Skyfall: The Crusaders

by sister_mike

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Sweetie Belle

"S-Spike? You're alive!" Sweetie Belle said, utterly shocked. Spike gave her an awkward smile and wave.

As shocked as she was, the more she openly stared at Spike, the less it surprised her that he was alive. Spike was a species that everyone called a Drache, which was dragon in another language. They were named so, because they resembled the mythical beasts in both appearance and temperament, and they were rumoured to live with dragons in the towering mountains just beyond Earthica's border.

Draches had shiny, scales that covered their entire bodies, except for their faces. Some Draches had wings, and some didn't. Spike had a long purple tail, with green spikes at the end. Most Draches could breathe fire. They were creatures that did not socialize well with people, and they were easily attracted to shiny things, especially jewels. Because of this, they were stereotyped as excellent thieves.

But Spike had been raised by Twilight Sparkle his entire life. Hatched from an egg, just like real dragons were, Twilight Sparkle had raised him as her assistant, and he didn't seem to carry any of the stereotypical traits of Draches (except for that one time on his last birthday—or at least the last birthday Sweetie Belle had seen him, the one before the incident).

Maybe the sleeping spell doesn't work on Draches...

"How come you're not frozen?" Spike asked. He moved beside Sweetie Belle and sat up on the window sill. His scales shimmered more in the moonlight, outlining his face.

"I don't know, it's a mystery. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo weren't frozen either, and Zecora was protected from within the forest. We think it might have something to do with us not having our Creative-Marks at the time of the curse, but we haven't found anybody else, so it's unconfirmed," Sweetie Belle said slowly. "What about you? Why aren't you frozen?"

"Wow, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are free too eh? And Zecora? Zecora doesn't surprise me, I mean, she's always full of surprises, you know?" Spike said at a rapid pace. "I'm not 100% sure why I wasn't frozen, it just... didn't happen. It's most likely because I'm a Drache, but I can't confirm that."

"Why not?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Spike shrugged. "Same reason you can't confirm it's because you didn't have your Creative-Mark. There's no proof. I haven't come across any other Draches in Earthica, not even any frozen ones. Either I was coincidentally the only one in Earthica at the time, or I just haven't searched far enough."

"What about in the mountains where the Draches and dragons live? Have you tried to go there and see if they're frozen too?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yup," Spike said, as he nodded, "but I can't get there. I traveled all over Earthica, looking for some sort of cure, but whenever I tried to cross the Earthica borders, I would bounce back. I think the sleeping curse has entrapped Earthica only, and it's put a case around it. I've tried all over to leave, just to see if I could, but to no avail."

So the sleeping curse was only set across Earthica, and had put a protective bubble around it. Interesting. I wonder if that means that the creature is still trapped in Earthica then. Maybe its spell backfired in a way that trapped it here too.

"Why didn't you ever come to Peoplesville?" Sweetie Belle asked, "It's been thirteen years and I'm just seeing you now?"

"I did go to Peoplesville. I was in Central City when the curse hit, but as soon as I saw the people being crystallized, I traveled to Peoplesville as fast as I could. And when I saw Twilight..." Spike said. He trailed off and looked out the window.

"How come you moved back to Central City?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"It's too painful to see," Spike said quietly, "Twilight Sparkle... and Rarity..."

Sweetie Belle looked away at the mention of her sister. Spike was right; it was painful to see them trapped like that.

"Twilight's like my big sister, you know? She's raised me, essentially saved me, from the life of a typical Drache. Staying in Peoplesville, knowing that I can't free her... It was too much. So I moved back to Central City and have been going through the princesses' library to try and find something. I'm a slower reader than Twilight is, so it's taken me a lot of time," Spike said.

"That's why I came here. Have you found anything?" Sweetie Belle asked. Spike shook his head. "You know, the three of us, me, Apple Bloom and Scoots came to Central City once. It's weird we didn't see you."

"Yeah, that is weird. Probably just bad timing. You probably came when I went to go visit Twilight. Sometimes I go back to Peoplesville and visit, but not often," Spike said.

The two stood there in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Sweetie Belle yawned.

"Tired?" Spike asked.

"Yeah. Maybe I'll set up camp," she said. She took the backpack off and pulled out the sleeping bag tucked underneath it.

"What are you doing?" Spike asked, as Sweetie Belle began to unroll the sleeping bag.

"Going to sleep," she said.

"In a sleeping bag? There are plenty of beds in the palace," Spike said. He jumped off of the windowsill.

"It's bad enough I have to wear Rarity's clothes. I'd feel weird sleeping in some poor, frozen person's bed," Sweetie Belle said.

Spike laughed, and pulled Sweetie Belle up.

"There are a ton of guest rooms in the palace. Since they're for guests, they don't belong to a specific person, and therefore you can't feel guilty about it. Right?" he said.

"Right..." Sweetie Belle said slowly.

"Trust me, you'll have a better sleep in a bed than in a sleeping bag. Then we can set off and find a cure for the curse in the morning!" Spike said.

Sweetie Belle smiled. "You'll help me?"

"Of course," Spike said. "It's been thirteen long, lonely years, for all of us. I'm ready for civilization to start up again."

"Me too," Sweetie Belle said quietly, as Spike led her down a hallway, chattering away about what he'd been up to the past thirteen years. "Me too."