The Black Mare
Spike yawned as he walked out of the stone shed. It was shortly after dawn, grey clouds tinted by the gold light of sunrise, and the dragons outside were already up and about. The two left in the ruin were still sound asleep, and would likely stay that way until enough light spilled through the doorway.
Of the active dragons, Fluttershy noticed the pony first. "Good morning, Spike." She was cooking something on several rocks scattered in a fire. "Did you all sleep well?"
"I think Twilight and Rarity did." Spike sniffed and walked closer to the fire. His stomach rumbled, reminding him that last time he sat down to a proper meal was the picnic at the start of this ill-fated trip. "Whatcha making? It smells great."
"Steak and eggs," the yellow dragin answered with a smile. "It's our traditional camping breakfast. I have enough Roc eggs for all of us, but Pinkie didn't give Rainbow quite enough salted meats, so Rainbow volunteered to go get more."
"Eeyup," Applejack joined in from across the fire, "that manticore's gonna be butchered in more ways 'n one."
Fluttershy shrugged. "Maybe, but she won't take as long as either of us would." She turned her attention back to her cooking, flipping steaks and scrambling eggs. "So, Spike, did you have trouble sleeping?"
"Not really." The pony scratched at his mane. "I just had this weird dream, and it woke me up a few times."
"Ah think that's called trouble sleepin', Sugarcube." Applejack tilted her hat back. "What was it 'bout?"
Spike winced before answering, "Lines."
Applejack and Fluttershy exchanged glances. "Lines?"
"I did say it was a weird dream. There was some sort of pattern to it though, it has to mean something. I just don't know what." Spike shrugged and looked for a convenient subject change. He found it in the changeling, Chrysalis, who was staring off into the distance. "So, what's wrong with her."
Applejack looked over and shrugged. "Ah think she tried ta use magic on me. One moment, her eyes were all glowy, the next, she's gone loopier than the delivery gal."
"You could have warned her about your eyes," Fluttershy chided, gesturing at her with a steak in claw. "Then, maybe she wouldn't have tried to use sight-related magic."
Spike gulped as he watched the steak get slapped back onto the sizzling rock, and his stomach growled and twisted in protest when he looked away from it. He really was hungry. "So, tell her what about your eyes?" he asked Applejack, distracting himself.
"Mah special ability, Sugarcube." The farmer looked over at her yellow friend and gestured to Spike. "Why don't ya give 'im some? He's looking mighty peckish."
Fluttershy cut off a small-by dragon standards- piece from on of the steaks. "She doesn't like to brag," the yellow dragon said as she offered him the chunk of meat, "but her eyes are really remarkable. They have a reflective layer like most cat's eyes, but it reflects and amplifies magic instead of light."
"So she can see magic?" Spike gave a sheepish smile when his stomach growled again. He took the offered food and tore into it with big healthy bites. He chewed, swallowed, and wiped his his mouth with a hoof before speaking again. "This is good. Manticore?"
"Good ol’ cattle, Sugarcube." Applejack thumped her chest. "Raised 'em mahself. And goin' back ta mah eyes, Ah can't exactly see magic. Not like seein' the energy everywhere, but Ah can see through it. I can see if some dragon collects a bunch of it for a spell 'r somethin', and Ah can usually tell if there's some sudden change in aura, like nervousness 'n lies."
"Really?" Spike looked down at his steak and took a small bite. "That's interesting," he said around a mouthful.
"I guess another way ta put it is, ya can't hide nothin' from me."
Oh boy. Spike swallowed his food. He could just guess what was coming next.
Applejack leaned down to look Spike in the eye. "Did somethin' happen between you and Rares last night?"
Lying wasn't an option for Spike, not just because of the farmer's ability, but because he didn't want to lie to Rarity's friends. So, he answered quickly and directly, "I don't want to talk about it until I get to talk it over with her."
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Clever little thing, ain't ya? But, Ah'm afraid you ain't got that option, Sugarcube. Ah'm askin', and yer answerin'."
Spike felt a slight tingling on his back. It was a faint sensation, barely there, like warm static. Spike knew what it was before turning around, but the other two were a little more surprised to see Rarity walking out of the shelter and towards them.
