Chapter 2: Circumstances That Led
Scootaloo had spent the better half of an hour explaining the situation with Spike to the other mares. She claimed that he looked healthy, very healthy and attractive since he’d shed his baby dragon fat. She quoted the Starswirl line as best she could which brought Twilight into a nostalgic trance. Then the knowledge about this strange power he’d acquired reached the ponies’ ears and they took a different kind of interest in the subject.
“What kind of power?” Twilight asked. The orange pony tried her best to recollect the image, which wasn’t difficult since it was the last she saw of Spike.
“His eyes were strange. Like the parts that were usually white, were green. And his green eyes were red. And this strange purple mist waved from the sides of his face, kind of like when tears fly out to the sides when you run. And his scales looked darker; they didn’t even reflect the sunlight like they did before.” The six Elements gasped.
“That sounds like dark magic. Tell me, did his voice change too?” Twilight urged. Scootaloo nodded.
“Yeah, it sounded so weird. Like when you speak from behind a fan and your voice is cut off, only it was a bit faster than that.”
“By Celestia, he sounds like King Sombra.” Rainbow Dash stated, dropping to the ground.
“But at least we know that the dark magic hasn’t changed him.” every pony looked at Twilight quizzically.
“Do explain, Twilight.” said Applejack.
“Think about it. With that kind of power, he could have every dragon under his control, but he’s only leading five of them, which means he’s content to keep to himself and his group. Plus, he sent Scootaloo back to us alive when he was using the dark magic. If he was corrupted by it, he wouldn’t have bothered to do so. He probably wouldn’t even have recognised Scootaloo.” Rarity perked up and began giggling.
“Oh, that means he could still come back and we could pick up where things left off. In order to save him from the stress of explaining things, we could just tell him we missed him, give him a hug and–.”
“He’s not coming back.” Scootaloo interrupted. Rarity stopped in her tracks and fell on the ground.
“What? What do you mean he’s not coming back? You found him didn’t you?” Scootaloo gave Rarity a strange look.
“It’s not a game of ‘hide and seek’, Rarity. He left for a reason and that very reason is what’s preventing him from returning. Besides, he’s got a female dragon with him now. I doubt he’s going to leave her behind.” Rarity searched her mind for words that could argue the truth, but all she could muster was gibberish.
“Jeez, Sweetie Belle was right about you. You are pedantic to a fault.” Scootaloo rose to her hooves and proceeded to leave the group. Her last statement shut Rarity up and froze her in place. The other five were left to discuss the situation amongst each other.
Meanwhile, in the mountain crater, Spike was resting in his seat, his eyes closed and his head resting on his hand. He appeared asleep. Scalia kept darting between Spike’s face and the ground. The fact that he was pony-hatched disturbed her. She’d been planning on having a nest with Spike, but she didn’t want her children to emerge impure. However, she was worried about telling Spike this as he seemed sensitive about the subject. Proof of this was the pile of ashes that was once one of their comrades; the sleepy blue dragon.
Spike snored once, confirming his slumber to the others who snapped their heads around to make sure they hadn’t upset him by accident. In the purple dragon’s mind, the past engulfed him. He recalled that day like a moving image.
“Spike, come and help me with this, will you? I’ve got a lot to do and I can’t do this by myself.” his best friend and mentor, Twilight Sparkle called to him. Spike was finishing the morning dishes when he heard the call. Happily enough, he dried his hands on the wash towel and sped over to see what he could assist her with. She was on the Bookshelf ladder trying to manually pin up a streamer for the Hearth’s Warming Eve Party. She’d have done it with magic, had she not agreed to go in a Magic fast on the eve of the day. Spike chuckled and went to help her. Climbing professionally up the shelf, he grabbed the streamer and pinned it faster than Twilight could even climb the ladder.
“There you go. That was the last one? You’re doing pretty good for a makeshift Earth Pony. Pinkie would be proud.” Twilight laughed as she descended the ladder, sliding it to the end of the bookshelf.
