A Cold Ending.

by Knight of Crows

Chapter 8.

Author's Note:

A short chapter, I just wanted to put in how things are going for Spike.

Jason used the Horn this time to see how much further the Elements could fall after that trial. He was half bluffing about Spike's current condition, but he found it entertaining all the same. Seeing a perfect opportunity, he started broadcasting again, focusing on them.

"Go away." Spike said coldly through the door.

"We're worried about you, Spike. Nopony has seen you in days. are you even eating?" Twilight asked.

"Why do you care? Need your slave back so soon?" He asked bitterly.

"You know you're not a slave! You're-" Rarity started, but he didn't let her finish.

"Oh! Silly me! Did I say 'slave'? I meant pet." He corrected himself.

A flash of hurt hit all the Bearers faces. "You know you're not a pet to any of us." Twilight tried to comfort him.

"Celestia and your parents say differently. But you're right I suppose." Hope flashed across their faces. "I'm worth even less! At least pets hear their owners say 'I love you', something I never heard from the ponies I looked up to as parents! At least pets aren't treated like slaves! At least pets sometimes get to sleep in actual beds unlike me!" He vented, the Bearers becoming progressively worse with each.

"Spike..." Twilight said with tears in her eyes.

"I'm lucky to even be alive. Your grandfather killed my family and was called a hero for it! I would be dead or worse if he had his way. Maybe I'm better off dead." His voice cracked as he choked back a sob.

"Don't say that! Don't let that monster-" Rainbow started, but Spike didn't let her finish.

"Jason. Wright. He has a name. Use it!" Spike said angrily, causing her to flinch.

"Are you kidding me?! All he's done is spread lies and make everypony look bad! All he's done is hurt ponies for no good reason!"

"Even Celestia and Luna confirmed lying is impossible with the Gjallarhorn. Do you mean to tell me that Twilight had a good reason to turn away a fan who just wanted to be friends? You all had a good reason to abandon somecreature in need at every turn thus far? Ponyville had a good reason to beat him down when he was at his lowest?" He asked.

"I'd bet you're the reason why he has those electrical scars! Lightning is deadlier against creatures with less magic, what good reason could there be to try to kill anything that still has yet to be proven to have done anything that would warrant that kind of force?!" He accused her.

"What? Lightning is completely harmless. You know I wouldn't do that!" She denied the accusation.

"Then you either failed flight school, or they neglected to teach that. And do I really know you wouldn't?" He began to question them and their standings. "I thought Equestria was the greatest and most welcoming country in the world, but friendship and harmony keep looking more and more like they're exclusive to ponies. Non-ponies barely have any more rights than animals., some are probably like me even, pets."

"I thought Sombra and Chrysalis were pure evil, but everything they've done, Equestria has done worse for less. Everything they did was a reaction to what ponies did to them first! They didn't even kill anycreature! Who's to say Tirek wasn't the same?"

"I thought Celestia was as wise as she was kind, but when her own poor decisions aren't putting everything at risk, it's ponies she trusts who end up setting it all ablaze. I thought Twilight would always be willing to teach and learn about friendship, but she proved that wrong with Jason, and look where that got him. I thought Fluttershy, despite how timid she was, could always be relied on when somepo-creature was in need, but she left an innocent to be tortured and die. I thought my fire ruby meant something to Rarity, but it was just another cash grab."

"I thought I was abandoned by my parents, but they died protecting me from royal guards, who I thought were all as reliable and honorable like Shining, but they're really just murderers in uniform...employed by the very same princess I looked up to. I thought Nightlight and Twilight Velvet loved me, but they've hated and feared me... Me! A baby dragon since I hatched! It's as Jason said, they used me!"

"I thought that I was one of you, but I can't work, own property, marry, enter most establishments, and even if I haven't been neutered, Equestrian law says I can't have children anyway? I thought you all loved and respected me, but you always leave me behind, you make fun of me, you use me, and what do I get? Huh??!!" He slammed the door open, giving them a perfect view of how much worse for wear he's been. He's noticeably thinner, tear stains going down his cheeks, and his scales are cracked, some even have dark stains around them.

