here?!”
“Busting you out dude. Artair came up with a genius escape plan.” replied the plantmancer
“Where are the others?” asked the archer
“Distracting the guards, that way I could slip in and pick the locks.”
That made Crystal pause for a moment, wasn’t stealth Saphria’s area of expertise? Why was Connor down here?
“Anyway, what do you think the quickest way back to the Vlemm enclave would be? We don’t have a lot of time to burn.” said Connor
Yet another red flag, they never took the quickest way home when on away missions, it was always the safest route.
“Hey, how exactly are they distracting the guards?” asked Crystal
Connors eyes briefly darted to avoid the blue dragon’s gaze “oh you know, smacking them around, breaking stuff, causing trouble like we always do.”
Okay this was definitely a trick of some kind, or she had to be dreaming again. Either way she had to be sure.
“One more question Connor, ten years ago today I gave you a present for helping me out with some chores; what was it?”
“Um. why do you ask?”
“Rescues always make me sentimental, don’t you remember? It was a pretty big present.”
“Uhh...a necklace?” replied Connor.
Crystal gave the Connor imposter a toothy smile “trick question, that was just something I made up on the spot, Connor never helps me out with my chores. Drop the act changeling.”
Connor was quickly engulfed in a green flame, once it dissipated Thorax stood in his place.
“Awww. what gave it away?” said the changeling king
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up over it. I’ve known Connor for most of my life, he’s one of my best friends and for what it’s worth: that was a really good Connor.”
“Not good enough apparently.”
“Nah, you coulda fooled me, had the persona down pat. But then you started asking all the wrong questions and saying the wrong stuff; blew your cover right open” said Crystal “I’m guessing the end game was to trick me into revealing the location of the Vlemm enclave?”
Thorax nodded.
“Well you gave it your best shot and I gotta give you a hand for that. But like we all said, there’s nothing you can do to make us talk.” said Crystal, poking her head between the bars and giving Thorax a quick kiss on the nose “shnookums.”
The shapeshifter grumbled under his breath and stormed off down the hallway.
Seeing that her playmate had left, Crystal threw herself back onto the metal slab that barely passed as a bed, letting out a huff in the process.
“Uh oh I know that sound” said Dylan from the next cell over “same dream again?
“Yup, just as bad as the last hundred times.” replied Crystal.
“You wanna talk about it?”
“No not really…”
“Alright” said the light dragon.
Once again the cell block was silent apart from Mia’s soft snoring, the two dragons sitting with their backs to the wall against each other.
“I still miss them.” said Crystal, small tears beginning to escape her eyes.
“I know. They didn’t deserve what happened to them, not by a longshot Crystal.”
************************************
“Any luck?” asked Ember, meeting up with the changeling down the hall
Thorax could only shake his head in reply
“Darn it! I really thought that would work.” said the dragon lord, clearly disappointed by the outcome
“Don’t be like that Ember, it was a good plan. It almost worked.”
“Almost doesn’t count for anything Thorax, not here. We need to find out where Spike is before the rest of their friends make their next move.” said ember.
The dragon lord turned on her heel and started back up the stairs, Thorax quickly following “but they wouldn’t be crazy enough to attack Canterlot would they? Twilight said there was only four still out there.”
Ember chuffed “you don’t know what noble dragons are capable of, they’re clever, deceptive, and highly unpredictable. They will go to any length to retrieve their friends.”
“How do you know so much about the noble dragons? Apparently not even the princesses know anything about them.” said Thorax
“Only that they are some of the most cutthroat beings on the face of the earth. Hundreds of years ago when the dragon kingdom was still flourishing we had it all, money, power, everything a dragon could want. But then a group calling themselves the noble dragons rose up to threaten our way of life, saying that we had grown too strong and needed to be put in check otherwise we might destroy everything. They were dismissed at first until they started attacking dragons which eventually lead to the war of the broken fang that pitted dragonkind against one another, son against father, brother against sister. Thankfully the heroic Azazel rose up to oppose the noble dragons, who were led by Kavan the horrible. There were massive losses on both sides over the course of the war but we won and assumed the noble dragons had been exterminated, however the kingdom had been weakened so badly that it collapsed right after, the surviving dragons splitting up into several smaller clans that have lasted to this day.”