“I’ll admit, I have a newfound respect for Pinkie’s parties. I don’t know how she does it.” Despite Twilight’s efforts, the decorations were still lacking in style. She’d only managed the streamers and the tree had yet to be erected, much less decorated.
“Let me finish up the dishes, and then I’ll help you with the tree. That’s the fun part of the planning.” he zoomed back into the kitchen before she could respond. He washed quickly, but thoroughly, bringing a shine to every pot, pan and plate that came his way. In the span of a minute, he was finished and as he emerged, he spotted Twilight trying to lift the tree. He decided to stay out of sight and watch her, covering his giggles as the tree fell on her time and time again.
Finally, she’d had enough as the tree began to prick her body.
“Spike!” she called, somewhat in distress. Spike laughed as he saw her hind legs flailing in the air, the rest of her under the tree.
“Oh, I wish we had a camera. This is priceless. I’d send it to Princess Celestia along with your Warming card.” Twilight gasped under the tree.
“You wouldn’t dare!” she begged. Spike ran off to find a camera he remembered seeing one time.
Twilight heard the familiar click and began struggling even harder to get out from under the tree.
“Oh man. And the best part is you locked your magic away for the day with that sealing spell. He took a few more shots before writing out a letter.
Dear Princess Celestia,
As this is the season for giving, I thought I’d give you a gift that shows your student isn’t always so polite and formal during such important events. I know I’m laughing as I write this and I hope you will too when you see these.
Yours truly,
Spike
He placed the pictures in the rolled up letter and ignited them just as Twilight was about to tackle him.
“You jerk! Princess Celestia’s going to be furious. She doesn’t want her student to be acting so clumsily.” Spike wiped a tear from his eye as his friend pounded him on the back. Suddenly, he belched up a response from the Princess, which Twilight swiped from mid-air.
“I can’t bear to read it.” she said, returning the note to Spike, making her reaction to its appearance redundant. Spike unrolled the parchment and cleared his throat.
“Dear Spike. Thank you for the gift as it brought joyous tears to both my own eyes as well as Luna’s. Not to mention half the royal court.” Twilight squealed, her face turning bright red. She shot to her bedroom and locked the door behind her.
“It has been some time since we have all laughed so hard. Prince Blueblood himself spat his wine out once he saw the picture. We had to get a guard in to produce CPR as he began choking on what remained. It faired little good as the guard searched for the cause and rolled on the floor laughing.”
“Shut up Spike!” Twilight screamed through the door. Spike laughed, unable stop. He waited a minute to calm down before continuing.
“In response, I have taken a photo of the entire court in hysterics. I must go now for I believe Luna is about to have a heart attack. Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve, Spike.”
“Oh, god, a heart attack?!” Twilight whined. Spike examined the image and burst out laughing.
“Oh, hey Twilight, you should see this. The picture’s got Blueblood passed out in a puddle of his own wine.” when she refused to respond, Spike grew a devilish idea in his head. With the remaining pictures of Twilight under the tree, he stashed them in a satchel, donned a scarf and left the Library.
The first Pony he came across was Rainbow Dash. He wasted no time showing one of the pictures to her, causing her to fall out of the air in a fit.
“Oh man, Spike. That was awesome. You should send those to the Princess.” she stated. Spike grinned and showed her the response picture. Rainbow gained an octave as she squealed her delight for all to hear.
“Yep, and it gets better as the letter states Princess Luna on the verge of a heart attack.” Spike showed her the letter. When she finished reading it between sentences, she lost her voice as she had no more air to laugh with. The process repeated with every pony he came across. The reactions were identical. Applejack tried her best not to show her grandmother for fear she would copy Luna’s reaction and died as a result. Spike even dared to show the three misfits, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The three fillies suggested getting the image published in the paper. Spike considered the ramifications of this action and decided against it.