"Oh, good morning." Fluttershy held up another piece of meat. "Are you hungry? We have eggs as well."
The white dragoness smiled and nodded. "I am famished, thank you, dear, but it will have to wait. I have something to tell you." She sat down next to Spike and looked up at Applejack. "You can see it, can't you?"
The farmer scratched her head. "Ah can, but Ah'd like ta know what Ah'm seein' here. The two of ya are glowin', have been since ya got back from yer walk."
"Is that how it appears?" Rarity glanced at Spike. "I wasn't sure how it would manifest, but I assumed the magic involved would be strong enough for you to see." She let her claw slide over the ground until it met a hoof, then she took hold of it.
The dirt and dust, essentially small pieces of dirt and stone, reacted to the magic the dragoness channeled into Spike. A small cloud of specks swirled and formed as his magic answered hers of its own will. Pebbles clattered and jumped as they were drawn to the power shared by the Earth King and his-
Rarity pulled her claw away, and the dust cloud succumbed to gravity, falling to the ground around her and Spike. No longer fueled by their magic, it was no different from the dirt one might find anywhere. Rarity scratched at it as she worked up the nerve to look back up at her friends. "I trust that was enough of a demonstration."
Save for the crackle of fire and sizzle of food, there was silence. The two larger dragins glanced back and forth between themselves and their smaller friends.
Applejack was the first to break the silence with a hesitant question. "Ya mean Spike's that dragon feller ya told us 'bout?"
Fluttershy followed up with one of her own. "The one you vowed to bury in a shallow grave if he ever made a move on you?"
Rarity nodded before she registered Fluttershy's question. "Yes." When it sank in, she looked over at Spike and swung her head back to face Fluttershy. "What? No! That was a long time ago..." She cleared her throat. "I suppose I didn't speak too fondly of prophecy, but-"
Applejack cut her off with curt laugh. "Fondly? Ya promised a massacre if any dragon tried to force ya into anythin' ya didn't decide fer yourself."
The seamstress and armorer bit her lower lip. "I... um, admit I may have been a bit hasty regarding the prophecy, but whatever action I take from here on will be my decision."
"Are you going to go through with it?" Fluttershy hid a slight blush behind her crest as she spoke. "From what you told me, the prophecy seems sort of... romantic. Two dragons, or um, a pony and a dragon, bound by destiny, connected through time waiting to meet."
Rarity surprised herself by not sharing the yellow dragon's blush as she nodded to the pony beside her. "Spike has already told me that he would respect my decision, but I haven't made one yet. Please leave it at that."
"Oh, ok," Fluttershy agreed quietly, "I won't intrude."
Applejack wasn't as gracious. "Now hold on there, Sugarcube." She pointed at herself, then at Fluttershy. "We're yer friends, right? And that means we care 'bout ya, right? And don't that mean we should do everything' we can ta make sure ya end up happy as can be?"
"Oh my." Rarity brought a claw to her head. Last time Applejack made a point by asking a series of questions, Twilight tried to seed the library with bioluminescent mold. "Maybe we should-"
"Ah'll tell ya what," Applejack said over Rarity's rebuttal, "we oughtta look at this impartial-like. We need to figure out if Spike here is gonna make ya happy, so we need to find what makes ya happy, and see if this little fella can provide it." The large dragon pulled a blackened rock from the fire and scratched a tally mark into it. "He agreed ta honor yer decisions, and that's kind of a big deal fer you, so he gets a point for that." She scratched in another. "I also overheard ya talkin' to yourself 'bout how cute he was, so that's another." She then scraped both tallies off. "But he didn't wake ya up before eatin' breakfast, and that was a might bit inconsiderate of him. And a' course, he ain't a dragon, so ya probably couldn't have kids." She picked up the rock and chucked it. "Yer standin' on a big fat zero, Spike. Ya need ta try harder."
"Ha! Take that, you stupid dinosaur!" Every dragon looked over at Chrysalis as she snapped out of her trance-like state. "Augh! My head!" Her look of triumph faded and she curled up in a ball, clutching at her head and squeezing, as if she had to hold it together. "What did you do to me, you overgrown behemoth?! And why is it daytime?" She rolled around in agony at the migraine gripping her. "You were supposed to be under my control you fat lizard!"