Said Ember, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes
“Oh my….Ember I never knew” Said Thorax, clearly sharing her feelings
“It’s fine, ever since I became dragon lord I’ve been trying to reverse the damage caused by the war and restore the dragon kingdom to its former glory. Believe it or not, Spike’s friendship lessons have been helping a lot. Some dragons have actually started to cooperate with each other instead of just being selfish jerks.”
“That’s great! Hey, did you know Spike actually taught me this game called ‘Ogres and Oubliettes’ it’s like an interactive story where you’re one of the main characters, you slay monsters, rescue princesses, find treasure. It’s become pretty popular in the hive, the feeling forum even holds an O&O night every week because of how many changelings play it. Lots of new bonds being formed there, all because Spike took the time to show it to me.” said Thorax
“Nice.” replied Ember. “We get along pretty well don’t we Thorax?”
Thorax chuckled “Oh yeah, remember when Spike spent all day trying to keep us from meeting each other when he accidentally invited both of us to Ponyville at the same time?”
“How could I forget? I’ll always remember how hard it was for me to actually, say what I was feeling. At least the castle walls were tasty.” said Ember, smiling as she thought back to the event.
“You know you’re not supposed to eat the castle right?”
“You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was, Spike told me that the first time he tried to eat the castle it gave him the worst gas he ever felt in his life.”
Ember blushed, what happened after she left for home made so much more sense now; the stomach aches, birds falling around her.
Regardless the two of them were soon discussing their various escapades they’ve had with Spike ever since the little baby dragon came into their lives.
Both of them were completely unaware of the dark figure watching from a separate plane of existence: Cobalt.
One of the ways the nightmare dragon’s power was set apart from Luna’s, aside from the obvious of course, was that he could actually project himself in a certain range around sleeping creatures, the deeper the sleep the longer the range and thankfully Mia was a very deep sleeper despite her energetic mannerisms in the waking world.
Cobalt had used this ability several times to continue checking up on the noble dragons, ensuring their safety but never directly intervening because that was beyond even his abilities.
Not to mention the tall, muscle-bound, green dragon standing behind him would never allow it; especially not after what he’s seen.
“So these are the cruel creatures to have referred to, who have kept my son imprisoned for so long?” said Frinad.
“My lord you must understand that Artair was essentially enslaved by these-” protested Cobalt
“For captors they seem to speak rather highly of the boy, knowing things about him that slavers wouldn’t know.” continued Frinad.
“They have also openly attacked your subjects!”
“To be fair, the paragon’s claws aren’t clean of any transgressions Cobalt.”
“BUT MY LORD-” shouted Cobalt only for Frinad to stare him down.
Being a being of nightmares, Cobalt had virtually no fears whatsoever; he was fear incarnate. But Artair’s parents….they shook him to the core.
“Do not address me in such a way again cobalt!” boomed Frinad. “You are already on thin ice after the last incident.”
“I was doing was had to be done.” grumbled Cobalt, voice barely above a whisper
“No you were doing what you though had to be done, instead of what needed to be done. If you had simply asked me or my wife to negotiate with the princesses we would have gladly met with them in the dream realm for discussions. But instead you acted on impulse and made war with the ponies which has seemed to only redouble their efforts against us, I am not on the friendliest terms with ponies but I do not want to make an enemy out of them either.” said Frinad
“With our powers and technology we would-”
“Enough Cobalt, we may be stronger than the ponies in some ways but we are vastly outnumbered. Need I remind you what occurred during the war of the broken fang? I do not wish to lose more children than I already have.” said Frinad
Cobalt didn’t respond, instead opting to walk back towards the cells and gaze at Mia’s sleeping form.