That night, after he’d received a flogging from Twilight who found out about the public debut of the scene to her friends, Spike settled down with Twilight, handing her a warm cup of coco. She’d grown so tired having to do everything manually that she wasn’t looking forward to the party, especially after the pictures. The little baby dragon snuggled up to her. She reciprocated by resting her tired head on his. She was asleep in minutes. It was then that it happened…
Spike woke up from his slumber into memory lane. His sudden rise startled the other dragons.
“Is everything alright?” Scalia asked. Spike looked around the border of the mountaintop.
“I was about to ask you guys that. I thought I heard something. Did you?” the other dragons looked around, some of them sniffing the air.
“No, nothing.” the yellow one replied. There was silence as they listened again.
“Maybe the wind blew a rock off the edge of something.” Scalia suggested. Spike was unconvinced. He rose to his feet and took a few steps forward. It took him a few seconds before he began to hear a light bristling sound, then a flap.
“Feathers… Gryphons!” he shouted. Every dragon scampered to their feet, excitement in their eyes.
“Dinners on them tonight, boys.” the round red dragon said, patting his belly. The flapping sound came closer.
“Where are they?” Scalia asked. Spike listened carefully, his frills moving up and down like ears. He flashed his gaze upward and saw not one, but dozens of gryphons diving down toward them.
“Shit!” he called out, grabbing Scalia and diving forward. The others did likewise as the gryphons swooped down and angled up to climb once again into the sky.
“Damn them. Do they think we’re pushovers? Our kind are the greatest creatures in the world.” Spike helped Scalia up and looked at the climbing gryphons.
“Let’s remind them.” His eyes changed once again and his voice grew distorted. Wings of black emerged from his back and he took to the sky with the others. The five of them split off in their own directions, lashing out at whatever gryphons were in their path. Spike managed to get two, letting them fall to his home, ready for cooking. The others fared similarly. two by two, the gryphons fell, but with every one that fell, seemingly dozens more replaced them.
“This isn’t working, there are too many, Spike. We can’t get them all.” as if to prove the yellow dragon’s point, one gryphon managed to tear into his wing, disabling his flight. He fell fast, trying his best to slow his descent with his good wing. He thought he was done for as he reached the last few feet, but he was caught by Scalia while Spike blocked the gryphons’ path to her. That left the other two to fend for themselves as the endless onslaught bore fruit in their favour. The two dragons had lost too much blood. And as they were weakened, their enemy dealt multiple finishing blows. They both fell faster than the yellow dragon, plummeting over the edge of the mountain, already dead before they touched ground.
“No!” Scalia cried out. Spike, with his magic, slew as many gryphons as he could see, but there were always so many more out of sight. One of them managed to clip him, distracting him long enough for another to knock him out mid-air. The dark wings vanished and Spike was sent over the edge with the other two. He heard Scalia call out to him, but he couldn’t respond.
He awoke. How much time had passed, he was unable to tell. He wondered how he was still alive. The answer was a very sturdy and flexible tree branch. He’d landed in it; roughly half down the mountain. With sore joints and dried blood that stretched his softer scales, he struggled to stand on the branch. His magic took hold and he flew back up to the peak of the mountain. He peeked his head over the edge, seeing the swarm of gryphons feeding off their fallen comrades as well as the dragons, including Scalia.
“No!” he called out, covering his mouth afterward. But it was too late. They’d heard him and spotted him. Seeing the sight before him drew on the darkness within and rage emerged, darkening his scales like never before. As the gryphons flew towards him, intent on killing him, he clenched his fist tightly.
“You’ll pay for this. I’M TRULY ANGRY… YOU SCUM!!!”
Twilight awoke with a start. She’d had a nightmare. Spike had returned, still a baby, his giddy face gleaming at her. She went in to hug him, but his face transformed into that of King Sombra’s and he’d devoured her whole, sending her falling into her greatest fear, like the door had done back at the Crystal Empire.