Applejack shrugged off the insult and looked over at Spike. "So, are we keepin' her? Or do we get to send her somewhere when we get back ta town?"
Spike shook his head. "I have no idea. But, Ice Heart didn't take her with him, so he probably wants me to deal with it. For now, I guess the least we can do is make sure it doesn't starve."
Chrysalis managed to push the pain away upon hearing that. Her ears perked up as she looked over. "Really? You mean it?"
Spike looked over in confusion, then realized his mistake. He corrected it by pointing at the fire. "Breakfast. I meant you could have breakfast with us. Physical nourishment, physical nourishment only."
"Ah, you're no fun," the changeling said with a pout. "At least the small one had a sense of humor."
"He does indeed," Celestia said, carefully holding back a snarl. "You'll find I don't share it."
"Come now, it was a simple question." A stately old dragon pushed his soup bowl away and picked up a folded silk napkin. "I merely asked where you went. A perfectly reasonable request."
"No, you demanded to know where I went. There's a difference between a demand and a request." Celestia walked around the table, her table, and sat at its head.
This grand dining hall was a shining example of draconican architecture. White marble, inlaid with gold, made up nearly every surface. Even the table was made of these two materials, intertwined in delicate floral patterns while spanning a surface large enough to accommodate even the largest feast. Around the outer edges of the hall, statues of ancient heroes, names lost to time, stood silent watch over a fight far less bloody, yet no less intense than any they participated in.
Celestia was by far the larger of the two, and certainly the more powerful. In a physical battle, or magical one, the dull grey dragon would not last long enough to draw a second breath. But this was a different kind of war. One that the princess hated more with each passing day.
Politics.
Oh, how pleasant it would be to just snap him in two and be done with it, and let the cleaning staff deal with the mess.
After wiping his mouth, the drake folded the napkin and set it back where it was, making a show of keeping everything perfect and clean. "The dragons of this city make demands of me all the time. It is my job to bring these demands before you, or so I thought." He rested his claw against the table's surface, gold and silver rings and bangles clattering against the cool stone. "I was merely surprised that you wouldn't place your subject's needs above your own personal travels.
"Be careful about how you refer to other dragons, Greyscale. Very few would enjoy being called a subject." Celestia leveled her gaze at him. "And know that I put nothing above Draconica's needs, not even my own."
"Not even the needs of that furry little pet of yours?" The drake chuckled. "You are far too attached to that thing, and it seems to be rubbing off on some of your Generals."
"If you are referring to my son, I would prefer you leave him out of this."
"Ah, yes, I forgot." The drake rolled his eyes and swooped up a goblet. He took one lethargic swig before muttering, "you went and adopted the little abomination."
Celestia leaned forward, fur bristling and scales glinting. "Excuse me?"
Greyscale didn't look at her, opting to stare at his wine and swirl it slowly. "You can paint a lizard, glue on paper wings, and call it a dragon, but it won't fool a soul. Some in this city believe that your obsession with that creature is a sign of weakness. At the very least, it is a sentimentality that a leader cannot afford."
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Family can be source of strength. Certainly, you have exploited your relationship with Bluescale enough to know that much."
Greyscale grimaced. "Exploit is such a nasty word. Taking an opportunity when presented, or pressing an advantage when one is given, should not be so looked down upon." He down the the last of his wine and set the goblet down, running a claw around the rim. "Remind me again, what exactly is the lifespan of a pony? There is so little information to be found."
A flame-licked snort escaped Celestia's snout. "I assure you, it will be a longer lifespan than any who dare lift their claws against him."
"Oh my," Greyscale laughed heartily, "you seem to have misunderstood my question to be a threat." He tipped his empty goblet over, spilling the last few drops of crimson drink. "I was merely illustrating how little we know about the ancient races. However, new information comes to light everyday. Ruins are explored, artifacts are recovered, manuscripts translated. Who knows, perhaps he will outlive you?"