Frinad reached a hand out to Cobalt’s shoulder, wanting to comfort him “Cobalt I’ve known you most of my life, I know what happened all those years ago when you were still young and reckless, I know the impact her death had on…” Cobalt swatted away Frinad’s hand
“They stole her from me. We were going to be wedded and they took her away.” said Cobalt slamming his fist against the bars “if the ponies had simply aided us she would still be alive.”
“That is your weakness Cobalt, you can only see one side of things; the side that you want to see. Celestia had just banished her sister to the moon after a lengthy war with her, neither she nor her army was in any state to help us win our war, it would have simply added to the body count.”
Cobalt coldly glared at Frinad
“I know damn well what you lost in that war, I lost my son, I almost lost Layla. But you can’t dwell on the past Cobalt, her death doesn’t excuse what you’ve done and it certainly can’t justify your burning hatred of ponies, it wasn’t their fault no matter how much you want it to be.” said Frinad.
“Do not pity me my lord, I do not need it.” replied Cobalt
“You don’t need it Cobalt, but you are clearly deserving of it. You refuse to let go of your hatred and it binds you to your own inadequacies, no matter how powerful you become you will still never be able to know true strength. Not until you move on.” said Frinad
Cobalt pulled a small locket out of his robe pocket, the piece showing considerable wear due to time, and clicked it open. Inside was a picture of himself and a grey female dragon, holding each others hands with matching smiles; Cobalt looked far younger in the photo, more innocent, before it all went wrong for him.
She was perfect in every way, she laughed at his jokes, they were there for each other in times of need be it competitions or harsh realities, she was the only one who supported his pursuit of the dream realm as his aura, they understood each other on a spiritual level. She was his soul mate.
But then the broken fang happened, those feral dragons. She insisted on doing her part for the clan, for their future; She was headstrong, passionate, and overconfident just like he used to be. That proved to be her undoing, one day she bit off more than she could chew and her squad was surrounded on all sides; she tried to fight them off but there were simply too many for her to handle, she along with all the noble dragons with her perished in the most brutal fashion.
The worst part is that he never got to see it happen, he wasn’t there to protect her like he should have, instead he was back at the home base running reconnaissance. He didn’t even learn of her fate until three days after the fact and he never even knew about the child until the autopsy was complete.
A girl, she had his eyes and her scales; a perfect blend. She never even got to see the light of day, never could experience the joys of this earthly realm.
That was the day Cobalt learned of the harsh realities of this world, his heart growing dark and bitter, resentment towards all non-noble dragon beings took root. He learned that one does not necessarily have to die to lose one’s life.
Tears began to drip down on the photo.
“This”Cobalt sniffed “this was taken one day before she left, right after I proposed. She promised me we would hold the wedding when she returned…..it’s not fair Frinad, she was my soulmate and she was ripped away from my grasp, her and the child both.”
Cobalt wiped the tears from his eyes “it should have been me, I should have died, not her. Why didn’t they take me as well Frinad? Why?”
“You know I cannot answer that Cobalt. Bahumut works in mysterious ways, as does fate. There is no denying that you two held a bond stronger than anything I’ve ever seen, she should have survived; you both should have, you deserved happiness Cobalt. But seeing what you’ve become, now I am not so sure of that fact and I am fairly certain Mist would-”
Frinad’s mouth immediately snapped shut when Cobalt materialized a dark scythe and pointed it at his leader’s throat.
“Do. Not. Speak. Her. Name.” said Cobalt through sobs.
“Apologizes Cobalt. Now please, take us back to the waking world if you would be so kind, I feel that I have seen plenty today.”
Cobalt roughly shoved the locket back into his pocket and began to channel his draconic energies.
“I will never forgive any of them for what they did Frinad.”
“And that is why my son was chosen as our savior over you Cobalt.” said the noble dragon lord, before disappearing with the dream master in a flash of dark light.