Sweat rolled down Twilight’s face, and matted her fur. Her body was soaked in perspiration. Her heart was pounding and she was fully awake. With a sigh, she removed the sheets from the bed and tossed them in a hamper. She used her magic to place clean sheets and covers on the bed, and then she went off to bathe, eliminating the prospect of staining the new bedding in sweat. The news that she’d received earlier that day troubled her. While she was happy that Spike was alive, it caused her great pain that he wasn’t willing to return because of something she’d done. The worst part was she didn’t know what it was she’d done. Perhaps it had been the flogging she’d given him for distributing those photos to her friends. No, he’d been laughing through the beating, using one of the pictures as a medium for his laughter.
She collapsed into tears as she realised that she’d never see him again even though he was still alive. The water rained down on her body and it felt heavy, much like her emotions. She contemplated suicide at that moment, drowning herself. It would be a punishment to him should he hear about it. But she couldn’t well kill herself. Her nature forbade it, at least until she figured out why he wouldn’t return.
Defeated by her mind, she finished her shower and prepared to go to bed once more, with a warm cup of coco like he used to make. As she planted the mug down on the bedside table and prepared to get in, she heard a loud knocking on the front door. She groaned heavily as she went to investigate.
“We’re closed. If you can’t read the sign, you shouldn’t be coming here.” she opened the door to insult the newcomer some more, but halted as she looked upward at the tall figure in the dark. She couldn’t figure out what it was, but the lightning storm that had been scheduled revealed this person’s identity in a flash. With purple scales and green frills, Spike stood before his old friend, covered in blood that was not entirely his own.
“Spike…”
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That description needs to be more brief, and not a summary.
Some minor edits, including the dialoge with Scootaloo in the previous chapter. Overall, I like it. Just add more beef to this paddy.
Given what we've seen of dragons' nigh-invulnerability to gemstones, steel pins, magma, and high-speed collisions with solid objects, what exactly are the griffons using to attack?
1616039 Magic
That pic, and that introduction.
you got my vote and fav <.<
keep going.
1616039 Enchanted horse cum.
This is interesting. I want to see where this goes
shit just got real?
A rather good read.~ I eagerly await the coming chapters.
Ugh... THE FEELS!!!!!!
This is good, but I'd reccomend double spacing your paragraphs. In other words, once you're done with a paragraph, hit enter twice, not once.
1616107
Wow... I knew you were demented, Nunchucks, but damn. I didn't know you had gone that far 'round the bend.
MOAR MOAR MOAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A Wandering Wizard aproves of this story. Please continue good sir
This would be a great story if King Sombra wasn't mentioned all the time. Spike's dark magic shouldn't be identical, and it feels like you're writing the story only off the first season 3 episodes and not off cannon story plot or your own plot setup. Otherwise, I like it a lot so far.
Uh, didn't Racko make a story where Spike was missing for three years?
1616180 Demented? I wrote story about twilight fucking a lobster man, what's demented about that?
It was pleasantly dark. It held up to the quality of the SSsonic pic that was used with it. I look forward to more.
Bet Spike regrets roasting one of his allies now. Dude would of been useful in the fight.
1616285
Apparently it's a recuring plot element... I hadn't read either stories and also had an idea where spike had been missing three years... Three kind of IS a rather poetic number I guess...
1616097 They don't seem too affected by magic either.
Oh, and yet again the griffons are reduced to violent savages.
GUSTAV LE GRANDE, PEOPLE!! The griffons are CIVILIZED!!
1st As much as I hate it, it was a good choice to make Spike lose.
And then, well, you could add a prologue where Scootaloo is going off for an adventure so the plot would be better.
So far I like this but I think that it needs, and I hope that it will, become better by adding things.
when will we haz moar. you cut it off at the best part...
Why do I have a feeling that this is truely Spilight? And why am I grinning like a madman? Because you might do my favorite pairing, that's why. BUCK YES!!!! Also, Spike using shadow magic, now shit is getting real and you have them swear? I bucking love you! (No homo) Also Twilight's thinking of killing herself?
This entire story is making my day, seriously...shit I have to read more, also you know what would sound bad ass....is if Spike's shadow wings were upside down like Samuel from Darksiders the video game, don't you think?