Celestia remained silent and watched the smaller dragon carefully. Greyscale has always been an aggressive political opponent, but shrewd enough not to push too far. Something about today was different. He was being far too bold. Were his words truly meant to be threats? This was far too direct, even for him. Did he seriously intend to act this time?
"I see our conversation has ended." Greyscale sighed and moved away from the table. "Such a shame, things were just getting interesting." He hummed to himself as he walked away, heading for the banquet hall's great door. He paused only once, just before exiting into the corridors of the castle, to turn back and say, "As always, I value your hospitality, and thank you for the time. May you walk in the light."
Celestia nodded in recognition of the ancient farewell. It annoyed her to no end when such an insincere dragon used the phrase, but at least it meant he was leaving.
Greyscale started to close the door behind him, but stopped halfway. With a smile, he added, "and may it follow you in the day..." The drake's toothy grin grew as he saw Celestia's face go pale. He shut the door slowly as he whispered the last words, "As it does at night."
It took Celestia a moment to recover, but when she did, she slashed at the food he left behind. She didn't care that she was leaving gashes in priceless marble furniture, she just wanted to erase every trace of her visitor's presence.
How could he know that?! She ran to the far end of the banquet hall, to the door leading to her personal chambers. How did he know the second half of that phrase?! It's been lost for thousands of years, known only to her, and one other.
She made her way through the private sections of the castle, where only herself and her most trusted attendants and advisors were allowed access. Past the private kitchen, past the library, past Spike's bedchamber, past hers, and to the final room.
She stopped in the sanctum, the room where, just days ago, she welcomed Spike home for the first time in two years. She moved to the center of the room and flicked her tail at the tunnel which let light in from the surface. The end of her tail snapped back like a whip as it cracked against a barrier.
Good, that was intact.
She made her way to the other end of the room, and out onto the balcony overlooking Dragartha. If any dragons were awake to watch, they would have seen an odd sight, their princess picking up a rock and throwing it back at a doorway to test a barrier. However, the rock bounced back, the barrier was intact, and the princess rushed back into the the castle. She didn't even pause for the customary wing spread and cheering.
Back inside the room, Celestia headed to the side wall, and placed her claw against it, in an inconspicuous spot that would probably seem chosen at random.
The stone glowed under her hoof, an array of faults and leylines illuminated by magic of solar influence. The jagged tracings spread along the wall, filling the chamber with a radiance that rivaled high noon. When it faded, Celestia blinked the spots away. The wall was replaced by a dark wooden doorway, wraught from the intertwined trunks of several massive trees, and large enough for her to enter with ease.
She didn't immediately head for it though. Instead, she took a moment to look down at her claw, the one she rested on the stone. It had happened again, same as it happened every time she tapped into her true magic. Just for a moment, she saw herself differently, in an appearance similar to Spike's. Claws were replace by stone-like hooves, scales by fur, crest and tail by a waterfall of lighted spring colors.
The first time solar magic showed her that particular hallucination, she didn't have anything to compare it to. The recovery of a partial drawing of a family of ponies from pre-void times didn't reach her until several years later. It was another century, and two more hallucinations before learned what the creatures were called. Another millennia before the word came up again in a phonetic language, letting her know how to pronounce it.
It was a few millennia after that before she actually found one. And, when she did, she knew there was a connection of some kind between her and that tiny, fragile creature.
But, she knew nothing else about ponies. It had actually taken her a few minutes to realize that the one she found was only a baby. Even then, she only figured that out because it had started crying for its mother. It had done so in a nearly extinct dialect of an ancient language, but still...
After that, she helped the creature search the forest until it couldn't walk anymore. She was hoping to find more, maybe an adult she could communicate with, but they found nothing. Shortly after nightfall, she had carried the crying child out of the woods, patting his back and whispering, "it's ok, momma's here."
She couldn't help but smile. He has grown so well since then. Even though he wasn't a dragon, he grew into an honorable young drake, strong enough to make his mother proud. She just wished she could spend more time with him. As it stood, there were only a few years left.
Celestia shook her head. This wasn't the time to worry about things like that. She had something important to check.