Right then Mia opened her eyes and looked around the cell, trying to locate the source of the mysterious voice over that had been plaguing rave party dream no.5 but saw nothing else in the cell with her.
“Hmm. guess it must have been all in my head” said Mia with a shrug, her head falling back down onto the makeshift pillow she had somehow gathered together.
“Artair had better rescue us tomorrow, this party dragon can’t be caged forever.” said Mia, before immediately falling back asleep with loud snores accompanying it.
**********************************
The very next morning Celestia’s sun was risen high in the sky, creating a beautiful day for all of Equestria. But inside of Canterlot Castle the mood was anything but cheery.
“Okay so we went about this all wrong and didn’t get anything out of them yesterday.” said Rainbow Dash.
“Are you kidding? That archer dragon gave me loads of information!” said Twilight, enthusiastically waving a stack of papers around in her magic “do you know what kinds of technology the noble dragons have on the Vlemm enclave? It’s amazing. For instance…”
Twilight quickly began to shuffle through her papers.
“Did you know noble dragons have a weapon that can fire out concentrated blast of magical energy in the form of magic missiles ranging from stun to full on lethal? Or that they have special holographic technology that allows them to directly converse with each other in real time? Or that-”
“Uh Twi. Ah hate to be the one to burst yer bubble, but how do ya know she didn’t just make all of that up.” interrupted Applejack
Twilight immediately stopped in her tracks as the realization quickly set in, looking down at her papers with a blank expression it became apparent that Crystal might have indeed fabricated everything just to waste her time. Without another word, Twilight tore up the manuscript and threw it into a nearby trash can.
“Guess I’m not getting the Starswirl award for greatest discovery of the century.” said the princess of friendship dejectedly.
“Cheer up Twilight, we’ve brought in professionals this time who I am certain will be able to get the information we need out of those dragons.” Rarity then leaned over towards one of the bulky guards in question and fluttered her eyes seductively “thank you sooo much for coming by the way. Are you going to be doing anything after this?”
“Work before pleasure miss….also I’m gay.” the guard gruffly responded.
Rarity’s face scrunched up in an unknown expression, the closest possible comparison would be a combination of frustration and disappointment.
“First Thunderlane, then Caramel, and now this. Are there any attractive stallions out there who actually like mares?” Rarity mumbled under her breath
“Anyway.” said Twilight, trying to ward off the awkwardness in the air. “The cells should be right through here, there’s a secret passage in the throne room that leads straight towards…..” the princess trailed off as she pushed the doors open.
“Uh Twilight? You okay?” asked Thorax.
Twilight pointed a hoof in the direction of the thrones, which lead to a collective gasp from the crowd.
Two of the dragons they fought in Baltimare were sitting on Celestia’s and Luna’s thrones. Griffith in the former, fiddling with an unknown device in his hands; and Yam in the latter, nose buried in a book with a bored expression on her face.
“CELESTIA DARN IT! THEY’RE RIGHT HERE!” screamed Twilight in the royal Canterlot voice.
The response was almost immediate, within seconds there were at least three guard battalions in the throne room with the elements of harmony leading the charge.
“WHAT THE BUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING HERE?!” shouted Twilight.
Griffith pocketed the device and stood up from the throne, holding up his hands defensively.
“Okay everybody just relax, we were just waiting for you all in the only room in this place you can’t blow up or spy on. Now we didn’t come here to fight, we just came here to talk things out.” said Griffith
“How did you get past the guards?”
“Cloaking device” said Griffith, holding up a device no bigger than a wrist watch “doesn’t mask sound but sure makes us a lot harder to see, we couldn’t come in guns a blazin after all, not after last time. Anyway I want to negotiate for my friends’ freedom”
“What?”
“I said-”
Twilight waved the dragon off “no I heard what you said I just don’t get why you’ve got this sudden change of heart, you punched me in the face back in Baltimare.”