I love that idea....damn, this is crazy, count me in for this very dark and wild ride, I'm honestly suprised he did not take Peewee with him though, damn
You ever need any help, ideas or advice, I got your back, I freaking love where your going with this
1616416 As are the dragons but that doesn't mean they aren't predators I'm mean as big as equestria is The griffins and the dragons probably live pretty close causing for some serious territorial aggression.
Damn
1616316
you think thats demetented? i think thats hilarious. oh internet, how you've twisted and warped my mind so little. im glad the internet made me realise how crazy i truly am and only improved the madness slightly
Well...so much for living like a king. I'm assuming that he allowed his dark to completely take over and massacred those griffons. Which also explains why he was able to come back. Okay, this story is fav'ed ( as long as the chapters keep coming and the quality isn't affected).
1616378 I guess, strange how three keeps popping up
The first Pony he came across was Rinbow Dash.
Ya messed that up. Sorry man. But the story itself, not bad. Not quite enough depth and funzies for a gold star, but enough for an alarm clock and a book, perhaps?
1616134 You've popped up again!
1616807
so I have
1616821 Man I see familiar people all over this site!
1616828 where was the last place you saw my name?
While the idea is nice, Spike is completely out-of-character. I understand this is a dark fic, but there is nothing in spike's behaviour that even hints at his usual self. In the show he is a kind of a snarky smartass with a good sence of humor. Nothing of which can be found in the spike you've portraited.
Try to improve!
1616316
EVERYTHING...
cool story.next chapter perhaps?
looks good
1616316 ahahahahahhahahahaha i found that one histarical, but i find many other thing histarical.
wanna see the crazy within?
I didn't think gryphons were cannibals. Also, wasn't Spike suppose to be a gem dragon?
Good story though, I just wish you hadn't killed the dragons off so quickly!
1616845 on your page, when I commented on your profile pic
0.0
I'd yell "Moar" but I have a mind of my own. Very nice! Well written, interesting to read, different. Sad but good, though the suicide comment bothered me a bit, Keep up the good work, you hath earned my favourite AND my like!
1617058 oh yeah
I feel stupid for not noticing that
1616270 From what I saw of the episode, the magic isn't necessarily exclusive to King Sombra. However, I'm having difficulty coming up with a reason as to how Spike can even possess that magic.
1616285 I'll admit this was sort of inspired off of his story, however, I'm going in a new direction with this. The only similarity will be the duration of time Spike was gone.
This is good but i swear if the next one is a clopfic im gonna murder in u in ur sleep
1616897 I'd love to see dat crazy.
1617175 HOPE YOU LIKE NIGHTARES, HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA, my crazy will make cupcakes look like a kindergardners fucking school kitchen project. HAHAHAHahahahhahaha. i hope your favorite color is blood CAUSE SO IS MINE.
Feces has hit the rotating oscillatory.
1617194
http://images.4channel.org/f/src/cause%20pimps.swf you know it
1617191
Riiiiight. I'm gonna go cower in the corner now...
Hmmm. Who did the art for that cover? I recognize the style, but I can't remember who did it anymore.
Always did like the anime artstyle, the flat color tone seems to still fit, while being fancy. I'm surprised about how many new fics are hitting Featured now, though... we've had about five new fics hit Featured.
Change in the system, perhaps?
1617123
Well, it depends on what theory you follow. Aura Theory, grabbed from some fics implying that Pegasi and Earth Ponies also have their own inherent magic, adheres to the fact that all ponies possess an 'aura'; a naturally generated field of magic that allows them to interact with their environments. Earth Ponies are excellent farmers, due to their tuned magic, for example. The Pegasi's cloud walking could also be attributed to this aura.
Dragons are magical as well; how do they produce all that fire? Their aura could very well be tuned towards destruction, granting a slant towards the darker fields of magic. Necromancy, conjuration, elemental creation and destruction.
Spike may have tapped this during his three year absence.
1617251 yeeeeessssssssss go into the nice, DARK, forboding corner because that where THE CRAZIES HIDE. though i am not like those.
1617216 Even I'm laughing at this.