She opened the door carefully, using magic to support the wood as it moved. These particular trees were extremely rare, and not chosen for strength, but for their magical properties. Making even a simple repair would probably cost a small fortune, and expose secrets best left untouched.
In the corridor beyond, there was a single rune carved into the floor. It shone with a gentle, icy blue light, throwing its color onto the nearby stone. The rest of the corridor remained shrouded in darkness. As Celestia approached the rune, sharp, tooth-like markings started to appear around it. While most dragons would avoid a magical mark that was obviously reacting to their presence, Celestia knew better. This particular trap was already set. The only way out was through, avoiding the rune, or turning around would set off a blizzard beyond any that could occur naturally. Ice Heart was sometimes too clever for his own good.
She walked straight to it, and stood on top of it. She had to wait a few seconds, but it soon disappeared, leaving only the glowing triangles around it. It was only a few more seconds more before those markings started to dance along the corridor, marking out a glowing trail down an inclined floor.
She followed the markers, walking for a minute or two as the hallway grew steeper, sinking into the depths of the bedrock below Dragartha.
The even stone walls gave way to the mottled irregularities of natural volcanic stone, winding below the mountain. Crystalline veins and deposits of metallic compounds caught the faint light of the trail markers. Exceptionally large and flawless gems appeared every so often, bright and tempting, just like they were made to be. Celestia wasn't sure what sort of misfortune Ice Heart wove into them, but she didn't want to find out.
As she descended, a faint orange glow joined the fading blue markers. It grew brighter as she went, eventually drowning out the markers altogether. Celestia rounded a sharp corner, and came face to face with the source of the light, a wide magma flow running over the cavern floor.
She crossed it without hesitation. A little molten rock was no more dangerous than a mud puddle to her. The worst either could do was stick to her scales.
And stick it did. The hot, syrupy morass clung to her claws and belly like honey, leaving a trail of dying red blobs as the magma dripped off and cooled against the floor.
Around the next bend, the cavern ended, terminating in an abrupt wall. At least, that's how it appeared. Celestia walked headlong into it, passing through the illusion, and through the final gate to her destination.
Ancient runes, beyond even her understanding, encircled a body in the center of a simple room. They pulsed with icy white light as breath was drawn and released in the slow rhythm of a dragon's long sleep.
Celestia walked up to the slumbering giant, her only match in all of Draconica. Not only a match for size, she was also a match for her features. From the scales to the rippling crest. From broad, feathered wings to the serpentine shape. The only thing different about the sleeping dragon was her color, dark blues, black, and specks of white, like the sky of eventide, flecked with stars.
The princess of dragons was not one to shed tears, but seeing her match there, bound by sleep and magic drew them out. She reached for the dragon, running a claw slowly over her sleeping head and through the soft, midnight crest. "Oh, Luna, I've missed you."
Celestia wiped at her eyes with her free claw. She was alone now. She could cry, she could show weakness, she could mourn the sister she was forced to live without. But, she couldn't forget her purpose for coming here.
She looked back at the illusion she had stepped through to enter the room. The runes there were of her own devising, and told her, and only her, exactly who entered this room and when. To her relief, the only dragons listed by the runes were herself and Ice Heart. There were a few others, but all names she recognized. Every single one was long gone, having died centuries, if not millennia ago.
That meant that Greyscale and his agents knew nothing of this room. Luna could rest safely, undisturbed until it came her time to wake.
Satisfied, Celestia turned her attention to her sister. "It seems you were spared meeting Greyscale for now. You will not be so lucky when it comes time for me to take your place. But, don't worry, Spike is growing up wonderfully, and I’m sure he would be happy to guide his aunt, just as Ice Heart guided me."
"And, I just found out something interesting." Celestia laid down next to Luna, getting comfortable. Even if she wouldn't get a response, she had a lot to talk about. "Spike may be the one who brings us back together, Terris from the old legends. I don't know how I can be sure, but I hope it's true. I want to have more time with him, see him grow,watch him fall in love, start a family, triumph over his foes, everything a mother wants from her hatchlings. I never had the courage to have my own like you did."
Fluttershy sneezed as she cleaned up the mess left over from breakfast. "Rainbow, you don't have to put pepper on everything."