Griffith looked at twilight with a quizzical expression “I did?”
“Yes you did.”
“Twilight was it? Honestly there was so much going on that day I couldn’t keep track of all the faces I punched. We’re getting off topic though, if you’re wondering why we’re being civil all of a sudden it’s for three reasons: one, everytime we try to fight you off you just come back at us twice as hard the next time; two, with all the mayhem we’ve caused mom and dad are pretty steamed at all of us; and three, most importantly, Artair didn’t want anymore harm to come to you guys.”
“So Spike is still with you?” said Fluttershy
“Of course, some of us just wanted to turn around and head home immediately but Artair insisted on rescuing our friends, or rather his friends.” replied Griffith
“You aren’t his friends.” Rainbow Dash bluntly said. “You’re just a bunch of dragons who took him from us.”
“Oh yeah? Care to prove that?” Griffith shot back
“What’s his favorite cupcake?” asked Pinkie Pie
“Blueberry sapphire.” said Yam, gaze still focused on her book.
“Favorite book?”
“Power ponies no.1”
“Favorite movie?”
“The Alicorn Bride starring, Carl Hooves and Robin Flight. Anymore questions?” said Yam
Griffith motioned to Yam with an ‘I-told-you-so’ expression.
“Okay fine” Rainbow Dash huffed “so you might be his friends”
“Thank you but back to business. We went through all this trouble to get a private audience with you all, the least you can do is hear us out. What do you have to lose?” Said Griffith.
“Just give us the word princess and we’ll take them down.” Said one of the guards.
Twilight weighed her options, she had two noble dragons completely surrounded by at least fifty royal guards plus her friends and Thorax and Ember. She held all the leverage here.
“No. Let’s hear what they have to say.” Replied Twilight “but no funny stuff.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it. Now in return for my friend’s release we are willing to turn over Cobalt, a noble dragon who I know for a fact committed a serious crime against Equestria, ‘the complete history of the Vlemm enclave’” Griffith motioned to Yam’s reading material “enough treasure to cover any and all damages we’ve caused, and a blueprint of your choice for one of my amazing inventions. That’s my offer.”
“You know that isn’t what we want.” Said Twilight narrowing her eyes.
“Ah yes Artair. How much simpler things would be for both of us if I could just hand him over to you, but as his overprotective younger brother I can’t do that; too many dragons are counting on him” Said the tinkerer.
“Hold on a moment, did ya just say ‘younger brother’?” Asked Applejack
“Of course! Can’t you see the resemblance? We’re like twins! I know I’m bigger and was hatched first but Artair’s egg was laid first, which makes him the older one. By a lot I might add.” Said Griffith
Pinkie Pie put a hoof to her chin, rubbing it in intrigue “yeah. I can see it, kinda, sorta.”
“Thanks. Seriously though, handing over Artair is totally out of the question, he stays with us.” Said Griffith
“And where is Spike right now?”
“Safe, far from here. We felt that if he was around for this you might do something irrational.” Said Griffith, to Twilight’s offense
“We would not! We’re honest ponies, we would hear what he has to say.”
“Au contraire” Said Yam, finally deciding to look up from her book “an honest creature is the most untrustworthy type on the planet: with dishonest creatures you can always trust them to be dishonest, the honest ones are who you have to worry about because you can never tell when they’re about to do something incredibly stupid.”
As if on cue, a rogue pegusi guard subverted his orders and threw his spear straight at Yam. The ice dragon shot out a cold beam at the projectile, freezing it solid and stopping it midair.
“Like that.” Yam Said, dropping the spear to the ground where it shattered into pieces while the Pegasus was dragged away by his squad, the leader barking orders in his face.
“We’re willing to sweeten the deal a bit Twilight. Anything other than Artair and you can have it, just give me my friends back unharmed.” Said Griffith
“The only thing you have that we want is Spike, no amount of treasure can change that. Negotiations are over, we’re getting his location out of you one way or another, GUARDS!”