"I'm lucky if I get a thank you! But I could always count on more chores. I could always count on my attempts to be like ponies to be thrown right back in my face, like how Rarity threw that cup of hot chocolate right in Jason's face as he begged for clothes to keep warm."

"Do I really know any of you? If he's going in order of the worst offenders, just how many more lies are about to come to light? How deep is the corruption in your government??!! How many creatures like me or Janus are living in Equestria right now?! How many Gales have there been in this country where non-ponies can't even press charges against ponies for even the worst crimes?!"

He sniffled and took a moment to catch his breath. "My entire life has been nothing but lies. Everything I've believed in has been crumbling one by one. My 'family' never even wanted me, tolerated me at best. My 'friends' spend more time working me to the bone than actually being anything to me like how they are to each other. Those same friends are being proven as frauds and criminals by a victim they made. Lastly, my 'home' hates me for things out of my control."

"So, tell me, what should I believe? My own personal experiences and the absolute truths that keep getting revealed? Or should I believe the friends and family I never even had?" He asked in a hollow tone. "I'm done with you. I'm done with Ponyville. I'm done with Equestria as a whole!" His scales ignited in a dark green flame and just as quickly extinguished themselves. "I'm going with Ember back to the Dragonlands if she'll have me. At least there, any disrespect will be because of how weak I am instead of my very existence."

He almost slammed the door but had one last thing to say. "Tell Shield Wall if you see him that he should've smashed my egg when he had the chance. Tell Nightlight and Velvet that if I ever see them again, I'll see just how fire resistant everything they own really is."

Shock became evident on the Elements' faces, they never imagined they would hear the dragon openly saying he wanted to hurt anything. "You can't actually mean that, Spike! What do you think would happen if you did?!"

He shrugged. "Legally? Nothing. I'm an animal, remember? And the last magical dragon on top of that. They can't exile me, imprison me, neuter me if they haven't already, and they can't kill me without committing genocide and breaking even more of their own laws." He opened the door just enough for them to see a pile of books behind him.

"I've already checked. As an animal, I literally cannot be charged for a variety of crimes. And Shield Wall? He already killed my parents and tried to sell me, that could easily be written off as a trauma induced attack against a known threat to its safety. It would be easy to say he provoked me."

"As for your parents' home? You heard; you saw what Jason showed. I was supposed to be put down multiple times over, most if not all of those times weren't my fault, but I was still blamed and almost killed anyway. They're about as much a threat to me as Shield Wall. I'm only alive because it benefited you and your brother. So, let me ask you this, dear 'sister'..." He closed the distance and brought her face close to his.

"Why shouldn't I do it? What do I have to lose?"

---

Jason was covering his mouth, amusement as well as pride being what he felt most in this moment. He was bluffing before, he didn't expect this kind of development from the dragon, but it was so much better. He was almost tempted to just sit back and let Spike take the spotlight for a while, but he was too eager to finish the trials and bring about the end of everything.

"Still, if he follows through, it can only benefit me."

"Show them then. Show them the monster they created if you have the resolve." He said to no one before ending the broadcast and calling it a night.

Comments

[Theresa hall]

11804190
Yes but considering the point of the course was to learn to stand up for yourself and the only problem was that she blame him for her going too far with it. She was in the wrong and unintentionally cheated him out his rightful money.

[david90s]

Spike is the man hope he gets rewarded for all the pain he has had to suffer thanks to the laws, the citizens and his "beloved" family has give him even before he was born but i hope he abides by his previous beliefs of harmony and friendship and be the bigger creature and just move out to the dragon lands

[Pete100]

Wait, so basically there’s nothing stopping spike from going on a rampage? That’s pretty interesting. Who else does that apply to?

[Prince Jules Moonshade]

I remember the original that followed the horn, it was quite interesting. This one I see mostly follows the same but I also see the little hints at death and cold from windigos, kinda eager to see how you end this one compared to the original this one is based off of.