It was still morning, but the sun was creeping steadily upwards. In an hour or two, it would be standing tall at noon' height. Breakfast was cooked, eaten quite quickly, and determined to be insufficient. The charred rocks and ashes from the fire were all that remained.
"Yeah I do," Rainbow retorted, sweeping her pet's shell clean with broad strokes of her wings. "Besides, that manticore was way too old, the meat was tough and nasty."
"That's what ya get fer goin' after the biggest one ya could find." Applejack pitched in by moving the larger rocks, piling them up next to Rarity,who in turn, magically turned each one square for Spike to stack up neatly.
"The roc eggs were simply perfect, though." The white dragoness looked over at Spike. "They would go marvelously with those potato cakes you made the other day."
"I guess," Spike shrugged. "I'm not really a big fan of eggs." For each squared off stone, he tried touching his hoof to it, mimicking Rarity's actions in the hopes that he could summon some of the earth magic she had drawn out last night. All he could manage was a little shove, accompanied by a geometric swirl of angular, green lines. With a sigh, he went back to using his regular magic to stack them up. "What do you think, Twi?"
Splayed out on her back, the hatchling didn't try to move. She had been in the same spot since breakfast, nursing a stomach that wouldn't even have enough room for her favorite gems. She did respond to Spike's question, but she did so without paying attention to the rest of the conversation. "There are snakes that eat one big meal, then sleep for a month."
Spike leaned over and whispered to Rarity, "I bet she wished there were dragons like that."
With a giggle the dragoness quietly added, "And that she was one of them?"
"I don't know about her, but there are dragons like that." The startled pair looked up. Chrysalis was laying atop the stacked blocks, looking down at them like an artist would look at another's work, trying to figure it out, comparing it to other pieces, and deciding whether or not it was worth the appreciation. " At least, there are where I come from." She yawned, then continued, "you know, there's something else peculiar about where I come from. You just pack away at least a dozen kilos of meat, foraged greens, and those eggs you weren't fond of. Then, you mentioned that you were still hungry. That doesn't happen where I'm from."
"So?" Rarity touched Spike's shoulder. "Breakfast light, and he still gave me and Twilight some of his share. He can complain if he wants to."
"Protective, aren't you?" Chrysalis stood up and stretched. "You remind me of somepony." There was a flash of green light, and the changeling was replaced by a smaller, grey version of Spike. In a new voice, one that was calm, collected, and cultured, she said, "This is more what I was referring to."
She leapt down in a smooth, graceful movement, landing between Spike and Rarity. Her smooth ashen coat shone like scales over her far more feminine shape, and her charcoal mane, short in front and long in back, would bob and flow with each move of her head. A thin collar of white material sat around her neck, fastened with a small bowtie. Her tail, the same dark grey as her mane, was clean and well-maintained, trimmed to stand just off the ground.
She flicked the tip of her tail at Spike's nose. When he lifted a hoof to swat it away, she took advantage of the movement to duck in close. She nestled into his body, fitting in the forced embraced like a tailored suit.
"This is what a pony is supposed to look like." Winking a light purple eye at Rarity, she added, "Mares, anyway."
To Chrysalis's surprise, the dragoness wasn't taking the bait. She wasn't getting angry, or jealous. If anything, she looked confused. The faux pony looked up to See Spike looking down with the same expression. When Spike wrapped his hoof around her midsection, she realized why, and again, exactly how big Spike was.
He hoisted her up until she was eye level with him, only her tail touching the ground, and looked her over, turning her a bit to either side. "So," he asked mildly, "is, 'mare,' the term for a juvenile pony? Like, a foal is a hatchling, and a mare is a little bit older?"
"Careful there, big boy," Chrysalis deadpanned, "you can break a girl that way."
Rarity ran a claw over the changeling's back, between the shoulders. "So soft, Spike, was your fur ever like this?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. It's kind of soft when I grow new fur over an injury, but nothing like this."
Rarity absentmindedly stroked at the soft coat of grey. "Newly hatched ponies must be adorable."
Spike chuckled, watching Rarity for a moment before looking back at Chrysalis and noticing something. "You don't have a horn. Does that grow in later? 'Cause I don't remember not having one."