Griffith sighed “you just don’t know when to quit do you? Alright Yam plan B.”
Before anyone else could act, Griffith whipped out another device the size of a hockey puck and tossed it into the air. It burst forth with a large shock wave that pushed everypony in the room back.
Twilight tried to lob a magic bolt in retaliation only to find that her magic wasn’t flowing quite right, producing only a few sparks.
“What in the world?!”
“MMP. Magical magnetic pulse. Any magical beings or items caught in the blast radius are temporarily stripped of all their abilities for a few minutes, I brought it with in case things went south.” Said Griffith “your turn Yam!”
Yam threw her hands forward, pale blue energy flowing from them. All at once, the floor beneath the ponies’ feat turned to ice and they all started slipping and sliding all over the place desperately trying to gain traction.
“So here’s how this is gonna work” said Griffith, stepping on the ice with spiked boots “we’re gonna play a little game of tag. You guys are all it and need to tag either me or Yam within the next hour or so; no using physical violence and that includes us, and anywhere on castle grounds is fair game, apart from that anything goes. You win and we hand over artair, lose and you get nothing. Deal?”
Twilight lunged at the dragon, only to miss completely and start sliding along the floor in an almost comical fashion
“I’ll take that as a yes. Yam let’s move! Game starts when we leave the throne room!”
The two dragons dashed out of the room, leaving a heap of unbalanced ponies in their wake.
Rainbow Dash was the first to get back on her hooves, a look of determination on her face “Alright you want to play? Let’s play! Everypony come on! We got a game to win!”
*********************
The commotion upstairs didn’t go unnoticed on the lower levels, Dylan stood up from his bed and listened to the noises from above; then smiled gleefully.
‘So they did come for us. Not sure if that’s crazy or stupid, either way we’re not gonna stay here for much longer.’ the light dragon though to himself ‘wonder what they’re doing up there.’
wow, a new chapter up in two days. I think that's a record for me.
also broke 50K words, YAY! 
originally I was going to have the pursuit between griffith and yam and the mane six take up the meat of this chapter but decided to focus on character development, specifically cobalt since he hasn't appeared much. Don't worry, the action will come in the next chapter.
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another chapter in 3 days great!! So do the rest of the group including spike go free the dragons improvised during the hour?
So that explains why cobalt is dark. Wonder what the future for hin?
I have to say you did a VERY good job of improving the standing of things with this chapter. I like that you gave some reasoning and a bit of backstory to Cobalt. But I now honestly think he would much better off going a more Sasuke'ish route. I mean he has SOOOO much hatred for both the feral and ponies. I could easily see that hate start to turn inward towards the nobles. I mean they don't respect what he lost, they are condemning him for doing what needed to be done, he clearly doesn't fear the leaders by the way he talks to him, they believe Spike who as of this point has shown nothing but weakness is their savior. And you know what they say about absolute power. He could be a reflection on the aspects of the Nobles that the feral dragons had to deal with.
I can see Twilight jumping the gun here, because honestly that is what she might do. She care so SO much for those that matter to her she tends to get some tunnel vision and she acted before any of her friends, best chance Shy or AJ, could have got involved and help keep things relaxed. But it does show that they care about Spike more than anything since nothing was willing to distract her from him.
I do DO so wonder if the reason Spike keep avoiding just talking and I mean REALLY talking to the girls is his doing or the Nobles. I mean honestly, they were willing to let him go to the dragonlands and do all kinds of things when he sit with them and explain his feelings and desires. But this time he just seem so dead set on avoiding talking to the girls at all. When I honestly and strongly think they WOULD listen if he just talked to him. They might want daily messages from him to make sure he is okay and a insta-teleportation spell on him so if he get in trouble he can get home quickly. But they would trust Spike I am pretty sure.
I do like that his parents see that there was so much of a easier way to go about this if they were contacted first before all of this. They still might, which I think would be a good idea. To try to talk to the princesses about what is going on. As they say they may not love the ponies but they personally have no bad blood with them, now tho from the actions of some teenagers more or less they could have a very powerful enemy. And that is something they don't want. So they have to act like leaders and do all they can to fix the damage. Which letting Spike talk to the girls will help, them talking to the princesses and letting them know at LEAST who they are and that they only want to help and get to know Spike. And that they have no plans on keeping him forever or forcing him to stay with them. I would love to see Spike's mom and Twilight interact to be honest. I mean I think Spike's mom would get SUPER emotional even if she hides it when she talk to or meet the pony who has raised her son all this time. Who took care of him, fed him, change him, taught him to be so damn noble and caring that even while he lived with ponies he was changing the world even for the dragons. She IS his big sister no matter what the nobles do or think after all she have done for him. I think she would feel a bit of guilt for all the pain remembering how she felt when Spike was lost, or she will feel a bit of anger at the team for taking Spike the way they did and causing so much pain on all sides.
Long story short this chapter was a improvement from the last and made alot more interesting things open to this story. Even if the whole Spike wont just TALK to the girls, and I mean really talk like he has done before, being the best way to help fix this whole thing lol.
This is gonna be really dark, but I have the feeling that the only way that Cobalt is actually forgiven is that at some event, he sacrifices himself for his fellow dragons, like how Mist and her platoon sacrificed themselves (now I get it was really an ambush, but still). His hatred for other creatures and fellow dragonkind compounded by his grief (losing his chance to be a husband and a father, since Mist was gravid) shows that he has been emotionally compromised from the start. It's probably also an indication of his immaturity, but that's for another topic.
Who knew that it's seems the situation Spike being raised by ponykind could turn out to be the proverbial Chekhov's gun that ultimately lead to extended peace between different species. Now his connections with DragonLord Ember (the feral dragons) and King Thorax (the Changeling swarm) as well as his role in Equestria make so much sense.
I really am looking forward for Spike/Artair to finally meet the Noble Dragon leaders, a.k.a his biological parents. Joy and tears will be in abundance when that finally occurs.
EDIT: I had to also comment on this:
Part of me says "The lady doth protests too much" or whatever that saying goes...Also, finding a mate sometimes has to be practical and it was right in front of her the whole time (unfortunately, the possible ideal mate either has been kidnapped by noble dragons or he (or she--I have a feeling you like AJ) hasn't show up yet.
Also, I have a feeling that 'heat season' sours a lot of stallions when it comes to courtship.
9223773
thanks, glad I finally figured out how to make things right.
though out of pure curiosity, what do you make of crystal's dream?
9224223
Idk to be honest there isn't enough for me at least to go on. Her dream could be a number of things either the past or the future. Would need to see more to have some real thoughts on it. I do think that with this little game of tag or what ever they better not make this a game of speed. Because and I say this from the facts. Dash is fast as all the fucks and best chance the fastest thing in their world. If this isn't about more trickery than a race the Noble dragons will lose and that pony has some anger issues she will let out on them for sure lol
9224242
good, I was worried the meaning was too obvious. Nice to know it's still up for speculation.
9223634
I have to wonder what is Cobalt's relationship with Mia? I bet there are parallels between her and Mist, could also explain Cobalt's protection for her. Mia is an avatar of what Cobalt lost in those wars.
i’m surprised she hasn’t turned to Discord for help.
with his chaotic powers he could easily locate Spike like he located the elements and reclaim him from the noble dragons.
he’s a breed of magic i doubt the noble dragons have dealt with before.
actually, i say embers should have told spike the history of the dragon kingdom and how it fell.
if he had learn about it, he might be able to make better decisions.
right now, i can easily tell the noble dragons are going to tell a one sided story to spike.
even spike's biological parents also will do something to spike's mind and make him an enemy of everyone outside of the noble dragons even if it is temporary.
i can easily tell that there will be a legendary battle where everything on the world is on the line.
people in the battle are
1) luna
2) celestia
3) ember
4) thorax
5) twilight
6) spike
7) spike's parents
8) discord(?)
and several more.