"Perhaps some ponies don't have them," Rarity suggested. "They may be like dragons, and some have wings, others have horns and magic, and others have strength?"
"That part's right, but the rest is way off." Chrysalis crossed her hooves. "For your information, fuzzball is a freak of a giant by pony standards. The form I currently hold is that of your average adult female, a fully grown mare, emotionally mature, mentally stable, and sexually-"
"Drop her," Rarity commanded.
"Yes ma'am." Spike complied without hesitation, dumping the changeling on her back with a crunching sound.
"Ugh..." Chrysalis rolled over and stretched, popping the bone structure of her borrowed body back into place. "Why did I not see that coming?"
Rarity moved over to Spike, sitting down next to him, but a little between him and Chrysalis. "Ok, let's assume that you're telling the truth for a moment. Why would Spike be any different from a regular pony?"
"How should I know?" Chrysalis scoffed. "Ask his parents, are they big, stupid cave ponies too?"
Rarity started snarling, but Spike stopped her with a gentle touch on the shoulder. "Rarity, why don't you get Twilight ready to travel?"
The dragoness looked back. "Are you just going to let her get away with that?"
Spike nodded slowly. "I don't know what my birth parents look like, and I don't know what I'm supposed to look like. For all I know, she may be right."
Rarity stared at him for a moment. He wasn't looking at her or Chrysalis, but off to the side, at nothing in particular. She knew that look. It was one she had worn many times before. She stiffly stood up and walked past him. "At the very least, she's wrong about the stupid part."
Chrysalis transformed back into herself. Given the sizes of all those around her, it made no sense to hold on to the frail form of an equestrian royal musician. "Why'd she get so defensive?"
Spike smiled after the dragoness as she walked away. "I don't know, but it makes me happy that she did." When he eventually looked back at Chrysalis, his expression turned grim and serious. "Before anything else, I'm going to ask you one question, and I want a straight, simple answer. No more games."
She replied with a smirk. "You want to know where I'm from."
Spike nodded once. "There are no ponies in this world, aside from me. I've searched long enough to know that."
Chrysalis leaned towards him. "Then, perhaps, I am not of this world."
Chapter Title - The Black Mare by Dragonland
I don't now if anyone else does this, but I like to shrink the text and window to approximate the size of a paperback novel when I read fanfiction.
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Haha! A fabulous chapter, I can't wait to see the next one! I liked the bit with Luna and Celestia.
Nice chapter. Thanks for the update. I can't wait to read what happens next. Is Chrysalis from the original world or not is the question.
... I see that the new bookshelf system didn't fix the 'invisible updates' problem. *sigh* Time to remove and re-add.
[REDACTED]
'Hid' or 'had'?
I originally had the hoof thing but then the next line explained it so I had to redact and find another error.
Wonder how Chrysalis transferred worlds like that. It'll be interesting if they end up syncing up again.
And Celestia's gonna switch places with Luna soon? That's different.
5320879 Heres the simplest and easiest answer. Twilight.
This is coming along nicely. I have mixed feelings about Spike from the dragon world going to the pony world (if that happens). I want him to but... it almost feels wrong for him. Like picture the most manly person you can (It totally me, don't kid yourselves[I say as I read a My Little Pony fanfiction]) and make them wear a tutu and skip around in the most pink girly thing you can possibly imagine while singing (Okay now I am totally thinking about meet the pyro... Okay ignore the first part imagine that instead). This Spike is just so badass that it feels wrong to have him in a world not as badass as himself.
And all those relationships he has built... I hope the worlds merg or else we may have Spike making the choice of living in a world with his friends and family but never belong, forever the only one of his species or to leave and finally be around fellow ponys.
Lol I completely forgot this story existed I've been on deployment overseas so to come back and see this has been updated was like a coming home present so thank you I loved this chapter as much as I have the rest
That was the perfect chance for a joke
"Well I am out of this world" or something like that
Also chrysalis dropped the bomb shell
5321855 First off, thank you for your service. Second off, that is awesome! It's great to know I have fans in the armed forces. What branch are you in? Both my parents were Air Force Mechanics.
5327413 Kin is a Japanese water dragon, her mannerisms are based on someone I know who is from Japan. Bard is supposed to be Australian. The next chapter explains why Ice Heart knocked them out.
5320596 That was supposed to be, "hid." But, now I can get it to save the edit!
5327656 I'm Australian SAS 2nd battalion
is Ice Heart Luna's mate or son? dose that mean shy is royalty? or am i jumping at nothing?
I just found this story a few days ago, I'm really liking it. I noticed some errors in the chapters, I pointed few out. I find it amusing that they're learning about ponies from Chrysalis. I have an OC that is the main character of her own story that also happens to be a dragon, feel free to use her (I'm saying this because the last couple of chapters I've been imagining how she, and her children, would interact with the main cast here. I'm working on chapter where she meets the Mane 6 at the moment). I don't have a problem with others using materials I provide, I just ask for a heads up. If you're interested just pm me and I'll write up some notes for you to work off of (also a quick note, the term I use for a male dragon is different than yours, I call a male dragon a dragoon because in my story drake is the name given to a particular grouping of dragons). Now that I've gotten that out of the way, can't wait for the next chapter.
5337095 Dragin = Female dragon
5328117 Ah. I jumped to a conclusion there. Nice reminder that I have fans abroad. At any rate, good to know you made it back home safely.
5327815 So, don't die before finishing it?
Shouldn't that be claws or foot? Or was she already Hallucinating?
5377377 ... Y'know, I never thought of that.
5367058 Yeah, that was the hallucination.
Huh, only got the notice of the latest chapter, not this one.
Anyway...
O________________________O Oh god, I reaaaaaally hope the cattle in Dragonquestria aren't the same as in Equestria... cuz that's just horrifying right there.
Interesting, so Ice Heart is Luna's child or at least descendant. Hmm, this is picking up nicely with questions and intrigue.
Heh, sometimes when you have a personal prophecy that predicts you will fall in love with someone and do wierd magical things with them, it actually plays out that way and not because the prophecy forced it.
Interesting that Celestia has been waiting for this 'Terris' too, I wonder if she ever suspected she was raising him.
It was exactly at that sentence that the connection was made in my head. Fluttershy = Luna's Granddaughter. I don't know how it didn't occur to me earlier, but that was an amazing literary moment. The rest of that scene is an interesting read, but that one line is fantastic, especially with Fluttershy being the first one to speak after the scene-break.
Hello
Octavia. I meanChrysalis. Can she really only copy what she sees? She even had the bow-tie.Just one more chapter, and I'll be caught up! (Technically, I also have to swing by the side-story, but that will have to wait for tomorrow.)
Sweet Peas!
OK!
And with that closing line cue the X Files music.
5700713 I love X-files. I want to write something with a smoking man style villain.
quickmeme.com/img/e9/e9e50a41ea14a2ae30271f7dc5ac223b7ecdb8e5bcbfbaf7d93ce5ff81ba937b.jpg
At least, that's the whole feeling that I've gotten over the past 3-5 chapters
This chapter started to rock
SO FUCKING HARD
almost as soon as 
pon- dragon Skull FaceGrayscale left the room!!Not gonna lie, I was beginning to lose some interest in the story since it seemed to have lost some of its luster.
Then Luna and the various revelations and implications that followed to be topped off by Chrysalis.
Though a big thing to stick out is dragon Celestia, hallucinating herself as pony Celestia and that it has been happening for several millennia. Which leads to implications of bleed over from Equestria.
Suffice to say:
[youtube=oAy2LrYflgE]
I like the direct revelation that Fluttershy is a direct descendant of Luna, but I love the wider implication that Dash is also a descendant due to the ancient biography book reacting so wildly to Dash. Also, the slight implication that all angel dragons are descendants of Luna since Luna would have been the "original" dragon with feathers that had children. Over time, those children had children and the trait would have spread. Though no real clear indications of potentially how frisky they got, how monogamous they (especially the males) were, and how often eggs can be laid and hatched then the gap of them reaching sexual maturity.
Fluttershy and Spike are first cousins once removed. Just thought I'd point that out.
Yeah is he like a dragon pony or something?