9224580
true but you must remember that history tends to be greatly written by the winners, not to mention stories become distorted with time.
Wait.
Griffith shuts down magic.
Then Yam uses some ice powers. Which are... not magic?
Either way, awfully convenient.
Also, can the ponies ever do anything right? Ever? At all? Why is King Dragon even worried? They'd probably trip on their own weapons and die before they can do anything to the "Noble" dragons. And even if they don't, the dragons have a perfect counter to everything.
Even the game of tag, they'll win easily, despite more than half of the Elements being capable of flight. Unless that gadget also shut down pony flight and left dragon powers intact.
So for the next chapter, will the rest of the noble dragons escape?
9224869
well I...no wait that is a glaring plothole, how did I miss that? ah well, nothing I can do now.
as for their escape, it might not go as smoothly as you think
I would put it in this anthropomorphic story, there are elements that can have this, and I also think it can put romance
9224596
well, what if the war ended up having no winners at all.
but instead, both sides got huge casualties that they split off into two permanent factions.
one got plenty of knowledge but abuse it just to gain their own selfish desires. (noble dragons falls into this category)
while the other faction degrades till the point that they.......... (ember and her dragons falls into this category)
i notices that somehow the noble dragons got hold of all the history books and the libraries that are actually part of dragon empire.
but ember and her dragons have none and history is only given from mouth to mouth through generations.
p.s i bet that there is no such prophecy at all in the first place. it is just only being used to persuade the dragons to become part of the noble dragons that is all.
9226842
actually it used to be that all dragon's had their auras, but by giving into greed and selfish desire the horde dragons gradually lost the ability to access their auras entirely. the noble dragons didn't gain knowledge, they just kept what they had and built upon it, the horde dragons simply lost theirs and experienced a permanent dark age that had almost no technological or cultural progression
lastly, the prophecy primarily centers around spike but the noble dragons have frequently mentioned it when he hasn't been present, the rest of the noble dragons remain loyal due to the good leadership of frinad and layla as well as a firm belief system that promotes brotherhood.
9225026
It's not huge a problem. You can handwave either or both with Griffith's weapon being tailor-made to shut down pony magic, including flight. That would, of course, make the weapon even more powerful because it's basically an I-Win button against ponies.
As for the "Noble" dragons' escape not going near-perfect for them... we'll wait and see. They will, by necessity, either all escape (because they already decided not to leave anyone behind) or none of them will. In the latter case, Spike will have to try to talk all his supposed old friends down and I don't see that happening anytime soon, it would make no sense for them to suddenly believe him after everything that's happened.
What I could see is the ponies actually winning the game of tag, but then it turns out that was just a distraction and they never intended to deliver Spike in the first place. I.e. they lied. Then it might be interesting to see how the different "Noble" dragons see lying/tricking non-dragon creatures; if they think it's okay to treat them that way if it gives you an advantage, for example—and how Spike ends up feeling about it. It's his plan. If Twilight learns about that, how heartbroken will she look, I wonder...
9226859
sounds like Brotherhood of NOD from the command & conquer game series.
and the GDI are the rest of the world.......lol.
Whats to stop these dragons from annexing a few territories? They can easily make it so other species HAVE to do as they say, they cant be readily beat even conventionally.
Anybody see he rick and morty reference??
And coming back to this chapter... there's an interesting detail. I truly wonder if you'd planned that out in advance. Namely this:
Pretending to surrender is a WAR CRIME. Not many people know that.
Pretending to surrender, pretending to open negotiations to get the other party in a vulnerable position, is a war crime. It's called Perfidy. Because when you do that, next time, they might not accept a surrender. Because you've proven you're not trustworthy. Kind of what happens here. Because back in Baltimare, the SND proved themselves untrustworthy liars and war criminals.